Recent Publications
Drugs Law and Legal Practice in Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam, by Professor Tim Lindsey and Professor Pip Nicholson
Drugs Law and Legal Practice in Southeast Asia investigates criminal law and practice relevant to drugs regulation in three Southeast Asian jurisdictions: Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam. These jurisdictions represent a spectrum of approaches to drug regulation in Southeast Asia, highlighting differences in practice between civil and common law countries, and between liberal and authoritarian states. This book offers the first major English language empirical investigation and comparative analysis of regulation, jurisprudence, court procedure, and practices relating to drugs law enforcement in these three states.
This book by Professor Tim Lindsey and Professor Pip Nicholson is a product of a major collaborative four year project funded by the Australian Research Council to investigate criminal law and practice in the region.
Australian Journal of Asian Law (Volume 16, Number 2)
The latest issue of the 'Australian Journal of Asian Law' (Volume 16, Number 2) is now available online.
This special issue on Indonesia’s Constitutional Court includes contributions from CILIS Senior Associate, Associate Professor Simon Butt and CILIS Associates, Dr Melissa Crouch and Dr Nadirsyah Hosen.
Articles in Asian Currents
Contrary to popular belief, the number of juvenile offenders and cases in Japan has decreased significantly in recent years. In an interview with Ms Yoshiko Ohmachi, a Family Court probation officer for the Supreme Court of Japan, Stacey Steele explores the reasons behind the decline.
Stacey Steele argues that the wash-up from the decision by the Australian government on new submarines provides an opportunity to reflect on Australia’s developing triangulated relationship with China and Japan, and what it means for our Japanese friends.
The recent decision by Japan’s Supreme Court to uphold a controversial law requiring married couples to have the same surname comes as no surprise, writes Stacey Steele.
Review in Japanese Studies
Stacey Steele has recently published a book review of Ikuo Amano's "The Origins of Japanese Credentialism" (Kyōiku to senbatsu no shakaishi) in Japanese Studies.
The book is part of a series edited by Professor Yoshio Sugimoto and has been translated with a high level of technical skill. Stacey indicates that you can still feel the author’s voice in the translation, giving the work a feeling of authenticity and reality. The book also includes an insightful preface by senior British scholar Ronald Dore, who helped to immortalise Japanese exam-focused education with the publication of his The Diploma Disease in 1976.
The theme of credentialism is particularly pertinent to debates about the Japanese legal education reforms of the twenty-first century which have failed to have any significant effect on the sanctity of the bar examination. Amano’s book sheds light on the history of legal education as a credentialing mechanism in Japan.
Death Penalty India Report
ALC Associate, Dr Anup Surendranath, has recently published a ‘Death Penalty India Report’ as part of the Death Penalty Research Project at National Law University, Delhi.
This is a very significant piece of work, which documents the socio-economic profile of prisoners sentenced to death in India, and their interaction with various facets of the criminal justice system. Through personal interviews with prisoners and their families, it focuses on aspects of the death penalty that have received very little attention in India, and explores new fronts for discussion beyond analysis of Supreme Court judgments.
The report can be accessed at:
The report has also been covered in the New York Times.
Religious Freedom under the Personal Law System, by Dr Farrah Ahmed
Dr Farrah Ahmed's (Associate Director (India)) book, 'Religious Freedom Under the Personal Law System' has recently been reviewed by Associate Professor Tarunabh Khaitan from Oxford University Faculty of Law - http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/the-trap-of-personal-laws-uniform-civil-code-aimplb-supreme-court-2775249/
The personal law system is hugely controversial and the subject of fierce debates. This book addresses a vital issue that has received inadequate attention in these debates: the impact of the personal law system on religious freedom. Drawing on scholarship on the legal reform of the personal law system, as well as philosophical literature on multiculturalism, autonomy, and religious freedom, this book persuasively argues that the personal law system harms religious freedom. Several reform proposals are considered, including modifications of the personal law system, a move towards a millet system, 'internal' reform of individual personal laws, the introduction of a Uniform Civil Code, and a move towards religious alternative dispute resolution.
This book by Farrah Ahmed will be of significant interest to students and scholars of law, politics, and gender studies, as well as lawyers and policymakers across jurisdictions interested in multiculturalism, particularly contemporary debates on the legal accommodation of religious and cultural norms.