Making and Changing Law in Small Jurisdictions (eBook)

Caroline Morris (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: PDF

2024 | 1. Auflage
VIII, 200 Seiten
Springer-Verlag
978-3-031-46943-5 (ISBN)

Infos

This book puts the spotlight on a different and neglected aspect of law drafting and reform: the question of size. Specifically, how does the size of a jurisdiction affect its ability to make and change its laws?

Some of the challenges affecting small jurisdictions include: a lack of resources and paucity of policy/drafting capacity; the pressures and pull from sources outside the jurisdiction (e.g. international bodies or NGOs; larger states; treaty commitments); a vulnerability to domestic capture (e.g. criminal elements, big local businesses, strong domestic lobby groups); weak/bad governance (e.g. laws or institutions which themselves do not encourage or promote good governance, reflection and reform); the legacy of colonial legal systems and their interaction with indigenous or customary laws; and struggles to comply with constitutional norms such as accountability and transparency. Despite these difficulties small jurisdictions also have certain advantages when it comes to making and reforming law: they can be flexible and creative; they can legislate very quickly if the political will is there; and there is strong informal/formal accountability in a small jurisdiction.

This edited collection explores law reform and law drafting in small jurisdictions through the themes of sovereignty; the impact of colonialism and legal plurality; the challenges of harmonising laws at regional and international levels; and constitutional reform. Of use to researchers and practitioners alike.

Dr Caroline Morris is a Reader in Public Law and the Founder and Director of the Centre for Small States at QMUL, a new initiative dedicated to research and analysis of the legal issues facing the world's small states. She has pioneered the study of small states from a legal perspective and is recognised as a leading figure in the field. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the interdisciplinary journal Small States and Territories and a General Editor of the World of Small States series. She has acted as a consultant to the governments of the Channel Islands of Alderney, Jersey and Sark. Recent small states publications include: Small States in a Legal World (ed with Petra Butler: Springer Publishing, Berlin, 2017); 'Antidefection Laws in Three Small South Pacific Parliaments: A Cautionary Tale' (2022) 20(3) I.CON: International Journal of Constitutional Law 1; 'The Importance of Being Small' in P Schoukens et al (eds) Out of the Box (Owl Press, Ghent, 2022) 389; 'The legal issues facing the world's small states' (2021) 102(1) The Parliamentarian 52;'Beyond Westminster: Principles, Processes, Possibilities' in Venous Memari (ed) The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Bermuda Constitution: Reflections on its Past and Future (Centre for Justice, Hamilton, Bermuda, 2019); and 'Attempting constitutional reform in the island microjurisdiction of Alderney' (2018) 47(2) Common Law World Review 105.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 12.3.2024
• Reihe/Serie: The World of Small States
• Zusatzinfo: VIII, 200 p. 1 illus.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► EU / Internationales Recht
• Schlagworte: Caribbean • customary law • Europe • Law drafting • Law Reform • Legal Pluralism • Pacific • Post-colonial • Small jurisdictions
• ISBN-10: 3-031-46943-7 / 3031469437
• ISBN-13: 978-3-031-46943-5 / 9783031469435