Religion, Race, Rights

A recent arrival in the Foreign and International Law Collection is Religion, Race, Rights: Landmarks in the History of Modern Anglo-American Law   (Oxford/Portland,OR: Hart, 2010). 

Written by  Eve Darian Smith, Professor of Global & International Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara, author of Bridging Divides: The Channel Tunnel and English Legal Identity in the New Europe   (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), the book draws upon eight landmark legal decisions, beginning with Martin Luther and the trial of Charles I,  to demonstrate that our concept of justice evolves over time and is connected to economic power, social values, and moral sensibilities that are not universal. By doing this, the author underscores the cultural specificity of western legal concepts and showsthat they cannot be used in all cultural contexts, and that legal rights are shaped by prevailing notions about race and religion. 

The book is noteworthy for its many illustrations, and note that it is not classed with books on religion, race, or rights, but with books on the history and theory of the common law (K588 .D37 2010, UES)

                                                                                                                                     ----Daniel Wade