The intractably unknowable nature of law : Kadi, Kafka, and the law's competing claims to authority

This chapter presents the striking similarities between the cases of Mr Kadi and Josef K., and indeed their contrasting conclusions, to delve into the insights of Franz Kafkas fictional depictions of the law. These focused heavily, among other themes, on the experience of law for those who are subject to the legal systems demands but who do not have, at that moment at least, privileged access to its inner workings. Rather, therefore, than contributing to the literature on Kadi which focuses on intra- and inter-systemic normative conundra, this chapter seeks to understand law as it is experienced as a social artefact which primarily serves and seeks to regulate the actions of people who are not lawyers. Finally, this chapter draws further on the Kadi saga to demonstrate that, beyond these conceptual concerns, certain empirically observable contemporary trends within the law are contributing additional complexity to this problem

Idealism, Empiricism, Pluralism, Law: Legal truth after modernity

Making a connection between ‘post-modernism’ and post-truth has by now become a standard trope, both within academia and popular discourse, despite post-truth’s only recent emergence as a concept. Such claims are often rather vague and fanciful and lack an altogether credible account of either phenomenon in many cases. This Chapter argues however that within a legal context, there is the emergence of a legalpost-truth which is the direct consequence of a concrete form of post-modernity within legal practice and thought.While law may be called upon to engage in judgments of ‘truth’ in numerous interesting ways, it does not itself have any particular form of privileged access to the truth of statements or allegations, even though it is often treated as doing so. However, the most persistent question which law must deal with, and indeed the most persistent question within legal philosophy, relates to a deeper form ofinquiry into truth: the question of legal truth. In simple terms this refers to the correctness of any particular proposition of law. Within legal theory, this expands to the larger question of what makes, in general, any legal proposition valid, or true.Reflecting upon legal scholarship through the lens of truth reveals that theories of law can be broken down into two broad and radically distinct categories. On the one hand, there exist empirical accounts of law which fundamentally understand questions of legal truth associal questions whose answers areempirically demonstrable. On the other hand, there are ‘idealist’ accounts of law which view legal content, and hence truth, as existing in some way or other in a manner which transcends social practice and which is autonomous from it. Both of these classical accounts, while radically different, share an interesting paradox: they see truth in law as an objective fact, but one which is fleeting and distant, far from the paradigm of legal certainty upon which the ideology of law is partly based

On working and being: The legal metaphysics of labour and the constitutional errors of Social Europe

This Chapter outlines the legal contradictions in the European ‘project’ with regard to work. In particular, it points to grave tensions between, on the one hand, the ‘existential’ social aspirations of the European Union, which place work at their centre, and, on the other hand, the ‘metaphysical’ realities of a legal framework which has singularly failed to constitute the very working relationships upon which the much vaunted ‘Social Europe’ is predicated. By constructing this ontological account of the role of law in constituting all social and economic identity and exchange, this Chapter argues that the legal and constitutional theory which formed the basis of the ‘economic’ phase of European integration has not been followed during the ‘social’ phase of integration which has followed. In this manner, the ‘social’ within Europe has been relegated to an inferior status, precisely due to the failure to construct the working relationships which this social vision is based upon. While the idea that the ‘social’ gives way to the ‘economic’ is one which emerges from much writing on the European Union and international economic integration more generally, this Chapter breaks with that vast, cacophonous body of literature to argue that it is precisely the efforts to rectify this ‘social deficit’ which cement this failure. The emergent ‘social’ acquis of European Union law at constitutional level has often come to adopt the ‘existential’ trappings of constitutional language, by expressing the identity of its polity through its values and social aims. However, in so doing, it has failed to capture the ontological essence of constitutionalism, whereby social or economic actors are literally constituted by the law. It is this ontological role of the law which allows us to talk of the European Union as a genuinely constitutional project, at least in the economic sphere. As the social values of the Union largely rest on an economic framework premised on stable working relationships, the failure of the constitutional settlement to ensure such relationships has the effect of negating the ontological status of the work in the European social model. In this manner, this Chapter questions the coherence of the European employment and social policies through their failure to deliberately constitute stable employment relationships, while nonetheless being premised upon their existence. This failure is not simply a legal one however, but also one of ideology: much labour law thinking, including that which is critical of the relegation of social policy within the European project, shares this naïve vision of economic relationships and work. On the one hand, labour law emerged within an economico-historical, materialist heritage, rejecting the importance of law in the arranging of industrial affairs. On the other hand, more recent labour law scholarship and policy development have often fallen into a form of jurisprudential naivety, in which it has been thought sufficient to engage in a form of juridical ‘virtue signalling’ through the use of the rhetoric of social values and human rights. Such scholarship is based on, respectively, legitimate and laudable concerns regarding social power and the pervasiveness of constitutional principles. However, this Chapter argues that without the necessary legal constitution of the economic relationships, in particular working relationships, upon which these values and rights are predicated, such goals will remain illusory, and social power will prove difficult to shape. While the passing of ambitious legislation such as the European Pillar of Social Rights, declared in late 2017, in many ways typifies and indeed magnifies these errors yet again, it might offer an opportunity for judicial and policy-focused reflection that forces greater focus on constituting working relationships within the shared European economic and social space

Labour law, the Industrial Constitution and the EU's accession to the ECHR: the constitutional nature of the market and the limits of rights-based approaches to labour law

Although neither legal order deliberately set out to deal with complex matters of labour law, the European Union (EU or Union) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR or Convention) have both had a large impact, in one way or another, on labour law matters. By creating an (admittedly complex) external supervisory system to review the legality of EU action, while also internalising the values the Convention within the EU legal order, the Union's formal accession to the ECHR is an(other) important constitutional moment for the EU in several respects, all of which deserve careful consideration. In the field of labour law in particular, an embedded inclusion of human rights-type guarantees into the EU legal order has long been advocated by many commentators to counterbalance a perceived prioritisation of market freedoms. This chapter seeks to understand how accession will affect the EU legal order, building on three constitutionalâ models through which we can understand EU law and the ECHR. In what way will accession affect our constitutional understanding of the Union, and how will this affect labour law? Much constitutional theorising regarding the EU has focused on two broad models of constitution: a hierarchy-based model which stems from the autonomous nature of EU law and the constitutional role of the EU Treaties, and a value-based model which considers the interaction of competing legal sources and their principled resolution. It will be argued that while the ECHR will not affect the hierarchical supremacy of EU law by virtue of the ECHR's particular legal structure, its new supervisory role and embedded constitutional values will inevitably impact upon labour law in the EU. However, this chapter argues that a third, much neglected, model of constitution must be grasped to understand the place of labour law in the EU. Labour law is here presented as part of an industrial constitution, stressing the law's constitutive function with regard to social actors and the market. It will be demonstrated that the impact of rights-based judicial supervision of the Union will be inherently limited on the industrial constitution, as this supervisory structure embodies a purely liberal vision of constitutional review which can police actors and norms, but cannot directly reconstitute market actors according to constitutional values such as democracy, dignity or solidarity. As significant as the constitutional moment of accession might be, transformative reform of EU labour law is unlikely to come, in the first instance, from accession to the ECHR, and is ultimately dependent on a legislative restructuring of the internal market of the EU, and in particular an incorporation of values of citizenship into the market. Accession my cast light upon the need for such reforms, but is intrinsically limited in its ability to achieve these changes

The intractably unknowable nature of law : Kadi, Kafka, and the law's competing claims to authority

This chapter presents the striking similarities between the cases of Mr Kadi and Josef K., and indeed their contrasting conclusions, to delve into the insights of Franz Kafkas fictional depictions of the law. These focused heavily, among other themes, on the experience of law for those who are subject to the legal systems demands but who do not have, at that moment at least, privileged access to its inner workings. Rather, therefore, than contributing to the literature on Kadi which focuses on intra- and inter-systemic normative conundra, this chapter seeks to understand law as it is experienced as a social artefact which primarily serves and seeks to regulate the actions of people who are not lawyers. Finally, this chapter draws further on the Kadi saga to demonstrate that, beyond these conceptual concerns, certain empirically observable contemporary trends within the law are contributing additional complexity to this problem

Modelling cold spray splat morphologies using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

The small scale, short duration and hostile environment for instrumentation presented by cold spray coating makes experimental observations challenging, and therefore requires computational models capable of capturing the splat formation process. Current coating models are dominated by the Finite Element Method (FEM); whilst this has lead to significant improvements in understanding, the method is limited due to the reliance on a mesh coupled with the significant strains and strain rates involved. Eulerian methods have also been applied but retrieval of material histories and accurate interface tracking remains challenging. The Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method is a meshless method that combines the advantages of FEM and Eulerian approaches. The current work extends the work of applying SPH to solid mechanics with heat conduction, improved tensile stability corrections and a novel zero impedance boundary. Solver performance is increased with the application of the multi-threading capabilities of the C++ 11 standard. The development of the SPH solver is described, validated and benchmarked against known analytical and experimental test cases. An in-depth investigation of parameters affecting splat morphologies is performed. Finally, a model of a coating formation process involoving multiple feedstock impact events is described and analysed in order to demonstrate the capabilities of the newly developed solver

Evaluation of Benzobicyclon for use in Midsouthern Rice (Oryza sativa) Systems

A new herbicide site of action (SOA) is needed by rice (Oryza sativa L.) producers in the Midsouth for the control of problematic and herbicide-resistant weeds. Currently, six problematic weeds are relevant to Midsouthern rice producers because of resistance to at least one SOA, if not more. Gowan Company is in the process of commercializing benzobicyclon for use in Midsouthern rice systems. Benzobicyclon, a Group 27 post-flood herbicide, controls a broad spectrum of aquatics, broadleaves, grasses, and sedges, including those currently resistant to Group 2 herbicides. This will be the first 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD)-inhibiting herbicide commercially available in US rice production. Since, benzobicyclon is still under development, it is important to evaluate this herbicide in a drill-seeded rice production system. Therefore, experiments were conducted across Arkansas to determine rice cultivar tolerance, weed spectrum controlled, rate optimization, compatible tank-mix partners, and rotational crop safety. It is recommended to apply benzobicyclon into a continuous flood system. Japonica cultivars exhibited excellent crop safety to benzobicyclon, while indica cultivars showed high levels of sensitivity to the herbicide. Benzobicyclon effectively controlled Amazon sprangletop (Leptochloa panicoides J. Presl), ducksalad (Heteranthera limosa Sw.), California arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia Willd.), indica rice, hemp sesbania (Sesbania herbacea Mill.), northern jointvetch (Aeschynomene virginica L.), red sprangletop (Leptochloa chinensis L.), rice flatsedge (Cyperus iria L.), and smallflower umbrella sedge (Cyperus difformis L.). The efficacy and spectrum of control of benzobicyclon is increased when applied with tank-mix partners such as bispyribac, cyhalofop, halosulfuron, imazamox, penoxsulam, and propanil. Cotton, grain sorghum, soybean, and sunflower can safely be planted in rotation with a drill-seeded rice crop that has been treated with benzobicyclon post-flood without concerns of crop yield loss. The findings of this research suggest that benzobicyclon has a strong fit in midsouthern rice systems

Le salarié-actionnaire en droit anglais : l’histoire d’un échec législatif

'The employee-shareholder in English Law: The Story of a Legislative Failure