A GENRRAL ENGLISH RESEARCH PAPER ON:

ACCEPTANCE OF EMOTONS IN LAW

Semester I

Submitted to:
Violet Miranda
(Professor of General English at NMIMS )

Submitted by:
Pragya Garg
First year, BBA LLB, Roll no:-36
 CONTENTS

Serial number Topics

1. INTRODUCTION

A SHORT HISTORY
2.
DEFINATION OF ‘EMOTION’ IN LAW
3.

ROLE OF EMOTIONS IN LAW

4.
EMOTION IN GROUP AND
5. INSTITUTIONAL SETTINGS

EMOTIONS AND JUDGES

6.
EMOTIONAL INCLINATION
7.

CONCLUSION
8.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
9.
 I.INTRODUCTION
logical reasoning, science, social science and humanities has always been the basis of field of
law. If we talk about ancient times, emotions were excluded and were never even taken into
consideration because people thought that it was exactly the opposite of logical reasoning. As
time changed, so did the perception of relationship between law and emotions, even though not
entirely. Maybe that is why, there is still a hard folk knowledge portraying emotions as quick,
hot, irrational bursts of feeling and that is why they are not a legitimate tool for framing any
concrete decision.

Law and emotion enriches understanding of the law on multiple overlapping levels:

1. Firstly, if we talk on the descriptive level, it doesn’t depend on rationality which doesn’t have
a touch of emotions and cognition interacts. Moreover, it makes exploration of appropriate role
of emotions with relation to identification and implementation of legal norms.

2. Second, at the level of specific doctrine, law rests on great number of assumptions, both
explicit and implicit, about how emotion influences behavior and about how to channel emotion
to influence decision making in desirable ways. Law and emotion scrutinizes these assumptions
in light of evolving knowledge about the role of emotion in decision making across a range of
disciplines.

3. Finally, law focuses on emotions on every level, whether it is internal, external, social or an
essential component of institutional dynamics. Thus, there is a change in law and dynamics of
institutional behavior when we throw light on collective decision making.

This paper begins with a brief history of the field, followed by a definition of emotion and some
caveats about terminology. It then turns to a necessarily selective overview of the topic.

II. A SHORT HISTORY

The emergence of modern law and emotion took place because of various reasons. Firstly,
emotions became a very popular and interesting topic in certain fields like philosophy,
psychology, and sociology and even attracted various scholars belonging to these fields.

Secondly, legal scholars felt that all the questions could not be answered internally and felt that
there were other branches which had to be taken into consideration, thus taking an
interdisciplinary turn.

Finally, philosophical challenges the notions of judicial objectivity first raised by the legal
realists were renewed and extended by feminists, critical race theorists, and other scholars.
 III. DEFINATION OF ‘EMOTION’ IN LAW
Ideally, those who deploy the category “emotion” or terms describing emotions in the legal field
will clarify their working definitions, the context in which the terms are being used, and what
legal consequences flow from the use of the terms.

“Emotions are a set of evaluative and motivational processes, distributed throughout the brain,
that assist us in appraising and reacting to stimuli and that are formed, interpreted, and
communicated in social and cultural context. They influence the way we screen, categorize, and
interpret information; influence our evaluations of the intentions or credibility of others; and help
us decide what is important or valuable. Perhaps most importantly, they drive us to care about
the outcome of our decision making and motivate us to take action, or refrain from taking action,
on the situations we evaluate.”

In short, the current consensus across disciplines is that emotions are not, as folk knowledge
would have it, occasional, intense, unpredictable moods that interfere with a steady state of
rationality.

IV. ROLE OF EMOTIONS IN LAW

 The role of emotion in doctrine:

Doctrines often rest on implicit assumptions about emotion. For example, Calhoun (2000) argues
that objections to same-sex marriage rest upon implicit assumptions about who is capable of
romantic love. Bagenstos & Schlanger (2007) argue that disability law is based on unstated
misapprehensions about the likely level of happiness and enjoyment of life attained by those who
become disabled. Or relatedly, doctrines may fail to acknowledge emotional effects or their
consequences. Assumptions about what counts as emotion may influence legal doctrine in ways
that go undetected. For example, appeals for mercy may be coded as emotional and off-limits,
whereas appeals for vengeance or retribution may be coded as legal arguments.

 The role of emotion in the reasoning process.

Emotion influences not only the content of our perception but also the thought process of the
people. Cognitive science also realized how important emotions are when it was studying
patients with brain abnormalities that impair emotional functions, thus progressing its
understanding related to the role of emotions in the decision- making process.
More recently, the field of cognitive neuroscience has employed powerful neuroimaging
technology to investigate the dynamics of reasoning and emotion’s role in the process of
judgment.

 The role of emotion in moral decision making.

Legal scholars have long debated the role of “moral” emotions and capacities, such as moral
annoyance, outrage, disgust, compassion, and empathy, in norm creation and decision making.
Scientific studies have also supported the conclusion that emotions are very important in moral
judgment, and there are researches which are trying to figure out the interaction amongst
emotion, cognition, and morality interact.

Most current theories adopt a version of a dual-process model, involving some combination of
quick, intuitive judgments and slower, more deliberative judgments.

V. EMOTION IN GROUP AND INSTITUTIONAL SETTINGS

1. Emotion and social norms:

Emotions such as shame, fear, trust, and the desire for approval are deeply involved in the
development, communication, and enforcement of the norms animating law. Legal scholars have
involved themselves with the emotional aspects of norm creations and discussed the topic of why
and how we punish. But emotions are implied in a lot of ways which questions the basic social
norm, such as the formation or creation of norms related to family and intellectual property or
questions of why citizens obey the law or feel themselves part of a polity.

2. Emotion cultures:

Law is spread throughout with implicit social and cultural expectations about the feeling and
display of emotion. These include, for example, expectations about who is capable of romantic
love and therefore marriage , or about what rape victims or domestic violence victims ought to
feel and how they ought to express their feelings or about what pregnant women ought to feel
toward their unborn babies . The study of emotion cultures also encompasses the culture of
particular legal institutions, such as the bench, the courtroom, the law school classroom, and the
law firm.

3. Effects of group dynamics on the emotions of individuals:

What effect does group participation have on the emotions of individuals? For example, does
jury’s consciousness of increasing or decreasing the emotional effects of horrifying visual
evidences? The outcome or result of the research was a mixed bag, for example, some studies
indicate that when a discussion happens in a group, it decreases negative but not positive effects.

4. Emotion and the mobilization of rights:

Emotion theory talks about the perception of fairness and unfairness, on how rights are created,
how persuasion in politics work, and what drives the legal change and reform. Emotion can bind
commitments to social and legal structures or provoke a challenge to those structures.

VI. Emotions & Judges

Judges are not a personality untouched by emotions. It is believed for a judge to be very rational
and reasonable. But judges being a human being cant avoid the most important aspect Emotion.
A judge cant be emotionless while judging and provide with all rationality. It is not possible to
deliver a judgment without getting swayed by the emotions of the courtroom hall. Judges in the
past have delivered judgments under great emotional influence.

There are many factors that affect the judgment of the courts, such as emotional inclination of
the judge, evidence, public feelings, victim impact statement.

VII. Emotional Inclination

It is very important to notice a judge’s emotional inclination, because it will govern the whether
the judge has some sympathy for the victim or not. For example Judges such as Krishna Iyer and
there emotional inclination towards the downtrodden and suppressed so it is very much possible
that he would have convicted a capitalist. There are demands by the National Commission for
Women that the rape cases should heard by female judges, just because the female judges would
have there emotional inclination and sympathy towards the victim and it is very much possible
that injustice is not done.

 Victim Impact Statement

Victim Impact Statements are those written or verbal statement which form a part of a judicial
legal process, which give a opportunity to the victim of crime to speak during the sentencing of
the attacker. Victim impact statement have a very great emotional affect over the judge and are
likely to change the course of trial.
  Public Emotions
Many a times public emotions and media also pursue the judges to deliver a judgment which
otherwise they would have not.

VIII. CONCLUSION
The amalgamation of law and emotion has always been in controversy. Whether we talk about
the photographs involving bloodshed and horrifying images being an acceptable evidence or
whether emotions should be taken into consideration while judges are giving the judgment, are
all very debatable in nature. But it becomes very hard to separate emotions from law. As
emotions can also be seen as a weakness in humans, they cannot be allowed to enter without any
policing.

Even though the regulation is tough to take place, still it can be regulated at the stage of
legislation by the parliament. Parliamentarians are subject to emotions but still at the time of
making regulations they are not subject to any emotional drama and hence they can be
considered independent of any prejudice. It becomes a necessity that the elements of emotions
are properly embodied in legislations. However, it would be wrong to exclude emotions
completely while making decisions because by taking emotions into consideration a person can
make a rational decision. Moreover, the right thing to do would be to give the judge the
discretion to decide what is best while keeping justice in mind, since for different socio cultural
background there are different emotion values. Hence, a very strict background check is required
to assure that emotions do not bend the decisions in the legal system.

IX. BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Understanding Law and Emotion, Renata Grossi, Published on 5th December,

2014,
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1754073914545792?journalCode=emra

 Bandes, Susan & Blumenthal, Jeremy. (2012). Emotion and the Law. Annual
Review of Law and Social Science. 8. 161-181. 10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-
102811-173825.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234146345_Emotion_and_the_Law

 What Roles Do Emotions Play in the Law?, Susan A. Bandes, Depaul university
college of law
 https://emotionresearcher.com/what-roles-do-emotions-play-in-the-law/

 Law and emotions, Suyash, http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/159/Law-&-

Emotions.html