The Reasonable Person

A Legal Biography

Valentin Jeutner (Lunds Universitet, Sweden)

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English

Cambridge University Press
16 October 2025

Jurisprudence & philosophy of law; Law & society; Legal history

Series: Law in Context

Jeutner argues that the reasonable person is, at heart, an empathetic perspective-taking device, by tracing the standard of the reasonable person across time, legal fields and countries. Beginning with a review of imaginary legal figures in the legal systems of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, the book explains why the common law's reasonable person emerged amidst the British industrialisation under the influence of Scottish Enlightenment thinking. Following the figure into colonial courts, onto battlefields and into self-driving cars, the book contends that the reasonable person invites judges, jury-members, and lawyers to take another person's perspective when assessing their own or another person's conduct. The perspective of another is taken by means of empathy, by feeling what others might feel in a particular situation. Thus construed, the figure of the reasonable person can help us make more accurate judgments in a diverse world.

By: Valentin Jeutner (Lunds Universitet Sweden)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Weight: 381g
ISBN: 9781009445641
ISBN 10: 1009445642
Series: Law in Context
Pages: 216
Publication Date: 16 October 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Valentin Jeutner is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, Lund University and Senior Retained Lecturer, Pembroke College, Oxford. Jeutner encountered the reasonable person when studying law in England (Oxford/Cambridge) and the US (Georgetown). He is also admitted to the bar of New York State. Previous publications include Irresolvable Norm Conflicts in International Law (2017) and [l]ex machina (2020).

Reviews for The Reasonable Person: A Legal Biography

'A fascinating read' Dominic Regan, New Law Journal 'This book is an amazing work of scholarship, very readable and above all very positive about the way the law aims to be do justice, be fair, and adapt to society.' David Pickup, The Law Society Gazette 'This legal biography of a concept is not intended to settle matters, but it is bound to be of interest to many scholars and practitioners in fostering, at the very least, thought and discussion of a complex phenomenon.' Robert Shiels, Scottish Legal News