The Production of Law (and Cinema)

The essay addresses the emergence of the law and cinema discourse, its methodological limits, and its intellectual and pragmatic potential. The essay suggests that current arguments within the discourse can be classified into structural arguments (referring to the manner in which cinematic and judicial practices are structured in society), methodological arguments (referring to law and cinema as methodological instruments for the examination of certain clashes of interests), and hermeneutic arguments (referring to law and cinema as engaged in interpretative functions that illuminate aspects of the human condition). Beyond taxonomy, the essay suggests that situating law alongside cinema is important because it reveals a hidden aspect of the law: legislation, adjudication, negotiation, and neighboring practices do not just “occur”; they are produced. Without understanding this dimension an incomplete picture of the law is depicted, and, to an extent, legal practice itself is misunderstood

Challenges for Nonprofit Organizations. Introduction: A Theoretical Framework. Civil Society and Challenges Faced by Nonprofits

This introduction will tackle two issues. The first is theoretical: a framework will be proposed with which to approach the activity of nonprofit organizations within civil society in modern democracies. Whereas the traditional approach posits three sectors in a triangular setting (the top corner occupied by the government, the bottom-right corner occupied by the market, and the bottom left corner by the “third sector”), a better conceptualization defines civil society as a social space between the state (located above) and the individual or the private sphere (located below). This space is where for-profit organizations (usually clustered in one side of the space), nonprofit organizations (usually grouped in the other), and organizations that share characteristics of both (situated in the middle) reside and develop modes of coexistence (sometimes in tension and sometimes in partnership). This spatial model enables better understanding of the dynamics that occur when the state removes itself from segments of civil society by “ascending” (as is the case when the state stops providing some services and deregulates the services it has outsourced), or conversely, when the state interjects itself into segments of the civil society by “descending,” either via direct provision of services or by tight regulation of such provision. Moreover, this spatial conceptualization allows us to better understand the interaction of nonprofit organizations with state agencies, with forprofit organizations, and with individual members of the society, who are the potential volunteers in the nonprofit organization, the audience for their call for social change or the recipients of their services

Casablanca: Judgment and Dynamic Enclaves in Law and Cinema

By interpreting the narrative and imagery of the film Casablanca, this article seeks to explore the concept of law as enclave. An enclave is a domain-physical, virtual-emotional, conceptual, social or other-defined by certain boundaries and rules of entrance and exit. We argue that Casablanca is about constructing and reconstructing such enclaves. The structure of a pending journey between enclaves organizes the events taking place in Casablanca and constitutes their dynamic nature. Enclaves, we argue, are central to the structure and operation of the law. Recognizing the enclitic nature of law allows us a better grasp of the ethical dimensions of legal practices and reasoning. Further, it makes apparent the oft-overlooked aesthetic dimensions of normative judgments in law (and in film). Our analysis of Casablanca\u27s legal aspects is one example of how law and film may be juxtaposed. Such juxtaposition enriches our understanding of the concepts that structure law and offers a nuanced reading of ethical judgment practiced within the legal and cinematic discourses

Concluding Synthesis: Lessons Learned. A Complex Web: A Collective Process to Advance Social Justice

In Blessed Unrest, referenced by the opening quotation and several essay authors, Paul Hawken uses the metaphor of the immune system to describe the connectivity of organizations and activists across the world fiercely working to realize local and global social, economic, political, and environmental justice. Just as the invisible but interconnected parts of the body’s immune system jump into concerted action to restore health to an ill body, this social-change movement is organizing from the bottom up and emerging as an extraordinary and creative expression of people’s unstoppable need to reimagine their relationships to the environment and to one another. The leaders and organizations participating in the Boston–Haifa transnational learning exchange are actors in this powerful movement with “no name, no leader.” The transformational interplay between personal, collective, and social-change processes, nourished by our relationships with each other across and within national borders, is apparent throughout the journal essays and the Learning Exchange overall. We have collectively built knowledge to feed and inform our future actions and directions while simultaneously acting in our present worlds. Our reflection processes focus on matters of importance. Transformational change happens as we see ourselves and each others’ worlds through the others’ eyes. We privilege and grow from the interplay of many ways of knowing. In the process, transformation happens — changes of self, our organizations, and our communities. A connective web of relationships grows across borders, advancing social justice

Medieval Emergencies and the Contemporary Debate

Abstract The contemporary debate on emergencies and the state of exception often relies on historical examples. Yet, the most recent discussions on the state of exception (a legal construct that deals with emergencies) also assume its modern inception. This article shows that medieval France formulated its own state of exception, meant to deal with emergencies, based on the legal principle of necessity. This article has two purposes. First, it challenges the historical narrative inherent in the contemporary debate, which assumes the modern inception of the state of exception. Second, it reinforces the trepidation with which many scholars today view the uses and abuses of the state of exception. This article does so by showing that the French crown used and abused the medieval principle of necessity in ways similar to current uses of the state of exception; it served similar purposes. Just as some scholars fear today, the French medieval state of exception often served as a pretext meant to change the legal order, turning the exception into the ordinary. The French crown used the state of exception to enhance its power, and it was central in the long process of building the early-modern French state

The Passionate Expression of Hate: Constitutional Protections, Emotional Harm and Comparative Law

This Article will examine two possible models that seek to resolve the tension in principle: The U.S. model, under which speech enjoys preeminence, and the Israeli model, that protects human dignity as the principal value. Section I will outline and analyze a recent Israeli case that led to the first criminal conviction for the violation of an Israeli statute prohibiting the infliction of harm on religious sentiments. This case will provide a reference point for a three-part comparative analysis of the U.S. and Israeli models. Section II will address the normative infrastructure that separates the two models, Sections III and IV will assess the institutional divergence between the two legal systems, and Sections V and VI will examine consequent doctrinal differences. Moving beyond comparative legal analysis, Section VII will put forward the hypothesis that the source of the difference in jurisprudence arises at least in part out of a different cultural perception regarding the core meaning of speech or expression in these two jurisdictions. Drawing upon this sociological, or cultural, understanding, Section VIII will suggest that perhaps it is passion, not merely reason, that organizes the realm of public discourse (at least in some jurisdictions and some cultures), and if so, legal doctrine and theory should be modified accordingly. Finally, Section IX will comment briefly on the value (and limits) of comparative law in light of the above understandings

Taking constitutional structures seriously, a Canadian case study

grantor: University of TorontoThis thesis explores aspects of the interplay between the legal regimes that comprise a common law constitutional democracy by using anti-discrimination norms in Canada as the focal point of the analysis. The thesis introduces a paradigm with which to understand the legal order as comprised of distinct legal regimes, such as the common law, the statutory regime and the constitutional regime. The constitutive elements of each regime, as an ideal type, are outlined. More specifically, the thesis sets out the legal personality at the core of each regime, the source of legitimacy upon which each regime rests, the theory of justice at the basis of each regime, and the interpretative methodology, institutional design and primary function of each regime. Normatively, the thesis argues that preserving the integrity of each regime and thus the distinction between regimes is important in order to allow for legal pluralism, which enhances the legitimacy of the system as a whole by allowing for critical dialogue between the communities constructed by the regimes. Thus, it is important to investigate the interaction between the regimes, so as to ensure non-assimilation and fidelity to the constitutive elements of each regime. The thesis confronts the interaction between the statutory regime and the common law by analyzing the effects a human rights code has, and should have, on the common law of anti-discrimination. The thesis argues that, when a code is silent with respect to discrimination on a certain ground, the common law is still available. The interaction between the constitutional regime and the common law is confronted by examining whether the constitutional bill of rights--the ' Charter'--applies, and should apply, to the common law. The interaction between the constitutional regime and the statutory regime is confronted by investigating the exercise of judicial review over legislative silence, through the example of the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in 'Vriend v. Alberta', where the legislature did not include sexual orientation as a protected ground under the human rights code. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)S.J.D

Casablanca: Judgment and Dynamic Enclaves in Law and Cinema

By interpreting the narrative and imagery of the film Casablanca, this article seeks to explore the concept of law as enclave. An enclave is a domain-physical, virtual-emotional, conceptual, social or other-defined by certain boundaries and rules of entrance and exit. We argue that Casablanca is about constructing and reconstructing such enclaves. The structure of a pending journey between enclaves organizes the events taking place in Casablanca and constitutes their dynamic nature. Enclaves, we argue, are central to the structure and operation of the law. Recognizing the enclitic nature of law allows us a better grasp of the ethical dimensions of legal practices and reasoning. Further, it makes apparent the oft-overlooked aesthetic dimensions of normative judgments in law (and in film). Our analysis of Casablanca\u27s legal aspects is one example of how law and film may be juxtaposed. Such juxtaposition enriches our understanding of the concepts that structure law and offers a nuanced reading of ethical judgment practiced within the legal and cinematic discourses

From a Panacea to a Panopticon: The Use and Misuse of Technology in the Regulation of Judges

This Article reveals the untold story of Legal-Net, Israel’s cloud-based judicial management system. While scholarly attention has thus far focused on the narrow question of the impact technology may have on judicial decision-making or on efficiency, little has been written on the manner in which technology affects the regulation and management of judges and the administration of justice as a whole. Through a combined historical analysis and interview methodology, we trace the development of Legal-Net from the early 1990s and situate it within a theoretical law-and-technology context. Detailing Legal-Net’s trajectory provides meaningful insights as to the relationship between regulation, technology, and the judicial role. More specifically, it unearths four approaches to technology as a regulatory tool, harnessed by the state to govern the public sector itself (and in particular, the production of justice): the bureaucratic/administrative approach, the structural approach, the managerial/integrative approach, and the normative approach. While distinct, these approaches interlace and demonstrate that the processes through which organizational technology is developed and implemented are far from value-neutral. The emerging technological ecosystem and in particular the “technological gaze”—the omnipresent data collection via managerial technology—have considerable implications on the manner in which judges are nudged to comply with expectations. The research further reveals that, as a new technological ecosystem was established, so was the internal perspective of judges regarding the judicial function transformed: from “retail” justice to “wholesale” provision of dispute resolution services (under the law)