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Legal Pluralism in Indonesia: Bridging the Unbridgeable (Routledge Contemporary Southeast Asia Series)
by Ratno LukitoWith the revival of Islamic law and adat (customary) law in the country, this book investigates the history and phenomenon of legal pluralism in Indonesia. It looks at how the ideal of modernity in Indonesia has been characterized by a state-driven effort in the post-colonial era to make the institution of law an inseparable part of national development. Focusing on the aspects of political and ‘conflictual’ domains of legal pluralism in Indonesia, the book discusses the understanding of the state’s attitude and behaviour towards the three largest legal traditions currently operative in the society: adat law, Islamic law and civil law. The first aspect is addressed by looking at how the state specifically deals with Islamic law and adat law, while the second is analysed in terms of actual cases of private interpersonal law, such as interfaith marriage, interfaith inheritance and gendered inheritance. The book goes on to look at how socio-political factors have influenced the relations between state and non-state laws, and how the state’s strategy of accommodation of legal pluralism has in fact largely depended on the extent to which those legal traditions have been able to conform to national ideology. It is a useful contribution for students and scholars of Asian Studies and Law.
Legal Pluralism: New Trajectories in Law (ISSN)
by Jennifer Hendry Alex GreenThis book examines the development and fundamental nature of legal pluralism. Legal pluralism evokes two distinctions: ‘state’ vs ‘non-state’ law; and ‘law’ vs ‘non-law’. As such, although this book focuses upon circumstances in which two or more legal orders compete to govern the same social space, it also addresses the nature of law in general. Drawing on material conflicts arising within jurisdictions such as Australia, Burundi, Cameroon, Gambia, the United States, and Zambia, this book explores the conceptual, moral, and political challenges that legal pluralism creates. Emphasising that non-state law carries no less dignity than that often ascribed to the legal orders of contemporary states, it advances a theoretically sophisticated argument in favour of recognising and respecting genuine cases of legal pluralism, wherever they arise. Accessible and thought provoking, this book will appeal to legal scholars, anthropologists, sociologists, and political and social philosophers as well as practising lawyers, judges, and policymakers who deal with issues of legal pluralism.
Legal Positivism in a Global and Transnational Age (Law and Philosophy Library #131)
by Luca Siliquini-CinelliA theme of growing importance in both the law and philosophy and socio-legal literature is how regulatory dynamics can be identified (that is, conceptualised and operationalised) and normative expectations met in an age when transnational actors operate on a global plane and in increasingly fragmented and transformative contexts. A reconsideration of established theories and axiomatic findings on regulatory phenomena is an essential part of this discourse. There is indeed an urgent need for discontinuity regarding what we (think we) know about, among other things, law, legality, sovereignty and political legitimacy, power relations, institutional design and development, and pluralist dynamics of ordering under processes of globalisation and transnationalism.Making an important contribution to the scholarly debate on the subject, this volume features original and much-needed essays of theoretical and applied legal philosophy as well as socio-legal accounts that reflect on whether legal positivism has anything to offer to this intellectual enterprise. This is done by discussing whether global and transnational cultural, socio-political, economic, and juridical challenges as well as processes of diversification, fragmentation, and transformation (significantly, de-formalisation) reinforce or weaken legal positivists’ assumptions, claims, and methods. The themes covered include, but are not limited to, absolute and limited state sovereignty; the ‘new international legal positivism’; Hartian legal positivism and the ‘normative positivist’ account; the relationship between modern secularisation, social conventionalism, and meta-ontological issues of temporality in postnational jurisprudence; the social positivisation of human rights; the formation and content of jus cogens norms; feminist critique; the global and transnational migration of principles of justice and morality; the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties rule of interpretation; and the responsibility of transnational corporations.
Legal Principles in WTO Disputes
by Andrew D. MitchellPrinciples play a crucial role in any dispute settlement system, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) is no exception. However, WTO Panels and the Appellate Body have been too timid in using principles, sometimes avoiding their use when appropriate and at other times using them without fully acknowledging that they are doing so. Perhaps more worryingly, these bodies often fail to delve deeply enough into principles. They tend to overlook key questions such as the legal basis for using a given principle, whether the principle is being used in an interpretative manner or as applicable law, and the meaning of the principle in public international law. This book establishes a framework for addressing these questions. The use of such a framework should allay fears and misconceptions about the use of principles and ensure that they are used in a justifiable manner, improving the quality of dispute settlement in the WTO.
Legal Professionals Negotiating the Borders of Identity: Operation Streamline and Competing Identity Management
by Jessie K. FinchThis book uses a controversial criminal immigration court procedure along the México-U.S. border called Operation Streamline as a rich setting to understand the identity management strategies employed by lawyers and judges. How do individuals negotiate situations in which their work-role identity is put in competition with their other social identities such as race/ethnicity, citizenship/generational status, and gender? By developing a new and integrative conceptualization of competing identity management, this book highlights the connection between micro-level identities and macro-level systems of structural racism, nationalism, and patriarchy. Through ethnographic observations and interviews, readers gain insight into the identity management strategies used by both Latino/a and non-Latino/a legal professionals of various citizenship/generational statuses and genders as they explain their participation in a program that represents many of the systemic inequalities that exist in the current U.S. criminal justice and immigration regimes. The book will appeal to scholars of sociology, social psychology, critical criminology, racial/ethnic studies, and migration studies. Additionally, with clear descriptions of terminology and theories referenced, students can learn not only about Operation Streamline as a specific criminal immigration proceeding that exemplifies structural inequalities, but also about how those inequalities are reproduced—often reluctantly—by the legal professionals involved.
Legal Reform in Korea (Routledge Advances in Korean Studies #Vol. 5)
by Tom GinsburgLaw in Korea has historically been viewed as merely a tool of authoritarian rule, but since the transition to democracy in 1987 it has served a more important and visible role as a force for social change. With contributions from leading US and Korean scholars, Legal Reform in Korea explores this response to domestic and international pressures, applying a socio-legal perspective to both legal practices and the legal institutions themselves, which have become a major political issue throughout the developing world. An invaluable resource for students of Asian law and Korean studies.
Legal Regulation of Private Actors in Outer Space: India’s Role
by Malay AdhikariThe book addresses legal issues and challenges in using Space Technology. Especially covered are the provisions of International Space Law and few national space legislations to regulate private actors in outer space. The key chapters covered are history of space regulations, private actors in space, legal issues for such actors, regulating these issues outside India, and the same in India. In concluding chapter, the author has worked out some recommendations.The book would be of immense use to people especially startups in private space industry; students, faculties and scholars of Space Law and Policy, Space Security, Defence and Security Studies.Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
Legal Resolution of Nuclear Non-proliferation Disputes
by James D. FryHow viable is the resolution of nuclear non-proliferation disputes through the International Court of Justice and international arbitration? James Fry examines the compromissory clauses in the IAEA Statute, IAEA Safeguards Agreements and the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material that give jurisdiction to these fora and analyses recent jurisprudence to demonstrate how legal resolution can handle such politically sensitive disputes. In sum, legal resolution of nuclear non-proliferation disputes represents an option that States and commentators have all too often ignored. The impartiality and procedural safeguards of legal resolution should make it an acceptable option for target States and the international community, especially vis-à-vis the procedural shortcomings and general heavy-handedness of Security Council involvement under UN Charter Chapter VII.
Legal Rights: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives
by Austin Sarat Thomas R. KearnsThe idea of legal rights today enjoys virtually universal appeal, yet all too often the meaning and significance of rights are poorly understood. The purpose of this volume is to clarify the subject of legal rights by drawing on both historical and philosophical legal scholarship to bridge the gap between these two genres--a gap that has divorced abstract and normative treatments of rights from an understanding of their particular social and cultural contexts. Legal Rights: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives shows that the meaning and extent of rights has been dramatically expanded in this century, though along with the widespread and flourishing popularity of rights, voices of criticism have increasingly been raised. The authors take up the question of the foundation of rights and explore the postmodern challenges to efforts to ground rights outside of history and language. Drawing rich historical analysis and careful philosophical inquiry into productive dialogue, this book explores the many facets of rights at the end of the twentieth century. In these essays, potentially abstract debates come alive as they are related to the struggles of real people attempting to cope with, and improve, their living conditions. The significance of legal rights is measured not just in terms of philosophical categories or as a collection of histories, but as they are experienced in the lives of men and women seeking to come to terms with rights in contemporary life.
Legal Services and Digital Infrastructures: A New Compass for Better Governance
by Daniela PianaThis book seeks to provide and promote a better understanding and a more responsive and inclusive governance of the automation and digital devices in public institutions, particularly the law and justice sector. Concerns related to AI design and use have been exacerbated recently with the recognition of the discriminatory potential that can be embedded into AI applications in public service institutions. This book examines issues relating to the assigning of responsibility in a public service produced and delivered on the basis of an automated mechanism. It encourages critical thinking about the legal services and the justice institutions as they are transformed by AI and automation. It raises awareness as to the prospect of transformation we face in terms of responsibility and of agency and the need to design a citizen-centered and human rights compliant system of technology assessment and AI monitoring and evaluation. The book calls for a comprehensive strategy to enable professional practitioners and decision makers to engage in the design of AI driven legal and justice services. The work draws on on-going research and consulting activities carried out by the author across different countries and different systems in the legal and justice sector. The book offers a critical approach to encourage a new mindset among legal professionals and the justice institutions thus empowering and training them to develop the necessary responsiveness and accountability in the justice sector and legal systems. It will also be of interest to researchers and academics working in the area of AI, Public Law, Human Rights and Criminal Justice.
Legal Thoughts between the East and the West in the Multilevel Legal Order
by Chang-Fa Lo Nigel N.T. Li Tsai-Yu LinThis book focuses on the interaction and mutual influences between the East and the West in terms of their legal systems and practices. In this regard, it highlights Professor Herbert H. P. Ma's achievements and his efforts to bring Eastern and Western legal concepts and systems closer together. The book shows that, while there have been convergences between different legal regimes in many fields of law, diverse legal practices and approaches rooted in differing cultural, social, political and philosophical backgrounds do remain, and that these differences are not necessarily negative elements in the contemporary legal order. By examining different levels of the legal order, including domestic, regional and multilateral, it goes on to argue that identifying these diversities and addressing the interactions and mutual influences between different regimes is a worthwhile undertaking, not only in terms of mutual enrichment, but also with regard to intensifying the degree of desirable coordination between different legal systems. All chapters were written by leading experts, practitioners and scholars from different jurisdictions with expertise in various fields of law and different levels of the legal order, and discuss a number of issues with particular focus on either "one-way" or mutual influences between the Eastern and the Western legal systems, practices and philosophies.
Legal Traditions, Legal Reforms and Economic Performance
by Diego Romero-Ávila Daniel Oto-PeralíasThis book investigates whether legal reforms intended to create a market-friendly regulatory business environment have a positive impact on economic and financial outcomes. After conducting a critical review of the legal origins literature, the authors first analyze the evolution of legal rules and regulations during the last decade (2006-2014). For that purpose, the book uses legal/regulatory indicators from the World Bank's Doing Business Project (2015). The findings indicate that countries have actively reformed their legal systems during this period, particularly French civil law countries. A process of convergence in the evolution of legal rules and regulations is observed: countries starting in 2006 in a lower position have improved more than countries with better initial scores. Also, French civil law countries have reformed their legal systems to a larger extent than common law countries and, consequently, have improved more in the majority of the Doing Business indicators used. Second, the authors estimate fixed-effects panel regressions to analyze the relationship between changes in legal rules and regulations and changes in the real economy. The findings point to a lack of systematic effects of legal rules and regulations on economic and financial outcomes. This result stands in contrast to the widespread belief that reforms aiming to strengthen investor and creditor rights (and other market-friendly policies) systematically lead to better economic and financial outcomes.
Legal Violence and the Limits of the Law: Cruel and Unusual
by Amy Swiffen Joshua NicholsWhat is the meaning of punishment today? Where is the limit that separates it from the cruel and unusual? In legal discourse, the distinction between punishment and vengeance—punishment being the measured use of legally sanctioned violence and vengeance being a use of violence that has no measure—is expressed by the idea of "cruel and unusual punishment." This phrase was originally contained in the English Bill of Rights (1689). But it (and versions of it) has since found its way into numerous constitutions and declarations, including Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the Amendment to the US Constitution. Clearly, in order for the use of violence to be legitimate, it must be subject to limitation. The difficulty is that the determination of this limit should be objective, but it is not, and its application in punitive practice is constituted by a host of extra-legal factors and social and political structures. It is this essential contestability of the limit which distinguishes punishment from violence that this book addresses. And, including contributions from a range of internationally renowned scholars, it offers a plurality of original and important responses to the contemporary question of the relationship between punishment and the limits of law.
Legal and Economic Principles of World Trade Law
by Petros C. Mavroidis Henrik HornThe World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement covers international commerce in goods and services including measures that directly affect trade, such as import tariffs and quotas, and almost any type of internal measure with an impact on trade. Legal and Economic Principles of World Trade Law contributes to the analysis of the texts of World Trade Law in law and economics, reporting work done to identify improvements to the interpretation of the Agreement. It starts with background studies, the first summarizes The Genesis of the GATT, which highlights the negotiating history of the GATT 1947-1948; the second introduces the economics of trade agreements. These are followed by two main studies. The first, authored by Bagwell, Staiger, and Sykes discusses legal and economic aspects of the GATT regulation of border policy instruments, such as import tariffs and import quotas. The second, written by Grossman, Horn, and Mavroidis, focuses on the core provision for the regulation of domestic policy instruments – the National Treatment principles in Art. III GATT.
Legal and Political Challenges of Governing the Environment and Climate Change: Ruling Nature
by Gary Wickham Jo-Ann GoodieThe environment has not always been protected by law. It was not until the middle of the 20th century that ‘the environment’ came to be understood as an entity in need of special care, and the law-politics duo firmly fixed its focus on this issue. In this book Wickham and Goodie tell the story of how law and politics first came upon the environment as an object in need of special attention. They outline the unlikely intersection of aesthetics and science that made ‘the environment’ into the matter of great concern it is today. The book describes the way private common-law strategies and public-law legislative strategies have approached the task of protecting the environment, and explore the greatest environmental challenge to have so far confronted environmental law and politics; the threat of global climate change. The book offers descriptions of many of the strategies being deployed to meet this challenge and present some troubling assessments of them. The book will be of great interest to students, teachers, and researchers of environmental law, socio-legal studies, environmental studies, and political theory.
Legal and Political Reforms in Saudi Arabia
by Joseph KéchichianThe fractious relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia has long been a central concern in Washington. In the aftermath of 9/11 and amongst ongoing wars, the United States confronts an acute dilemma: how to cooperate with Riyadh against terrorism whilst confronting acute anti-Americanism? Using information gathered from extensive interviews with a plethora of officials, this book aims to analyze Saudi domestic reforms. It addresses the significant deficiency of information on such diverse matters as the judiciary and ongoing national dialogues, but also provides an alternative understanding of what motivates Saudi policy makers. How these reforms may impact on future Saudi decision-making will surely generate a slew of policy concerns for the United States and this study offers a few clarifications and solutions. This book will be of interest to anyone seeking a new perspective on the motivation behind legal and political reforms in Saudi Arabia, and the effects of these reforms beyond the Middle East.
Legal and Political Thinking Against Sovereignty: A European Intellectual History (Law and Politics)
by Hugo CanihacAt the intersection of the history of constitutional ideas and of political theory, this book offers a new genealogy of the constitutional thought of the European Union. Centrally, the book traces the emergence and transformation of the ‘post-sovereign thesis’ – an argument that seeks to move beyond the routine opposition between states and European organization, by claiming the concept of sovereignty to be obsolete – and its complicated relationship with liberalism. Analyzing the thought of a series of constitutional thinkers who have developed different versions of this thesis in relation to European integration, the book shows that, far from being new, as is generally assumed, the post-sovereign thesis goes back to the late nineteenth century. Exploring the interplay of these thinkers’ critical conceptualizations of sovereignty and of their views on liberalism, the book argues that, although they shared a concern for the transformation of a world seen as increasingly interdependent, they imagined deeply different versions of post-sovereignty. Bringing this history into focus, the book offers a rich new perspective on contemporary debates about the EU and the possibilities of global constitutionalism. This book will appeal to scholars and students working in the fields of EU and constitutional law, legal history and the history of political thought, as well as others with relevant interests working in political science.
Legal and Rhetorical Foundations of Economic Globalization: An Atlas of Ritual Sacrifice in Late-Capitalism (Globalization: Law and Policy)
by Keren WangThis book examines the subtle ways in which rhetorics of sacrifice have been re-appropriated into the workings of the global political economy in the 21st century. It presents an in-depth analysis of the ways in which ritual practices are deployed, under a diverse set of political and legal contexts, as legitimation devices in rendering exploitative structures of the prevailing political-economic system to appear inescapable, or even palatable. To this end, this work explores the deeper rhetorical and legal basis of late-capitalist governmentality by critically interrogating its mythical and ritual dimensions. The analysis gives due consideration to the contemporary incarnations of ritual sacrifice in the transnational neoliberal discourse: from those exploitative yet inescapable contractual obligations, to calendrical multi-billion dollar 'offerings' to the insatiable needs of 'too-big-to-fail' corporations.The first part of the book provides a working interpretative framework for understanding the politics of ritual sacrifice – one that not only accommodates multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary knowledge of ritual practices, but that can also be employed in the integrated analysis of sacrificial rituals as political rhetoric under divergent historical and societal contexts. The second conducts a series of case studies that cut across the wide variability of ritual public takings in late-capitalism. The book concludes by highlighting several key common doctrines of public ritual sacrifice which have been broadly observed in its case studies. These common doctrines tend to reflect the rhetorical and legal foundations for public takings under hegemonic market-driven governance. They define 'appropriate and proper' occasions for suspending pre-existing legal protections to regularize otherwise transgressive transfers of rights and possessions for the 'greater good' of the economic order.
Legal-Economic Institutions, Entrepreneurship, and Management: Perspectives on the Dynamics of Institutional Change from Emerging Markets (Contributions to Management Science)
by Nezameddin Faghih Ali Hussein SamadiThe study of dynamics of institutional change in emerging markets are subjects of great interest in contemporary political economy. The dynamics and quality of institutional change can have significant impacts on the long-run performance of economies, economic growth and development of nations, and play a fundamental role in societies. It provides a comprehensive understanding of legal-economic institutions, and sheds light on the way to global peace by producing a better understanding of the dynamics of historical change. Topics range from institutional uncertainty, hybrid market order and labor market institutions, to good governance of institutions and WTO rules as trade institutions, as well as entrepreneurship and institutional change in emerging markets, and the role of modern technologies.This edited volume emphasizes legal-economic institutions, and the role of management and entrepreneurship on dynamics, trends, and implications of institutional change in emerging markets. Presenting research articles by eminent scholars and experts engaged in education and research, who address and discuss the most recent issues in the field, they reveal new insights into the dynamics of institutional change for researchers interested in development of new theories and comparative studies, especially in the era of emerging markets. The book is appealing to a wide range of global audience, can serve as a useful reference work in education and research, offers innovative and productive discussions, and can satisfy scholarly and intellectual interests, regarding institutional development and a broad spectrum of its interactions with functioning of markets and economies.
Legalising Mitochondrial Donation: Enacting Ethical Futures In Uk Biomedical Politics
by Rebecca Dimond Neil StephensIn 2015 the UK became the first country in the world to legalise mitochondrial donation, a controversial germ line reproductive technology to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial disease. Dimond and Stephens track the intense period of scientific and ethical review, public consultation and parliamentary debates preceeding the decision. They draw on stakeholder accounts and public documents to explore how patients, professionals, institutions and publics mobilised within ‘for’ and ‘against’ clusters, engaging in extensive promissory, emotional, bureaucratic, ethical, embodied and clinical labour to justify competing visions of an ethical future. They describe how this decision is the latest iteration of a UK sociotechnical imaginary in which the further liberalization of human embryo research and use is rendered legitimate and ethical through modes of consultation and permissive but strictly regulated licensing. Overall, this book presents a timely, multi-dimensional, and sociological account of a globally significant landmark in the history of human genetics, and will be relevant to those with an interest in genetics, Science, Technology and Society, the sociology of medicine, reproductive technology, and public policy debate.
Legality And Legitimacy
by Carl SchmittCarl Schmitt ranks among the most original and controversial political thinkers of the twentieth century. His incisive criticisms of Enlightenment political thought and liberal political practice remain as shocking and significant today as when they first appeared in Weimar Germany. Unavailable in English until now, Legality and Legitimacy was composed in 1932, in the midst of the crisis that would lead to the collapse of the Weimar Republic and only a matter of months before Schmitt's collaboration with the Nazis. In this important work, Schmitt questions the political viability of liberal constitutionalism, parliamentary government, and the rule of law. Liberal governments, he argues, cannot respond effectively to challenges by radical groups like the Nazis or Communists. Only a presidential regime subject to few, if any, practical limitations can ensure domestic security in a highly pluralistic society. Legality and Legitimacy is sure to provide a compelling reference point in contemporary debates over the challenges facing constitutional democracies today. In addition to Jeffrey Seitzer's translation of the 1932 text itself, this volume contains his translation of Schmitt's 1958 commentary on the work, extensive explanatory notes, and an appendix including selected articles of the Weimar constitution. John P. McCormick's introduction places Legality and Legitimacy in its historical context, clarifies some of the intricacies of the argument, and ultimately contests Schmitt's claims regarding the inherent weakness of parliamentarism, constitutionalism, and the rule of law.
Legalization of Human Rights in Africa: The Institutionalization of Laws Prohibiting State-Sanctioned Violence and Torture (Routledge Contemporary Africa)
by Stacey M. Mitchell Veraline Nchotu Lem Lilian AtangaMost countries on the African continent have ratified or acceded to several human rights treaties, including the Torture Convention and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. This book assesses the progress African countries have made in institutionalizing human rights laws prohibiting torture, extrajudicial killings, and disappearances domestically.States ratify human rights treaties for a variety of reasons. Some commentators defend an honest sincerity of purpose, whereas others might point to material incentives. The contributors to this volume go beyond the ratification puzzle to instead reframe legalization according to Lon Fuller’s conceptualization of congruence. Congruence is an interactive variable that measures the continuous efforts of government and the public to shape the law and its implementation. By reframing legalization as an ongoing process, the model created by the authors is used to test several hypotheses about what impacts legalization in Africa more broadly, and in countries such as Mali, Cameroon, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Tunisia, more specifically. The contributors to this volume demonstrate that the legalization of human rights is never a finished product, but is a moving target influenced by exogenous and endogenous phenomena.This volume is useful for researchers of genocide, human rights, and atrocity prevention, as well as for those interested in legalization and democratization both within Africa and other regions of the world.
Legalization of International Law and Politics: Multi-Level Governance of Human Rights and Aggression
by Stacey M. Mitchell Henry (Chip) CareyThis book provides an expanded conceptualization of legalization that focuses on implementation of obligation, precision, and delegation at the international and domestic levels of politics. By adding domestic politics and the actors to the international level of analysis, the authors add the insights of Kenneth Waltz, Graham Allison, and Louis Henkin to understand why most international law is developed and observed most of the time. However, the authors argue that law-breaking and law-distorting occurs as a part of negative legalization. Consequently, the book offers a framework for understanding how international law both produces and undermines order and justice. The authors also draw from realist, liberal, constructivist, cosmopolitan and critical theories to analyse how legalization can both build and/or undermine consensus, which results in either positive or negative legalization of international law. The authors argue that legalization is a process over time and not just a snapshot in time.
Legalizing Sex: Sexual Minorities, AIDS, and Citizenship in India
by Chaitanya LakkimsettiHow the rise of HIV in India resulted in government protections for gay groups, transgender people, and sex workers This original ethnographic research explores the relationship between the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the rights-based struggles of sexual minorities in contemporary India. Sex workers, gay men, and transgender people became visible in the Indian public sphere in the mid-1980s when the rise of HIV/AIDS became a frightening issue. The Indian state started to fold these groups into national HIV/AIDS policies as “high-risk” groups in an attempt to create an effective response to the epidemic. Lakkimsetti argues that over time the crisis of HIV/AIDS effectively transformed the relationship between sexual minorities and the state from one that was focused on juridical exclusion to one of inclusion. The new relationship then enabled affected groups to demand rights and citizenship from the Indian state that had been previously unimaginable. By illuminating such tactics as mobilizing against a colonial era anti-sodomy law, petitioning the courts for the recognition of gender identity, and stalling attempts to criminalize sexual labor, this book uniquely brings together the struggles of sex workers, transgender people, and gay groups previously studied separately. A closely observed look at the machinations behind recent victories for sexual minorities, this book is essential reading across several fields.
Legally Poisoned: How the Law Puts Us at Risk from Toxicants
by Carl F. CranorTake a random walk through your life and you’ll find it is awash in industrial, often toxic, chemicals. Sip water from a plastic bottle and ingest bisphenol A. Prepare dinner in a non-stick frying pan or wear a layer of Gore-Tex only to be exposed to perfluorinated compounds. Hang curtains, clip your baby into a car seat, watch television—all are manufactured with brominated flame-retardants. Cosmetic ingredients, industrial chemicals, pesticides, and other compounds enter our bodies and remain briefly or permanently. Far too many suspected toxic hazards are unleashed every day that affect the development and function of our brain, immune system, reproductive organs, or hormones. But no public health law requires product testing of most chemical compounds before they enter the market. If products are deemed dangerous, toxicants must be forcibly reduced or removed—but only after harm has been done. In this scientifically rigorous legal analysis, Carl Cranor argues that just as pharmaceuticals and pesticides cannot be sold without pre-market testing, other chemical products should be subject to the same safety measures. Cranor shows, in terrifying detail, what risks we run, and that it is entirely possible to design a less dangerous commercial world.