Jacques Derrida. J.D. for short. And J.D. of course is titular. It is the acronym for Juris Doctor. It signifies a lawyer or one wise in the law. If we are to recollect and celebrate his life in its juridical context and significance then Jacques Derrida, J.D., is not a bad place to start. Technically, of course, and despite the legal sounding acronym, J.D. was not a lawyer. He did, however, hold a visiting appointment at a Law School in New York. My law school in fact. Let me add, at the risk of getting personal for a moment – and if not now, when? – that in many ways I am here because he was. And then also some of his most influential articles were on the subject of law or were delivered and published first in a legal forum. His essay on Kafka, on the law of genre, for example, and then again his lengthy and widely circulated exposition of “The Force of Law.” He kept coming back to law: he inhabited its margins, searched for its supplements, dwelt on its traces.
