Professor Andrew Williams has been shortlisted for a prestigious ‘Crime Writing Daggers’ award in the non-fiction category for his book ‘A Passing Fury’. The book goes up against five other excellent pieces of writing.

The book was described by the shortlisting judges as “a compelling examination of how the war crimes trials at Nuremberg and elsewhere were imposed across the chaos and ruins of the Third Reich, interwoven with the author’s own travels, investigations and reflections.”

In recent times, there has been a raft of new legislative initiatives aimed at reducing systemic risk in financial markets.

In their article published in the Journal of International Banking and Financial Law (JIBFL), a leading periodical for practitioners, Dr Stephen Connelly and PhD student Saveethika Leesurakarn from University of Warwick’s School of Law looked at how these initiatives interacted and asked whether there could be problems.

The article is available through LexisNexis, featuring highly in the edition immediately following acclaimed contributors to the field, and headlining the print edition.

‘The Preventive Turn in Criminal Law’, a new book by Dr Henrique Carvalho, offers the latest addition to the Oxford Monographs on Criminal Law and Justice published by OUP (Oxford University Press).

This new book seeks to understand where the impulse for prevention in criminal law comes from, and why this preventive dimension seems to be expanding in recent times.

The series aims to cover all aspects of criminal law and procedure including criminal evidence and encompassing both practical and theoretical works.

The general idea of a ‘preventive turn’ in criminal law is a modern spate of new criminal offences that criminalise conduct that happens much earlier than the actual harm which they are trying to prevent.

Dr Carvalho, Assistant Professor at University of Warwick’s School of Law, explains...

In a change to her normal research focus, Dr Alison Struthers has published an article discussing the fascinating world of magic and grand illusions.

Against the backdrop of an historical lack of interaction between Intellectual Property regulation and the magic profession, the article considers the groundbreaking judgment in the US case of Teller v Dogge.

Whilst there has been much commentary about the decision in the US, it has received little attention in the UK. The article therefore explores UK copyright protection for magic tricks and investigates the important question of how magic should be protected.

The citation for the article is: Struthers, A., ‘Copyright Protection for Magic Tricks: A danger lurking in the shadows?’ (2017) 39(3) European Intellectual Property Review 136-145

Dr Henrique Carvalho’s co-authored paper ‘Why punishment pleases: Punitive feelings in a world of hostile solidarity’, a collaboration with colleague Anastasia Chamberlen (Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick), has been published in the international, peer-reviewed journal Punishment & Society.

The paper raises the possibility that the reason why we believe punishment to be useful, and why we are motivated to punish, is because we derive pleasure from the utility of punishment.

Simply stated, punishment pleases.

Newly published in 2017, Associate Professor Dallal Stevens’ co-edited book ‘States, the Law and Access to Refugee Protection’, with Maria O'Sullivan (Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Monash University), investigates two current, critical challenges for asylum seekers hoping to find refuge within international systems of protection: first, the initial obstacles encountered by refugees in gaining entry to foreign territories; and second, the barriers to accessing quality asylum.

‘Should the state administer a medical screening test on a child against the wishes of the family?’

In the landmark 2001 Irish Supreme Court Case, 'North Western Health Board v HW and CW (the PKU case)', the original judgment was to uphold the family’s wishes and not administer the test.

Dr Maebh Harding has revisited this influential judgment in Irish law, reimagining the case from the feminist perspective, ultimately providing an alternative route that could have been taken to give meaningful protection to the rights of children.

Dr Alison Struthers' article 'The Underdeveloped Transformative Potential of Human Rights Education: English primary education as a case study' has been published by the Journal of Human Rights Practice (DOI:10.1093/jhuman/huw023).

The article argues that in order for learners to become empowered human rights activitists, they must be equipped with relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes. It draws upon empirical research conducted with teachers from primary schools across England to argue that whilst empowerment-related concepts may be encouraged to a certain extent, learners are unlikely to be emerging from formal schooling with the means to contribute significantly to transformation of the broader human rights culture.

Access Dr Giuliano Castellano's recently published paper 'Shedding Light on EU Financial Regulators: A Sociological and Psychological Perspective'.

Co-authored with Geneviève Helleringer (ESSEC Business School; University of Oxford - Institute of European and Comparative Law) and published by Hastings International and Comparative Law Review, the article adopts a socio-psychological perspective to approach financial regulation in the European Union.

Markus Wagner presented his forthcoming paper Regulatory Autonomy under the SPS Agreement at the 5th Biennial Conference of the Society of International Economic Law. The conference, entitled International Economic Law in a Diverse World took place at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg / South Africa. Professor Wagner was program co-chair of the conference and the program is available here.

Analysis of the impact of the EU Directive on the Recovery and Resolution of Banks and Securities Firms on the legal framework for insolvency management in Europe, offers a pan-European approach, drawing together perspectives from many jurisdictions. Includes discussion of impediments to orderly resolution of financial institutions using specific examples from the global experience since 2008, and how the BRRD addresses these.Provides practical guidance on navigating through the complex problems and challenges raised by cross-border resolution and derivatives.

To find out more please click here.

Giuliano Castellano published in the Oxford Business Law Blog. The blogpost has been written as part of his Impact Project on Secured Transactions Law Reforms and assesses a new norm introduced in Italy through the prism of international legal standards. To read the post click here.