Pierson v. Post, The Hunt for the Fox

Angela Fernandez is a legal historian at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, where she is also a member of the Department of History. She has published numerous articles and is co-editor of Law Books in Action: Essays on the Anglo-American Legal Treatise (2012).

• Introduction; Part I. The Literary History of Pierson: 1. Solemn foolery; 2. Rabelaisian play; Part II. The Social History of Pierson: 3. Local justice; 4. Lawyerization; 5. The legal fictions needed for a state of nature debate; Part III. The Intellectual History of Pierson: 6. The reporter; 7. Mandarization; Conclusion.

'A new generation of legal historians now has its leading essayist. Fernandez explodes the 'cases in context' genre with essays ranging across literary, social and intellectual history. Sprightly, but with painstaking research and impressive learning, she discovers in a judge's witticisms fresh insights into how lawyers and law professors distance themselves from the strife from which they profit.' Daniel Ernst, Georgetown University, Washington, DC