Java Jive: Genealogy of a Juridical Icon
![handle is hein.journals/umialr56 and id is 123 raw text is: Java Jive: Genealogy of a Juridical Icon*
MICHAEL MCCANN,** WILLIAM HALTOM,*** AND ANNE BLOOM****
Law ... has a symbolic life; it resides in the minds of Americans
.... The influence of legal symbols is indirect but powerful... In its
symbolic form, the law shapes the context in which American politics
is conducted. . .It casts a shadow of popular belief that may be ulti-
mately more significant, albeit more difficult to comprehend, than the
authorities, rules, and penalties that we ordinarily associate with law.'
Stuart A. Scheingold
The accounts or narratives that people tell do more than relate events.
They also make moral claims and to be intelligible must be related
within conventional idioms and vocabularies of motive. . . [M]any
stories are themselves hegemonic, helping to sustain the legitimacy of
the taken-for-granted world ... .'
Patricia Ewick & Susan Silbey
Woman Burned By Hot McDonald's Coffee Gets $2.9 Million.3
Associated Press
When Stella Liebeck fumbled her coffee cup ... she might as well
have bought a winning lottery ticket ... This absurd judgment is a
stunning illustration of what is wrong with America's civil justice
system.4
San Diego Tribune
Cosmo Kramer remarks about his suit for hot coffee bums: Oh, I
* The authors would like to thank the National Science Foundation for the generous grant,
#SES-9818581, that supported part of the research reported infra. The authors would also like to
thank Judith Aks and Scott Lemieux for research assistance and John Brigham, Jeff Dudas, A.
Susan Owen and Elliot Slotnick for their helpful comments on earlier drafts.
** Professor, Department of Political Science; Director, Society and Justice; and Director,
Comparative Law and Society Studies (CLASS) Center; all at the University of Washington.
University of Florida B.A. 1974; University of California at Berkeley Ph.D. 1983.
*** Professor, Politics and Government, University of Puget Sound; University of
Washington B.A. 1975, Ph.D. 1984.
**** Mount Saint Mary's College B.A. 1983, University of Maryland J.D. 1988, University of
Washington, Ph.D. expected 2002.
1. STUART A. SCHEINGOLD, THE POLITICS OF RIGHTS: LAWYERS, PUBLIC POLICY, &
POLITICAL CHANGE xi (1974).
2. PATRICIA EWICK & SUSAN S. SILBEY, THE COMMON PLACE OF LAW: STORIES FROM
EVERYDAY LIFE 241 (1998) [hereinafter EwICK & SILBEY, THE COMMON PLACE OF LAW].
3. Associated Press, Woman Burned By Hot McDonald's Coffee Gets $ 2.9 Million, Aug. 18,
1994 [hereinafter AP, Woman Burned].
4. Editorial, Java Hijack, SAN DIEGO TRIBUNE, Aug. 20, 1994, at B6.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/umialr56&div=13&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Java Jive: Genealogy of a Juridical Icon
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