Law

Longlisted for The Inner Temple Book Prize 2025

While espionage between states is a practice dating back centuries, the emergence of the internet revolutionised the types and scale of intelligence activities, creating drastic new challenges for the traditional legal frameworks governing them.

This book argues that cyber-espionage has come to have an uneasy status in law: it is not prohibited, because spying does not result in an internationally wrongful act, but neither is it authorised or permitted, because states are free to resist foreign cyber-espionage activities. Rather than seeking further regulation, however, governments have remained purposefully silent, leaving them free to pursue cyber-espionage themselves at the same time as they adopt measures to prevent falling victim to it.

Drawing on detailed analysis of state practice and examples from sovereignty, diplomacy, human rights and economic law, this book offers a comprehensive overview of the current legal status of cyber-espionage, as well as future directions for research and policy. It is an essential resource for scholars and practitioners in international law, as well as anyone interested in the future of cyber-security.

This volume presents the first systematic account of Japanese international legal theory; edited by Japanese scholars, the volume traces thirteen influential scholars and spans over a century. It examines how theorists positioned outside international law's Western centre developed sophisticated frameworks to address tensions between Western modernity and their own experiences.

The book's central contribution proposes 'conversation'—continuous engagement that respects differences between legal traditions—as an alternative to 'dialogue', which often reproduces existing hierarchies by assuming all perspectives can be reconciled. Through detailed intellectual biographies across six historical periods, contributors reveal how Japanese scholars strategically employed legal positivism, articulated transcivilizational perspectives, and developed concepts of normative multilateralism.

Addressed at scholars of international law, legal theory, and comparative legal traditions, this volume demonstrates that the discipline's future requires genuinely reciprocal exchange where diverse perspectives can coexist productively.

Latin America has been a complex laboratory for the development of international investment law. While some governments and non-state actors have remained true to the Latin American tradition of resistance towards the international investment law regime, other governments and actors have sought to accommodate said regime in the region. Consequently, a profusion of theories and doctrines, too often embedded in clashing narratives, has emerged. In Latin America, the practice of international investment law is the vivid amalgamation of the practice of governments sometimes resisting and sometimes welcoming mainstream approaches; the practice of lawyers assisting foreign investors from outside and within the region; and the practice of civil society, indigenous peoples and other actors in their struggle for human rights and sustainable development.

Latin America and international investment law describes the complex roles that governments have played vis-à-vis foreign investors and investments; the refreshing but clashing forces that international organizations, corporations, civil society, and indigenous peoples have brought to the field; and the contribution that Latin America has made to the development of the theory and practice of international investment law, notably in fields in which the Latin American experience has been traumatic: human rights and sustainable development.

Latin American scholars have been contributing to the theory of international investment law for over a century; resting on the shoulders of true giants, this volume aims at pushing this contribution a little further.

This book delves into medico-legal history, travelling back in time to explore English law’s fascinating and often acrimonious relationship with healing and healers.

Challenging assumptions that medical law is a recent development, Law and healing traces the regulation of healers from the Church's dominance to legal battles fought among medical practitioners. As well as considering the history of the regulation of healers, this book addresses moral issues such as abortion, bodily sovereignty, and the use of cadavers in research. It highlights how fundamental legal and ethical questions continue to resurface, for example, from controversy in the Renaissance over human dissection to modern-day debates about organ donation.

Law and healing provides a colourful but critical account of the longstanding – and often fraught – relationship between two fundamental pillars of human society.

Why are constitutionalist ideals so prominent in science fiction? Does Independence Day depict self-defence as a legal concept with absolute limits? Is international law lost in space?

This innovative interdisciplinary volume represents the first exploration of the relationship between international law and cinema. From Star Wars to Werner Herzog, The Godfather to The West Wing, this book uncovers a diverse range of representations of international law and its norms in film and television. Examining the wider links between international law, cinema, and ideology, the contributions not only examine visual representations of international law, but they offer an essential insight into the functions fulfilled by these cinematic representations.

Providing an extraordinary introduction to a variety of perspectives on core international legal questions, Cinematic perspectives on international law extends a valuable methodology by which international lawyers can critique the depiction of international law in film.

This volume offers new practical and theoretical perspectives on one of the most complex questions regarding the formation of international law, namely that actors other than states contribute to the making of customary international law.


Notwithstanding the International Law Commission’s valuable contribution, the making of customary international law remains riddled with acute practical and theoretical controversies that continue to be intensively debated. Making extensive reference to the case-law of international law courts and tribunals, as well as the most recent scholarly work on customary international law, this volume provides a comprehensive study of the contribution of international organisations and non-state actors to the formation of customary international law. With innovative tools and guidance for law students, legal scholars, and researchers in law, as well as legal practitioners, advisers, judges, arbitrators, and counsels, this collection is essential reading for those wishing to understand and address contemporary questions of international law-making.

In recent years there has been a significant growth in interest of the so-called “law in context” extending legal studies beyond black letter law. This book looks at the relationship between statute law and legal practice. It examines how law is applied in reality and more precisely how law is perceived by the general public in contrast to the legal profession. The authors look at a number of themes that are central to examining ways in which myths about law are formed, and how there is inevitably a constitutive power aspect to this myth making. At the same time they explore to what extent law itself creates and sustains myths. The book will be of general interest to a number of different disciplines such as legal theory, general law, criminology and sociology.

A complete understanding of criminal law is essential to pass the A2 in law, and this book provides that – for the first time linking all the elements of criminal law together to form a coherent whole. Written by two practising teachers, the book is accessible and user-friendly, featuring summary boxes and tables, clear introductions and references to key cases, as well as study skills and sample examination questions.

The book provides a complete overview of criminal law and skilfully links all the elements together. It stresses the practical application of modern criminal law as it is currently used in the English judicial system and establishes the key roles of prosecution, the Crown Prosecution Service, the defence and the judiciary. It goes on to examine how the prosecution build up a case, looking in depth at the offences of murder and manslaughter and how they interrelate, and examining theft, assault and regulatory offences in detail, before looking at the role and nature of the defence. A vitally important final chapter concentrates on study skills relevant to criminal law, including note-taking, file organisation, essay and problem questions, revision strategy and the use of legal sources.

Embryo research, cloning, assisted conception, neonatal care, saviour siblings, organ transplants, drug trials - modern developments have transformed the field of medicine almost beyond recognition in recent decades and the law struggles to keep up.

In this highly acclaimed and very accessible book, now in its sixth edition, Margaret Brazier and Emma Cave provide an incisive survey of the legal situation in areas as diverse as fertility treatment, patient consent, assisted dying, malpractice and medical privacy.

The book has been fully revised and updated to cover the latest cases, from assisted dying to informed consent; legislative reform of the NHS, professional regulation and redress; European regulations on data protection and clinical trials; and legislation and policy reforms on organ donation, assisted conception and mental capacity.

Essential reading for healthcare professionals, lecturers, medical and law students, this book is of relevance to all whose perusal of the daily news causes wonder, hope and consternation at the advances and limitations of medicine, patients and the law.

Drafting the Irish Free State Constitution challenges the myths surrounding the Irish Free Constitution by analysing the document in its proper historical context, by looking at how the Constitution was drafted and elucidating the true nature of the document. It examines the reasons why the Constitution did not function as anticipated and investigates whether the failures of the document can be attributed to errors of judgement in the drafting process or to subsequent events and treatment of the document.

As well as giving a comprehensive account of the drafting stages and an analysis of the three alternative drafts for the first time, the book considers the intellectual influences behind the Constitution and the central themes of the document. This work constitutes a new look at this historic document through a legal lens and the analysis benefits from the advantage of hindsight as well as from the fact that the archival material is now available.

Drafting the Irish Free State Constitution challenges the myths surrounding the Irish Free Constitution by analysing the document in its proper historical context, by looking at how the Constitution was drafted and elucidating the true nature of the document. It examines the reasons why the Constitution did not function as anticipated and investigates whether the failures of the document can be attributed to errors of judgement in the drafting process or to subsequent events and treatment of the document.

As well as giving a comprehensive account of the drafting stages and an analysis of the three alternative drafts for the first time, the book considers the intellectual influences behind the Constitution and the central themes of the document. This work constitutes a new look at this historic document through a legal lens and the analysis benefits from the advantage of hindsight as well as from the fact that the archival material is now available.

This volume offers new practical and theoretical perspectives on one of the most complex questions regarding the formation of international law, namely that actors other than states contribute to the making of customary international law.


Notwithstanding the International Law Commission’s valuable contribution, the making of customary international law remains riddled with acute practical and theoretical controversies that continue to be intensively debated. Making extensive reference to the case-law of international law courts and tribunals, as well as the most recent scholarly work on customary international law, this volume provides a comprehensive study of the contribution of international organisations and non-state actors to the formation of customary international law. With innovative tools and guidance for law students, legal scholars, and researchers in law, as well as legal practitioners, advisers, judges, arbitrators, and counsels, this collection is essential reading for those wishing to understand and address contemporary questions of international law-making.

The changing rules on the use of force in international law considers the main legal issues concerning the use of force by international organisations and states. It assesses the achievements and failures of the United Nations' collective security system, and discusses the prospects ahead. It also deals with the use of force by states in self-defence and on other legal grounds.

The book discusses to what extent the rules on the use of force have evolved since the end of the Cold War in order to meet the needs of the international community. It focuses in particular on the military operations directed against terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. The research is developed from the standpoint of the sources of international law. It rejects a static vision of the rules on the use of force, including those enshrined in the UN Charter. Rather, it highlights the interaction between conventional and customary international law and the exposure of both sources to state practice.

Can the use of children as soldiers be effectively regulated at an international level? 'Child soldiers in international law' examines how international law has developed to deal with this problematic and emotive issue.

Happold looks at the rules restricting the recruitment of children into armed forces - rules which, though important, are often flouted - but also at the wider legal issues arising from child soldiering: to what extent can child soldiers be held criminally liable for their conduct? How should they be treated when captured? How are states obliged to demobilise and reintegrate them into their societies? It also identifies a move away towards enforcement, through the prosecution of those who recruit child soldiers, and proposals for Security Council sanctions against governments and groups who breach their international obligations by using children in armed conflicts.

This study will be essential reading for those concerned with public international law, human rights, and the United Nations and peacekeeping.

This volume brings together academics and judges to consider ideas and arguments flowing from the often complex relationships between law and politics, adjudication and policy-making, and the judicial and political branches of government.

Contributors explore numerous themes, including the nature and extent of judicial power, the European Court of Human Rights decision in O'Keeffe v Ireland, the process of appointing judges and judicial representation, judicial power and political processes. Contrasting judicial and academic perspectives are provided on the role of the European Court of Human Rights and the nature of exhausting domestic remedies, including a contribution from the late Mr. Justice Adrian Hardiman. The role of specific judges, social and political disputes and case law are examined and socio-economic rights, the rule of law and electoral processes are all addressed.

This volume brings together academics and judges to consider ideas and arguments flowing from the often complex relationships between law and politics, adjudication and policy-making, and the judicial and political branches of government.

Contributors explore numerous themes, including the nature and extent of judicial power, the European Court of Human Rights decision in O'Keeffe v Ireland, the process of appointing judges and judicial representation, judicial power and political processes. Contrasting judicial and academic perspectives are provided on the role of the European Court of Human Rights and the nature of exhausting domestic remedies, including a contribution from the late Mr. Justice Adrian Hardiman. The role of specific judges, social and political disputes and case law are examined and socio-economic rights, the rule of law and electoral processes are all addressed.

Originally published by Manchester University Press in 1963, this book is now regarded as a classic of international law literature. Jennings examines the major issues relating to the acquisition of territory in a stimulating and elegant manner, providing a sense of the critical relationship between law and politics on the international scene - vital if law is to be practiced and interpreted correctly.

This reissue features a new introduction by Marcelo G. Kohen of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, contextualising the work and discussing its continued relevance to students of international law and international lawyers themselves. He is one of the leading experts on questions of acquisition of territory, having been involved in numerous territorial disputes before the International Court of Justice.

Net neutrality is the most contested Internet access policy of our time. This book offers an in-depth explanation of the concept, addressing its history since 1999, its engineering, the policy challenges it represents and its legislation and regulation. Various case studies are presented, including Specialized Services and Content Delivery Networks for video over the Internet, and the book goes on to examine the future of net neutrality battles in Europe, the United States and developing countries, as well as offering co-regulatory solutions based on FRAND and non-exclusivity. It will be a must-read for researchers and advocates in the net neutrality debate, as well as those interested in the context of communications regulation, law and economic regulation, human rights discourse and policy, and the impact of science and engineering on policy and governance.

An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.

Net neutrality is the most contested Internet access policy of our time. This book offers an in-depth explanation of the concept, addressing its history since 1999, its engineering, the policy challenges it represents and its legislation and regulation. Various case studies are presented, including Specialized Services and Content Delivery Networks for video over the Internet, and the book goes on to examine the future of net neutrality battles in Europe, the United States and developing countries, as well as offering co-regulatory solutions based on FRAND and non-exclusivity. It will be a must-read for researchers and advocates in the net neutrality debate, as well as those interested in the context of communications regulation, law and economic regulation, human rights discourse and policy, and the impact of science and engineering on policy and governance.

An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.

Ireland is the first country in the world to extend civil marriage to same sex couples through a public vote. The marriage equality referendum saw record numbers turn out to register their votes including Irish emigrants who returned from around the world to ensure an impressive majority in favour of this constitutional amendment. The overwhelming positive result marked a clear separation of church and State for possibly the first time in Ireland. The Yes Equality campaign ignited a social revolution across Ireland, witnessed more recently with further referenda decriminalising abortion and introducing a less punitive regime for obtaining a divorce.

Utilising published reports, newspaper articles, marriage equality papers and extracts from Dáil debates, this book traces the key legislative and social changes surrounding Irish marriage equality, from the establishment of the advocacy group in 2008 to the referendum on the extension of civil marriage rights to same-sex couples in Ireland in 2015. With a foreword by Ivana Bacik, a Senator and Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology at Trinity College Dublin, best known for her tireless work defending human rights, this book offers a concise historical record of the momentous referendum on marriage equality.

Violence against women is characterised by its universality, the multiplicity of its forms, and the intersectionality of diverse kinds of discrimination against women. Great emphasis in legal analysis has been placed on sex-based discrimination; however, in investigations of violence, one aspect has been overlooked: violence may severely affect women’s health and access to reproductive health, and State health policies might be a cause of violence against women.
Exploring the relationship between violence against women and women’s rights to health and reproductive health, Sara De Vido theorises the new concept of violence against women’s health in international law using the Hippocratic paradigm, enriching human rights-based approaches to women’s autonomy and reflecting on the pervasiveness of patterns of discrimination.
At the core of the book are two dimensions of violence: horizontal ‘inter-personal’, and vertical ‘state policies’. Investigating these dimensions through decisions made by domestic, regional and international judicial or quasi-judicial bodies, De Vido reconceptualises States’ obligations and eventually asks whether international law itself is the ultimate cause of violence against women’s health.

An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.

Ireland is the first country in the world to extend civil marriage to same sex couples through a public vote. The marriage equality referendum saw record numbers turn out to register their votes including Irish emigrants who returned from around the world to ensure an impressive majority in favour of this constitutional amendment. The overwhelming positive result marked a clear separation of church and State for possibly the first time in Ireland. The Yes Equality campaign ignited a social revolution across Ireland, witnessed more recently with further referenda decriminalising abortion and introducing a less punitive regime for obtaining a divorce.

Utilising published reports, newspaper articles, marriage equality papers and extracts from Dáil debates, this book traces the key legislative and social changes surrounding Irish marriage equality, from the establishment of the advocacy group in 2008 to the referendum on the extension of civil marriage rights to same-sex couples in Ireland in 2015. With a foreword by Ivana Bacik, a Senator and Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology at Trinity College Dublin, best known for her tireless work defending human rights, this book offers a concise historical record of the momentous referendum on marriage equality.

The tremendous growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa comes at a time when the field of international investment law and arbitration is witnessing a renewal. The investment has led to big business for law firms in the area of investment arbitration and the last decade has witnessed an increased number of investment treaties, proliferating investment disputes, the rise of mega- regional trade agreements and the negotiation of mega- regional infrastructure projects. Yet, while the argument in support of investment treaties as instruments to attract foreign direct investment is highly contested, many African countries are no doubt becoming more aware of the need to reshape the international investment architecture.

This volume explores trends in FDI on the African continent, the benefits and challenges that FDI presents for African States, and Africa’s participation in the international investment law regime. Featuring contributions from leading African international lawyers, arbitrators, jurists, academics, and litigation experts, this landmark volume is the first of its kind of explore African perspectives in international investment law. Hodu and Mbengue bring together non-mainstream approaches to the debate on the nexus between foreign investment and development, addressing key conceptual issues that will define contemporary international investment law for decades to come. With insights and critical comments on the challenges of Africa’s foreign investment climate and international investment law, this timely collection is essential reading for academics, students, and practitioners alike.

From the United Nations to the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, the principles of international organizations affect all of our lives. The principles these organizations live by represent, at least in part, the principles all of us live by. This book quantifies international organizations’ affiliation with particular principles in their constitutions, like cooperation, peace and equality.

Offering a sophisticated statistical and legal analysis of these principles, the authors reveal the values contained in international organizations’ constitutions and their relationship with one another. When these organizations are divided into groups, like regional versus universal organizations, many new, seemingly contradictory, interpretations of international organizations law emerge. Through elaborate network representations, radar charters, k-clusters analyses and scatter plots, this book offers an unprecedented insight into the principles and values of international organizations.

Why are constitutionalist ideals so prominent in science fiction? Does Independence Day depict self-defence as a legal concept with absolute limits? Is international law lost in space?

This innovative interdisciplinary volume represents the first exploration of the relationship between international law and cinema. From Star Wars to Werner Herzog, The Godfather to The West Wing, this book uncovers a diverse range of representations of international law and its norms in film and television. Examining the wider links between international law, cinema, and ideology, the contributions not only examine visual representations of international law, but they offer an essential insight into the functions fulfilled by these cinematic representations.

Providing an extraordinary introduction to a variety of perspectives on core international legal questions, Cinematic perspectives on international law extends a valuable methodology by which international lawyers can critique the depiction of international law in film.

Latin America has been a complex laboratory for the development of international investment law. While some governments and non-state actors have remained true to the Latin American tradition of resistance towards the international investment law regime, other governments and actors have sought to accommodate said regime in the region. Consequently, a profusion of theories and doctrines, too often embedded in clashing narratives, has emerged. In Latin America, the practice of international investment law is the vivid amalgamation of the practice of governments sometimes resisting and sometimes welcoming mainstream approaches; the practice of lawyers assisting foreign investors from outside and within the region; and the practice of civil society, indigenous peoples and other actors in their struggle for human rights and sustainable development.

Latin America and international investment law describes the complex roles that governments have played vis-à-vis foreign investors and investments; the refreshing but clashing forces that international organizations, corporations, civil society, and indigenous peoples have brought to the field; and the contribution that Latin America has made to the development of the theory and practice of international investment law, notably in fields in which the Latin American experience has been traumatic: human rights and sustainable development.

Latin American scholars have been contributing to the theory of international investment law for over a century; resting on the shoulders of true giants, this volume aims at pushing this contribution a little further.

In May 2019, Narendra Modi won the world’s largest election. Defying expectations, he led his Bharatiya Janata Party to a resounding victory, with the highest vote share for any party in thirty years, and was re-elected as India’s Prime Minister.

What accounts for the scale of Modi’s win? Why, despite economic hardship and social strife, did Indians vote so overwhelmingly for him and the BJP? This book explains the economic, social and cultural processes that shaped political passions in India during the spring and summer of 2019. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together a stellar team of economists, political scientists, sociologists, historians and geographers to explain Modi’s win. Together, the contributors compel us to take seriously the ‘structures of feeling’ in politics.

Love him or hate him, Modi secured for himself a decisive re-election as India’s Prime Minister. Passionate politics is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how that happened.

For nearly forty years, The law of the sea has been regarded as an authoritative and standard work on the subject, combining detailed analysis and relevant, practical examples with a clear and engaging style. Completely revised and updated, this new edition will be a vital resource for anyone with an interest in maritime affairs.

The book provides a rigorous analysis of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the many other legal instruments that regulate human activities at sea, as well as taking full account of the numerous decisions of international courts and tribunals in recent years. It also traces the historical background to the law and its broader political, economic and environmental context. The new edition includes substantially expanded coverage of contemporary threats faced by the marine environment from human activities, such as the loss of marine biodiversity, the effects of climate change on the oceans and the vast amounts of plastic polluting the sea.

This volume is written by three highly qualified authors, drawing on their extensive experience of teaching and researching the law of the sea, as well as their practical experience in advising governments and acting as counsel and arbitrators in international litigation.
This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life below water

When a person is not recognised as a citizen anywhere, they are typically referred to as ‘stateless’. This can give rise to challenges both for individuals and for the institutions that try to govern them. Statelessness, governance, and the problem of citizenship breaks from tradition by relocating the ‘problem’ to be addressed from one of statelessness to one of citizenship. It problematises the governance of citizenship – and the use of citizenship as a governance tool – and traces the ‘problem of citizenship’ from global and regional governance mechanisms to national and even individual levels.

With contributions from activists, affected persons, artists, lawyers, academics, and national and international policy experts, this volume rejects the idea that statelessness and stateless persons are a problem. It argues that the reality of statelessness helps to uncover a more fundamental challenge: the problem of citizenship.

For nearly forty years, The law of the sea has been regarded as an authoritative and standard work on the subject, combining detailed analysis and relevant, practical examples with a clear and engaging style. Completely revised and updated, this new edition will be a vital resource for anyone with an interest in maritime affairs.

The book provides a rigorous analysis of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the many other legal instruments that regulate human activities at sea, as well as taking full account of the numerous decisions of international courts and tribunals in recent years. It also traces the historical background to the law and its broader political, economic and environmental context. The new edition includes substantially expanded coverage of contemporary threats faced by the marine environment from human activities, such as the loss of marine biodiversity, the effects of climate change on the oceans and the vast amounts of plastic polluting the sea.

This volume is written by three highly qualified authors, drawing on their extensive experience of teaching and researching the law of the sea, as well as their practical experience in advising governments and acting as counsel and arbitrators in international litigation.
This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life below water

In the first book-length treatment of the application of feminist theories of international law, Charlesworth and Chinkin argue that the absence of women in the development of international law has produced a narrow and inadequate jurisprudence that has legitimated the unequal position of women worldwide rather than confronting it.

The boundaries of international law provides a feminist perspective on the structure, processes and substance of international law, shedding new light on treaty law, the concept of statehood and the right of self-determination, the role of international institutions and the law of human rights. Concluding with a consideration of whether the inclusion of women in the jurisdiction of international war crimes tribunals represents a significant shift in the boundaries of international law, the book encourages a dramatic rethinking of the discipline of international law.

With a new introduction that reflects on the profound changes in international law since the book’s first publication in 2000, this provocative volume is essential reading for scholars, practitioners and students alike.

In the first book-length treatment of the application of feminist theories of international law, Charlesworth and Chinkin argue that the absence of women in the development of international law has produced a narrow and inadequate jurisprudence that has legitimated the unequal position of women worldwide rather than confronting it.

The boundaries of international law provides a feminist perspective on the structure, processes and substance of international law, shedding new light on treaty law, the concept of statehood and the right of self-determination, the role of international institutions and the law of human rights. Concluding with a consideration of whether the inclusion of women in the jurisdiction of international war crimes tribunals represents a significant shift in the boundaries of international law, the book encourages a dramatic rethinking of the discipline of international law.

With a new introduction that reflects on the profound changes in international law since the book’s first publication in 2000, this provocative volume is essential reading for scholars, practitioners and students alike.

Environmental politics has traditionally been a peripheral concern for international relations theory, but increasing alarm over global environmental challenges has elevated international society’s relationship with the natural world into the theoretical limelight. IR theory’s engagement with environmental politics, however, has largely focused on interstate cooperation in the late twentieth century, with less attention paid to how the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century quest to tame nature came to shape the modern international order.

The ideal river examines nineteenth-century efforts to establish international commissions on three transboundary rivers – the Rhine, the Danube, and the Congo. It charts how the Enlightenment ambition to tame the natural world, and human nature itself, became an international standard for rational and civilized authority and informed our geographical imagination of the international. This relationship of domination over nature shaped three core IR concepts central to the emergence of early international order: the territorial sovereign state; imperial hierarchies; and international organizations. The book contributes to environmental politics and international relations by highlighting how the relationship between society and nature is not a peripheral concern, but one at the heart of international politics.

This book delves into medico-legal history, travelling back in time to explore English law’s fascinating and often acrimonious relationship with healing and healers.

Challenging assumptions that medical law is a recent development, Law and healing traces the regulation of healers from the Church's dominance to legal battles fought among medical practitioners. As well as considering the history of the regulation of healers, this book addresses moral issues such as abortion, bodily sovereignty, and the use of cadavers in research. It highlights how fundamental legal and ethical questions continue to resurface, for example, from controversy in the Renaissance over human dissection to modern-day debates about organ donation.

Law and healing provides a colourful but critical account of the longstanding – and often fraught – relationship between two fundamental pillars of human society.

From the UK government’s Brexit Bill, to China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, violations of international law have made headlines across the world in recent years. This book offers a comprehensive and accessible guide to the essential rules and facts of international law, explaining what international law is and how it shapes the world around us.

Graham and Noortmann provide specific examples to contextualise key concepts in international law, directing readers to a range of further sources to supplement their reading. Topics range from the place of international law in the national legal order, the United Nations and other global international organisations, international human rights, and international environmental law.

An essential quick reference text for students and practitioners of international law.

When a person is not recognised as a citizen anywhere, they are typically referred to as ‘stateless’. This can give rise to challenges both for individuals and for the institutions that try to govern them. Statelessness, governance, and the problem of citizenship breaks from tradition by relocating the ‘problem’ to be addressed from one of statelessness to one of citizenship. It problematises the governance of citizenship – and the use of citizenship as a governance tool – and traces the ‘problem of citizenship’ from global and regional governance mechanisms to national and even individual levels.

With contributions from activists, affected persons, artists, lawyers, academics, and national and international policy experts, this volume rejects the idea that statelessness and stateless persons are a problem. It argues that the reality of statelessness helps to uncover a more fundamental challenge: the problem of citizenship.

Embryo research, cloning, assisted conception, neonatal care, pandemic vaccine development, saviour siblings, organ transplants, drug trials – modern developments have transformed the field of medicine almost beyond recognition in recent decades and the law struggles to keep up.

In this highly acclaimed and very accessible book Margaret Brazier, Emma Cave and Rob Heywood provide an incisive survey of the legal situation in areas as diverse as fertility treatment, patient consent, assisted dying, malpractice and medical privacy.

The seventh edition of this book has been fully revised and updated to cover the latest cases, Brexit-related regulatory reform and COVID-19 pandemic measures.

Essential reading for healthcare professionals, lecturers, medical and law students, this book is of relevance to all whose perusal of the daily news causes wonder, hope and consternation at the advances and limitations of medicine, patients and the law.

Embryo research, cloning, assisted conception, neonatal care, pandemic vaccine development, saviour siblings, organ transplants, drug trials – modern developments have transformed the field of medicine almost beyond recognition in recent decades and the law struggles to keep up.

In this highly acclaimed and very accessible book Margaret Brazier, Emma Cave and Rob Heywood provide an incisive survey of the legal situation in areas as diverse as fertility treatment, patient consent, assisted dying, malpractice and medical privacy.

The seventh edition of this book has been fully revised and updated to cover the latest cases, Brexit-related regulatory reform and COVID-19 pandemic measures.

Essential reading for healthcare professionals, lecturers, medical and law students, this book is of relevance to all whose perusal of the daily news causes wonder, hope and consternation at the advances and limitations of medicine, patients and the law.

Longlisted for The Inner Temple Book Prize 2025

While espionage between states is a practice dating back centuries, the emergence of the internet revolutionised the types and scale of intelligence activities, creating drastic new challenges for the traditional legal frameworks governing them.

This book argues that cyber-espionage has come to have an uneasy status in law: it is not prohibited, because spying does not result in an internationally wrongful act, but neither is it authorised or permitted, because states are free to resist foreign cyber-espionage activities. Rather than seeking further regulation, however, governments have remained purposefully silent, leaving them free to pursue cyber-espionage themselves at the same time as they adopt measures to prevent falling victim to it.

Drawing on detailed analysis of state practice and examples from sovereignty, diplomacy, human rights and economic law, this book offers a comprehensive overview of the current legal status of cyber-espionage, as well as future directions for research and policy. It is an essential resource for scholars and practitioners in international law, as well as anyone interested in the future of cyber-security.

The environment has traditionally been a marginal concern in international relations, but the climate crisis has highlighted the importance of the relationship between society and the natural world.

In The ideal river, Joanne Yao offers a remarkable account of how nineteenth-century efforts to tame nature shaped our modern international order. Examining historic attempts to establish international commissions on three transboundary rivers – the Rhine, the Danube and the Congo – she reveals how the Enlightenment ambition to master the natural world has informed our geographical imagination of the international.

This idea of domination over nature shaped three concepts central to the emergence of early international order: the territorial sovereign state, imperial hierarchies and international organisations. As The ideal river shows, the relationship between society and nature is at the heart of international politics.

From the United Nations to the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, the principles of international organizations affect all of our lives. The principles these organizations live by represent, at least in part, the principles all of us live by. This book quantifies international organizations’ affiliation with particular principles in their constitutions, like cooperation, peace and equality.

Offering a sophisticated statistical and legal analysis of these principles, the authors reveal the values contained in international organizations’ constitutions and their relationship with one another. When these organizations are divided into groups, like regional versus universal organizations, many new, seemingly contradictory, interpretations of international organizations law emerge. Through elaborate network representations, radar charters, k-clusters analyses and scatter plots, this book offers an unprecedented insight into the principles and values of international organizations.

In May 2019, Narendra Modi won the world’s largest election. Defying expectations, he led his Bharatiya Janata Party to a resounding victory, with the highest vote share for any party in thirty years, and was re-elected as India’s Prime Minister.

What accounts for the scale of Modi’s win? Why, despite economic hardship and social strife, did Indians vote so overwhelmingly for him and the BJP? This book explains the economic, social and cultural processes that shaped political passions in India during the spring and summer of 2019. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together a stellar team of economists, political scientists, sociologists, historians and geographers to explain Modi’s win. Together, the contributors compel us to take seriously the ‘structures of feeling’ in politics.

Love him or hate him, Modi secured for himself a decisive re-election as India’s Prime Minister. Passionate politics is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how that happened.