Louis E. Wolcher

Professor Emeritus of Law

Contact

Email: wolcher@uw.edu

Education

B.A. 1969, Stanford University J.D. 1973, Harvard University

Areas of Expertise

Legal Philosophy and Theory — Human Rights — Torts — Contracts

Selected Publications

Louis E. Wolcher, Ethics: New Trajectories in Law (1st ed. Routledge Press 2020). 128 pages.
Louis Wolcher, The Time of Religion and Human Rights, 14(2) J. Hum. Rts. 137-82 (2020).
Louis E. Wolcher, Law and the Ethical Turn: The Ethical Turn in Critical Legal Thought, in Research Handbook of Critical Legal Theory 181-200 (Emilios Christodoulidis, Ruth Dukes & Marco Goldoni eds., Edward Elgar Publishing 2019).
Louis E. Wolcher, Peace and Subjectivity, 13 J. Hum. Rts. 31-48 (2019).
Louis E. Wolcher, The Ethics of Justice Without Illusions (Routledge GlassHouse Books 2016). 250 pages.

See the full list under the Publications tab below.

Biography
Publications
Presentations

Professor Wolcher joined the faculty in 1986, after nine years of law practice with the firm of Pettit & Martin, in San Francisco, and three years on the faculty of the Rutgers-Camden Law School, in New Jersey. He was promoted to Professor of Law in 1989, was appointed Charles I. Stone Professor of Law (an endowed professorship) in 2004, and since 2013 has held the title of Emeritus Professor of Law. He served as Director of Faculty Scholarship and Development in 2005-2007. His primary research interests are in the fields of philosophy of law, legal and political theory, and human rights. Holding an undergraduate degree in history from Stanford University, he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1973, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. In 1973-1974, he served as a law clerk to Justice Bernard Levinson on the Hawaii Supreme Court.

Professor Wolcher has taught many different subjects in his time at UW Law School, including human rights, contracts, torts, civil procedure, federal courts, antitrust, restitution, admiralty, critical perspectives on law, and philosophy of law. He also taught classes on theories of justice to undergraduates in the University of Washington's Honors Program.

A member of the editorial board of Law & Critique (Kluwer Academic Publishers), an international journal of legal theory, he also serves on the advisory board of the Slovenian Law Review (University of Ljubljana). His honors include a Fulbright Award to study and teach in Slovenia in 1996, an invitation to lecture to the judges of the European Court of Human Rights, in Strasbourg, France, in 1999, a philosophical prize in the 2000 International Essay Competition, co-sponsored by the city of Weimar and the European cultural magazine Lettre International, and the Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair in American Studies for the fall semester of 2009 at University of Cergy-Pontoise School of Law, in France.

Recognized by the students as Teacher of the Year in 1992 and 1999, he received the University of Washington's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2005. Professor Wolcher has also visited and lectured at a number of institutions around the world, including the Institute of Political Science and Management (Uzbekistan), the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (San Francisco), Birkbeck College (London), the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), Kobe University (Japan), Osaka University (Japan), Mofid University (Iran), the University of Bergen (Norway), the Irish Centre for Human Rights (Ireland), Szechuan University Law School (Chengdu, China), Peking University School of Transnational Law (Shenzhen, China), and Southwest University School of Political Science and Law (Chongqing, China).

Peer Reviewed Journals & Law Reviews

Louis Wolcher, The Time of Religion and Human Rights, 14(2) J. Hum. Rts. 137-82 (2020).
Louis E. Wolcher, Peace and Subjectivity, 13 J. Hum. Rts. 31-48 (2019).
Louis E. Wolcher, Cultural Diversity and Universal Human Rights, 43 Cambrian L. Rev. 44-63 (2012).
Louis E. Wolcher, The Critical Imperative, The Crit, Summer 2012. 11 pages
Louis E. Wolcher, The Ethics of the Unsaid in the Sphere of Human Rights, 26 Notre Dame J.L. Ethics & Pub. Pol’y 533-47 (2012).
Louis E. Wolcher, Intent to Charge for Unsolicited Benefits Conferred in an Emergency: A Case Study in the Meaning of “Unjust” in the Restatement (Third) of Restitution & Unjust Enrichment, 68 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 911-47 (2011).
Louis E. Wolcher, Asking the Right Question in Business Ethics, 17 J. L. Bus. & Ethics 9-22 (2011).
Louis E. Wolcher, The Meaning of Justice in the World Today, 66 Nat'l Law. Guild Rev. 228-45 (2009).
Louis E. Wolcher, Unreal City, Unreal Law, 6 Int'l J. L. Context 295-306 (2010).
Louis Wolcher, Thoughts on the Intersection between Religion and Human Rights, Haft Aseman Quarterly (2010) (Mehdi Eivazy translator (Persian)).
Louis E. Wolcher, An Inquiry into the Possibility of an Ethical Politics, 11 Rutgers J. L. & Relig. 383-405 (2010); reprinted in 3 Nw. Interdisc. L. Rev. 1-21 (2010).
Louis E. Wolcher, Senseless Kindness: The Politics of Cost-Benefit Analysis, 25 Law & Ineq.147-202 (2007).
Louis E. Wolcher, Universal Suffering and the Ultimate Task of Law, 24 Windsor Y.B. Access Just. 361-99 (2006).
Louis E. Wolcher, A Philosophical Investigation into Methods of Constitutional Interpretation in the United States and the United Kingdom, 13 Va. J. Soc. Pol'y & L. 239-89 (2006).
Louis E. Wolcher, How Legal Language Works, 2 Unbound: Harv. J. Legal Left 91-125 (2006).
Louis E. Wolcher, The Tragic Foundations of Human Rights, 24 Wis. Int'l L. J. 523-56 (2006).
Louis E. Wolcher, The End of Technology: A Polemic, 79 Wash. L. Rev. 331-88 (2004).
Louis E. Wolcher, A Meditation on Law and Ethics, 1 Slovenian L. Rev. 139-50 (2004).
Louis E. Wolcher, Nature and Freedom, 9 Indep. Rev.: J. Pol. Econ. 263-70 (2004).
Louis Wolcher, Ethics, Justice, and Suffering in the Thought of Levinas: The Problem of the Passage, 14 Law & Crit. 93-116 (2003), reprinted in 2 Critical Legal Theory (Costas Douzinas & Colin Perrin eds., Routledge forthcoming Dec. 2011).
Louis Wolcher, What is the Rule of Law? Perspectives from Central Europe and the American Academy, 78 Wash. L. Rev. 515-24 (2003).
Louis Wolcher, Meditacija o pravu in etiki ("A Meditation on Law and Ethics"), 57 Pravnik 179-89 (Vesca Lamut trans., 2002 (Slovenian)).
Louis Wolcher, The Third Mountain: A Meditation on Chaos and Order, 15 Int’l J. Semiotics L. 25-52 (2002).
Louis Wolcher, Language as Mimesis, 5 L. Text. Culture 187-225 (2001).
Louis Wolcher, The Poetry of Negligence, 23 Liverpool L. Rev. 187-97 (2001).
Louis Wolcher, “Ezikt na Vremento” ("Time's Language"), in 24 Leteratura 23-35 (Elena Aleksieva trans., 2000 (Bulgarian)).
Louis Wolcher, Moz v Sobi: opazke k Derridajeri moci prava ("The Man in a Room: Remarks on Derrida's Force of Law"), 51 Pravnik 567-89 (Matjaz Nahtigal trans., 2000 (Slovenian)).
Louis Wolcher, The Paradox of Remedies: The Case of International Human Rights Law, 38 Colum. J. Transnat’l L. 515-61 (2000).
Louis Wolcher & Marijan Pavcnik, A Dialogue on Legal Theory Between a European Legal Philosopher and His American Friend, 35 Tex. Int’l L.J. 335-86 (2000).
Louis Wolcher, Die Sprache der Zeit ("Time's Language"), 47 Lettre Int’l 18-26 (Chris Hirte trans. 1999).
Louis Wolcher, A Meditation on Wittgenstein's Lecture on Ethics, 9 L. & Crit. 3-35 (1998).
Louis Wolcher, Pavcnik’s Theory of Legal Decisionmaking: An Introduction, 72 Wash. L. Rev. 469-80 (1997).
Louis Wolcher, Ronald Dworkin's Right Answers Thesis Through the Lens of Wittgenstein, 29 Rutgers L. J. 43-65 (1997).
Louis Wolcher, The Man in a Room: Remarks on Derrida's Force of Law, 7 L. & Crit. 35-64 (1996).
Louis Wolcher, Critical Legal Doubts about Language, 30 New England L. Rev. 1-38 (1995).
Louis Wolcher, What We Do Not Doubt: A Critical Legal Perspective, 46 Hastings L. J. 1783-1861 (1995).
Louis Wolcher, Being Mistaken, 5 L. & Crit. 175-207 (1994).
Louis Wolcher, The Many Meanings of "Wherefore" in Legal History, 68 Wash. L. Rev. 559-650 (1993).
Louis Wolcher, Annotated Contracts Haiku, 42 J. Leg. Ed. 141-42 (1992).
Louis Wolcher, The Privilege of Idleness: A Case Study of Capitalism and the Common Law in Nineteenth Century America, 36 Am. J. Legal History 237-325 (1992).
Louis Wolcher, "The Enchantress" and Karl Polanyi's Social Theory, 51 Ohio State L. J. 1243-81 (1990).
Louis Wolcher, Price Discrimination and Inefficient Risk Allocation Under the Rule of Hadley v. Baxendale, 12 Research L. & Econ. 9-31 (1989).
Louis Wolcher, The Accommodation of Regret in Contract Remedies, 73 Iowa L. Rev. 797-892 (1988).
Louis Wolcher, Sovereign Immunity and the Supremacy Clause: Damages Against States in Their Own Courts for Constitutional Violations, 69 Calif. L. Rev. 189-316 (1981).
Louis Wolcher, Limiting the Antitrust Immunity for Concerted Attempts to Influence Courts and Adjudicatory Agencies: Analogies to Malicious Prosecution and Abuse of Process, 86 Harv. L. Rev. 715-35 (1973).

Books or Treatises

Louis E. Wolcher, Ethics: New Trajectories in Law (1st ed. Routledge Press 2020). 128 pages.
Louis E. Wolcher, The Ethics of Justice Without Illusions (Routledge GlassHouse Books 2016). 250 pages.
Louis E. Wolcher, Law's Task: The Tragic Circle of Law, Justice and Human Suffering (Ashgate 2008). 251 pages.
Louis E. Wolcher, Beyond Transcendence in Law and Philosophy (Birkbeck Law Press 2005). 250 pages.

Book Chapters

Louis E. Wolcher, Law and the Ethical Turn: The Ethical Turn in Critical Legal Thought, in Research Handbook of Critical Legal Theory 181-200 (Emilios Christodoulidis, Ruth Dukes & Marco Goldoni eds., Edward Elgar Publishing 2019).
Louis E. Wolcher, Foreword, in Michelle Farrell, The Prohibition of Torture in Exceptional Circumstances xi-xiv (Cambridge University Press 2013).
Louis Wolcher, The Problem of Unity and Diversity in International Human Rights, in 1 NAM Yearbook on Human Rights and Cultural Diversity 13-42 (Kamran Hashemi & Linda Briskman eds., NAM Center for Human Rights and Cultural Diversity 2012).
Marijan Pavcnik & Louis Wolcher, A Dialogue on Legal Theory Between a European Legal Philosopher and His American Friend, in Marijan Pavcnik, Auf Dem Weg Zum Mass des Rechts: Ausgewahlte Schriften zur Rechtstheorie 215-66 (Franz Steiner Verlag 2011).
Louis E. Wolcher, The Problem of the Subject(s), in Prospects of Legal Semiotics 145-69 (Anne Wagner & Jan M. Brokeman eds., Springer 2010).
Louis E. Wolcher, Rules and Statements, in Obscurity and Clarity in the Law: Prospects and Challenges 39-67 (Anne Wagner & Sophie Cacciaguidi-Fahy eds., Ashgate 2008).
Louis Wolcher, The Times of Religion and Human Rights, in Human Rights and Religion 101-04 (Mofid Univ. Publications 2007).
Louis Wolcher, Human Rights and Human Suffering, in Theoretical Foundations of Human Rights 141-60 (Carl Wellman & M. Habibi Modjandeh, eds., Mofid Univ. Publications 2007).
Louis E. Wolcher, Removal to Federal Court, in 3 Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties 1315-16 (Paul Finkelman ed., Routledge 2006).
Louis E. Wolcher, Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts, in 2 Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties 866-69 (Paul Finkelman ed., Routledge 2006).
Louis E. Wolcher, Annotated Einstein Haiku, in Der Einstein-Komplex: 99 Philosophen, Schriftsteller, Künstler und Wissenschaftler Über Ein Genie [The Einstein Complex: 99 Philosophers, Writers, Artists and Scientists on a Genius] 146-47 (Gerd Weiberg & Frank Berberich eds., Wunderhorn 2005).
Louis E. Wolcher, Thought’s Prison: An Image of Images, in Imaginary Boundaries of Justice: Social and Legal Justice across Disciplines 21-49 (Ronnie Lippens ed., Hart 2004).
Louis E. Wolcher, The Question Concerning Law and Technology, in Law and Modernity: Particular Problems 143-58 (Ola Zetterquist ed., Polpress 2004).
Louis E. Wolcher, Ronald Dworkin’s Right Answers Thesis Through the Lens of Wittgenstein, in Wittgenstein and Law 357-79 (Dennis Patterson ed., Ashgate 2004).
Louis Wolcher, The Paradox of Remedies, in Human Rights in Philosophy and Practice 549-86 (Burton M. Leiser & Tom D. Campbell eds., Ashgate 2001).
Louis Wolcher, Introduction: Thinking Critically About Human Rights, in Human Rights, Women's Rights, Minority Rights: Proceedings of the 17th World Congress of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR), New York, June 24-30, 1999, at 11-18 (Alexander Brostl & Marijan Pavcnik eds., Franz Steiner Verlag 2001).
Louis Wolcher, "Sigan ui Ono" ("Time's Language"), in Sigan Uro Put' O Ui Haebang 195-254 (Nam Kyong-t'ae trans., Sein 2000 (Korean)).

Book Reviews

Louis Wolcher, Book Review, 37 Phil. Rev. 221-23 (2017) (reviewing Malcolm Voyce, Foucault, Buddhism and Disciplinary Rules (2017)).
Louis E. Wolcher, Book Review, Wash. Indep. Rev. Books (July 11, 2013) (reviewing Thane Rosenbaum, Payback: The Case for Revenge (2013)).
Louis E. Wolcher, Book Review, 72 Mod. L. Rev. 1035-44 (2009) (reviewing Oren Ben-Dor, Thinking about Law in Silence with Heidegger (2007)).
Louis Wolcher, A New and Superior Theory of Ideology?, 4 Independent Rev. J. of Pol. Econ. 291-302 (1999) (reviewing J.M. Balkin, Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology (1998)).

Professional Publications

Louis Wolcher, The Meanings of the Commons, 23 An Architektur 4-5 (2010 insert) (Lecture Before the Seattle Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Law of the Commons Conference (March 13, 2009)).
Louis E. Wolcher, Constitutional Interpretation in the United States and the United Kingdom, in IVR Encyclopaedia of Jurisprudence, Legal Theory and Philosophy of Law (Eveline Feteris et al. eds, 2007).
Louis Wolcher, Law's Task, 52 U. Wash. Law Rev. 28-29 (2004).
Louis Wolcher & Robert Maines, Refusals to Deal and Exclusive Distributorships after GTE Sylvania, 375 Corporate Law and Practice Handbook (Practicing Law Institute 1981).

Other Publications

Louis E. Wolcher, Kommentierte Haikus, 69 Lettre Int'l 115 (2005).

Speaker, Eclipse of Ethics Amsterdam Centre on the Legal Professions and Access to Justice, University of Amsterdam (September 14, 2023)
Speaker, "A Lecture on the Ethics of Law and Justice," University of Liverpool School of Law and Social Justice (May 7, 2019)
Commentator, Professor Adam Gearey Inaugural Lecture: Lives That Slide Out of View: Jurisprudence and Poverty, University of London (June 17, 2015)
Speaker, "The Ethics of Justice Without Illusions," Annual Meeting (Power, Capital, Chaos), Critical Legal Conference (September 5, 2014)
Speaker, "Sustainable Development of What? The Cultural and Historical Ambiguities of “Nature"," University of Szechuan Law School (July 2, 2014)
Speaker, "On Speechlessness," Critical Legal Conference Annual Meeting, (September 6, 2013)
Speaker, "The Impossible Ethics of the Real," 2012 Critical Legal Conference, (September 16, 2012)
Keynote, "Human Rights and Cultural Diversity," First International Conference on Human Rights and Cultures: Cultures in Support of Humanity, Non-Aligned Movement for Human Rights and Cultural Diversity, the Irish Center for Human Rights, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (November 24, 2011)
Speaker, "The Critical Imperative," Critical Legal Conference: Momentum: Critical Thought, Critical Action, University of Idaho (October 21, 2011)
Speaker, "On Diversity," British Critical Legal Conference, Aberystwyth University (September 9, 2011)
Speaker, "Intent to Charge for Unsolicited Benefits Conferred in an Emergency: A Case Study in the Meaning of "Unjust" in the Restatement (Third) of Restitution and Unjust Enrichment," Restitution Rollout Symposium for the Restatement (Third) of Restitution and Unjust Enrichment, Washington and Lee University, Frances Lewis Law Center (February 25, 2011)
Keynote, "Asking the Right Question in Business Ethics," Annual Conference, Pacific Southwest Academy of Legal Studies in Business (February 19, 2011)
"The Meaning of Justice in the World Today," Orcas Crossroads Lecture Series, (October 10, 2010)
"The Meaning(s) of Corruption in Business Ethics," International Business Corruption, University of Cergy-Pontoise (December 11, 2009)
Speaker, "The Problem of the Subject(s)," Forum in Legal and Political Theory, London School of Economics (October 27, 2009)