Modernism and the Grounds of Law

Modern society takes on a civilized, secular solidity in its rejection of worlds contrary to it, worlds of the savage and the sacred. Yet, as Fitzpatrick shows, these are also worlds intrinsic to modernity itself. It is with the resulting fracture in modernity’s self-creation that law now finds its grounds - grounds that match the varieties of modern nation, whether this be the territorially bounded nation or nation as universally oriented in such modes as imperialism, globalism and human rights. Drawing on untapped resources in social theory, Fitzpatrick finds law pivotally placed in and beyond modernity. Being itself of the modern, law takes impetus and identity from modern society. Yet law also extends beyond the modern and, through incorporating elements of savagery and the sacred, it comes to constitute that very society. When placing law in such a crucial position for modernity, Fitzpatrick ranges widely but pointedly from the colonizations of the Americas, through the thought of the European Enlightenment, and engages finally with contemporary arrogations of the ‘global’. By extending his work on the origins of modernity, Modernism and the Grounds of Law makes a significant contribution to continuing developments in law and society, legal philosophy, and jurisprudence.