Reputational Assault: A Critical and Historical Analysis of Gender and the Law of Defamation

1998 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane L. Borden
Keyword(s):  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Women's History ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
State Statutes ◽  
Women's Experience ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
The Law ◽  
The U.S

This article looks at the manner in which the U.S. judicial system treats men and women differently in terms of reputational harm. It explores a variety of state statutes that encode such differences as well and places both court cases and legislative enactments in the context of the development of women's history. It shows that women's reputations are generally discussed in terms of virtue, while men's reputations are cast in terms of honor. The article shows how the women's experience with the law of defamation is quite different from the experience of men in two time periods.

scholarly journals The Battered Women’s Syndrome: A History and Interpretation of the Law of Self-Defense as it Pertains to Battered Women who Kill their Husbands

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina L England
Keyword(s):  
Battered Women ◽  
Expert Witness ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Witness Testimony ◽  
Expert Witness Testimony ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
The Law

This paper seeks to address the role of the battered women’s syndrome in criminal court cases where battered women have killed their husbands in self-defense. A historical analysis of law pertaining to domestic relationships and violence reveals the male biases imbedded in the law and the obstacles women face in seeking equality and justice in the legal system. After a brief description of the development of self-defense law and Lenore Walker’s “battered women’s syndrome”, court cases starting mostly from the mid-1970’s during the second wave of the women’s movement are examined. Legal criteria for self-defense are then analyzed along with important precedents that trace the emergence through a series of court cases of legal opportunities to use this psychological condition to support pleas for self-defense. In addition, important precedents are studied that have been made over the past few decades permitting expert witness testimony in the courtroom to explain this psychological theory as it pertains to the case. The latter part of the paper deals mostly with controversies surrounding the use of the battered women’s syndrome in the courtroom and the current state of self-defense law. I conclude with a proposal for reformation of expert witness testimony and for redefining legal terms in the criteria for self-defense.

Constitutional Adjudication as a Means of Realizing the Equal Stature of Men and Women Under the Law

1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-138
Author(s):  
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Case Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Law ◽  
Constitutional Adjudication ◽  
The U.S

My remarks center on case law written in the United States, since 1970, on the equal stature of men and women under the law. Before taking up that development, I will make some opening comments about this conspicuous difference between the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the U.S. Bill of Rights, as ratified 200 years ago: equality is a central theme of the French Declaration; the word "equal" or "equality," by contrast, does not even appear in the original U.S. Constitution or in the first ten amendments that compose the Bill of Rights.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE COURT AS A PREREQUISITE FOR THE LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY OF A JUDGE

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaroslav Skoromnyy ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Legal Responsibility ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modern System ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Law ◽  
Conceptual Foundations

The article reveals the conceptual foundations of the social responsibility of the court as an important prerequisite for the legal responsibility of a judge. It has been established that the problem of court and judge liability is regulated by the following international and Ukrainian documents, such as: 1) European Charter on the Law «On the Status of Judges» adopted by the Council of Europe; 2) The Law of Ukraine «On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges»; 3) the Constitution of Ukraine; 4) The Code of Judicial Ethics, approved by the Decision of the XI (regular) Congress of Judges of Ukraine; 5) Recommendation CM/Rec (2010) 12 of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member states regarding judges: independence, efficiency and responsibilities; 6) Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct. The results of a survey conducted by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Razumkov Center, the Council of Judges of Ukraine and the Center for Judicial Studios with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation based on the «Monitoring of the State of Independence of Judges in Ukraine – 2012» as part of the study of the level of trust in the modern system were considered and analyzed, justice, judges and courts. It is determined that a judge has both a legal and a moral duty to impartially, independently, in a timely manner and comprehensively consider court cases and make fair judicial decisions, administering justice on the basis of legislative norms. Based on the study of the practice of litigation, it has been proven that judges must skillfully operate with various instruments of protection from public influence. It has been established that in order to ensure the protection of judges from the public, it is necessary to create special units that will function as part of judicial self-government bodies. It was proposed that the Council of Judges of Ukraine, which acts as the highest body of judicial self- government in our state (in Ukraine), legislate the provision on ensuring the protection of the procedural independence of judges.

CIVIL AND LEGAL LIABILITY OF JUDGES

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaroslav Skoromnyy ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Legal Liability ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Model Code ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Right

The article presents the conceptual foundations of bringing judges to civil and legal liability. It was found that the civil and legal liability of judges is one of the types of legal liability of judges. It is determined that the legislation of Ukraine provides for a clearly delineated list of the main cases (grounds) for which the state is liable for damages for damage caused to a legal entity and an individual by illegal actions of a judge as a result of the administration of justice. It has been proved that bringing judges to civil and legal liability, in particular on the basis of the right of recourse, provides for the payment of just compensation in accordance with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights. It was established that the bringing of judges to civil and legal liability in Ukraine is regulated by such legislative documents as the Constitution of Ukraine, the Civil Code of Ukraine, the Explanatory Note to the European Charter on the Status of Judges (Model Code), the Law of Ukraine «On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges», the Law of Ukraine «On the procedure for compensation for harm caused to a citizen by illegal actions of bodies carrying out operational-search activities, pre-trial investigation bodies, prosecutors and courts», Decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in the case on the constitutional submission of the Supreme Court of Ukraine regarding the compliance of the Constitution of Ukraine (constitutionality) of certain provisions of Article 2, paragraph two of clause II «Final and transitional provisions» of the Law of Ukraine «On measures to legislatively ensure the reform of the pension system», Article 138 of the Law of Ukraine «On the judicial system and the status of judges» (the case on changes in the conditions for the payment of pensions and monthly living known salaries of judges lagging behind in these), the Law of Ukraine «On the implementation of decisions and the application of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights».

Judicial Legislation

1989 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18
Author(s):  
Oliver Aylmerton
Keyword(s):  
Judicial System ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Central Topic ◽  
The People ◽  
Parliamentary Debate ◽  
The Law ◽  
Elected Representatives

The author describes the main characteristics of the English judicial system and its methodology. A central topic is the so-called judicial legislation, as is illustrated by the developing case lawwith respect to the tort of negligence. The method has the twin advantages of flexibility and pragmatism and it also has the advantages of speed. But there is a minus side also. First, the development of the law in this way can only be achieved at the expense of certainty. Secondly, it involves the alteration of the law, sometimes a quite radical alteration, without any extensive consideration of the practical and economic results such as would take place in the course of parliamentary scrutiny and debate. Judges are not the elected representatives of the people and the methodology of English Judges which results in the development and alteration of the law without the benefit of parliamentary debate may not perhaps be altogether a satisfactory democratic process to a constitutional purist.

Milton and Legal Reform

2016 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 529-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison A. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
John Milton ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Legal Reform ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
The Law ◽  
Local Courts ◽  
Political Pamphlets ◽  
Contemporary Context

AbstractThe second half of the seventeenth century was the first great period of legal reform in England’s history. This article situates John Milton in relationship to this contemporary context, arguing that he comments frequently on the need to change England’s laws and displays a finely tuned awareness of some of the major legal debates of his time. This article surveys Milton’s writings about the law and legal education, and it concludes by examining his 1659–60 political pamphlets where he calls for reform of the judicial system and the establishment of local courts.

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