Controversies of legal interpretation: a philosophical investigation of reasoning and adjudication in some recent contentious cases. A series of High Court decisions in Australia since the 1980's generated a public controversy about the role of moral and political values in adjudication. It has been charged that judges are engaged, not in an exercise of technical legal interpretation, but rather in illegitimate and politically partisan ?judicial activism.? The project investigates the theoretica ....Controversies of legal interpretation: a philosophical investigation of reasoning and adjudication in some recent contentious cases. A series of High Court decisions in Australia since the 1980's generated a public controversy about the role of moral and political values in adjudication. It has been charged that judges are engaged, not in an exercise of technical legal interpretation, but rather in illegitimate and politically partisan ?judicial activism.? The project investigates the theoretical and applied questions of legal interpretation implicit in this argument. It rejects the charge of judicial activism. It proposes a ?value-maximizing? theory of reasoning and interpretation that characterizes adjudication in contentious cases as precisely a process of theorizing about relevant moral and political values.Read moreRead less
A Conceptual History of War Crimes Trials. Promoting justice around the globe is an end in itself as well as a means of avoiding the sort of mass social disruption that threatens the global commonwealth (and, therefore, Australia). It is imperative that this system be exposed to a critical historical analysis. The project will clarify precisely what is at stake in Australia's long commitment to war crimes law and establish Australia as a global centre for international criminal justice at a tran ....A Conceptual History of War Crimes Trials. Promoting justice around the globe is an end in itself as well as a means of avoiding the sort of mass social disruption that threatens the global commonwealth (and, therefore, Australia). It is imperative that this system be exposed to a critical historical analysis. The project will clarify precisely what is at stake in Australia's long commitment to war crimes law and establish Australia as a global centre for international criminal justice at a transformative moment in the history of the international legal order. The specific aim is to write an intellectual history of international law's encounter with the problem of evil and the possibility of rehabilitation and redemption through criminal trial. Read moreRead less
Crime, governance and the colonial state: a study of the Criminal Tribes Act 1871. Today as in the nineteenth century governments struggle with the challenges posed by communities marginalised from mainstream social and economic life. In Australia Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities have been subject to such marginalisation and to the problems this brings, including crime. Through an analysis of British responses to native crime in India, this study will develop an analysis of strate ....Crime, governance and the colonial state: a study of the Criminal Tribes Act 1871. Today as in the nineteenth century governments struggle with the challenges posed by communities marginalised from mainstream social and economic life. In Australia Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities have been subject to such marginalisation and to the problems this brings, including crime. Through an analysis of British responses to native crime in India, this study will develop an analysis of strategies of governance directed or developed in response to the effects of social and economic marginalisation. The study will thus help to inform national debate on the apparent intransigence of crime in indigenous communities as well as raising questions about what are 'appropriate' and 'natural' responses to criminal conduct.Read moreRead less
The Mission to Civilise: Colonialism, Race and Criminal Codes. This project will consider the historical relationships between ideologies of race and law enforcement, and will chart their social formation and naturalisation. This will be set within the context of colonisation in Australia, where there existed tensions between the equally dominant ideologies of overt racism, and ideals of liberal universalism that justified the Rule of Law. Archival research will scrutinise the way in which the ....The Mission to Civilise: Colonialism, Race and Criminal Codes. This project will consider the historical relationships between ideologies of race and law enforcement, and will chart their social formation and naturalisation. This will be set within the context of colonisation in Australia, where there existed tensions between the equally dominant ideologies of overt racism, and ideals of liberal universalism that justified the Rule of Law. Archival research will scrutinise the way in which the superficially racially-neutral language of criminality was constituted by notions such as property and civil order which became racialised in historically and socially specific ways, revealing underlying consistencies between apparently incompatible ideologies of colonial practices.Read moreRead less
Has Feminism Failed the Family? A History of Equality, Law and Reform. The research will examine the history of legal reform since the introduction of the Family Law Act. As such, it will provide a broader perspective to feminist and conservative criticisms of gender bias and legal unfairness in the operation of a family law system understood to be based on equality principles. The project's outcomes will be of immediate significance therefore to policy makers, as well as to the divergent groups ....Has Feminism Failed the Family? A History of Equality, Law and Reform. The research will examine the history of legal reform since the introduction of the Family Law Act. As such, it will provide a broader perspective to feminist and conservative criticisms of gender bias and legal unfairness in the operation of a family law system understood to be based on equality principles. The project's outcomes will be of immediate significance therefore to policy makers, as well as to the divergent groups who currently research legal and government regulation of families and family breakdown. Further, the project will enhance national knowledge by contributing to the historical understanding of Australia's immediate past.
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