Fernanda Pirie
Professor of the Anthropology of Law
Other affiliations
St Cross College
Faculty officer role(s):
Director of Graduate Studies for Centre for Socio-Legal Studies
Biography
Fernanda Pirie uses anthropological and comparative methods to compare legal practices and texts from around the world. She has carried out ethnographic fieldwork at both ends of the Tibetan plateau and also conducted historical work on Tibetan legal texts.
The Rule of Laws: a 4,000-year quest to order the world (Profile Books, Basic Books, 2021), her most recent book, is a global history of law. It traces the rise and fall of the world’s major legal systems and compares examples of historic law-making worldwide.
In her earlier monograph, The Anthropology of Law (OUP, 2013), Fernanda addresses the nature of law as a social form, as well as analysing its role in societies. This approach builds on themes and debates developed in the Oxford Legalism project, a collaboration between scholars from anthropology, history, and other disciplines, which produced four edited volumes (Legalism, OUP, 4 vols).
Fernanda’s research on Tibetan legal texts was funded by the AHRC and established a web-site containing source material (https://tibetanlaw.org/project) as well as several publications on the nature of Tibetan law and its relationship with Buddhism. She has also has worked with historians of the region in two ANR/DFG projects to develop the social history of Tibet.
Fernanda is currently writing on themes in global and historic comparative law, while developing a further research project on historic Tibetan legal texts.
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.
Publications
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(3) JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES 660
Pirie F, ‘Anthropology and Law: A Critical IntroductionComparative Law and Anthropology’ (2019) 25(1) JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE 166
PIRIE F, ‘Legalism: A Turn to History in the Anthropology of Law’ [2019] Clio@Themis
Pirie F, ‘Buddhist Law in Early Tibet: The Emergence of an Ideology’ [2018] Journal of Law and Religion
Pirie F, Kubal A and Creutzfeldt N, ‘Introduction: Exploring the Comparative in Sociolegal Studies’ [2016] International Journal of Law in Context
Pirie F, ‘Buddhism and Law: An Introduction.’ (2016) 31(1) JOURNAL OF LAW AND RELIGION 112
Pirie F, ‘Legalism and the Anthropology of Law’ (2015) 36 Recht Der Werklijkeid 99
Pirie F, ‘The Limits of the State: Coercion and Consent in Chinese Tibet’ (2013) 72(1) JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES 69
Pirie F, ‘The Violence of Liberation: Gender and Tibetan Buddhist Revival in Post-Mao China’ (2010) 16(3) JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE 685
Pirie F, ‘Law before Government: Ideology and Aspiration’ (2010) 30(2) OXFORD JOURNAL OF LEGAL STUDIES 207
Pirie F, ‘The Horse With Two Saddles: Tamxhwe in Modern Golok’ (2009) 1 Asian Highland Perspectives 164
Pirie F, ‘Legal Autonomy As Political Engagement: The Ladakhi Village in the Wider World’ (2006) 40(1) Law and Society Review 77
Pirie F, ‘Secular Morality, Village Law, and Buddhism in Tibetan Societies’ (2006) 12(1) 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(1) Nomadic Peoples 83
PIRIE F, ‘Which Two Laws? The Concept of Khrims Gnyis in Medieval Tibet’ Cahiers d’Extreme-Asie
PIRIE F, ‘Law As Ritual: Evoking an Ideal Order’ 14(2) HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory
‘Legalism: A Turn to History in the Anthropology of Law’ (2019) 15 Clio@Themis
PIRIE F, ‘Comparison in the Anthropology and History of Law’ Journal of Comparative Law
Pirie F, Anthropology of Law (Springer Nature 2023) 103
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, Moral Dilemmas in Slave-Owning Societies (EB-Verlag Dr. Brandt 2021)
Pirie F and Scheele J, Legalism Community and Justice (OUP Oxford 2014)
Von Benda-Beckmann K and Pirie F, Order and disorder: Anthropological perspectives (2008) 1
Pirie F, Peace and Conflict in Ladakh The Construction of a Fragile Web of Order (BRILL 2007)
Pirie F, ‘THE AMCHI AS VILLAGER’, HEALING AT THE PERIPHERY (2022)
Pirie F, ‘The Amchi As Villager: Status and Its Refusal in Ladakh’ in L Pordie and S. Kloos (eds.), Healing at the Periphery (Duke University Press 2022)
Pirie F, ‘The Drum of the Law and the Turquoise Dragon: Images of Authority in Tibetan Legal Texts.’ in D Lange, J Ptackova, M Wettstein, and others (eds.), Crossing Boundaries: Tibetan Studies Unlimited (Prague: Academia Publishing House 2021)
Pirie F, ‘Laws and Proverbs The Making and Unmaking of Moral Rules in Historic Tibet’, LEGAL RULES IN PRACTICE (2021)
Pirie F, ‘Anthropology of Law’ in M Sellers and S Kirste (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (Springer 2021)
Pirie F, ‘Legalism: Rules, Categories, and Texts’, The Oxford Handbook of Law and Anthropology (2020)
Pirie F, ‘The Making of Tibetan Law: The Khrims Gnyis Lta ba’i Me Long.’ in J Bischoff, P Maurer and C Ramble (eds.), On a Day of a Month of the Fire Bird Year. (Lumbini International Research Institute. 2020)
Pirie F, ‘Sociology of Law and Legal Anthropology’, Research Handbook on the Sociology of Law (2020)
Pirie F, ‘The Art of Mediation: Law and Rhetoric in Medieval Tibet.’ in M Moscati, M Palmer and M Roberts (eds.), Comparative Dispute Resolution (Edward Elgar Publishing. 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, ‘Oaths and Ordeals in Tibetan Law’ in D Schuh (ed.), Secular Law and Order in the Tibetan Highland (International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies 2015)
Pirie F, ‘Rules, Proverbs, and Persuasion: Legalism and Rhetoric in Tibet’ in P Dresch and J Scheele (eds.), Legalism: Rules and Categories (OUP 2015)
Pirie F, ‘Community, Justice, and Legalism: Elusive Concepts in Tibet’ in F Pirie and J Scheele (eds.), Legalism: Community and Justice (OUP 2014)
Pirie F and Scheele J, ‘Justice, Community, and Law’ in F Pirie and J Scheele (eds.), Legalism: Community and Justice (OUP 2014)
Pirie F, ‘LAW AND RELIGION IN HISTORIC TIBET’, RELIGION IN DISPUTES: PERVASIVENESS OF RELIGIOUS NORMATIVITY IN DISPUTING PROCESSES (2013)
Pirie F, ‘Who Were the Tibetan Lawmakers?’ in C Ramble, P Schwieger and A Travers (eds.), Tibetans who Escaped the Historian’s Net (Vajra Books 2013)
Pirie F, ‘Legal Dramas on the Amdo Grasslands: Abolition, Transformation or Survival?’ (2012)
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, ‘Kings, Monks, Bureaucrats and the Police: Tibetan Responses to Law and Authority’, The Power of Law in a Transnational World: Anthropological Enquiries (2009)
Pirie F, ‘From Tribal Tibet: The Significance of the Legal Form’ in M Freeman and D Napier (eds.), Law and Anthropology (OUP 2009)
Pirie F, ‘Order, Individualism and Responsibility: Contrasting Dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau’, Order and Disorder: Anthropological Perspectives (2008)
Von Benda-Beckmann K and Pirie F, ‘Introduction’ (2008)
Pirie F, ‘Violence and Opposition Among the Nomads of Amdo’ in F Pirie and T Huber (eds.), Conflict and Social Order in Tibet and Inner Asia (Brill 2008)
Pirie F, ‘DANCING IN THE FACE OF DEATH: LOSAR CELEBRATIONS IN PHOTOKSAR’, MODERN LADAKH: ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CONTINUITY AND CHANGE (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, ‘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 (ed.), Law and Buddhism (2018)
PIRIE F and Scheele J (eds.), Legalism (Oxford University Press 2014)
van Beek M and Pirie F, Modern Ladakh: Continuity and Change in Anthropological Perspective (Brill 2008)
PIRIE F and Huber T (eds.), Conflict and social order in Tibet and Inner Asia (Brill 2008)
PIRIE F and van Beek M (eds.), Modern Ladakh (Brill 2008)