Fernanda Pirie

Professor of the Anthropology of Law

Centre for Socio-Legal Studies

Other affiliations

St Cross College

Faculty officer role(s):

Director of Graduate Studies for Centre for Socio-Legal Studies

Biography

An anthropologist specialising in Tibetan societies, Fernanda uses both ethnographic and historical methods to study and compare legal practices and texts. She has argued for a new anthropology of law, which engages both with legal theory and legal history: The Anthropology of Law (OUP, 2013). This builds on themes and debates developed in the Oxford Legalism project, which brought together scholars from anthropology, history, and other disciplines to compare wide-ranging empirical examples (Legalism, OUP, 4 vols).

These themes form the basis for Fernanda’s research into Tibetan legal history and an AHRC-funded project on the legal history of medieval Tibet: Legal Ideology in Tibet: Politics, Practice, and Religion (2016–18) This has led to a series of publications and a web-site containing source material (www.tibetanlaw.org).

Her latest book is a global history of law, which was published in November 2021: The Rule of Laws: a 4,000-year quest to order the world (Profile Books, Basic Books).

Fernanda continues to publish on legal anthropology and Tibetan legal history, as well as related issues, such as comparison in law and anthropology and the relationship between empirical studies and legal theory.

Qualifications DPhil in Social Anthropology (Oxford) 2002, MSc in Social Anthropology (UCL) 1998, Called to the Bar 1988, BA in French and Philosophy (Oxford) 1986.

Featured Publications

Publications

Journal Article (16)

Pirie F, “Beyond Pluralism: A Descriptive Approach to Non-State Law” [2022] Jurisprudence

Pirie F, “In the Circle of White Stones: Moving through the Seasons With Nomads of Eastern Tibet”. (2019) 78 JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES 660

Pirie F, “Anthropology and Law: A Critical IntroductionComparative Law and Anthropology” (2019) 25 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE 166

Pirie F, “Legalism: A Turn to History in the Anthropology of Law” (2019) 15 Clio@Themis

Pirie F, “Buddhist Law in Early Tibet: The Emergence of an Ideology” (2018) 32 Journal of Law and Religion 406

Pirie F, Kubal A and Creutzfeldt N, “Introduction: Exploring the Comparative in Sociolegal Studies” (2016) 12 International Journal of Law in Context 377

Pirie F, “Buddhism and Law: An Introduction”. (2016) 31 JOURNAL OF LAW AND RELIGION 112

Pirie F, “The Limits of the State: Coercion and Consent in Chinese Tibet” (2013) 72 JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES 69

Pirie F, “The Violence of Liberation: Gender and Tibetan Buddhist Revival in Post-Mao China” (2010) 16 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE 685

Pirie F, “Law before Government: Ideology and Aspiration” (2010) 30 OXFORD JOURNAL OF LEGAL STUDIES 207

Pirie F, “Legal Autonomy As Political Engagement: The Ladakhi Village in the Wider World” (2006) 40 Law and Society Review 77

Pirie F, “Secular Morality, Village Law, and Buddhism in Tibetan Societies” (2006) 12 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE 173

Pirie F, “Segmentation Within the State: The Reconfiguration of Tibetan Tribes in China’s Reform Period” (2005) 9 Nomadic Peoples 83

Pirie F, “Which Two Laws? The Concept of Khrims Gnyis in Medieval Tibet” 26 Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie

PIRIE F, “Comparison in the Anthropology and History of Law” Journal of Comparative Law

“Legalism: A Turn to History in the Anthropology of Law” (2019) 15 Clio@Themis

Pirie F, The Rule of Laws A 4000-Year Quest to Order the World (Profile Books 2021)

Pirie F, The Rule of Laws A 4,000-Year Quest to Order the World (Basic Books 2021)

Pirie F, The Anthropology of Law (Oxford University Press 2013)

Pirie F, Peace and Conflict in Ladakh The Construction of a Fragile Web of Order (BRILL 2007)

PIRIE F and van Beek M (eds.), “Modern Ladakh”

PIRIE F and Huber T (eds.), “Conflict and Social Order in Tibet and Inner Asia”

Pirie F, “Laws and Proverbs The Making and Unmaking of Moral Rules in Historic Tibet”, LEGAL RULES IN PRACTICE (2021)

Pirie F, “Legalism: Rules, Categories, and Texts”, The Oxford Handbook of Law and Anthropology (2020)

Pirie F, “Sociology of Law and Legal Anthropology”, Research Handbook on the Sociology of Law (2020)

Pirie F, “State, Law, and Morality in Traditional Tibet”, Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library (2017)

Pirie F, “Legal Theory and Legal History: A View from Anthropology”, LAW IN THEORY AND HISTORY: NEW ESSAYS ON A NEGLECTED DIALOGUE (2016)

Pirie F and Rogers J, “Pupillage: The Shaping of a Professional Elite”, The Anthropology of Elites: Power, Culture, and the Complexities of Distinction (2012)

Pirie F, “Legal Dramas on the Amdo Grasslands: Abolition, Transformation or Survival?” (2012)

Pirie F, “Kings, Monks, Bureaucrats and the Police: Tibetan Responses to Law and Authority”, The Power of Law in a Transnational World: Anthropological Enquiries (2009)

Von Benda-Beckmann K and Pirie F, “Introduction” (2008)

Pirie F, “Order, Individualism and Responsibility: Contrasting Dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau”, Order and Disorder: Anthropological Perspectives (2008)

Pirie F, “VIOLENCE AND OPPOSITION AMONG THE NOMADS OF AMDO: EXPECTATIONS OF LEADERSHIP AND RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY”, CONFLICT AND SOCIAL ORDER IN TIBET AND INNER ASIA (2008)

Pirie F and Huber T, “Conflict and Social Order in Tibet and Inner Asia INTRODUCTION”, CONFLICT AND SOCIAL ORDER IN TIBET AND INNER ASIA (2008)

van Beek M and Pirie F, “Modern Ladakh Anthropological Perspectives on Continuity and Change INTRODUCTION”, MODERN LADAKH: ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CONTINUITY AND CHANGE (2008)

Pirie F, “DANCING IN THE FACE OF DEATH: LOSAR CELEBRATIONS IN PHOTOKSAR”, MODERN LADAKH: ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CONTINUITY AND CHANGE (2008)