Kangaroo Courts and the Rule of Law

Kangaroo Courts and the Rule of Law

Author: Desmond Manderson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0415529514

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Annotation This volume addresses the legacy of contemporary critiques of language for the concept of the rule of law. Can the rule of law be re-configured in light of the critical turn of the past several years in legal theory, rather than being steadfastly opposed to it?


Book Synopsis Kangaroo Courts and the Rule of Law by : Desmond Manderson

Download or read book Kangaroo Courts and the Rule of Law written by Desmond Manderson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation This volume addresses the legacy of contemporary critiques of language for the concept of the rule of law. Can the rule of law be re-configured in light of the critical turn of the past several years in legal theory, rather than being steadfastly opposed to it?


Law's Rule

Law's Rule

Author: Shane Paul Chalmers

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Law's rule is animated by an irresolvable contradiction. By definition 'the rule of law' is opposed to 'the rule of humans'; and yet law remains an inter-subjective phenomenon, enlivened by the very humans over whom it would rule. Thus the rule of law, set against the rule of humans, cannot be instituted in a way that finally separates law from its subjects. This problem is a familiar one. In political theory, it underlies the paradox of how both law-maker and made-law can be sovereign at the same time. In legal theory, it underlies the concern over how judges, as the ultimate authority of law, can render impartial, dispassionate-objective-legal decisions, in service of the rule of law. For sociologists and anthropologists, and those working in the fields of peace-building and development, it underlies the debate over how to institute a legal order that upholds the rule of law in socially diverse situations. In addressing this problem, the thesis takes up the challenge set down by Desmond Manderson in Kangaroo Courts and the Rule of Law (2012): to take seriously the contradiction in the rule of law as its animating condition. This means approaching the contradiction, not as a problem to be resolved, but as the very index of the life of law's rule. However, whilst the humanities provide the means, and literature the locus, of Manderson's seminal study, the social sciences provide the primary means of this thesis, with Liberia as its locus. Thus it is by asking the question, what takes place in the rule of law?, and more specifically, what is taking place in the rule of law in Liberia?, that the thesis undertakes a study of the life of law's rule in a country that is on the frontline of the global spread of powerful ideologies. With Theodor Adorno's negative-dialectical philosophy as guide, and based on fieldwork carried out in Liberia and the United States in 2013, the thesis examines how these ideologies inform the rule of law, and how the rule of law provides a medium for them to take place. Part I begins with a reading of Adorno's negative-dialectical philosophy (Chapter 1), before examining the origins of the contradiction as a condition of law (Chapter 2), to show how this opens the rule of law to animation by different logics which inform how it takes place (Chapter 3). Part II then moves to Liberia to examine how the rule of law is taking place there, mediated by the logics of capital (Chapter 4), security (Chapter 5), and liberalism (Chapter 7), whilst providing a medium for these logics to take place. Critically, however, the thesis also shows how the rule of law and its institutional logics do not become identical, leaving the rule of law open to take place otherwise (Chapter 6). The thesis concludes by returning to the question of what this means for the rule of law in theory and in the practice of trying to institute it around the world.


Book Synopsis Law's Rule by : Shane Paul Chalmers

Download or read book Law's Rule written by Shane Paul Chalmers and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Law's rule is animated by an irresolvable contradiction. By definition 'the rule of law' is opposed to 'the rule of humans'; and yet law remains an inter-subjective phenomenon, enlivened by the very humans over whom it would rule. Thus the rule of law, set against the rule of humans, cannot be instituted in a way that finally separates law from its subjects. This problem is a familiar one. In political theory, it underlies the paradox of how both law-maker and made-law can be sovereign at the same time. In legal theory, it underlies the concern over how judges, as the ultimate authority of law, can render impartial, dispassionate-objective-legal decisions, in service of the rule of law. For sociologists and anthropologists, and those working in the fields of peace-building and development, it underlies the debate over how to institute a legal order that upholds the rule of law in socially diverse situations. In addressing this problem, the thesis takes up the challenge set down by Desmond Manderson in Kangaroo Courts and the Rule of Law (2012): to take seriously the contradiction in the rule of law as its animating condition. This means approaching the contradiction, not as a problem to be resolved, but as the very index of the life of law's rule. However, whilst the humanities provide the means, and literature the locus, of Manderson's seminal study, the social sciences provide the primary means of this thesis, with Liberia as its locus. Thus it is by asking the question, what takes place in the rule of law?, and more specifically, what is taking place in the rule of law in Liberia?, that the thesis undertakes a study of the life of law's rule in a country that is on the frontline of the global spread of powerful ideologies. With Theodor Adorno's negative-dialectical philosophy as guide, and based on fieldwork carried out in Liberia and the United States in 2013, the thesis examines how these ideologies inform the rule of law, and how the rule of law provides a medium for them to take place. Part I begins with a reading of Adorno's negative-dialectical philosophy (Chapter 1), before examining the origins of the contradiction as a condition of law (Chapter 2), to show how this opens the rule of law to animation by different logics which inform how it takes place (Chapter 3). Part II then moves to Liberia to examine how the rule of law is taking place there, mediated by the logics of capital (Chapter 4), security (Chapter 5), and liberalism (Chapter 7), whilst providing a medium for these logics to take place. Critically, however, the thesis also shows how the rule of law and its institutional logics do not become identical, leaving the rule of law open to take place otherwise (Chapter 6). The thesis concludes by returning to the question of what this means for the rule of law in theory and in the practice of trying to institute it around the world.


Getting to the Rule of Law

Getting to the Rule of Law

Author: James E. Fleming

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2011-09-01

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 0814728448

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The rule of law has been celebrated as “an unqualified human good," yet there is considerable disagreement about what the ideal of the rule of law requires. When people clamor for the preservation or extension of the rule of law, are they advocating a substantive conception of the rule of law respecting private property and promoting liberty, a formal conception emphasizing an “inner morality of law,” or a procedural conception stressing the right to be heard by an impartial tribunal and to make arguments about what the law is? When are exertions of executive power “outside the law” justified on the ground that they may be necessary to maintain or restore the conditions for the rule of law in emergency circumstances, such as defending against terrorist attacks? In Getting to the Rule of Law a group of contributors from a variety of disciplines address many of the theoretical legal, political, and moral issues raised by such questions and examine practical applications “on the ground” in the United States and around the world. This timely, interdisciplinary volume examines the ideal of the rule of law, questions when, if ever, executive power “outside the law” is justified to maintain or restore the rule of law, and explores the prospects for and perils of building the rule of law after military interventions.


Book Synopsis Getting to the Rule of Law by : James E. Fleming

Download or read book Getting to the Rule of Law written by James E. Fleming and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2011-09-01 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rule of law has been celebrated as “an unqualified human good," yet there is considerable disagreement about what the ideal of the rule of law requires. When people clamor for the preservation or extension of the rule of law, are they advocating a substantive conception of the rule of law respecting private property and promoting liberty, a formal conception emphasizing an “inner morality of law,” or a procedural conception stressing the right to be heard by an impartial tribunal and to make arguments about what the law is? When are exertions of executive power “outside the law” justified on the ground that they may be necessary to maintain or restore the conditions for the rule of law in emergency circumstances, such as defending against terrorist attacks? In Getting to the Rule of Law a group of contributors from a variety of disciplines address many of the theoretical legal, political, and moral issues raised by such questions and examine practical applications “on the ground” in the United States and around the world. This timely, interdisciplinary volume examines the ideal of the rule of law, questions when, if ever, executive power “outside the law” is justified to maintain or restore the rule of law, and explores the prospects for and perils of building the rule of law after military interventions.


An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution

An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution

Author: A.V. Dicey

Publisher: Springer

Published: 1985-09-30

Total Pages: 729

ISBN-13: 134917968X

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A starting point for the study of the English Constitution and comparative constitutional law, The Law of the Constitution elucidates the guiding principles of the modern constitution of England: the legislative sovereignty of Parliament, the rule of law, and the binding force of unwritten conventions.


Book Synopsis An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution by : A.V. Dicey

Download or read book An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution written by A.V. Dicey and published by Springer. This book was released on 1985-09-30 with total page 729 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A starting point for the study of the English Constitution and comparative constitutional law, The Law of the Constitution elucidates the guiding principles of the modern constitution of England: the legislative sovereignty of Parliament, the rule of law, and the binding force of unwritten conventions.


Law and Leviathan

Law and Leviathan

Author: Cass R. Sunstein

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2020-09-15

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0674247531

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From two legal luminaries, a highly original framework for restoring confidence in a government bureaucracy increasingly derided as “the deep state.” Is the modern administrative state illegitimate? Unconstitutional? Unaccountable? Dangerous? Intolerable? American public law has long been riven by a persistent, serious conflict, a kind of low-grade cold war, over these questions. Cass Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule argue that the administrative state can be redeemed, as long as public officials are constrained by what they call the morality of administrative law. Law and Leviathan elaborates a number of principles that underlie this moral regime. Officials who respect that morality never fail to make rules in the first place. They ensure transparency, so that people are made aware of the rules with which they must comply. They never abuse retroactivity, so that people can rely on current rules, which are not under constant threat of change. They make rules that are understandable and avoid issuing rules that contradict each other. These principles may seem simple, but they have a great deal of power. Already, without explicit enunciation, they limit the activities of administrative agencies every day. But we can aspire for better. In more robust form, these principles could address many of the concerns that have critics of the administrative state mourning what they see as the demise of the rule of law. The bureaucratic Leviathan may be an inescapable reality of complex modern democracies, but Sunstein and Vermeule show how we can at last make peace between those who accept its necessity and those who yearn for its downfall.


Book Synopsis Law and Leviathan by : Cass R. Sunstein

Download or read book Law and Leviathan written by Cass R. Sunstein and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From two legal luminaries, a highly original framework for restoring confidence in a government bureaucracy increasingly derided as “the deep state.” Is the modern administrative state illegitimate? Unconstitutional? Unaccountable? Dangerous? Intolerable? American public law has long been riven by a persistent, serious conflict, a kind of low-grade cold war, over these questions. Cass Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule argue that the administrative state can be redeemed, as long as public officials are constrained by what they call the morality of administrative law. Law and Leviathan elaborates a number of principles that underlie this moral regime. Officials who respect that morality never fail to make rules in the first place. They ensure transparency, so that people are made aware of the rules with which they must comply. They never abuse retroactivity, so that people can rely on current rules, which are not under constant threat of change. They make rules that are understandable and avoid issuing rules that contradict each other. These principles may seem simple, but they have a great deal of power. Already, without explicit enunciation, they limit the activities of administrative agencies every day. But we can aspire for better. In more robust form, these principles could address many of the concerns that have critics of the administrative state mourning what they see as the demise of the rule of law. The bureaucratic Leviathan may be an inescapable reality of complex modern democracies, but Sunstein and Vermeule show how we can at last make peace between those who accept its necessity and those who yearn for its downfall.


Thoughtfulness and the Rule of Law

Thoughtfulness and the Rule of Law

Author: Jeremy Waldron

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2023-12-05

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 067429484X

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An essential study of the rule of law by one of the world’s leading liberal political and legal philosophers. The meaning and value of the rule of law have been debated since antiquity. For many, the rule of law has become the essence of good government. But Jeremy Waldron takes a different view, arguing that it is but one star in a constellation of ideals that define our political morality, ranking alongside democracy, human rights, economic freedom, and social justice. This timely essay collection, from one of the most respected political philosophers of his generation, is a brief on behalf of thoughtfulness: the intervention of human intelligence in the application of law. Waldron defends thoughtfulness against the claim that it threatens to replace the rule of law with the arbitrary rule of people. To the contrary, he argues, the rule of law requires thoughtfulness: it is impossible to apply a standard such as “reasonableness” on the basis of rules alone, and common legal activities like arguing in court and reasoning from precedents are poorly served by algorithmic logics. This rich compilation also addresses the place of law in protecting human dignity, the relation between rule of law and legislation, and whether vagueness in the law is at odds with law’s role in guiding action. Thoughtfulness and the Rule of Law emphasizes the value of procedures rather than the substance or outcome of legal decisions. Challenging the view that predictability and clarity are cardinal virtues, Waldron shows that real-world controversies often are best approached using a relatively thin concept of the rule of law, together with the thoughtfulness that a legal system frames and enables.


Book Synopsis Thoughtfulness and the Rule of Law by : Jeremy Waldron

Download or read book Thoughtfulness and the Rule of Law written by Jeremy Waldron and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2023-12-05 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential study of the rule of law by one of the world’s leading liberal political and legal philosophers. The meaning and value of the rule of law have been debated since antiquity. For many, the rule of law has become the essence of good government. But Jeremy Waldron takes a different view, arguing that it is but one star in a constellation of ideals that define our political morality, ranking alongside democracy, human rights, economic freedom, and social justice. This timely essay collection, from one of the most respected political philosophers of his generation, is a brief on behalf of thoughtfulness: the intervention of human intelligence in the application of law. Waldron defends thoughtfulness against the claim that it threatens to replace the rule of law with the arbitrary rule of people. To the contrary, he argues, the rule of law requires thoughtfulness: it is impossible to apply a standard such as “reasonableness” on the basis of rules alone, and common legal activities like arguing in court and reasoning from precedents are poorly served by algorithmic logics. This rich compilation also addresses the place of law in protecting human dignity, the relation between rule of law and legislation, and whether vagueness in the law is at odds with law’s role in guiding action. Thoughtfulness and the Rule of Law emphasizes the value of procedures rather than the substance or outcome of legal decisions. Challenging the view that predictability and clarity are cardinal virtues, Waldron shows that real-world controversies often are best approached using a relatively thin concept of the rule of law, together with the thoughtfulness that a legal system frames and enables.


FCS Introduction to Law L2

FCS Introduction to Law L2

Author:

Publisher: Pearson South Africa

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9781770255074

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Book Synopsis FCS Introduction to Law L2 by :

Download or read book FCS Introduction to Law L2 written by and published by Pearson South Africa. This book was released on 2008 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Punishment Without Crime

Punishment Without Crime

Author: Alexandra Natapoff

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2018-12-31

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0465093809

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A revelatory account of the misdemeanor machine that unjustly brands millions of Americans as criminals. Punishment Without Crime offers an urgent new interpretation of inequality and injustice in America by examining the paradigmatic American offense: the lowly misdemeanor. Based on extensive original research, legal scholar Alexandra Natapoff reveals the inner workings of a massive petty offense system that produces over 13 million cases each year. People arrested for minor crimes are swept through courts where defendants often lack lawyers, judges process cases in mere minutes, and nearly everyone pleads guilty. This misdemeanor machine starts punishing people long before they are convicted; it punishes the innocent; and it punishes conduct that never should have been a crime. As a result, vast numbers of Americans -- most of them poor and people of color -- are stigmatized as criminals, impoverished through fines and fees, and stripped of drivers' licenses, jobs, and housing. For too long, misdemeanors have been ignored. But they are crucial to understanding our punitive criminal system and our widening economic and racial divides. A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018


Book Synopsis Punishment Without Crime by : Alexandra Natapoff

Download or read book Punishment Without Crime written by Alexandra Natapoff and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2018-12-31 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revelatory account of the misdemeanor machine that unjustly brands millions of Americans as criminals. Punishment Without Crime offers an urgent new interpretation of inequality and injustice in America by examining the paradigmatic American offense: the lowly misdemeanor. Based on extensive original research, legal scholar Alexandra Natapoff reveals the inner workings of a massive petty offense system that produces over 13 million cases each year. People arrested for minor crimes are swept through courts where defendants often lack lawyers, judges process cases in mere minutes, and nearly everyone pleads guilty. This misdemeanor machine starts punishing people long before they are convicted; it punishes the innocent; and it punishes conduct that never should have been a crime. As a result, vast numbers of Americans -- most of them poor and people of color -- are stigmatized as criminals, impoverished through fines and fees, and stripped of drivers' licenses, jobs, and housing. For too long, misdemeanors have been ignored. But they are crucial to understanding our punitive criminal system and our widening economic and racial divides. A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018


Judging Refugees

Judging Refugees

Author: Anthea Vogl

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2024-03-31

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 1108831850

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Reveals the impossible demands for narrative placed on refugee applicants and their oral testimony within state processes for refugee status determination.


Book Synopsis Judging Refugees by : Anthea Vogl

Download or read book Judging Refugees written by Anthea Vogl and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2024-03-31 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reveals the impossible demands for narrative placed on refugee applicants and their oral testimony within state processes for refugee status determination.


Envisioning Legality

Envisioning Legality

Author: Timothy Peters

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-11-30

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1317301595

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Envisioning Legality: Law, Culture and Representation is a path-breaking collection of some of the world’s leading cultural legal scholars addressing issues of law, representation and the image. Law is constituted in and through the representations that hold us in their thrall, and this book focuses on the ways in which cultural legal representations not only reflect or contribute to an understanding of law, but constitute the very fabric of legality itself. As such, each of these ‘readings’ of cultural texts takes seriously the cultural as a mode of envisioning, constituting and critiquing the law. And the theoretically sophisticated approaches utilised here encompass more than simply an engagement with ‘harmless entertainment’. Rather they enact and undertake specific political and critical engagements with timely issues, such as: the redressing of past wrongs, recognising and combatting structural injustices, and orienting our political communities in relation to uncertain futures. Envisioning Legality thereby presents a cultural legal studies that provides the means for engaging in robust, sustained and in-depth encounters with the nature and role of law in a global, mediated world.


Book Synopsis Envisioning Legality by : Timothy Peters

Download or read book Envisioning Legality written by Timothy Peters and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Envisioning Legality: Law, Culture and Representation is a path-breaking collection of some of the world’s leading cultural legal scholars addressing issues of law, representation and the image. Law is constituted in and through the representations that hold us in their thrall, and this book focuses on the ways in which cultural legal representations not only reflect or contribute to an understanding of law, but constitute the very fabric of legality itself. As such, each of these ‘readings’ of cultural texts takes seriously the cultural as a mode of envisioning, constituting and critiquing the law. And the theoretically sophisticated approaches utilised here encompass more than simply an engagement with ‘harmless entertainment’. Rather they enact and undertake specific political and critical engagements with timely issues, such as: the redressing of past wrongs, recognising and combatting structural injustices, and orienting our political communities in relation to uncertain futures. Envisioning Legality thereby presents a cultural legal studies that provides the means for engaging in robust, sustained and in-depth encounters with the nature and role of law in a global, mediated world.