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Cardozo Law Review

Authors

Lea VanderVelde

Abstract

In his contribution to this symposium, Richard Weisberg tells us a subtle story of what he calls "twin hermeneutics." I will use one of these-"the hermeneutic of acceptance"-to launch my own discussion on the subject of ethical dilemmas. By this term, "the hermeneutic of acceptance," Weisberg means the gradual acceptance by French lawyers of the scheme of racial exclusion newly created by Vichy laws. He traces the digression in legal arguments made by French lawyers during the four years of Vichy rule. French lawyers loaned their prestige to these new laws by means which placed their legal arguments on a technical level. This was done by elaborating the dimensions of the exceptions. By attempting to usher their clients through the loopholes of the law, these French lawyers left unchallenged the pernicious evil of Vichy's web of racial exclusion. By leaving that unchallenged, they tacitly acknowledged the government's power to exclude and to discriminate, adding to the legitimacy of Vichy law-a law which would have fateful consequences.

Keywords

Slavery, Race and Ethnicity Issues, First Amendment, Religion and the Law, Academic Freedom, Issues in Education, European Court of Human Rights, International Law, Human Rights Law

Disciplines

First Amendment | Human Rights Law | International Law | Law | Law and Race

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