Private Nuisance and Private Spaces: Reflections on Fearn v Tate

Posted on April 10, 2024 by law

Private Nuisance & Private Spaces - Reflections on Fearn vs Tate Gallery

Abstract

The recent and controversial decision of the UK Supreme Court in Fearn v Tate Gallery has caused many to question the nature of the law of private nuisance. To many commentators, it has seemed that Fearn expanded the law into new territory, opening up a wide sphere of potential future liability. Many have also felt that the decision is inconsistent with the proper foundations of the law, in particular with the idea that the task of the law is to protect rights incidental to property. This talk questions both of these views. It argues that the scape of Fearn is much narrower than sometimes appreciated. Moreover, it maintains that Fearn helps to reveal a most fundamental aspect of the right that lies at the heart of the law of private nuisance.

The event is free and advance booking is required. Please visit the online store to book a place.

The event will also be live on Teams .

CLIMATE LITIGATION AGAINST BANKS

Posted on March 21, 2024 by law

CLIMATE LITIGATION AGAINST BANKS presented by Professor Danny Busch

To book your place visit the online store, or scan the QR code.

Ruvi at the Lib Dem Spring Conference in York

Posted on March 18, 2024 by law

Ruvi Ziegler spent the weekend at the Lib Dem Spring Conference in York where he participated fully.

Ruvi Ziegler at the Lib Dem Spring Conference

Ruvi proposed an amendment to a foreign policy motion, which conference adopted, to make firm commitments to resettlement (including of unaccompanied minors), to the establishment of humanitarian visas with applications from outside the UK, and to ensuring rapid humanitarian responses to displacement from conflicts globally in line with the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ and Ukrainian family visa schemes. The motion (post and pre amendment) is available here. Listen to Ruvi’s conference speech proposing the amendment below.

Ruvi also spoke at a debate on the emergency motion ‘Beyond Rwanda: A Fairer way towards Asylum‘. The motion was adopted unanimously.

Click on the link below to listen to Ruvi addressing conference during the debate.

Finally, Ruvi spoke alongside Emily Graham from ‘Safe Passage’ at a fringe meeting of ‘Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary’ about the need for ‘safe and legal routes’ to asylum in the UK and other responses to recent legislation, particularly the Nationality and Borders Act and the Illegal Migration Act.

Genocide and the Ocean: Conceptualising their Relationship

Posted on March 14, 2024 by law

Genocide and the Ocean: Conceptualising their Relationship

Online workshop starting at 10am UK Time – Click to join us on Teams.

What is the relationship between genocide and the ocean? This question invites critical inquiry into what it is we talk about when we talk about ‘genocide.’ On one level, genocide is a narrow and technical issue of international law that imposes liability for violence undertaken with the ‘specific intent’ to destroy a racial, religious, or national group in whole or in part. On another level, genocide is broadly invoked in moral and political discourse as the supreme act of human evil. In other words, contrary to existing international legal doctrine, genocide occupies the popular imagination as a ‘crime of crimes’ placed at the very top of an asserted hierarchy of harm. Recognising this multi-faceted deployment as an embedded feature of genocide discourse, the aim of this workshop is to explore where exactly the ocean fits within this scheme, especially considering the myriad of ways in which the ocean and oceanic forces can end and/or degrade human life on a brutally massive scale.

Itinerary

10am – Welcoming Remarks – Eric Loefflad (University of Kent) and Vicky Kapogianni (University of Reading)

10:15am Opening Address – Eric Loefflad – Otto Kranzbühler in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait: Nuremberg, Yemen, and Universal Justice in a World of Maritime Hegemony

10:45 – Panel 1: Migration

Moderator – Vicky Kapogianni

*Fatima Mehmood (Universal College Lahore) – The Nexus of Non-Refoulement and Genocide: Exploring Erga Omnes Parties Obligations Owed to Sea Refugees

*Regina Palouse (Common Good Foundation) – Genocide beyond Borders? The Rohingya at Sea

*Dorothea Endres (Geneva Graduate Institute) and Vera Piovesen (Geneva Graduate Institute/Durham University) –Letting Migrants Drown in the Sea: A Practice-Based Analysis of EU Leaders Committing the Crime of Genocide

Q & A (15 minutes)

11:45 – Panel 2: Environment

Moderator – Andreas Kotsakis (University of Kent)

*Holly Leung (University of Hong Kong) – Maritime Ecocide

*Dave-Inder Comar (Just Atonement) – Self-Determination, Sea-Level Rise, and Climate Change: New Approaches towards Protecting the Existence and Survival of Peoples from Climate Change Impacts

*Gaspard Lemaire (University of Angers) – Climate Inaction and the Future of Small Island Developing States: A Crime Without a Name?

Q & A (15 minutes)

Break (15 minutes)

1pm – Keynote Address: Itamar Mann (University of Haifa) – Gaza’s Salty Water

Q & A (15 minutes)

1:45- Panel 3: Accountability

Moderator – Benjamin Throne (University of Kent)

*Aditya Kanuparthi (independent researcher) – The Potential Role of the Current Advisory Opinion Proceedings at ITLOS in Preventing Genocide at Sea

*Cristiano D’Orsi (University of Johannesburg) – Paradise for Tourists have not been Always a Paradise: Conflicts in African Islands and the Past (and Present) Role of the Formal Colonial Powers

*Vittorio Cama (University of Trento) – Navigating Murky Waters: Addressing the Intersection of International and Transnational Maritime Crime

Q & A (15 minutes)