Engaging with the underlying social context in which emotions are a motivational
force, Law and the Passions provides a uniquely inclusive commentary on the significance
and influence of emotions in the history and continuing development of
legal judgment, policy formation, legal practice and legal dogma.
Although the emotionality of the law and the use of emotional tropes in legal
discourse has become an established focus in recent scholarship, the extent to
which emotion and the passions have informed decision-making, decision-avoidance
and legal reasoning - rather than as simply an adjunct - is still a matter for
critical analysis. As evidenced in a range of illustrative legal cases, emotions have
been instrumental in the evolution of key legal principles and have produced many
controversial
