This chapter reflects on Professor William Schabas’s use of film in teaching human rights from a ... more This chapter reflects on Professor William Schabas’s use of film in teaching human rights from a session he runs entitled: ‘The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A Cinematographic Perspective’, at the annual Cinema and Human Rights Summer School. It contextualises Schabas’s approach within legal pedagogy as well as in relation to legal and cultural studies scholarship on law and film. It covers some of the relevant debates on the interdisciplinary encounter of law and film, which point to both its discursive limitations and epistemological insights. The chapter argues that Schabas’s practice of mobilising film to frame legal considerations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights can be recognised as curatorial. His engagement encourages his students to think about not only law in film, but also about a jurisprudence that uses cinema to engage in the imaginative and utopian dimensions of justice.
Readings in Law and Popular Culture is the first book to bring together high quality research, wi... more Readings in Law and Popular Culture is the first book to bring together high quality research, with an emphasis on context, from key researchers working at the cutting-edge of both law and cultural disciplines. Deals with the films of Sidney Lumet, including important and contemporary text aimed at a legal audience, and will also appeal to a much broader readership of people interested in this highly topical area.
Just as the films that we see are conceived in specific economic, political and cultural contexts... more Just as the films that we see are conceived in specific economic, political and cultural contexts, so scholarship is produced within determined situations. This chapter notes some of the driving forces which have led to the emergence of law and film as an area of extensive and very diverse scholarship in the past decade. Whilst these factors have shaped the nature and extent of this work it should be noted that changes in both legal professional interests, academic criteria and within the culture industry mean that we can expect shifts in the nature and patterns of scholarship in the future. These may not, however, be the ones called for by other commentators (Moran, Sandon, Loizidou, & Christie, 2004; Sarat, Douglas, & Umphrey, 2005).
This collection of essays focuses attention on the global impact of legal policies on levels of p... more This collection of essays focuses attention on the global impact of legal policies on levels of poverty. They illustrate the distinct dimensions of poverty in a range of different political and cultural settings and also show how poverty is exacerbated by quite discrete local cultural factors in some instances. There is, nonetheless a universal element which runs through all the contributions. The fate of those who are disadvantaged in society depends crucially on their access to goods through the world of work. Thus gender, ethnic background or disability can result in individuals having a much higher chance of experiencing poverty than those outwith these groups and the success of these groups in achieving a measure of prosperity is bound up with a multiplicity of geographical and political factors. This book is part of the Onati International Series in Law and Society.
Law and Justice on the Small Screen is a wide-ranging collection of essays about law in and on te... more Law and Justice on the Small Screen is a wide-ranging collection of essays about law in and on television. In light of the book's innovative taxonomy of the field and its international reach, it will make a novel contribution to the scholarly literature about law and popular culture. Television shows from France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and the United States are discussed. The essays are organised into three sections: (1) methodological questions regarding the analysis of law and popular culture on television; (2) a focus on genre studies within television programming (including a subsection on reality television), and (3) content analysis of individual television shows with attention to big-picture jurisprudential questions of law's efficacy and the promise of justice. The book's content is organised to make it appropriate for undergraduate and graduate classes in the following areas: media studies, law and culture, socio-legal studies, comparative law, jurisprudence, the law of lawyering, alternative dispute resolution and criminal law.
1. Film and the Law: an Orientation Law and Film Scholarship Methodology Language Empirical Work ... more 1. Film and the Law: an Orientation Law and Film Scholarship Methodology Language Empirical Work and Causation The Heterogeneous Goals of Law and Popular Culture 2. The Penetration of Law and Film The Framework of Legal Education Law and Context-the Role of the Socio-legal Imagination Popular Culture and Law and Popular Culture The Use(s) of Film Film and Law Teaching Law and Film Courses 3. Theoretical underpinnings and physical boundaries-defining the territory The Dramatic Dimension of Law Visuality and Image The Cult of the Robe: Dress and Appearance in Film Defining the Parameters of Law and Film: Academic Approaches Inside the Courtroom The Phases of Law Conclusion 4. Strictly Courtroom? Law Film and Genre Critical Aspects of the Courtroom Drama Laughing at the Law 5. The British Law Film: From Genre to Iconography Britishness and Film: Protection and Representations British Law Films The Iconography of Law Conclusion 6. Military Justice on Screen Filming Military Justice The Scapegoat The Courtroom Drama in Uniform Justice and Legality in the Military Context Conclusion 7. Assessing Cinematic Lawyers (I): Heroes and Villains The Heroic Lawyer: When Atticus Met Lincoln Flawed Characters? Assessing the Good/Bad Categories 8. Assessing Cinematic Lawyers (II): Alternative Categorisations Introduction Alternative Categorisations Conclusion 9. Missing (in) Action (I): Judges The Invisible Judge The Corrupt Judge The Troubled Judge The Comic Judge The Political Judge Judges as Protagonists-the Judge under the Spotlight 10. Missing in Action (II): Juries The Importance of the Jury Jury Selection Jury Deliberation The Compensatory Jury Conclusion 11. Fact, Fiction and the Cinema of Justice (I): Presumed Accurate? Facts, Cases and Lawyers Documentary Films Developments in the 21st Century Who Owns History? Whose Story? Conclusion 12. Fact, Fiction and the Cinema of Justice (II): Specificities Common Themes 13. Love Vigilantes: Private Eyes and Beyond Vigilantes Private Eyes Defining the Private Eye The Private Eye: Justice and Politics The Private Eye in Film Changes in the Private Eye Film The Existential Hero Fighting Evil The Stylites The Return to the Politics of Everyday Life and Existential Angst The Postmodern Investigator Conclusion 14. Playing with a Different Sex Gender in Film Gender and the Law in the Cinema The Visibility of Female Lawyers Narrative Tropes and Female Lawyers Subservience in Action Emotional Dependence The Repressed Daughter Professional Inadequacy The Changing Role of Female Lawyers The Woman Lawyer as a Discreet Object of Desire? Competent Counsel in US Films of the 1980s The Woman Lawyer in the Supporting Cast The Demise of the Political Rebecka Martinsson: An Alternative Role for Women Lawyers? The Politics of Gender in Legal Films Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Portrayals 15. Minority Report? Ethnicity in Film Ethnic Minority Representation in Film Race in British Film: The Imperialist Era Foreignness on the Home Front The Question of Integration The Black and Asian British Experience Ethnicity and the Law Film Ethnic Minority Lawyers Conclusion 16. Future Trajectories and Possibilities Sometimes I Fantasize: Celestial Justice Cyber Justice Safe European Home? Law and Film in Europe France Germany Spain Current Debates Future Directions Bibliography Index
International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique, 2019
The index to the 2018 VideoHound Guide to Films suggests that under the broad heading of “revenge... more The index to the 2018 VideoHound Guide to Films suggests that under the broad heading of “revenge” there have been something in excess of 1000 films. This appears to be the largest category in this comprehensive guide and suggests that this is, indeed, a theme which permeates the most influential sector of popular culture. These films range from influential and lauded films with major directors and stars like John Ford (The Searchers (1956) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (The Revenant (2015)) to “straight to video” gorefests with little artistic merit and a specific target audience (The Hills Have Eyes (1977)). There is, as the Film Guide numbers suggest much in between like Straw Dogs (1972) and Outrage (1993). The making and re-making of “revenge” films continues with contributions in 2018 from such major stars as Denzel Washington in The Equalizer 2 and Brue Willis in Death Wish. Within this body of film is a roster of films which allow us to speculate on the nature of the legal...
This work provides an account of the law of homelessness and the operation of the legislation in ... more This work provides an account of the law of homelessness and the operation of the legislation in Britain. Coverage includes the issues of prevention; processing applications; priority need; intentional homelessness; the duties of housing authorities and remedies for the homeless.
The study of law has been slow to look beyond its narrow professional concerns at the social cult... more The study of law has been slow to look beyond its narrow professional concerns at the social cultural context in which it operates. In the past decade some work has been started in the cultural field, particulary literature and film. TV lawyers have been largely overlooked. There is a paradox here. Television dramas, documentaries and comedies seven days a week, twenty four hours a day. cinema, the previous major player has declined from being the major source of popular entertainment and is now a feature in the lives of a small proportion of the population in Western societies. In the studies that have been undertaken into the role and impact of popular culture on people's legal consciousness, the overwhelming majority of this work has taken place on film. This essay looks at how and why this has come about and what the future is likely to hold as interest in law and popular culture continues to expand.
This introduction to Scottish property law encompasses: the nature of ownership; heritable and mo... more This introduction to Scottish property law encompasses: the nature of ownership; heritable and moveable property rights; intellectual property; the forms of land ownership; acquiring and disposing of heritage; rights in security; matrimonial homes; leases; assured and short assured tenancies; public sector housing; the right to buy; and homelessness. Part of the Green's Concise Scots Law series, this work is intended for students and those already in legal practice.
There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made ap... more There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations. (See end of Document for details) View outstanding changes (e) a tenancy of a house on a holding situated outwith the crofting counties (within the meaning of that Act of 1993) to which any provision of the Small Landholders (Scotland) Acts 1886 to 1931 applies. [ F3 (f) a tenancy of a house which does not exceed 31 days where the purpose of the tenancy is to confer on the tenant the right to occupy the house for a holiday.] (2) A reference in this Chapter to a tenancy refers only to a tenancy to which this Chapter applies. Textual Amendments F1 Word in s. 12(1)(c)(i) repealed (30.11.2017) by Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (asp 18), s. 130(1), sch. 2 para. 9(2)(a) (with s. 128); S.S.I. 2017/299, reg. 2, sch. (with reg. 14) F2 S. 12(1)(c)(i)(D)(E) inserted (30.11.2017) by Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (asp 18), s. 130(1), sch. 2 para. 9(2)(b) (with s. 128); S.S.I. 2017/299, reg. 2, sch. (with reg. 14) F3 S. 12(1)(f) inserted (1.3.2019) by The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 (Modification of the Repairing Standard) Regulations 2019 (S.S.I. 2019/61), regs. 1(2), 2(3)
Described by Richard Sherwin of New York Law School as the law and film movement's 'found... more Described by Richard Sherwin of New York Law School as the law and film movement's 'founding text', this text is a second, heavily revised and improved edition of the original "Film and the Law" (Cavendish Publishing, 2001).The book is distinctive in a number of ways; it is unique as a sustained book length exposition on law and film by law scholars; it is distinctive within law and film scholarship in its attempt to plot the parameters of a distinctive genre of law films; its examination of law in film as place and space offers a new way out of the law film genre problem, and also offers an examination of representations of an aspect of legal practice and the legal institution that have not been addressed by other scholars. It is original in its contribution to work within the wider parameters of law and popular culture and offers a sustained challenge to traditional legal scholarship, amply demonstrating the practical and the pedagogic, as well as the moral and political significance of popular cultural representations of law. The book is a valuable teaching and learning resource, and is the first in the field to serve as a basic textbook for students of law and film.
This book surveys the past and present state of Scotland's housing policies and legislation. ... more This book surveys the past and present state of Scotland's housing policies and legislation. It examines the extent, spatial pattern and courses of homelessness; The House of Lords and Homeless People's Rights; security of tenure and eviction policy; Housing and Local Government; housing associations; Scottish Homes; the private rented sector; owner occupation; new patterns, policies and the Scottish Parliament.
A contribution to the debate on housing policy, bringing together scholars from the fields of hou... more A contribution to the debate on housing policy, bringing together scholars from the fields of housing law and housing policy. Each chapter examines a key theme in contemporary housing and seeks to locate policy in relation to broader theoretical debates about the provision of social welfare.
This chapter reflects on Professor William Schabas’s use of film in teaching human rights from a ... more This chapter reflects on Professor William Schabas’s use of film in teaching human rights from a session he runs entitled: ‘The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A Cinematographic Perspective’, at the annual Cinema and Human Rights Summer School. It contextualises Schabas’s approach within legal pedagogy as well as in relation to legal and cultural studies scholarship on law and film. It covers some of the relevant debates on the interdisciplinary encounter of law and film, which point to both its discursive limitations and epistemological insights. The chapter argues that Schabas’s practice of mobilising film to frame legal considerations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights can be recognised as curatorial. His engagement encourages his students to think about not only law in film, but also about a jurisprudence that uses cinema to engage in the imaginative and utopian dimensions of justice.
Readings in Law and Popular Culture is the first book to bring together high quality research, wi... more Readings in Law and Popular Culture is the first book to bring together high quality research, with an emphasis on context, from key researchers working at the cutting-edge of both law and cultural disciplines. Deals with the films of Sidney Lumet, including important and contemporary text aimed at a legal audience, and will also appeal to a much broader readership of people interested in this highly topical area.
Just as the films that we see are conceived in specific economic, political and cultural contexts... more Just as the films that we see are conceived in specific economic, political and cultural contexts, so scholarship is produced within determined situations. This chapter notes some of the driving forces which have led to the emergence of law and film as an area of extensive and very diverse scholarship in the past decade. Whilst these factors have shaped the nature and extent of this work it should be noted that changes in both legal professional interests, academic criteria and within the culture industry mean that we can expect shifts in the nature and patterns of scholarship in the future. These may not, however, be the ones called for by other commentators (Moran, Sandon, Loizidou, & Christie, 2004; Sarat, Douglas, & Umphrey, 2005).
This collection of essays focuses attention on the global impact of legal policies on levels of p... more This collection of essays focuses attention on the global impact of legal policies on levels of poverty. They illustrate the distinct dimensions of poverty in a range of different political and cultural settings and also show how poverty is exacerbated by quite discrete local cultural factors in some instances. There is, nonetheless a universal element which runs through all the contributions. The fate of those who are disadvantaged in society depends crucially on their access to goods through the world of work. Thus gender, ethnic background or disability can result in individuals having a much higher chance of experiencing poverty than those outwith these groups and the success of these groups in achieving a measure of prosperity is bound up with a multiplicity of geographical and political factors. This book is part of the Onati International Series in Law and Society.
Law and Justice on the Small Screen is a wide-ranging collection of essays about law in and on te... more Law and Justice on the Small Screen is a wide-ranging collection of essays about law in and on television. In light of the book's innovative taxonomy of the field and its international reach, it will make a novel contribution to the scholarly literature about law and popular culture. Television shows from France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and the United States are discussed. The essays are organised into three sections: (1) methodological questions regarding the analysis of law and popular culture on television; (2) a focus on genre studies within television programming (including a subsection on reality television), and (3) content analysis of individual television shows with attention to big-picture jurisprudential questions of law's efficacy and the promise of justice. The book's content is organised to make it appropriate for undergraduate and graduate classes in the following areas: media studies, law and culture, socio-legal studies, comparative law, jurisprudence, the law of lawyering, alternative dispute resolution and criminal law.
1. Film and the Law: an Orientation Law and Film Scholarship Methodology Language Empirical Work ... more 1. Film and the Law: an Orientation Law and Film Scholarship Methodology Language Empirical Work and Causation The Heterogeneous Goals of Law and Popular Culture 2. The Penetration of Law and Film The Framework of Legal Education Law and Context-the Role of the Socio-legal Imagination Popular Culture and Law and Popular Culture The Use(s) of Film Film and Law Teaching Law and Film Courses 3. Theoretical underpinnings and physical boundaries-defining the territory The Dramatic Dimension of Law Visuality and Image The Cult of the Robe: Dress and Appearance in Film Defining the Parameters of Law and Film: Academic Approaches Inside the Courtroom The Phases of Law Conclusion 4. Strictly Courtroom? Law Film and Genre Critical Aspects of the Courtroom Drama Laughing at the Law 5. The British Law Film: From Genre to Iconography Britishness and Film: Protection and Representations British Law Films The Iconography of Law Conclusion 6. Military Justice on Screen Filming Military Justice The Scapegoat The Courtroom Drama in Uniform Justice and Legality in the Military Context Conclusion 7. Assessing Cinematic Lawyers (I): Heroes and Villains The Heroic Lawyer: When Atticus Met Lincoln Flawed Characters? Assessing the Good/Bad Categories 8. Assessing Cinematic Lawyers (II): Alternative Categorisations Introduction Alternative Categorisations Conclusion 9. Missing (in) Action (I): Judges The Invisible Judge The Corrupt Judge The Troubled Judge The Comic Judge The Political Judge Judges as Protagonists-the Judge under the Spotlight 10. Missing in Action (II): Juries The Importance of the Jury Jury Selection Jury Deliberation The Compensatory Jury Conclusion 11. Fact, Fiction and the Cinema of Justice (I): Presumed Accurate? Facts, Cases and Lawyers Documentary Films Developments in the 21st Century Who Owns History? Whose Story? Conclusion 12. Fact, Fiction and the Cinema of Justice (II): Specificities Common Themes 13. Love Vigilantes: Private Eyes and Beyond Vigilantes Private Eyes Defining the Private Eye The Private Eye: Justice and Politics The Private Eye in Film Changes in the Private Eye Film The Existential Hero Fighting Evil The Stylites The Return to the Politics of Everyday Life and Existential Angst The Postmodern Investigator Conclusion 14. Playing with a Different Sex Gender in Film Gender and the Law in the Cinema The Visibility of Female Lawyers Narrative Tropes and Female Lawyers Subservience in Action Emotional Dependence The Repressed Daughter Professional Inadequacy The Changing Role of Female Lawyers The Woman Lawyer as a Discreet Object of Desire? Competent Counsel in US Films of the 1980s The Woman Lawyer in the Supporting Cast The Demise of the Political Rebecka Martinsson: An Alternative Role for Women Lawyers? The Politics of Gender in Legal Films Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Portrayals 15. Minority Report? Ethnicity in Film Ethnic Minority Representation in Film Race in British Film: The Imperialist Era Foreignness on the Home Front The Question of Integration The Black and Asian British Experience Ethnicity and the Law Film Ethnic Minority Lawyers Conclusion 16. Future Trajectories and Possibilities Sometimes I Fantasize: Celestial Justice Cyber Justice Safe European Home? Law and Film in Europe France Germany Spain Current Debates Future Directions Bibliography Index
International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique, 2019
The index to the 2018 VideoHound Guide to Films suggests that under the broad heading of “revenge... more The index to the 2018 VideoHound Guide to Films suggests that under the broad heading of “revenge” there have been something in excess of 1000 films. This appears to be the largest category in this comprehensive guide and suggests that this is, indeed, a theme which permeates the most influential sector of popular culture. These films range from influential and lauded films with major directors and stars like John Ford (The Searchers (1956) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (The Revenant (2015)) to “straight to video” gorefests with little artistic merit and a specific target audience (The Hills Have Eyes (1977)). There is, as the Film Guide numbers suggest much in between like Straw Dogs (1972) and Outrage (1993). The making and re-making of “revenge” films continues with contributions in 2018 from such major stars as Denzel Washington in The Equalizer 2 and Brue Willis in Death Wish. Within this body of film is a roster of films which allow us to speculate on the nature of the legal...
This work provides an account of the law of homelessness and the operation of the legislation in ... more This work provides an account of the law of homelessness and the operation of the legislation in Britain. Coverage includes the issues of prevention; processing applications; priority need; intentional homelessness; the duties of housing authorities and remedies for the homeless.
The study of law has been slow to look beyond its narrow professional concerns at the social cult... more The study of law has been slow to look beyond its narrow professional concerns at the social cultural context in which it operates. In the past decade some work has been started in the cultural field, particulary literature and film. TV lawyers have been largely overlooked. There is a paradox here. Television dramas, documentaries and comedies seven days a week, twenty four hours a day. cinema, the previous major player has declined from being the major source of popular entertainment and is now a feature in the lives of a small proportion of the population in Western societies. In the studies that have been undertaken into the role and impact of popular culture on people's legal consciousness, the overwhelming majority of this work has taken place on film. This essay looks at how and why this has come about and what the future is likely to hold as interest in law and popular culture continues to expand.
This introduction to Scottish property law encompasses: the nature of ownership; heritable and mo... more This introduction to Scottish property law encompasses: the nature of ownership; heritable and moveable property rights; intellectual property; the forms of land ownership; acquiring and disposing of heritage; rights in security; matrimonial homes; leases; assured and short assured tenancies; public sector housing; the right to buy; and homelessness. Part of the Green's Concise Scots Law series, this work is intended for students and those already in legal practice.
There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made ap... more There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations. (See end of Document for details) View outstanding changes (e) a tenancy of a house on a holding situated outwith the crofting counties (within the meaning of that Act of 1993) to which any provision of the Small Landholders (Scotland) Acts 1886 to 1931 applies. [ F3 (f) a tenancy of a house which does not exceed 31 days where the purpose of the tenancy is to confer on the tenant the right to occupy the house for a holiday.] (2) A reference in this Chapter to a tenancy refers only to a tenancy to which this Chapter applies. Textual Amendments F1 Word in s. 12(1)(c)(i) repealed (30.11.2017) by Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (asp 18), s. 130(1), sch. 2 para. 9(2)(a) (with s. 128); S.S.I. 2017/299, reg. 2, sch. (with reg. 14) F2 S. 12(1)(c)(i)(D)(E) inserted (30.11.2017) by Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (asp 18), s. 130(1), sch. 2 para. 9(2)(b) (with s. 128); S.S.I. 2017/299, reg. 2, sch. (with reg. 14) F3 S. 12(1)(f) inserted (1.3.2019) by The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 (Modification of the Repairing Standard) Regulations 2019 (S.S.I. 2019/61), regs. 1(2), 2(3)
Described by Richard Sherwin of New York Law School as the law and film movement's 'found... more Described by Richard Sherwin of New York Law School as the law and film movement's 'founding text', this text is a second, heavily revised and improved edition of the original "Film and the Law" (Cavendish Publishing, 2001).The book is distinctive in a number of ways; it is unique as a sustained book length exposition on law and film by law scholars; it is distinctive within law and film scholarship in its attempt to plot the parameters of a distinctive genre of law films; its examination of law in film as place and space offers a new way out of the law film genre problem, and also offers an examination of representations of an aspect of legal practice and the legal institution that have not been addressed by other scholars. It is original in its contribution to work within the wider parameters of law and popular culture and offers a sustained challenge to traditional legal scholarship, amply demonstrating the practical and the pedagogic, as well as the moral and political significance of popular cultural representations of law. The book is a valuable teaching and learning resource, and is the first in the field to serve as a basic textbook for students of law and film.
This book surveys the past and present state of Scotland's housing policies and legislation. ... more This book surveys the past and present state of Scotland's housing policies and legislation. It examines the extent, spatial pattern and courses of homelessness; The House of Lords and Homeless People's Rights; security of tenure and eviction policy; Housing and Local Government; housing associations; Scottish Homes; the private rented sector; owner occupation; new patterns, policies and the Scottish Parliament.
A contribution to the debate on housing policy, bringing together scholars from the fields of hou... more A contribution to the debate on housing policy, bringing together scholars from the fields of housing law and housing policy. Each chapter examines a key theme in contemporary housing and seeks to locate policy in relation to broader theoretical debates about the provision of social welfare.
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Papers by Peter Robson