Critical Jurisprudence of Duncan Kennedy and the Status of the Theory of Legal Interpretation

Abstract

The article attempts to analyse the status of the theory of legal interpretation that emerges from the contributions of one of the representatives of critical legal studies (CLS). Legal interpretation is analysed by using concepts drawn from hermeneutic universalism and the post-structural philosophy of politics. The concepts of Duncan Kennedy, an American philosopher of law, are subjected to analysis, and his concept of adjudication, the indeterminacy thesis and the hermeneutic of suspicion is addressed. The paper puts forward the thesis that the political nature of law – alongside factors closely related to social structure – is also determined by factors which pertain to the cognitive subject. This fact has crucial importance for determining the status of the theory of legal interpretation.