Peter W. Edge

Religion and law : an introduction

Contents: Thinking about law thinking about religion Religious interests in international and domestic laws The state and the individual The state and the religious organisation Conclusions Further reading Bibliography Index.

The European Court of Human Rights and Religious Rights

Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides: 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance. 2. Freedom to manifest ones religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Including Religion: Reflections on Legal, Religious, and Social Implications of the Developing Ceremonial Law of Marriage and Civil Partnership

The introduction in the UK of the Civil Partnership Act (2004) and its enactment (2005) seemed to herald a new plurality and inclusiveness in the ceremonial law and practices of marriage. However, the provisions of the Act maintain an historically exclusive demarcation between secular and religious elements. Neither the ceremony nor the approved premises may have any relation to religious content or usage. Consequently, three groups remain unable to participate in religious weddings: same-sex couples, members of small religious communities, and dissidents. The public act of a wedding for these groups is not only exclusive, we argue, but pays little heed to the private needs of participants nor the private ritual significance such acts necessarily include. Moreover, the exclusion of religious elements is both difficult to interpret and police. We examine the nature and limitations of the provisions and guidance on the Civil Partnership Act and argue that maintenance of a standardised secularism within public law, as in marriage law and the Civil Partnership Act, is anachronous in a modern plural state. This article challenges the division between public secular acts and private acts of ritual and personal significance. We suggest that private actors import religious elements and meanings into secular ceremonies and that guidance to registrars officiating in civil ceremonies does not provide absolute prohibitions to couples using religiously significant elements of ritual or practice. We conclude that the Act continues practices of unjustified differential treatment and that reform to a more inclusive legal framework is both possible and necessary.

Religious drug use in England, South Africa and the United States of America

The question of whether there should be a fundamental right to sacramental use of psychotropic drugs, despite the existence of a general prohibition against the drug in question, has been considered by the courts of England, South Africa, and the United States. Despite the commonality of the issues in all three countries, the approaches taken by the courts show significant differences of interest beyond the factual situation. In particular, a consideration of the cases suggests different strategies in evaluating justificatory claims by the state when incidentally restricting religious practice; differing use of cases from other jurisdictions; and differing emphases on the importance of international law in interpreting fundamental rights.

Foreign lawyers practising national law: temporary counsel in small jurisdictions

Abstract Temporary licensing of foreign counsel is not necessarily limited to small jurisdictions, but it is an important, and contested, part of the legal landscape in many small jurisdictions. Small jurisdictions, with small national Bars, face particular problems concerning capacity to practise national law. As this paper shows, small national Bars may simply be running at capacity, or beyond, when a case comes along, the small size meaning a relatively small spike of demand can exhaust spare capacity. Alternatively, perhaps particularly if the national legal profession is a unified one, individual legal practitioners may experience a similar problem of capacity, with none prepared to take on a case which will dominate their working life to the detriment of other cases and other clients. On a different point, dealing with conflicts of interest within a small professional community is an ongoing problem for small jurisdictions. Finally, a small Bar may be too small to support specialist counsel with particular expertise in a particular field of national law. This article explores the issue of temporary counsel in small jurisdictions through an in-depth case study of licensing in one small jurisdiction, that of the Isle of Man. The topic is approached through a range of methods. Doctrinal legal analysis, drawing particularly on relevant Manx statute, regulation and case-law, is supplemented by historical archival analysis; a detailed analysis of the 468 licences granted in the Isle of Man; and qualitative interviews with a selection of key actors. This study shows a pattern of acclimatisation to the licensing of foreign counsel in the Isle of Man since 1969, the juridification of the process of licensing since 1995, the development of an offshore Manx Bar, and the challenges the licensing system poses to the Manxness of Manx legal proceedings. Moving beyond the Isle of Man, the paper argues that the national Bar of a small jurisdiction has constitutional significance, and that the impact of a substantially employed licensing scheme can be important in determining the shape of this national Bar. It concludes with a call for a comparative study of temporary counsel in small jurisdictions, taking into account the transnational legal context; and for a fuller consideration of a possible offshore offshore Bar as contributing to a continued relationship between common law jurisdictions in a post-colonial context.

The development of the Lord Bishop’s role in the Manx Tynwald

The Isle of Man was a distinct diocese before it became a possession of the English crown in 1399. In the following centuries it retained not only a national legislature, the Tynwald, but the lord bishop of Sodor and Man. Ecclesiastical officers were to be found in Tynwald as early as 1614, and throughout the nineteenth century it included the lord bishop, the vicars-general and the archdeacon of the diocese. During the twentieth century the number of ecclesiastical officers in the legislature dwindled, until today only the lord bishop survives, and his position remains controversial.