The book is dedicated to the theoretical problems concerning ratio legis. In the contexts of legal interpretation and legal reasoning, the two most important intellectual tools employed by lawyers, ratio legis would seem to offer an extremely powerful argument. Declaring the ratio legis of a statute can lead to a u-turn argumentation throughout the lifespan of the statute itself - in parliament, or in practice during court sessions, when it is tested against the constitution. Though the ratio legis argument is widely used, much about it warrants further investigation. On the general philosophical map there are many overlapping areas that concern different approaches to human rationality and to the problems of practical reasoning. Particular problems with ratio legis arise in connection with different perspectives on legal philosophy and theory, especially in terms of the methods that lawyers use for legal interpretation and argumentation. These problems can be further subdivided into particular aspects of activities undertaken by lawyers and officials who use the ratio legis in their work, and the underlying theories. In short, this book examines what ratio legis is, what it could be, and its practical implications.

This book uses role theory to analyze the judicial decisions made by state supreme court judges. Grounded in the fields of anthropology, business management, psychology, and sociology, role theory holds that, for each position an individual occupies in society, he or she creates a role orientation, or a belief about the limits of proper behavior. Judicial role orientation is conceptualized as the stimuli that a judge feels can legitimately be allowed to influence his or her decision-making and, in the case of conflict among influences, what priorities to assign to different decisional criteria. This role orientation is generally seen as existing on a spectrum ranging from activist to restraintist. Using multi-faceted data collection and empirical testing, this book discusses the variation in judges' role orientations, the role that personal institutional structure and judges' backgrounds play in determining judicial orientations, and the degree to which judges' orientations affect their decision-making. The first study to provide cross-institutional research on state supreme court judges, this book expands and advances the literature on judicial role orientation. As such, this book will be of interest to graduate students and researchers studying political science, public policy, law, and the courts.

This volume looks at how courts and the police handle racial discrimination in Europe. The chapters show that beyond legal technique, neither the legislators nor the judges escape from their own emotions when responding to racial discrimination. But, as the authors point out, emotions are not always negative. They can also help in a positive way in judicial interpretation. The study profiles five countries: Germany, UK, Estonia, Portugal and Spain. Each of these belong both to the European Union and to the Council of Europe. Coverage examines the responsibility of the public powers, more specifically of the legislative and judicial power, both of the police and of the judiciary, in persecuting racist behavior. In addition, the authors also consider the increase in racism in groups of citizens. The authors argue that racial justice is a proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes and actions that lead to equal access to opportunities for all. After reading this book, readers will gain a better understanding of the reasoning of legislators, police and judges when dealing with racial discrimination in Europe today.

This peer-reviewed book features essays on the Armenian massacres of 1915-1916. It aims to cast light upon the various questions of international law raised by the matter. The answers may help improve international relations in the region. In 1915-1916, roughly a million and a half Armenians were murdered in the territory of the Ottoman Empire, which had been home to them for centuries. Ever since, a dispute between Armenians and Turkey has been ongoing over the qualification of the massacres. The contributors to this volume examine the legal nature and consequences of this event. Their investigation strives to be completely neutral and technical. The essays also look at the broader issue of denial. For instance, in Turkey, public speech on the matter can still trigger criminal prosecution whereas in other European States denial of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity is criminalized. However, the European Court of Human Rights views criminal prosecution of denial of the Armenian massacres as unlawful. In addition, one essay considers a state's obligation to remember by looking at lessons learnt from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Another contributor looks at a collective right to remember and some ideas to move forward towards a solution. Moreover, the book explores the way the Armenian massacres have affected the relationship between Turkey and the European Union.

This innovative book explores the role of utopian thinking in law and politics, including alternative forms of social engineering, such as technology and architecture. Building on Levitas' Utopia as Method, the topic of utopia is addressed within the book from a multidisciplinary perspective. The book addresses central questions surrounding utopian thinking: What are its implications for law and politics? To what extent does it constitute a desirable vision? What are its risks or dangers? How is utopia related to ideology? An impressive selection of contributors reflect on the challenge of utopianism and its attraction, advancing the global public debate on social and political issues. Divided into three accessible parts, this book discusses the relationship between utopia and the law, the notion of utopian politics and utopia in architecture and technology. Addressing the topic of utopia from a variety of perspectives, this book will be an interesting read for academic scholars and students in the field of law, legal and political theory, philosophy, ethics, sociology, religious studies, technology and architecture. In particular, it is relevant for scholars who are interested in the dynamics of social, legal and political change.

European integration confronts us with the limits of current constitutional and democratic language. The way out of this impasse will only appear through a refinement of what we consider the European Union to be as a political entity and of our concepts of democracy. In this challenging and thoughtful new book Professor Verhoeven offers a crystal-clear synthesis and analysis of the current state of the European Union as a constitutional project. While she recognizes the continuity of this project with social contract theory and the federal ideal - and uncovers the specific aspects of democracy and constitutionalism the EU has already embraced - she shows how the terms and presuppositions of those persistent conceptual frameworks must be fundamentally revised. At the root of these necessary revisions lies the irreversible onset of multiculturalism and globalisation, twin challenges that force us to reconsider issues of sovereignty and self-governance. Professor Verhoeven does not neglect the much-debated issues at the centre of her topic. Her analysis extends to such critiques as the view of the European constitution as a Court-led process of vertical integration, the meaning of EU citizenship, variability in EU decision-making procedures, the concept of institutional balance, territorial differences in the application of EU law, the whole area of delegated rule-making and the relationship between the European and national legal orders. As a thorough investigation of how democracy and constitutionalism can be reconceptualised in order to meet the challenge of European integration, The European Union in Search of a Democratic and Constitutional Theory will greatly reward the attention oflawyers, policymakers, and scholars in the field.

This book deals with the fundamental semantics of images of Europe, which consist of valences, mirror beliefs and affectivities. This is why it relaunches the importance of the European discourse in its symbolic dimension. As such, it explores the many images of Europe, or rather the many images through which European discourse is actually constituted in daily life, in search of their enunciative responsibility in today's world for determining the current "State of the Union". The identity of the European continent is based on a millenary tension between universalism and particularism: images of Europe have in fact been alternately inspired, over the centuries, by a model of homogeneity - Roman and Carolingian imperial disposition - on the one hand, and by a model of fragmentation - a Europe of city-states, municipalities, regions and small fatherlands - on the other. In the European Union, a political and economic organism, this issue has recently been amplified to the point that it has reentered public debate, and political parties that are only recognizable for being Europeanists or anti-Europeanists are now ubiquitous. In this regard, one major bone of contention is how to portray the quintessential aspects of the European territory, which are either interpreted as "thresholds" to be overcome in the name of a model of United Europe - "integral totality" - or are instead regarded as insurmountable obstacles for a Europe that is irreparably and perhaps, according to anti-Europeanists, fortunately fragmented - "partitive totality". Further, this is to be done without excluding the possibility of contradictory and complementary solutions to these binary visions. In this context the book analyzes various texts in order to obtain a more precise picture of the clash, reveal its semiotic forms, and by doing so, identify a way out of the crisis.

This book focuses on four topical and interconnected, innovative pathways to civil justice within the context of securing and improving access to justice: the use of Artificial Intelligence and its interactions with judicial systems; ADR and ODR tracks in privatising justice systems; the effects of increased self-representation on access to justice; and court specialization and the establishment of commercial courts to counter the trend of vanishing court trials. Top academics and experts from Europe, the US and Canada address these topics in a critical and multidisciplinary manner, combining legal, socio-legal and empirical insights. The book is part of 'Building EU Civil Justice', a five-year research project funded by the European Research Council. It will be of interest to scholars and policymakers, as well as practitioners working in the areas of civil justice, alternative dispute resolution, court systems, and legal tech. The chapters "Introduction: The Future of Access to Justice - Beyond Science Fiction" and "Constituting a Civil Legal System Called "Just": Law, Money, Power, and Publicity" are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This collection of essays, published to coincide with Tony Honore's sixty-fifth birthday, focuses on the areas where Honore's thought has made the most significant contribution: Roman law and jurisprudence. Included are essays by P.S. Atiyah, Zenon Bankowski, John Bell, Peter Birks, John W. Cairs, Hugh Collins, David Daube, W. M. Gordon, J. W. Harris Nicola Lacey, A. D. E. Lewis, Detlef Liebs, G. D. MacCormack, Neil MacCormick, G. Maher, Pieter Norr, Alan Rodger, and Peter Stein.

This book discusses the relationship between democracy and the financial order from various legal perspectives. Each of the nine contributions adopts a unique perspective on the legal and political challenges brought to the fore by the Global Financial Crisis. This crisis and the ensuing sovereign debt crisis in Europe are only the latest in a long series of financial crises around the globe in recent decades. By their very existence, but also as a result of the political turmoil they have created, these financial crises testify to the well-known tensions between democracy and a market-based economic and financial order. However, what is missing in this debate is an analysis of the role of law for reconciling democracy with a market-based financial order. To fill this lacuna, the book focuses on the controversy surrounding the concept of law, thereby adding another variable to the debate on the relation between democracy and capitalism. Each chapter addresses the concept of law from a particular theoretical angle, be it a full-grown legal theory or an approach in political economy that has a particular view of the law.

"Works such as A Law of Her Own expose the injustices in our society, provide different perspectives, and stimulate discussion. . . . Forell and Matthews' contribution to the debate should not be overlooked."
--"Law & Life"

Despite the apparent progress in women's legal status, the law retains a profoundly male bias, and as such contributes to the pervasive violence and injustice against women.

In A Law of Her Own, the authors propose to radically change law's fundamental paradigm by introducing a "reasonable woman standard" for measuring men's behavior. Advocating that courts apply this standard to the conduct of men-and women-in legal settings where women are overwhelmingly the injured parties, the authors seek to eliminate the victimization and objectification of women by dismantling part of the legal structure that supports their subordination.

A woman-based legal standard-focusing on respect for bodily integrity, agency, and autonomy-would help rectify the imbalance in how society and its legal system view sexual and gender-based harassment, rape, stalking, battery, domestic imprisonment, violence, and death.

Examining the bias of the existing "reasonable person" standard through analysis of various court cases and judicial decisions, A Law of Her Own aims to balance the law to incorporate women's values surrounding sex and violence.

The proportionality test, as proposed in Robert Alexy's principles theory, is becoming commonplace in comparative constitutional studies. And yet, the question "are courts justified in borrowing proportionality?" has not been expressly put in many countries where judicial borrowings are a reality. This book sheds light on this question and examines the circumstances under which courts are authorized to borrow from alien legal sources to rule on constitutional cases. Taking the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil - and its enthusiastic recourse to proportionality when interpreting the Federal Constitution - as a case study, the book investigates the normative reasons that could justify the court's attitude and offers a comprehensive overview of its case law on controversial constitutional matters like abortion, same-sex union, racial quotas, and the right to public healthcare. Providing a valuable resource for those interested in comparative constitutional law and legal theory, or curious about Brazilian constitutional law, this book questions the alleged universality of the proportionality test, challenges the premises of Alexy's principles theory, and discloses more than 68 Brazilian Supreme Court decisions delivered from 2003 to 2018 that would otherwise have remained unknown to an English-speaking audience.

The subject of this book is human rights law, focusing on historic achievement of a common standard viewed from a perspective of Pengchun Chang's contributions to the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This is an original research, integrating different research methods: inter-disciplinary approaches, historical and comparative methods, and documentary research and so on. The research findings can be described briefly as follows: Chinese wisdom has played an important role in achieving a common standard for the establishment of the international human rights system, which can be seen by exploring P. C. Chang's contributions to the drafting of the UDHR. The target readers are global scholars and students in law, politics, philosophy, international relations, human rights law, legal history, religion and culture. This book will enable these potential readers to have a vivid picture of the Chinese contributions to the international human rights regime and to have a better understanding of the significance of the traditional Chinese culture and P. C. Chang's human rights philosophy of pluralism.

A Solid Introduction to Legal PhilosophyThis lucid, wide-ranging account traces the evolution of the philosophy of law and offers an introduction to its primary authors. Berolzheimer is especially interested in the law's ability to serve as a progressive humanitarian force. This is evident, for example, in the contribution it has made to the emancipation of repressed social classes. "These fundamental questions are discussed by Dr. Berolzheimer in a work of remarkable learning... I have before me as I write the works of Stahl, Krause, and Lasson, dealing with the Philosophy of Law. They are not comparable with this volume in point of research." --Sir John Macdonell, Introduction, xxixFritz Berolzheimer 1869-1920] was a German legal philosopher and author of the five-volume System der Rechts- und Wirtschaftsphilosophie (1904-07). This work is the second volume of that set. He was managing editor of the important philosophy of law journal, "Archiv fur Rechts-und Wirtschaftsphilosophie" and president of the International Society of Legal and Economic Philosophy in Berlin.Rachel Szold Jastrow d. 1926] was a suffragist and sister of Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. Her husband, Joseph Jastrow, was a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin.Sir John Macdonell 1846-1921] was an eminent British jurist and Quain Professor of Comparative Law at University College, London.Albert Kocourek 1875-1952] was a Professor of Law at Northwestern University.CONTENTSIntroductionCh. I. Origins of Oriental CivilizationCh. II. The Ancient Commonwealth: Greek CivilizationCh. III. The Civic Empire of Ancient Rome and the Moralization of Roman LawCh. IV. The Bondage of MediaevalismCh. V. Civic Emancipation: The Rise and Decline of "Natural Law"Ch. VI. The Emancipation of the Proletariat. Encroachment upon the Philosophy of Law by Economic RealismCh. VIII. The Sociological Reconstruction of Legal Philosoph

This book addresses three major questions about law and legal systems: (1) What are the defining and organizing forms of legal institutions, legal rules, interpretive methodologies, and other legal phenomena? (2) How does frontal and systematic focus on these forms advance understanding of such phenomena? (3) What credit should the functions of forms have when such phenomena serve policy and related purposes, rule of law values, and fundamental political values such as democracy, liberty, and justice? This is the first book that seeks to offer general answers to these questions and thus gives form in the law its due. The answers not only provide articulate conversancy with the subject but also reveal insights into the nature of law itself, the oldest and foremost problem in legal theory and allied subjects.

This open access book is about the perception of the independence of the judiciary in Europe. Do citizens and judges see its independence in the same way? Do judges feel that their independence is respected by the users of the courts, by the leadership of the courts and by politicians? Does the population trust the judiciary more than other public institutions, or less? How does independence of the judiciary work at the national level and at the level of the European Union? These interrelated questions are particularly relevant in times when the independence of the judiciary is under political pressure in several countries in the European Union, giving way to illiberal democracy. Revealing surveys among judges, lay judges and lawyers - in addition to regular surveys of the European Commission - provide a wealth of information to answer these questions. While the answers will not please everyone, they are of interest to a wide audience, in particular court leaders, judges, lawyers, politicians and civil servants.

This volume highlights important aspects of the complex relationship between common language and legal practice. It hosts an interdisciplinary discussion between cognitive science, philosophy of language and philosophy of law, in which an international group of authors aims to promote, enrich and refine this new debate. Philosophers of law have always shown a keen interest in cognitive science and philosophy of language in order to find tools to solve their problems: recently this interest was reciprocated and scholars from cognitive science and philosophy of language now look to the law as a testing ground for their theses. Using the most sophisticated tools available to pragmatics, sociolinguistics, cognitive sciences and legal theory, an interdisciplinary, international group of authors address questions like: Does legal interpretation differ from ordinary understanding? Is the common pragmatic apparatus appropriate to legal practice? What can pragmatics teach about the concept of law and pervasive legal phenomena such as testimony or legal disagreements?

'A fascinating collection of essays that reveal the multiple facets of lawmaking in an increasingly interconnected world. In addition to the role played by States, numerous institutional and judicial actors now contribute to lawmaking. In charting these developments, this book provides a rich analytical appraisal of the manifold normative processes in the contemporary international legal order.' - Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, University of Geneva, SwitzerlandThe global landscape has changed profoundly over the past decades. As a result, the making of international law and the way we think about it has become more and more diversified. This Research Handbook offers a comprehensive guide to the theory and practice of international lawmaking today. It takes stock at both the conceptual and the empirical levels of the instruments, processes, and actors involved in the making of international law. The Editors have taken an approach which carefully combines theory and practice in order to provide both an overview and a critical reflection of international lawmaking. Comprehensive and well-structured, the book contains essays by leading scholars on key aspects of international lawmaking and on lawmaking in the main issue areas. Attention is paid to classic processes as well as new developments and shades of normativity. This timely and authoritative handbook will be a valuable resource for academics, students, legal practitioners, diplomats, government and international organization officials as well as civil society representatives. Contributors: M.S. Barr, B.I. Bonafe, C. Broelmann, D. Costelloe, J. d'Aspremont, M. Fitzmaurice, M.E. Footer, G.I. Hernandez, J. Kammerhofer, O. McIntyre, P. Palchetti, D. Patterson, Y. Radi, F. Romanin Jacur, K. Schmalenbach, O.M. Sender, M. Tignino, A. Tzanakopoulos, V.P. Tzevelekos, S. Vasiliev, I. Venzke, W.G. Werner, R.A. Wessel, M. Wood, B.K. Woodward

Judges and courts do a considerable amount of harm in applying some criminal laws and policies, such as the felony murder rule, mandatory sentences, and the drug war. These and other positivist policies do not lessen crime, but instead, teach criminogenic messages contrary to what a magisterial criminal policy would teach. American judges apply criminal laws and policies that teach wrong lessons to users of the justice system, including criminals themselves. The source of this lies both in judicial passivity and legislative indifference. Judge Gerber expresses his confidence that a justice-oriented system can be achieved when politicians surrender control of the justice system to professionals in the field.

American judges apply criminal laws and policies that teach wrong lessons to users of the justice system, including the criminals themselves. These wrong lessons include mathematical and mandatory sentencing, plea bargaining, the death penalty, the felony murder rule, marijuana prohibitions, the drug war, and the penchant for solving crime by building more and bigger prisons. The source of these harms lies both in judicial passivity and legislative indifference to the costs and shortcomings of anti-crime policies, usually because of nothing but electoral concerns. The result is a system of laws and policies that really have little to do with lessening crime but much to do with politics. The book contrasts this positivist criminal justice system with a justice-oriented magisterial system which Judge Gerber believes, can be achieved if politicians surrender control of the justice system to professionals and experts in that field. This book has applications for academic as well as professional use and will also be of interest to some general readers who are interested in the legal system.

This book deals with the development of constitutional law in China and Visegrad states by employing a comparative perspective. It is the first time that the researcher compared the constitutional development in the China and the Visegrad states. It offers a few glimpses of development of constitution in the (former) socialist states to readers who are interested in the constitutional law or China-V4 relations. With the increased cooperation between China and V4 countries, this book gives the undergraduates in the university to think about the BRI and 17+1 network from a Chinese perspective. Last, compared to the previous works which mainly focus on North America and/or Western Europe, this book provides a new angle on comparative constitutional law.

This book is an original critique of contemporary liberal theories of justice, focusing on the problem of how to relate the personal point of view of the individual to the impartial perspective of justice. Margaret Moore's examination of prominent contemporary arguments for liberal justice reveals that individualist theories are subject to two serious difficulties: the motivation problem and the integrity problem. Individualists cannot explain why the individual should be motivated to act in accordance with the dictates of liberal justice, and - related to this - offer radically incoherent accounts of the person. Revisionist liberal attempts to ground liberalism in contextual and perfectionist terms offer more defensible foundations, but Dr Moore argues that such theories do not support liberal political principles. She concludes by sketching a historical and concrete approach to political and ethical theorizing which reformulates the relation between self-interest and morality, and is not subject to the problems that beset liberal individualist theories of justice. Her book advances the debate between communitarians and liberals about the kind of moral foundation which a liberal society requires.

This book studies the practical experience and theoretical development of rule of law in China, and provides fundamental theory for the construction of rule of law in contemporary China. The author examines the rule of law by exploring the entire legal system, and highlighting various aspects including the legislation, law enforcement and supervision systems. Readers will also discover the author's strong opinions on scientific legislation, legal government, judicial reform, and the culture of rule of law. This highly readable book will appeal to both general readers and researchers interested in rule of law in China.

This book aims to distil the essentials of liberal constitutionalism from the jurisprudence and practice of contemporary liberal-democratic states. Most constitutional theorists have despaired of a liberal consensus on the fundamental goals of constitutional order. Instead they have contented themselves either with agreement on lower-level principles on which those who disagree on fundamentals may coincidentally converge, or, alternatively with a process for translating fundamental disgreement into acceptable laws. Alan Brudner suggests a conception of fundamental justice that liberals of competing philosophic schools may accept as fulfilling their own basic commitments. He argues that the model liberal-democratic constitution is best understood as a unity of three constitutional frameworks: libertarian, egalitarian, and communitarian. Each of these has a particular conception of public reason. Brudner criticizes each of these frameworks insofar as its organizing conception claims to be fundamental, and moves forward to suggest an Hegelian conception of public reason within which each framework is contained as a constituent element of a whole. When viewed in this light, the liberal constitution embodies a surprising synthesis. It reconciles a commitment to individual liberty and freedom of conscience with the perfectionist idea that the state ought to cultivate a type of personality whose fundamental ends are the goods essential to dignity. Such a reconciliation, the author suggests, may attract competing liberalisms to a consensus on an inclusive conception of public reason under which political authority is validated for those who share a confidence in the individual's inviolable worth.

This study analyzes the process of constitutional interpretation, that is, the methodology by which the Supreme Court goes about interpreting the Constitution, and offers a comprehensive view of constitutional law through the lens of history, political science, and jurisprudence. Shaman examines the practice of creating meaning for the Constitution, the dichotomy of legal formalism and realism, the levels of judicial scrutiny, the perception of reality, and the puzzle of legislative motive. While the book traces the historical development of constitutional law, its main focus is on modern jurisprudence, including analyses of the major themes of constitutional interpretation developed by the Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist Courts.

Shaman details the Warren Court's move to a more realistic jurisprudence and its development of a multi-level system of judicial review that has become increasingly more complex under the Burger and Rehnquist Courts. He critiques the Supreme Court's reversion in recent years to an old-fashioned formalistic jurisprudence and the growing tendency of the Court to look to the past rather than to future to interpret the Constitution. The book also includes discussion of recent major doctrinal developments such as constitutional theory underlying Supreme Court decisions on gender discrimination, discrimination on the basis of sexual preference, the right to die, abortion, and freedom of speech.