Two Words, One Answer.
legality
 The Legality of Boxing: A Punch Drunk Love? $140.00 The sport of boxing presents a paradox. It has been been outlawed for centuries, yet it remains popular. It is considered brutal, yet compared to the duel which it replaced, it is benign. It is dangerous, yet it made England into a weaponless society. It is exploitive when practiced by the lower classes, yet it is praise-worthy when practiced by the elite. It is an unChristian sport, and yet was the symbol of "muscular Christianity." Surely there is a need for a balanced and accurate view of this interesting sport. Jack Anderson, Professor of Law at Queens University, Belfast, Ireland, is certainly one of the best people to provide this balanced view of boxing. He is a legal scholar with impressive credentials. He has written a number of scholarly articles which are the best in the complicated field of boxing law. His knowledge of boxing law is unsurpassed. Thus, one expects this book to provide one of the most accurate descriptions of boxing in print. And so it does. At least for the first four chapters (pp. 1-116). In these chapters Anderson surveys boxing law from the Greeks and Romans up to the present day, especially focusing upon England. While some might quibble with a fact or two, Anderson is the acknowledged master of this field. His work to this point is of great value. It is what he does with the rest of the work (pp.117-188) that raises some concern. In this last section he steps out of his place as an acknowledged expert and adopts the cloak of special pleading. As his publisher notes, he sails off into the realms of medicine, philosophy, ethics and morality and reveals himself to be an opponent of boxing. Admittedly, Professor Anderson has a right to his opinion. And if he feels that boxing should be either banned or reformed, he has a right to say so. But his medical, philosophical, ethical and moral positions need not be given as much credence as his legal opinion. As any good lawyer knows, simply citing others'works on these issues does not make him a special authority on this part of the subject. And so this book exhibits a schizophrenic condition like some of the boxers Anderson describes: It begins well and ends badly. The first half is excellent, the last half could have been better written by someone else. And this is too bad, because at $150.00 US or about 80 cents per text page these extra pages are a very expensive luxury.  The Many Legalities of Early America (Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia) $27.50 The Cambridge History of Law in America 3 volume set (v. 1-3) This is a fine book to assign in a legal history course, because the essays are varied but coherent. Upper-level undergraduates and graduate students will be exposed to creative essays that examine the law from many angles. It is not traditional legal history and will not answer questions such as "Where did tort law come from?" but it will show the legal milieu in which the colonies and early republic developed.  Justice, Legality and the Rule of Law: Lessons from the Pitcairn Prosecutions $100.00 A British colony of fifty souls in the Pacific Ocean, Pitcairn Island was settled by the Bounty mutineers and nineteen Polynesians in 1790. In 2004 six Pitcairn men were convicted of numerous offenses against girls and young women, committed over a thirty year period, in what appears to have been a culture of sexual abuse on the island. This case has raised many questions: what right did the British government have to initiate these prosecutions? Was it fair to prosecute the defendants, given that no laws had been published on the island? Indeed, what, if any, law was there on this island? This collection of essays explores the many important issues raised by the case and by the situation of a small, isolated community of this kind. It starts by looking at the background to the prosecutions, considering the dilemma that faced the British government when the abuse was uncovered, and discussing the ways in which the judges dealt with the case, as well as exploring the history of the settlement and how colonial law affects it. This background paves the way for an exploration of the philosophical, jurisprudential and ethical issues raised by the prosecutions: was it legitimate for the UK to intervene, given the absence of any common community between the UK and the Island? Was the positivist 'law on paper' approach adopted by the British government and the courts was appropriate, especially given the lack of promulgation of the laws under which the men were prosecuted? Would alternative responses such as payment of compensation to the female victims and provision of community support have been preferable? And should universal human rights claims justify the prosecutions, overriding any allegations of cultural relativism on the part of the UK? |
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