Scheingold's Failure: His Finest Book

Abstract

This essay argues that Stuart Scheingold's finest book is The Rule of Law in European Integration, a version of his doctoral dissertation published in 1965 by Yale University Press. It examines the argument of this book – that the European Court of Justice was largely responsible for creating the “new Europe,” and its constitution – and assesses the evidence that Scheingold adduced to support this claim. The conclusion is that Scheingold produced a unique and convincing and important book. The essay then shows that this book disappeared without a trace. It should have won awards and been celebrated for the breakthrough analysis it was. Instead it disappeared, and a discouraged Scheingold abandoned this project and turned to other scholarly interests. The essay advances three arguments as to why the book had no impact. First, it was so far ahead of its time that it failed even to have an audience, and what few readers it had failed to appreciate its significance. Second, it had the misfortune of being written in the jargon-heavy language of structural functionalism just as this theory disappeared from fashion virtually overnight. Third, the book focuses on a form of law that is not in fashion with sociolegal scholars, who are preoccupied with commands and rights, and not with courts’ abilities to create and empower new institutions. A final optimistic note is sounded in the face of this depressing account. When Scheingold abandoned his first field and turned to other scholarly interests, here too he made highly original and convincing arguments. But here, in contrast to his earlier experience with regional integration, this later work was widely recognized and praised, and the best of it is quite properly described as “classic.”

Citation

Feeley, M.M. (2012), "Scheingold's Failure: His Finest Book", Sarat, A. (Ed.) Special Issue: The Legacy of Stuart Scheingold (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 59), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 179-198. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1059-4337(2012)0000059012