scholarly journals Lord Sumption and the values of life, liberty and security: before and since the COVID-19 outbreak

2021 ◽  
pp. medethics-2021-107332
Author(s):  
John Coggon
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Assisted Dying ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Judicial Decision ◽  
Sanctity Of Life ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Politics And Law

Lord Sumption, a former Justice of the Supreme Court, has been a prominent critic of coronavirus restrictions regulations in the UK. Since the start of the pandemic, he has consistently questioned both the policy aims and the regulatory methods of the Westminster government. He has also challenged rationales that hold that all lives are of equal value. In this paper, I explore and question Lord Sumption’s views on morality, politics and law, querying the coherence of his broad philosophy and his arguments regarding coronavirus regulations with his judicial decision in the assisted-dying case of R (Nicklinson) v Ministry of Justice. In Nicklinson, Lord Sumption argued for restrictions on liberty given the priority of the sanctity of life principle and the protection of others who may be vulnerable, as well as for deference to policy-making institutions in instances of values-based disagreement. The apparent inconsistencies in his positions, I argue, are not clearly reconcilable, and invite critical analysis of his impacts on health law and policy.

Lyme disease politics and evidence‑based policy making in the UK

2019 ◽  
pp. 319-326
Author(s):  
Kate Bloor
Keyword(s):  
Lyme Disease ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Real World Evidence ◽  
Socially Relevant ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Policy And Science

There are few ‘accepted’ approaches to dealing with tick- borne infections (including Lyme disease) that have not been challenged. This case study looks at my role in UK Lyme patient’s activism and policy change (for example, related to the NICE clinical guidelines process) focussing on one specific policy issue. It shows how critical analysis of scientific, clinical and other real- world evidence drew on and reflected the ethos of the Radstats network. It is a story showing how I worked with others with statistical skills - using science and evidence to challenge policy successfully. It explains how communities can take action, while using or creating scientific knowledge - to improve policy and people’s health. It shows how networks of communities can engage through social change (based on an understanding of policy and science) to make it more socially relevant and responsive, as well as more scientifically robust.

scholarly journals Baby M Turns 30: The Law and Policy of Surrogate Motherhood

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric A. Feldman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Courts ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
Surrogate Motherhood ◽  
Surrogate Mother ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Potential Exploitation

This article marks the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court of New Jersey's Baby M decision by offering a critical analysis of surrogacy policy in the United States. Despite fundamental changes in both science and society since the case was decided, state courts and legislatures remain bitterly divided on the legality of surrogacy. In arguing for a more uniform, permissive legal posture toward surrogacy, the article addresses five central debates in the surrogacy literature.First, should the legal system accommodate those seeking conception through surrogacy, or should it prohibit such arrangements? Second, if surrogacy is permitted, what steps can be taken to minimize the potential exploitation of women who are willing to rent their wombs for income? Third, what criteria should govern the eligibility to serve as a surrogate mother and an intended parent? Fourth, what principle(s) should serve as the basis for determining the parentage of children born through surrogacy? Fifth, is regulatory uniformity in the surrogacy realm desirable? Is it achievable?The article concludes that courts and legislatures should accept the validity of surrogacy contracts, determine parentage according to intent, and identify transparent criteria for the eligibility of both surrogates and intended parents.

scholarly journals ‘Rabone’ and four unresolved problems in mental health law

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 297-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Szmukler ◽  
Genevra Richardson ◽  
Gareth Owen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Surgical Patients ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Mental Health Law ◽  
Decision Making Capacity ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right ◽  
Mental And Physical Health

SummaryIn a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of the UK ruled that the state has a special operational duty to protect the right to life in informal psychiatric in-patients (‘Rabone case'), in sharp distinction to general medical or surgical patients. We will argue that the significance of this case is general, not just local, and that it exposes four important unresolved problems in mental health law: the place of decision-making capacity; the meaning of ‘informal’ admission; parity between mental and physical health; and the accuracy of risk assessment.

scholarly journals Localism and police governance in England & Wales: Exploring continuity and change

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 552-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Jones ◽  
Stuart Lister
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Networks ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Police Policy ◽  
Policy Agendas ◽  
Institutional Architecture ◽  
Service Standards

This article develops further criminological understandings of ‘localism’ in police governance and contributes to broader theoretical discussions about ‘governance’ in contemporary policing, via a critical analysis of major recent law and policy reforms in England & Wales. Recent legislation has brought important changes to the balance of constitutional-legal powers and the institutional architecture of police governance. However, we argue that for several reasons it is problematic to interpret these developments in straightforward terms of greater ‘localization’. First, in so far as there has been a decentralization of control, this represents a growth of ‘regional’ rather than ‘local’ auspices of power. Second, there is widespread evidence of continuing interventionism by ‘the centre’, asserting strong influences on local policing via a range of national bodies. Third, important developments in the wider context of police policy-making – most importantly the conditions of austerity – have circumscribed the capacity of Commissioners to set their own policy agendas and resulted in a retrenchment of policing provision at the most ‘localized’ geographical units of neighbourhoods. Indeed, the combination of decentralizing formal responsibility for policing policy and restrictive central financial controls amounts in practice to a ‘devolution of blame’ by the centre for falling service standards. Finally, we argue that the growing complexity and fragmentation of police governance cannot be captured adequately by ‘vertical’ analysis of central–local relations. Although central influences remain predominant, policing policy networks have become more diverse, with important developments at ‘horizontal’ levels locally, regionally and nationally. Within this more fragmented governance framework, central influences continue to drive local policing, but primarily via a range of ‘arm’s length’ institutions and techniques.

Recent Developments in the Reform of English Law on Assisted Suicide

2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 333-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Terminally Ill ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Assisted Dying ◽  
Sanctity Of Life ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
Rational Debate ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
English Law ◽  
The Uk

AbstractAssisted suicide remains a deeply contested issue in the UK. Recently three Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bills were introduced in a three year period, all of which failed. Despite the provision of clear and precise safeguards, at each reading the House of Lords fixed largely on the traditional slippery slope and sanctity of life positions; a disproportionate reliance on theological determinism in particular prevented informed rational debate. People are living longer often with chronic, incurable diseases and palliative care is frequently of poor quality or even unavailable in the UK and it is unacceptable that individuals 'suffering unbearably' in their final days have no available domestic alternative. Yet the courts have consistently declined to prosecute in cases where friends and relatives have accompanied terminally ill persons abroad to die, against the provisions of the 1961 Suicide Act s2(1). This article critically assesses recent developments in English law on assisted dying and considers the implications for a more inclusive and reasoned debate in the future.

Civil Jurisdiction, Settler Politics, and the Colonial Constitution, circa 1840-58

2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damen Ward
Keyword(s):  
Lower Court ◽  
Parliamentary Debates ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Responsible Government ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Competing Ideas ◽  
Politics And Law ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Institutional Relationships

In early colonial politics, decisions about lower court jurisdiction often reflected competing ideas about the relationship between different parts and functions of government. In particular, court structure and jurisdiction could be seen as having important implications for the role and power of the governor. Appreciating the importance of jurisdiction as a way of defining, and arguing about, the distribution and exercise of political and legal authority in the colonial constitution allows connections to be drawn between different elements of settler politics in the 1840s and 1850s. The closing of the Court of Requests by Governor Grey in 1848, and the decisions of the Supreme Court judges in subsequent litigation, provide examples of this. Debate over the role of the governor in emerging systems of representative and responsible government after 1852 contributed to lower court jurisdiction remaining politically significant, particularly in relation to Māori.  This is shown by considering parliamentary debates about the Stafford ministry's 1858 proposals for resident magistrates' jurisdiction over "native districts". The politics of jurisdiction were part of wider contests about the establishment and consolidation of particular political and institutional relationships within the colonial constitution. This multi-faceted construction of government authority suggests a need to reconsider elements of Pākehā colonial politics and law.

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