James Boyd White (born 1938) is an American law professor, literary critic, scholar and philosopher who is generally credited with founding the "

law and Literature The law and literature movement focuses on connections between law and literature. This field has roots in two developments in the intellectual history of law—first, the growing doubt about whether law in isolation is a source of value and mean ...

" movement. He is a proponent of the analysis of

constitutive rhetoric Constitutive rhetoric is a theory of discourse devised by James Boyd White about the capacity of language or symbols to create a collective identity for an audience, especially by means of condensation symbols, literature, and narratives. Such disc ...

in the analysis of legal texts.

Biography

White attended Amherst College, from which he graduated in 1960 with a B.A. in Classics, and went on to earn an M.A. in English Literature from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1961, and an

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from the Harvard Law School in 1964. He practiced with the firm of

Foley Hoag Foley Hoag LLP (formerly Foley, Hoag & Eliot LLP) is a law firm headquartered in Boston, with additional offices in New York City, Paris, and Washington, D.C. The firm represents public and private clients in a wide range of disputes and transacti ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

before moving into teaching. He taught at the

University of Colorado School of Law The University of Colorado Law School is one of the professional graduate schools within the University of Colorado System. It is a public law school, with more than 500 students attending and working toward a Juris Doctor or Master of Studies in ...

from 1967 to 1974, at the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...

from 1974 to 1983, and has been at the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparative Law (MCL ...

from 1983 until the present. At Michigan, White is the L. Hart Wright Professor of Law, Professor of English and Adjunct Professor of Classics. He is also a member of the

American Academy of Arts & Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

Works

White's best-known book, ''The Legal Imagination: Studies in the Nature of Legal Thought and Expression'', was published in 1973. It was designed essentially as a textbook for students studying legal language. In ''The Legal Imagination,'' literary and other texts are compared to legal texts in the way they "constitute" the identities of characters and the meanings of concepts. The book is thought to have "kicked off" the

law and literature The law and literature movement focuses on connections between law and literature. This field has roots in two developments in the intellectual history of law—first, the growing doubt about whether law in isolation is a source of value and mean ...

movement and is still widely influential. White's subsequent books include: *''When Words Lose Their Meaning: Constitutions and Reconstitutions of Language, Character, and Community'' (1984) *'' Heracles' Bow: Essays on the Rhetoric and Poetics of the Law'' (1985) *''Justice As Translation: An Essay in Cultural and Legal Criticism'' (1990) *''Acts of Hope: Creating Authority in Literature, Law, and Politics'' (1994) *''"This Book of Starres": Learning to Read George Herbert'' (1994) *''From Expectation to Experience: Essays on Law and Legal Education'' (2000) *''The Edge of Meaning'' (2003) *''Living Speech: Resisting the Empire of Force'' (2006) *''Keep Law Alive'' (2019)

External links

White's profile at University of Michigan website

White's home page (featuring a listing of his books)

Comment on Jame Boyd White's Living Speech, by Dr. Yofi Tirosh
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, James Boyd 1938 births Living people American legal scholars Amherst College alumni American literary critics Harvard Law School alumni University of Michigan Law School faculty