tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876862148358784705.post3136657896343349155..comments2024-03-11T19:40:23.089+00:00Comments on Views from the bike shed: Law - and its limitsThe bike shedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05195882998271591934noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876862148358784705.post-40146789405017428742013-11-19T19:05:03.879+00:002013-11-19T19:05:03.879+00:00And for the record so am I - Locke and Mill and th...And for the record so am I - Locke and Mill and the whole bally lot of those old liberals !! The point about mediation is interesting and rings very true - so too does the 'law places conflict and dispute in the hands of other people'.<br />And sadly, policy as well as law is not about justice either.The bike shedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05195882998271591934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876862148358784705.post-11695169775125561622013-11-19T18:48:03.418+00:002013-11-19T18:48:03.418+00:00I'm with Helen - preferring Locke: 'Where-...I'm with Helen - preferring Locke: 'Where-ever law ends, tyranny begins, if the law be transgressed to another’s harm; and whosoever in authority exceeds the power given him by the law, and makes use of the force he has under his command, to compass that upon the subject, which the law allows not, ceases in that to be a magistrate...' But it's idealistic. It's naive. It fails to understand that laws are socially constructed - and that social construction is in the hands of the powerful.The powerful will forever be those who control cultural and social definitions - and this includes drafting and interpretation of law and laws. I fear now (years after graduating with that law degree and years after beginning practice) that my faith in law and legal process was deeply misplaced. Law places conflict or dispute in the hands of 'other people' - the lawyers and the judges. The parties become invisible. Their choices dictated by 'what the law or the process permits or recognises and validates'. I've noticed that mediation outcomes are every bit as 'good' or 'positive' and productive as those reached in a court room. The empirical research is beginning to validate mediation as a positive route to resolution of disputes. From relatively minor community disputes, to family disputes to the type of mediation which takes place in those countries reforming after genocide or decades of civil war. Law certainly has its limits. Not least that it is not really about justice. sansserifhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16445280597626572292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876862148358784705.post-57744713052418731172013-11-17T21:21:21.399+00:002013-11-17T21:21:21.399+00:00Retired....but still fascinated by law and the pra...Retired....but still fascinated by law and the practice of law.<br />I did think about qualifying in Costa Rica.....but I've other responsibilities which take precedence.<br /><br />When it comes to a social contract I've always favoured Locke over Hobbes; but in reality law is made by the powerful to protect their own interests - we've been lucky to have periods when some of the powerful have also been just.<br />We're not living in one such period at present. Anywhere.<br /><br />Helen Devrieshttp://asurfeitofpalfreys.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876862148358784705.post-32620527940705366512013-11-17T19:31:45.111+00:002013-11-17T19:31:45.111+00:00Helen - and you a former lawyer too! (Actually is...Helen - and you a former lawyer too! (Actually is that possible - aren't you always a lawyer? Perhaps it should be 'lawyer, non-practicing')<br /><br />Wonder what it's like in Costa Rica - much the same I expect?The bike shedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05195882998271591934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876862148358784705.post-90725193831333412472013-11-17T14:11:23.101+00:002013-11-17T14:11:23.101+00:00Back to the Holy Roman Empire then....just like th...Back to the Holy Roman Empire then....just like the U.N. of our day: great claims not borne out in reality.Helen Devrieshttp://asurfeitofpalfreys.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com