Research Seminar - Ilona Cairns

Ilona Cairns from the University of Aberdeen will speak as part of the Law School's research seminar series 2014-15 on 'Does Form Matter?  Feminisim and the 'Legislative Modernisation' of Scots Criminal Law and Procedure'.

Abstract

Recent changes to the nature and form of Scots criminal law and procedure have been paralleled by an academic and governmental interest in the responsiveness of law to gender issues. In some instances (for example in relation to the abolition of the corroboration requirement) a push to ‘modernise’ the law via legislative reform has been inextricably intertwined with a desire to respond to feminist concerns. This seminar will explore the relevance of feminist perspectives on law to the ‘legislative modernisation’ of Scots criminal law and procedure as a whole. It will address theoretical questions, including whether an increasingly ‘codified’ criminal law is conceptually agreeable from a feminist standpoint, but also the practical difficulties of integrating feminist perspectives into the modernisation process in a meaningful and politically viable way.