{"product_id":"dark-speech-the-performance-of-law-in-early-ireland-hardback-9780812239898","title":"Dark Speech; The Performance of Law in Early Ireland (Hardback) 9780812239898","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eDark Speech\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eThe Performance of Law in Early Ireland\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eRobin Chapman Stacey (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780812239898\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 12 March 2007\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e368 pages\u003cbr\u003e23.5 x 15.5 x 2.8 cm, 0.746 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"An extremely important, learned, and very thoughtful book that addresses a central issue . . . being hotly debated across the social scientific spectrum, among historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and others: the significance of language and performance in understanding traditional societies generally.\" (Patrick Geary, University of California, Los Angeles) \"The best history book I have read in a very long time. It is full of important ideas based on impressive research expressed in prose that is not dark but clear and amiable.\" (\u003ci\u003eLaw and History Review\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat does it mean to talk about law as theater, to speak about the \"performance\" of transactions as mundane as the sale of a pig or as agonizing as receiving compensation for a dead kinsman? In \u003ci\u003eDark Speech\u003c\/i\u003e, Robin Chapman Stacey explores such questions by examining the interaction between performance and law in Ireland between the seventh and ninth centuries.\u003cbr\u003e Exposing the inner workings of the Irish legal system, Stacey examines the manner in which publicly enacted words and silences were used to construct legal and political relationships in a society where traditional hierarchies were very much in flux.\u003cbr\u003e Law in early Ireland was a verbal art, grounded as much in aesthetics as in the enforcement of communal norms. In contrast with modern law, no sharp distinction existed between art and politics. Visualizing legal events through the lens of procedure, Stacey helps readers recognize the creative, fluid, and inherently risky nature of these same events.\u003cbr\u003e While many historians have long realized the mnemonic value of legal drama to the small, principally nonliterate societies of the early Middle Ages, Stacey argues that the appeal to social memory is but one aspect of the role played by performance in early law. In fact, legal performance (like other more easily recognized forms of verbal art) created and transformed as much as it recorded.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e Chapter One: The Play's the Thing\u003cbr\u003e Chapter Two: Jurists on Stage\u003cbr\u003e Chapter Threee: The Power of the Word\u003cbr\u003e Chapter Four: Voicing Over\u003cbr\u003e Chapter Five: Voices Within the Law\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion: The Dangers of Performance\u003cbr\u003e List of Abbreviations\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52599831036184,"sku":"9780812239898","price":48.29,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/dark-speech-the-performance-of-law-in-early-ireland-hardback-9780812239898","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}