Courts as Storytellers? Narratological Approaches to Human Rights Adjudication

Justus Liebig University Giessen | Campus Law and Economics | Dekanatssitzungssaal | Licher Str. 72, 35394 Giessen

Livestream: MeDiMi YouTube channel

The idea that courts can be storytellers hardly befits the noble office of serving justice. However, a narratological analysis can contribute to deconstruct claims to truth and objectivity and enrich the critical legal toolbox, especially in the field of human rights adjudication. The talk will present where narratives enter into the reconstruction of the facts of a case and will then focus on the role of narratives in legal argumentation. By taking the European Court of Human Rights’ 2016 Hirsi Jamaa judgment as a starting point, the role of narratives and metaphors especially in hard cases dealing with the extraterritorial reach of human rights will be analysed.

Andreas von Arnauld is professor of public law, international law and EU law at Kiel University and co-director of the Walther Schücking Institute for International Law.