Mark Kelman (born August 20, 1951) is jurist and vice dean of

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

. As a prominent legal scholar, he has applied social science methodologies, including

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

, to the study of law. He is one of the most cited law professors. He is regarded as one of the co-founders of the

critical legal studies Critical legal studies (CLS) is a school of critical theory that developed in the United States during the 1970s.Alan Hunt, "The Theory of Critical Legal Studies," Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1986): 1-45, esp. 1, 5. Se DOI, 10.1 ...

movement and authored "A Guide to Critical Legal Studies." He is widely known for his influential 1978 critique of the

Coase theorem In law and economics, the Coase theorem () describes the economic efficiency of an economic allocation or outcome in the presence of externalities. The theorem states that if trade in an externality is possible and there are sufficiently low trans ...

, a core part of

law and economics Law and economics, or economic analysis of law, is the application of microeconomic theory to the analysis of law, which emerged primarily from scholars of the Chicago school of economics. Economic concepts are used to explain the effects of laws ...

. He graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

Narrative

Being a published novelist, Kelman is well aware of the role of narrative in forming a sense of personal identity - as also of the way narratives may be incriminating or exculpatory, depending on the time frame used. Thus, for example, when viewed in a long enough time-frame, a criminal act which appears at first sight the result of individual responsibility ''may'', Kelman suggests, be instead the deterministic result of socio-economic conditions.

Rational rhetoricism

Kelman argues that much in the law involves providing rational interpretative constructs that surround a non-rational core – what he terms 'rational rhetoricism' with the result that, in his words, "It is illuminating and disquieting to see that we are nonrationally constructing the legal world over and over again....".

Stanley Fish Stanley Eugene Fish (born April 19, 1938) is an American literary theorist, legal scholar, author and public intellectual. He is currently the Floersheimer Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo Sc ...

has proposed in rebuttal that such rhetorical constructs are in fact a necessary aspect of the human condition, and thus an inevitable facet of the legal world as well.Fish, p. 395-6

Publications

*Mark Kelman, ''What Followed Was Pure Lesley'' (1973) *Mark Kelman, 'Choice & Utility' ''Wisconsin Law Review 1979'' (1979) *Mark Kelman, 'Interpretive Construction in the Substantive Criminal Law' ''Stanford Law Review'' (1981)

References

External links

Mark Kelman's biography at Stanford Law School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelman, Mark 1951 births Living people Lawyers from New York City Stanford Law School faculty Philosophers of law American legal scholars Harvard College alumni Harvard Law School alumni

Narrative

Rational rhetoricism

See also

Publications

References

External links