Memory, the First Stage of the Law

Abstract My contribution to this Law and Memory conference is intended as an introduction; it will be that of a philosopher of time and a theorist of law. Drawing on my book Le temps du droit (Odile Jacob, Paris, 1999), I would like, in the space of a few pages, to discuss the place of memory in the various periods of law (1), its paradoxical nature (2), the forms it takes in the legal order (3), and finally to emphasise the need to open it up to other temporalities that can help to untie a past that might become oppressive (4).