Introduction Memory Laws: Mapping a New Subject in Comparative Law and Transitional Justice

The introductory chapter to the volume systemizes the genesis and history of memory laws, and explains the proliferation of this Western phenomenon within diverse legal systems. It traces the role of the Holocaust in the turn to law within both international and national regimes after World War II. The chapter also examines the mechanics of that spillover in various legal settings. In the second section of their introduction, the editors summarize accounts presented in their edited book, and explore claims about the benefits and flaws of legal intervention into the marketplace of historical ideas. In conclusion, they ponder the current place and prospects of memory laws as a dynamic subject of both law and transitional justice. That subject is driven by continuous inter-disciplinary input from lawyers, historians, and scholars from various branches of social sciences.