<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This article examines the totalization of private law by public authorities. It compares and contrasts the fate of private law in totalitarian regimes with the role of private law in contemporary, non-totalitarian liberal democracies. It briefly examines the Socialist jurisprudence of the former Soviet Union and its treatment of private law. It offers an explanation why private law might be inimical to the jurisprudence of the Soviet Union and totalitarian regimes more generally. It next examines the totalization of law accomplished by segregationist regimes in the mid-twentieth century, comparing and contrasting those regimes with totalitarian regimes. Then it turns to examine instances of “tactical totalization” in our own day. Examining totalization of law as a jurisprudential, rather than political, phenomenon reveals how the totalization of legal norms can and does occur in liberal democracies, though with substantially different implications than in totalitarian regimes.</p></abstract>

This article examines the totalization of private law by public authorities. It compares and contrasts the fate of private law in totalitarian regimes with the role of private law in contemporary, non-totalitarian liberal democracies. It briefly examines the Socialist jurisprudence of the former Soviet Union and its treatment of private law. It offers an explanation why private law might be inimical to the jurisprudence of the Soviet Union and totalitarian regimes more generally. It next examines the totalization of law accomplished by segregationist regimes in the mid-twentieth century, comparing and contrasting those regimes with totalitarian regimes. Then it turns to examine instances of “tactical totalization” in our own day. Examining totalization of law as a jurisprudential, rather than political, phenomenon reveals how the totalization of legal norms can and does occur in liberal democracies, though with substantially different implications than in totalitarian regimes.

Strategic and Tactical Totalization in the Totalitarian Epoch

British Journal of American Legal Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Strategic and Tactical Totalization in the Totalitarian Epoch"}

This article examines the totalization of private law by public authorities. It compares and contrasts the fate of private law in totalitarian regimes with the...

Strategic and Tactical Totalization in the Totalitarian Epoch

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: May 26, 2016

Page range: 57 - 93

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjals-2016-0002

© 2015 Adam J MacLeod, licensee De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.