Justice Without Law

An examination of various types of litigation - arbitration, mediation, and conciliation.

In the minds of many, the provision of justice and security has long been linked to the state. To ask whether non-state institutions could deliver those services on their own, without the aid of coercive taxation and a monopoly franchise, runs the risk of being branded as naive anarchism or dangerous radicalism. Defenders of the state's monopoly on lawmaking and law enforcement typically assume that any alternative arrangement would favor the rich at the expense of the poor—or would lead to the collapse of social order and ignite a war. Questioning how well these beliefs hold up to scrutiny, this book offers a powerful rebuttal of the received view of the relationship between law and government. The book argues not only that the state is unnecessary for the establishment and enforcement of law, but also that non-state institutions would fight crime, resolve disputes, and render justice more effectively than the state, based on their stronger incentives.

Auerbach here focuses on the elite nature of the profession, examining its emphasis on serving business interests and its attempts to exclude participation by minorities.

The Chinese have, since ancient times, professed a non-litigious outlook. Similarly, their preference for mediation has fascinated the West for centuries. Mediation has been popularized by the Chinese who subscribe to the Confucian notions of harmony and compromise. It has been perpetuated in the People's Republic of China and by the overseas Chinese communities elsewhere, such as in Malaysia and Taiwan. Seen as the chief contributing factor in their litigation-averse nature, as well as the reason behind the significant role given to traditional mediation, this compelling book traces the cultural tradition of the Chinese. It uses rural Chinese Malaysians as illustrative examples and offers new insights into the nature of mediation East and West. It is an important reference and essential resource for anyone keen to learn about traditional Chinese concepts of law, justice and dispute settlement. Equally, it makes a unique contribution to the existing ADR literature by undertaking a socio-legal study on traditional Chinese mediation.

Justice Without Borders is a collection of essays on international criminal law, European criminal law and international cooperation of distinguished authors that honours Judge Wolfgang Schomburg on the occassion of his 70th birthday on 9 April 2018.

Albert Alschuler's study of Holmes is very different from other books about him, in that it is an exercise in debunking him.

The founding premise of this book is that the nimbus of prestige, which once surrounded the idea of justice, has now been dimmed to such a degree that it is no longer sufficient to secure the possibility of a good conscience for those who undertake, in good faith, to make the world a better place in the spheres of politics and law. The many decent human beings who have noticed and experienced this diminishment of justice’s prestige find themselves in a thoroughly disenchanted existential situation. For them, the attempt to do justice without the illusion of being grounded in something beyond the sheer facticity of their own performances is a distinctly ethical theme, which cries out to be investigated in its own right. Heeding the cry, this book asks and attempts to answer the following fundamental ethical question: is a life in the law – even one spent in the pursuit of justice – worth living, and if so, how can a disenchanted person come to bear the living of it without constantly having to engage in self-deception? If Nietzsche is right that living without illusions is impossible for human beings, then the most important ethical implication of this essentially anthropological fact goes far beyond the question of what illusions we ought to choose. It must also include the question of whether we should succumb to that most seductive and pernicious of all illusions: namely, the belief that exercising great care and responsibility in choosing our illusions – which we might then call our ‘principles of justice’ – excuses us ethically for what we do to others in their name. The culmination of a 10 year legal-philosophical project, this book will appeal to graduate students, scholars and curious non-academic intellectuals interested in continental philosophy, critical legal theory, postmodern theology, the philosophy of human rights and the study of individual ethics in the context of law.

This book focuses on decision-making by non-state justice institutions at the interface of traditional, religious, and state laws. The authors discuss the implications of non-state justice for the rule of law, presenting case studies on traditional councils and courts in Pakistan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Bolivia and South Africa.