Maigret's Law

In: Studies in law, politics, and society, Band 14, S. 43-68

Abstract

Draws on the views & methods of the fictional French police inspector Jules Maigret, created by Georges Simenon, to understand the popular consciousness of law. A constitutive approach is used to examine the contradictions of Simenon's books: his sociological approach, which emphasizes the opposition between law & justice; his empirical method; & his doubt of the possibility of absolute truth. It is argued that Maigret's justice emerges from the context of social structures, rather than being created through formal procedures. It is concluded that the character is an agent of sociologically informed justice, rather than simply the premier agent of the French Police Judicature. 29 References. D. Schwartz