law context

In the third chapter of her book, Legalized Families in the Era of Bordered Globalization, Daphna Hacker addresses three challenges that emerge from the encounter between 'Eastern-religious and gender-specific' and 'Western-secular and formally gender-equal' family-law systems. The first arises when individuals ask that a legal act based on religious family law performed in one country be recognised in another country where secular family law is in effect. Hacker analyses this type of case through the prism of private international law. She notes the absence of a global system of international private legal rules as a main source of difficulty in matching the expectations of spouses in such cases. She addresses a particular difficulty related to the ethical reluctance of Western countries to recognise certain types of marriage and divorce practised in non-Western countries, such as polygamous marriages. The second challenge arises when individuals ask a civil legal system of a Western country in which they live to recognise, or at least to consider, the validity of a religious act. With regard to this type of case, Hacker presents the attempts of Western countries, such as England, to help women in religious marriages not officially recognised by the state achieve a religious divorce, without which they find themselves bound in a religious marriage contracted according to their faith, even if they were divorced according to civil law. Hacker sees these cases as an example of the difficulty that secular Western legal systems face in creating 'monistic' systems of marriage and divorce law that ignore the significance of religious marriage for parts of the population. She concludes with a warning that attempts to preserve such uniformity, carried out primarily in the name of women's equal rights, may paradoxically harm women who find themselves subordinated to unrecognised, subnational family religious law enforced by unregulated religious bodies. The third challenge emerges when a minority religious group demands, and asks for state recognition of, some kind of autonomous family-law system. Hacker analyses two examples where religious communities in Canada and England sought to use arbitration law to obtain jurisdiction for the religious tribunals they established. She describes civil secular opposition to the possibility of the civil system granting legal validity to referral to religious tribunals and a legislative amendment in Ontario, Canada, that ruled out the possibility of enforcing an arbitration agreement based on religious principles in the field of family law. A different attempt to handle the issue arose in England, where a proposed law allows disqualification of such arbitration clauses on the basis of gender inequality. Based on Zee's (2014) early writing, Hacker presents various options the state has in the matter of religious legal regulation, which she classifies as allowing, ignoring and prohibiting. She analyses the meaning of each strategy pertaining to the relationship between the civil state and the religious tribunals. At the normative level, Hacker discusses the transformative accommodation developed by . A model that seeks to avoid a dichotomous approach to the issue of judicial pluralism might allocate jurisdiction over the family matters of members of a minority community between the religious and state institutions based on the issue at hand. For example, it might refer marriage and divorce to religious tribunals and property relations to a secular civil court. As a precondition for a partial recognition of the judicial autonomy of the religious community, the model requires freedom of both spouses to choose between the religious and secular alternatives, and the commitment of the religious court to the principle of gender equality. Despite basic sympathy for the proposed model, Hacker doubts the ability to avoid the ambiguity stemming from the need to examine whether the

Debates about cultural participation of persons with disabilities within legal and socio-legal scholarship and within disability studies tend to remain disconnected. This article brings legal analysis and other academic disciplines into a critical dialogue. It sheds light on how the right to cultural participation is understood from the bottom up, building on a study carried out across Europe. Participants in this study perceived opportunities to participate in, and to contribute to, arts and culture in ways that are consistent with the human rights approach to disability as expressed in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and as central to the concept of inclusive equality. Cultural participation was also understood as intrinsic to the humanity of all people, as vital to inclusion in mainstream life, as capable of communicating experiences or identities not otherwise represented, and as potentially transformative of art-forms and ultimately, of society.

The use of statistical data to prove racial discrimination by police in individual cases is relatively novel in Australia. Based on a survey of international strategies, this article argues that statistical and social science data can play three critical evidential roles in litigation. Firstly, it can form part of the social context evidence used to influence the inferences that can be drawn from other evidence led in a case. Secondly it can influence the cogency of the evidence required for claimants to meet the standard of proof, and thirdly, it can be used to shift the burden of proof. Using these evidential methods, evidence of institutional racism can be used to assist in making findings of discrimination in individual cases. This article speculates on the role that statistics could have played in the Haile-Michael race discrimination claim that settled in 2013, and in the 2019 inquest into the death of Tanya Day.

The use of statistical data to prove racial discrimination by police in individual cases is relatively novel in Australia.  Based on a survey of international strategies, this article argues that statistical and social science data can play three critical evidential roles in litigation. Firstly, it can form part of the social context evidence used to influence the inferences that can be drawn from other evidence led in a case.  Secondly it can influence the cogency of the evidence required for claimants to meet the standard of proof, and thirdly, it can be used to shift the burden of proof.  Using these evidential methods, evidence of institutional racism can be used to assist in making findings of discrimination in individual cases. This article speculates on the role that statistics could have played in the Haile-Michael race discrimination claim that settled in 2013, and in the 2019 inquest into the death of Tanya Day.

This is a review of Mark Tushnet’s Weak Courts, Strong Rights: Judicial Review and Social Welfare Rights in Comparative Constitutional Law. The review outlines the main arguments in the book and then moves to elaborate on two preconditions which are necessary for Tushnet’s project to succeed: the existence of a strong civil society and an institutional willingness to implement social welfare rights. In addition, this review seeks to situate the book within Tushnet’s broader constitutional theory project. In particular, the review attempts to reconcile this work with Tushnet’s 1999 Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts, a work that initially seems to be diametrically opposed to his new book.

This article interrogates the connections between normativity and geographical space. Specifically it focuses on the biopolitical discourses that operate around the idiom of the vulnerable female trafficked migrant in the United Kingdom. The article’s structure and argument question how state parties frame the notion of female vulnerability as a distinct biopolitical category. I argue that this process produces and sustains the perceived need for biopolitical regulation of the national community. I question how the state’s regulation of the bodies and behaviours of female trafficked migrants is entangled with anti-immigration agendas that aim to extend the power of the state extra-territorially.

The article aims to provide a critique of Shared Parental Leave (SPL) in the UK from a gender equality perspective, namely to assess whether SPL is capable of enabling more men to take leave in order to act as the main carer for their child. Leave policies in Nordic countries, where the rate of take up by fathers is high, are also examined. It argues that SPL is open to legal challenge by fathers who do not meet the eligibility criteria, as the SPL scheme as currently drafted breaches the terms of the EU Parental Leave Directive and is also discriminatory on grounds of sex. The article concludes that SPL is flawed as a policy. Whilst the UK government argues for a more equal division of childcare between father and mother, it seems unwilling to challenge the expectation that mothers provide the primary care for young children. Thus SPL will only be successful if the policy is reformed to include a higher rate of pay and a period of leave reserved for fathers.

The paper aims to provide a critique of Shared Parental Leave (SPL) in the UK from a gender equality perspective, namely to assess whether SPL is capable of enabling more men to take leave in order to act as the main carer for their child. Leave policies in Nordic countries, where the rate of take-up by fathers is high, are also examined. It argues that SPL is open to legal challenge by fathers who do not meet the eligibility criteria, as the SPL scheme as currently drafted breaches the terms of the EU Parental Leave Directive and is also discriminatory on grounds of sex. The paper concludes that SPL is flawed as a policy. Whilst the UK government argues for a more equal division of childcare between father and mother, it seems unwilling to challenge the expectation that mothers provide the primary care for young children. Thus SPL will only be successful if the policy is reformed to include a higher rate of pay and a period of leave reserved for fathers.

The Global Compact for Migration (GCM) involves the establishment of an implementation mechanism that combines the periodic organisation of deliberation and information exchange between states with the routine drafting of texts and the design of governmental technologies. The GCM also tasked the UN Network on Migration (Network) with supporting the implementation mechanism in response to the needs of states. To achieve this task, the Network aimed to play a role in creating and maintaining the implementation mechanism and to leverage its expert knowledge to shape the states' implementation efforts. This article asks how the Network has institutionalised the implementation mechanism and with what consequences for its expert authority vis-à-vis states. Drawing on insights from discursive institutionalism, the article conducts a critical discourse analysis of texts that communicate and describe the Network's institutional work between 2019 and 2022. It demonstrates that the Network institutionalised the implementation mechanism as an experimentalist institution to bolster its expert authority and position itself as a central unit in the GCM implementation that monitors and steers the actions of states. However, the Network's position as a central unit does not fundamentally challenge the centrality of state sovereignty in global migration governance.

This paper examines the rise of algorithmic systemsthat is, systems of data-driven governance (and social-credit-type) systemsin the form of ratings systems of business respecting human rights responsibilities. The specific context is rating or algorithmic systems emerging around national efforts to combat human trafficking through so-called Modern Slavery and Supply Chain Due Diligence legal. Section 2 provides a brief contextualisation of the problems and challenges of managing compliance with emerging law and norms against forced labour and, in its most extreme forms, modern slavery. Section 3 examines the landscape of such algorithmic private legal systems as it has developed to date in the context of forced labour ratings systems. There is a focus on the connection between the power to impose the normative basis of data analytics and the increasingly tightly woven-in connection between principal actors in this endeavour.

This paper is about the land revenue system that has historically been a cornerstone of agrarian economies, particularly in South Asia. Originating during ancient and medieval periods and later institutionalized under colonial rule, especially by the British in India, the system was designed primarily to extract revenue from agricultural produce. It significantly influenced land ownership patterns, socio-economic structures, and rural administration. In the Indian subcontinent, various systems such as the Zamindari, Ryotwari, and Mahalwari were implemented, each with distinct features regarding land ownership, assessment, and collection of taxes. Post-independence, many countries including Bangladesh and India reformed their land revenue systems to address issues of land rights, equity, and agricultural productivity. Today, while the system continues to serve as a crucial source of government income, especially at the local level, it also poses challenges like outdated land records, land disputes, and inefficiencies in tax collection. This paper explores the historical evolution, key features, and modern challenges of the land revenue system, with a particular focus on its implications for rural development and land governance.

In this brief tribute, I pursue the long-promised imaginary conversation with Peter Fitzpatrick and engage two themes: the nature of an abyss and the conversion of Karl Marx from a revolutionary thinker to a best exemplar of evolutionary thought. If these themes make some sense, a good way of being with Peter is a further exploration amidst us all.

The nature of the contribution that fathers make to families is the subject of intense debate by both academics and policymakers. Contact between non-resident fathers and their children has been promoted by government and the courts, but remains difficult to achieve. This paper reports on interview data collected from fathers, mothers and their adolescent children in intact families on the perceptions of fathering practices and the factors that influence them. In addition, the nature and extent of fathers' involvement with their children is explored in relation to the problem of 'boundary setting'. While the traditional, rather distant, breadwinning father has disappeared, there is no evidence from this study of a shift towards the kind of father who takes equal day-to-day responsibility for his children. Rather, the changes in the nature of fathers' involvement with their children are more subtle, relying to a large extent on an appreciation of the importance of 'passive care' and of mediation by mothers. We suggest that these findings have important implications for what might be expected by and of fathers when relationships break-up, and for the development of policies to encourage father involvement. 1 This project is based on research funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. 2 See the websites: www.fnf.org.uk and www.fathers-4-justice.org. 3 This target ended in March 2003, when the LCD's responsibility for children's policy passed to the Department for Education and Skills (and when the LCD became the Department for Constitutional Affairs).

While access to civil-law institutions has been a traditional area of socio-legal research, access to administrative justice still constitutes an underresearched field. In the field of administrative law, public ombuds institutions represent an important pathway to resolve disputes without invoking a court. To date, we have little knowledge about who uses these ombuds institutions and which factors facilitate access to the ombuds. In this paper, on the basis of our survey among users of the Austrian Ombudsman Board (n = 8,274), we explore the effects of institutional design on the user population. The findings suggest that the two outreach measures – regular consultation days and a weekly TV broadcast – contribute to reducing existing inequalities with regard to users’ sociodemographic characteristics.

In this article I draw on the South African legal context to critique the argument that same-sex marriage would provide 'equal recognition' for same-sex relationships. I highlight the ways in which, despite strong equality provisions in the South African Constitution and an apparent commitment to substantive rather than merely formal equality, both customary marriage and same-sex marriage continue to be subordinate to heterosexual civil marriage. I then broaden my analysis to consider the extent to which this would also be the case in other jurisdictions, particularly the UK. Drawing on the Butler/Fraser debate on recognition and redistribution, I argue that there is a connection between misrecognition and material disadvantage that goes unacknowledged in 'symbolic recognition' claims for same-sex marriage. The critiques of 'marriage equality' should sound a warning not only to same-sex marriage advocates but also more generally to those who would seek 'equal recognition' through law reform.

In this article I draw on the South African legal context to critique the argument that same-sex marriage would provide ‘equal recognition’ for same-sex relationships. I highlight the ways in which, despite strong equality provisions in the South African Constitution and an apparent commitment to substantive rather than merely formal equality, both customary marriage and same-sex marriage continue to be subordinate to heterosexual civil marriage. I then broaden my analysis to consider the extent to which this would also be the case in other jurisdictions, particularly the UK. Drawing on the Butler/Fraser debate on recognition and redistribution, I argue that there is a connection between misrecognition and material disadvantage that goes unacknowledged in ‘symbolic recognition’ claims for same-sex marriage. The critiques of ‘marriage equality’ should sound a warning not only to same-sex marriage advocates but also more generally to those who would seek ‘equal recognition’ through la...

In early 2018, an Inquiry into Youth Justice Centres in Victoria (Inquiry) found that a combination of a punitive approach to youth justice, inadequate crime strategies, and a lack of appropriately trained and experienced staff at youth justice centres, greatly contributed to the hindrance of the rehabilitation of young persons in detention in Victoria, Australia. In addition to identifying these challenges, the Inquiry also determined that the way in which young offenders have been described by politicians and portrayed in the media in recent times, has had a significant impact on shaping youth justice policies and practices. This article specifically examines the role of the media in the adultification of the Victorian youth justice system. It begins with a historical examination of youth justice, drawing on the welfare model and the justice model. This is followed by a discussion of the perception and reality of youth offending in Victoria. Here, it is demonstrated that through framing, the media represents heightened levels of youth offending and suggests that only a 'tough on crime' approach can curb such offending; an approach that has been adopted by the Victorian State Government in recent years. Finally, the article considers how recent youth justice reforms are examples of adultification, and by not adequately distinguishing between a child and adult offender, these reforms are inconsistent with the best interests of the child.

Transitional justice discourse is generally accepted as having its foundations located in the theoretical, policy and practical implications of dealing with past human rights violations in societies that have experienced either repressive politics or violent conflict. Many theorists and policy-makers resolutely assume or defend the notion that ‘dealing with the past’ is where the debates about, and contribution of, the transitional justice paradigm uniquely lie.2 Understood in this way, transitional justice as a field of study has grown exponentially, comprising theoretical debates, the comparative assessment of domestic accountability schemes, international criminal justice, the study of truth commissions, and ethical-legal debate concerning the morality of compromise on accountability for gross and systematic violations of human rights.This foreword, building on the previous work of its authors,3 extends and expands our contention that transitional justice in this narrow sense mus...

Beyond the autopoietic enclaves in university law schools, one hears that autopoietic, or systems theory (we shall be using these interchangeably) and the discourse surrounding it, is highly abstracted, and in consequence has little to say on society, law or socio-legal studies. This is thought to be the case in relation to both Luhmann's comprehensive mapping of the field, and in the subsequent exploration of that field by legal academics and other social scientists. As a result of this, outside the community of autopoietic theorists, systems theory is not generally thought of as being something that is regularly applied to the operative contexts of particular legal or social systems. This special issue is an attempt to change that perception and show the relevance of autopoiesis as applied in various socio-legal fields. The origin of the papers in this issue can be traced to the discussions at the Systems stream of the Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference (SLSA). The papers are drawn from several different meetings of the Conference, and from the work presented and discussed there. As systems theorists will already be aware, and as it became clear from the first time that the Systems stream convened at the SLSA, the usual characterisation of autopoiesis as abstract and lacking direct application to context, mischaracterises the diversity of discourse which draws on autopoiesis as an analytical framework, and the uses to which that material has been put. The papers in this issue showcase the many contexts in which autopoiesis can be applied to offer novel and productively critical perspectives on legal questions. In the first paper of this issue, Rachel Herron addresses systems theory to the power to stop and search under s.44 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Herron argues that autopoiesis can be used to understand the limited effects of the safeguards envisaged by the drafters of the Act, as well as the lack of anticipated operational restraint and intelligence-led judgment on the part of police officers that legislators had expected. This analysis is developed through the conceptualisation of the legal system alongside that of the policing systemwhich is to be differentiated from the political system on the basis of the particular functions of the policing subsystem. It is argued that, although s.44 has been repealed, the reasons for the racial-effect of the powers remains misunderstood by legislators, and so seems likely to reoccur if the observations of autopoiesis are not considered. In their paper, Jennifer Hendry and Colin King examine a different aspect of law enforcement, the use of civil powers to seize property which, in the view of law enforcement officers, represent the proceeds of crime. The powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 Part V allow for nonconviction-based asset forfeiture; the recovery of assets through a procedure premised on a civil, rather than criminal, standard of proof. Drawing on systems theory, the authors explain that the powers can be seen as a consequence of the perceived failure of criminal law to tackle the problem of organised crime, particularly the financial incentives connected with such activity, and raise concerns over whether non-conviction-based asset forfeiture represents a legitimate process in view of the reduction in procedural protections offered by the civil standard of proof. Shifting away from law enforcement and towards family law, Sarah Sargent draws on both critical race theory and systems theory to examine transracial adoption. Reflecting on the reforms made to s.1 (5) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 by the the Children and Families Act 2014, Sargent argues that the effort to make the adoption placement system 'race-neutral', and the concurrent belief that

The paper examines the changing nature of publicity in the courts, tracing three distinct but interconnected phases of publicity using Jeremy Bentham's theory of open justice and publicity as a framework. The first phase is press coverage, with the news media chronicling the justice system for the general population, most recently including televised court proceedings. The second is the appointment of Courts Information Officers, occurring as early as the 1930s and growing in impact since the 1990s, established to facilitate the relationship between courts and the news media. The third and final phase is the Internet, including social media, resulting in changes to news media models and driving contemporary practices of court-generated media. The paper concludes that, while media and communication practices have changed radically since the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the concept of publicity has shifted, Bentham's approach to open justice remains salient for twenty-first-century courts' communication.

While access to civil-law institutions has been a traditional area of socio-legal research, access to administrative justice still constitutes an underresearched field. In the field of administrative law, public ombuds institutions represent an important pathway to resolve disputes without invoking a court. To date, we have little knowledge about who uses these ombuds institutions and which factors facilitate access to the ombuds. In this paper, on the basis of our survey among users of the Austrian Ombudsman Board (n = 8,274), we explore the effects of institutional design on the user population. The findings suggest that the two outreach measures – regular consultation days and a weekly TV broadcast – contribute to reducing existing inequalities with regard to users’ sociodemographic characteristics.

The ethical complexities associated with research with children are well recognised and have been debated extensively within the childhood literature. However, ethical issues occurring in research with children about sensitive issues, such as parental incarceration, and the practical solutions required to address such issues, are less well described. This paper draws on recent experiences of a research project conducted in the Australian Capital Territory exploring the needs of children of prisoners. It discusses three key interrelated methodological and ethical challenges observed by the researchers. While there is no doubt that considerable care needs to be taken to identify ethical and effective ways to undertake research with this group of children, we argue that applying a process of ethical reflexivity will assist researchers in planning and conducting ethical and methodologically valid research with children of prisoners.

and Oporto created the first five year degree in psychology. More recently (1991), another psychology degree was created at the University of Minho in Braga. Until then and only since 1963, one could get a degree in psychology only at a private institution in Lisbon, the Superior Institute of Applied Psychology, but the existence of the profession was far from being socially recognized or accepted. It was only in the last decade that this became a reality. With great influence from the French and Belgian traditions and with a general psychoanalytical tendency, the first courses were basically composed of a three year "block" of "general disciplines" (developmental psychology, social psychology,

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 represents the most significant change to the rights of homeless people in England for decades. Through an analysis of the history of homelessness legislation in England, but focusing on the 'ground-breaking' 2017 Act, this article explores how the homeless population is represented and 'constructed' in this new legislation and what this tells us about the place of homeless people in our society. In so doing, this article exposes how the 2017 Act, a State instrument of apparent homelessness prevention, can be read and understood as contributing to rather than obviating the marginalisation and social exclusion of homeless people.

is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University. She has an LL.B. and an LL.M. from Queen's University and a Graduate Certificate in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies from the University of Cincinnati. Her doctoral research has theoretical foundations in feminist discourse analysis. Called to the Bar of Ontario in 2003, Rebecca has worked as a lawyer for eleven years and has researched and published in a variety of areas, including youth criminal justice, family law, law practice management, and equality issues relating to women and members of other historically marginalized groups in the legal profession. She is Part-Time Professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law and a staff lawyer, working in the field of legislation and law reform with the Canadian Bar Association. Her most recent book, published in spring 2013, is a collaboration entitled Incarcerated Mothers: Oppression and Resistance. Her next book, due out in 2015, is an interdisciplinary collaboration about discursive constructions and lived experiences of sex workers as mothers.

It is a crucial safety measure to avoid unwarranted and harsh imprisonment, to lessen the fear and anxiety that come with being accused, and to reduce the chance that it could compromise an accused person's capability to defend themselves. Indeed, delivering justice quickly is in the best interests of society. Recently, this right has been exercised, and the courts have expanded the scope of fundamental rights through a number of rulings.

Sumário: Sumário: I Introdução. II Enquadramento institucional, evolução histórica e situação actual. III Um possível tema integrador: a teoria da semi-periferia. IV Será que a recente investigação sócio-jurídica confirma as características "semi-periféricas" do direito em Portugal? A influência internacional sobre a produção do direito. Pressões por parte de países do centro da Europa. Forças sociais em Portugal pouco organizadas e desempenhando um papel menor nos processos de produção do direito. Mediações insuficientes entre a legislação e a prática do direito. Compartimentação do aparelho de Estado. Desfasamentos no seio do sistema legal. Informação insuficiente dos não especialistas; cobertura mediática. Forte influência do governo sobre o sistema jurídico. Cultura jurídica nacional fortemente influenciada pela cultura jurídica internacional. Um nível globalmente elevado de inefectividade. Resultados de investigação que não correspondem à teoria da semi-periferia. V Conclusão. Referências.

There is currently no mechanism – no journal, no learned society – somehow integrating Portuguese sociology of law, despite a considerable academic production. In an attempt to appreciate globally and substantially this production, this paper takes as a starting point the theory of semi-periphery formulated by Boaventura de Sousa Santos in the 1980s, and revisits the findings of socio-legal research carried out in Portugal over the recent decades in the light of that theory. The conclusion that can be drawn from this exercise is that the theory of semi-periphery – provided it is upgraded in order to better take into account features of recent processes of globalisation – still supplies a valuable framework for the reflection on the social, economic and political conditions that favour uses of the law as a tool for human groupings to govern themselves.

We introduce both the new inception of Law in Context-A Socio-legal Journal and the continuing issue of LiC 36 (1). The editorial provides a brief historical account of the Journal since its inception in the early 1980s, in the context of the evolution of the Law & Society movement. It also describes the changes produced in the digital age by the emergence of the Web of Data, Big Data, and the Internet of Things. The convergence between Law & Society and Artificial Intelligence & Law is also discussed. Finally, we introduce briefly the articles included in this issue.

This editorial provides a brief description of the digital turn experienced at the beginning of this century, the side effects of Covid-19, and the twelve commitments recently laid down by the United Nations. It introduces the concepts of ‘Global Syndemic’ (or synergy of epidemics), the ‘Internet of Things’, ‘RegTech’, and ‘Knowledge Graphs’. Finally, it describes briefly the articles included in this issue.

This paper examines the relationship between law and compassion from the perspective of two diverse scholars. For philosopher Emmanuel Levinas, rejecting the idea homo homini lupus, there can simply be no organised society but for a primordial, unauthorised, human vocation for compassion (egoism and violence, for him, are nothing but attempts to repress this). Levinas, however, must be understood, as speaking of compassion not in the usual sense, that is as involving a human capacity for, and cultures of, empathy; he defines it, rather, in phenomenological terms, as an irreducible excess of affectivity for the ultimately meaningless suffering of another, beyond all theodicy and causality, whom one is ethically commanded to offer succour to as if s/he is a ‘higher’ and absolutely unique Other, prior to any comparison and judgment. General legal principles and rigorous rules, Natural Justice and positive law are equally ‘born’ of such an-archic, individuated, compassion for which one ...

Arghya Sengupta's (2023) book, The Colonial Constitution, provides a succinct historical-legal account of the Constitution of India's origins. It does so by emphasising the document's colonial roots and delineating the logic employed by its framers during the Constituent Assembly hearings. It was during this crucial period that the foundation for India's extant democratic framework was debated and defined. Divided broadly into two parts, the first section, Decisions, examines, questions and occasionally commends the decision-making process employed by the framers in determining those aspects of the Constitution that today serve as a blueprint for India's governance. The second part, Alternatives, presents three versions of the Constitution, each outlining distinct visions for India. One by Mahatma Gandhi, another by the Hindu Mahasabha and the last by Dr. Ambedkar. The book concludes with a compelling call to decolonise the Constitution by first, challenging the imposition of its colonial legacy into the fabric of India's modern polity and second, by calling to question its depiction as a harbinger of social revolution (Austin, p. xi) and a product of 'profound historical rupture' (Khilnani, p. 38). Even after rounds of deliberations during the Constituent Assembly debates, the final outcome was, in Sengupta's words, a 'constitutional hodgepodge' consisting of provisions and clauses borrowed from other countries that were, in some cases, questionably adapted into the Indian context (p. 36). While certain provisions of the Constitution were indeed transformative, such as the chapter on fundamental rights, they were also adapted from elsewhere and cut from old cloththe colonial Government of India Act, 1937. So similar were the Indian Constitution and the Government of India Act that 150 of the 239 articles of the first draft of the Indian Constitution were based on or copied directly from the Act, as were multiple chapters of the Indian Constitution as they stand todayincluding chapters on the Union and State Executive, Parliament, State Legislatures, and the powers of key institutions like the Supreme Court, and the Attorney General of India, among others (pp. 26-27). While some scholars, like Krishnaswamy (2019), have already questioned the Constitution's liberal origins in their analyses, others, such as Choudhry, Khosla and Mehta (2016), have offered a more positive perspective, praising the Constitution's cosmopolitan character and commanding ability to reflect and imbibe the global constitutional cross-currents of the time. Sengupta's analysis occupies a middle ground, viewing the Constitution as neither worthy of uncritical praise nor vehement lamentation. He contends that because the Constitution is inherently colonial, it necessitates a re-examination (p. 216). While not advocating for adopting a new constitution, Sengupta urges readers to ponder what more the existing Constitution can offer its citizens and questions why it hasn't fulfilled some of its original promises. The inherent tensions between modernity and coloniality within the Constitution should strike a resonant chord with queer rights activists in India. In recent times, they have invested significant

This paper proposes an integrating interpretation of the term ‘place of safety’ in the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, 1979, grounded in international human rights and refugee law. It argues that the exposure to harm as a consequence of the conditions under which sea migrants endure irregular journeys raises vulnerability concerns and the need to search for mechanisms of redress. It further claims that sea migrants are marginalised by states’ refusal to allow their disembarkation on land. It also argues that a narrow interpretation of the term ‘place of safety’ risks perpetuating, if not exacerbating, situations of vulnerability and marginalisation among sea migrants. Key themes addressed in this contribution are vulnerability and marginalisation of sea migrants, vulnerability reasoning in the interpretation process and the scope for a more integrating reading of the term ‘place of safety’ that is responsive to the specific needs among sea migrants.

This paper proposes an integrating interpretation of the term 'place of safety' in the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, 1979, grounded in international human rights and refugee law. It argues that the exposure to harm as a consequence of the conditions under which sea migrants endure irregular journeys raises vulnerability concerns and the need to search for mechanisms of redress. It further claims that sea migrants are marginalised by states' refusal to allow their disembarkation on land. It also argues that a narrow interpretation of the term 'place of safety' risks perpetuating, if not exacerbating, situations of vulnerability and marginalisation among sea migrants. Key themes addressed in this contribution are vulnerability and marginalisation of sea migrants, vulnerability reasoning in the interpretation process and the scope for a more integrating reading of the term 'place of safety' that is responsive to the specific needs among sea migrants.

The literature of higher education widely notes the importance of reflection and reflective practice as a critical aspect of professional practice. This enables learners to act and think professionally by combining theory and practice. As such, many teaching and learning strategies and activities to enhance reflection have been incorporated into professional degrees. Notwithstanding the support for reflective practice, critical reflection remains a contested concept with a lack of consensus as to its definition and best practice. The frameworks chosen by higher institutions may be influenced by course context, ideology and expectations around the course/unit learning outcomes. This paper commences with a discussion of reflection and critical reflection. By examining different notions of reflection, the paper will discuss why the concept of critical reflection is important for practitioners in the 21st Century. It is advanced that critical reflection can encourage learners to better understand professional practice by linking discipline knowledge and theories to professional practice and wider insights. Whilst reflective practice is a desirable capability for law graduates, legal education in Australia largely fails to incorporate and assess critical reflective skills, as it is directed at producing a technically skilled and ideologically compliant legal workforce. The authors advance that adherence to a solely doctrinal approach to legal education is no longer justified in the 21st Century, which is characterised by profound change and uncertainty that impacts on the legal profession and society at large. Law schools have a positive role to play in the education of their students through instilling doctrinal knowledge, professional practice skills and critical thinking skills, which foster an understanding and analysis from multiple perspectives, to ensure that law graduates are able to holistically understand the reasons for changes within their profession and effectively adapt to change through informed choices. The final part of the paper outlines how critical reflection can be implemented in legal education.

critics might be hesitant to put too much emphasis on an examination of the IPPC Directive and its implementation in only two Member States, the sheer quality and rigour of the book leaves this reviewer with the firm impression that Lange has put forward a very strong argument for her critical approach to the role of law in integration.

This article explores a primary source of legal studies, case-law, as a form of narrative in the context of indigenous land rights, and considers how this narrative negotiates pre-colonial land claims in a postcolonial context. Its case-study is the South Pacific island country of Vanuatu, a small-island, leastdeveloped, nation-state, where laws introduced under Anglo-French colonial administration are still retained and sit uneasily alongside the customary forms of land tenure which govern ninety percent of all land in the islands. The article looks at the traditional and changing role of narrative presented as evidence by claimants and their witnesses against a context of rapid social and economic change, and asks whether the metamorphosis of narrative signals the future survival or imminent demise of customary indigenous land rights and what that might mean for these island people faced by the pressures of development. * An earlier draft of this paper was presented at Birkbeck College in May 2009 at a conference entitled 'Narratives of Indigeneity: Law, Literature and Sovereignty'. I am grateful to helpful comments from my colleague Professor Janet Maclean.

This essay takes up the question of what it is to teach international law ‘in context’, drawing on experiences of teaching undergraduate survey courses in the US and UK, and designing a new LLM module on Histories of International Law. The essay begins with an exploration of teaching as a particular context of its own – one with constraints which might also function as foils for creativity. It then sketches some aspects of what teaching international law ‘in context(s)’ might involve, including the ways in which contexts of different kinds put in question one's theory of law, and vice versa. It turns, finally, to an examination of the promise and limits of interdisciplinarity – particularly recourse to history as a discipline – in illuminating contexts.

The Early Legal Advice Project (ELAP) was implemented in the Midlands and East region from November 2010 to December 2012, with the aim of improving sustainability, quality and cost of asylum decisions. It was recognised by those involved in the project that in order to achieve these objectives a 'cultural change' was required. This small empirical study forms the first part of a larger project, focussing on 'cultural change', and its meaning in relation to emotional labour expectations of immigration solicitors involved in ELAP. This study explores the emotional labour of immigration solicitors working within the current asylum process and specifically their exchanges with UKBA case owners. Furthermore, it emphasises the importance of understanding emotional habitus as a driver of emotional labour and the potential consequences of that performance. It is predicted that the 'cultural change' required will impact on the emotional labour and emotional habitus of solicitors. Consequently, emotional labour expectations must be considered when designing and implementing such schemes to facilitate successful outcomes.

This paper presents the Knowledge Graph Usage framework, which allows the introduction of Knowledge Graph features to support Trust, Privacy, Transparency and Accountability concerns regarding the use of its contents by applications. A real-world example is presented and used to illustrate how the framework can be used. This article also shows how knowledge graphs can be linked to the elements of legal governance. Thus, it is an invitation to dialogue for legal and Law & Society scholars who might be interested in how the evolution of the web of data and computational sciences intersects with their own discipline.  

Racist incidents on American university campuses in the 1980s triggered a storm of publications by scholars who coined the phrase ‘hate speech’ for the legal lexicon. Some of the offences had already been subject to legal or institutional penalties for harassment or vandalism. Several universities nevertheless adopted broad codes of conduct to penalise hateful expression. For two decades, however, the US Supreme Court had been marching in the opposite direction. It was interpreting the Constitution's First Amendment to prevent federal or state government from punishing speakers solely on grounds of the viewpoints they express.

This article will explore the methodologies employed in a collaborative research project on lived experience of exercise or denial of legal capacity, known as the Voices of Individuals: Collectively Exploring Self-determination (VOICES) project. In so doing, the project's research team will reflect on key decisions about the project's background, design, implementation (including the recruitment and selection of participants, workshops and editing contributions) and considerations for further research.