Edinburgh Law School Legal Studies Research Paper Series - April 2022
Fri 22 April 2022
The latest in the Legal Studies Research Paper Series (Vol. 10, No. 1: Apr 20, 2022) from Edinburgh Law School is now available.
View the full Edinburgh Law School Legal Studies Research Paper Series on SSRN
Who’s Sovereign? The AVMSD’s Country of Origin Principle and Video-sharing Platforms
Paolo Cavaliere, Edinburgh Law School
This article aims to discuss the impact of the expansion of the country of origin principle to video-sharing digital platforms, and how this contributes to a new paradigm of centralized governance of online media content in Europe. Compared to other jurisdictional regimes in the fields of data protection, intellectual property and personality rights, where other country-of-receipt and targeting tests are utilized, the case of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) demonstrates the emergence of a split governance model between individual rights and public interests, which fails to protect adequately local cultural and social specificities in the media sphere.
The Uses of Precedent in Legal Argument
Claudio Michelon, Edinburgh Law School
This paper addresses attempts to demonstrate the importance of paying attention to the types of authoritative precedent-relying argument employed by courts for a theory of judicial precedent. It demonstrates that different argument types leave diverse argumentative footprints (i.e. rely on different assumptions, support different claims, offer different support to the argument’s conclusion, etc) by discussing three types of precedent-relying arguments: the so-called “legal syllogism,” legal analogies, and inferences to the best explanation. It argues that authoritative precedent performs different argumentative roles in each of these argument-types and concludes that a sufficiently complex theory of authoritative judicial precedent must take into account these different roles.
Justice for Windrush? Redress, Reform, Repeat
Timothy Jacob-Owens, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Edinburgh Law School
Jo Shaw, Edinburgh Law School
This article explores the scope and limits of the law as a means of remedying the injustices of the Windrush scandal, focusing on pathways to British citizenship for Windrush victims. We begin by discussing the available avenues for redress for denial of British citizenship to members of the Windrush generation. We then consider potential legislative reform, which might expand the powers of the Home Secretary to further facilitate the acquisition of British citizenship by individuals in the affected groups. Finally, we examine ongoing developments in immigration and citizenship law, including the post-Brexit treatment of EU citizens resident in the UK, which indicate that, notwithstanding the Windrush scandal and the responses it generated, the UK government is simply repeating the failings of the past.