Taking Women’s Property Seriously : Mrs Boland, the House of Lords, the Law Commission and the Role of Consensus

2014 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
House Of Lords ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Commission

scholarly journals Culpability, Kingston and the Law Commission

2010 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 434-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cath Crosby
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Character Theory ◽  
Criminal Offence ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
The Law ◽  
Court Of Appeal ◽  
Law Commission ◽  
Do So

This article considers the basis upon which a person should be held to be criminally liable, and to do so, it is necessary to examine the leading theories of character and choice that underpin the State holding a person to be culpable of a criminal offence, i.e. the link between culpability and fault. The case of R v Kingston1 is used to examine the application of these leading theories and it is observed that choice theorists would not excuse such a defendant from criminal liability even though his capacity to make a choice to refrain from law breaking was made extremely difficult by external factors beyond his control. Only character theory could possibly offer exculpation in such circumstances on the basis that the defendant acted ‘out of character’ and his deed did not deserve the full censure and punishment of the criminal law. The Court of Appeal in R v Kingston would have been prepared to excuse, but the House of Lords, and most recently the Law Commission have adopted a pragmatic approach to the involuntarily intoxicated offender. This case serves as a reminder that while justice is the aim of the criminal justice system, it is not an absolute standard.

Legalism and English Administrative Law: Comment on Sterett

1992 ◽  
Vol 17 (01) ◽  
pp. 89-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Feldman ◽  
Mark Gould
Keyword(s):  
Judicial Review ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Recent Issue ◽  
Review Procedure ◽  
The Law ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Law Commission ◽  
The Way

In a recent issue of this journal (Volume 15, Number 4, Fall 1990), Susan Sterett examined the role of the Law Commission in the development of English administrative law. She suggested that the Commission mimicked a “peak association” and adopted an “idiom of legalism” in order to justify its reform proposals. This comment disagrees with Sterett on three grounds. First, the role and constitutional position of the Commission is far more complex than Sterett suggests, and this affects the way in which the Commission works. Second, judges and academic lawyers were central to the reform of substantive principles of judicial review in the 1960s and 1970s, making it unnecessary for the Law Commission to act in this field. Finally, it is wrong to ignore the fact that much administrative law occurs outside the judicial review procedure.

Law Reform

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Steiner
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Supreme Courts ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
The Law ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Law Commission

This chapter assesses the process of law reform in France. Although a full-time Commission has been set up in France to deal with the codification of the law, no similar permanent institution exists for keeping the law under review and for making recommendations for its systematic reform. There is thus no French equivalent for the Law Commission such as in other countries. Therefore law reform initiative has been left entirely to government departments and Members of Parliament and this is confirmed by the 1958 Constitution. Consequently, in practice, the majority of bills have their origin in government departments, and in particular the Ministry of Justice, whose function it is to deal with the organisation of the civil and criminal justice system. The role of supreme courts in reforming the law is also highlighted in the chapter.

The Law of Treaties

2021 ◽  
pp. 141-158
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Gasbarri
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Controversial Issue ◽  
Member States ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Legal Nature ◽  
The Law ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Law Commission

This chapter applies the dual legal nature to the law of treaties. It begins by describing how international organizations were conceptualized in the debates of the International Law Commission and of International Law Institute on the law of treaties. Afterwards it contends that the capacity of an international organization to conclude a treaty is based both on a norm of general international law and on a norm of the internal institutional legal system. This finding is applied to the controversial issue of the position of member states in the treaty concluded by the organization. The dual nature leads to rethinking the role of members within the organizations based on complementarity. It means that member states have an indirect involvement with the treaty concluded only by the organization. For instance, member states’ obligations arise in order to provide the organization with the means to fulfil the obligations of the organization.

Conducting Law Reform Research: A Comparative Perspective

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Melville
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Legal Reform ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Technical Process ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Commission

AbstractLaw Reform Commissions are permanent bodies which operate in common law countries, and are charged with the task of recommending law reform. The Commissions conduct research into the need for law reform, and it appears this research is guided by a common set of broad principles. A comparison of the ways in which the New Zealand Law Commission and the recently defunct Law Commission of Canada put these principles into practice reveals that different Commissions use different approaches when putting these principles into practice.These different approaches reflect the ways in which the role of law within society and the role of the Law Commissions in shaping the law are conceived. For some Commissions, legal reform is a technical process driven by a desire for increased efficiency and effectiveness. For other Commissions, legal reform is seen as directing, rather than merely reflecting, social and legal norms, and is self-consciously aimed towards achieving the goals of social justice.

A Supreme Court for the United Kingdom?

Legal Studies ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 36-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Hale
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Question Mark ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Law ◽  
Consultation Paper ◽  
Law Commission

The Government's Consultation Paper does not have a question mark in its title. It does not purport to be a serious discussion of the role of a Supreme Court in a democracy. This is scarcely to be expected of such a document or its respondents, so I propose to respond in its own terms rather than on the loftier plane usually adopted by contributors to this journal. More unexpectedly, the Consultation Paper does not even put forward a serious set of options to consider. At the Law Commission, we always had (at least a metaphorical) question mark in our title because we almost always put forward two options which do not appear in this consultation: the ‘do nothing’ and the ‘let’s abolish it' options. Both have a lot to be said for them here.

The International Law Commission's Draft Articles on the Effects of Armed Conflicts on Treaties: Evaluating the Applicability of Impossibility of Performance and Fundamental Change

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-76
Author(s):  
Benny TAN Zhi Peng
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Controversial Issue ◽  
Vienna Convention ◽  
Fundamental Change ◽  
Insufficient Attention ◽  
The Law ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Law Commission

The International Law Commission recently completed its work on the controversial issue of the effects of armed conflicts on treaties, culminating in the adoption of a set of eighteen draft articles and an annex. The Commission's efforts are nothing short of commendable, but this article argues that insufficient attention has been paid to the role of supervening impossibility of performance and fundamental change of circumstances in determining the effects of armed conflicts on treaties. Although both doctrines may in fact appropriately apply in the context of armed conflicts, the mere referencing of them in the adopted draft articles gives rise to several problems. In particular, the two doctrines were codified by the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties without their application to armed conflicts in mind. Some changes to the draft articles are proposed to address these difficulties.

Law reform in the twenty-first century

Legal Studies ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Toulson
Keyword(s):  
Law School ◽  
First Century ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Law ◽  
The Law ◽  
The University ◽  
Law Commission

In this paper, which is the text of a lecture given at the official launch of the Law School at the University of Bradford on 11 May 2006, the history of law reform in England is traced, the role of the Law Commission is analysed and future prospects are considered.

Land Law

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Cooke
Keyword(s):  
Land Law ◽  
Unique Role ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Static Security ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Many ◽  
Ownership Of Land ◽  
Court Of Appeal ◽  
Law Commission

This book is an account of the land law of England and Wales written in the Clarendon style: as a letter to a friend, with a minimum of footnotes and statutory material. It explains the origins of land law in the feudal system, its transformation by the legislation of 1925, and the modern regime in which registration is the key to the validity and enforceability of interests in land. The unique role of the trust in English law is explored, and the many complications that can arise where ownership of land is shared (whether concurrently or consecutively). Themes of the book include the management of complexity in land law, and the tension between dynamic and static security. The law of mortgages, leases, easements, and covenants is explained. Recent decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court are discussed, as are reform proposals by the Law Commission.

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