Feminist constellations in legal history

Rackley, Erika and Thompson, Sharon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2569-856X 2025. Feminist constellations in legal history. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Astronomers use constellations – groups of named patterns or sets of stars – to map the galaxies around us. More than simply maps of the sky, for centuries constellations and stars within them have enabled us to look into the past, as well as to navigate pathways into the future. So much for space, but what about law? What if legal historians were to look to the constellations? What if legal historians were to apply the tools and techniques of astronomers to feminists’ relationship with law and law reform? What might feminist legal constellations look like? And how might they inform our understandings of law and feminist activism? In this paper we outline an alternative methodology: a feminist constellations approach to legal history. We argue that if feminist legal history is to be truly transformative, it needs to be bolder, and to go further than it does at present. And to do this, it needs to locate feminists and feminist endeavour within feminist constellations in law.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Law
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) K Law > K Law (General) K Law > KD England and Wales
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	0143-6503
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	13 January 2026
Date of Acceptance:	15 December 2025
Last Modified:	13 Jan 2026 12:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/183789

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