Representing Justice is a reflection on both the past and future of justice. It is also a fascinating inventory of the iconography of justice throughout the ages and in many countries. An original approach comes from the unusual and provocative link made by the authors between judicial problems and their artistic expressions, not only reflecting legal reality but also managing to anticipate it. Modernity consists of a shift from “rites to rights.” They assume that visual representations have preceded and encouraged legal reforms (and vice versa). Furthermore, it is assumed that the disappearance of legal symbolism has revealed a possible waning of justice; “the durability of courts as active sites of public exchange before independent judges ought not be taken for granted” (xvi). After decades of judicial symbols being seen simply as cogs of an impressive and oppressive (because impressive) machine designed to reinforce domination over defendants, Judith Resnik and Dennis Curtis gathered material in the mindset that “the pre-democratic emblem for justice became an icon for the twentieth-century governments” (12). Buildings have a constant contradiction between the aspirations that they translate into stone, and the prosaic reality and even the fears that prevail over symbols, the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court to close the front steps for security reasons, for example. Controversies about the symbolism of courthouse furniture sometimes end up before federal judges (as in the case of the monument to the Ten Commandments placed within an Alabama courthouse).

This is not a book about the history of judicial symbolism in a given society but rather a reflection on justice through symbols. Consequently there are two books in one: a database of representations of justice, and an essay on the future of courts. There are inspiring remarks about the transnational procedural shifts (326) that pose the crucial issue of the modern process to remove symbolisation. “The display of justice,” say the authors, “is on the wane in some of the venues in which it was once vibrant, and its relocation elsewhere has not been accompanied by either rites or rights of audience” (337).

To achieve its ambitious goal, the book had to overcome many obstacles. Firstly, the scope has to be delimited. The authors wisely decided to embrace a wide definition of symbols: paintings, statues, architecture, and plastic arts. The second obstacle was to select areas of which to cover: the United States? The West? A worldwide survey? Staying within the United States would have been frustrating, but seeking to deal with every symbol in history everywhere in the world, would have been just unworkable. Another obstacle was to decide what kind of attention should be paid to symbols. The last obstacle was to choose the main thread to tie up—and give meaning to—such vast and rich material. To assess all of these elements according to a single (and United States) benchmark would have been a trap. Therefore, Judith Resnik and Dennis Curtis decided to go back and forth between a United States situation and those of other countries (France, Israel, and South Africa, among others) and to pay special attention to international courts. Regrettably, there is very little material on the East, or on all of China.

Representing Justice is teeming with stimulating ideas such as “visual accessibility.” Others are more problematic, such as “transnational iconography.” Is the Lady of Justice really transnational? Is she not specific to the West? How do the Chinese perceive this representation of justice as a naked woman? Would it not have been preferable to approach this very rich material in terms of confrontational symbolism? It is not a crippling flaw because, on many occasions, the authors situate architectures in their cultural contexts. For example, they explain the architect's project for the Supreme Court of Israel, one of the most impressive judicial buildings in the world.

The result is a splendid book that will serve as a starting point for students, but also for judges and lawyers. It will provide them with a very detailed overview of a dimension of law and courts that they have to deal with, whether they choose to or not. Scholars will take advantage of the very exhaustive bibliography and end notes that close the book (223 pages). This is a monumental work from the perspective of both the subject and the dimension. It is a very informative tool for everyone interested in law and courts. Mention must be made of the extraordinarily rich iconography: all the major representations, symbols, and buildings in the United States, as well as in the rest of the world (that is, almost all of them because there are very few from the non-Western world).

This work is more than a book on the representations of justice: it is a fundamental book, which defines a new field of research, frames debates, and generates controversies.