Feminist Judgments

From Theory to Practice

Rosemary Hunter, Clare McGlynn, Erika Rackley, Rosemary Hunter, Clare McGlynn, Erika Rackley

• Publisher: Hart Publishing
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9781849460538
• eBook ISBN: 9781847316011
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Gender & The Law
• Index: Law

While feminist legal scholarship has thrived within universities and in some sectors of legal practice, it has yet to have much impact within the judiciary or on judicial thinking. Thus, while feminist legal scholarship has generated comprehensive critiques of existing legal doctrine, there has been little opportunity to test or apply feminist knowledge in practice, in decisions in individual cases. In this book, a group of feminist legal scholars put theory into practice in judgment form, by writing the 'missing' feminist judgments in key cases. The cases chosen are significant decisions in English law across a broad range of substantive areas. The cases originate from a variety of levels but are primarily opinions of the Court of Appeal or the House of Lords. In some instances they are written in a fictitious appeal, but in others they are written as an additional concurring or dissenting judgment in the original case, providing a powerful illustration of the way in which the case could have been decided differently, even at the time it was heard. Each case is accompanied by a commentary which renders the judgment accessible to a non-specialist audience. The commentary explains the original decision, its background and doctrinal significance, the issues it raises, and how the feminist judgment deals with them differently. The books also includes chapters examining the theoretical and conceptual issues raised by the process and practice of feminist judging, and by the judgments themselves, including the possibility of divergent feminist approaches to legal decision-making. From the foreword by Lady Hale
'Reading this book ought to be a chastening experience for any judge who believes himself or herself to be both true to their judicial oath and a neutral observer of the world… If lawyers and judges like me have so much to learn from reading this book, then surely other, more sceptical, lawyers and judges have even more to learn…other scholars, and not only feminists, must also be fascinated by the window it opens onto the process of judicial reasoning: not the straightforward, predetermined march from A to B of popular belief, but something altogether more complicated and uncertain. And anyone will find it a very good read.'

Table of contents

• Cover
• Prelims
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Notes on Contributors
• Table of Cases
• Table of Statutes and Legislation
• Part I Introduction and Overview
• 1 Feminist Judgments: An Introduction
• 2 An Account of Feminist Judging
• 3 The Art and Craft of Writing Judgments: Notes on the Feminist Judgments Project
• Part II Parenting
• 4 Commentary on Evans v Amicus Healthcare Ltd
• 5 Commentary on Re N (A Child)
• 6 Commentary on Re G (Children) (Residence: Same-Sex Partner)
• 7 Commentary on Re L (A Child) (Contact: Domestic Violence)
• 8 Commentary on Re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation)
• Part III Property and Markets
• 9 Commentary on Royal Bank of Scotland Plc v Etridge (No 2)
• 10 Commentary on Porter v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis
• 11 Commentary on Baird Textile Holdings v Marks & Spencer Plc
• Part IV Criminal Law and Evidence
• 12 Commentary on R v A (No 2)
• 13 Commentary on R v Stone and Dobinson
• 14 Commentary on R v Brown
• 15 Commentary on R v Dhaliwal
• 16 Commentary on R v Zoora (Ghulam) Shah
• 17 Commentary on Attorney-General for Jersey v Holley
• Part V Public Law
• 18 Commentary on YL v Birmingham City Council and Others
• 19 Commentary on R (on the application of Begum) v Governors of Denbigh High School
• 20 Commentary on Sheffield City Council v E
• 21 Commentary on R v Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, ex parte Glass
• Part VI Equality
• 22 Commentary on Roberts v Hopwood
• 23 Commentary on Del Monte Foods Ltd v Mundon
• 24 Commentary on James v Eastleigh Borough Council
• 25 Commentary on Wilkinson v Kitzinger
• 26 Commentary on EM (Lebanon) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
• Index