The emblem book was invented by the humanist lawyer Andrea Alciato in 1531. The preponderance of juridical and normative themes, of images of rule and infraction, of obedience and error in the emblem books is critical to their purpose and interest. This book outlines the history of the emblem tradition as a juridical genre, along with the concept of, and training in, obiter depicta, in things seen along the way to judgment. It argues that these books depict norms and abuses in classically derived forms that become the visual standards of governance. Despite the plethora of vivid figures and virtual symbols that define and transmit law, contemporary lawyers are not trained in the critical apprehension of the visible. This book is the first to reconstruct the history of the emblem tradition, evidencing the extent to which a gallery of images of law already exists and structuring how the public realm is displayed, made present and viewed.
This essay addresses a perennial theme within the doctrine of common law. It is that of the Englishness of English law or alternatively, as Nietzsche once remarked, the lawfulness of being English. It is, ofcourse, a well-known and ironic historical fact that English law is a rather confused form oflocal French Law. The most obvious feature ofcommon law has been that for most of its history, it was recorded in Latin and argued and reported in a species of French. When William Camden sought to identify the most distinctive characteristic of the inhabitants of the Island Britannia, the only thing he could find about the origin of the word Britain was the ancient Gallic practice of painting the body with woad: ‘Brith… signifies anything that is painted and coloured over.’
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