Description:
The relationship between courts and democracy is the central question of this book. The authors explore the evolution of adjudication into its modern form by mapping the remarkable run of the political icon of Justice and by tracing the development of public spaces dedicated to justice-courthouses.
Resnik and Curtis analyze how Renaissance "rites" of judgment turned into democratic "rights," requiring governments to protect judicial independence and to provide open and public hearings. Courts developed, alongside the press and the postal services, as mechanisms for building the public sphere and for calling the government to account. During the twentieth century, all persons gained access to rights of fair treatment in courts.
Today, however, private processes are replacing public ones, as public and private sectors promote settlement, devolve decision-making to agencies, and outsource judgments to arbitrators and mediators. Often clad in glass to mark justice's transparency, new courthouse designs celebrate adjudication without reflecting on the problems of access, injustice, opacity, and the complexity of rendering impartial judgments.
With more than 220 images, readers can see both the longevity of aspirations for the Virtue Justice and the transformation of courts, as well as understand that, while venerable, courts are also vulnerable institutions that ought (like the post and the press) not be taken for granted. The argument is that the movement away from public adjudication is a problem for democracies because adjudication has important contributions to make to democracy.
Brief description: Judith Resnik is the Arthur Liman Professor of Law at Yale Law School and the Founding Director of the Liman Center for Public Interest Law, supporting post-graduate fellowships and research. Resnik teaches courses on federalism, procedure, courts, punishment, equality, and citizenship. Her scholarship focuses on the relationship of democratic values to government services such as courts, prisons, and post offices; collective redress and class actions; privatization; the interaction among federal, state, and tribal courts and the forms and norms of federalism; practices of punishment; and equality and gender. In 2018, Resnik was a recipient of a two-year Andrew Carnegie Fellowship was awarded an honorary doctorate from University College London. Resnik is a Managerial Trustee of the International Association of Women Judges, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Philosophical Society.
Review Quotes:
When first published in 2011, praises flowed from across disciplines and oceans.
"This book is a richly documented study of the iconography of Justice, from Antiquity through its medieval personification as a Cardinal Virtue to the emergence of her figure as an independent icon of a social value. Tracing the continuing resonance of that figure to the modern courtroom and in the public imagination, it demonstrates the power of an image to embody ideals and, when those ideals are ignored, to stand as an indictment of injustice."
-DAVID ROSAND, Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History Emeritus, Columbia Univ.
"The scope of the book is breathtaking. Through the iconography of justice, the authors chart the history of courts and public justice and compellingly make the case for the central role of adjudication to democracy. The combination of haunting and often visceral imagery with powerful analysis makes it a joy to read and an inspiration."
-HAZEL GENN, Dean, Faculty of Laws, Univ. College London
"A fascinating and ambitious study of the iconography of justice and what it reveals about attitudes towards a just society, impartiality, and authority, from the Renaissance to the Mexican Muralists. In this engaging and eminently readable book, the authors show how emblems, icons, and courthouses vividly embody the fundamentally democratic process of adjudication."
-RUTH WEISBERG, Roski Fine Arts, Univ. of So. California
"In this visually stunning and provocative book, the authors lead us to think in new ways about justice as symbol, justice as reality, and the connections as well as the distance between the two."
-LINDA GREENHOUSE, Clinical Lecturer in Law and Senior Research Scholar, Yale Law School
"How did a blindfolded lady holding scales became the ubiquitous image of justice? How have designs and decorations of spaces defined and redefined adjudication? Assembling monumental research, Resnik & Curtis powerfully show how images and buildings reflect and shape local and international justice across human history and how privatized dispute resolution, security concerns, and diminishing community participation erode the ideal and reality of courts' justice."
-MARTHA MINOW, Former Dean, Harvard Law School
"This is a profoundly original and rich book. By looking at the public iconography of justice, the book maps the evolution of courts and their relationship with public power and democracy as its never been done. In this instance, an image is indeed worth a thousand words. Resnik and Curtis offer us the images and articulate the words."
-MIGUEL POIARES MADURO, Professor & Director, Global Governance Programme, European Univ. Institute
"A stunning tour of the iconography and architecture of justice. Bristling with insights and steeped in learning, Representing Justice casts the relationship of democracy, justice, and law in an entirely new light. Both gripping narrative and deep meditation, there is no other book remotely like it."
-NANCY FRASER, Henry & Louise Loeb Professor of Political & Social Science, The New School
"An extraordinary book. It combines iconography of justice and claims about judges, courts, and democracy. With a deep sense of art and law, the reader is guided through the comparative history of judging, courts, and their role in society as manifested through the history of art and architecture. The book is a glorious proof that when judges sit at trial they stand on trial."
-AHARON BARAK, Former Chief Justice of Israel