John Eekelaar
Co-Director, Oxford Centre for Family Law and Policy (OXFLAP)
John Eekelaar (LL.B. (London) 1963; B.C.L. (Oxon) 1965; M.A. (Oxon) 1967, held a Rhodes Scholarship from 1963-5, and was awarded the Vinerian Scholarship in 1965. He was called to the Bar in 1968 at the Inner Temple. He was a Tutorial Fellow at Pembroke College from 1965 to 2005; he held a CUF Lecturership from 1966-91, and was Reader in Law until 2005. He was elected to a Fellowship of the British Academy in July 2001. He retired from teaching in 2005. From 2005 to 2009 he was Academic Director at Pembroke College. He continues research as Co-Director of the Oxford Centre for Family Law and Policy (OXFLAP).
Publications
Showing selected publications sorted by title [change this]
Showing key publications in this field, as selected by the author
Change to sort them by year | name | type OR
Show All 36 | Recent publications
J M Eekelaar, 'Law and Community Practices' in MavisMaclean and John Eekelaar (eds), Managing Family Justuice in Diverse Societies (Hart Publishing 2013) [...]
Proposes a strategy for state law when interacting with norms of minority communities within the state which reconciles the values of respecting cultural identity with commitment to individual human rights.
ISBN: 978-1-84946-400-0
J M Eekelaar, 'Positivism and Plural Legal Systems' (2012) 25 Ratio Juris 513 [...]
This paper considers whether the positivist account of law is useful in guiding states in how they should deal with religious or customary legal orders followed by minority groups within their jurisdiction. It argues, first, that such orders can be said to exist despite the prevalence of disagreement about the grounds of law. It then argues, contrary to views advanced by Scott Shapiro and Joseph Raz, that there are good reasons for perceiving that the resolution of legal disputes by reference to moral principle involves the application of pre-existing law. However, the paper concludes by arguing that the Social Thesis has an important role in supplying the basis upon which the application of law can be deemed to be legitimate, and that this has relevance to the way states might respond to minority legal orders.
Interests
Research: Family Law, Constitutional Law, Socio-Legal Studies, Jurisprudence
