Law in Society — Overview
Discussion Groups
These self-sustaining groups are an essential part of the life of our graduate school. They are organised in some cases by graduate students and in others by Faculty members and meet regularly during term, typically over a sandwich lunch, when one of the group presents work in progress or introduces a discussion of a particular issue or new case. They may also encompass guest speakers from the faculty and beyond.
Publications
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Showing all 41 Law in Society publications currently held in our database
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Journal Articles
2012
D Erdos, 'Constructing the Labyrinth: The impact of data protection on the development of \"ethical\" regulation in social science' (2012) 15 Information Communications and Society 104 [...]
DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2011.630403
Through a historical examination of the UK case over the past 40 years, this article argues that, although not drafted with such activities specifically in mind, the growth of legal initiatives protecting personal information have exerted a powerful and under-recognized impact on how social science is ‘ethically’ regulated. This impact has been both direct and indirect. At an indirect level, data protection law has encouraged the development of ‘self-regulation’ by learned societies, research institutions and funding bodies including, most importantly, the recent expansion of the remit of Research Ethics Committees within UK universities. Additionally, interpretations of the 1984 and, even more so, 1998 Data Protection Acts have resulted in the direct imposition by Universities as data controllers of key limitations on research projects. Thus, the infiltration into social science of governance models developed in medical research does not constitute the only important factor in explaining the increase, and shape, of regulation in this area. Legal changes have also been critical. In sum, data protection has helped fuel a radical shift away from a liberal regime based on a high valuation of individual academic autonomy to a much more constrained one where academics are often placed in a formally subordinated position vis-à-vis their institutions and subject to a labyrinth of restrictions and controls.
ISBN: 1369-118X
2011
D Erdos, 'Systematically Handicapped? Social Research in the Data Protection Framework' (2011) 20 Information and Communications Technology Law 133 [...]
Through a careful analysis of the UK's Data Protection Act 1998, this article demonstrates that the EU regime for personal data processing seriously threatens research into social (including political and historical) affairs. The core values of data protection - certainty, transparency, notice, informational self-determination, data minimization and secrecy - are in clear tension with the often fluid, norm-challenging, sometimes covert, individual and even identifiable nature of much social research. Three of its key provisions, the 'fair and lawful processing' requirement (principle one), the right of subject access (principle six) and the general ban on extra-EEA data export (principle eight), are in serious conflict with key research methodologies. Moreover, especially given the broad definition of 'personal data' under this regime, the labyrinthine nature of the law as a whole has led to universities implementing research governance policies and procedures that further restrict investigative activity. This curtails academic freedom leaving key forms of knowledge production systematically handicapped, thereby damaging society's long term interests. The article argues that consideration should be given to whether social research could benefit from the more liberal data protection arrangements for 'journalism literature and art'. In addition, the effects of this regime on academia must be fully addressed in the review of the law now underway.
2009
D Erdos, 'Charter 88 and the Constitutional Reform Movement: A Retrospective' (2009) 64 Parliamentary Affairs 537
D Erdos, 'Charter 88, democratic constitutionalim and Europeanization - ambiguous relationships?' (2009) 64 Parliamentary Affairs 580
D Erdos, 'Ideology, power orientation and policy drag: explaining the elite politics of Britain?s Bill of Rights debate' (2009) 44 Government and Opposition 20
D Erdos, 'Judicial culture and the Politicolegal Opportunity Structure: Explaining Bill of Rights Legal Impact in New Zealand' (2009) 34 Law and Social Inquiry 95
D Erdos, 'Postmaterialist social constituencies and political triggers: explaining the origins of bills of rights in internally stable, advanced democracies' (2009) 64 Political Research Quarterly 798
F Pirie, 'The horse with two saddles: tamxhwe in modern Golok' (2009) Asian Highland Perspectives 16486
2008
D Erdos, 'Elite supply 'blockages' and the failure of national Bill of Rights initiatives in Australia: a comparative Westminster analysis' (2008) 46 Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 341
Gagliardone and Nicole Stremlau, 'Public Opinion Research in a Conflict Zone: Grassroots Diplomacy in Darfur' (2008) 2 International Journal of Communication
2007
D Erdos, 'Aversive Constitutionalism in the Westminster World: the genesis of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (1990)' (2007) 5 International Journal of Constitutional Law 343
D J Galligan, 'A Social Account of Law' (2007) 3 AEGIS (Analyse Economique et Gestionnaire des Institutions et des Strategies) 1
2006
F Pirie, 'Legal autonomy as political engagement: the Ladakhi village in the wider world' (2006) 40 Law and Society Review 77
F Pirie, 'Secular morality, village law and Buddhism in Tibetan societies' (2006) 12 Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 173
2005
F Pirie, 'Segmentation within the state: the reconfiguration of Tibetan tribes in China's reform period' (2005) 9 Nomadic Peoples, special issue on Pastoralism in Post-Socialist Asia 83
2002
B Lange, 'What does Law Know? Prescribing and Describing the Social World in the Enforcement of Legal Rules' (2002) 30 International Journal of the Sociology of Law 131
Books
2007
D J Galligan and M. Matczak, Formalism in Post-Communist Courts: Empirical Study of Judicial Discretion in Polish Administrative Courts Deciding Business Cases (R. Coman and J-M. de Witte, Vanden Broele, Bruge 2007)
F Pirie, Peace and conflict in Ladakh: the construction of a fragile web of order (Leiden: Brill 2007)
Chapters
2010
D J Galligan, 'Legal Theory and Empirical Research' in P. Cane and H. Kritzer (eds), Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Studies (Oxford University Press 2010)
2009
F Pirie, 'From tribal Tibet: the significance of the legal form' in M. Freeman (ed), Law and anthropology (Oxford: University Press. 2009)
F Pirie, 'Kings, monks, bureaucrats and the police: Tibetan responses to law and authority' in F. von Benda-Beckmann, K. von Benda-Beckmann and A. Griffiths (eds), The power of law in a transnational world (Oxford: Berghahn. 2009)
2008
F Pirie, 'Dancing in the face of death: Losar celebrations in Photoksar.' in M. van Beek and F. Pirie (eds), Ladakhi societies: continuity and change in anthropological perspective (Leiden: Brill. 2008)
F Pirie, 'Violence and opposition among the nomads of Amdo: expectations of leadership and religious authority.' in T. Huber and F. Pirie (eds), Conflict, religion and social order in Tibet and Inner Asia (Leiden: Brill. 2008)
2007
F Pirie, 'Order, individualism and responsibility: contrasting dynamics on the Tibetan plateau' in von Benda-Beckmann K and Pirie F (eds), Order and disorder: anthropological perspectives (Oxford: Berghahn 2007)
2006
F Pirie, 'Insisting on agreement: Tibetan law and its development in Ladakh' in C. Klieger (ed), Tibetan Borderlands (Leiden: Brill 2006)
F Pirie, 'Legal complexity on the Tibetan plateau.' in F. and K. von Benda-Beckmann (eds), Dynamics of plural legal orders (Journal of Legal Pluralism, special issue 2006)
2005
D Erdos, 'Questions of Tolerance and Fairness' in Harry Hirsch (ed), The Future of Gay Rights In America (New York; London: Routledge 2005)
F Pirie, 'The impermanence of power: village politics in Ladakh, Nepal and Tibet' in J. Bray (ed), Ladakhi histories: local and regional perspectives (Leiden: Brill 2005)
Edited books
2009
D Erdos (ed), Charter 88 and the Constitutional Reform Movement: Twenty Years On (Parliamentary Affairs [Special Edition] 2009)
2008
F Pirie and T. Huber (eds), Conflict and social order in Tibet and Inner Asia (Leiden: Brill 2008)
F Pirie and M. van Beek (eds), Modern Ladakh: continuity and change in anthropological perspective. (Leiden: Brill 2008)
2007
F Pirie and K. von Benda-Beckmann (eds), Order and disorder: anthropological perspectives (Oxford: Berghahn 2007)
Presentation/Conference contributions
2007
D Erdos, ''Postmaterialist' social constituencies and elite triggers : explaining Bill of Rights genesis in Canada (1982) and the United Kingdom (1998)', paper presented at American Political Science Association annual conference
D Erdos, 'Explaining rights review outcomes : the case of the New Zealand Bill of Rights (1990)', paper presented at Socio-Legal Studies Association annual conference
D Erdos, 'Where next for the Human Rights Act (1998)?: the past, present and future of Britain's Bill of Rights debate', paper presented at Political Science Association (UK)
Reviews
2008
D Erdos, 'Charles Parkinson, Bills of Rights and Decolonization: The Emergence of Domestic Human Rights Instruments in Britain's Overseas Territories (Oxford: Oxford University Press)' (2008) 8 Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 129
2007
D Erdos, 'Elizabeth Wicks, The Evolution of a Constitution: Eight key moments in British Constitutional History (Oxford: Hart Publishing)' (2007) 17 Law & Politics Book Review 48
2006
D Erdos, 'Ian Greene, The Courts (Vancouver, BC: UBC Press)' (2006) 16 Law & Politics Book Review
Working Papers
2005
F Pirie, 'Tribe and state in Eastern Tibet: feuding, mediation and the negotiation of authority among the Amdo nomads' (2005) Working paper no. 72 Halle: Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology.
Courses
The courses we offer in this field are:
Postgraduate
BCL
Our taught postgraduate programme, designed to serve outstanding law students from common-law backgrounds
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The basic training required for all new graduate students is provided by the Theory and Methods in Socio-Legal Research course, which is compulsory for all Centre students in the first year of their research degrees.
Law is not only a means for giving certainty and stability to private relationships and maintaining social order, but also an instrument for directing society and solving social issues. The operation of law in society raises important issues of both a theoretical and an empirical nature: how does law actually function in society and how can this be understood? The first part of the course introduces these issues and considers the social foundations of law. The second part extends the scope to the study of law in non-western environments and issues considered by anthropologists of law.
Scholarship concerning law and society takes two directions. The more theoretical asks questions about law as a social formation, how law fits into society, what function it has, and how it interrelates with other aspects of society. Empirical approaches ask how law works in practical situations by conducting in-depth research into specific areas. These include regulation, businesses practices and the use of official discretion and considers matters such as the relationship between law and social rules, how courts work in practiceand how administrative and regulatory bodies apply the law. These studies are the basis for observing more general patterns concerning the ways law works in society. The first part of the course brings together these two directions, showing how theoretical ideas inform empirical research and visa versa.
The second part asks how we are to understand the different systems of law found in other societies. On what grounds can we even define them as law? These questions are central for anthropologists of law but arise, in practical ways, for those concerned with the implementation of international law and development projects and the promotion of good governance and democracy around the world. How do our laws and legal practices conflict with, complement or undermine their practices and expectations? These issues are considered in the context of classic sociological theories and anthropological approaches to the study of diverse forms of law. Asking about the other also causes us to reflect on the parameters and cultural specificity of our own concepts of law and students will be encouraged to think constructively and critically about familiar legal phenomena and their universal application.
The course is convened by Professor Denis Galligan and Dr Fernanda Pirie of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies. There are weekly seminars in Michaelmas and Hilary Terms.
Assessment is by a three hour written examination.
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MJur
Our taught postgraduate programme, designed to serve outstanding law students from civil law backgrounds.
[less]
The basic training required for all new graduate students is provided by the Theory and Methods in Socio-Legal Research course, which is compulsory for all Centre students in the first year of their research degrees.
Law is not only a means for giving certainty and stability to private relationships and maintaining social order, but also an instrument for directing society and solving social issues. The operation of law in society raises important issues of both a theoretical and an empirical nature: how does law actually function in society and how can this be understood? The first part of the course introduces these issues and considers the social foundations of law. The second part extends the scope to the study of law in non-western environments and issues considered by anthropologists of law.
Scholarship concerning law and society takes two directions. The more theoretical asks questions about law as a social formation, how law fits into society, what function it has, and how it interrelates with other aspects of society. Empirical approaches ask how law works in practical situations by conducting in-depth research into specific areas. These include regulation, businesses practices and the use of official discretion and considers matters such as the relationship between law and social rules, how courts work in practiceand how administrative and regulatory bodies apply the law. These studies are the basis for observing more general patterns concerning the ways law works in society. The first part of the course brings together these two directions, showing how theoretical ideas inform empirical research and visa versa.
The second part asks how we are to understand the different systems of law found in other societies. On what grounds can we even define them as law? These questions are central for anthropologists of law but arise, in practical ways, for those concerned with the implementation of international law and development projects and the promotion of good governance and democracy around the world. How do our laws and legal practices conflict with, complement or undermine their practices and expectations? These issues are considered in the context of classic sociological theories and anthropological approaches to the study of diverse forms of law. Asking about the other also causes us to reflect on the parameters and cultural specificity of our own concepts of law and students will be encouraged to think constructively and critically about familiar legal phenomena and their universal application.
The course is convened by Professor Denis Galligan and Dr Fernanda Pirie of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies. There are weekly seminars in Michaelmas and Hilary Terms.
Assessment is by a three hour written examination.
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People
teaching is organized by:
Denis Galligan: Professor of Socio-Legal Studies and
Fernanda Pirie: Director of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies
