Abstract:
This thesis is an analysis of the interplay of myth and ideology in the law, with special
reference to problems of corporate power. The possibility of legal reform depends upon a
formal autonomy of the law from the influence of ideology; because corporate law is
particularly concerned with the capitalistic trends of centralization, concentration and
hierarchy, liberal theory demands an especially decisive autonomy between these
concerns and the interests of the ruling class. The semiological structure of law, however,
has a definitively mythological character which is therefore vulnerable to ideology. The
author, through an intensive study of Lochner v. New York, demonstrates the facilitation
of corporate ideology through legal myth; in an extended survey of Supreme Court cases
during the nineteenth century, he then sketches a history of myth using the Barthesian
strategy of counter-myth. The author concludes with a brief discussion on the
implications of myth and ideology for the opponents of corporate power.
