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 explores the normative and legal evolution of the Social Dimension - labour law, social security law and family law - in both the EU and its Member States, during the last decade. It does this from a wide range of theoretical and legal-substantive perspectives. The past decade has witnessed the entering into force of the Lisbon Treaty and its emphasis on fundamental rights, a new coordination regulation within the field of social security (Regulation 883/2004/EC), and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the so-called Laval Quartet. Furthermore structural changes affecting demographics and family have also challenged solidarity in new ways. The book is organised by reference to distinct 'normative patterns' and their development in the fields of law covered, such as the protection of established groups, the position of market functional values and the scope for just distribution. The book represents an innovative and important interdisciplinary approach to analysing EU law and Social Europe, and contributes a complex, yet thought-provoking, picture for the future. The contributors represent an interesting mix of well-known and distinguished as well as upcoming and promising researchers throughout Europe and beyond.

The non-discrimination principle enshrined in the Treaty of Rome has grown, through the case law of the European Court of Justice, into a normative core of the utmost importance for the totality of Community law. In particular, the equal treatment doctrine which developed from the application of non-discrimination in employment continues to challenge the legal structures of labour law and European social integration. This collection of essays on the current and future state of equal treatment and non-discrimination in EC law presents the proceedings of a conference held at Lund University in December 2000, sponsored by the Norma Research Programme, which studies normative patterns and their development in the legal regulation of employment, housing, family and social security from a European integration perspective. Important areas of discussion include the following, among many other topics: indirect discrimination, defining the protected group, pregnancy discrimination, positive action, flexibilization of working life, rights of contract workers, and reasonable adjustments for workers with disabilities. In an interesting outcome, the discussion reveals that an analysis in terms of discrimination adds to our understanding of law even in areas that are not generally articulated in such terms. In the wake of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, and in the light of the distinct possibility that Europe may be moving toward a "Single Non-Discrimination/Equal Treatment Act", this is a fruitful point of view - one of many insights that should make this book a useful source of material with which practitioners, academics, and other interested professionals can further the development of the equal treatment principle in European law.

Although European policy initiatives to advance the position of women in Academia (and especially in science) have proliferated, both at national and EU levels, serious inequities of many kinds remain. This situation is exposed and investigated in this outstanding book, which presents reports and discussions from a two-day conference held at the Law Faculty of Lund University in December 2004. The participants - law professors and social scientists - present detailed reports on domestic experiences and regulations in eight European countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Among the many provocative issues raised and explored are the following: "positive action" in theory and practice; the progress of the EU Commission's strategy to integrate equal opportunity into all Community policies and activities; the motives for promoting women in Academia; the importance not only of setting targets but of funding to achieve them; the extensive group of part-timers and fixed-term employees at the margin of the traditional academic career; the importance of creating a situation in Academia where "woman excellence" shows; and the development of "marketable" research disciplines embodied in private research institutes. With its penetrating analysis of its subject - women in Academia in Europe - and its many keen insights into the possibilities within Community equality law to move forward quickly and effectively toward equity in academic positions for women and men, "Women in Academia and Equality Law" will be read avidly and put to use by committed lawyers, academics, and policymakers throughout the EU countries.