The magnitudes of law and science fiction
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Green, Alex
Travis, Mitchell
Tranter, Kieran
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Abstract
This chapter identifies three zones where law and science fiction intertwine. It deploys the idea of ‘magnitude’ – a sense of splitting a singular law and science fiction opus into distinct, identifiable strands. The first order of magnitude is the most precise. It is cultural legal studies’ engagement with science fiction, where an active community reads law in science fiction, seeing science fictions as reflective of cultural legal contexts and as a critical site for exploration and consideration of legal theory. The second order of magnitude focuses on technology law scholarship and identifies science fiction's imaginary role in framing analysis on how law should ‘catch up’ to technology. By way of example, this chapter highlights the role of pulp space opera in providing the imaginary of space technology and its fantastic possibilities for first-generation space law scholars. The third order of magnitude concerns science fiction within legal theory. With a particular focus on H L A Hart's The Concept of Law, science fiction is identified as dwelling deeply within modernist reckoning of law.
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Cultural Legal Studies of Science Fiction
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1st
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Cultural studies
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Tranter, K, The magnitudes of law and science fiction, Cultural Legal Studies of Science Fiction, 2024, 1st, pp. 17-41