In 1788 John Adams created a sublime ambition for all nations - 'a government of laws and not of men'. In the intervening years we have come to learn that legislation itself works through the interpretations of the many men and women who work on the inside and the outside of the law. Effective regulation thus depends not only on scrupulous legal analysis, with its appeal to precedent, conceptual clarity and argumentation, but also on sound empirical research, which often reveals diversity in implementation, enforcement and observance of the law in practice. In this outstanding, worldly-wise book Leeuw and Schmeets demonstrate how to bridge the gap between the letter and the delivery of the law. It is packed with examples, cases and illustrations that will have international appeal. I recommend it to students and practitioners engaged across all domains of legislation and regulation.' - Ray Pawson, University of Leeds, UK Empirical Legal Research describes how to investigate the roles of legislation, regulation, legal policies and other legal arrangements at play in society. It is invaluable as a guide to legal scholars, practitioners and students on how to do empirical legal research, covering history, methods, evidence, growth of knowledge and links with normativity. This multidisciplinary approach combines insights and approaches from different social sciences, evaluation studies, Big Data analytics and empirically informed ethics. The authors present an overview of the roots of this blossoming interdisciplinary domain, going back to legal realism, the fields of law, economics and the social sciences, and also to civilology and evaluation studies. The book addresses not only data analysis and statistics, but also how to formulate adequate research problems, to use (and test) different types of theories (explanatory and intervention theories) and to apply new forms of literature research to the field of law such as the systematic, rapid and realist reviews and synthesis studies. The choice and architecture of research designs, the collection of data, including Big Data, and how to analyze and visualize data are also covered. The book discusses the tensions between the normative character of law and legal issues and the descriptive and causal character of empirical legal research, and suggests ways to help handle this seeming disconnect. This comprehensive guide is vital reading for law practitioners as well as for students and researchers dealing with regulation, legislation and other legal arrangements.

'Citizen sensing', the practice in which grassroots actors use sensor technology for environmental monitoring, is increasingly entering the debate around environmental risk governance. This groundbreaking book explores the potential for citizen sensing to concretely influence the governance of environmental risks to public health by shaping policy responses implemented by competent institutions. Taking a unique perspective that combines the elements of risk, technology, the grassroots-drive and distrust, Anna Berti Suman analyses which factors contribute to the policy uptake of community-led citizen sensing. She frames the study through the voices of the citizen sensing participants interviewed in her fieldwork, incorporating both theoretical reflections and ethnography into a mixed-methods approach. The book offers novel insights into the advantages and drawbacks of the reliance on citizen sensing by institutional actors and highlights the need for further research in this area. Academics working in environmental law and risk governance will find the research and findings contained in this book both interesting and timely. It will also be of practical use to policy-makers and practitioners, as well as citizen sensing communities that wish to make their monitoring practices more influential.

This book studies three interrelated frontiers in civil justice from European and national perspectives, combining theory with policy and insights from practice: the interplay between private and public justice, the digitization of justice, and litigation funding. These current topics are viewed against the backdrop of the requirements of effective access to justice and the overall goal of establishing a sustainable civil justice system in Europe. With perspectives from an impressive selection of contributors the book takes on a pan-European perspective and zooms in on several European jurisdictions, thereby providing a holistic exploration of current civil justice debates and frontiers. It includes chapters dedicated to the interaction between public and private justice, the digitisation of both private dispute resolution and court litigation, including the rapid development and use of advanced forms of Artificial Intelligence, and the funding of justice, especially collective actions and settlements by means of private funding and common funds. Addressing these key issues in the current European debate on civil justice, this book will be an ideal read for academics and policy makers interested in the most recent frontier developments and innovations. Legal practitioners will also benefit from the insight into complex topics such as litigation funding, legal conflicts in a digital age, and resolving disputes in a private setting.

This innovative Handbook provides an expansive interrogation of the spaces and places of law, exploring how we engage relationally in a material world, within which we are inter-dependent and reliant, and governed by laws in a dynamic process. It advances novel insights into the numerous intersections of space, place and law in our lives. International contributors offer a range of activity-orientated analyses, focusing on methodology, embodied experience, legal pluralism, conflict and resistance, and non-human and place agency. The Handbook examines a number of cross-cutting themes including social inequality, environmental justice, sustainability, urban development, Indigenous legal systems, the effects of colonialism and property law. Representing a diversity of locales from all around the world, the chapters encompass both urban and rural, terrestrial and marine areas, agential and storied spaces, and fictional as well as ''real'' places. Taking a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates law, human and legal geography, planning, sociology, political ecology, anthropology, and beyond, this comprehensive Handbook will be critical reading for scholars and students of these and cognate areas. Its discussion of empirical examples will also be beneficial for practitioners and policymakers interested in these fields.

This cutting-edge Research Handbook, at the intersection of comparative law and anthropology, explores mutually enriching insights and outlooks. The 20 contributors, including several of the most eminent scholars, as well as new voices, offer diverse expertise, national backgrounds and professional experience. Their overall approach is ''ground up'' without regard to unified paradigms of research or objects of study. Through a pluralistic definition of law and multidisciplinary approaches, Comparative Law and Anthropology significantly advances both theory and practice. The Research Handbook's expansive concept of comparative law blends a traditional geographical orientation with historical and jurisprudential dimensions within a broad range of contexts of anthropological inquiry, from indigenous communities, to law schools and transitional societies. This comprehensive and original collection of diverse writings about anthropology and the law around the world offers an inspiring but realistic source for legal scholars, anthropologists and policy-makers. Contributors include: U. Acharya, C. Bell, J. Blake, S. Brink, E. Darian-Smith, R. Francaviglia, M. Lazarus-Black, P. McHugh, S.F. Moore, E. Moustaira, L. Nader, J. Nafziger, M. Novakovic, R. Price, O. Ruppel, J.A. Sanchez, W. Shipley, R. Tejani, A. Telesetsky, K. Thomas

Offering an interdisciplinary, international and philosophical perspective, this comprehensive Research Handbook explores both perennial and recent legal issues that concern the modern state and its interaction with religious communities and individuals. Providing in-depth, original analysis the book includes studies of a wide array of nation states, such as India and Turkey, which each have their own complex issues centred on law, religion and the interactions between the two. Longstanding issues of religious liberty are explored such as the right of conscientious objection, religious confession privilege and the wearing of religious apparel. The contested meanings of the secular state and religious neutrality are revisited from different perspectives and the reality of the international human rights protections for religious freedom are analysed. Timely and astute, this discerning Research Handbook will be a valuable resource for both academics and researchers interested in the many topics surrounding law and religion. Lawyers and practitioners will also appreciate the clarity with which the rights of religious liberty, and the challenges in making these compatible with state law, are presented. Contributors include: R. Ahdar, F. Ahmed, R. Albert, R. Barker, B.L. Berger, J.E. Buckingham, J. Burnside, P. Dane, J. Harrison, M.A. Helfand, M. Hill, M. Kiviorg, A. Koppelman, I. Leigh, J. Neo, Y. Rosnai, R. Sandberg, S.D. Smith, P.M. Taylor, H.-M. ten Napel, K. Thompson, F. Venter

This exciting textbook introduces the basic tenets and methodologies of empirical legal research. Explaining how to initiate and conduct empirical research projects, how to evaluate the methods used and how to analyze and engage with the results, Kees van den Bos provides a vibrant and reliable primer for students and practitioners looking to engage actively in legal research. Key features include: A straightforward, non-technical and accessible style to engage new researchers in empirical legal research A step-by-step guide to empirical research, leading students through establishing and building a research project, to interpreting and reporting on empirical data An exploration of an array of methodologies to gather empirical data, including interviews, surveys and experiments, providing plenty of avenues for research Exercises to allow students to put new skills into practice and suggested further reading to deepen students' understanding of new topics. Offering an enthusiastic introduction to a valuable subject, this is crucial reading for advanced law students hoping to pursue their own empirical legal research projects. Its insights into cutting-edge research methodologies will also be of benefit to students with a keen interest in the sociology of law, as well as socio-legal studies more widely.

The environmental challenges of the twenty-first century have raised profound questions regarding the suitability of environmental law to manage the many complex issues at hand. This insightful book considers how the law has adapted to address these challenges and considers the ways in which it might be used to cope with environmental risks and uncertainties, whilst also promoting resilience and greater equality. The book uses a multi-disciplinary approach to address the compatibility of law with the notions of risk and resilience, it scrutinises how capable these approaches are to effect equitable solutions to environmental risks, and it raises important questions about multi-level and participatory governance. Key chapters examine a variety of global experiments in countries such as China and countries in Latin America, to generate further governance of the environment, improve the available legal tools and give a voice to more diverse groups. Students and scholars across a variety of fields such as environmental studies, socio-legal studies, law, and risk regulation will find this an stimulating read. Senior policy-makers in central and local government, regulators and risk managers will also find this book imperative in their efforts to manage the dilemmas of environmental control. Contributors include: F.H. Barnes, D. Curran, C. Holley, B.M. Hutter, C. Ituarte-Lima, T. Johnson, J. McDonald, L. Patton, O.W. Pedersen, D. Satterthwaite, E. Sofronova, H. Wang

This is a fresh and stimulating book on new challenges for civil justice. It brings together leading experts from across the world to discuss relevant topics of civil justice from regional, cross-border, international and comparative perspectives. Inter alia, this book will focus on multinational rules and systems of dispute resolution in the era of a global economy, while also exploring accountability and transparency in the course of civil justice. Transnational cooperation in cross-border insolvency, regionalism in the process of recognition and enforcement of foreign titles, and the application of electronic technologies in judicial proceedings, including new types of evidence also play a major role.Technology, the Global Economy and other New Challenges for Civil Justice is a compact and accessible overview of new developments in the field from across the world and written for those with an interest in civil justice.

The phenomenal growth of penal confinement in the United States in the last quarter of the twentieth century is still a public policy mystery. While there is unanimous condemnation of the practice, there is no consensus on the causes nor any persuasive analysis of what is likely to happen in the coming decades. In The Insidious Momentum of American Mass Incarceration, Franklin E. Zimring seeks a comprehensive understanding of when, how, and why the United States became the world leader in incarceration to further determine how the use of confinement can realistically be reduced. To do this, Zimring first profiles the growth of imprisonment after 1970, emphasizing the important roles of both the federal system and the distribution of power and fiscal responsibility among the levels of government in American states. He also examines the changes in law enforcement, prosecution and criminal sentencing that ignited the 400% increase in rates of imprisonment in the single generation after 1975. Finally, Zimring then proposes a range of strategies that can reduce prison population and promote rational policies of criminal punishment. Arguing that the most powerful enemy to reducing excess incarceration is simply the mundane features of state and local government, such as elections of prosecutors and state support for prison budgets, this book challenges the convential ways we consider the issue of mass incarceration in the United States and how we can combat the rising numbers.

Population ageing poses a huge challenge to law and society, carrying important structural and institutional implications. This book portrays elder law as an emerging research discipline in the European setting in terms of both conceptual and theoretical perspectives as well as elements of the law. Providing a deepened understanding of population ageing in terms of vulnerability, intergenerational conflict and solidarity, expert contributors highlight the necessity for a contextualized ageing concept. As well as offering a comparative analysis of active ageing policies across the EU, this book examines a range of topics including age discrimination in employment and the freedom of movement of EU citizens from the ageing individual's point of view. It also goes on to describe elder care developments, discussing the ageing individual's autonomy in relation to both traditional inheritance rights and growing instances of dementia. Timely and engaging, this book will appeal to academic scholars and students in relevant areas of law as well as those studying across the social sciences. Exploring a broad range of socio-legal issues in relation to demographic ageing, it will also inform legal practitioners and policymakers alike. Contributors include: M. Axmin, A. Blackham, C. Brokelind, J. Fudge, E. Holm, A. Inghammar, M. Katzin, M. Kullmann, T. Mattsson, P. Norberg, A. Numhauser-Henning, H. Pettersson, M. Roennmar, E. Ryrstedt, K. Scott, E. Trolle OEnnerfors, C. Ulander-Wanman, J.J. Votinius, A. Zbyszewska

This book addresses the different forms of austerity, contestation and resistance, in order to understand how they relate to one another and the impact they have on the democratic quality of public debates, the trust in public institutions and the legitimacy of law. Contestation of austerity includes not only traditional activism strategies such as human rights litigation and direct democracy instruments, but also new forms of collective action and collaborative resistance. Most importantly, many of the new anti-austerity initiatives also aim to renovate existing modes of democratic decision-making on the European, national, regional and local levels. The book focuses on different types of contesting austerity measures and the interaction between institutional and civil society actors. It will enhance understanding of how the various actors frame not only their goal but also the underlying social conflict to contest austerity and through which means they try to achieve political and legal changes. With 16 chapters written by contributors from Spain, Germany, Greece, Portugal and the UK, the book approaches 3 crucial areas of austerity policies: cuts in payment and pensions, labour law reform, and old and new poverty. In each field, the contributors analyse the processes of decision-making and contestation from 3 perspectives: institutions, democratic theory and societal responses.

The human world is in a mess. The human mind is in a mess. And now the human species is threatening its own survival by its own inventions and by war. For thousands of years, human beings conducted a great debate about the human condition and human possibilities, about philosophy and society and law. In 1516, Thomas More, in his book Utopia, contributed to the ancient debate, at another time of profound transformation in the human world. In our own time, we have witnessed a collapse in intellectual life, and a collapse in the theory and practice of education. The old debate is, for all practical purposes, dead. In 2016, Philip Allott's Eutopia resumes the debate about the role of philosophy and society and law in making a better human future, responding to a human world that More could not have imagined. And he lets us hear the voices of some of those who contributed to the great debate in the past, voices that still resonate today.

This innovative Research Handbook explores recent developments at the intersection of international law, sociology and social theory. In doing so, it highlights anew the potential contribution of sociological methods and theories to the study of international law, and illustrates their use in the examination of contemporary problems of practical interest to international lawyers. The diverse body of expert contributors discuss a wide range of methodologies and approaches - including those inspired by the giants of twentieth century social thought, as well as emergent strands such as computational linguistics, performance theory and economic sociology. With chapters exploring topical areas including the globalization of law, economic globalization, property rights, global governance, international legal counsel, social networks, and anthropology, the Research Handbook presents a number of paths for future research in international legal scholarship. Full of original insight, this interdisciplinary Research Handbook will be essential reading for academics and scholars in international law and sociology, as well as postgraduate students. Lawyers practicing in international law will also find this a stimulating read. Contributors include: W. Alschner, F.M. Bohnenberger, R. Buchanan, K. Byers, S. Cho, D. Desai, S. Dothan, J.L. Dunoff, S. Frerichs, B.G. Garth, M. Hirsch, R. James, C. Joerges, N. Lamp, A. Lang, M.R. Madsen, K. Mansveld, G. Messenger, M.A. Pollack, S. Puig, G.A. Sarfaty, D. Schneiderman, W.G. Werner

This timely book is an investigation of the highly debated questions: do coroners' recommendations save lives and how often are they implemented? It is the first socio-legal investigation of coroners' recommendations from several countries. Based on an extensive study, it analyses Coroner's Court findings and litigation from Canada, England, Ireland, Australia and Scotland as well as over 2000 New Zealand coroners' recommendations and includes more than 100 interviews and over 40 surveys. The book probes coroners', organisations' and families' experiences of the Coroner's Court in detail and includes substantial quotations from, and discussion of, their experiences. The data analyzed demonstrates that while coronial recommendations can be useful tools for intervention and policy development, coroners' contribution to morbidity and mortality prevention at the population level requires further development. In addition to coroners, lawyers, health practitioners, families, organisations and policy makers, researchers from Law, Medicine and the Social Sciences will find this pioneering volume an important and illuminating resource. Contents: 1. Learning From Death 2. Coronial Jurisdictions 3. Coroners' Recommendations 4. Do Coroners' Recommendations ''Disappear Into A Black Hole?'' 5. The Promise Of Saved Lives: Coroners' Preventive Function 6. Mandatory Responses To Coroners' Recommendations 7. Dying For Change Index

While the general public may feel uncomfortable discussing sexual assault and violence with neighbors or coworkers, the popularity of Twitter, Snapchat, and a host of other social media platforms suggests that we are not shy about expressing our opinions online. Debates that just a few years ago would have taken place in real life have been relocated online; allowing eager commenters to share their thoughts on guilt or innocence with legions of virtual strangers. Crowdsourcing the Law explores how everyday participants interpret and apply law in the influential online court of public opinion. Engaging a multidisciplinary, case study approach, the book analyzes social media comments about public figures such as Bill Cosby, Brock Turner, and Harvey Weinstein to address ambitious questions like: How are rape myths being challenged, reinforced, and reinvented on social media? What is the promise and peril of the #MeToo movement for transforming the law? And can due process be afforded in the face of an increasingly powerful virtual jury?

The Anthropology of Islamic Law shows how hermeneutic theory and practice theory can be brought together to analyze cultural, legal, and religious traditions. These ideas are developed through an analysis of the Islamic legal tradition, which examines both Islamic legal doctrine and religious education. The book combines anthropology and Islamicist history, using ethnography and in-depth analysis of Arabic religious texts. The book focuses on higher religious learning in contemporary Egypt, examining its intellectual, ethical, and pedagogical dimensions. Data is drawn from fieldwork inside al-Azhar University, Cairo University's Dar al-Ulum, and the network of traditional study circles associated with the al-Azhar mosque. Together these sites constitute the most important venue for the transmission of religious learning in the contemporary Muslim world. The book gives special attention to contemporary Egypt, and also provides a broader analysis relevant to Islamic legal doctrine and religious education throughout history.

Since the UK Gambling Act of 2005 was introduced, gambling has stopped being seen, politically and legally as an inherent vice and is now viewed as a legitimate form of entertainment. Gambling Regulation and Vulnerability explores the laws around gambling that aim to protect society and individuals, examining the differences between regulatory rhetoric and the impact of legislative and regulatory measures. Malgorzata Carran finds that although the Gambling Act introduced many positive changes to gambling regulation, it has created an environment in which protection of vulnerable individuals becomes difficult. Carran challenges the existing legislative premise that regulation alone is able to balance the effect of liberalisation for those who are vulnerable. Uniquely, this book?s findings are underpinned by empirical data from focus groups carried out with children and young people in secondary schools. The young people interviewed have experienced the transition from a contained, to liberalised gambling industry and unless there is a reversal in policy, no comparable empirical data is ever likely to be collected. This title will appeal to academics exploring regulation, sociology, and law and society. Similarly, regulators and those working with the gambling industry will find this an insightful and illuminating text.

For approaching two decades, family courts have been accused of making life changing decisions about children and who they live with made in secret, away from the scrutiny of the public gaze. Recognising the force of these accusations, senior family courts judges have, over that time, implemented a raft of rule changes, pilot projects and judicial guidance aimed at making the family justice more accountable and transparent. But has any progress been made? Are there still suspicions that family judges make irrevocable, unaccountable decisions in private hearings? And if so, are those suspicions justified and what can be done to dispel them? In this important and timely new book, Clifford Bellamy, a recently retired family judge who has been at the sharp end of family justice during all these changes, attempts to answer those questions and more. He has spoken to leading journalists, judges and academic researchers to find out what the obstacles to open reporting are - be they legal, economic or cultural - and interweaves their insights with informed analysis on how the laws regulating family court reporting operate. Along the way he provides a comprehensive review of the raft of initiatives he has seen come and go, summarises the position now and uses this experience to suggest how this fundamental aspect of our justice system could adapt in the face of this criticism. Every professional working in the family justice system - lawyers, social workers, court staff and judges - as well as those who job it is to report on legal affairs, should read this informative, nuanced exposition of what open justice means and why it matters so much to those whose lives are upended by the family justice system.

This cutting-edge Research Handbook, at the intersection of comparative law and anthropology, explores mutually enriching insights and outlooks. The 20 contributors, including several of the most eminent scholars, as well as new voices, offer diverse expertise, national backgrounds and professional experience. Their overall approach is ''ground up'' without regard to unified paradigms of research or objects of study. Through a pluralistic definition of law and multidisciplinary approaches, Comparative Law and Anthropology significantly advances both theory and practice. The Research Handbook's expansive concept of comparative law blends a traditional geographical orientation with historical and jurisprudential dimensions within a broad range of contexts of anthropological inquiry, from indigenous communities, to law schools and transitional societies. This comprehensive and original collection of diverse writings about anthropology and the law around the world offers an inspiring but realistic source for legal scholars, anthropologists and policy-makers. Contributors include: U. Acharya, C. Bell, J. Blake, S. Brink, E. Darian-Smith, R. Francaviglia, M. Lazarus-Black, P. McHugh, S.F. Moore, E. Moustaira, L. Nader, J. Nafziger, M. Novakovic, R. Price, O. Ruppel, J.A. Sanchez, W. Shipley, R. Tejani, A. Telesetsky, K. Thomas

The Research Handbook on International Abortion Law provides an in-depth, multidisciplinary study of abortion law around the world, presenting a snapshot of global policies during a time of radical change. With leading scholars from every continent, Mary Ziegler illuminates key forces that shaped the past and will influence an unpredictable future. In addition to basic, fundamental concepts, this Research Handbook offers valuable insight into new developments in law and medical practice, from medication abortion to the rise of illiberal democracy, and explores the evolution of social movements for and against illegal abortion in a wide variety of national contexts. This is a crucial reference for students, scholars, professors, and policymakers interested in the complexities of abortion law and politics, and the influences that are crossing borders and shaping the present moment.

While vulnerability is a concept often mentioned in labour law and employment policy discourse, its precise meaning can remain elusive. This book provides rigorous theoretical analysis and contains fresh insights to aid our understanding of vulnerability. It is a stimulating contribution to the debate on how legal regulation responds to the changing characteristics of today's labour market.' - Mark Bell, The University of Dublin, Ireland The shifting nature of employment practice towards the use of more precarious work forms has caused a crisis in classical labour law and engendered a new wave of regulation. This timely book deftly uses this crisis as an opportunity to explore the notion of precariousness or vulnerability in employment relationships. Arguing that the idea of vulnerability has been under-theorised in the labour law literature, Lisa Rodgers illustrates how this extends to the design of regulation for precarious work. The book's logical structure situates vulnerability in its developmental context before moving on to examine the goals of the regulation of labour law for vulnerability, its current status in the law and case studies of vulnerability such as temporary agency work and domestic work. These threads are astutely drawn together to show the need for a shift in focus towards workers as 'vulnerable subjects' in all their complexity in order to better inform labour law policy and practice more generally. Constructively critical, Labour Law, Vulnerability and the Regulation of Precarious Work will prove invaluable to students and scholars of labour and employment law at local, EU and international levels. With its challenge to orthodox thinking and proposals for the improvement of the regulation of labour law, labour law institutions will also find this book of great interest and value.