The Reasonable Person: A Legal Biography

by Valentin Jeutner

Overview

Jeutner argues that the reasonable person is, at heart, an empathetic perspective-taking device, by tracing the standard of the reasonable person across time, legal fields and countries. Beginning with a review of imaginary legal figures in the legal systems of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, the book explains why the common law's reasonable person emerged amidst the British industrialisation under the influence of Scottish Enlightenment thinking. Following the figure into colonial courts, onto battlefields and into self-driving cars, the book contends that the reasonable person invites judges, jury-members, and lawyers to take another person's perspective when assessing their own or another person's conduct. The perspective of another is taken by means of empathy, by feeling what others might feel in a particular situation. Thus construed, the figure of the reasonable person can help us make more accurate judgments in a diverse world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009445627
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/06/2024
Series:	Law in Context
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.97(w) x 9.88(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Valentin Jeutner is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, Lund University and Senior Retained Lecturer, Pembroke College, Oxford. Jeutner encountered the reasonable person when studying law in England (Oxford/Cambridge) and the US (Georgetown). He is also admitted to the bar of New York State. Previous publications include Irresolvable Norm Conflicts in International Law (2017) and [l]ex machina (2020).

Table of Contents

Introduction; The Reasonable Person in the Past; The Reasonable Person in Birmingham; The Reasonable Person in Clapham; The Reasonable Person in the Colonies; The Reasonable Person in the Battlefield; The Reasonable Person in the Future; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

‘A fascinating read’ Dominic Regan, New Law Journal

‘This book is an amazing work of scholarship, very readable and above all very positive about the way the law aims to be do justice, be fair, and adapt to society.’ David Pickup, The Law Society Gazette

‘This legal biography of a concept is not intended to settle matters, but it is bound to be of interest to many scholars and practitioners in fostering, at the very least, thought and discussion of a complex phenomenon.’ Robert Shiels, Scottish Legal News

From the Publisher