This article draws on Niklas Luhmann's theory and method to present transnational social movement organizations as a solution to the problem of increased expectations of global public goods which fail to find adequate accommodation in law. As a concrete example of the limits of law in this respect, it examines the non liquet of the World Court on the question of the illegality of nuclear weapons. The trajectory of anti-nuclear norms is traced beyond the limits of law to the alternative structure of transnational social movement organizations, and the article presents such organizations as stabilizing increased expectations of global public goods through their recursive decision making and their capacity to continuously project those expectations at the legal and political systems. This generates observations on the concept of`global governance', the structural relations between global civil society and international law, and the role of this form of organization in the evolution of the global political system.
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This article compares defamation law in England and Wales with that of Northern Ireland and analyses whether the current law in Northern Ireland is having a ‘chilling effect’ on free speech. At the time of writing, the Northern Ireland Assembly is formally considering adopting legislation based on the Defamation Act 2013 which reformed the law in England and Wales. The article aims to contribute to that debate in Northern Ireland, but it should also be of broader interest as an analysis of the effectiveness of the Defamation Act 2013. The article focuses on three key areas of reform, in both the Defamation Act 2013 and the Northern Ireland Defamation Bill: the presumption of jury trial, the threshold of seriousness, and the public interest defence. It demonstrates that the different approach of the law in Northern Ireland in these areas did not simply occur with the enactment of the 2013 Act, but rather that it started several years before that with a divergence from developments in the common law in England and Wales. The article argues that the difference has been entrenched by the changes in the 2013 Act, and that, in relation to each of those areas, the law in Northern Ireland is now on a singular course and one that can be seen to have a definite ‘chilling effect’ on free speech.
This article compares defamation law in England and Wales with that of Northern Ireland and analyses whether the current law in Northern Ireland is having a ‘chilling effect’ on free speech. At the time of writing, the Northern Ireland Assembly is formally considering adopting legislation based on the Defamation Act 2013 which reformed the law in England and Wales. The article aims to contribute to that debate in Northern Ireland, but it should also be of broader interest as an analysis of the effectiveness of the Defamation Act 2013. The article focuses on three key areas of reform, in both the Defamation Act 2013 and the Northern Ireland Defamation Bill: the presumption of jury trial, the threshold of seriousness, and the public interest defence. It demonstrates that the different approach of the law in Northern Ireland in these areas did not simply occur with the enactment of the 2013 Act, but rather that it started several years before that with a divergence from developments in the common law in England and Wales. The article argues that the difference has been entrenched by the changes in the 2013 Act, and that, in relation to each of those areas, the law in Northern Ireland is now on a singular course and one that can be seen to have a definite ‘chilling effect’ on free speech.
This Article uses social systems theory to examine the increased reliance on a distinction between substantive and procedural international law to resolve cases involving a conflict betweenjus cogensand state immunity. This presents the problem of an evolutionary relationship between international law and the complex differentiation of world society. International law is shown to be structurally related to the segmentary differentiation of states that underwrites modern society's functional differentiation. At the same time, it is shown to be structurally related to the increasing formulation of global norms that result from advanced functional differentiation. The Article then turns to examining the substantive/procedural law distinction as a solution to this dual functional reference problem. The distinction is shown to not only maintain the autopoiesis of law under these difficult conditions, but to also secure law's continued functional relevance in globalized society. This functionalist perspective is used to expose differences in the self-description and operation of international law, to point out how law has been blind to its own coding, and to highlight opportunities for programming law to respond in a more constructive manner to the challenges of globalization.
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