Max Planck Lawcast

Guest: Nina Cozzi (Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory)

After the liberation of Italian territory from the Nazi-Fascist regime, the government begun work on the drafting of a new constitution. One of the most novel aspects of the 1948 constitution was Article 37, which entitled working women the right to equal pay with their male counterparts. In this episode, Nina Cozzi reconstructs the path that led to the introduction of equal pay in 1948, with a clear focus on how women’s access to what had previously been considered ‘male jobs’ provided the impetus for more frequent and vocal demands for fairness. Moreover, she highlights how employers reacted to this major legal innovation and ends by looking at whether the principle of equal pay in Italy has indeed stood the test of time.  

(Audio Production: www.citysoundstudio.de)

Guest: Jan Peter Schmidt (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law)

In this episode Jan Peter Schmidt discusses the long-standing tradition that the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and Private International Law (MPI) has of providing expert opinions on foreign law for German courts. To this end, the MPI supports judges in resolving cross-border cases which according to the rules of private international law are to be decided not according to German law but to foreign law.

(Audio Production: www.citysoundstudio.de)

Guest: Philipp Sauter (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law)

In this episode Christopher Murphy talks with Philipp Sauter about nuclear fusion. As opposed to nuclear fission, i.e., splitting a heavy atomic nucleus into smaller nuclei, nuclear fusion uses the opposite approach to combine - or fuse - light atomic nuclei into heavier ones.

Through recent scientific breakthroughs the possibility of using nuclear fusion to provide the world with a practically inexhaustible source of green energy has become tantalisingly close. Consequently, the time is right to discuss how this tremendous power should be best regulated to ensure maximum safety while not stifling scientific ingenuity.

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Guest: Nadjma Yassari (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law)

In this episode Christopher Murphy learns from Nadjma Yassari, head of the Research Group 'Changes in God’s Law' at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, how societal beliefs and assumptions on the role of mothers and fathers have led legislatures in Germany and Iran to accept or reject egg donation to overcome infertility.

(Audio Production: www.citysoundstudio.de)

Guest: Erica Ollikainen-Read (Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory)

In this episode of the Lawcast, Erica Ollikainen-Read explains to Christopher Murphy that the British Empire was not just shipping, merchants, soldiers, cannon, and conquest. Rather, some of the most long-lasting parts of the British Empire are the ideas, laws, and symbols which Britain transplanted to their colonies, some of which remain to this day. One such case in point is India, where the British colonial presence and the nature of Britain’s priorities shifted over time. By viewing the law from the perspective of communication, we can see how colonial legal culture and the way in which it was used as a tool for control in India also changed.

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Modern policing increasingly relies on the extensive use of personal data collected in large-scale databases which are rendered interoperable and automatically searchable through modern AI technologies. With this strategy, security authorities seek to become more effective and efficient, to the point that potential offenders may be automatically detected before a crime occurs.

However, AI-powered predictive policing entails a range of concerns as it not only serves to radically expand the state’s powers of surveillance and coercion but can result in bias and opacity, thereby subverting well-established legal standards.

In Part #2 of this special series, Christian Thönnes (MPI Freiburg) hosts a round table discussion with Nandor Knust (Tromso) and Tatiana Tropina (Leiden).

For additional information: https://csl.mpg.de/forschungsgruppen/crime-control-and-criminal-justice

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The impact of AI on law enforcement and the administration of justice is a contentious issue, offering both promise and peril. While it holds the potential to reshape these domains, there are inherent dangers to navigate. Chief among these concerns is the potential for AI to amplify state powers, risking coercion, intrusion, and excessive surveillance, all of which raise significant human rights issues.

In Part #1 of this special series, Linus Ensel (MPI Freiburg) hosts a round table discussion with Emmanouil Billis (MPI Freiburg), Julian Roberts (Oxford), and Elizabeth Tiarks (Northumbria).

For additional information: https://csl.mpg.de/forschungsgruppen/crime-control-and-criminal-justice

(Audio Production: www.citysoundstudio.de)

Guest: Carolyn Moser (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law)

In this episode Christopher Murphy holds a captivating discussion with Carolyn Moser, Head of the Max Planck Research Group ENSURE (European Security Revisited), thereby shedding light on security and defence in the European Union (EU), with a particular focus on the transformative impact of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Against this backdrop, the interview navigates the intriguing confluence of factors that are currently shaping the EU’s law and policy response to the evolving and increasingly challenging geopolitical landscape.

(Audio Production: www.citysoundstudio.de)

Guest: Alicia Haripershad (Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory)

In this episode Christopher Murphy talks with Alicia Haripershad about her preliminary findings on the role of missionaries as legal actors in the British colonies of South Africa and Zambia. Given that missionaries contributed to the foundation of formal education in several British colonies, the discussion assesses their actions through a legal lens, identifying the impact on race, gender, and socioeconomic status for the indigenous population.

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Guest: Victoria Hooton (Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory)

In this episode Christopher Murphy travels back in time with Victoria Hooton to discuss the regulation of poverty in England and Wales in the early 17th century, with a specific focus on the 1601 Act for the Relief of the Poor. The Act reflected the prevailing moral sensibilities of the time, regarding who the worthy and the unworthy poor were and where the boundaries of welfare responsibility were to be drawn. After providing an overview of the legislation, the focus turns to the implementation of this welfare system in the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick during the mid-18th and 19th century.

(Audio Production: www.citysoundstudio.de)