Lawyer, Universidad de Chile Master on Political Philosophy, Universidad Diego Portales Law PHD Student, Queen Mary University of London 1. Pashukanis and the withering away thesis Evgeny Pashukanis (1891–1937) continues to be considered one of the most prominent legal theorists in the Marxist tradition.1 ‘A methodological break in materialist legal theory is first made by Evgeny Pashukanis’.2 This methodological break to which Sonja Buckel refers consists in the fact that Pashukanis aims to transcend a mere history of institutions or a content analysis of norms, and rather attempts to provide ..read more

In 1970, István Mészáros asserted that alienation was the most widely debated concept in philosophy, and it likely remained so for another 10 years.[1] However, for the subsequent thirty years, alienation became a concept viewed with suspicion, lingering in the shadows of academia. Over the last decade, the concept has experienced a renaissance, and it is once again being employed and discussed in both philosophy and the social sciences.[2] While the concept is widely used, it is rarely clearly defined. It has been employed to explain a broad spectrum of themes, ranging from a psychological se ..read more

On September 5, 2023, a tragic incident unfolded at Piraeus port in Greece, causing outrage among the Greek population. Antonis Karyotis, a 36-year-old man, had bought a ticket[1] and boarded the ship Blue Horizon, he disembarked after initially boarding; when he attempted to re-board, a crew member forcibly stopped him, leading to his immersion in the harbour waters. The ship continued without offering help, and Antonis tragically drowned. His death was confirmed at Nikaia Hospital near Piraeus. Karyotis, described as coming from an impoverished family of ten in Crete, had a history of psychi ..read more

Reprinted from Notes from Below Notes from Below are launching the call for a workers’ inquiry into the legal sector. Notes from Below, Tanzil Chowdhury (a member of our editorial collective), and Jamie Woodcock (and supported by the Centre for Law and Society in a Global Context, Queen Mary University of London) are inviting workers in the legal sector to write about the organisation of their work and class composition. To our knowledge, there has not been a workers inquiry in the British legal services sector. In addition to this gap, there are many changes in the technical composi ..read more

Relativism is null and void simply because, what it on the one hand considers popular and contingent, and on the other hand holds to be irreducible, originates out of objectivity—precisely that of an individualistic society—and is to be deduced as socially necessary appearance [Schein].1 Introduction The legal historian Samuel Moyn has recently written on both the legacy of the Critical Legal Studies (CLS) movement and the current state of the Law and Political Economy Project (LPE).2 Moyn seeks to reopen the debate about legal indeterminacy that was so central to CLS, as well as the debate ab ..read more

In the last decade, reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous people emerged as a normative ideal in Canada. No doubt this is a product of the political struggle of Indigenous peoples. It was political struggle that, in 1980, forced the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal rights and title in Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. Later, when megaconstitutional negotiations over the content of Section 35 stalled[1], it was left to the courts to interpret Section 35 in light of the ongoing political struggle against settler colonialism. By understanding reconciliation ..read more

Reviewed: Sophie Lewis, Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation (London: Verso, 2022), 128 pp. Abolish the Family is Sophie Lewis’s polemical intellectual history of the numerous debates and discourses which make up the movement for family abolition. In it, Lewis outlines the many feminist, socialist and queer theorists and activists who have articulated a family abolitionist politics in their own ways. Still, what remains wanting in Lewis’s work—perhaps unsurprisingly—are the legal rules that together with social and cultural phenomena create and police the borders of the fami ..read more

The past few months have seen a step change in trade union activity in Britain. We have gone from historically low levels of activity to mass strikes across the public sector, transportation, and more. These have been triggered by the cost of living crisis and a sharp rise in inflation. In response, the leadership of many unions have called strike action on a level not seen in decades. Many union members have now found themselves fighting on two fronts: both against unwilling employers and against the union bureaucracy. The current moment provides an important opportunity to build rank-and-fil ..read more

Legal Form editorial collective member Jasmine Chorley-Schulz is organizing an online event on Friday, April 28, 2023 that will be of interest to Legal Form readers. Guest speaker presentations will be followed by a roundtable discussion with questions from the audience. Max Ajl (University of Ghent) ‘Agrarian Questions South and North: Ecological Planning and Convergence’ Ying Chen (New School) ‘Creating a counter-hegemonic climate change narrative – A view from the Global South’ Kirstin Munro (University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) ‘Waste and consumption in the Global North ..read more

Friday, February 24, 2023 9:15 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. via Zoom Webinar Join the Fordham International Law Journal as they welcome, scholars, practitioners, and advocates to discuss the problems and prospects of labor protections organizing in law today. Over the last few years, the world has seen a resurgence of union organizing and labor power. Our panels will discuss whether there is a right to strike under international law, how that right may be protected, what role treaties can play in the development of labor right, and the interplay between labor organizing and supply chains. We look forward ..read more