The Boston College Law Review E. Supp. has published a symposium issue devoted to Anita Bernstein’s book, The Common Law Inside the Female Body (Cambridge University Press 2019), including a response by Professor Bernstein. This symposium is a companion to one held by the Northwestern Law Review Online earlier this academic year (here).
Here are the essays in the symposium line-up:
- Bridget J. Crawford, The Common Law as a Force for Women
- Nadia B. Ahmad, Re-Reading Anita Bernstein’s The Common Law Inside the Female Body from the Bottom of the Well: Analysis of the Central Park Five, Border Drownings, the Kavanaugh Confirmation, and the Coronavirus
- Ann Bartow, The Female Legal Realist Inside the Common Law
- Deborah Dinner, Seeking Liberty, Finding Patriarchy: The Common Law’s Historical Seeking Liberty, Finding Patriarchy: The Common Law’s Historical Legacy Legacy
- Lolita Buckner Inniss, (Un)Common Law and the Female Body
- Katharine Silbaugh, The Common Law Inside a Social Hierarchy: Power or Reason? The Common Law Inside a Social Hierarchy: Power or Reason?
- Anita Bernstein, There’s Feminism in Those Judgments
Here is the publisher’s description of the book:
In The Common Law Inside the Female Body, Anita Bernstein explains why lawyers seeking gender progress from primary legal materials should start with the common law. Despite its reputation for supporting conservatism and inequality, today’s common law shares important commitments with feminism, namely in precepts and doctrines that strengthen the freedom of individuals and from there the struggle against the subjugation of women. By re-invigorating both the common law – with a focus on crimes, contracts, torts, and property – and feminist jurisprudence, this highly original work anticipates a vital future for a pair of venerable jurisprudential traditions. It should be read by anyone interested in understanding how the common law delivers an extraordinary degree of liberty and security to all persons – women included.