Law, Anthropology, and the Constitution of the Social: Making Persons and Things (Cambridge Studies in Law and Society)

The product of a collaboration between leading theorists in law and anthropology, this book develops an innovative analysis of legal practices. Specifically, it focuses on how law constructs persons and things, and develops new approaches to the question of ownership. These approaches are of particular value in understanding the cultural impact of biotechnology. At the same time, they illuminate the history of Western law, and develop thought-provoking comparisons between Western law and Islamic law.