Showing papers in "Modern Law Review in 2001"

Culture and Consumerism: Citizenship, Public Service Broadcasting and the BBC's Fair Trading Obligations

Abstract: The authors examine the future of public service broadcasting in the context of current debates about, and commercial pressures on, the BBC. They describe the European Community constraints on public service broadcasting and the need for a clearer definition of such broadcasting, noting that such a definition is not currently provided in UK law. The BBC is also under increasing pressure from fair trading rules derived from competition law, some of which may weaken its ability to deliver its public service mission. Original research undertaken within the BBC suggests that external and internal pressures have undermined the conditions for a distinctive public service output, although there remains the basis for such an output within the culture of programme-making. The authors develop theoretical bases for a redefinition of public service broadcasting centred on the principles of citizenship, universality and quality in relation to services and output, and examine the implications for the structure of channels in the digital era. Finally, the authors discuss the legal and regulatory implications of their analysis in the context of the Government’s Communications White Paper, arguing that the social and cultural purposes of public service broadcasting must not be made subordinate to competition-based concerns.

Consent or property? Dealing with the body and its parts in the shadow of Bristol and Alder Hey.

Abstract: This article first considers the tenuous base on which the law of property in the body is founded, and then discusses the practical results of this in the light of the recent furore surrounding events at Bristol and Alder Hey. The authors suggest that neither the consent-based model followed by the official inquiries into these events nor a possible policy based on a full-blown property model adequately cover the private rights of an individual’s next of kin or the right of the public to an efficient and reliable pathological service within the NHS. Rather, they propose that a combined model in which a ‘cascade of possession’ for the recognition of various property interests is initiated by assent on the part of the next of kin and terminates in full possession of the body vested in the executor for the purposes of its disposal. The authors recommend further that any reform of the law should apply property rights to body parts taken from both the living and the dead.

Crime in a Convict Republic

Abstract: ‘It is much easier to extirpate than to amend Mankind.’ Sir William Blackstone Five stages in the history of regulation are derived from the literature as a starting framework for this essay. These stages are outlined in the first section. This five-stage model is then confronted and revised in light of the neglected case of the Australian penal colony. It is juxtaposed throughout the paper with the history of the regulation of crime in the US. Australian convict society is found to be brutal yet forgiving. We conclude that surprisingly high levels of procedural justice and reintegration in Australian convict society drive down crime rates at a remarkable rate in the nineteenth century. In contrast American slave society is characterised by procedural injustice, exclusion and stigmatisation, which delivers high crime rates. Following Heimer and Staffen's theory, reintegration and procedural fairness are found to arise in conditions where the powerful are dependent on the deviant. Acute labour shortage is the basis of a reintegrative assignment system for Australian convicts to work in the free community. While convicts change Australia in very Australian ways, we find that many of these developments are not uniquely Australian and so a revision of the five-phase model is proposed. The revision also implies that Foucault's distinction between governing the body versus governing the soul (corporal/capital punishment versus the penitentiary) is less central than exclusion versus inclusion (banishment versus restorative justice) to understanding all stages of the history of regulation.

In search of the responsible subject: history, philosophy and social sciences in criminal law theory

Abstract: This paper examines the way in which English criminal law's conception of responsibility has changed since the eighteenth century, and explores the relationship between changes in legal framework, changes in processes of criminalisation and punishment, and broader social, political and economic changes. It argues that the development of ideas of individual responsibility for crime are responses to problems of co-ordination and legitimation faced by systems of criminal law, and that these problems can be expected to change according to the environment in which the system operates, with important factors including the distribution of political interests and economic power; the prevailing cultural and intellectual environment; the organisation and status of relevant professional groups and the vigour of alternative means of social ordering. Substantively, the paper explores the hypothesis that criminal responsibility has shifted from a conception founded in ideas of character to a capacity-based conception over the relevant period. Methodologically, the aim is to historicise the structure as well as the content of criminal law within a socio-theoretic framework, constructing a dialogue between criminal law theory of a doctrinal and philosophical temper and socio-historical studies of criminal justice.

The Concept of the Supremacy of the Constitution

Abstract: The article compares and assesses the idea of the supremacy of the constitution found in Germany with the competing British tradition of parliamentary sovereignty. It concludes by examining the need for a supreme constitutional law in the European Union.

The Common Travel Area between Britain and Ireland

Abstract: Despite its endorsement by the Treaty of Amsterdam, the origins and content of the 'common travel area' between Britain and Ireland remain largely unknown. This article relies upon published and archive material in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of the common travel area. It shows that the common travel area has been founded upon administrative agreements (in 1922 and 1952), that it has influenced the special status of Irish nationals in British law and vice versa, and that it has been reflected in the law on entry to each state from the other and in the enforcement by each state of the other's immigration policy. It goes on to argue that the existence of a land border between the two states has been the primary reason for the common travel area. The implications for the common travel area of the recent increase in immigration to Ireland are then examined. Here, it is shown there have been significant changes to Irish immigration law relating to the common travel area since 1997, and it is suggested that these new circumstances may result in further reform of laws and practices in both Britain and Ireland.

Police Complaints and Criminal Prosecutions

Abstract: The police complaints process is the sole means by which criminal proceedings are initiated against police officers after allegations by members of the public that they were the victim of an offence committed by officers when in the execution or purported execution of their duty. Yet this state of the law has hardly figured in recent debate, which has seen the complaints process examined almost exclusively as the preliminary stage of the disciplinary process. This paper considers police complaints, the criminal liability of the officer and the implications for reform of the process after incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Culture, Autonomy and Djulibinyamurr: Individual and Community in the Construction of Rights to Traditional Designs

Abstract: The possibility of granting proprietary rights in indigenous intangible cultural property – including artwork, cultural items and, more recently, traditional knowledge – has been and continues to be an area of considerable controversy, and the subject of discussions in various international organisations. It is widely accepted that present intellectual property regimes are structurally inadequate. The author focuses on the particular problem of traditional designs, and seeks to analyse critically the justifications that are advanced for extending existing regimes or introducing a sui generis right: in particular, the protection of ‘cultural integrity». The aim is to elucidate some of the theoretical problems with this rationale, and to extrapolate, from arguments regarding the importance of culture and cultural integrity, to the form and scope of rights that such an argument might require. In particular, the author believes that such a rationale has implications in determining how conflicts between communal and individual interests are to be resolved.

Sale and lease-back agreements in a world of title relativity : Michael Gerson (Leasing) Ltd v Wilkinson and State Securities Ltd.

Abstract: Where there is misconduct, the courts are often faced with a choice between conflicting proprietary claims made by those who have innocently become caught up in the rogue's activities. Very rarely, there is a windfall profit and the court may have the relatively pleasant task of choosing who has the better claim to it;' however, usually the rogue is insolvent and one party may suffer as a result.2 In an insolvency, the first hurdle for a claimant will be to establish proprietary rights in relation to identifiable property in order to elevate himself above the position of an unsecured creditor. Yet there is always a danger that a claimant can be divested of these proprietary rights if another party can also establish proprietary rights over the same property and can successfully rely upon one of the exceptions to the nemo dat principle, that no-one can transfer a better title than they have themselves. The recent Court of Appeal decision in Michael Gerson (Leasing) Ltd. v Wilkinson and State Securities Ltd.3 is a significant case, which extends the protection offered to a second purchaser by the 'seller-in-possession' exception and exposes finance companies to unanticipated risks in relation to goods which they own but which are currently subject to sale and leaseback agreements.

Career paths and choices in a highly differentiated profession: the position of newly qualified solicitors

Abstract: Differences in the working lives of solicitors have become increasingly marked in recent years. Growing numbers of lawyers are employed in the public and corporate sectors and, with the increasing size and wealth of City of London commercial firms, there are significant differences between these firms and those 'high-street' firms that serve local communities. These differences impact on lawyers throughout training and beyond, both in terms of rites of passage into the profession and in conditions of employment. This research, the final stage in a longitudinal survey spanning the 1990s, combines quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the reactions of newly qualified solicitors to their work. Building on the project's previous surveys, which charted the nature of disadvantage suffered by many prospective entrants to the legal profession, the research finds a large measure of satisfaction regarding careers. It also identifies causes for concern, including increasing specialisation in legal education and the potential separation of the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards of professional practice.

Multiple Wrongdoing and Offence Structure: A Plea for Consistency and Fair Labelling

Abstract: Crimes come in all shapes and sizes, but relatively little work has been done on offence structure – Robinson’s recent functional analysis is perhaps the one obvious exception. This article concentrates on incidents of multiple wrongdoing and suggests that the current substantive law is both inconsistent and confusing. Burglary, for example, is unnecessarily narrowly defined and should be expanded to include broadly similar scenarios. The law is confusing because it conflates qualitatively very different incidents under the same umbrella – serial killers, for example, commit the same crimes as those who kill multiple victims by one act. Not only does the law fly in the face of common sense but it conflicts with the principle of fair labelling – that crimes be defined to reflect their wrongfulness and severity – which seeks to fulfil some important functions in the criminal justice system.

There's Regulatory Crime, and then there's Landlord Crime: from 'Rachmanites' to 'Partners'

Abstract: This article considers local authority strategies towards the regulation and prosecution of private landlords who commit the criminal offences of unlawful eviction and harassment. Generally, local authorities operate compliance-based strategies, rarely (if ever) resorting to prosecution. In seeking to explain this approach, the article draws upon the literature concerning regulatory crime, but also distinguishes local authority responses to landlord crime from regulatory crime as more typically conceived. Broadly, it is argued that, while there are clear parallels with other areas of regulatory activity, there is much that is different about landlord crime, particularly as a result of central government strategies towards the private rented sector, the legislative background to landlord crime, and the motivations behind local approaches to regulation.

Third Way Regulation? Community Legal Service Partnerships

Abstract: This article examines recent changes in the civil legal aid scheme in England and Wales (now called the Community Legal Service) and the creation of Community Legal Service Partnerships in particular. The article explores three main interests: it illustrates how third way thinking has been applied to the reform of the legal aid scheme under the Access to Justice Act 1999; it explores how partnership fits within theories of public regulation; and it illustrates how professionalism is being re-shaped by a combination of new public management, contractualism and partnership. It points to important limitations in new public law theories of extended accountability and democratised governance as manifested in partnerships.

The Review of Sex Offences and Rape Law Reform: Another False Dawn?

Abstract: The offence of rape, as it is defined and enforced has been the subject of an ongoing process of evaluation and reform for several decades and across numerous jurisdictions. The latest contribution to this process has been the publication of volumes 1 and 2 of the Home Office consultation document Setting the Boundaries-Reforming the Law on Sex Offences.1 This report results from the deliberations of the Review of Sex Offences which was established to provide recommendations 'for clear and coherent offences that protect individuals, especially children and the most vulnerable, from abuse and exploitation, and enable abusers to be appropriately punished'.2 Yet it has to be seriously doubted whether the Review's recommendations on the law of rape will significantly address any of these objectives. Indeed, by focusing exclusively upon the revision of the legal definition of rape, the Review was unable to examine what is arguably the most important issue facing rape law today, that is, how that legal definition of rape is interpreted and enforced by the criminal justice system. As with previous law reform efforts that have focused upon issues of 'black-letter' law,3 the Review's narrow focus only serves to obscure the practices of criminal justice agencies that hinder the effective enforcement of the law in this area. As such, the implicit impression given by the Review's remit and recommendations is that such problems can be resolved by limited revision of the substantive law.4 The purpose of this article is to examine the Review of Sex Offence's recommendations regarding the actus reus of rape, in particular, its proposals concerning the definition of sexual intercourse and consent. In addition, this article will consider whether the Review's recommendations are likely to lead to any significant improvement in the actual enforcement of rape law. It will also explain why successful rape law reform will only come about when the reform process

BSE and the Regulation of Risk

Abstract: The pressure on government in connection with the regulation of risk has grown in significance in recent years. In the United Kingdom (UK), it has also become highly controversial following the establishment in 1996 of the transmission, through the consumption of contaminated beef, of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) to humans as variant Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease (vCJD), a fatal and incurable brain infection. Governments, regulatory agencies and courts have, of course, been evaluating the risks posed by scientific, industrial and technological advances in one form or another since before the industrial revolution.' Increasingly, however, the current commercially driven developments in areas such as the agricultural and food industries involve issues which are at the frontiers of scientific understanding. Both the developments themselves and the regulatory responses to them can be viewed as symptomatic of what Beck has termed an emerging 'risk society', in which '[e]veryone is caught up in defensive battles of various types, anticipating the hostile substances in one's manner of living and eating.'2 Whether the recent intensification of concern about risk is because modem society generates a greater number of more serious risks,3 or, as Giddens contends, because those living in late industrial societies are culturally more attuned to perceiving risks than their predecessors,4 it is at least clear that the debate surrounding the regulation of risks posed by new technologies is extremely complex. In the particular context of UK food safety controls, there is now widespread public concern that the pursuit of profit by industry is creating serious risks, and that government regulators have given insufficient weight to consumer protection, public health and the environment. At a more conceptual level, the quality of government decision taking on the basis of scientific risk assessment has also emerged as a major cause for concern. Due in large measure to the failure of regulators to protect public health from the risks posed by BSE, there have been considerable developments in key areas of UK food safety regulation since 1996. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) was established under the Food Standards Act 1999 in an effort to rebuild confidence in food safety controls,5 and more recently, the BSE Inquiry, which was chaired by Lord Phillips, produced its report on 26

Reforming Directors’ Duties

Abstract: Introduction: Taken together, the English and Scottish Law Commissions, the DTI and the Company Law Review Steering Group (‘CLRSG’) have produced hundreds of pages on the subject of directors’ duties during the last three years. All of this work is just a small part of the DTI’s current review of the whole system of core company law, a review billed as the most comprehensive ever undertaken in the UK. This note cannot do justice to the detailed work of all these bodies, but aims simply to summarise the principal directions of the work so far produced – and only so far as it relates to directors’ duties – and to highlight some aspects which give cause for concern. In doing that, it is consciously biased towards consideration of the perceived problems, rather than praise for noteworthy advances. The reason is simple. This mammoth review process is not yet completed. The CLRSG is due to produce its final report in Spring 2001. Before that date, it seems important to cast a critical eye over the work completed so far. That said, it would be surprising if the CLRSG did not already intend to address some of the issues raised here. Its work to date has always been presented as part of a consultation process aimed at discovering the optimum solution. The need for a comprehensive reform of UK company law is not doubted. The UK rules have long ceased to provide an enviable model for other countries to adopt. The current companies legislation is widely regarded as being too complex and detailed, and as containing rules which are now either obsolete or unwarranted. The DTI’s stated aim is to produce a simple, rational framework which is modern and competitive, and which facilitates enterprise and promotes transparency and fair dealing. It is against this that its efforts need to be judged.

The Law: An Engine for Trade

Abstract: The lecture traces the process of commercialisation in English law from its early stages to the present day. Until the mid-eighteenth century the law was in a process of integration, overcoming a judicial preoccupation with technicalities and procedures to form a body of rules which merchants could trust. From that point on the law has assumed a proactive role as an engine for trade. The nineteenth century is marked by legal facilitation, where new institutions were fashioned as a robust commercial framework for the Industrial Revolution. From the end of that century to the present day business law has served to regulate, building a sensitive framework for commercial development that balances the needs of commerce with the needs of society as a whole.

The Immigration and Asylum Act 1999: A Missed Opportunity?

Abstract: Since 1993, the United Kingdom (UK) Parliament has passed three successive statutes on asylum and immigration: the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993, the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, and the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. This last, introduced by a Labour Government, is the most recent attempt to address a problem which vexed successive British governments throughout the 1990s: that of asylum. In the early months of 2000, asylum was further raised in the public consciousness as William Hague's Conservative Opposition made political mileage out of three unfortunate circumstances: first, a sudden escalation in applications with the result that, by the end of December 1999, there were 71,160 applications for that year and 102,870 claims outstanding overall, the highest numbers ever recorded;1 second, the evident failure of the Home Office to cope with either the rising applications or the backlog; and, third, the arrival of a hijacked Afghan plane in February 2000, which, it was suggested, was part of an 'elaborate scam to claim asylum'.2 The political exchanges and media coverage which accompanied these events ensured that asylum remained to the fore as an issue of growing public concern. This review will consider the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and accompanying legislation in the light of recent developments and the wider political debate on asylum in the United Kingdom. Although the Act covers both general immigration law and asylum, it is the purpose of this piece not to consider the statute in its entirety but rather to concentrate on those areas which pertain to asylum law in particular.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission: Reporting Success?

Abstract: The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) issued its third Annual Report on 15 June 2000.1 In it, and in other communications about its work,2 the Commission makes claims that it is successful and perceived as successful, and that the doubts that had been expressed about its likely success prior to its establishment have been dispelled.3 After having operated for three years this seems to be an appropriate time to assess the claimed success of this nondepartmental public body in carrying out its responsibilities as a post-appeal institution designed to remedy miscarriages of justice.4 However any assessment concerning success requires a measure by which that assessment can be made, and such a measure is principally dependent on two factors. First, it involves the need to have a clear idea of what constitutes a miscarriage of justice. And secondly, to assess the role of the CCRC it is necessary to put it into its institutional and noninstitutional context. This involves understanding the relationship between this body and other institutions and pressure groups5 that are aimed at remedying miscarriages of justice. What are those relationships and what ought they to be? In brief, the question 'what should this institution be seeking to achieve?' is a

Public Law Representations and Substantive Legitimate Expectations

Abstract: Members of the public seek and rely on advice and acts of public bodies and their officials, yet to what extent can public bodies and their officials be held to their representations?' The type of problem that can arise is where a public body has made a representation, which is within its powers to make, but it later seeks to resile from it. Or, where a public body has set out policy criteria for dealing with a particular area of decision-making, and an individual has relied on these criteria and legitimately expects a favourable decision based on these criteria, and then the public body changes its mind and seeks to apply different policy criteria to the particular area and so dashes the expectations of those affected. Can the individual obtain the substantive benefit which would be forthcoming if the public body was held to the representation or the original policy criteria was still the public body's chosen option? Is a legitimate expectation aroused in the applicant, and if so, does it give rise only to a procedural protection:2 a right to be heard as to whether the original policy criteria or representation should apply? Or does it give rise to substantive protection: the original criteria will be applied or the representation adhered to? This question has generated a considerable amount of debate in the courts3 and amongst commentators.4 The recent Court of Appeal decision in R v North and East Devon Health Authority, ex p. Coughlan5 has brought the doctrine of substantive legitimate expectation back into the spotlight, having had a shadow cast over it by a differently constituted Court of Appeal in R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Hargreaves.6

The theoretical controversy concerning judicial review

Abstract: Review Article. Book reviewed in this article: Christopher Forsyth (ed), Judicial Review and the Constitution.

Provocation and Pluralism

Abstract: What is the best way to reflect human diversity in the structure of the provocation defence, and similar excusatory defences in the criminal law? The House of Lords recently concluded that the right way is to allow the jury to personalise and thereby qualify the apparently uniform ‘reasonable person’ standard mentioned in section 3 of the Homicide Act 1957. In this paper we argue that this is not the right way at all. We argue that the reasonable person standard, unqualified, already accommodates the only variations between people that the law should want to accommodate in an excusatory defence. To defend this view we revive the common law's tripartite analysis of the ‘objective’ (or impersonal) issues in the provocation defence: first, was there an action capable of constituting a provocation? second, how provocative was it? and third, how much self-control should have been exhibited in the face of it? We show that these questions each have a built-in sensitivity to certain variations between different defendants' situations, but that this does not detract from their objectivity (or impersonality). We argue that no more sensitivity is needed in the name of human diversity, and what is more that no more sensitivity is desirable.

New Labour, same old Tory housing policy?

Abstract: For the first time in 23 years, the government has produced a Green Paper on housing Quality and Choice: A Decent Home for All which has 'set out [the New Labour] vision for housing in the new Millennium'.' In the intervening period, housing policy has not remained static indeed, the landscape of housing policy has been dramatically altered by a series of White Papers.2 The role of local authorities has shifted towards 'enabling', rather than providing, new social housing; housing associations which, along with local housing companies, are now termed Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) have become major providers of social housing; the private rented sector has been deregulated; considerable levels of private finance have been levered into the social housing system; demand for social housing has bottomed out in certain areas; mortgage finance of owner occupation has undergone dramatic shifts as a result of deregulation during the 1980s.3 New Labour itself, prior to the Green Paper, has progressed its own housing-related policies such as Best Value,4 alteration of the local authority financial regime," allowing councils to phase in the spending of capital receipts from the sale of their stock on specified projects,6 and various initiatives derived from the Social Exclusion Unit concerned with neighbourhood renewal.7 Indeed, the government is keen to locate the Green Paper as one policy statement in an ongoing stream of policy developments.8

Increasing the Price of Pain: Damages, The Law Commission and Heil v Rankin

Abstract: How do courts determine damages for pain and suffering in cases involving personal injury? Compensation for this non-pecuniary loss was increased considerably following the key case of Heil v Rankin. This article emphasises the disproprtionate importance of this head of damages to the tort system. It is a major cause of the excessive cost, inefficiency and injustice in the tort system. Adopting a distributive justice framework, the article questions whether it is fair to increase compensation for pain and suffering when so many injury victims obtain no damages at all.

Crossing the Rubicon on the Human Rights Ferry

Abstract: Since 2 October 2 2000, the court must apply the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) when considering the lawfulness of actions performed by public agents. The Act brings with it, not only the substantive rights of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), but also a different approach to legal issues. As Lord Irvine argued, when considering the impact of the Human Rights Bill: 'This Bill will therefore create a more explicitly moral approach to decisions and decision making; will promote both a culture where positive rights and liberties become the focus and concern of legislators, administrators and judges alike, and a culture in judicial decision making where there will be a greater concentration on substance rather than form'.' This suggests that the impact of the HRA depends as much on the attitude of the judiciary as the content of the Act. As Lord Cooke argues: 'it is not enough to go through the mechanics of embracing human rights. There must be a commitment of the head and of the heart as well'.2 The Convention rights are open to interpretation, many issues remain to be explored for the first time, and the judiciary are not bound by either previous domestic decisions or by decisions of the European Court (or Commission) of Human Rights. Thus, as McHarg notes: 'perhaps the most central [question] is how British judges will respond to the interpretive challenges posed by broadly-drafted Convention rights and, in particular, the need to determine limits to those rights'.3 The attitude of the judiciary is crucial to the development and protection of human rights. In fulfilling this 'creative role', Loucaides argues that the judge must possess both knowledge and the right personality; one that 'will enable him, if necessary, to stand up against the wishes of the Government or even those of public opinion; he must also have the courage to give a judgment in favour of the right of the individual even if such a judgment may be inconsistent with deeply rooted concepts of the society where he is operating. And whenever the national judge has opportunities of a choice of interpretation of a law in favour of human rights in a way compatible with the Convention but incompatible with established local legal precedents he must be bold enough to make that choice'.4 Despite some promising judgments and judicial comments,5 a warning shot has been fired across the bows of anyone hoping that the HRA would provide a suitably effective

Judicial Politics and the Judicial Committee: The Devolution Jurisprudence of the Privy Council

Abstract: The three 'Devolution Statutes' of 1998, namely the Scotland Act, the Government of Wales Act and the Northern Ireland Act, all make reference to and define a new category of legal questions, 'devolution issues', which arise out of the creation of devolved governments for the non-English parts of the United Kingdom.1 Devolution issues are boundary markers. They are concerned with questions as to whether or not the devolved assemblies and administrations have transgressed the limits of the powers granted them under their founding acts for example, by entering into areas reserved to the Westminster Parliament, or by being in breach of Community law, or by being incompatible with any Convention rights, or by otherwise being outwith the legislative or administrative competence of the devolved institutions.

Democracy by Default: The Representation of the People Act 2000

Abstract: Electoral law reform plays a significant part in the current government's programme of constitutional development. The devolution settlements, reform of the voting system for European Parliamentary elections, and the report of the Neill Committee on political party funding and election campaign expenditure have all necessitated consequential changes to the law governing elections.' Perhaps less visible, however, are the changes to the law governing parliamentary and local government elections which have been enacted in the Representation of the People Act 2000.2 This statute implements the recommendations of the Howarth Working Party on Electoral Procedures, established by the government in early 1998 to conduct a broad review of electoral law and procedure, with particular emphasis on declining rates of participation at elections.3 The RPA 2000 seeks to encourage voter participation by modernising the system of electoral registration, by providing for postal ballots on demand, and by authorising the use of experimental methods of vote-casting and counting at local elections.4 The statute does not consolidate the law contained in the earlier Representation of the People Acts, instead making major amendments to the RPA 1983. This note comments on the main provisions of the Act, offering the view that its reforms, while generally welcome, may be undermined by their neglect of basic issues of principle concerning the enjoyment and exercise of the right to vote.

Alcoholism and Criminal Liability

Abstract: Having examined the question of whether alcoholism should be regarded as a disease or habitual and learned behaviour, the article assesses from a comparative law perspective the effect of alcoholism as a defence to criminal responsibility. The article proposes a ‘disease’ model of alcoholism for the purpose of criminal law, and criticises its handling through the law of diminished responsibility.

Superannuating the Second Sex: Law, Privatisation and Retirement Income

Abstract: The privatisation of retirement income through state encouragement of occupational and retail funds affects men and women differently. This is largely because the legal forms adopted in the course of privatisation suppose a 40-year continuous working life, which is mostly a male experience. Although women with different backgrounds of class and race have a variety of employment patterns, on average women spend approximately half the years in the workforce that men do and are paid considerably less. Time-use statistics indicate this is because women are engaged in household production from which retirement income under privatised schemes does not accrue. The result is that low wages are replicated in inadequate retirement incomes, and many women live in poverty in retirement. Arguments from desert, social justice and a vision of citizenship in retirement are made to justify changes to current retirement income policy and its privatising legal forms.