This book is a study of the effects of global influences on local activity in relation to the land laws in some urban and peri-urban localities in three African countries. It begins with a theoretical consideration of the concept of globalization and of the way in which it may inform research in the social scientific study of law. The three chapters which form the core of the book are detailed, empirical studies of the effects of globalizing processes on the living land laws observed in selected communities in Benin, Ghana and Tanzania. The last chapter consists of some comparative conclusions. The study is part of the interdisciplinary research program on "Local Action in Africa in the Context of Global Influences" (Humanities Collaborative Research Centre, SFB/FK 560) at the University of Bayreuth, Germany.

Drawing from field research in Cameroon, Ghana, Vietnam, and the Amazon forests of Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru, this book explores the relationship between gender and land, revealing the workings of global capital and of people's responses to it. A central theme is the people's resistance to global forces, frequently through an insistence on the uniqueness of their livelihoods. For instance, in the Amazon, the focus is on the social movements that have emerged in the context of struggles over land rights concerning the extraction of Brazil nuts and babacu kernels in an increasingly globalised market. In Vietnam, the process of 'de-collectivising' rights to land is examined with a view to understand how gender and other social differences are reworked in a market economy. The book addresses a gap in the literature on land tenure and gender in developing countries. It raises new questions about the process of globalisation, particularly about who the actors are (local people, the state, NGOs, multinational companies) and the shifting relations amongst them. The book also challenges the very concepts of gender, land and globalization.

Why property law needs globalization strategies -- Local to global : an institutional analysis -- Land -- Tangible goods, monetary claims, investment securities -- Intellectual property, data, and digital assets -- Security interests and proprietary priorities in insolvency

In 2004 six Pitcairn men were convicted of numerous offences against girls and young women, but what right did the British government have to initiate these prosecutions? Was it fair given that no laws had been published on the island? Indeed, what law was there on this island? This book explores the wider issues raised by the Pitcairn case.

This book explores the implications of globalisation for the theoretical study of law, justice, and human rights.

This book looks at how the benefits of economic development in the Great Lakes Region of Africa are not being equally distributed. It studies the impact of the increasing scramble for natural resources upon local livelihoods and considers the ambiguities that characterise the relationship between mining and development.

Across Africa land is being commodified: private ownership is replacing communal and customary tenure; Farms are turned into collateral for rural credit markets. Law reform is at the heart of this revolution. The Politics of Land Reform in Africa casts a critical spotlight on this profound change in African land economy. The book illuminates the key role of legislators, legal consultants and academics in tenure reform. These players exert their influence by translating the economic and regulatory interests of the World Bank, civil society groups and commercial lenders in to questions of law. Drawing on political economy and actor-network theory The Politics of Land Reform in Africa is an indispensable contribution to the study of agrarian change in developing countries.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Spatializing Law: An Anthropological Geography of Law in Society focuses on law and its location, exploring how spaces are constructed on the terrestrial and marine surface of the earth with legal means in a rich variety of socio-political, legal and ecological settings. The contributors explore the interrelations between social spaces and physical space, highlighting the ways in which legal rules may localise people's rights and obligations in social space that may be mapped onto physical space. This volume also demonstrates how different notions of space and place become resources that can be mobilised in social, political and economic interaction, paying specific attention to the contradictory ways in which space may be configured and involved in social interaction under conditions of plural legal orders. Spatializing Law makes a significant contribution to the anthropological geography of law and will be useful to scholars across a broad array of disciplines.

Comparative Property Law provides a comprehensive treatment of property law from a comparative and global perspective. The contributors, who are leading experts in their fields, cover both classical and new subjects, including the transfer of property, the public-private divide in property law, water and forest laws, and the property rights of aboriginal peoples. This Handbook maps the structure and the dynamics of property law in the contemporary world and will be an invaluable reference for researchers working in all domains of property law.