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
Who is Law For? An Analysis of the Nature of the Legal Being. The project will provide the first contemporary comprehensive scholarly treatise on "the legal person" as this legal concept applies to natural beings and objects: from rational humans, to human foetuses to animals to trees. It will have a direct bearing on legal decision-making in some of the most sensitive and controversial areas of law and therefore will have a highly practical legal application. For example, the project critically ....Who is Law For? An Analysis of the Nature of the Legal Being. The project will provide the first contemporary comprehensive scholarly treatise on "the legal person" as this legal concept applies to natural beings and objects: from rational humans, to human foetuses to animals to trees. It will have a direct bearing on legal decision-making in some of the most sensitive and controversial areas of law and therefore will have a highly practical legal application. For example, the project critically evaluates the legal status of the embryo and so will be of immediate interest to national and international law reformers considering the legality of the new reproductive technologies, cloning and embryonic stem cell research.Read moreRead less
New Concepts in Legal Pluralism: A Theoretical and Practical Analysis. The central objective of this project is to make a substantial and original contribution to legal knowledge by developing a new concept of legal pluralism, and demonstrating its practical significance in the modern legal context. The traditional centralist model of law fails to recognise the co-existance of law with "quasi-legal" and informal normative systems, it deals inadequately with social and cultural difference, and it ....New Concepts in Legal Pluralism: A Theoretical and Practical Analysis. The central objective of this project is to make a substantial and original contribution to legal knowledge by developing a new concept of legal pluralism, and demonstrating its practical significance in the modern legal context. The traditional centralist model of law fails to recognise the co-existance of law with "quasi-legal" and informal normative systems, it deals inadequately with social and cultural difference, and it fails to recognise that state-based law is neither closed nor autonomous. This project will develop an innovative approach to legal pluralism, and strengthen pluralist thought within Australian law.Read moreRead less