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Law & Humanities Blog

Law & Humanities Blog

New Television Dramas

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 11:03 AM PST

This January sees the premiere of two new legal series. "Harry's Law", which stars Linda Bates, premieres January 17 on NBC at 10, 9 Central Time. Harry is a patent lawyer, fired from her firm who begins again as a criminal law attorney. "Fairly Legal" stars Sarah Shahi and premieres on the USA Network on January 20 at 10, 9 Central Time. Kate Reed is an attorney working at her family firm who decides to become a mediator.

The Critique of Law In "A Passage To India"

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 10:58 AM PST

Allen Mendenhall, Auburn University, West Virginia University, Temple University, and Furman University, has published The Oft-Ignored Mr. Turton: The Role of District Collector in a Passage to India as volume 2, no. 44 of Libertarian Papers (2010). Here is the abstract.


E.M. Forster's A Passage to India presents Brahman Hindu jurisprudence as an alternative to British rule of law, a utilitarian jurisprudence that hinges on mercantilism, central planning, and imperialism. Building on John Hasnas's critiques of rule of law and Murray Rothbard's critiques of Benthamite utilitarianism, this essay argues that Forster's depictions of Brahman Hindu in the novel endorse polycentric legal systems. Mr. Turton is the local district collector whose job is to pander to both British and Indian interests; positioned as such, Turton is a site for critique and comparison. Forster uses Turton to show that Brahman Hindu jurisprudence is fair and more effective than British bureaucratic administration. Forster's depictions of Brahman Hindu are not verisimilar, and Brahman Hindu does not recommend a particular jurisprudence. But Forster appropriates Brahman Hindu for aesthetic and political purposes and in so doing advocates a jurisprudence that does not reduce all experience to mathematical calculation. Forster writes against the Benthamite utilitarianism adopted by most colonial administrators in India. A tough figure to pin down politically, Forster celebrates the individual and personal relations: things that British rule of law seeks to suppress.
Download the full text of the paper from SSRN at the link.

The Right of Publicity In Australia and Singapore

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 10:42 AM PST

David Tan, National University of Singapore, has published The Fame Monster Reloaded: The Contemporary Celebrity, Cultural Studies and Passing Off at the Singapore Journal of Legal Studies 151 (July 2010). Here is the abstract.

The common law jurisdictions of Australia and Singapore often adopt a conservative approach to recognising newproperty rights, particularly with respect to the human persona, but courts frequently take their cue from developments in the United Kingdom. This article revisits the landmark cases in these jurisdictions which, in declaring that a property right in the goodwill of a celebrity may be protected against unlicensed commercial appropriation, use language evocative of the right of publicity. It examines howthe courts have expanded the passing off action to prevent the unauthorised commercial use of the images of well-known personalities. Finally, by adopting a cultural studies analysis that investigates the semiotic nature of the celebrity sign and its influence on contemporary consumption, this article offers a different perspective to the debate on the protection of image rights.
The full text is not available from SSRN.

The Legal Interpretation of Art

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 10:39 AM PST

Uladzislau Belavusau, European University Institute (Florence, Italy) and University of California, Berkeley, has published Art, Pornography and Foucauldian Reconstruction of Comparative Law at 17 Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 252 (2010). Here is the abstract.



The article inquires into a delicate and often prudish legal problem of erotic art in the paradigmatic dynamics of national law on obscenity and an ever-growing body of international law of cultural heritage. Pornography is a popular legal construction in distinguishing 'high art' from cultural practices, allegedly deprived of artistic value. Yet since when do we know what is the obscene or the pornographic and why do we outlaw certain narratives and visualizations from the realm of freedom of expression? This question remains ultimately vague in national law (predominantly embraced under the heading of boni mores, or 'public morality') and even more scattered in contemporary international law. The latter seems to silence somewhat uncomfortable and outdated developments on pornography of the early 20th century. Consequently, this piece is an attempt to trace the genesis and evolution of the legal interpretation of art in the dichotomy of freedom of expression and pornography.
The full text is not available from SSRN.
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