Xmas Pressie Books With A Legal Slant From The LRB Bookshop

Justice for Some

Noura Erakat

£29.99

 

Stanford University Press
23 April 2019
ISBN: 9780804798259
Hardback
352 pages

From the publisher

Justice in the Question of Palestine is often framed as a question of law. Yet none of the Israel-Palestinian conflict’s most vexing challenges have been resolved by judicial intervention. Occupation law has failed to stem Israel’s settlement enterprise. Laws of war have permitted killing and destruction during Israel’s military offensives in the Gaza Strip. The Oslo Accord’s two-state solution is now dead letter.?Justice for Some offers a new approach to understanding the Palestinian struggle for freedom, told through the power and control of international law. Focusing on key junctures-from the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to present-day wars in Gaza-Noura Erakat shows how the strategic deployment of law has shaped current conditions. Over the past century, the law has done more to advance Israel’s interests than the Palestinians’. But, Erakat argues, this outcome was never inevitable. Law is politics, and its meaning and application depend on the political intervention of states and people alike. Within the law, change is possible. International law can serve the cause of freedom when it is mobilized in support of a political movement. Presenting the promise and risk of international law, ?Justice for Some calls for renewed action and attention to the Question of Palestine.

https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/stock/justice-for-some-law-and-the-question-of-palestine-noura-erakat

 

The Rule of Law

Tom Bingham

£9.99

From the publisher

‘A gem of a book … Inspiring and timely. Everyone should read it’ ?Independent

‘The Rule of Law’ is a phrase much used but little examined. The idea of the rule of law as the foundation of modern states and civilisations has recently become even more talismanic than that of democracy, but what does it actually consist of?

In this brilliant short book, Britain’s former senior law lord, and one of the world’s most acute legal minds, examines what the idea actually means. He makes clear that the rule of law is not an arid legal doctrine but is the foundation of a fair and just society, is a guarantee of responsible government, is an important contribution to economic growth and offers the best means yet devised for securing peace and co-operation. He briefly examines the historical origins of the rule, and then advances eight conditions which capture its essence as understood in western democracies today. He also discusses the strains imposed on the rule of law by the threat and experience of international terrorism.

The book will be influential in many different fields and should become a key text for anyone interested in politics, society and the state of our world.

https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/stock/the-rule-of-law-tom-bingham

 

 

Misjustice

Helena Kenned

£9.99

From the publisher

Two women a week are killed by a spouse or partner. Every seven minutes a woman is raped. Now is the time for change.

‘Fascinating and chilling’ Caroline Criado Perez, bestselling author of ?Invisible Women

Helena Kennedy, one of our most eminent lawyers and defenders of human rights, examines the pressing new evidence that women are being discriminated against when it comes to the law. From the shocking lack of female judges to the scandal of female prisons and the double discrimination experienced by BAME women, Kennedy shows with force and fury that change for women must start at the heart of what makes society just.

‘An unflinching look at women in the justice system… an important book because it challenges acquiescence to everyday sexism and inspires change’ ?The Times

https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/stock/misjustice-how-british-law-is-failing-women-helena-kennedy

 

Animal Vegetable Criminal

Mary Roach

£16.99

From the publisher

What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A grizzly bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? We’ve never been good at sharing the planet… In the past, when wild animals ‘broke the law’, they might be given lawyers and put on trial. But now, what’s the solution when nature gets in our way? In this fresh, funny and thoroughly researched book, dive into the weird and wonderful moments when humanity and wildlife bump up against one another. Follow Mary Roach as she explores laser scarecrows, robo-hawks, human-elephant conflict specialists and monkey impersonators. Travel to the bear-busy back alleys of Aspen, the gull-vandalized floral displays at the Vatican and leopard-terrorized hamlets in the Himalayas, and discover hope for compassionate coexistence.

https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/stock/animal-vegetable-criminal-when-nature-breaks-the-law-mary-roach

The Idea of Prison Abolition

Tommie Shelby

£25.00

From the publisher

An incisive and sympathetic examination of the case for ending the practice of imprisonment

Despite its omnipresence and long history, imprisonment is a deeply troubling practice. In the United States and elsewhere, prison conditions are inhumane, prisoners are treated without dignity, and sentences are extremely harsh. Mass incarceration and its devastating impact on black communities have been widely condemned as neoslavery or “the new Jim Crow.” Can the practice of imprisonment be reformed, or does justice require it to be ended altogether? In ?The Idea of Prison Abolition, Tommie Shelby examines the abolitionist case against prisons and its formidable challenge to would-be prison reformers.

Philosophers have long theorized punishment and its justifications, but they haven’t paid enough attention to incarceration or its related problems in societies structured by racial and economic injustice. Taking up this urgent topic, Shelby argues that prisons, once reformed and under the right circumstances, can be legitimate and effective tools of crime control. Yet he draws on insights from black radicals and leading prison abolitionists, especially Angela Davis, to argue that we should dramatically decrease imprisonment and think beyond bars when responding to the problem of crime.

While a world without prisons might be utopian, ?The Idea of Prison Abolition makes the case that we can make meaningful progress toward this ideal by abolishing the structural injustices that too often lead to crime and its harmful consequences.

https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/stock/the-idea-of-prison-abolition-tommie-shelby