1.. HARD CASES 5. Legal Rights A. Legislation . . . We might therefore do well to consider how a philosophical judge might develop, in appropriate cases, theories of what legislative purpose and legal principles require. We shall find that he would construct these theories in the same manner as a philosophical referee would construct the character of a game. I have invented, for this purpose, a lawyer of superhuman skill, learning, patience and acumen, whom I shall call Hercules. I suppose that Hercules is a judge in some representative American jurisdiction. I assume that he accepts the main uncontroversial constitutive and regulative rules of the law in his jurisdiction. He accepts, that is, that statutes have the general power to create and extinguish legal rights, and that judges have the general duty to follow earlier decisions of their court or higher courts whose rationale, as l

Taking Rights Seriously

The biological existence of human beings has become political in novel ways. The object, target and stake of this new 'vital' politics are human life itself. The contemporary state does not 'nationalize' the corporeality of its subjects into a body politic on which it works en masse, in relation to the body politics of other states competing in similar terms. Biopolitics addresses human existence at the molecular level: it is waged about molecules, amongst molecules, and where the molecules themselves are at stake. Human beings in contemporary Western culture are increasingly coming to understand themselves in somatic terms – corporeality has become of the most important sites for ethical judgements and techniques. Biopolitics was inextricably bound up with the rise of the life sciences, the human sciences, clinical medicine. It has given birth to techniques, technologies, experts and apparatuses for the care and administration of the life of each and all, from town planning to health services.

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The Politics of Life Itself

This article provides a children's rights critique of the concept of ‘pupil voice’. The analysis is founded on Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which gives children the right to have their views given due weight in all matters affecting them. Drawing on research conducted on behalf of the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, the article assesses some of the barriers to the meaningful and effective implementation of the right within education. It is argued that the phrases which are commonly used as abbreviations for Article 12, such as ‘pupil voice’, have the potential to diminish its impact as they provide an imperfect summary of the full extent of the obligation. The article proposes a new model, which has four key elements, for conceptualising Article 12—Space, Voice, Audience and Influence.

‘Voice’ is not enough: conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

This volume argues that international human rights law has made a positive contribution to the realization of human rights in much of the world. Although governments sometimes ratify human rights treaties, gambling that they will experience little pressure to comply with them, this is not typically the case. Focusing on rights stakeholders rather than the United Nations or state pressure, Beth Simmons demonstrates through a combination of statistical analyses and case studies that the ratification of treaties leads to better rights practices on average. Simmons argues that international human rights law should get more practical and rhetorical support from the international community as a supplement to broader efforts to address conflict, development, and democratization.

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Mobilizing for Human Rights: International Law in Domestic Politics

1. The argument 2. Ethnic cleansing in former times 3. Two versions of 'we, the people' 4. Genocidal democracies in the New World 5. Armenia, I: into the danger zone 6. Armenia, II: genocide 7. Nazis, I: radicalization 8. Nazis, II: fifteen hundred perpetrators 9. Nazis, III: genocidal careers 10. Germany's allies and auxiliaries 11. Communist cleansing: Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot 12. Yugoslavia, I: into the danger zone 13. Yugoslavia, II: murderous cleansing 14. Rwanda, I: into the danger zone 15. Rwanda, II: genocide 16. Counterfactual cases: India and Indonesia 17. Combating ethnic cleansing in the world today.

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The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing

The nature of jurisprudence. Meaning of the law. Natural law. Bentham, Austin and classical positivism. Pure theory of law. Modern trends in analytical jurisprudence. Theories of Justice. Sociological jurisprudence and the sociology of law. American realism. The Scandinavian realists. Historical and anthropological jurisprudence. Marxist theories of law and state. Critical legal studies. Feminist jurisprudence. Postmodernist jurisprudence. Critical Race Theory.Theories of adjudication.

Lloyd's Introduction to Jurisprudence

Acknowledgements Chapter 1: Introduction: thinking about human rightsRealities, Concepts, The social sciences, Beyond human rights law, ConclusionChapter 2 Origins: the rise and fall of natural rightsWhy history? On rights and tyrants, Justice and rights, Natural rights, The age of revolutions, The decline of natural rights Chapter 3 After 1945: the new age of rightsThe UN and the human rights revival, The Universal Declaration, From theory to practice: (a)The Cold War, (b)After the Cold War, ConclusionChapter 4 Theories of human rightsWhy theory? Human rights theory: (a) Rights (b) Other values (c) Human nature (d) Conflicts of rights (e) Democracy (f) ConclusionChapter 5 The role of the social sciencesIntroduction: human rights and social science, The dominance of law, Political science, Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, International relations, ConclusionChapter 6 Universality, diversity and difference: culture and human rights The problem of cultural imperialism, Cultural relativism, Minority rights, Indigenous peoples, The right to self-determination, The rights of women Chapter 7 Idealism, realism and repression: the politics of human rightsThe real politics of human rights, The boomerang theory, The national politics of human rights, The statistics of human rights, NGOs in world politicsChapter 8 Development and Globalization: economics and human rightsDevelopment versus human rights? The right to development, Globalization, International financial institutions, Economic and social rightsChapter 9 Conclusion: human rights in the twenty-first centuryLearning from history, Objections to human rights, Problems of intervention, Concluding remarksReferences Index

Human Rights: An Interdisciplinary Approach

It was Ronald Dworkin who, nearly 30 years ago, urged us to 'take rights seriously' (1977). It is a pity that his argument did not specifically extend to children. The language of rights can make visible what has for too long been suppressed. It can lead to different and new stories being heard in public. The Williamson case draws attention to the importance of children's rights. Rights are also an important advocacy tool, a weapon which can be employed in the battle to secure recognition. Rights offer legitimacy to pressure groups, lobbies, campaigns, to both direct and indirect action, in particular to those who are disadvantaged or excluded. The promotion of children's rights may undermine the interests of others. This is common criticism: for example, it is at the forefront of Guggenheim's recent critique (2005). Keywords: Guggenheim; take children's rights seriously; Williamson case

Why It Remains Important to Take Children's Rights Seriously

Children, Rights and Childhood

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was a great achievement. The rights strategy must continue to be pursued. The Convention itself is an imperfect instrument and a new Convention or Protocols needs to address many children whose rights are currently neglected, including disabled children, gay children, girl children and street children. Rights themselves need rethinking, and so does the reporting and implementation process. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Michael Freeman

Papers

Lloyd's Introduction to Jurisprudence

Human Rights: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Why It Remains Important to Take Children's Rights Seriously

Children, Rights and Childhood

The future of children's rights