In the urgency to respond to the challenges posed by diversity in contemporary societies, the discussion of normative foundations is often overlooked. This book takes that important first step, and offers new ways of thinking about diversity. Its contribution to an ongoing dialogue in this field lies in the construction of a normative framework which endeavours to better understand the challenges of justice in diverse societies. By applying this normative framework to specific and broader examples of injustices in the spheres of religion, culture, race, ethnicity, gender and nationality, the book demonstrates how constitutional pluralist discourses can contribute both to new and legal responses to diversity. The book will be of interest to legal professionals, policy makers, law students and scholars concerned with exploring diversity in the 21st century.

Law and medicine can be caught in a tight embrace. They both play a central role in the politics of harm, making decisions regarding what counts as injury and what might be the most suitable forms of redress or remedy. But where do law and medicine converge and diverge in their responses to and understandings of harm and suffering? Using empirical case studies from Europe, the Americas and Africa, The Clinic and the Court brings together leading medical and legal anthropologists to explore this question.

What makes a woman's body beautiful? Plastic surgery, cosmetic surgery and non-surgical interventions such as Botox are changing women's bodies physically and affecting cultural notions and expectations of what it means to be a woman. Yet where does the law stand? Is the renovation of women's bodies legal? This book explores a range of topics, including: whether shape-changing by surgical and non-surgical means is 'really' what women want; the question of legal intervention when operations, injections and other methods go wrong; the impact of consent determinations on whether women can or cannot freely seek changes to their body structure; and the role which culture and social expectations play in women's decision-making. Taking a legal perspective on the vast range of 'beauty' interventions available to women, Scutt discusses women's perceptions of body and beauty, pressures on women to conform to 'idealised' notions of the perfect woman's body, and outcomes of legal actions including those taken by individual women who are unhappy with results, as well as those launched against companies trading in products advertised as safe and for women's benefit. Beauty, Women's Bodies and the Law will appeal to readers with an interest in women's and gender studies, law, and cultural studies.

Security Games: Surveillance and Control at Mega-Events addresses the impact of mega-events -- such as the Olympic Games and the World Cup -- on wider practices of security and surveillance. "Mega-Events" pose peculiar and extensive security challenges. The overwhelming imperative is that "nothing should go wrong." There are, however, an almost infinite number of things that can "go wrong"; producing the perceived need for pre-emptive risk assessments, and an expanding range of security measures, including extensive forms and levels of surveillance. These measures are delivered by a "security/industrial complex" consisting of powerful transnational corporate, governmental and military actors, eager to showcase the latest technologies and prove that they can deliver "spectacular levels of security." Mega-events have thus become occasions for experiments in monitoring people and places. And, as such, they have become important moments in the development and dispersal of surveillance, as the infrastructure established for mega-events are often marketed as security solutions for the more routine monitoring of people and place. Mega-events, then, now serve as focal points for the proliferation of security and surveillance. They are microcosms of larger trends and processes, through which -- as the contributors to this volume demonstrate -- we can observe the complex ways that security and surveillance are now implicated in unique confluences of technology, institutional motivations, and public-private security arrangements. As the exceptional conditions of the mega-event become the norm, Security Games: Surveillance and Control at Mega-Events therefore provides the glimpse of a possible future that is more intensively and extensively monitored.

This book analyses in a comprehensive manner the phenomenon of 'public interest' in different areas of law, both public and private. The term 'public interest' can be found in a wide range of legislation and it is used extensively in judicial practice and public administration. Yet, it has received surprisingly little attention in academia. As a result, it is used for various, often contradictory purposes. Justifications for its application are rarely convincing and the concept is often confused with similar legal institutions such as state interest, societal interest and public welfare, which, however, serve quite different purposes. Further to the relevant public being defined, the weight of public interest in case of conflict with other considerations will be examined and the legal consequences of its breach (e.g. nullity, damages and penalties) considered.The book's objectives are therefore manifold. First and foremost, it aims to provide a definition of the notion of public interest and to determine its main attributes, particularly against the background of the notion of private interest. In order to achieve this, the concepts philosophical underpinnings will be outlined, as will its historical developments and its application in different times and socio-economic conditions. Consequently, the book will assist in applying the concept of public interest with a clear understanding of its substance, normative function and its relationship to other relevant legal institutions. The book focuses on the concept's application across the spectrum of legal disciplines ranging from constitutional and administrative law to corporate and insolvency law, from criminal law to environmental law, and from competition law to labour law. In order to provide concrete examples of legislative and judicial practice, the book analyses three jurisdictions in particular Austria, the Czech Republic and the European Union.This book is not only an important addition to legal scholarship but, importantly, contributes to the improvement of decision-making processes at all levels of government. It will be of interest to scholars, practicing lawyers, judges and officials in public administration alike.

What role does linguistic diversity play in European democratic and legal processes? Is it an obstacle to deliberative democracy and a hindrance to legal certainty, or a cultural and economic asset and a prerequisite for the free movement of citizens? This book examines the tensions and contradictions of European language laws and policy from a multi-disciplinary perspective. With contributions from leading researchers in EU law and legal theory, political science, sociology, sociolinguistic and cognitive linguistics, it combines mutually exclusive and competing perspectives of linguistic diversity. The work will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers in the areas of European law, legal theory and linguistics.

Even though legal aid is available for people seeking asylum, there is uneven access to advice across Britain. Based on empirical research, this book offers fresh thinking on what has gone wrong in the legal aid market. It presents a rare picture of the barristers, solicitors and caseworkers practising immigration law in charities and private firms. In doing so, this book examines supply and demand and illuminates what constitutes high-quality legal aid work/provision, subsequent conflicts with financial rationality and how practitioners resolve these issues. Challenging existing legal aid policy, this book presents innovative insights to ensure public service markets around the globe function well for all those involved.

Bringing together an international range of academics, Gender, Sexualities and Law provides a comprehensive interrogation of the range of contemporary issues both topical and controversial raised by the gendered character of law, legal discourse and institutions. The gendering of law, persons and the legal profession, along with the gender bias of legal outcomes, has been a fractious, but fertile, focus of reflection. It has, moreover, been an important site of political struggle. This collection of essays offers an unrivalled examination of its various contemporary dimensions, focusing on: issues of theory and representation; violence, both national and international; reproduction and parenting; and partnership, sexuality, marriage and the family. Gender, Sexualities and Law will be invaluable for all those engaged in research and study of the law (and related fields) as a form of gendered power.

Merciful Judgments in Contemporary Society: Legal Problems/Legal Possibilities explores the tension between law's need for and dependence on merciful judgments and suspicions that regularly accompany them. Rather than focusing primarily on definitional questions or the longstanding debate about the moral worth and importance of mercy, this book focuses on mercy as a part of, and problem, for law. Whether one starts from a worry about rules and discretion, about the attitudes of citizens and their leaders, or ways to undo the past, merciful judgments challenge and perplex, just as they help to sustain, our legal system. Charting these possibilities and problems is the work that this book seeks to do. Here we ask what challenges merciful judgments pose for law? When and why do those judgments encourage and nurture legal ingenuity and resourcefulness? When and why do they precipitate crises and breakdowns in legal authority? This book is a product of The University of Alabama School of Law symposia series on Law, Knowledge & Imagination. This series explores the ways law is known and imagined in a diverse array of disciplines, including political science, history, cultural studies, philosophy, and science. In addition, books produced through the Alabama symposia explore various conjunctions of law, knowledge, and imagination as they play out in debates about theory and policy and speak to venerable questions as well as contemporary issues.

The US Supreme Court's legitimacy-its diminishing integrity and contribution to the good of society-is being questioned today like no other time in recent memory. Criticisms reflect the perspectives of both 'insiders' (straight white males) and 'outsiders' (mainly people of color, women, and the LGBTQ community). Neither perspective digs deep enough to get at the root of the Court's legitimacy problem, which is one of process. The Court's process of decision-making is antiquated and out of sync with a society that looks and thinks nothing like the America of the eighteenth century, when the process was first implemented. The current process marginalizes many Americans who have a right to feel disenfranchised. Leading scholar of jurisprudence Roy L. Brooks demonstrates how the Court can modernize and democratize its deliberative process, to be more inclusive of the values and life experiences of Americans who are not straight white males.

This book approaches law as a process embedded in transnational personal, religious, communicative and economic relationships that mediate between international, national and local practices, norms and values. It uses the concept "living law" to describe the multiplicity of norms manifest in transnational moral, social or economic practices that transgress the territorial and legal boundaries of the nation-state. Focusing on transnational legal encounters located in family life, diasporic religious institutions and media events in countries like Norway, Sweden, Britain and Scotland, it demonstrates the multiple challenges that accelerated mobility and increased cultural and normative diversity is posing for Northern European law. For in this part of the world, as elsewhere, national law is challenged by a mixture of expanding human rights obligations and unprecedented cultural and normative pluralism enhanced by expanding global communication and market relations. As a consequence, transnationalization of law appears to create homogeneity, fragmentation and ambiguity, expanding space for some actors while silencing others. Through the lens of a variety of important contemporary subjects, the authors thus engage with the nature of power and how it is accommodated, ignored or resisted by various actors when transnational practices encounter national and local law.

This book explains why we should stop thinking of freedom as limited to a right to be left alone. It explores how Kantian philosophy and Jewish thought instead give rise to a concept of positive freedom. At heart, freedom is inextricably linked to the obligation to respect the autonomy and dignity of others. Freedom thus requires relationships with others and provides an important source of meaning in liberal democratic societies. While individualism is said to foster detachment, positive freedom fosters relations. Moving from moral theory to law, duties are seen as intrinsic to rights. The book considers test cases involving the law of expression, regarding authorial rights and women's prayer at Jerusalem's holy site of the Western Wall. Affirmative duties of respect are essential. Rights held by copyright owners require that all authors - including so-called users - are shown respect. Moreover, rights held by the authorities at the Western Wall require that all worshippers - including those whose interpretation of Jewish law differs from that adopted by the authorities - are respected.

This book uses film and television as a resource for addressing the social and legal ills of the city. It presents a range of approaches to view the ill city through cinematic and televisual characterization in urban frameworks, political contexts, and cultural settings. Each chapter deconstructs the meaning of urban space as public space while critically generating a focus on order and justice, exploring issues such as state disorder, lawlessness, and revenge. The approach presents a careful balance between theory and application. The original and novel ideas presented in this book will be essential reading for those interested in the presentation of law and place in cultural texts such as film.

In recent years, legal studies courses have increased the focus on contemporary social issues as part of the curriculum. Law and Society: An Introduction discusses the interface between these two institutions and encourages students in the development of new insights on the topic. The book begins by introducing definitions, classifications, and the concept of the "rule of law." It then explores: Principal legal systems, including common law, civil law, Islamic and socialist systems, and American Indian law Feminist legal theories, critical race theory, and the roles of morality and values in social control The contributions of sociological research and its impact on the law Court systems and procedures, the exclusionary rule, and plea bargaining The nature and process of legislative, administrative, and judicial lawmaking Alternative dispute resolution and international arbitration and mediation The law as a mechanism for social changes, such as those brought on by the 1964 Civil Rights Act Issues related to the legal profession and professional responsibility This text eliminates the need for a separate reader by also discussing controversial legal topics-including affirmative action, education, the death penalty, right to work laws, and abortion. Each chapter builds on the previous ones and includes concrete examples of the issues involved. Enhanced by chapter summaries of salient points, review questions, and practical exercises, the book is designed to encourage students in the development of new insights into the relationships between law and society.

First published in 1999, this volume is a series of essays on the countries of Central Europe. The essays explore the post-1989 establishment of the rule of law and civil society. It brings together analysis and perceptions from social scientists, political scientists and lawyers, seeking through particular issues to explore the similarities and differences between different countries. While other books have explored the changes in former Soviet Block countries since 1989, the book's distinctiveness lies in three qualities: its concentration on Central Europe a concept explored in the book; giving fuller attention to the Czech Republic and Slovakia than other post-communist studies often do; providing perceptions of scholars from different disciplines.

This book brings together leading international scholars of law and religion to provide an overview of current issues in State-religion relations. The first part of the collection offers a picture of recent developments in key countries and regions. The second part is focused on Europe and, in particular, on the Nordic States and the post-communist countries where State-religion systems have undergone most profound change. The third and final part is devoted to four issues that are currently debated all over the world: the relations between freedom of expression and freedom of religion; proselytism and the right to change religion; the religious symbols; and the legal status of Islam in Europe and Canada. The work will be a valuable resource for academics, students and policy-makers with an interest in the interaction between law and religion.

The Abolition of Antitrust asserts that antitrust laws--on economic, legal, and moral grounds--are bad, and provides convincing evidence supporting arguments for their total abolition. Every year, new antitrust prosecutions arise in the U.S. courts, as in the cases against 3M and Visa/MasterCard, as well as a number of ongoing antitrust cases, such as those involving Microsoft and college football's use of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). Gary Hull and the contributing authors show that these cases--as well as the Sherman Anti-Trust Act itself--are based on an erroneous interpretation of the history of American business, premised on bad economics. They equivocate between economic and political power--the power to produce versus the power to use physical force. For Hull, anti-trust prosecutions are based on a horrible moral inversion: that it is acceptable to sacrifice America's best producers. The contributors explain how key antitrust ideas, for instance, "monopoly," "restraint of trade," and "anticompetitive behavior," have been used to justify prosecution, and then make clear why those ideas are false. They sketch the historical, legal, economic, and moral reasoning that gave rise to the passage and growth of antitrust legislation. All of the theoretical points in this volume are woven around a number of fascinating cases, both historical and current--including the Charles River Bridge, Alcoa, General Electric, and Kellogg/General Mills. This is a dynamic and accessible work that is not simply a polemical argument for a particular policy position. Designed for the uninformed but educated layman, The Abolition of Antitrust also makes positive arguments in defense of wealth creation, business, and profit, explains the proper role of government, and offers a rational view of the meaning of contract and economic freedom.

Georges Gurvitch occupies an interesting position in the development of the sociology of law. In the period immediately preceding its quantitative expansion, he produced an explicitly conceived systematic theoretical intervention. What is particularly significant about Gurvitch's Sociology of Law at first appears as a contradiction. His work has had very little lasting impact on developments within the field of the sociology of law. At best, his existence is occasionally footnoted, but he engendered no great controversy or debate, nor does he have any active contemporary "disciples." Despite this lack of attention, Gurvitch work provides a concentrated expression of the theoretical problems that beset the field. The core of Gurvitch's sociology of law is at root a continuation of the efforts, apparent in the work of Max Weber, to resolve or integrate the dualism which is so markedly affecting law. It is the apparent dualism between law as a positive institution resting upon a framework of social power, while at the same time being a system of values or norms having some compelling internal strength and validity. Gurvitch's Sociology of Law shines as a beacon in the ongoing quest for a transformative vision of law. The new introduction by Alan Hunt discusses Gurvitch's place in the history of the sociology of law and the context in which his works should be placed. It also features a brief biography of the sociologist as well as a discussion of the central features of Gurvitch's sociology. This book will be of interest to students of sociology and law.

This book describes and analyses the notion of Mahr, the Muslim custom whereby the groom has to give a gift to the bride in consideration of the marriage. It explores how Western courts, specifically in Canada, the United States, France, and Germany, have approached and interpreted Mahr. Although the outcomes of the cases provide an illustrative framework for the book, the focus is broader than simply the adjudicative endeavours. The work explores the concept of liberalism, which purportedly champions individuals and individual choice concurrently with freedom and equality. Tensions between and among these concepts, however, inevitably arise. The acknowledgment and exploration of these intertwined tensions forms an important underpinning for the book. Through the analysis of case law from these four countries, this study suggests that transplanting Mahr from Islamic law into a Western courtroom cannot be undone: it immediately becomes rooted in the countries' legal, historical, political, and social backgrounds and flourishes (or fails) in diverse and unexpected ways. Rather than being the concept described by classical Islamic jurists, Mahr is interpreted according to wildly varied legal constructs and concepts such as multiculturalism, fairness, public policy, and gender equality. Moreover, Islamic law travels with a multiplicity of voices, and it is this complex hybridity (a fragmented and disjointed Mahr) which will be mediated through Western law. Returning to the overarching concept of liberalism, the book proposes that distributive consequences rather than recognition occupy central place in the evaluation of the legal options available to Muslim women upon divorce.

Turkey's accession to the European Union is undoubtedly one of the Union's most contested potential enlargements. The narrative that dominates the debate surrounding this issue primarily relates to problems such as a lack of respect for fundamental human rights in Turkey, the Kurdish question and the continuing stalemate concerning northern Cyprus. This book looks at these issues, but also proposes that a review of Turkey's experience with the EU in its numerous incarnations suggests that these concerns may mask a deeper disquiet. Whilst there are several questions that Turkey must address, particularly in the area of human rights guarantees, the concerns which raise debates regarding Turkish membership are not issues that are unique to Turkey. Turkey's EU experience also raises fundamental questions about religion and the EU project that have greater implication than simply Turkish accession. Through the lens of the Turkish example, this book addresses these broader questions, such as the nature of European 'identity', Europe's Christian past, the limits of pluralism and the fundamental question of religion in the European public sphere. This book will be of great interest to those engaged in research on European law and politics at undergraduate or postgraduate level. It is also aimed at academics with an interest in human rights and the European Union and with a regional interest in Turkey.

How have national identities changed, developed and reacted in the wake of transition from communism to democracy in Central and Eastern Europe? Central and Eastern Europe After Transition defines and examines new autonomous differences adopted at the state and the supranational level in the post-transitional phase of the post-Communist area, and considers their impact on constitutions, democracy and legal culture. With representative contributions from older and newer EU members, the book provides a broad set of cultural points for reference. Its comparative and interdisciplinary approach includes a useful selection of bibliographical resources specifically devoted to the Central Eastern European countries' transitions.

Some of the most basic doctrines of property law are very old, many dating to the medieval era. How can legal rules that were born so long ago remain viable today? In Reappraisals in the Law of Property, author John V. Orth considers various topics in order to discover the forces that have been made and are continuing to remake these areas of the law. Orth proposes three forces in particular that have shaped the development of property law over time: the inertial force of tradition, the reforming power of judicial and legislative activism, and the constant challenge of academic criticism. Together, these themes form the foundation of a critical and challenging work, one that re-evaluates property law and demonstrates both its enduring consistency and the unique and often drastic ways in which it has evolved in the modern era.

Transcending the Boundaries of Law is a ground-breaking collection that will be central to future developments in feminist and related critical theories about law. In its pages three generations of feminist legal theorists engage with what have become key feminist themes, including equality, embodiment, identity, intimacy, and law and politics. Almost two decades ago Routledge published the very first anthology in feminist legal theory, At the Boundaries of Law (M.A. Fineman and N. Thomadsen, eds. 1991), which marked an important conceptual move away from the study of "women in law" prevalent in the 1970s and 1980s. The scholars in At the Boundaries applied feminist methods and theories in examining law and legal institutions, thus expanding upon work in the Law and Society tradition. This new anthology brings together some of the original contributors to that volume with scholars from subsequent generations of critical gender theorists. It provides a "retrospective" on the past twenty-five years of scholarly engagement with issues relating to gender and law, as well as suggesting directions for future inquiry, including the tantalizing suggestion that feminist legal theory should move beyond gender as its primary focus to consider the theoretical, political, and social implications of the universally shared and constant vulnerability inherent in the human condition.

Transcending the Boundaries of Law is a ground-breaking collection that will be central to future developments in feminist and related critical theories about law. In its pages three generations of feminist legal theorists engage with what have become key feminist themes, including equality, embodiment, identity, intimacy, and law and politics. Almost two decades ago Routledge published the very first anthology in feminist legal theory, At the Boundaries of Law (M.A. Fineman and N. Thomadsen, eds. 1991), which marked an important conceptual move away from the study of "women in law" prevalent in the 1970s and 1980s. The scholars in At the Boundaries applied feminist methods and theories in examining law and legal institutions, thus expanding upon work in the Law and Society tradition. This new anthology brings together some of the original contributors to that volume with scholars from subsequent generations of critical gender theorists. It provides a "retrospective" on the past twenty-five years of scholarly engagement with issues relating to gender and law, as well as suggesting directions for future inquiry, including the tantalizing suggestion that feminist legal theory should move beyond gender as its primary focus to consider the theoretical, political, and social implications of the universally shared and constant vulnerability inherent in the human condition.

From Old Times to New Europe considers the post-totalitarian legal framework in today's Europe, arguing that the study of totalitarianism and post-totalitarianism continues to be significant as ever. Drawing mainly on the Polish experience, this analysis focuses on the significant part played by history in the development of the region's identity and preferences concerning the role of the state in public and private life. It examines the political, socio-economic and legal aspects of key events and draws comparisons with other CEE states, whilst implementing key socio-legal theories to explain trends and strains in this post-Communist and post-totalitarian period. With the benefit of access to archival sources in Poland and Russia, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of European law, law and society and international criminal justice.