ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the evolution of the 'spatiolegal architecture' of modernity through a personal re-elaboration of the notion of 'state of exception'. It provides a critical look at some sociological and legal-geographical perspectives, as well as critical legal geography insights. The chapter employs the Deleuzoguattarian dyad of logic and nomic, as well as Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos' concept of lawscape. It seeks to detect some fault lines within Jacques Derrida's strategy of legal deconstruction. The chapter suggests this strategy falls short of providing a materialist account of the excessive dimension of justice. The notion of nomosphere covers a wider spectrum than the merely legal, encompassing rules of custom, politeness, family, and religion. Deconstruction always arrives late, always preceded by the self-deconstruction of the spatiolegal system itself. By failing to provide this ghostly justice with the ontological materiality it deserves, and ultimately presupposing negativity at the core of ontology, justice risks being ultimately consigned to the machinations of contemporary biopolitics.
