Table Of ContentAnalysing Leading Works in Law
LEADING WORKS IN LAW AND
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Edited by
Faith Gordon and Daniel Newman
This is a fascinating examination of the foundations of social justice and the
role law plays in helping and harming the pursuit of justice. Anyone interested
in law and social justice has to read this book!
Professor Bill Quigley, College of Law, Loyola
University New Orleans and Director of the Loyola
Law Clinic and the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center
This book is being published soon after the death of the legendary Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, who personifed the marriage of law and social justice as few other
jurists have done. The rush to fll the vacancy left on the US Supreme Court in
the aftermath of her passing should leave no-one in doubt about the inherent
connection between law and politics. At a time when the stakes have never
been higher, as authoritarian politicians seek to deepen social divisions, and at
times threaten democratic governance and rule of law itself, this collection of
essays provides a reference point, and a repository of hope, for those seeking
to mobilise law in the ongoing fght for social justice.
Professor Leanne Weber, University of Canberra,
Faculty of Arts, Monash University
This inter-disciplinary community of authors addresses key contemporary
issues including colonialism, black lives matter, feminism and legal education.
The result is the pieces of their jigsaw create a picture of identifcation, chal-
lenge, opportunity and change.
Emeritus Professor Phil Thomas, Law Department, Cardiff University
and Editor of the Journal of Law and Society
Leading Works in Law and Social Justice integrates a diversity of contemporary
refections on the topic. In this effort the selection of chapters highlight both
the diversity of perspectives and themes that cross the feld. A fundamental
work for those interested in the different ways in which the law, legal institu-
tions and their operators can contribute to different types of social justice in
our societies.
Dr Karina Ansolabehere, Professor at the Latin American School of
Social Sciences, Mexico (Flacso México) and a researcher with the
National Autonomous University of Mexico
‘In the post pandemic world, where climate change, environmental destruc-
tion, profound inequality, violence and gross exploitation threaten life on a
daily basis, the struggle against all forms of injustice has never been more
urgent. A book which provides law students with inspiration to advocate on
behalf of marginalised peoples could not be more timely. Rather than valoris-
ing the Law, the diverse and excellent essays in Leading Works in Law and
Social Justice understand the law as one means, among others, in the ongoing
endeavour to achieve social justice’.
Professor Chris Cunneen, Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous
Education and Research, University of Technology, Sydney
Leading Works in Law and
Social Justice
This book assesses the role of social justice in legal scholarship and its potential
future development by focusing upon the ‘leading works’ of the discipline.
The rise of socio-legal studies over recent decades has led to a more
interdisciplinary approach to the study of law, which prioritises placing law into
its wider social context. Recognising the role that culture, economics, and politics
play in the development of law is important in order to fully understand the
position and impact of law in society. Innovative and written in an engaging
way, this collection includes leading and emerging scholars from across the
world. Each contributor has been invited to select and analyse a ‘leading work’,
a publication which has for them shed light on the way that law and social
justice are interlinked and has infuenced their own understanding, scholarship,
advocacy, and, in some instances, activism. The book also includes a specially
written foreword and afterword, which critically refect upon the contributions of
the ‘leading works’ to consider the role that social justice has played in law and
legal education and the likely future path for social justice in legal scholarship.
This book will be an essential resource for all those working in the areas of
social justice, socio-legal studies, and legal philosophy. It will be of wider interest
to the social sciences more generally.
Faith Gordon is Senior Lecturer at the ANU College of Law, the Australian
National University, Canberra, Australia.
Daniel Newman is Senior Lecturer at Cardiff Law School, Cardiff, Wales.
Analysing Leading Works in Law
In an age where legal education is undergoing considerable change and facing
a number of challenges, the Analysing Leading Works in Law series is designed
to explore how the study of Law and legal sub-disciplines have developed so far
and their likely future. The purpose of the series is to fre critical light at the way
in which sub-disciplines within Law understand themselves and perpetuate their
identity.
Each book focuses upon a different legal sub-discipline. It asks leading and
emerging scholars in the feld to select and analyse a ‘leading work’, one which
has contributed internationally to the development of the sub-discipline as
a whole. The chapters explore the likely implications and applications of the
leading work upon the sub-discipline in question. The discussion may be in
part autobiographical, exploring how the work in question has impacted upon
the contributor’s own scholarship and understanding of the sub-discipline in
question.
The books in this series are intended to assess the development of the sub-
discipline in question and examine its potential future development. The leading
works chosen are not meant to be exhaustive; they are simply illustrative and a
means by which the contributors refect upon the often unspoken question about
how and why a sub-discipline has developed in the way that it has and the way in
which it could develop in the future.
Series Editor: Russell Sandberg, Cardiff University, UK
Titles in this series:
Leading Works in Law and Religion
Edited by Russell Sandberg
Leading Works in Law and Social Justice
Edited by Faith Gordon and Daniel Newman
For more information about this series, please visit: https :/ /ww w .rou tledg e .com
/Anal ysing -Lead ing -W orks- in -La w /boo k -ser ies /L EADIN GWORK S
Leading Works in Law and
Social Justice
Edited by Faith Gordon and
Daniel Newman
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Faith Gordon and Daniel Newman;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Faith Gordon and Daniel Newman to be identifed as the authors of
the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent
to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gordon, Faith, editor. | Newman, Daniel, editor.
Title: Leading works in law and social justice / edited by Faith Gordon and
Daniel Newman.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021.
| Series: Analysing leading works in law | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifers: LCCN 2020045580 (print) | LCCN 2020045581 (ebook) | ISBN
9780367253974 (hardback) | ISBN 9780429287572 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Social justice. | Sociological jurisprudence. | Law and the
social sciences.
Classifcation: LCC K376 .L413 2021 (print) | LCC K376 (ebook) | DDC
340/.115--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn .loc .gov /2020045580
LC ebook record available at https://lccn .loc .gov /2020045581
ISBN: 978-0-367-25397-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-28757-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Galliard
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Foreword x
List of contributors xii
Introduction: Law and Social Justice 1
FAITH GORDON AND DANIEL NEWMAN
1 Lifetimes of Commitment to Law and Social Justice 7
JACQUELINE A. KINGHAN
2 Decolonial Violence and the ‘Native Intellectual’ 18
PATRICIA TUITT
3 A Very British Domination Contract?:
Charles W. Mills’ Theoretical Framework
and Understanding Social Justice in Britain 30
ZARA BAIN
4 Marx and Anti-Colonialism 48
THALIA ANTHONY
5 The Law of Peoples 66
HUW WILLIAMS
6 Naming ‘Femicide’ 85
ASHLEY ROGERS
7 Feminist Legal Engagements towards
a Transformative Justice 99
JANE KRISHNADAS
viii Contents
8 Social Justice and the Limits of Regulation: The Enduring
Insights of Marx’s Capital 110
STEVE TOMBS
9 Mariana Valverde: Scale, Jurisdiction, and Social Justice 123
JESS MANT
10 Policing the Union’s Black: The Racial Politics of Law and
Order in Contemporary Britain 137
LAMBROS FATSIS
11 Larissa Behrendt – Achieving Social Justice: Indigenous
Rights and Australia’s Future 151
ROBYN OXLEY
12 Beyond Criminology: Taking Harm Seriously 169
LYNNE COPSON
13 The Souls of Black Folk, by W.E.B. Du Bois 191
BHARAT MALKANI
14 At War with the Court’s ‘Sublime Complacency’:
Bob Woffnden Remembered 207
JON ROBINS
15 The Vulnerable Subject: Anchoring Equality
in the Human Condition (Martha Fineman) 226
ELLEN GORDON-BOUVIER
16 Refections on Law and Social Justice: Robin West,
‘Economic Man and Literary Woman’, Mercer Law Review 240
AMIR PAZ-FUCHS
Afterword: Intersections of Social Justice
and Socio-legal Scholarship 253
Index 259
Acknowledgements
The idea for this edited collection emerged from our unwavering passion for the
meaningful integration of social justice literature into the legal curriculum and
into the classroom. We have been inspired (and continue to be so) by literature
and encouraged by passionate teachers along the way to ‘think differently’, and
we hope that this collection will inspire those who want to see how and why law
and social justice are linked.
We are grateful to Cardiff Law School and Dr Sharon Thompson in particu-
lar, for hosting a guest seminar, which frst introduced us to one another. Series
Editor Professor Russell Sandberg’s enthusiasm for the original idea when it was
pitched to him and his continued support for the project have been invaluable.
This collection would not have been possible without the dedication of our
wonderful contributors. Working with the collection’s contributors and read-
ing and editing drafts of their chapters have been a joy and a journey – one
of refection, learning, and continuous inspiration. Special thanks to Baroness
Shami Chakrabarti CBE PC and Professor Hilary Sommerlad for engaging so
thoughtfully with the collection and for drawing on their inspiring expertise and
experience to contribute the foreword and afterword. To complete this edited
collection during a global pandemic was a great challenge, yet we were all united
in our commitment to do so.
Thank you also to our collegial colleagues at the ANU College of Law,
the Australian National University and the School of Law and Politics, Cardiff
University.
Faith would like to thank her parents, sister Serena, brother-in-law Jonathan,
baby niece Esmé Grace (who arrived just as this collection was being submit-
ted!), and her close friends for always showing a keen interest in this work. The
video-call meetings with Dan that sometimes included his wife, Rhian, and two
amazing children, Iolo and Besti, will always remain very special memories linked
to this project.
Dan would like to thank Rhian for always supporting, encouraging, and offer-
ing advice on this work throughout and Iolo and Betsi for always providing such
a welcome distraction with their antics. Thanks also to Faith – it is a glorious
thing to work with a friend, especially such a kind and generous one as she.
Faith and Dan
Australia and Wales, September 2020
