The Decentering of Democracies

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Rosanvallon
Keyword(s):  
Great Majority ◽  
Political Obligation ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Majority Principle ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Democratic Elections

This introductory chapter considers the definitions of legitimacy in the context of democratic politics. Expressions such as the “great majority” or “vast majority” established the law of numbers, in contrast to the minority rule characteristic of despotic and aristocratic regimes. At first, it was the difference in the origins of power and the foundation of political obligation that was crucial. Later, the majority principle came to be recognized in a more narrowly procedural sense. The chapter traces this evolution within the history of democratic elections, positing a decentering of democracy as newer forms of political investment emerge, making democratic politics into something more than merely electing representatives.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
John B. Nann ◽  
Morris L. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Legal History ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Law ◽  
The U.S

This introductory chapter provides an overview of legal history research. An attorney might conduct legal history research if the law at question in a legal dispute is very old: the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights are well over two hundred years old. Historical research also comes into play when the question at issue is what the law was at a certain time in the past. Ultimately, law plays an important part in the political and social history of the United States. As such, researchers interested in almost every aspect of American life will have occasion to use legal materials. The chapter then describes the U.S. legal system and legal authority, and offers six points to consider in approaching a historical legal research project.

1. Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Adrian Keane ◽  
Paul McKeown
Keyword(s):  
Adversarial System ◽  
Differences Of Opinion ◽  
Rules Of Evidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Law ◽  
Fact Finding ◽  
Law Of Evidence ◽  
Practical Constraints

Evidence is information by which facts tend to be proved, and the law of evidence is that body of law and discretion regulating the means by which facts may be proved in both courts of law and tribunals and arbitrations in which the strict rules of evidence apply. This introductory chapter discusses truth and the fact-finding process and explains how getting to the truth in court is hampered by practical constraints, the adversarial system, the rules of evidence themselves, and the fact that litigation is a human endeavour that necessarily provides scope for differences of opinion, error, deceit, and lies. The chapter also contains a brief history of the development of the law to date.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Klimchuck Samet
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Philosophical Analysis ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
History Of ◽  
Moral Dimensions ◽  
The Law

This introductory chapter provides an overview of this book’s study of the history of equity. In his celebrated Lectures on Equity, FW Maitland famously declared that all that could be said in answer to what is distinctive of the law of equity is that it comprises ‘that body of rules administered by our English courts of justice which, were it not for the operation of the Judicature Acts, would be administered only by those courts which would be known as Courts of Equity’. If Maitland was right, then there is no reason to think the law of equity names something about which there could be philosophical foundations. The contributors to this volume share, for the most part, and in various degrees, the view that Maitland was wrong. Since at least the time of Aristotle, equity has captured the interest of philosophers, and that fascination continues today. As equity’s place in the legal system continues to evolve, equity’s correction of the law, equity’s distinctiveness, and equity’s moral dimensions will continue to remain central questions. Philosophical analysis of these aspects of equity in general and equity in common law legal systems promises to help in understanding and better shaping these developments.

scholarly journals Judging The Judges: “May They Boldly Go Where Ivan Rand Went Before”

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-21
Author(s):  
Ian Binnie
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
First Principles ◽  
Global Dimension ◽  
Supreme Court Of Canada ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Statutory Authority ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Difference

Justice Ivan Rand was perhaps the greatest exponent of the rule of law in the history of the Supreme Court of Canada. He was a great judge. He scorned as impractical the admonition that judges should “apply the law, not make it”. His judgements frequently broke new ground, but it should be understood that in “making the law” great judges like Ivan Rand respond to fundamental considerations of order and fairness and not to personal whim. It is sometimes necessary for judges to return to first principles to provide legislators with a framework within which to operate in unforeseen situations. The word “activism” is usually used by critics to imply that a judge is pushing the envelope beyond the proper boundaries of the law, but properly understood the term may equally indicate a judicial tightening of the boundaries to deny the bench a power seemingly conferred by the Constitution or legislation. Restraint, as much as expansion, is governed by the judges’ recognition of the limits of their institutional competence and their appreciation of their role in the constitutional scheme.In the absence of statutory authority the courts have not yet addressed issues related to globalization and human rights with the sort of boldness and creativity we associate with great judges like Ivan Rand. Order and fairness have acquired a global dimension. Globalization offers a different kind of challenge, but is no less demanding of the rule of law. In the case of creating some form or forum of relief for Third World victims of globalization, we seem to have used restraint as an excuse for inertia. Judges need to be practical, but their greatness will rest on their capacity to see not only what the law is but what it should become. There is a time for boldness and a time for restraint and judges should be judged on their ability to tell the difference.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Butler William E
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Legal History ◽  
Russian People ◽  
Legal Nature ◽  
History Of ◽  
Multiple Issues ◽  
International Legal System ◽  
The Law

This introductory chapter briefly reflects on the history of the law of making treaties in Russia. Treaties constitute the earliest surviving documents by at least a century and perhaps more in not only the legal history, but the general history, of the Russian people. The chapter discusses multiple issues which were embedded in the treaties of the ninth and tenth centuries, such as the form and legal nature of the document, ratification procedures, and so on. It considers how these issues interact with the existence of an international legal system as well as a domestic one. The chapter also looks at Russia's especially post-Soviet Russia's-responses to these issues and expounds on the importance of addressing them.

1. Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Keane ◽  
Paul McKeown
Keyword(s):  
Adversarial System ◽  
Differences Of Opinion ◽  
Rules Of Evidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Law ◽  
Fact Finding ◽  
Law Of Evidence ◽  
Practical Constraints

Evidence is information by which facts tend to be proved, and the law of evidence is that body of law and discretion regulating the means by which facts may be proved in both courts of law and tribunals and arbitrations in which the strict rules of evidence apply. This introductory chapter discusses truth and the fact-finding process and explains how getting to the truth in court is hampered by practical constraints, the adversarial system, the rules of evidence themselves, and the fact that litigation is a human endeavour that necessarily provides scope for differences of opinion, error, deceit, and lies. The chapter also contains a brief history of the development of the law to date.

Production

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Raven ◽  
Karen O’Brien
Keyword(s):  
Great Majority ◽  
Book Production ◽  
The Novel ◽  
History Of The Novel ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Critical Studies ◽  
Production History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Narrative Forms

This introductory chapter discusses the production history of the novel. The revolution in book production across all genres is dramatic. Before 1700 up to about 1,800 different printed titles were issued annually; by 1820 up to 5,500—and this is simply a crude title count that does not consider the huge increases in the edition sizes of certain types of publication, increases that escalated sharply after 1820. It was only in the 1810s that the production of literature, and notably the novel, temporarily faltered. The great majority of the new novels of 1819–20 carried either ‘novel’ or ‘tale’ in their title. Early nineteenth-century British reviewers and advertising booksellers accepted and promoted the ‘novel’ as a distinct literary category, even though it encompassed a great many narrative forms. By 1820, readers were able to enjoy an accumulation of critical studies of the novels and even accounts of their production history and domestic and foreign influences.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Hubert Treiber
Keyword(s):  
Max Weber ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Sociology Of Law ◽  
The West ◽  
Rational Form ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Law ◽  
Developmental Conditions ◽  
Shed Light

This introductory chapter provides an overview of Max Weber's works. Taking a comparative approach that spans legal systems both inside and outside Western societal formations, Weber pursues above all the developmental conditions which ultimately led to the rational form of law in the West, conceiving this development as a process of rationalization. Before using Weber's Rechtssoziologie (Sociology of Law)—or, following the new edition of the text in the Max Weber complete works, the Entwicklungsbedingungen des Rechts (Developmental Conditions of the Law)—as the basis for a detailed consideration of the process of legal rationalization, it is necessary to explore what Weber understood by the law and the legal system and how he defined these terms. It is also important to clarify his distinction between juristic and sociological conceptions of law and validity. The chapter then considers the date when Weber is presumed to have written his texts. The precise identification and collation of groups of texts shed light not only on Weber's methods, but also on the history of his oeuvre.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Leora Auslander ◽  
Tara Zahra
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Great Difficulty ◽  
History Of ◽  
Displaced People ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries ◽  
Book Studies

This introductory chapter provides an overview of material culture in the history of war. Across the centuries, people in flight from war or persecution have carried personal possessions with them, often with great difficulty. They and their descendants have gone to considerable lengths to preserve these objects, despite their everyday-ness, because of the value they accrued as they accompanied displaced people on their travels. These laboriously constructed objects record the resilience and ingenuity of displaced people deprived of the great majority of their possessions. Not only have individuals whose lives have been interrupted and displaced by war invested heavily in things, but so too have governments and armies. This book studies the displacement of people and things in times of war, in Europe and its former colonies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

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