Law Text Culture

Theatres of the Book: Covering, Flaunting, Marketing, Author and Text

Peter Goodrich — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:30:14 PST

The printing of theatre — theatrum imprimatur, just to flaunt a little — was accompanied by a theatricalisation of print. The new technology of the production of books brought with it not only an exponentially greater quantity, but also an increased visibility, of scholarly works and religious and legal texts particularly. Pamphlets, typescripts, books flooded the markets and were everywhere on view. Early print also had a striking dimension of performance and play. Aviaries of angels and other devotional and instructional figures adorned the religious manuals and modelled the proper persona, the ontic self, that the subject should play. Early law texts had coloured graphics, emblems, ‘devises’, as well as schemata, charts, portraits and mottos. Legal being too had its visible and printed figures, the image of the apposite propositus that accompanied the ceremonies of the norm and their demands for honour and role.

Law, Muteness and the Theatrical

Marett Leiboff — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:30:14 PST

This short composition muses upon the possibilities that the theatrical may offer as jurisprudence or legal theory. Its scope is necessarily abbreviated, modest and confined, intended to inaugurate and not foreclose.

Investigating the Truths: Inquiries, Conspiracies and Implied Performances in the Public Record

Graham White — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:30:13 PST

The focus in courtrooms or tribunal chambers on live witness evidence-giving is examined in literature dealing with the residue of legal encounters as a space of potential instability for the process of establishing narrative authority (Auslander 1999; Lynch and Bogen 1996; TDR 2008). These accounts focus on the self-conscious ‘play’ of witness performance — self-presentation, demeanour and verbal and physical fluency as the site of a particular, intractable form of challenge to attempts to construct a definitive legal record. In this essay I will examine some instances in which historically prominent legal proceedings have proved fertile ground for challenges to official narratives through the tendentious reconstruction of such witness performance as implied by the written record. This kind of reconstruction is a common feature of a body of conspiracy theories which read ‘against the grain’ of official narratives.

Closed-Circuit Television Testimony: Liveness and Truth-telling

Kathryn Leader — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:30:12 PST

A witness who gives evidence orally demonstrates, for good or ill, more about his or her credibility than a witness whose evidence is given in documentary form. Oral evidence is public; written evidence may not be. Oral evidence gives to the trial the atmosphere which, though intangible, is often critical to the jury’s estimate of the witness. Butera v DPP (Vic) (1987) The legal arena may be one of the few remaining cultural contexts in which live performance is still considered essential (Auslander 1999: 9).

Chamber Theatre

Karen Walton — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:30:11 PST

A child of a defendant is called to his defence. As the child begins to murmur his evidence the judge orders him to speak up. The child looks across at the defendant, his father, the man who is meant to be his protector. But now the father, speaking through words of his defence barrister, accuses the child. The child looks to see if he is saying the right script to exculpate his father, and thereby betrays his innocence to the theatre of the courtroom. The jury, the judge, the defence barrister see this exchange and at this point the case is proved and a truth is decided upon. In a trial such as this, where allegations of a sexual nature are made, the story is played in intimate, yet clinical detail, in front of a room full of strangers.

Law and the Fool

Nicole Rogers — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:27:13 PST

The Fool historically occupied a unique and privileged position. Accustomed and indeed required to deride the ruler and poke fun at the state, he remained immune from any form of punitive retribution. My focus in this article is on the antics of contemporary Fools and the extent to which the state’s response to such antics is circumscribed. I shall analyse the contemporary Fool’s satirical and playful activities as one form within the broad spectrum of performances of resistance to the authority of the state. Playful, satirical and/or carnivalesque performances of the Fool, in which the state is held up for ridicule without any suggestion of violence, are at one end of this spectrum; at the other end are performances of law-making violence such as contemporary acts of terrorism which, if successful, comprise the ‘ungraspable revolutionary instant’ during which a new state is constituted (Derrida 1990: 1001).

The Farce of Law: Performing and Policing Norm and Ahmed in 1969

Karen Crawley — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:27:12 PST

Late one night on a deserted street, Norm, a working class Anglo-Australian male, stops Ahmed, a younger student from Pakistan, to ask him for a light, and strikes up a conversation. Norm seems friendly enough, but there is an undercurrent of hostility to his speech and behaviour, as if he is slyly baiting or taunting Ahmed. When the conversation draws to a close, Norm offers a parting handshake to Ahmed which suddenly becomes a punch to the stomach and face. ‘He grabs Ahmed’s head and bashes it against the post. Then he flings the limp body over the handrail’ (Buzo 1968: 26). Norm then utters the final, shocking words: ‘Fuckin’ boong’.

On Prisons and Theatres: Santo Stefano and San Carlo

Patricia Branco — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:27:12 PST

The interconnection between law and theatre can be seen as having both specular and spectacular functions, in which space acts as a manifestation of power to shape the place or stage where law and theatre come to life and perform their spectacle. To explore this link I will use the example of the eighteenth century prison at Santo Stefano Island in Italy. The curiosity regarding this building arises from the fact that its architectural plan may have been copied from that of the San Carlo Theatre in Naples. Bentham’s Panopticon was published between the date of construction of the theatre and that of the prison. While the two buildings span the publication of the Panopticon, they also mirror each other in the panoptical direction of their gaze. I will explore these mutual influences and inversions.

‘Tame Kākā’ Still? Māori Members and the Use of Māori Language in the New Zealand Houses of Representatives

Mamari Stephens — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:27:11 PST

As the 21st century advances, the Māori language (te reo Māori) has remained the primary language of the marae ātea, the bounded space usually positioned in front of the meeting house of a marae complex (Te Puni Kōkiri 2008: 31). Important language components of the rituals of encounter carried out on the marae ātea are also used for similar ritualistic purposes in the Parliamentary debating chamber. These shared language components have been able to survive, in Parliament, throughout 142 years of Māori representation. In fact it appears that the language used in both types of spaces has enabled the formation of an important linguistic and performative framework that has fostered the survival of Māori collective memory as well as Māori political participation.

Ruth Herz Judge Playing Judge Ruth Herz: Reflections on the Performance of Judicial Authority

Leslie J. Moran — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:27:10 PST

Between 2001 and 2005, ‘Judge Ruth Herz’ appeared in a popular German daytime reality television court show, Das Jugendgericht (The Youth Court). German reality television court shows, of which there are several (Machura 2009), draw heavily on a US format. A key dimension of this format, and central to its reality effect, is the use of real judges to perform the role of judge in the show (Christie 1999; Kleinhans and Morris 2004; Kohm, 2006; Lorenzo-Dus 2008). The best known US example is Judge Judy, in which the title role is performed by Judith Sheindlin, an ex-New York family court judge. The Youth Court follows this model.

Legal Language and Theatrical Presence: Transforming a Legal Inquiry into Theatre in version 1.0’s Deeply Offensive And Utterly Untrue

David A. Williams — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:25:18 PST

In late 2005, it was revealed that the Australian monopoly wheat exporter AWB Ltd had significantly breached Australian Government backed UN sanctions by paying A$290 million in bribes or ‘kickbacks’ to the Iraq Government.1 As the purpose of these sanctions was to prevent Saddam Hussein’s Government from gaining access to hard currency with which he might purchase or develop weapons, Australian media reportage regularly referred to AWB Ltd’s ‘kickback’ payments as the ‘wheat-for-weapons’ scandal. To investigate the scandal, the Australian Government established the Inquiry into Certain Australian Companies in Relation to the UN Oil-for-Food Programme (the Cole Inquiry). Presided over by Commissioner Terence Cole QC, the high-profile inquiry undertook a forensic investigation of the legally and ethically murky world of international wheat trade.

Caveat Spectator: Juridical, Political and Ontological False Witnessing in CMI (A Certain Maritime Incident)

Caroline Wake — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:25:17 PST

Since the mid-1990s the term ‘witness’ has gained increasing currency in theatre and performance studies. Within theatre studies in particular the term has been associated with the resurrection of documentary and verbatim theatre and the reinvigorated discourse on these practices. Indeed, some scholars have renamed the genre the ‘theatre of witness’ (Schaefer 2003) or the ‘theatre of testimony’ (Salz 1996) while others have described it in terms of ‘performing testimony’ (Salverson 1996). In these accounts the witness is typically a character (often based on an actual person) who testifies to a personal, social or historical trauma. However, the term ‘witness’ has also been used to describe the spectator of these plays, which is to say the subject who listens to these characters and their testimonies. Hence, scholars have started to examine what Karine Schaefer calls ‘the intersection of the spectator-as-witness phenomenon and … the “character-as-witness” play, or the testimonial drama’ (2003: 7).

Breathing Sense into Women’s Lives Shattered by War: Dah Theatre Belgrade

Olivera Simic — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:25:16 PST

The various ethnic and religious groups and individuals who suffered enormously during ethnic conflicts in the former Yugoslavia deal with the legacies of violence and human rights violations in a number of ways. As a human rights lawyer from this region, and someone who is scarred by the war, I have immersed myself in literature and art that explores armed conflict and its impact on women. After the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, and since my arrival in Australia, I have been following closely the transitional justice processes in my homeland (such as trials and initiatives by local peace activists aimed at reconciliation) and have always been present — with my mind, heart and research — with peace activists from the former Yugoslavia in their struggle to address past atrocities. My particular experience affected my intellectual and spiritual being and has driven my academic work in the direction of the ongoing exploration of the causes and consequences of war in my homeland as well as the trauma, resilience and utmost courage of its people.

Jamming the Law: Improvisational Theatre and the ‘Spontaneity’ of Judgment

Sara Ramshaw — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:25:16 PST

Modern ‘nonscripted’ theatre (NST) clearly owes much to improvisation. Perhaps less obviously, and more surprisingly, so too does modern law. In this article I will contend that, despite all the rules of evidence and procedure, statutes and legal precedents that fundamentally govern the decisions and actions of a judge, it is only through ‘spontaneity’ that judgment can take place. This claim may appear strange to those well-versed in the common law tradition which proceeds on the basis of past legal decisions, or reason where no precedent exists. NST, on the other hand, is assumed to rely heavily on the unprecedented and unreasoned. Therefore, when the public watches a NST production, it places its faith in the belief that what is being observed is entirely new and is being produced ‘on the spur of the moment’.

Theatre and the Drama of Law: A ‘Theatrical History’ of the Eichmann Trial

Michael Bachmann — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:25:15 PST

In his seminal study, The Seventh Million, historian Tom Segev (1993) examines how the changing perceptions of the Holocaust relates to the ways in which Israelis understand themselves, their state, and its connection to the Diaspora. Segev’s cultural history begins with a phone call he describes as if it were a direct link to the past. The call, made in 1987, is to writer and Holocaust survivor Yehiel De-Nur, who answers in a ‘hushed, choked voice’ (Segev 1993: 3). Segev wants to ask him for an interview. Upon hearing his voice, however, Segev is instantly taken back, as it were, to the moment twenty-six years ago when he first heard the Holocaust survivor speak. In 1961, De-Nur was one of the witnesses at the trial against Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. His testimony has become famous for the fact that he could utter a mere few sentences before fainting.

Murder Ob/Scene: The Seen, Unseen and Ob/scene in Murder Trials

Carolyn McKay — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:25:14 PST

Tragedies and murder trials explore the relationship between the living and the dead; the present and absent; the seen, unseen and obscene. The central focus of my recent research into viva voce testimony was to consider the role of the live human voice in resuscitating the past crime scene, providing me with the opportunity to observe and interpret murder trials from the perspective of a visual artist who has also studied law. Given my legal background, I was also interested in re-interpreting and deconstructing court procedures, rituals and aesthetics and, through this process, revealing issues of theatricality and the concept of the ob/scene.

‘We Say Sorry’: Apology, the Law and Theatricality

Theron Schmidt — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:25:13 PST

When ideas about theatre are used to describe political events, the theatrical is usually made to stand for that which is undesirable, inauthentic and empty about political life: we might describe a particular speech or gesture as ‘only theatre’, or use language such as ‘playing politics’ or ‘political drama’ to denounce the way self-referential questions about character or personal intrigue have obscured the ‘real’ issues of politics. In contrast to this dismissive usage, I would like to explore the ways that theatricality’s apparent failures or shortcomings might be themselves generative of political potential. My approach here is to consider certain problems of speech and gesture in the political realm as essentially theatrical problems — problems for theatre, but also ideas that theatricality makes problems of — such as problems of representation, authenticity and spectatorship. I will explore the theatricality at work in three examples of publicly performed discourse: Kevin Rudd’s official apology in 2008 to the Indigenous peoples of Australia; a gallery artwork by Carey Young which, in its entirety, is a legal disclaimer of its status as art; and a text and video work by Lebanese-born artist, Rabih Mroué, in which the artist offers an apology for the Lebanese civil war.

A Moving Theory: Remembering the Office of Scholar

Olivia Barr — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:20:08 PST

‘May it please the Court, I appear for the State.’ As a legal practitioner and government solicitor, this phrase was part of my former everyday. Known as making an appearance, this formal phrase communicates the action of presenting oneself in court. To appear, it must be remembered, is an action of coming forward into view: an act of becoming visible. This is a movement into visibility. In this formal appearance, the movement into visibility is a movement mediated by office. For it was through the office of government solicitor that I spoke for and performed for the state. More than just performance, however, the duties and responsibilities of office constructed an environment where I could not speak of law in ways I wanted to. For me, this meant I was limited in my ability to speak of Aboriginal sovereignty, which was consistently framed as a challenge to the authority of the state. The role required by this particular office seemingly meant that this was an inappropriate issue. In effect, my speech was restricted. It was as if my performance for the state, through the office of government solicitor, had somehow rendered me inarticulate.

The Mask and Agamben: the Transitional Juridical Technics of Legal Relation

Connal Parsley — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:20:07 PST

Italian theorist Giorgio Agamben is well known for his complex critique of the institution and praxis of thought in the west, and in particular for taking aim at a constellation of ontologico-political structures denoted by the term ‘juridical’. Within this endeavour, Agamben provides a critique of the metaphysical subject and of the related notion of the person. Specifically, for Agamben the figure of the human is structured and produced by the dignitas: the image or mask which bridges the juridical, moral or ‘natural’ person, and the condition of their appearance within law and political life. As he wrote in a recent collection of essays: ‘Persona originally means “mask” and it is through the mask that the individual acquires a role and a social identity’ (2009c: 71).

On St Margaret Street

Sophie Nield — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:20:06 PST

It is not unusual to hear events in public space, be they state-sponsored or resistant, described as ‘pure theatre’, ‘political drama’ or ‘political theatre’. Historically, discussion of political events in public space has often started from the premise that they are ‘theatrical’ because they share attributes with conventional theatre practice – because they use actors, props, scenery, narratives. Certainly, events such as rallies, military parades and demonstrations are ‘theatre-like’ to the extent that they are concerned with concepts and ideas not otherwise materially present, they are organised around the symbolic production of meaning, and they are ‘stage-managed’ in order to be read. Yet it seems to me that the ‘theatrical’ must be expanded as a category both in order to permit a politicised and serious engagement with public events from a theatrical perspective, and also to defend the theatre itself from marginalisation. As soon as the ranks break, the teargas explodes, as soon as damage is done – as soon as anything really happens – it is no longer called ‘pure theatre’ or ‘political drama’.