Inaugural Dennis Leslie Mahoney Prize in Legal Theory awarded to Professor Brian Tamanaha

The Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence is delighted to announce that the inaugural Dennis Leslie Mahoney Prize in Legal Theory has been awarded to Professor Brian Tamanaha, Chief Judge Benjamin N. Cardozo Professor of Law, St John’s University, New York.

A General Jurisprudence of Law and Society (Oxford University Press, 2001) was the outstanding entry in a very strong field. The Prize Committee regarded it as “a major contribution to the field of sociological jurisprudence”, which ventured “a sociological reorientation of legal positivism”.

The Committee acknowledges the excellence of all entries, which dealt with a broad range of topics and issues in contemporary legal theory. Submissions were received from lawyers and philosophers in Australia and abroad, demonstrating the truly interdisciplinary and international character of the Prize.

The Committee consisted of the Hon. Justice Dennis Mahoney AO (former President, New South Wales Court of Appeal), Professor Ron McCallum (chair; Dean of Law, University of Sydney), Professor Tom Campbell (Australian National University College of Law), Professor Ngaire Naffeine (University of Adelaide Law School) and Mr Kevin Walton (Acting Director, Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence).

Professor Brian Tamanaha

Professor Tamanaha is Chief Judge Benjamin N. Cardozo Professor of Law. He is the author of four books: Understanding Law in Micronesia: An Interpretive Approach to Transplanted Law (Brill 1993), Realistic Socio-Legal Theory: Pragmatism and a Social Theory of Law (Oxford 1997), A General Jurisprudence of Law and Society (Oxford 2001) and On the Rule of Law: History, Politics, Theory (Cambridge, 2004).

He has also published articles in a variety of journals, including the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, American Journal of International Law, American Journal of Comparative Law, American Journal of Jurisprudence, Law and Society Review, and the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

Professor Tamanaha's scholarship has achieved international recognition. A General Jurisprudence of Law and Society, which articulates a universally applicable framework for examining the relationship between law and society, also won the 2002 Herbert Jacob Book Prize. His previous book was the subject of a symposium issue of the Rutgers (Camden) Law Review, it was awarded a Certificate of Special Recognition (1998) by the Law and Society Association, and it was identified in Lloyd's Introduction to Jurisprudence as one of the "most significant books" on jurisprudence to appear in the past decade.

Professor Tamanaha delivered the Keynote Address at the Conference on Law and Social Theory (2001) at Wolfson College, Oxford University, and presented Public Lectures at the University of Tilburg (2001) and University College London (2002). He has given presentations on his work to a number of law faculties, including Leiden, Amsterdam, Northwestern, Hofstra, Pennsylvania, Emory, Indiana (Bloomington), Rutgers (Newark), Temple, Washington, and Miami.

Prior to joining the St. John's law faculty, Professor Tamanaha taught law for four years at the University of Amsterdam, and worked as a Research Associate at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law and Administration in Non-Western Countries. He has also been a Visiting Professor at Anton de Kom University of Suriname, and a Lecturer in the Graduate Program at Harvard Law School and at the College of Micronesia.

A General Jurisprudence of Law and Society

A theoretical and sociological exploration of the relationship between law and society, this book constructs an approach to law that integrates legal theory with sociological approaches to law. Law is generally understood to be a mirror of society – a reflection of its customs and morals – that functions to maintain social order. Focusing on this common understanding, the book conducts a survey of Western legal and social theories about law and its relationship within society, engaging in a theoretical and empirical critique of this common understanding.

Brian Tamanaha to deliver 2007 Julius Stone Address

Professor Brian Tamanaha has accepted the Institute's invitation to deliver the 2007 Julius Stone Address, which will form part of the Julius Stone Centenary Conference to be held on 5-7 July 2007.

Further information about the 2007 Address will be posted on the Julius Stone Address webpage as it becomes available.

A call for papers has been issued for the Centenary Conference and registrations will open early in 2007. For full details, see the Centenary Conference webpage.

The Dennis Leslie Mahoney Prize in Legal Theory

The prize, awarded for the first time in 2006, has been generously provided for by a gift from the Honourable Dennis Mahoney QC AO, former President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal.

The prize, to be awarded every five years, will go to the author or authors of an outstanding published work in the field of jurisprudence which best reflects an approach combining legal theory with sociological inquiry, in the tradition of the jurisprudence of the late Professor Julius Stone. Stone’s approach, expounded in his seminal work of 1946, The Province and Function of Law and in many other works throughout his life, sought to demonstrate that the law inexorably responds and changes as society changes.

A ‘published work’ need not necessarily be in the form of a traditional book or journal publication. Other types of publication, including reports or papers, are eligible.

The recipient of the prize will receive a cash prize of AU$50,000, with the offer of an invitation to participate in the activities of the Faculty of Law at the University of Sydney for a period of up to one semester. He or she may also receive an invitation to deliver the prestigious Julius Stone Address in the year following the award of the prize.

For further information about the Dennis Leslie Mahoney Prize, contact the Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence.