Traditionally, the role of law has been to implement political decisions concerning the relationship between science and society. Increasingly, however, as our understanding of the complex dynamic between law, science and society deepens, this instrumental characterisation is seen to be inadequate, but as yet we have only a limited conception of what might take its place. In short, there is a need for new research and scholarship, and it is to that need that this series responds.
By Andreas Kotsakis
January 09, 2023
This book presents a legal genealogy of biodiversity – of its strategic use before and after the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 1993. This history of ‘genetic gold’ details how, with the aid of international law, the idea of biodiversity has been instrumentalized towards ...
By Tiina Paloniitty
August 19, 2022
This book addresses the role of law in the adaptive management of socio-ecological systems. Recent years have witnessed a rise in discussion over the relation between adaptivity and law, as if after decades of insouciance, legal scholars have finally started to understand the impacts of the ...
By Irus Braverman
April 15, 2022
Despite their centrality to the operation of contemporary accredited zoo and aquarium institutions, the work of zoo veterinarians has rarely been the focus of a critical analysis in the social science and humanities. Drawing on in-depth interviews and observations of zoo and aquarium veterinarians,...
Edited
By Jamie Murray, Thomas Webb, Steven Wheatley
December 03, 2019
This collection of essays explores the different ways the insights from complexity theory can be applied to law. Complexity theory – a variant of systems theory – views law as an emergent, complex, self-organising system comprised of an interactive network of actors and systems that operate with no...
By Michael Anthony C. Dizon
March 21, 2019
The relationship between hacking and the law has always been complex and conflict-ridden. This book examines the relations and interactions between hacking and the law with a view to understanding how hackers influence and are influenced by technology laws and policies. In our increasingly digital ...
By Roger Brownsword
February 25, 2019
This book considers the implications of the regulatory burden being borne increasingly by technological management rather than by rules of law. If crime is controlled, if human health and safety are secured, if the environment is protected, not by rules but by measures of technological ...
Edited
By Irus Braverman
January 03, 2019
Technologies like CRISPR and gene drives are ushering in a new era of genetic engineering, wherein the technical means to modify DNA are cheaper, faster, more accurate, more widely accessible, and with more far-reaching effects than ever before. These cutting-edge technologies raise legal, ethical,...
By Riikka Koulu
October 09, 2018
The use of new information and communication technologies both inside the courts and in private online dispute resolution services is quickly changing everyday conflict management. However, the implications of the increasingly disruptive role of technology in dispute resolution remain largely ...
Edited
By Alexia Herwig, Marta Simoncini
June 15, 2018
Disasters raise serious challenges for contemporary legal orders: they demand significant management, but usually amidst massive disruption to the normal functioning of state authority and society. When dealing with disasters, law has traditionally focused on contingency planning and recovery. More...
By Andrew Balmer
May 29, 2018
This book develops a sociological account of lie detection practices and uses this to think about lying more generally. Bringing together insights from sociology, social history, socio-legal studies and science and technology studies (STS), it explores how torture and technology have been used to ...
By Marcus Smith, Monique Mann, Gregor Urbas
February 16, 2018
This book addresses the use of biometrics – including fingerprint identification, DNA identification and facial recognition – in the criminal justice system: balancing the need to ensure society is protected from harms, such as crime and terrorism, while also preserving individual rights. It offers...
Edited
By Emilie Cloatre, Martyn Pickersgill
March 03, 2016
The relationships between knowledge, technologies, and legal processes are central to the constitution of contemporary societies. As such, they have come to provide the focus for a range of academic projects, across interdisciplinary legal studies and the social sciences. The domains of ...
