Foundation for Law, Justice and Society

Christopher Hodges, Professor of Justice Systems, will deliver the 2017 Max Watson Annual Lecture to present his proposals to support an ethical basis for business practice and regulation. Professor Hodges will present his research into the concept of Ethical Business Regulation (EBR), which aims to foster a business culture of mutual engagement, respect, learning, and constant improvement, based on social trust.

He will ask:

How do we stem the flow of corporate scandals (recently Rolls Royce, VW), save money on regulators (Better Regulation), and improve effective ‘compliance’, whilst observing the new 'growth duty'?

Does the answer lie in deterrence, or behavioural psychology/economics, or structures (such as the Primary Authority scheme or ‘regulated self-assurance’), or ‘no blame' cultures (such as aviation safety), or embedding ethical values?

The lecture will be a wide-ranging tour d’horizon of current theories and enforcement practice, and apply socio-legal empirical analysis to the evidence, with answers that some will find challenging.

It will build on Professor Hodges' ideas previously published by the UK Government in their Review of Ethics for Regulators conducted by the Committee on Standards in Public Life, and in his FLJS Policy Brief, Ethical Business Regulation.

Stuart H Newberger, author and international lawyer gives a talk for the FLJS seminar series. A book colloquium featuring Stuart H Newberger, an international lawyer who represented victims of the terrorist plot hatched by Colonel Gaddafi that brought down French Airlines Flight 772. His latest book The Forgotten Flight: Terrorism, Diplomacy and the Pursuit of Justice tells the story of how he fought for justice for seven of the 170 people killed in one of the deadliest acts of terrorism in history.

This real-life legal thriller combines the international intrigue of le Carré with the courtroom drama of John Grisham, and asks how we can bring leaders of sovereign nations to account for their crimes.

For the first time, Stuart Newberger reveals how French investigators cracked the case and takes us inside the courtroom to witness the litigation against the Libyan state that followed. In the age of globalization, The Forgotten Flight provides a fascinating insight into the pursuit of justice across international borders.

The author will introduce his book, followed by comments by three commentators:

In this keynote lecture, leading political writer Timothy Garton Ash will present his ten guiding principles for a connected world, and offer a manifesto for global free speech in the digital age. Drawing on a lifetime of writing about dictatorships and dissidents, Oxford Professor of European Studies Timothy Garton Ash will argue that we are currently experiencing an unprecedented era in human history for freedom of expression.

If we have internet access, any one of us can publish almost anything we like, potentially reaching an audience of millions. Never was there a time when the evils of unlimited speech flowed so easily across frontiers: violent intimidation, gross violations of privacy, tidal waves of abuse. A pastor burns a Koran in Florida and UN officials die in Afghanistan.

In this connected world that he calls cosmopolis, the way to combine freedom and diversity is to have more but also better free speech. Across all cultural divides, we must strive to agree on how we disagree.

Professor Garton Ash will draw on a unique, thirteen-language global conversation and online research project, freespeechdebate.com, alongside his latest book, Free Speech, to present his ten principles for a connected world.

He will illustrate his talk with vivid examples from his personal experience of China's Orwellian censorship apparatus, to the controversy around Charlie Hebdo, to a very English court case involving food writer Nigella Lawson, and propose a framework for civilized conflict in a world in which we are all becoming neighbours.

Mark Knights, Professor of History, University of Warwick, gives a talk for the FLJS Seminar Series on 2nd May 2017. Is there, as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Liz Truss has suggested, a 'settled will of the people'? If so, how is this best expressed: through a referendum, through Parliament, or through petitions?

We have recently seen enormous e-petitions about Brexit and Donald Trump's visit to the UK; but what is the history of petitioning in British political culture and how does the voice of the petitioner square with other forms of representation? What indeed, was the legal status of a petition, and how was this disputed?

In this lecture, Professor Mark Knights of the University of Warwick will assess how the will of the British people has been expressed through the device of petitioning throughout the ages, and draw lessons for the Britain of today.

Bill Kissane, Associate Professor in Politics, London School of Economics and Political Science, gives a talk for the FLJS seminar series. The people are angry and want change. Across Europe, the United States, and elsewhere, the people, or more accurately, segments of the People, are demonstrating their discontent and disenchantment with some of the ideas and institutions at the foundations of contemporary Western societies.

Whether it be a growing intolerance of difference and the revival of nationalist sentiments, disaffection with the institutions of government and demands for more direct forms of democracy, or fears over national security and the emergence of populist, charismatic leaders, such illiberal trends have gained significant traction in recent years.

In this workshop, a roundtable of experts from around Europe and the US will debate the issues, and assess the implications of these rising currents for national constitutions and that of the European Union.

John W Adams, Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University, gives a talk for the FLJS seminar series. The people are angry and want change. Across Europe, the United States, and elsewhere, the people, or more accurately, segments of the People, are demonstrating their discontent and disenchantment with some of the ideas and institutions at the foundations of contemporary Western societies.

Whether it be a growing intolerance of difference and the revival of nationalist sentiments, disaffection with the institutions of government and demands for more direct forms of democracy, or fears over national security and the emergence of populist, charismatic leaders, such illiberal trends have gained significant traction in recent years.

In this workshop, a roundtable of experts from around Europe and the US will debate the issues, and assess the implications of these rising currents for national constitutions and that of the European Union.

Professor Paul Craig, Professor in English Law, Oxford, gives a talk for the FLJS seminar series. Following the High Court ruling that the government, under a centuries-old Royal Prerogative, does not have the power to trigger Article 50 to leave the EU, MPs have claimed that we are entering a full-blown constitutional crisis.

Lady Hale, Deputy President of the Supreme Court, has stated that the Miller v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union case raises ‘difficult and delicate issues’ about the constitutional relationship between the UK executive and the legislature.

In this lecture, Professor Denis Galligan will set out the principles of Britain's unwritten or uncodified constitution, and assess the implications for the ongoing dispute over the respective roles of Parliament, the House of Lords, and the Courts in shaping the UK's post-Referendum future.

This lecture forms part of a larger workshop entitled 'Beyond the Liberal Constitution: European Voices of Dissent and the Constitutional Consequences'.

Professor Denis Galligan, Professor of Socio-Legal Studies and Fellow of Wolfson College at the University of Oxford, gives a talk for the FLJS Seminar Series. Following the High Court ruling that the government, under a centuries-old Royal Prerogative, does not have the power to trigger Article 50 to leave the EU, MPs have claimed that we are entering a full-blown constitutional crisis.

Lady Hale, Deputy President of the Supreme Court, has stated that the Miller v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union case raises ‘difficult and delicate issues’ about the constitutional relationship between the UK executive and the legislature.

In this lecture, Professor Denis Galligan will set out the principles of Britain's unwritten or uncodified constitution, and assess the implications for the ongoing dispute over the respective roles of Parliament, the House of Lords, and the Courts in shaping the UK's post-Referendum future.

This lecture forms part of a larger workshop entitled 'Beyond the Liberal Constitution: European Voices of Dissent and the Constitutional Consequences'.

By Alan Angell, author of *Democracy after Pinochet*SPEAKER: Alan Angell, Member of the Latin America Centre, Oxford; Emeritus Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford; and author of Democracy after Pinochet. As the UK emerges from its own bruising referendum campaign, we present a screening of NO — the Oscar nominated dramatization of the 1988 referendum in Chile to decide the future of the country’s military dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Rather than focusing on the negative legacy of sixteen years of brutal dictatorship, the ‘No’ campaign enlisted the services of a young advertising executive to present a message filled with the promise of hope and happiness on offer under a new democratic system.

Interweaving documentary footage of the surreally optimistic actual advertising campaign, the film uses a now obsolete video format to seamlessly blend documentary and drama. In doing so, it raises probing questions about both the line between truth and fiction, and the possibilities and pitfalls of direct democracy.

Nominated for Best Foreign Language Oscar and starring Gael García Bernal, NO is a funny and inspiring account of a referendum campaign that offers a much-needed lesson from history in the wake of recent campaigns in the UK, Colombia, and Hungary.

Alan Angell, author of Democracy after Pinochet and Emeritus Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford, will give an introductory talk to accompany the screening. He was an observer at the 1988 referendum in Chile and ran a programme for academic refugees from Chile to study in the UK. He is an Associate Member of the Latin America Centre, Oxford, and has written on many aspects of Chilean democracy and on the left in Latin America.

Professor Dan Robinson gives a talk on the First Amendment in the US Constitution and the philosophy of John Locke. The First Amendment has had a mixed pedigree and a difficult birth. In this lecture, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Dan Robinson will demonstrate that, in offering protection of the basic liberties — freedom of religion, speech, press, petition, and assembly — the clear language of the First Amendment's final form has been no bar to diverse and conflicting interpretations. This leaves unsettled the question of just what constitutes 'speech' and the grounds on which it loses the Amendment's protection.

Professor Robinson will chart the development of philosophical thought on these freedoms from John Locke to the present day, and address the question of how courts navigate these conflicting interpretations. Operating as they do within the wider cultural climate of the day, he will assess whether the courts do, and should, remain immune to its fluctuating pressures.

This lecture forms part of a series on Free Speech convened by Professor Sir Richard Sorabji.

Professor Dan Robinson is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Georgetown University and a Fellow of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford.