Imago Decidendi

Taking as its exemplum the use of images in judicial decisions, this article argues that the 'ratio decidendi' of legal precedent should be supplemented with the 'imago decidendi', the figure or depiction that motivates judgment. Drawing upon the history of legal humanism, and particularly the tradition of juristic emblems it is argued that an adequate understanding of case law rules and decisions requires attention to the imagery that conceives and propels the reasoned deliberation that follows. To adequately apprehend the transmission of law in a digital age requires acknowledging that images think differently, that the ambulation of the eye in the image is very different to the linear glance of the text.

Year

2017

Language

English

Series

Brill research perspectives

Publisher

Brill

Editions

1

Pages

57

ISBN

9789004354333

Data source: Wikidata