An interesting examination of law as language use or discourse, this study looks at the transformation of ordinary language into a special discourse for the purposes of the legal system. It is widely accepted that legal discourse is obscure, and often the public resent the fact that access to the law of the land is obstructed by the opaqueness of legal language. This book argues that the development and maintenance of law's special language can be justified. The myth that law can be written in either plain' or ordinary' language is exploded, and the linguistic obscurity of law is traced to its necessary complexity. The notion of representation is applied to the relation that exists between legal language and ordinary language.

Explores how internet use empowers Arab citizens

`Criminal Justice in Scotland makes a valuable and timely contribution to the growing field of comparative criminology.' Pat Carlen, Professor of Criminology, University of Kent.

In its first edition, Global Trends in Mediation was the first book to concentrate on mediation from a comparative perspective - reaching beyond the all-too-familiar Anglo-American view - and as such has enjoyed wide practical use among alternative dispute resolution (ADR) practitioners worldwide. This new edition has not only been updated throughout; it has also added two new jurisdictions (France and Quebec) and a very useful comparative table summarising the salient points from each of the fourteen jurisdictional chapters. Each jurisdictional chapter addresses critical structural and process issues in alternative dispute resolution such as the institutionalisation of mediation, mediation case law and legislation, the range and nature of disputes where mediation is utilised, court-related mediation, mediation practice standards, education, training and accreditation of mediators, the role of lawyers in mediation, online dispute resolution and future trends. All the contributors are senior dispute resolution academics or practitioners with vast knowledge and experience of dispute resolution developments in their countries and abroad.

To mark the 2000 Annual Conference of the Society of Public Teachers of Law,the Society has organised a distinguished team of contributors to write a set of reflective and critical essays on the future of law in the United Kingdom, considering how it will or should develop over a wide range of areas. The essays are concerned not only with all the main branches of the law but also with socio-legal studies, legal education and legal practice. In most of these areas the essays are written by two contributors so that the dialogue between them adds perception to their forecasts, taking account of past experience of developing the law via judicial activism or statutory reform processes and also of the European dimension. This reflection upon the possible future milestones of UK law will provide stimulating and illuminating reading for all lawyers, whether academics or practitioners. Contributors Andrew Ashworth, Stephen Bailey, Rebecca Bailey-Harris, Nicholas Bamforth, Kit Barker, John Birds, Anthony Bradney, Margaret Brazier, Richard Card, Elizabeth Cooke, Fiona Cownie, Keith Ewing, Conor Gearty,. Nicola Glover, Desmond Greer, Brigid Hadfield, Johnathan Harris, David Hayton, Jo Hunt, John Jackson, Tim Jewell, John Lowry, Laura Macgregor, Judith Masson, David McClean, Gillian Morris, David Oughton, John Parkinson, Alan Paterson, Colin Reid, Sir Richard Scott, Jo Shaw, Lionel Smith, Brenda Sufrin, Phil Thomas, Joseph Thomson, Adam Tomkins, Martin Wasik, Sally Wheeler, Richard Whish, Sarah Worthington.