Dennis Leslie Mahoney Prize in Jurisprudence
2011 Mahoney Prize
The Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence in Sydney Law School at the University of Sydney is delighted to announce that the Dennis Leslie Mahoney Prize in Legal Theory for 2011 has been awarded to Professor Ran Hirschl of the University of Toronto for his book, Constitutional Theocracy, which was published by Harvard University Press in 2010.
The prize of AU$50,000, which is funded by a generous gift from the Honourable Dennis Mahoney AO QC, former President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, is awarded to the author or authors of the entry that, in the preceding five years, has best advanced the sociological approach to jurisprudence that Julius Stone pioneered. Professor Hirschl was chosen as the winner from a most impressive field by a committee that consisted of Justice Mahoney, Professor Gillian Triggs (Dean and Challis Professor of International Law, Sydney Law School), Professor Martin Krygier (Gordon Samuels Professor of Law and Social Theory, University of New South Wales), Professor Wojciech Sadurski (Challis Chair in Jurisprudence, Sydney Law School) and Dr Kevin Walton (Director of the Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence). The committee regarded Constitutional Theocracy as a brilliant analysis of law in its social context and a fascinating exploration of an issue of contemporary and global significance, namely, the role of constitutional law and courts in non-secular societies. It is pleased that Professor Hirschl has agreed to visit Sydney Law School and to deliver the annual Julius Stone Address for 2012, when members of the academic community as well as the general public will have an opportunity to learn more about his outstanding work.
Further information
The following documents provide further information about the Dennis Leslie Mahoney Prize in Legal Theory:
2006 Mahoney Prize
The inaugural Dennis Leslie Mahoney Prize in Legal Theory was awarded to Professor Brian Tamanaha, Chief Judge Benjamin N. Cardozo Professor of Law, St John’s University, New York.
A General Jurisprudence of Law and Society (Oxford University Press, 2001) was the outstanding entry in a very strong field. The Prize Committee regarded it as “a major contribution to the field of sociological jurisprudence”, which ventured “a sociological reorientation of legal positivism”.
The Committee consisted of the Hon. Justice Dennis Mahoney AO (former President, New South Wales Court of Appeal), Professor Ron McCallum (chair; Dean of Law, University of Sydney), Professor Tom Campbell (Australian National University College of Law), Professor Ngaire Naffeine (University of Adelaide Law School) and Mr Kevin Walton (Acting Director, Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence).Professor Tamanaha is Chief Judge Benjamin N. Cardozo Professor of Law. He is the author of four books: Understanding Law in Micronesia: An Interpretive Approach to Transplanted Law (Brill 1993), Realistic Socio-Legal Theory: Pragmatism and a Social Theory of Law (Oxford 1997), A General Jurisprudence of Law and Society (Oxford 2001) and On the Rule of Law: History, Politics, Theory (Cambridge, 2004).
He has also published articles in a variety of journals, including the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, American Journal of International Law, American Journal of Comparative Law, American Journal of Jurisprudence, Law and Society Review, and the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.
Professor Tamanaha's scholarship has achieved international recognition. A General Jurisprudence of Law and Society, which articulates a universally applicable framework for examining the relationship between law and society, also won the 2002 Herbert Jacob Book Prize. His previous book was the subject of a symposium issue of the Rutgers (Camden) Law Review, it was awarded a Certificate of Special Recognition (1998) by the Law and Society Association, and it was identified in Lloyd's Introduction to Jurisprudence as one of the "most significant books" on jurisprudence to appear in the past decade.
Professor Tamanaha delivered the Keynote Address at the Conference on Law and Social Theory (2001) at Wolfson College, Oxford University, and presented Public Lectures at the University of Tilburg (2001) and University College London (2002). He has given presentations on his work to a number of law faculties, including Leiden, Amsterdam, Northwestern, Hofstra, Pennsylvania, Emory, Indiana (Bloomington), Rutgers (Newark), Temple, Washington, and Miami.
Prior to joining the St. John's law faculty, Professor Tamanaha taught law for four years at the University of Amsterdam, and worked as a Research Associate at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law and Administration in Non-Western Countries. He has also been a Visiting Professor at Anton de Kom University of Suriname, and a Lecturer in the Graduate Program at Harvard Law School and at the College of Micronesia.
Professor Tamanaha accepted an invitation to deliver the 2007 Julius Stone Address.
