Introduction

The Canadian Journal of Law and Society is pleased to present our first ever review symposium. For this occasion, we could think of no better book than Mariana Valverde’s Chronotopes of Law: Jurisdiction, Scale and Governance. Dr. Valverde is a preeminent figure in Canadian socio-legal studies, the author of six books and over fifty refereed journal articles. Her work has made important contributions to topics as diverse as governance, sexuality studies, moral reform, and alcoholism, to name but a few. Most recently, her work has addressed questions of spatiotemporality, jurisdiction, and law, all of which are covered in the review essays and her response.

This review symposium also acknowledges Dr. Valverde’s leadership as the editor-in-chief of this journal for seven years (2007–2014)—a period during which the journal expanded its international reach, increased subscriptions, and fully emerged as a respected venue for socio-legal research and commentary. This symposium is thus our way of honouring Dr. Valverde in a manner we hope she will appreciate—through a critical conversation on her most recent work.