Warwick Law School News

As part of its programme of Widening Participation events, the Law School held a Taster Day along with the Department of Politics and International Studies on Wednesday 3^rd December for Year 12 students from across the West Midlands. The day served to introduce the study of law and politics at Warwick University and provide a taste of campus life, seminars and lectures.

Warwick Law School welcomes SLSA members and non-member colleagues to the 2015 annual conference; ‘Socio-legal in culture: the culture of socio-legal.’ The conference coincides with the 50th anniversary of the University of Warwick and we hope that it will be a celebration of the Warwick Law School tradition of examining law in its political, social, economic and cultural context.

The call for papers and the call for posters are now closed.

Please visit the conference website www.warwick.ac.uk/slsa for more details.

The School of Law was delighted to host a drinks reception for alumni in Hong Kong last week. Professor Hugh Beale caught up with over 30 alumni, including both recent graduates and those who left us 30 years ago.

Dr Kimberley Brownlee, an Associate Professor of Legal and Moral Philosophy at the University of Warwick, argues that Julian Assange should allow himself to be extradited to Sweden to face questioning over sexual assault allegations. She claims he can strengthen his cause by allowing the criminal justice process to proceed.

Ann Stewart: " The Role of Care in the Post 2015 Development Goals Debates

Sunday 23rd November 2014 at 10.00am

Ann Stewart will focus on the development of a ‘right to care’. What does this mean? Why has it become an important focus for civil society organisation campaigning? Why is the language of ‘rights’ being used to highlight the value of social reproduction in societies?

Professor Jacqueline Hodgson, one of several experts in the case of Hassan Diab, who was extradited to France on Friday after six years of legal proceedings in Canada, has described the situation as “troubling”. She provided evidence about the investigation and prosecution procedure in terrorism cases in France, in particular, the problematic nature of using unsourced intelligence.

The closing and oral statements in the trial of Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo are taking place this week at the International Criminal Court (ICC), where he is charged with crimes committed in the Central African Republic (CAR).

It is a judgement that has ground-breaking potential for more than one reason, says Solange Mouthaan, Associate Professor at The University of Warwick’s School of Law.

The lack of legal regulation over surrogacy in Ireland is “regrettable” and the country is lagging behind others in the West in failing to properly define motherhood in the case of surrogacy, argues a researcher from the University of Warwick.

Dr Maebh Harding, of the university’s School of Law, made the comments following a landmark ruling by the Irish Supreme Court that the birth certificate of twins born through surrogacy could not be changed to record the genetic mother as their parent.

As MPs prepapre to vote on whether the UK should opt in to a range of EU legal measures, including the European Arrest Warrant, Professor Jacqueline Hodgson, from the School of Law at the University of Warwick has commented.

Undergraduate students from the Law School exhibited their research at the Undergraduate Research Support Scheme Showcase last week. Twelve Law students took part, with research areas including “The Future of the Human Rights Act”, “Barriers to Medical Negligence in the Maldives” and “Bigamy and Divorce”.

This book examines the role of criminal law in the enforcement of immigration controls over the last two decades in Britain. The criminalization of immigration status has historically served functions of exclusion and control against those who defy the state’s powers over its territory and population. In the last two decades, the powers to exclude and punish have been enhanced by the expansion of the catalogue of immigration offences and their more systematic enforcement.

This book is the first in-depth analysis on criminal offences in Britain, and presents original empirical material about the use of criminal powers against suspected immigration wrongdoers. Based on interviews with practitioners and staff at the UK Border Agency and data from court cases involving immigration defendants, it examines prosecution decision making and the proceedings before the criminal justice system. Crimes of Mobility critically analyses the criminalization of immigration status and, more generally, the functions of the criminal law in immigration enforcement, from a legal and normative perspective.

It will be of interest to academics and research students working on criminology, criminal law, criminal justice, socio-legal studies, migration and refugee studies, and human rights, as well as criminal law and immigration practitioners.

Routledge 2014 - 222 pages

As part of its programme of Widening Participation events, the Law School held a Taster Day along with Warwick Business School on Wednesday 5 November for local Year 12 and 13 students. The day served to introduce the study of law and business at university and provide a taste of campus life, seminars and lectures.