Hollow law and utilitarian law

The devaluing of deportation hearings in New York City and Paris

Bibliographic Data

ID4745972
AuthorsLili Dao (0000-0001-8655-7392, New York University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume57
Issue3
Pages317-339
Publication date2023-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLaw & Society Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0023-9216 • E-ISSN: 1540-5893
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/lasr.12665
OpenAlexW4386958666
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited52

How is law made worthless to the marginalized? Drawing on ethnographic observations in Paris and New York City, I establish a typology of devaluation practices in deportation hearings. I analyze how informal court practices devalue court actors, the hearing, and the law itself. Despite different levels of formal protections for migrants, deportation adjudication is pared down and devalued in both cities. This devaluation, however, followed distinct logics. New York hearings were characterized by a utilitarian law logic, where process and ritualistic elements deemed inessential were shed, leaving a stripped-down core focused on case processing. The minimal protections available to migrants were weakened further. By contrast, hollow law emerged in Parisian hearings, where everyday court practices eroded the more generous protections granted to migrants through formal law. While analyses of immigration adjudication have focused on decision-making, determinants of legal outcomes, and the interpretation of formal criteria, I instead conceptualize the courtroom as a space where value is actively unmade through informal practices, drawing on insights from the sociology of valuation and evaluation

Adjudication · Criminology · Currency · Deportation · Devaluation · Economics · Immigration · Immigration law · Political science · Sociology · Law · Migration, Identity, and Health · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · North African History and Literature

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