The Legal Research Society

Justice Greanwood the International Court of Justi ce judge is third from the left The Legal Research Society is active at home and abroad. Six of its members travelled to The Hague last summer to visit some of the top international judicial bodies. The study trip included visits to the Peace Palace which houses the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to the Organisation of the Prevention of Chemical Weapons as well as to The Hague Conference on Private International Law and to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The group met Justice Greenwood, judge on the ICJ, as well as Xavier-Jean Mohamed Keïta, head of the Office of Public Counsel for the Defence at the International Criminal Court. They also had a stopover at Leiden University to speak to peer researchers there. After returning to Aberdeen, they reported back to their colleagues in a feedback meeting at the Law School. The LRS thanks all who helped make this event possible. In 2008/09...

L.R.S has organised A Movie Night (Double Jeopardy) Followed by Legal Discussion on Wednesday 17th February 2010 “Double Jeopardy”, starring Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive and No Country for Old Men) and Ashley Judd (Where the Heart is and High Crimes) is a tense and slick American thriller. The plot centres around a fundamental legal doctrine within the American legal system, namely the constitutional protection against double jeopardy (being tried for the same crime twice) afforded by the fifth amendment. It is highly doubtful, however, that the drafters of the American Constitution had in mind the creative use of double jeopardy employed by the film’s protagonist to exploit the fact that she had previously been acquitted of the murder of her husband to do just that without the prospect of going to prison. Although the film is set in America, double jeopardy exists in other legal systems influenced by the common law, including Scotland where there was a recent review of the legal doc...

Maria Aristodemou , Senior Lecturer in Law, Birkbeck University of London DOES THE LETTER OF THE LAW ALWAYS ARRIVE AT ITS DESTINATION? Thursday 30 April , 1-3 p.m. (1.00 sandwich lunch, 1.30 talk) MacRobert 302 Abstract This lecture uses Balzac's short story "A Study in Feminine Psychology" as a springboard from which to explore what position the letter of the law occupies in a subject's psychic space. Through this tale of a mis-addressed declaration of love, the paper examines how the law and the signifier arrest the subject, and what freedom, if any, the subject has to manoeuvre around this position. Are subjects condemned, as Balzac seems to suggest in this tragi-comic tale, to never fully find, let alone assume, their own satisfying place "before the law"? Or that they can never do so without some embarrassment and/or pain? Further, if the letter of the law always arrives at its destination, if the subject is always arrested by the signi...

The Legal Research Society invites you to the Farewell Party of Professor Anthony Carty

Trip to The Hague 24 th – 28 th May One Day& 1 night in Amsterdam 3 Days in The Hague Price after subsidy only: £300 In this trip, you will have the chance to see many international and European legal bodies including The Hague Conference on Private International Law , International Court of Justice , the Peace Palace , the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons ( OPCW) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). We are also working on an open meeting with PhD Students at Leiden University. Tickets : £120 deposit tickets sold on the bases of first come first serve; the deadline is 23 rd March . You can either pay by Cash or by Cheque made payable to the Legal Research Society. You can also pay by bank transfer to the LRS account: 06001537 sort code: 801215. The payment of the rest of value must be made no later than 24 th April. This price includes a return flight ticket from Aberdeen to Amsterdam and includes all accommodation + b...

On Wednesday 28th of January from 7:00 pm until 9:00 pm in TAYLOR C11 (opposite to Taylor library entry) The LRS will screen a movie titled “The Lives of Others” . After the film we will have the opportunity to talk about the film and the issues it raises. Our honourable member Gerd Koehler from the former GDR ("Ossi") will share his first-hand insights into East German society and provide us with contemporary East German perspectives on the vanished country and its regime. Our "Wessi" German LRS president Paula Herm will moderate the discussion. " The Lives of Others " is at once a political thriller and a human drama. In the early 1980s, a successful dramatist and his long-time companion, a popular actress, are big intellectual stars in the socialist state, although they secretly don't always think loyal to the party line. One day, the Minister of Culture becomes interested in the woman, so a secret service agent is instructed to observe and s...