Lacan and the subject of law

the long version

Here is both an accessible introduction to Lacanian psychoanalytic theory and a demonstration of Jacques Lacan's relevance for critical legal theory. Caudill argues that Lacan's emphasis on language and identity establishes the contours of a radical sociolegal psychoanalysis and that his account of the human subject bridges the antinomies of traditional and critical theory; mainstream and left analyses of culture, and modern and postmodern paradigms, and that Lacan's orientation is decidedly social. He then sets out to explore the promise of Lacanian theory as a critical supplement to the theory of law and, in this pursuit, he introduces several Lacanian concepts that are significant for any attempt to employ Lacan's methodology in contemporary legal theory and practice, particularly in legal education and in contract law. Application of Lacan's theory to some concrete legal problems follows in the second part of the book with a series of studies including child abuse hysteria, land use debates, the critique of legal ideology; and religion in law and politics.