Francis Snyder

Soft Law and Institutional Practice in the European Community

The contributions of Emile Noel to the construction of Europe are wide-ranging and numerous. Many are well-known, especially during his administrative work, first in the Council of Europe, then as Secretary-General of the Commission of the European Communities, and most recently as President of the European University Institute.2 Less evident to the public eye perhaps is his significant contribution to Community law scholarship. The fruit of long experience, it combines careful observation, a finely tuned sense of diplomary, exemplary self-awareness, and keen insights into administrative practice, thus enriching considerably our understanding of the law and institutions of the European Community.3 These articles remain essential reading for all interested in Community institutions. With some diffidence, it may be suggested that a similar account of the European University Institute would be welcome. Here I wish to pay tribute to the way in which Emile Noel has woven so skilfully an intricate tapestry of these distinctive strands..

Governing economic globalisation: global legal pluralism and European Union law

How is globalisation governed? The following article tries to answer this question. Focusing on economic globalisation, it presents the case of the international commodity chain in toys, identifies its various segments or boxes, and then gives examples to illustrate how the chain is governed. The article argues that economic globalisation is governed by the totality of strategically determined, situationally specific, and often episodic conjunctions of a multiplicity of sites throughout the world. These sites include, for example, EU law, United States law, Chinese law, multinational corporation and trade association codes of conduct, international customs conventions, and WTO law. Each of these sites has institutional, normative, and processual characteristics. Though the sites are not isolated from each other, each has its own history, internal dynamics, and distinctive features. Taken together, they represent a new form of global legal pluralism.

Policing and Prosecution in Britain, 1750-1850

Part 1: Using the criminal law, 1750-1850 - policing, private prosecution and the state, Douglas Hay and Francis Snyder. Part 2 Before the police: print and policing - crime advertising in 18th century provincial England, John Styles good men to associate and bad men to conspire - associations for the prosecution of felons in England, 1760 - 1860, David Philips prosecution associations and their impact in 18th century Essex, P.J.R.King. Part 3 New forces: policing rural Southern England before the police - opinion and practice, 1830 - 1856, Robert D.Storch the social production of Scottish Policing, 1795 - 1900, Kit Carson and Hilary Idzikowska. Part 4 The logic of prosecution: thief-takers in London in the age of the McDaniel Gang, Ruth Paley prosecution and power - malicious prosecution in the English Courts, 1750 - 1850, Douglas Hay prosecutions and their context - the use of the criminal law in later 19th century London, Jennifer S.Davis crown prosecutions in 19th century Ireland, John McEldowney.

New Directions in European Community Law

European Community law is firmly established as part of the law syllabus, yet as a subject of teaching and research in Britain it is barely fifteen years old. This unusual conjunction of accepted status and relative youth offers teachers and students of European Community law a great opportunity. Such is the possibility of exercising a potentially decisive influence on the development of European Community law, not only as an intellectually fascinating subject of study, but also as a significant element in the dominant ideologies and practices of the contemporary world. But how and where can we best devote our attention? In answering this question, we may choose to build or not on certain basic foundations. Two points are crucial, however, to the continued vitality of our common project: first, that we develop a more critical understanding of European Community law, and second, that we move in new directions.

Anthropology, Dispute Processes and Law: A Critical Introduction

The relationship between anthropology and law is often viewed as problematic or tenuous ** To examine this relationship more closely, this paper introduces some of the main themes in contemporary anthropological studies of law and dispute processes. In addition it offers a preliminary evaluation of the contributions and limitations of anthropological approaches in relation to legal studies and to the development of social theories of law. It is not possible here to present a full survey of the literature. This review concentrates primarily on selected writings in English and French by scholars in the United States, Britain and continental Europe; the footnotes give references to literature from other countries.

The unfinished constitution of the European Union: principles, processes and culture

How can we best conceive of the European Union (EU) constitution? To answer this question, we need in my view to take account of two imperatives which are usually relegated to secondary importance if not entirely neglected, at least in the terms in which I wish to pose the issues here. The first is the contemporary form of globalisation, and the second is an engagement with ordinary people. I deal with each of these briefly before sketching my conception of the EU constitution. I hope that the discussion will help to improve on the content and coherence of the ideas presented here.

Sites of Criminality and Sites of Governance

THIS IS a thought-provoking essay on a highly topical and controversial subject: the rise of virtual criminality and how to control it. We all have read of global computer viruses, and perhaps experienced them; but probably few readers of this journal have direct personal experience of cybercrime. Among the many merits of Wanda Capeller’s stimulating article is the identification of some main issues in the matter, pointers to fault lines in current debates, and suggested avenues of research and policymaking for the future. Here it is not possible to survey all of this rich tapestry. Instead, my purpose is to offer some comments on a few selected themes.

Legal Innovation and Social Change in a Peasant Community: A Senegalese Village Police

Many strategies of rural development in Africa propose greater reliance on local institutions (Girard 1963; Seibel and Massing 1974; The World Bank 1975: 33–40; Tall 1976). Sometimes these proposals are primarily political rhetoric (Migot-Adholle 1970; Cliffe 1970); but they may, on the contrary, genuinely take account of rural social organization and history (Hamer 1967; Magid 1972; 1976: 154-69). Despite their merits, such proposals often fail to consider sufficiently the changing social and economic bases of rural institutions. One factor which deserves more emphasis is the dependence of rural dwellers on wider economic forces. As producers of cash crops, purchasers of imported goods, and suppliers of wage labour, rural Africans are integrated into the national and ultimately international economy. Integration and dependence are facilitated and encouraged by numerous government policies. Peasants are increasingly drawn to the cities by the symbiotic, subordinate relation of rural villages to the urban capitalist export sector, whose interests require a supply of cheap labour (Amin 1974a; 1974b; Meillassoux 1975; Seidman 1974) and predominate in the making of policy. The consequent dislocation and disintegration of rural communities limit severely the possibilities of delegating new tasks to existing rural institutions or of using them to decentralize authority, foster mass participation, or promote self-reliance.

Customary law and the economy

In this paper I discuss some aspects of the relationship of African customary law to the economy. Such a vast topic potentially embraces at least three different themes: the economic context in which African customary law has developed and operates today; the economic consequences and implications of different African customary laws; and the relationship between customary law and the economic aspect of society. These three themes inevitably overlap, but while recognising their interconnections I shall concentrate primarily on the third. My principal aim is to identify some of the linkages between customary law and economic relations, especially those linkages which become manifest during broad social changes. An examination of the relationship between customary law and the economy in Africa almost ineluctably requires an historical perspective. This is so, first, because, as I suggest later, customary law is historically specific: it developed in particular historical circumstances and in close conjunction with the formation of the colonial state. Thus, the foundations of customary law in Africa lie partly in the development of capitalism and its expansion from Europe during the colonial era. These interrelated processes have decisively moulded and subtly shaped the law, legal institutions and legal professions of contemporary Africa.1 More generally, however, it is essential today to envisage the possibility of new, alternative forms of development and social regulation. The particular forms of legal pluralism which characterise third world countries indicate, in many cases, that the subsumption of African economies within capitalist relations of production and exchange has thus far been merely partial and formal. They are eloquent testimony to the fact that the development of capitalism as a mode of production is compatible with a wide range of configurations of legal rules, concepts and institutions. Yet, the extent to which capitalism and its apparent concommitant, state law, have been resisted or neutralised also demonstrates amply that the subordination of third world countries to western economic legal forms is not historically inevitable. These processes of resistance and neutralisation both symbolise and exemplify the search, within the third world, for new political strategies and new forms of political action. The adequacy of an analysis of these contemporary conditions, including customary law, depends, in part, on the extent to which it is rooted in a thorough understanding of the past. This paper gives special attention to economic relations. The particular emphasis should not, however, be taken to imply that African customary law is necessarily determined by, or simply reducible to, the economic element. Such an impoverished, reductionist vision would both oversimplify and distort the complexity of social life. Clearly it is necessary to recognise the limitations of such a partial view. Yet the economic aspect of law, if only because it is often neglected, has a more than usual claim perhaps to special attention.

Health policy and the law in Senegal

Abstract The improvement of public health facilities in the Republic of Senegal has required elaboration of a legal framework for the articulation of the goals of health policy and the means for its implementation. The foundation for this legal framework has largely been sought in the legacy of French colonial policy in matters of public health. From 1900 to 1960 the purposes of colonial health policy shifted from an emphasis on preventive and curative facilities for Senegals relatively small European population to mass preventive medicine as the colonial government perceived the importance of mobilising African labour and military forces to meet colonial needs. Within a centralized bureaucratic administration colonial health services in French West Africa relied heavily on African medical assistants to staff rural dispensaries. Only after World War II were these policies codified even in indicative programmes. In contrast, since Senegalese independence in 1960 the ends and means of public health policy have been specified by three successive development plans. Despite the difference in legal framework, post-1960 health policy has been relatively faithful to the colonial legacy in concentrating on the organization and provision of health services, the education of medical personnel, and the organization and regulation of the medical profession. The general result of post-independence legal reforms has been a rationalization of the centralized bureaucratic model established during the colonial period. At the same time the philosophy of public health planning has evolved from a simple means-end calculation to a more realistic, long-term process model aiming at gradual improvements in the provision of medical facilities. However, despite special attention to increasing facilities for mass preventive medicine and to adapting medical education to national needs, the rural areas in Senegal lag far behind urban centres in both quantity and quality of health facilities.