International Journal of Law in Context 

About: International Journal of Law in Context is an academic journal published by Cambridge University Press. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Politics & Human rights. It has an ISSN identifier of 1744-5523. Over the lifetime, 632 publications have been published receiving 5192 citations.

Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? By Michael J. Sandel, London: Allen Lane, 2009. 320 pp. ISBN: 978-0-14104-133-9 £ 9.99

Abstract: each other, but are commonly accepted as valid by modern society. An insightful parallel between conscious systems and social systems and the way they construct their ‘reality’ follows, showing the advantages of conceiving society in terms of the differentiation of system/environment, and leading ultimately to the complex and problematic concept of the re-entry of the distinguished into the distinction. The author explains ‘re-entry’, once again with an example from daily life (but technical Luhmannian terms are no longer proscribed). He has recourse to concepts that have been previously introduced and progressively explained; even a tricky concept like ‘re-entry’ becomes understandable this way. Always alternating between argumentative and ‘problem question’ style, King, after supplying his reader with all the necessary elements, starts presenting – by means of a fictional anecdote – the operations of the various social systems (using the legal system as a prime example), careful to distinguish their level from that of organisations and interactions. The penultimate chapter includes a much-needed historical overview of how pre-modern stratified societies, based on a hierarchicalmodel, were organised, and how this has changed inmodern society where a stiffly hierarchical social order and its institutional guarantees have been abandoned, giving rise to a functional differentiation, alone capable of sustaining a global society. This extremely brief historical clarification is also quite successful, as it avoids any compromises at the theoretical level. The last chapter pulls the threads together of all the discourses in the book, leading to some reflections on what social system theory can do better than a humanistic perspective on society, in order to avoid any intellectual capitulation when faced with current signs of failure, disappointment, and decreasing control over one’s life and projects. Niklas Luhmann and social system theory are known for their complexity and for the controversy to which they increasingly give rise. In some parts of the world, as soon as the German sociologist’s name is mentioned, a distinction is drawn that cuts right through academia, from scholars who, while not missing any other fashion, never had the temerity to open a book by Luhmann, to undergraduates who find refuge only in the mantra ‘I am lost’. This book springs from the decision to deprive these self-protective measures of any semblance of a rational basis. The task of explaining a complex theory in easily accessible terms to awide audience is inmanyways evenmore complex than the theory itself, and King succeeds in doing so with flair and resourcefulness, keeping his wager of simplicity alive throughout. This makes this little book an invaluable introduction to Luhmann’s theory; it is certain to prove an effective aid to struggling students and other beginners.

Legislating personhood: Realising the right to support in exercising legal capacity

Abstract: This paper examines the regulation of 'personhood' through the granting or denying of legal capacity. It explores the development of the concept of personhood through the lens of moral and political philosophy. It highlights the problem of upholding cognition as a prerequisite for personhood or the granting of legal capacity because it results in the exclusion of people with cognitive disabilities (intellectual, psycho-social, mental disabilities, and others). The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) challenges this notion by guaranteeing respect for the right to legal capacity for people with disabilities on an equal basis with others and in all areas of life (Article 12). The paper uses the CRPD to argue for a conception of personhood that is divorced from cognition and a corresponding recognition of legal capacity as a universal attribute that all persons possess. Finally, a support model for the exercise of legal capacity is proposed as a possible alternative to the existing models of substituted decision-making that deny legal capacity and impose outside decision-makers. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014.

Have concepts, will travel: analytical jurisprudence in a global context

Abstract: Our increasingly cosmopolitan discipline needs to be underpinned by a revival of the idea of general jurisprudence, in which generalisations – conceptual, normative, empirical, legal – about legal phenomena are treated as problematic. This paper argues that, as part of this, analytical jurisprudence should broaden its focus not only geographically, but also in respect of the range of concepts, conceptual frameworks, and discourses that it considers. How far is any of our current stock of concepts adequate for talking meaningfully across legal traditions and cultures? Which concepts ‘travel’ relatively well or badly and why? Such questions are illustrated with reference to discourses about legal rights, the treatment of prisoners, and corruption.

Living-apart-together in Britain: context and meaning

Abstract: The article draws on two Office of National Statistics’ Omnibus sample surveys to provide the demographic context for living-apart-together.The Omnibus sample surveys for this project were funded by the ONS and by the ESRC (grant no. L326253054). The ESRC grant also supported the qualitative research, and we are grateful to Sophie Sarre and Jennifer Burton, who organised and undertook the interviews. The second part of the paper begins to explore the meanings of this form of partnership through interviews conducted with a sub-sample of respondents to the second survey, conducted in April 2004. The exploratory study complicates our understanding of the range of partnership statuses, which in turn has implications for policymakers grappling with whether and how to regulate different statuses in different ways. We conclude that living-apart-together is a significant form of partnership in Britain, and that it may take place at different points in the lifecourse. We explore the idea that this form of partnership further signals the spread of ‘selfish individualism’ and a ‘flight from commitment’. We find instead that living-apart-together represents a different kind of shared life to those involved from that they perceive to characterise co-residential relationships.

Recognising legal capacity: commentary and analysis of Article 12 CRPD

Abstract: This paper aims to summarise the current understanding and literature around Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It provides a brief history of the key terms associated with the right to equal recognition before the law and encompasses both academic writing in this area and General Comment No. 1 from the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The content is intended to provide readers of this Special Issue with a general understanding of developments surrounding Article 12 so they can fully engage with the other papers within this Special Issue and with the content of the Voices of Individuals: Collectively Exploring Self-determination (VOICES) project as a whole.