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Michel Foucault argues that new techniques of government that developed in the modern period were distinct from the traditional juridical forms of sovereignty. This chapter examines the key terms of discipline and biopower, and their place in the complex of techniques that Foucault called 'governmentality'. It looks at the concept of power in Foucault's work before addressing the question of how his work can contribute to understanding of law in modern society. Foucault sets out two models of political power: the pre-modern, or classical, model of juridical power, and the modern normalising power. Where discipline works on the individual, 'biopower' is aimed at the administration and production of life. Foucault is making two claims about the law. First, that with the development of governmentality the law is transformed by normalising power. Second, that the basis of sovereignty, which before the modern period was constituted in juridical terms, requires to be rethought.

The chapter aims to assess the impact of the work of transitional justice concepts and mechanisms in allowing societies torn apart by conflict to emerge as ‘reconciled.’ It places these questions as key to the dynamics of transitional justice and looks at some of the jurisprudential implications of how countries have faced up to histories of extensive suffering, discrimination, human rights violations and other large-scale injustices. The chapter identifies a number of such problems in the context of political transitions, typically from authoritarian to democratic forms of government. In recent decades a theme has come to prominence in legal studies concerning the role of law and legal institutions in political transitions. The politics of memory are at once also the politics of forgetting, and it is to the latter in particular that the forging of a collective memory through legal means should always remain most attentive.

This article is based on the Inaugural Adam Smith Lecture in Jurisprudence given at the University of Glasgow in 2016. It asks this question: is it not an age of obligation that we live in as much as, if not more so than, an age of rights? To answer this it explores a number of different senses of obligation to be found across a range of social practices. After an overview of some of the main concerns of Smith’s work, it looks at two types of ‘obligation practices’ prominent in contemporary society: those that make rights effective, and those that operationalise debt. In paying attention to the often less visible work done by and through obligations, it also highlights certain vulnerabilities citizens are susceptible to when the distinction between obligation and obedience threatens to collapse.

Enhancement of natural growing medium amendments with microwave irradiation has been demonstrated but has received less research attention A greenhouse experiment was carried out to determine the effect of microwaved vermicast on dahlia Dahlia pinnata lsquo Cobequid Celestial Star rsquo plant growth and flower production Fresh moist vermicast was treated with microwave irradiation power levels W W W and W with non microwaved vermicast as the control W The temperature of the microwaved vermicast increased from oC at W to oC at W but dropped to oC at W The density of bacteria colonies was high in treatments W W and W and the least in treatment W while treatment W did not support bacteria growth Total nitrogen content did not change much but leaf tissue phosphate content increased from W to W Leaf tissue chlorophyll content was increased by treatment W followed by the FV while anthocyanin content consistently increased with an increase in power output level Microwave irradiation increased total plant and tuberous roots fresh weights Those treatments ge W had the greatest positive impact on total number of floral organs and longevity of flowers as compared to the W and the W treatments Overall it was demonstrated that microwave irradiation at W improve vermicast chemical properties and enhance dahlia plant growth and flower production Further study on microbial structure will be necessary

Several studies have suggested that postharvest needle retention increases in autumn, likely due to cold acclimation. But some of the dynamics of the phenomenon have yet to be studied. The objectives of this study are to (1) describe seasonal changes in postharvest abscission, water uptake, fluorescence, and moisture content of balsam fir, (2) determine the relationship of needle abscission with water uptake, fluorescence, and moisture content, and (3) link the postharvest changes to certain environmental factors. Branches were collected from 18 trees each month and needle abscission, fluorescence, water uptake, and water content were monitored for 12 weeks. Fluorescence, water uptake, and water content were all correlated with needle abscission. Further, all the above factors improved in autumn months compared to spring or summer months and significantly related to changes in photoperiod and temperature. In addition, fluorescence and moisture content are valuable indicators of postharvest quality.

Three recent publications evidence a growing interest in critical jurisprudence with materiality, technology, affect and atmosphere. These approaches pose fundamental challenges to existing traditions within legal critique, spurning a focus on the ideology of legal reasoning and exploring instead the unique practices through which the law binds subjects through material, affective and atmospheric manipulations. Through either Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos’s ‘lawscape’ or Kyle McGee’s ‘jurimorphs’ these innovative theoretical projects pluralise the ‘forces’ which account for the law’s normativity, disavowing the notion that such forces can be reduced either to a transcendental form (like sovereignty) or to notions of structural or symbolic violence. These approaches address a ‘democratic deficit’ in legal philosophy that has generally excluded the realm of the material in its theorising and allows us to attend to the multiple forms that allow for the passage of law.

In his book about ‘Who owns Scotland and how they got it’, Andy Wightman tells the story of a miner walking home one night with a couple of pheasants in his jacket when he gets stopped by the lando...

To better understand potential reasons for a North American decline in fresh potato consumption, a region-wide survey (n = 1009) was undertaken in eastern Canada. Results were examined comparing high- and low-frequency potato users on a variety of factors, including beliefs, attitudes, barriers, needs, and satisfaction with potatoes. Respondents indicated positive perceptions pertaining to potato nutrition, taste, preparation, and overall enjoyment. Multiple logistic regression analysis suggested two variables—age and the perceived importance of potatoes for the everyday meal—were strong predictors of high versus low frequency of potato consumption. Respondents judged the ability to see the potato in the package, potato firmness, and locally produced as point-of-purchase characteristics particularly important when buying fresh potatoes. However, respondents also indicated that their needs were not fully met and expressed relatively low levels of satisfaction when purchasing potatoes. Based on the ...

Jerome Frank focuses primarily on the adversarial process, which he likened to a trial by combat with each side's champions trying to do down the others – a 'fight' method of proof. Frank's inquisitorial system would include better training of legal officials, impartial government officials to dig up all the facts, specialisation of judges and State administrators to deal with the complex facts of modern society and increasing use of expert witnesses. The incorporation of facts in narratives, the possible limitations of legal procedures, the intelligibility of legal language, and the aspiration that the courtroom may function as the forum for the establishment of the truth and of genuine communicative exchange are all deeply contested issues in legal theory. The law of evidence provides the structure within which facts may be 'found' and established as legally relevant. There is of course much that is filtered out in the process.

This chapter outlines some of the changes and the transformations that Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber brought about to the legal form and the function of law in modern society, notably with the emergence of the welfare state. Most writers identify welfare state law with the growth of large state bureaucracies, which are viewed as increasingly expensive and inefficient – more likely to preserve themselves or apply rules in formal and mechanical ways than be sensitive to the needs of individuals. Bureaucracies provided a social and administrative guarantee of formal justice and control of the judiciary. Weber suggested that the features of law that dominated its liberal era – formality and neutrality – would pervade future development. The materialisation of law marks the tendency towards particularised legislation: the movement towards breaking up the general categories into sub-categories towards which law applies differentially.

The idea that law should be given the form of general, clear and prospective rules does not appear as a reason to divide positivists and natural lawyers. Lon Fuller elevates the core features of the rule of law to nothing less than what he calls the 'inner morality of law'. Hart famously objected to Fuller identifying the requirements that make legality possible as a 'morality'. For Hart this had been a purely formal account of the rule of law that has no necessary moral dimension as such. The rule of law, writes Jeremy Waldron, 'is an ideal designed to correct dangers of abuse that arise in general when political power is exercised, not dangers of abuse that arise from law in particular'. Gustav Radbruch acknowledges that it may be, and that no clear defining line can be drawn here between extreme and merely 'tolerable' injustice.