Nomos is an Air: Hearing as a Juridical Faculty

Hearing, auditus, is the sense that, according to the Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, ‘catches the sounds when the air is reverberated’, while the ear, auris, is the organ that has as its ‘natural function’ to capture ‘what is to be heard.’ Despite notable exceptions, until very recently hearing has been little examined in law. In this piece, I focus on the aural, the acoustic, and the auditory and argue that hearing is a key faculty of the juridical sensorium. There can be no justice without hearing, while, as legal subjects, we are connected to the law through our ears. Obedience as the fundamental relationship of the subject to the law is intimately linked to hearing. And more than that, obedience is the other side of the juristic speech, of jurisdiction, and as such designates the auditory and relational character of the juristic utterance.