Law & Humanities Blog

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• Rhetoric and Justice at Guantanamo
• AIDEL's International Conference 2013 Set for November 14-16 In Verona
• A New Book On Artists' Moral and Human Rights

Rhetoric and Justice at Guantanamo Posted: 29 Oct 2013 09:21 AM PDT Brian Christopher Jones, Academia Sinica, Institutum Iurisprudentiae (IIAS), has published A Triumph of Ill Conceived Language: The Linguistic Origins of Guantanamo's 'Rough Justice' at 1 Hastings Law Journal Voir Dire 1 (2013). Here is the abstract. Throughout the years, the Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay has witnessed an abundance of intriguing linguistic words and phrases. Yet the language that has had the most significant impact throughout the years has been the words and phrases used in the administration of justice regarding the detainees being held on terrorism charges. Wall St. Journal Supreme Court reporter Jess Bravin's book, 'The Terror Courts: Rough Justice at Guantanamo Bay,' thoroughly chronicles how the use of military commissions came about for the first time since the Second World War, and pointedly demonstrates the abundance of problems they faced once established. In addition to telling the story of Marine Corps lieutenant colonel Stuart Couch, an earnest military prosecutor who later becomes exhaustively disenchanted with the commissions, the book chronicles the new linguistic frontiers in the American legal community. This piece analyzes how particular language used throughout the establishment and execution of the commissions significantly differed from American legal traditions. In particular, the essay focuses on four linguistic changes that had considerable influence: (1) From Due Process to "Full and Fair"; (2) From Classified to "Protected"; (3) From Custodial Interrogation to "Enhanced Interrogation"; and (4) From Acts of Terrorism to "Material Support for Terrorism." Download the essay from SSRN at the link.

AIDEL's International Conference 2013 Set for November 14-16 In Verona Posted: 29 Oct 2013 07:52 AM PDT The Associazione Italiana Diritto e Letteratura (AIDEL) announces its International Conference 2013: "Pwers of Voices/Voices of Power" will be held in Verona from November 14 through November 16. Here is a link to the final program. The conference will include talks by Jeanne Gaakeer, Melanie Williams, Heinz Antor, Patrizia Nerozzi, Desiree Fondaroli, Cristina Costantini--and discussions of Shakespeare, Apuleius, Laurence Sterne, Supreme Courts and labor rights. It looks like it will be quite an interesting event.

A New Book On Artists' Moral and Human Rights Posted: 29 Oct 2013 07:42 AM PDT A new book announcement from Hart Publishing: NOW PUBLISHED  Freedom of Artistic Expression Essays on Culture and Legal Censure Paul Kearns     This book presents a unique and comprehensive examination of the human and moral rights of artists.

Law & Humanities Blog

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The Establishment Clause, Religious Symbols, Endorsement, and Coercion Posted: 25 Oct 2013 08:13 AM PDT Claudia E.

Law & Humanities Blog

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A New Book On Law, Literature, and Narrative Posted: 24 Oct 2013 01:02 PM PDT Jose Calvo Gonzalez of the University of Malaga has published an interesting new book, Direito Curvo (Porto Alegre: Editora Livraria do Advogado, 2013). The title translates as Curvable Law. More information here.

UCL Centre for Digital Humanities

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UCLDH Digital Excursion: Research IT Services’ Data Centre Posted: 23 Oct 2013 08:08 AM PDT The UCLDH Digital Excursions are resuming and the first visit for 2013-14 is to the UCL Research IT Services data centre, 5.30pm on Tuesday 12th November.  If you would like to attend, please see our Events pages for more information.

Law & Humanities Blog

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Where The Girls Aren't Posted: 22 Oct 2013 07:51 AM PDT Ryan A. Malphurs, Courtroom Sciences Inc., Jaime Bochantin, DePaul University, L. Hailey Drescher, University of Kansas, and Melissa Wallace Framer, Arizona State University, Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, have published Too Much Frivolity, Not Enough Femininity: A Study of Gender and Humor at the U.S.

Law & Humanities Blog

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Another TV Lawyer Drama Posted: 21 Oct 2013 03:40 PM PDT The tv series Betrayal, based on the Dutch series Overspel, debuted on ABC on September 29, 2013 in a lineup that includes lead-ins of Once Upon a Time and Revenge. The show features Hannah Ware as Sara Hanley, a photographer married to prosecutor Drew Stafford (Chris Johnson), who begins a torrid affair with attorney Jack McAllister (Stuart Townsend), in-house counsel for a powerful businessman.

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The Influence of Robert M. Cover Posted: 17 Oct 2013 07:58 AM PDT Roy Andrew Partain, Soongsil College of Law, has published Ecologies of Paideic Law: Environmental Law and Robert M. Coverʼs Jurisprudence of 'Nomos and Narratives' , at 24 Hanyang Law Review 423 (2013). Here is the abstract. This article provides an extensive introduction to the legal philosophy of Robert M. Cover and begins a discussion on how his principles of jurisgenesis could be applied in environmental law. This article suggests that a deeper appreciation of Cover's jurisprudence could better assist in the development of climate change legislation. Robert M. Cover was a legal scholar at Yale Law School who died in 1986, tragically early in his career, leaving many aspects of his innovative jurisprudence incomplete. Despite those circumstances, he has become one of the top-most cited legal scholars in American jurisprudence. In particular, he is best known for his "Nomos and Narratives" theory of law. Cover's legal philosophy holds that the laws and narrative traditions of a culture cannot be critically separated, that they must be understood to operate intertwined. Further, he argued certain aspects of the narrative cultures must be included in the concept of law, in the corpus juris, alongside more explicit forms such as constitutions, legislations, and judicial decisions.

Law & Humanities Blog

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The History of European Legal Culture Posted: 16 Oct 2013 08:26 AM PDT Helge Dedek, Mc Gill University Faculty of Law, Institute of Comparative Law, is publishing When Law Became Cultivated: 'European Legal Culture' between Kultur and Civilization in Towards a European Legal Culture (G. Helleringer & K. Purnhagen eds.; C. H. Beck/Hart: Munich-Oxford, 2014) (forthcoming). Here is the abstract. In this contribution, I invite the reader to approach the concept of 'European legal culture' from a historical perspective. Such an approach is helpful in two ways: first, it helps to attune one's ear to the shades of meaning of 'culture' and to enhance awareness of the fact that 'legal culture' may have a different ring in different legal traditions. Second, as we shall see, it is the discourse on 'legal culture' itself, and especially the discourse on 'European legal culture', that seeks historical legitimacy by cultivating foundational narratives, invoking, in particular, the writings of the German Historical School and its most well-known proponent, Friedrich Carl von Savigny.

Law & Humanities Blog

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• Twelve Inquiring Jurors
• Taking Ally Seriously
• Call For Papers

Twelve Inquiring Jurors Posted: 14 Oct 2013 03:49 PM PDT Steven Lubet, Northwestern University School of Law, and Kevin Chang have published Stupid Juror Questions? as Northwestern Public Law Research Paper No. 13-32. Here is the abstract. Everyone knows there is no such thing as a stupid question. Well, at least every parent, teacher, counselor, advisor, librarian and boss is evidently aware of the truth of that simple maxim. Nonetheless, the obvious utility of asking questions – seeking wisdom; requesting clarification; locating information – appears to have eluded certain high officials in the justice system of the United Kingdom, not to mention a raft of journalists, a clutch of parliamentarians, and a good swath of the British public, all of whom expressed consternation at a series of written questions posed by the jurors in a high profile, though relatively low stakes, criminal case. "Do we need IQ tests for juries?" wondered one pundit, who fumed that the jury's questions had "exposed a breathtaking level of ignorance and stupidity." Another echoed the thought, asking whether the jury was "stupid or just confused?" This article analyzes the ten infamous questions posed by the jury in the British trial of Vicki Pryce, who was accused of "perverting the course of justice" in an attempt to advance the political career of her now-former husband. Drawing upon legal history, criminal procedure, and cognition science, we conclude that the jury's questions were far more perceptive than the court and the British pundits realized. Download the paper from SSRN at the link.

Taking Ally Seriously Posted: 14 Oct 2013 12:00 PM PDT John Denvir, University of San Francisco School of Law, has published Romancing the Law: Ally McBeal and the Art of Subversive Comedy as a University of San Francisco Research Paper.