The development of an autonomous English public law has been accompanied by persistent problems - a lack of systematic principles, dissatisfaction with judicial procedures, and uncertainty about the judicial role. It has provoked an ongoing debate on the very desirability of the distinctionbetween public and private law. In this debate, a historical and comparative perspective has been lacking. A Continental Distinction in the Common Law introduces such a perspective. It compares the recent emergence of a significant English distinction with the entrenchment of the traditional Frenchdistinction. It explains how persistent problems of English public law are related to fundamental differences between the English and French legal and political traditions, differences in their conception of the state administration, their approach to law, their separation of powers, and theirjudicial procedures in public-law cases. The author argues that a satisfactory distinction between public and private law depends on a particular legal and political context, a context which was evident in late nineteenth-century France and is absent in twentieth-century England. He concludes byidentifying the far-reaching theoretical, institutional, and procedural changes required to accommodate English public law.
The move to end impunity for human rights atrocities has seen the creation of international and hybrid tribunals and increased prosecutions in domestic courts. The Oxford Companion to International Criminal Justice is the first major reference work to provide a complete overview of this emerging field. Its nearly 1100 pages are divided into three sections. In the first part, 21 essays by leading thinkers offer a comprehensive survey of issues and debates surrounding international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and their enforcement. The second part is arranged alphabetically, containing 320 entries on doctrines, procedures, institutions and personalities. The final part contains over 400 case summaries on different trials from international and domestic courts dealing with war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, torture, and terrorism. With analysis and commentary on every aspect of international criminal justice, this Companion is designed to be the first port of call for scholars and practitioners interested in current developments in international justice.
The emergence of an EU contract law is one of the most significant legal developments in Europe today. Exploring the origins and evolution of the discipline, from the Sales Directive to the Common Frame of Reference, the book advances a framework for the further harmonization of contract law that embraces diversity and pluralism.
During the past decade, administrative law has experienced remarkable development. It has consistently been one of the most dynamic and potent areas of legal innovation and of judicial activism. It has expanded its reach into an ever broadening sphere of public and private activities. Largely through the mechanism of judicial review, the judges in several jurisdictions have extended the ambit of the traditional remedies, partly in response to a perceived need to fill an accountability vacuum created by the privatisation of public enterprises, the contracting-out of public services, and the deregulation of industry and commerce. The essays in this volume focus upon these and other shifts in administrative law, and in doing so they draw upon the experiences of several jurisdictions: the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The result is a wide-ranging and forceful analysis of the scope, development and future direction of administrative law.
"This publication is a collection of papers of the second meeting of the Dornburg Research Group on New Administrative Law which was held in London in May 2007"--Acknowledgments.
In the last two decades, the philosophy of criminal law has undergone a vibrant revival in Canada. The adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has given the Supreme Court of Canada unprecedented latitude to engage with principles of legal, moral, and political philosophy when elaborating its criminal law jurisprudence. Canadian scholars have followed suit by paying increased attention to the philosophical foundations of domestic criminal law. Because of Canada's leadership in international criminal law, both at the level of the International Criminal Court and of specific war crimes tribunals, they have also begun to turn their attention to international criminal law per se. This collection seeks to bring all these Canadian voices together for the first time, and evidence the fact that criminal law theory is no longer to be associated exclusively with the older British, German and American traditions. The topics covered include questions of philosophical methodology, the legitimate scope of domestic and international criminalization, rationales for criminal law defences in both domestic and international law, the philosophical underpinnings of specific crimes and forms of joint responsibility, as well as the theorization of criminal procedure and evidence law. ENDORSEMENTS "In continental Europe, academic commentary on the criminal law has long manifested large philosophical ambitions. Less so in common-law countries, where the dominance of jury trial and the piecemeal development of case-law, together with the famously robust attitudes of common lawyers, have militated against detailed philosophical engagement with doctrine. Over the last 20 years or so, however, new generations of philosophically-literate lawyers and legally-informed philosophers have overcome the historic resistance. Nowhere more so, it seems, than in Canada, where the common law and civilian traditions meet. In 'Rethinking Criminal Law Theory', François Tanguay-Renaud and James Stribopoulos have joined with 14 talented Canadian colleagues to showcase the tremendous breadth and depth of their contemporary national contribution to the subject. Ranging across topics as diverse as emergency, obscenity, and insanity, these essays - without exception insightful and penetrating -set a high standard for the rest of us to aspire to.'' John Gardner, University of Oxford "'Rethinking Criminal Law Theory' is an excellent collection of essays demonstrating the vigour, creativity and range of Canadian criminal justice scholarship. It covers a wide range of problems and issues both in the domestic and the international context. Core questions are examined in depth and new questions are brought to the fore. I recommend it very highly to criminal lawyers and philosophers of the criminal law." Professor Victor Tadros, University of Warwick "'Rethinking Criminal Law Theory 'is packed with outstanding contributions from criminal law theorists who are among the best not only in Canada, but in the whole English-speaking world. Broad and deep in its coverage, the collection offers fresh approaches to a wide range of cutting-edge issues in the field. It provides a resource readers will come back to repeatedly." Stuart Green, Professor of Law and Justice Nathan L Jacobs Scholar, Rutgers University
Uwe Kischel's comprehensive treatise on comparative law offers a critical introduction to the central tenets of comparative legal scholarship. The first part of the book is dedicated to general aspects of comparative law. The controversial question of methods, in particular, is addressed by explaining and discussing different approaches, and by developing a contextual approach that seeks to engage with real-world issues and takes a practical perspective on contemporary comparative legal scholarship. The second part of the book offers a detailed treatment of the major legal contexts across the globe, including common law, civil law systems (based on Germany and France, and extended to Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and Latin America, among others), the African context (with an emphasis on customary law), different contexts in Asia, Islamic law and law in Islamic countries (plus a brief treatment of Jewish law and canon law), and transnational contexts (public international law, European Union law, and lex mercatoria). The book offers a coherent treatment of global legal systems that aims not only to describe their varying norms and legal institutions but to propose a better way of seeking to understand how the overall context of legal systems influences legal thinking and legal practice.
This book deals with the living Constitution of Finland, with an emphasis on constitutional history, culture, and practice. 'Culture' here refers to the cognitive long-term social or mental structure which makes it possible for politicians, civil servants, judges, and lawyers to grasp the constitutional environment in which they exist. Finland is a small modern, democratic Nordic country with a politically stable welfare system and a constitutional history dating back to the 1700s which contains remnants of Swedish rule, Russian rule, and the period of independence since 1917. It also contains several inner tensions: parliamentarism versus presidentialism, a high level of constitutionalism versus a virtual lack of constitutional judicial review, and a formally rigid but actually flexible constitution. The book offers a realistic but critical overview of the Finnish constitution, while also discussing fundamental questions about the very nature of constitution and constitutionalism. In addition, the constitutional effect of the EU and the European Convention on Human Rights are discussed and, where appropriate, a specific comparative dimension is added. The book is written in an uncomplicated manner and is aimed at those not familiar with the system, providing an introduction and first orientation without excessive detail. Each chapter concludes with a list of further reading and relevant websites.
