Work · Analytic Philosophy
Tû-Tû
Short essay on an invented island people who believe that whoever breaks a taboo becomes “tû-tû” and must be purified: legal words such as “ownership” likewise refer to nothing in themselves but link certain facts to certain consequences.
Introduction
Ross first published this short essay in Danish in 1951; the English version appeared in the Harvard Law Review in 1957. It describes an invented tribe on the “Noisulli islands” who believe that someone who breaks certain taboos becomes “tû-tû” and must undergo purification; the word stands for nothing real, yet it serves to link certain facts to certain consequences. Ross argues that legal terms such as “ownership” or “claim” work in the same way: they are tools of presentation that connect sets of conditions with sets of legal consequences. The essay is one of the best-known pieces of twentieth-century legal philosophy and is still used in teaching.
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