To Speak As a Judge: Difference, Voice and Power

by Sandra Berns

To Speak as a Judge explores the nature of adjudication in the common law tradition from a feminist postmodernist perspective. The author accepts and celebrates the 'choices' open to the judge and argues that without choice, judgment cannot be properly judicial. The first full length feminist exploration of the role of the judge and the nature of law and legality, To Speak as a Judge is grounded in the process of adjudication and its rhetorical nature. It draws upon significant contemporary cases to explore the narrativity of law and the ways in which rhetoric and judicial understandings of the nature of law determine narrative style.

248 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1999