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<p>Critical legal scholars and activists do a lot with law: we ‘trash’ it, we resist it, we dissect it, we occasionally (reluctantly) appeal to it&#xa0;—&#xa0;we also laugh at it, albeit less systematically. This laughter, I argue, is valuable&#xa0;—&#xa0;and we would benefit from making a method out of it. I show how this might be done with reference to a rambling and ongoing legal story: the 56 judgements related to Indigenous and allied opposition to Canada’s notoriously controversial Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project. Interpreting this as a chain novel of sorts (with a cast of characters that would put Tolstoy to shame), I demonstrate how engaging with law through a comic lens can help us ‘deal’ with the seeming immovability of modern Western law’s most self- (and other-) destructive tendencies in the context of the climate crisis. This comic mode/mood of engagement&#xa0;—&#xa0;characterised by flexibility and life-orientation&#xa0;—&#xa0;stands in contrast to the rigidity and linearity of the tragic vision that dominates modern Western law. The comic vision shows us that we can engage fruitfully with a tragic, coercive law by declining to take it seriously&#xa0;—&#xa0;because, ultimately, this law can be ‘tricked’ into serving higher objectives than its own rule.</p>

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Laughing at Law: A Case for Comic Jurisprudence in the Climate Crisis

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年6月21日

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  • Sahar Shah

摘要

Critical legal scholars and activists do a lot with law: we ‘trash’ it, we resist it, we dissect it, we occasionally (reluctantly) appeal to it — we also laugh at it, albeit less systematically. This laughter, I argue, is valuable — and we would benefit from making a method out of it. I show how this might be done with reference to a rambling and ongoing legal story: the 56 judgements related to Indigenous and allied opposition to Canada’s notoriously controversial Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project. Interpreting this as a chain novel of sorts (with a cast of characters that would put Tolstoy to shame), I demonstrate how engaging with law through a comic lens can help us ‘deal’ with the seeming immovability of modern Western law’s most self- (and other-) destructive tendencies in the context of the climate crisis. This comic mode/mood of engagement — characterised by flexibility and life-orientation — stands in contrast to the rigidity and linearity of the tragic vision that dominates modern Western law. The comic vision shows us that we can engage fruitfully with a tragic, coercive law by declining to take it seriously — because, ultimately, this law can be ‘tricked’ into serving higher objectives than its own rule.