Since Illinois became a state in 1818, it has been a microcosm of the country at every stage of its development, from its status as a "free" state in antebellum America to a state rich in agriculture and industry whose goods and services now travel the world. Illinois' four state constitutions have reflected its changing values. Illinois is currently one of the few states that have adopted a new constitution since World War II. This 1970 constitution has become a model for countries in Central and Eastern Europe seeking examples of modern American constitutions.
The Illinois State Constitution traces the history of the state's constitution from its statehood in 1818 to the adoption of the state's fourth constitution in 1970. Ann M. Lousin, who has been involved in Illinois constitutional development and government for over four decades, provides provision-by-provision commentary and analysis of the state's current constitution, covering the Preamble, the Bill of Rights, and the various articles and amendments, including a survey of case law under each provision. Previously published by Greenwood, this title has been brought back in to circulation by Oxford University Press with new verve. Re-printed with standardization of content organization in order to facilitate research across the series, this title, as with all titles in the series, is set to join the dynamic revision cycle of The Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United States.

The Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United States is an important series that reflects a renewed international interest in constitutional history and provides expert insight into each of the 50 state constitutions. Each volume in this innovative series contains a historical overview of the state's constitutional development, a section-by-section analysis of its current constitution, and a comprehensive guide to further research.
Under the expert editorship of Professor G. Alan Tarr, Director of the Center on State Constitutional Studies at Rutgers University, this series provides essential reference tools for understanding state constitutional law. Books in the series can be purchased individually or as part of a complete set, giving readers unmatched access to these important political documents.

Bringing together leading commercial and contract law scholars from the United Kingdom and United States, Comparative Contract Law: British and American Perspectives offers an insightful and comprehensive assessment of the commonalities and divergences in the contract law of these two jurisdictions. Approaching the subject area from a variety of perspectives - doctrinal analysis, behavioural analysis, law and economics, and theoretical - the book examines familiar areas of contract law as practiced in the UK and US. Topics include contract theory and structure; contract formation and defects of consent; policing contracts and the duty of good faith; contract interpretation; damages; speciality contracts; and legal reform. The volume provides a thorough assessment of the current state of commercial contract law in the UK and US, and addresses the strengths and weaknesses of the national and European approaches to many issues of contract law. In particular it focuses on how commercial contract law should be improved, and whether harmonization of the different contract law regimes is a suitable, and appropriate, solution.

In Genocide Denials and the Law, Ludovic Hennebel and Thomas Hochmann offer a thorough study of the relationship between law and genocide denial from the perspectives of specialists from six countries. This controversial topic provokes strong international reactions involving emotion caused by denial along with concerns about freedom of speech.
The authors offer an in-depth study of the various legal issues raised by the denial of crimes against humanity, presenting arguments both in favor of and in opposition to prohibition of this expression. They do not adopt a pro or contra position, but include chapters written by proponents and opponents of a legal prohibition on genocide denial.
Hennebel and Hochmann fill a void in academic publications by comparatively examining this issue with a collection of original essays. They tackle this diverse topic comprehensively, addressing not only the theoretical and philosophical aspects of denial, but also the specific problems faced by judges who implement anti-denial laws. Genocide Denials and the Law will provoke discussion of many theoretical questions regarding free speech, including the relationship between freedom of expression and truth, hate, memory, and history.

Despite nearly sixty years of European integration, neither nations nor national loyalties have withered away. On the contrary, national identity rhetoric seems on the rise, not only in politics but also in legal discourse. Lately we have seen a rise in the number of Member States invoking their national identity in an attempt to justify a derogation from a requirement imposed on them by a Treaty article or an EU legislative act, or to legitimize a particular national reading of such an EU norm. Despite this, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has yet to develop a coherent approach to such arguments, or express a vision of the role national identity should play in EU law. Elke Cloots undertakes this task by providing a principled and coherent scheme for the adjudication of disputes involving claims based on the national identity of a Member State. Should arguments involving national identity be legally relevant? If yes, how should the ECJ approach such identity-related interests? Cloots crafts a normative framework to assist the ECJ in striking the right balance between European integration and respect for the identity concerns at issue. The book combines rigorous theoretical inquiry with thorough analysis of the European Treaties and case law, with particular attention paid to litigation involving domestic measures concerning the national system of government, constitutional rights protections, and language policy. Clarifying the issues at stake and presenting a solution to these problems, this book will be an invaluable resource for the academics, lawyers, and policy makers in the field.

A History of Civil Litigation: Political and Economic Perspectives, by Frank J. Vandall, studies the expansion of civil liability from 1466 to 1980, and the cessation of that growth in 1980. It evaluates the creation of tort causes of action during the period of 1400-1980. Re-evaluation and limitation of those developments from 1980, to the present, are specifically considered.
The unique focus of the book is first, to argue that civil justice no longer rests on historic foundations, such as, precedent, fairness and impartiality, but has shifted to power and influence. Reform in the law (legislative, judicial, and regulatory) is today driven by financial interests, not precedent, not a neutral desire for fairness, and not to "make it better." It uses products, cases and policies for much of its argument. These policies can be summarized as a shift from a balanced playing field, negligence, to one that favors injured consumers. The strict liability foreshadowed by Judge Traynor, in Escola v. Coca Cola (1944), was not adopted until 1962, when Traynor wrote the majority opinion in Greenman v. Yuba Power Products for the California Supreme Court. Second, the book examines the role of persuasive non-governmental agencies, such as the American Law Institute, in reforming and shaping civil justice.
Never has it been less true that we live under the rule of law. Congress, agencies and the courts make the law, but they are driven by those who have a large financial stake in the outcome. Today, those with power shape the character of products liability law, at every turn.

Terrorism: Documents of International and Local Control is a hardbound series that provides primary-source documents on the worldwide counter-terrorism effort. Chief among the documents collected are transcripts of Congressional and Parliamentary testimony, reports by quasi-governmental organizations, and case law covering issues related to terrorism. The series also includes a subject index and other indices that guide the user through this complex area of the law. Overall, the series keeps users up to date on the panoply of terrorism issues now facing the U.S. and the world. Cyberterrorism: Evolving Perceptions of the Threat focuses exclusively on the threat of cyberterrorism in the U.S. General Editor Lovelace has for this volume selected authoritative documents demonstrating the current homeland vulnerabilities to such an attack. By presenting these documents and by using his commentary to assess the extent of such threats and vulnerabilities, Lovelace has constructed a valuable one-stop resource for researching the prospect of computer-based and internet-based terrorism.

International lawyers have long recognised the importance of interpretation to their academic discipline and professional practice. As new insights on interpretation abound in other fields, international law and international lawyers have largely remained wedded to a rule-based approach, focusing almost exclusively on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Such an approach neglects interpretation as a distinct and broader field of theoretical inquiry. Interpretation in International Law brings international legal scholars together to engage in sustained reflection on the theme of interpretation. The book is creatively structured around the metaphor of the game, which captures and illuminates the constituent elements of an act of interpretation. The object of the game of interpretation is to persuade the audience that one's interpretation of the law is correct. The rules of play are known and complied with by the players, even though much is left to their skills and strategies. There is also a meta-discourse about the game of interpretation - 'playing the game of game-playing' - which involves consideration of the nature of the game, its underlying stakes, and who gets to decide by what rules one should play. Through a series of diverse contributions, Interpretation in International Law reveals interpretation as an inescapable feature of all areas of international law. It will be of interest and utility to all international lawyers whose work touches upon theoretical or practical aspects of interpretation.

This groundbreaking collection of essays shows that, from the moment European expansion commenced through to the twentieth century, indigenous peoples from America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand drafted legal strategies to contest dispossession. The story of indigenous resistance to European colonization is well known. But legal resistance has been wrongly understood to be a relatively recent phenomenon. These essays demonstrate how indigenous peoples throughout the world opposed colonization not only with force, but also with ideas. They made claims to territory using legal arguments drawn from their own understanding of a law that applies between peoples - a kind of law of nations, comparable to that being developed by Europeans. The contributors to this volume argue that in the face of indigenous legal arguments, European justifications of colonization should be understood not as an original and originating legal discourse but, at least in part, as a form of counter-claim.
Native Claims: Indigenous Law against Empire, 1500-1920 brings together the work of eminent social and legal historians, literary scholars, and philosophers, including Rolena Adorno, Lauren Benton, Duncan Ivison, and Kristin Mann. Their combined expertise makes this volume uniquely expansive in its coverage of a crucial issue in global and colonial history. The various essays treat sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Latin America, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century North America (including the British colonies and French Canada), and nineteenth-century Australasia and Africa. There is no other book that examines the issue of European dispossession of native peoples in such a way.

In ancient Athenian democracy there were one hundred and thirty-nine official demes, or recognized population centres, which formed the foundation of the political system introduced by Kleisthenes in 508/7 BC. Enrolment in one of these demes was a prerequisite for citizenship and participation in the Athenian socio-political system. Acharnai was by far the largest of the Kleisthenic demes and one of the best known from the ancient sources, most notably Thucydides and Aristophanes' comedy Acharnians; it therefore provides a rare opportunity for a comprehensive investigation into the workings of a rural deme. In this volume, Kellogg combines literary, prosopographical, epigraphical, and archaeological evidence to create an encompassing overview of this dynamic and historical settlement with a well-developed identity and unique traditions. Such an investigation also functions as a corrective to a 'one size fits all' approach to rural Attica, which privileges the city and its political and economic opportunities over the countryside where most of the Athenian citizenry lived. This volume constitutes a new and distinctive contribution to the study of ancient Athens, and is a major advance in the analysis of the critically important role of the Attic demes in the economic, political, social, and religious structures of Athenian democracy.

The American prosecutor plays a powerful role in the judicial system, wielding the authority to accept or decline a case, choose which crimes to allege, and decide the number of counts to charge. These choices, among others, are often made with little supervision or institutional oversight. This prosecutorial discretion has prompted scholars to look to the role of prosecutors in Europe for insight on how to reform the American system of justice.
In The Prosecutor in Transnational Perspective, Erik Luna and Marianne Wade, through the works of their contributors coupled with their own analysis, demonstrate that valuable lessons can be learned from a transnational examination of prosecutorial authority. They examine both parallels and distinctions in the processes available to and decisions made by prosecutors in the United States and Europe. Ultimately, they demonstrate how the enhanced role of the prosecutor represents a crossroads for criminal justice with weighty legal and socio-economic consequences.

Fiduciary law is a critically important body of law. Fiduciary duties ensure the integrity of a remarkable variety of relationships, institutions, and organizations. They apply to relationships of great personal significance, including in some jurisdictions the relationship between parents and children. They structure a wide variety of commercial relationships, and they are essential to the regulation of relationships between professional service providers and their clients, including relationships between lawyer and client, doctor and patient, and investment manager and client. Fiduciary duties, perhaps uniquely in private law, challenge traditional ways of marking the boundaries between private and public law, inasmuch as they figure prominently in public governance. Indeed, there is even a storied tradition of thinking of the authority of the state in fiduciary terms. Notwithstanding its importance, fiduciary law has been woefully under-analysed by legal theorists. Filling this gap with a series of chapters by leading theorists, this book includes chapters on: the nature of fiduciary relationships, the connection between fiduciary duties and morality, the content and significance of fiduciary loyalty, the economic significance of fiduciary law, the application of fiduciary principles to public law and international law, the import of fiduciary relationships to theories of authority, and various other fundamental topics in the field. In many cases, new and important questions are raised by the book's chapters. Indeed, this book not only offers a much-needed theoretical assessment of fiduciary topics, it defines the field going forward, setting an agenda for future philosophical study of fiduciary law.

The Virginia State Constitution examines constitutional amendments, court decisions, attorney general opinions, and legislative deliberations bearing on the development and interpretation of the Virginia Constitution. The book contains a detailed history of the Virginia Constitution, with particular attention to key moments in the state's constitutional development, from the 1776 Constitution through the current 1971 Constitution. The book also includes a provision-by-provision commentary on the evolution and meaning of each section of the Virginia Constitution. The second edition brings this material up to date through mid-2013 and analyzes a number of constitutional developments with important implications for governance. Among the recent amendments covered in this volume is an amendment barring recognition of same-sex marriages and civil unions, and an amendment that undertook a major revision of the provision limiting the eminent domain power. The book examines several recent state court decisions of note, including the state supreme court's first interpretation of the provision guaranteeing "the right of the people to keep and bear arms" and various court decisions limiting the power to levy taxes. The book also analyzes recent attorney general opinions with significant implications for legislative appropriations to non-profit groups, along with various other legislative initiatives. The Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United States is an important series that reflects a renewed international interest in constitutional history and provides expert insight into each of the 50 state constitutions. Each volume in this innovative series contains a historical overview of the state's constitutional development, a section-by-section analysis of its current constitution, and a comprehensive guide to further research. Under the expert editorship of Professor G. Alan Tarr, Director of the Center on State Constitutional Studies at Rutgers University, this series provides essential reference tools for understanding state constitutional law. Books in the series can be purchased individually or as part of a complete set, giving readers unmatched access to these important political documents.

The use of referendums around the world has grown remarkably in the past thirty years and, in particular, referendums are today deployed more than ever in the settlement of constitutional questions, even in countries with little or no tradition of direct democracy. This is the first book by a constitutional theorist to address the implications of this development for constitutional democracy in a globalizing age, when many of the older certainties surrounding sovereignty and constitutional authority are coming under scrutiny. The book identifies four substantive constitutional processes where the referendum is regularly used today: the founding of new states; the creation or amendment of constitutions; the establishment of complex new models of sub-state autonomy, particularly in multinational states; and the transfer of sovereign powers from European states to the European Union. The book, as a study in constitutional theory, addresses the challenges this phenomenon poses not only for particular constitutional orders, which are typically structured around a representative model of democracy, but for constitutional theory more broadly. The main theoretical focus of the book is the relationship between the referendum and democracy. It addresses the standard criticisms which the referendum is subjected to by democratic theorists and deploys both civic republican theory and the recent turn in deliberative democracy to ask whether by good process-design the constitutional referendum is capable of facilitating the engagement of citizens in deliberative acts of constitution-making. With the referendum firmly established as a fixture of contemporary constitutionalism, the book addresses the key question for constitutional theorists and practitioners of how might its operation be made more democratic in age of constitutional transformation.

The supranational law of the European Union represents a uniquely powerful, far-reaching, and controversial instance of the growth of international legal governance, one that has forever altered the political and legal landscape of its Member States. The EU has attracted significant attention from political scientists, economists, and lawyers who have analysed its polity and constructed theoretical models of the integration process. Yet it has been almost entirely neglected by analytic philosophers, and the philosophical tools that have been developed to analyse and evaluate the Union are still in their infancy. This book brings together legal philosophers, political philosophers, and EU legal academics in the service of developing the philosophical analysis of EU law. In a series of original and complementary essays they bring their varied disciplinary expertise and theoretical perspectives to bear on central issues facing the Union and its law. Combining both abstract thought in legal and political philosophy and more tangible theoretical work on specific legal issues, the essays in this volume make a significant contribution to developing work on the philosophical foundations of EU law, and will engender further debate between philosophers, political philosophers, and EU legal academics. They will be of interest to all those engaged in understanding the nature and purpose of this unique legal entity.

Exploring the principles and values that should guide and limit the state's use of preventive techniques that involve coercion against the individual, this volume arises from a three-year study of Preventive Justice. The contributions examine whether and when preventive measures are justified, whether within or outwith the criminal law, and whether they signal a larger change in the architecture of security. Preventive measures include controversial crime control approaches such as pre-inchoate offences, pre-trial detention, restraining orders, and prevention detention of the dangerous. There are good reasons to justify state use of coercion to protect the public from harm, but while the rationales and justifications for state punishment have been extensively explored, the scope, limits, and principles of preventive justice have not received the same attention. This volume, written by world renowned scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds and jurisdictions, redresses the balance, assessing the foundations for the range of coercive measures that states now take in the name of prevention and public protection.

For many years, Antony Duff has been one of the world's foremost philosophers of criminal law. This volume collects essays by leading criminal law theorists to explore the principal themes in his work. In a response to the essays, Duff clarifies and develops his position on central problems in criminal law theory.
Some of the essays concentrate on the topic of criminalization. That is, they examine what forms of conduct (including attempts, offensiveness, and negligence) can aptly qualify as criminal offences, and what principled limits, if any, should be placed on the reach of the criminal law. Several of the other essays assess the thesis that punishment is justifiable as a form of communication between offenders and their community. Those essays examine the presuppositions (about the nature and function of community, and about the moral structure of atonement) that must be embraced if communication is to be a primary role for punishment. The remaining essays examine the nature and limits of responsibility in the law, as they engage with philosophical debates over 'moral luck' by investigating the ways in which the law can legitimately hold people responsible for events that were not within their control. These chapters tie the first and third parts of the book together, as they explore the relationship between the principles that determine a person's responsibility and the principles that determine which types of actions can appropriately be criminalized.
Finally, Duff responds with comments that seek to defend and clarify his views while also acknowledging the correctness of some of the critics' objections.

Montana's state constitution was created during the early 1970s. Progressive, innovative and pragmatic, it combines a strong concern for individual rights, personal liberty, and individual dignity while seeking to keep government open and responsive to the will of the people of Montana. It also stresses rights to a clean and healthful environment.
The Montana State Constitutionis the first reference guide to offer an in-depth analysis of the state's constitutional history. In it, Larry Elison and Fritz Snyder provide the text of the constitution, its meaning, and its legal interpretations. It is an excellent research tool for those interested in Montana's constitutional history and case law, and it includes a comprehensive bibliographic essay dealing with available primary and secondary research sources. Previously published by Greenwood, this title has been brought back in to circulation by Oxford University Press with new verve. Re-printed with standardization of content organization in order to facilitate research across the series, this title, as with all titles in the series, is set to join the dynamic revision cycle of The Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United States.
The Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United Statesis an important series that reflects a renewed international interest in constitutional history and provides expert insight into each of the 50 state constitutions. Each volume in this innovative series contains a historical overview of the state's constitutional development, a section-by-section analysis of its current constitution, and a comprehensive guide to further research.
Under the expert editorship ofProfessor G. Alan Tarr, Director of the Center on State Constitutional Studies at Rutgers University, this series provides essential reference tools for understanding state constitutional law. Books in the series can be purchased individually or as part of a complete set, giving readers unmatched access to these important political documents.

Criminology is a booming discipline, but at the same time it is also deeply divided. This rich and diverse collection of essays addresses the key questions at the heart of the debate.
What is criminology for? What is the impact of criminology? How should criminology be done? What are the key issues and debates in criminology today? What challenges does the discipline of criminology face? How has criminology as a discipline changed over the last few decades?
Addressing all of these questions in 34 essays by some of the world's leading scholars, this volume reveals the deep fissures that threaten this vibrant discipline. There is disagreement over methodological issues - how best to conduct research. The subject matter and aims of the discipline are contested as traditional boundaries are tested and breached. At the same time there has been a narrowing of the terms of debate more generally as numerous new journals have been established for the various constituent subfields of the broader discipline.
All of these factors give the impression that criminology is fragmenting at the precise moment that, as a discipline, it is so energetic and successful. Examining the nature of criminology and the current state of the field, the contributors outline their sense of and ambition for future development, challenging the discipline to be more reflective. Above all, it provides a record of the shape of the field at the close of the first decade of the new millennium.

The Criminalization series arose from an interdisciplinary investigation into criminalization, focussing on the principles that might guide decisions about what kinds of conduct should be criminalized, and the forms that criminalization should take. Developing a normative theory of criminalization, the series tackles the key questions at the heart of the issue: what principles and goals should guide legislators in deciding what to criminalize? How should criminal wrongs be classified and differentiated? How should law enforcement officials apply the law's specifications of offences? This, the fifth book in the series, offers a historical and conceptual account of the development of the modern criminal law in England and as it has spread to common law jurisdictions around the world. The book offers a historical perspective on the development of theories of criminalization. It shows how the emergence of theories of criminalization is inextricably linked to modern understandings of the criminal law as a conceptually distinct body of rules, and how this in turn has been shaped by the changing functions of criminal law as an instrument of government in the modern state. The book is structured in two main parts. The first traces the development of the modern law as a distinct, and conceptually distinct body of rules, looking in particular at ideas of jurisdiction, codification and responsibility. The second part then engages in detailed analysis of specific areas of criminal law, focusing on patterns of criminalization in relation to property, the person, and sexual conduct.

In The Wyoming State Constitution, Robert B. Keiter provides a comprehensive guide to Wyoming's colorful constitutional history. Featuring an outstanding analysis of the state's governing charter, the book includes an in-depth, section-by-section analysis of the entire constitution, detailing important changes that have been made since its initial drafting. This treatment, which includes a list of cases, index, and bibliography, makes this guide indispensable for students, scholars, and practitioners of Wyoming's constitution. The second edition contains an up-to-date analysis of the Wyoming Supreme Court's constitutional decisions, new state constitutional amendments and Supreme Court decisions since 1992. Also included is new material explaining how the Wyoming Supreme Court goes about interpreting the state constitution. The Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United States is an important series that reflects a renewed international interest in constitutional history and provides expert insight into each of the 50 state constitutions. Each volume in this innovative series contains a historical overview of the state's constitutional development, a section-by-section analysis of its current constitution, and a comprehensive guide to further research. Under the expert editorship of Professor G. Alan Tarr, Director of the Center on State Constitutional Studies at Rutgers University, this series provides essential reference tools for understanding state constitutional law. Books in the series can be purchased individually or as part of a complete set, giving readers unmatched access to these important political documents.

This book provides an introduction to the American legal system for a broad readership. Its focus is on law in practice, on the role of the law in American society, and how the social context affects the living law of the United States. It covers the institutions of law creation and application, law in American government, American legal culture and the legal profession, American criminal and civil justice, and civil rights. Clearly written, the book has been widely used in both undergraduate and graduate courses as an introduction to the legal system; it will be useful, too, to a general audience interested in understanding how this vital social system works. _ This new edition, which keeps the same basic structure of earlier editions, has been revised and brought up to date, reflecting the way the legal system has adapted to the complex new world of the twenty-first century.

The Connecticut State Constitution is the only comprehensive analysis of the Connecticut Constitution and its individual provisions. In this fully revised second edition, Wesley W. Horton presents a comprehensive overview of Connecticut's constitutional historical development from 1635 to the present--spanning 375 years of constitutional history--and discusses cases of particular importance. Also included are a bibliographical essay, table of cases, tables relating to constitutional conventions and amendments, and a general index, offering significant sources for further study.
The Connecticut Supreme Court has been a leader in developing state constitutional precedents independent of the precedents of the United States Supreme Court, such as in recent gay marriage and de facto school segregation cases. This book elaborates in detail on the rich Connecticut history concerning these and similar topics, often involving equal protection, due process or criminal procedure.
The Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United States is an important series that reflects a renewed international interest in constitutional history and provides expert insight into each of the 50 state constitutions. Each volume in this innovative series contains a historical overview of the state's constitutional development, a section-by-section analysis of its current constitution, and a comprehensive guide to further research.
Under the expert editorship of Professor G. Alan Tarr, Director of the Center on State Constitutional Studies at Rutgers University, this series provides essential reference tools for understanding state constitutional law. Books in the series can be purchased individually or as part of a complete set, giving readers unmatched access to these important political documents.

The essays contained in the present volume represent Bentham's attempt to influence the direction of political and constitutional change taking place in Spain and Portugal in the early 1820s. At the same time as commenting on Spanish and Portuguese questions, Bentham outlined important aspects of his own legal and constitutional theories, defended measures of democratic reform, and offered a vigorous defence of free speech and communication. The volume complements Colonies, Commerce, and Constitutional Law, in which Bentham commented on the disastrous effects on Spain of her attempts to retain her overseas possessions.

What makes something a human right? What is the relationship between the moral foundations of human rights and human rights law? What are the difficulties of appealing to human rights?
This book offers the first comprehensive survey of current thinking on the philosophical foundations of human rights. Divided into four parts, this book focusses firstly on the moral grounds of human rights, for example in our dignity, agency, interests or needs. Secondly, it looks at the implications that different moral perspectives on human rights bear for human rights law and politics. Thirdly, it discusses specific and topical human rights including freedom of expression and religion, security, health and more controversial rights such as a human right to subsistence. The final part discusses nuanced critical and reformative views on human rights from feminist, Kantian and relativist perspectives among others.
The essays represent new and canonical research by leading scholars in the field. Each section is structured as a set of essays and replies, offering a comprehensive analysis of different positions within the debate in question. The introduction from the editors will guide researchers and students navigating the diversity of views on the philosophical foundations of human rights.

The Company-State rethinks the nature of the early English East India Company as a form of polity and corporate sovereign well before its supposed transformation into a state and empire in the mid-eighteenth century. Taking seriously the politics and political thought of the early Company on their own terms, it explores the Company's political and legal constitution as an overseas corporation and the political institutions and behaviors that followed from it, from tax collection and public health to warmaking and colonial plantation. Tracing the ideological foundations of those institutions and behaviors, this book reveals how Company leadership wrestled not simply with the bottom line but with typically early modern problems of governance, such as: the mutual obligations of subjects and rulers; the relationship between law, economy, and sound civil and colonial society; and the nature of jurisdiction and sovereignty over people, commerce, religion, territory, and the sea. The Company-State thus reframes some of the most fundamental narratives in the history of the British Empire, questioning traditional distinctions between public and private bodies, "commercial" and "imperial" eras in British India, a colonial Atlantic and a "trading world" of Asia, European and Asian political cultures, and the English and their European rivals in the East Indies. At its core, The Company-State offers a view of early modern Europe and Asia, and especially the colonial world that connected them, as resting in composite, diffuse, hybrid, and overlapping notions of sovereignty that only later gave way to more modern singular, centralized, and territorially- and nationally-bounded definitions of political community. Given growing questions about the fate of the nation-state and of national borders in an age of "globalization," this study offers a perspective on the vitality of non-state and corporate political power perhaps as relevant today as it was in the seventeenth century.