University of Bristol Law School Blog
A window into the legal research carried out at the Law School
by Isabel Inguanzo Associate Professor Department of Political Science & Administration, University of Salamanca, Spain.
In this blog post Professor Inguanzo evaluates the efficacy of free, prior and informed consent for protecting indigenous people against appropriation of ancestral land for business enterprise. (more…)
Bill Dixon Professor of Criminology, University of Nottingham.
In this blog, Professor Dixon examines the events surrounding the Marikana Massacre and provides insight into the role of violence in facilitating corporate profit and political power. (more…)
This blog features a conversation between Solomon Moses Sogbandi and Jane Rooney. Solomon discusses the impact of Amnesty International Sierra Leone’s report on MEYA mining human rights abuses; the reform of the Mines and Minerals Act 2009; the Koidu Limited Mining Company in the Kono District; and what is, if any, the UK’s role in combating human rights abuses in mining in Sierra Leone. (more…)
by Tito Magoti an Advocate of the High Court of Tanzania,
In this blog post, Tito Magoti exposes the weaknesses in the criminal justice system in Tanzania for redressing victims of police brutality in the extractive industry. (more…)
Dr Lee McConnell is a Senior Lecturer in International Law at the University of Bristol Law School and the primary investigator on the Arts and Humanity Research Council Research Networking Scheme AH/W0072X/1 project, Extractive Industry and Foreign Security Network. Dr Jane Rooney is a Co-investigator and Associate Professor in International Law at Durham Law School. Our Project Partner is the NGO Rights and Accountability in Development.
The Extractive Industry and Foreign Security Network is an international, multi-stakeholder, interdisciplinary research network that investigates adverse human rights impacts arising from the interactions between UK-based extractive industries and the security forces in foreign States.
This blog series distils discussions that took place during the three workshops and two public engagement events from 2023-2024 funded by the AHRC. This series is published alongside a commissioned contribution in a forthcoming Debates and Dialogue Section of the Social and Legal Studies Journal. (more…)
by Gus Harrison, Judy Laing, Sheelagh McGuinness, and Patty Miranda
The Wellcome-funded BABEL project at the University of Bristol has, for the last six years or so, been exploring best interests decision making for adults and children in England and Wales. The collaborative project started towards the end of 2018 and involved several different work strands with researchers based in the Centre for Health, Law, and Society (CHLS) and the Centre for Ethics in Medicine. The law work strand, based in the CHLS at the Law School, focused on best interests decision-making in law. The law research team – Judy Laing, Sheelagh McGuinness, and Aoife Finnerty—carried out empirical research with legal practitioners to find out their views about this branch of legal decision-making. The research findings are now being written up and will be published later this year, including in an edited book, to be published by Bristol University Press in 2026. (more…)
By Dr Michael Naughton, Reader in Sociology and Law (University of Bristol Law School and School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS)).
It is understandable that when we are wronged or we or a loved one experiences a grave injustice that we want someone to take responsibility for it and something to be done in response to try to put it right. Such responsibility would entail an apology that shows genuine remorse or regret that the wrong occurred, insight that the cause of the wrong is appropriately understood, assurances that such a wrong will not happen again and, if possible, redress for the harm that has been caused. (more…)
by Professor Paula Giliker, University of Bristol Law School
The recent decision of the High Court of Australia (HCA) in Bird v DP [2024] HCA 41 creates a radical split between the treatment of vicarious liability in Australia and other common law states such as England and Wales and Canada. It is therefore a case worthy of consideration across the common law world. Its impact will be examined in this blog. (more…)
by Colin Gavaghan, Professor of Law, University of Bristol Law School
The debate around the latest assisted dying bill – Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (TIA Bill) – has taken some unexpected turns. The usual arguments around choice and safety, the sanctity of life and dignity in death, have been supplemented by a range of procedural concerns. Some veteran MPs have even expressed the surprising argument that their new colleagues are too inexperienced to fully understand a matter of such importance. On the face of it, this is a remarkable claim; as Hannah White and Jill Rutter wrote in an article for the Institute for Government, ‘being willing to use one’s personal judgement to decide matters of national importance – without the comforting guidance of the party whips – is a core competence for the role.’ (more…)
by Professor Margherita Pieraccini, Professor of Law at the University of Bristol Law School
As 2024 is drawing to a close, Conferences of the Parties (COPs) of three major Multilateral Environmental Agreements are happening in close succession: COP 16 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was held between end of October and the beginning of November, COP 29 of the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is happening in mid-November, and COP 16 of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification will take place in early December. Although exploring the synergies between these three COPs is of great importance and their close temporal proximity this year facilitates such discussion, I will focus solely on the CBD COP 16 as I had the opportunity to attend it in person as a University of Bristol academic observer. (more…)