Love, Will, and the Intellectual Ascents

Augustine’s accounts of his so-called mystical experiences in conf. 7.10.16, 17.23, and 9.10.24 are puzzling. The primary problem is that, although in all three accounts he claims to have seen “that which is,” we have no satisfactory account of what “that which is” is supposed to be. I shall be arguing that, contrary to a common interpretation, Augustine’s intellectual “seeing” of “being” in Books 7 and 9 was not a vision of the Christian God as a whole, nor of one of the divine persons, each of whom is equally God, according to Augustine. This becomes clear when we attend to the fact that Augustine is appropriating a specific meaning of “that which is” or “being” used by Plotinus in his account of the lover of Beauty. This resolution, however, leads to a second question. Is there anything distinctively Christian about any, or all, of Augustine’s ascents? On the one hand, it would be odd if there were not, given that the Confessions are addressed to the Christian God. On the other hand, upon close inspection we find that the allegedly specific “Christian” characteristics that modern commentators have identified in the ascents of conf. 7 and 9 also occur in the Neoplatonists. I will argue that there is in fact one important difference between Augustine and the Neoplatonists here that has not been pointed out in these prior interpretations

Initial Reflections on the Potential Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Courts and Judiciary of England and Wales

This paper considers the initial impact of the Cvid-19 pandemic on the administration of the courts in England and Wales. It explores the early empirical evidence the pandemic has had on the digitisation of justice. It further considers the medium to longer term potential impact the pandemic’s consequences, and the effect it has had on digitisation of the courts, on court procedures, the nature of the judiciary, and the legal profession

Book review: Stuart Sime & Derek French, Blackstone’s Guide to The Civil Justice Reforms 2013 (OUP, 2013)’

In November 2008 Sir Rupert Jackson was appointed by the, then, Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke, to carry out a fundamental review of one of the perennial problems that affects the English civil justice system: excess litigation cost. Less than ten years after the last set of reforms – the Woolf Reforms – aimed at curing this problem had been implemented, more reform was needed. Sir Rupert’s review, which concluded in December 2009, found that the predominant cause of the continuing crisis was excess cost generated by the operation of conditional fee agreements (‘CFAs’), a form of litigation funding, which in turn were primarily used to finance personal injury litigation. Other causes were the failure to implement some aspects of the Woolf Reforms, such as docketing or the introduction of a fixed cost regime. Others still arose from the practical operation of the Woolf Reforms. Having identified the problems, Sir Rupert recommended wide-ranging reform, which was, broadly speaking, implemented on 1 April 2013 by a combination of primary legislation (the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012), changes to the Civil Procedure Rules, and judicial decision (Simmons v Castle [2012] EWCA Civ 1039 and [2012] EWCA Civ 1288)

Muslim identity and Islamic faith in Sarajevo.

Among the dominant themes in contemporary world affairs are the political role of Islam and the problem of national minorities in socialist states. The present thesis seeks to examine these issues through the anthropological investigation of a Muslim minority within a multi-national, federated socialist state - the Muslims of Bosnia-Hercegovina in Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav state is a constitutional federation of several diverse nationalities, all of which seek to preserve, assert and develop their distinct political identities within the fragile power balance system of Yugoslavia. The republic of Bosnia-Hercegovina is dominated by three such nationalities - the Serb, the Croat and the Muslim. These three correspond to three religious faiths; the Serbs are Orthodox, the Croats are Catholic and the Muslims are of the Islamic faith. Whilst the state does not officially recognise this correspondence, for ordinary Bosnians it is fundamental; national and religious identity are seen as inextricably linked. It is the nature of this link which forms the focus of my study, the fieldwork for which was carried out in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. For Sarajevo's Muslims Islam provides a "double identity", two ways of conceptualising collective identity. On the one hand Islam distinguishes Muslims from their Serb/Orthodox and Croat/Catholic neighbours, whilst on the other it gives them membership in a worldwide religious community transcending the bounds of Yuqoslavia. Both aspects of identity find expression in Muslim religious life. Thus male death rituals assert Bosnian Muslims' identity as members of the Islamic Umma, whilst mortuary rites performed by women are seen as distinguishing Muslims from their non-Muslim neighbours. In this and other ways religion becomes a medium for identity assertion. At the same time the discourse of identity is one through which rivalling religious orientations may compete. For example, the state authorised Muslim establishment promotes a rapprochement of Islamic and socialist ideologies and of Muslim and Yugoslav identity, whilst a new, semi-clandestine Islamic tendency looks constantly to the outside Muslim world, seeking to ally Bosnian Muslims with it. As an ethnographic study the thesis examines a number of issues including the perception of town and neighbourhood as separate conceptual spaces, the role of ritual, gender relations and the nature of religious rivalry. Through this approach to Sarajevan Muslim society it attempts to illuminate some broader questions concerning the political role of Islam in the modern world, the development of nationalisms and the nature of relations between minorities and the socialist state

Austerity’s Effect on English Civil Justice

This article considers the effect of austerity-induced public spending cuts on the English civil justice system. In doing so it initially examines two fundamental changes engendered by the effect austerity has had on civil court fees and legal aid: first, a challenge to the traditional commitment in English procedure to adversarial process, and a concomitant increase in inquisitorial or investigative processes; and secondly, the growth in use of unqualified individuals to act as advocates in court for individual litigants who are unable to afford legal representation. It then turns to consider what, if any, effect austerity has had on simplified processes available in English civil procedure

“This Is Not A Rule”: COVID-19 in England & Wales and Criminal Justice Governance via Guidance

Soft law is an integral part of the efficient and effective functioning of public administration in England & Wales, with a long history of use. As such, its deployment per se as part of the regulatory response to COVID-19 in England & Wales is unremarkable. What is more striking, however, is the extent to which soft law was deployed, with over 400 pieces of ‘guidance and regulations’ created by the government in Whitehall, to say nothing of the other primary and secondary legislation passed to deal with the crisis. In this article, we do three things. First, we look at the place of soft law in administrative law in England & Wales. We then turn to the broad regulatory framework, including soft law, which governs the COVID-19 pandemic in our jurisdiction. This background then allows us, in the final part of this article, to take a deep dive into the criminal justice system. Here, we show how the senior judiciary predominately relied on soft law in the form of judicial guidance and protocols to manage the system. This was against the backdrop of targeted legislation that provided for an expansion of access to the criminal courts via video and audio links and also a limited number of Practice Directions that have the force of law. Our deep dive allows us to argue that the approach taken by the senior judiciary to the use of soft law during the COVID-19 pandemic has, in a number of ways, been more effective than that taken by the government. That being said there remains room for improvement, particularly as concerns the nature of the judicial guidance issued and clarity in terms of what guidance was in place and when

The universality of poetry in Aristotle’s Poetics

This paper considers three questions arising out of Aristotle's statement that poetry is concerned with the universal. First, what does it mean? Secondly, what constraints does it impose on the construction of (in particular) tragic plots? This question is considered with special reference to the possible role of chance in tragedy. Thirdly, why is poetry concerned with the universal— that is, why is poetry such that these constraints are appropriate? In chapter 9 of the Poetics Aristotle states that poetry is concerned with the universal. In this paper I shall consider three questions arising out of this statement. First, what does it mean? Secondly, what constraints does it impose on the construction of (in particular) tragic plots? I shall consider this question with special reference to the possible role of chance in tragedy. Thirdly, why is poetry concerned with the universal—that is, why is poetry such that these constraints are appropriate