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Authors
Abstract(s)
“In the past century, we studied the law from within. The jurists of today are studying it from
without.” (Pound, 1921:212) The twentieth century saw significant changes in legal thinking,
from the philosophy of natural laws and pure theories of law to sociological legal studies, we
see now the emergence of cultural legal studies. The interest for a combined field of law and
culture is not something new; many academics and philosophers have tackled the question.
For Friedrich Karl von Savigny, an eighteenth-century legal philosopher, the law was an
expression of the Volksgeist. Since then, different fields emerged, legal humanities,
interpretive sociolegal studies, and legal anthropology, which are all part of the cultural legal
studies.
One can see the importance of cultural legal studies. Law influences everyday life and
culture itself, but culture, as well, shapes law. However, defining cultural studies of law is
difficult, as it has many subcategories and no clear methodology. (Coombe, 1996:36)
If we consider that law is a cultural element of our society, what is the reciprocal influence of
law and culture on each other? How can cultural legal studies be put into practice? By
studying the protection of cultural heritage from a legal aspect, we are suggesting that laws
and jurisprudence are a cultural artefact in which lies the identity and development of
society. In this thesis we would like to debate on the relevance of considering law as a
cultural artefact, to study legal studies as if there were cultural ones. With this method, and
taking international cultural heritage law as a case study we would like to expose that the
difficulties of building an international legal framework are linked cultural difficulties and as
being cultural products laws are creating positive and negative new behaviours and
situations.
Description
Keywords
Law Culture