Comparative Equality And Anti Discrimination Law

This revised and updated casebook comprehensively compares the U.S. legal approach to problems of inequality and discrimination with the approaches of a variety of other legal systems around the world.

Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law uses a problem-based approach to examine a global view of equality and anti-discrimination law, comparing U.S., European, and other national, regional and international legal systems, including those of India, China, Brazil and South Africa.The book covers nine topic modules:� Theories of Equality� Sources of Anti-discrimination Law� Employment Discrimination and Harassment (race, sex, age, disability)� Marriage Equality (race, same-sex)� Affirmative Action (race, caste, origin)/Gender Parity� Hate Speech (race, sex, religion)� Reproductive Rights� Secularism and the Rights of Religious Minorities� Rights of Persons with Disabilities (available only on the comparative equality website).The book is used as a textbook at Berkeley Law, Stanford Law, Georgetown Law, Fordham Law, the University of California Irvine, the Sorbonne, Sciences-Po Paris, and several other leading universities.For more information, visit comparativeequality.org

This book focuses on anti-discrimination law in order to identify commonalities and best practices across nations. Almost every nation in the world embraces the principle of equality and non-discrimination, in theory if not in practice. As the authors' expert contributions establish, the sources of the principle vary considerably, from international treaties to religious law, traditions and more. There are many approaches to methods of enforcement and other variables, but the principle is nearly universal. What does a comparison of the laws and approaches across different lands reveal? Readers may explore the enforcement and effectiveness of anti-discrimination law from 25 nations, across six continents. Esteemed authors examine national, regional and international systems looking for common and best practices, identifying innovative approaches to long-standing problems. The many ways that anti-discrimination law is enforced are brought to light, from criminal or civil prosecution through to community resolution processes, amongst others. Through comparing the approaches of different lands, the authors consider which methods of enforcement are effective. These enriching national and international perspectives highlight the need for more creative, concrete and coordinated means of enforcement to ensure the effectiveness of anti-discrimination law, regardless of the legal tradition concerned, but in light of these traditions. Readers will find each nation remarkable, and learn something new and interesting from each report.

This collection, which stems from the International Conference on Comparative Non-Discrimination Law held at Utrecht, The Netherlands, in June 1998, covers both the general aspects of equality and non-discrimination law (Part I), as well as the specific grounds for discrimination, adverse impact or indirect discrimination, and affirmative action (Part II). Part III discusses diverse aspects of the enforcement of non-discrimination law; Part IV contains conclusions and an agenda for change. This book is unique in that it both provides a comparative view of anti-discrimination law in theory and practice, and looks at a wide range of grounds for discrimination, such as gender, race, religion and health. Its comparative and international approach renders this publication not only of interest to civil rights lawyers, but to all those engaged in human rights and comparative law.

EU equality law is multidimensional in being based on different rationales and concepts. Consequently, the concept of discrimination has become fragmented, with different instruments envisaging different scopes of protection. This raises questions as to the ability of EU law to address the situation of persons excluded on a number of grounds. This edited collection addresses the increasing complexity of European Equality Law from jurisprudential, sociological and political science perspectives. Internationally renowned researchers from Scandinavian, Continental and Central European countries and Britain analyse consequences of multiplying discrimination grounds within EU equality law, considering its multidimensionality and intersectionality. The contributors to the volume theorise the move from formal to substantive equality law and its interrelation to new forms of governance, demonstrating the specific combination of non-discrimination law with welfare state models which reveal the global implications of the European Union. The book will be of interest to academics and policy makers all over the world, in particular to those researching and studying law, political sciences and sociology with an interest in human rights, non discrimination law, contract and employment law or European studies.

Drawing on a data set of 696 documents – competition and state aid judgments, orders and opinions of the European Courts, and Advocates’ General opinions referring to various soft law instruments – this detailed textual and doctrinal analysis investigates the way in which the EU Courts deal with soft law, how the normative status of these instruments is acknowledged, and how their effects are recognized. It reveals that several ‘champion’ instruments feature frequently in the case law: the guidelines on fines and the leniency notice in competition law, the state aid instruments on aid to be granted to enterprises in difficulty, regional aid, de minimis aid, and aid to be granted to SMEs – all of them having in common the fact that they regulate highly litigated areas. The analysis treats issues such as the following: ; the pathway from judicial ignorance to judicial acknowledgement of soft law; ; the judicial creation of legal ‘hybrids’; the judicial review of soft law; the potential use of soft law as a ‘sword’ or as a ‘shield’ in a court of law; the distinction between legally binding force and legal effects; how soft law can produce legal effects through the operation of general principles of law such as legitimate expectations, legal certainty, or human rights; and how the Courts locate soft law on a strong constitutional pluralist background. Although the analysis might appear to relate to a fairly narrow spectrum of EU law, in fact the interaction of soft law and legal principles reaches into many diverse areas of law, and increasingly so in the twenty-first century. Consequently, this ground-breaking book will prove immeasurably valuable to any practitioner, academic, or policymaker interested in how the EU Court is fulfilling once again its constitutionalizing role, even in an area traditionally lacking formalism and conventions: that of soft instruments of governance.

Human history is marked by group and individual struggles for emancipation, equality and self-expression. This first volume in the Brill Research Perspectives in Comparative Discrimination Law briefly explores some of the history underlying these efforts in the field of discrimination law. A broad discussion of the historical development of issues of discrimination is first set out, looking at certain international, regional and national bases for modern discrimination legal structures. Several of the theoretical frameworks invoked in a comparative discrimination law analysis are then addressed, either as institutional frameworks or theories addressing specific protection grounds. This first volume is dedicated to setting out an introduction to the field of comparative discrimination law to give the reader a platform from which to undertake further reading and research in the compelling topic of comparative discrimination law.