Books in the Birkbeck Law Press series

In contrast to many attempts to rethink the political in the wake of the collapse of traditional leftist projects, this text argues of the centrality of conflict in any notion of the political, as well as for the logical and/or ontological primacy of violence over "peace".

This book is a collection of essays honouring and engaging with the work of the late Professor Patrick McAuslan. It is a collection that narrates, analyses and critiques McAuslanΓÇÖs contributions, as well as offering substantive perspectives on how his work has impacted the legal fields in which he was involved: including those of land law, urban planning law and policy, land use and participation in developing countries, democratic constitutionalism, and legal education. The essays present McAuslanΓÇÖs contributions in the contexts in which they emerged, and according to both the circumstances and motivations that shaped them, as well as the challenges they encountered. It thus provides an ideal point of engagement for scholars, students and policy makers that have already interacted with McAuslanΓÇÖs ideas and work, or who have yet to do so.

This book opens up a range of important perspectives on law and violence by considering the ways in which their relationship is formulated in literature, television and film. Employing critical legal theory to address the relationship between crime fiction, law and justice, it considers a range of topics, including: the relationship between crime fiction, legal reasoning and critique; questions surrounding the relationship between law and justice; gender issues; the legal, political and social impacts of fictional representations of crime and justice; post-colonial perspectives on crime fiction; as well as the impact of law itself on the crime fiction¿s development.

Assesses the legal response to prize fighting and undertakes an analysis of the status of boxing in both legal theory and practice.

New Critical Legal Thinking articulates a newly-emergent stream of politically engaged contemporary critical legal scholarship.

Based on author's thesis (doctoral - Birkbeck, University of London, 2013), issued under title: Spinoza's theory of natural right: a doctrine of power and the legal order, and its mechanistic foundations.

Offers a multidisciplinary perspective on the contemporary relationship between politics and the imagination. This title examines how the power of imagination reverberates in the various ambits of social and political life: in law, history, art, gender, economy, religion and the natural sciences.

In the wake of Guantanamo Bay, extraordinary renditions, and secret torture centres in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, this book addresses the relationship between law and wild or vigilante justice - between the power to enforce retribution and the desire to seek revenge.

Questions whether the evident displacement of the concept of the citizen by human rights can lead us to a more equitable politics.

Drawing consideration of the problem of war back to the level of a philosophical examination of the metaphysics of human subjectivity, this title develops a novel theory of war that helps us to better understand the nature of contemporary conflict as a process of recognition.

Proposes a taxonomy of jurisprudence and legal practice, based on the discourse theory of Jacques Lacan. This work takes up the jurisprudential ramifications of Lacan's work.

Presents the history of the symbolism through which law is characterised as being 'above' us. This title presents the history of this metaphor from antiquity onwards: from the Greek Eye of Justice, the eye of the impartial judge of the Underworld, the Eye of God watching past, present and future, to the almighty Eye of the Law.

How can we save politics from the politician? How can we save ourselves? This book looks at the example of those who leave the city and break the social contract, rebellious exiles and freedom fighters escaping the wheel of necessity.

Bringing a postcolonial perspective to UK constitutional debates and including comparative engagement with the constitutions of Britain's ex-colonies, this book offers a reflection upon the relationship between the written and the unwritten constitution. It is useful for students of the philosophy of law, political theory and jurisprudence.

Bringing an Eastern sensibility into contact with three most important themes in Western philosophy, investigates three important philosophers: Martin Heidegger - on being, Emmanuel Levinas - on ethics, and Ludwig Wittgenstein - on language. It is for philosophers and legal theorists, and for those who are interested in Zen Buddhism.

This book opens up a range of important perspectives on law and violence by considering the ways in which their relationship is formulated in literature, television and film. Employing critical legal theory to address the relationship between crime fiction, law and justice, it considers a range of topics, including: the relationship between crime fiction, legal reasoning and critique; questions surrounding the relationship between law and justice; gender issues; the legal, political and social impacts of fictional representations of crime and justice; post-colonial perspectives on crime fiction; as well as the impact of law itself on the crime fiction¿s development.