By Stephanie Pywell, Open University The law of England and Wales provides that a couple should be able to marry in a minimal ‘2+2’ civil ceremony – a ceremony conducted by a superintendent registrar in the presence of a registrar and two witnesses – for £127. This comprises £35 per person for giving notice of [...]
By Mark Simpson, Ulster University Image Credit: Hannah Miller The Chancellor of the Exchequer describes the UK Government’s package of support for individuals, businesses and the economy, unveiled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as “unprecedented in the history of the British state.” There may be some truth in this statement, in terms of the overall [...]
By Melissa L. Tatum, University of Arizona (@mtatumaz) and Jen Hendry, University of Leeds (@mortonjen) On July 9, 2020, in McGirt v. Oklahoma (591 U.S. ___ (2020)), the US Supreme Court issued what could potentially be one of its most important decisions on Federal Indian law. The decision itself was immediately hailed as a “watershed victory [...]
By Amanda Perry-Kessaris, University of Kent and Emily Allbon, City, University of London Can design help to make legal education more inclusive? An inclusive education ecosystem is one ‘in which pedagogy, curricula and assessment are designed and delivered to engage students in learning that is meaningful, relevant and accessible to all’. This entails ‘taking account of’ [...]
By Myriam Hunter-Henin, University College London In one of the 2019 Reith Lectures, entitled Law and the Decline of Politics, Lord Sumption questioned the role of courts in adjudicating controversies over human rights: “In a secular democracy, what is it that makes rights legitimate if not the decision of representative bodies? What is the source, [...]
By Alex Powell, City, University of London In August 2016, the Home Office issued version 6 of their Asylum Policy Instruction: Sexual Orientation in the Asylum Claim (hereafter: 2016 API). The policy is designed to guide decision-makers in determining the qualification of sexuality based refugees. The policy has been heralded as a step towards analysing [...]
By Arletta Gorecka, University of Strathclyde Competition law faces the challenge of digitalisation. The multitude of EU competition law goals provide a framework for concerns of effects on growth, innovation, quality, choice and friction. The lack of standardised approaches to data collection and privacy assessment poses problems for competition law, since the digital economy offers [...]
By Mollie Gascoigne, University of Exeter Law School, @recogandreform It is perhaps tempting to assume that all people within a demographic think and behave in the same way. Indeed, the law in particular is an ally of uniformity. But what happens when this logic is applied to the trans community? This post reports the preliminary [...]
By Ethan Shattock, Department of Law, Maynooth University COVID-19 has raised numerous issues surrounding the ability of social media platforms to assuage concerns about whether self-regulation can effectively tackle false and harmful content online. This broader debate has often been steeped in questions surrounding the limitations of freedom of expression, a right that is [...]
By Arwen Joyce, University of Leicester Photo credit: Kim Juwon Temporary labour migration is occurring all over the world. Over 50 countries operate temporary migrant worker programmes that employ an estimated one-third of the world’s 110 million migrant workers. (Martin 2015, 718) Ruhs observes that temporary migrant worker programmes vary in design but tend to produce [...]