[This post is a sequel to part 1, addressing secularism and Nigeria's colonial legacy] Situated within a broader research project aimed at disentangling the complex struggles over religion-state relations in colonial Northern Nigeria, my article, “Secularizing Islam: The Colonial Encounter and the Making of a British Colonial Islamic Criminal Law in Northern Nigeria, 1903-58” tells … Continue reading The Making of a Colonial Islamic Law in Northern Nigeria
Secularism and Nigeria’s Colonial Legacy
By Rabiat Akande The secularism debate remains the most vexed issue in Nigeria’s constitutional discourse. This debate centers on the question: Is Nigeria a ‘secular’ state? The first position in the debate, the ‘secularist’ position, answers the question in the positive. “Yes,” this position affirms, Nigeria is a ‘secular’ state. In the view of the … Continue reading Secularism and Nigeria’s Colonial Legacy
Commentary :: Organic Labeling: Reconciling Religious Freedom and Animal Welfare in the European Union
Introduction On February 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued an opinion mandating the stunning of an animal before slaughter to satisfy the EU organic labeling.[1] The decision came after several European countries including Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and Slovenia, removed any religious exemption for animal slaughter without stunning.[2] While this ECJ ruling does … Continue reading Commentary :: Organic Labeling: Reconciling Religious Freedom and Animal Welfare in the European Union
Commentary :: Let’s Lose Lawyers – Afterthoughts
Two points remain to be made at the end of this series, arising from a reaction to, and an interaction of relevance to, the previous blog posts. First, an excellent graduate student at Istanbul Şehir University (Ali Rıza Işın), who is as far as one gets from being a naïve individual, decided to feign naiveté and … Continue reading Commentary :: Let’s Lose Lawyers – Afterthoughts
Commentary :: Let’s Lose Lawyers (4-4)
A minimally professionalized lawyer-advocate is less of an independent agent with interests diverging from those of their appointers. This, in a nutshell, is the image I depicted in three previous posts. If each member of society contemplates needing to defend themselves and their associates in court, they would think differently of rights, laws, and justice. … Continue reading Commentary :: Let’s Lose Lawyers (4-4)
Commentary :: Let’s Lose Lawyers (3-4)
In both Roman and Islamic law, legal representation is not limited to court appearances on behalf of a principal. It is more or less the default in everyday life that men and women (and even children), educated and uneducated, rich and poor—all need to be represented by others, and that need is presumed to arise … Continue reading Commentary :: Let’s Lose Lawyers (3-4)
Commentary :: Let’s Lose Lawyers (2-4)
At the end of the last post we met the negotiorum gestor, an administrator of the business of another, even without any mandate from the principal. The argument for this and for the more recognizable representative, who receives an explicit appointment by the principal, we learn (from Ulpian), was made from “necessity.” In the Digest, … Continue reading Commentary :: Let’s Lose Lawyers (2-4)
Weekend Scholarship Roundup
Hebrew University of Jerusalem scholars Morr Link and Yoram Haftel discuss the significance of domestic legal traditions, with a particular focus on states with Islamic law tradition, to international dispute settlement in "Islamic Legal Tradition and the Choice of Investment Arbitration Forums," The Review of International Political Economy, Forthcoming. Mahmoud Jaraba contributed a book chapter entitled “Private Dispute … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
Commentary :: Let’s Lose Lawyers (1-4)
INTRODUCTION TO A SERIES OF FOUR POSTS In this series, I aim to play with a few ideas. First, I will imagine a society without heavily professionalized sophists who can argue either side in a legal dispute, i.e., lawyer-advocates (posts 1-2). The historical models I employ (Roman and Islamic law) allow me to underscore the … Continue reading Commentary :: Let’s Lose Lawyers (1-4)