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    • Juridical cohesion and TacTics of shadow and fog: law’s wiThdrawing shadow and iTs “dark MaTTer”
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Korsten, F.W.A.; Vargiu, P. (2026)

Juridical cohesion and tactics of shadow and fog: law’s withdrawing shadow and its ‘dark matter'

Article / Letter to editor
The issue central to this article involves tactics used by Dutch agro-industries in close cooperation with successive Dutch Governments and the Ministry of Agriculture to hide the real extent of, and responsibility for, pollution caused by pesticides, herbicides (like glyphosate) and, in particular, an excess of nitrogen emissions. One tactic is to avoid confrontations in court and to operate in what has been called the “shadow of the law”. The other one is to hide the reality of things through a discursive or representational “fog”. One aim of such tactics is to make the prosecution opt for settlement instead of fully enforcing the law, what is defined here as the “withdrawing shadow of the law”. A second but connected aim is to weaken a society’s juridical cohesion, imagined metaphorically here as law’s “dark matter”. Physically, this is the elusive mass that is needed to explain what holds together galaxies; juridically, it is what holds societies together under a rule of law...Show moreThe issue central to this article involves tactics used by Dutch agro-industries in close cooperation with successive Dutch Governments and the Ministry of Agriculture to hide the real extent of, and responsibility for, pollution caused by pesticides, herbicides (like glyphosate) and, in particular, an excess of nitrogen emissions. One tactic is to avoid confrontations in court and to operate in what has been called the “shadow of the law”. The other one is to hide the reality of things through a discursive or representational “fog”. One aim of such tactics is to make the prosecution opt for settlement instead of fully enforcing the law, what is defined here as the “withdrawing shadow of the law”. A second but connected aim is to weaken a society’s juridical cohesion, imagined metaphorically here as law’s “dark matter”. Physically, this is the elusive mass that is needed to explain what holds together galaxies; juridically, it is what holds societies together under a rule of law that serves justice.
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All authors
Korsten, F.W.A.; Vargiu, P.
Date
2026-07-02
Journal
Amicus Curiae
Volume
7
Issue
3
Pages
1047 - 1067