February 14, 2014 - LAW AND RELIGION FORUM

Posted on February 14, 2014July 27, 2016 by JCPW

Around the Web This Week

Some interesting law & religion stories from around the web this week:

Starting later this year, Dutch bankers will have to swear an oath that they will do their “utmost to maintain and promote confidence in the financial-services industry. So help me God.” The oath is part of a major attempt by regulators and banks to clean up after the financial crisis of 2008
On Thursday, Belgian lawmakers passed a bill that extends the “right to die” to those under the age of 18, subject to certain strict conditions and consent of parents or guardians
Attorney General Eric Holder recently announced a new policy aimed at ensuring rights under federal law to same-sex couples
On Tuesday, Washington state Governor Jay Inslee declared a moratorium on the death penalty, citing concerns about unequal application of justice in determining who is executed
As part of a settlement offer, Penguin Books India has agreed to withdraw from sale all copies of a book that takes an unorthodox view of Hinduism
The dispute among United Methodists over the recognition of same-sex couples betrays a deep schism within the church
The LDS Church may eliminate the one-year waiting period between a civil marriage ceremony and a temple wedding for members in the U.S. and Canada
Amending a decades-old law, Spain says it will now allow foreign Sephardim Jews who become nationals to keep their original citizenship
U.N. High Commissioner said “ethnic-religious cleansing” is tearing apart the Central African Republic, and called on the international community to help restore order

Posted on February 14, 2014July 27, 2016 by JCPW

This March, The Catholic University of America Press will publish Liberty and Law: The Idea of Permissive Natural Law, 1100-1800 by Brian Tierney (Cornell University). The publisher’s description follows.

Liberty and Law examines a previously underappreciated theme in legal history – the idea of permissive natural law. The idea is mentioned only peripherally, if at all, in modern histories of natural law. Yet it engaged the attention of jurists, philosophers, and theologians over a long period and formed an integral part of their teachings. This ensured that natural law was not conceived of as merely a set of commands and prohibitions that restricted human conduct, but also as affirming a realm of human freedom, understood as both freedom from subjection and freedom of choice. Freedom can be used in many ways, and throughout the whole period from 1100 to 1800 the idea of permissive natural law was deployed for various purposes in response to different problems that arose. It was frequently invoked to explain the origin of private property and the beginnings of civil government.

Several kinds of permissive natural law were identified. Permission could be positive or negative, depending on whether it was specifically conceded by a legislator or only tacitly allowed. It could free from sin or merely remit some temporal punishment that was due. It could commend some conduct without commanding it or permit some evil without condoning it. Medieval canonists used the concept of permissive natural law to harmonize the discordant texts that they found in their sources; William of Ockham found it a powerful tool in his defense of Franciscan poverty against papal criticisms; for Richard Hooker it justified both the constitutional structure and the ritual practices of the Anglican church; John Selden used it to uphold the inviolability of contracts, most importantly the contract of government; Hugo Grotius made it a central theme in his treatment of the conduct permissible in waging war; in the eighteenth century Jean Barbeyrac and Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui associated the idea with the emerging doctrine of natural rights. In Liberty and Law, Tierney has presented us with a magisterial and provocative way of interpreting legal history.

Posted on February 14, 2014July 27, 2016 by JCPW

Buckingham, “Fighting Over God”

This month, McGill Queens University Press will publish Fighting Over God: A Legal and Political History of Religious Freedom in Canada by Janet Epp Buckingham (Trinity Western University). The publisher’s description follows.

From before Confederation to the present day, religion has been one of the most contentious issues in Canadian public life. In Fighting over God, Janet Buckingham surveys a vast array of religious conflicts, exploring both their political aspects and the court cases that were part of their resolution.

While topics such as the Manitoba Schools Crisis and debates about Sunday shopping are familiar territory, Buckingham focuses on lesser-known conflicts such as those over the education of Doukhobor and Mennonite children and the banning of the Jehovah’s Witness religion under the Defence of Canada Regulations during the Second World War. Subjects are explored thematically with chapters on the history of religious broadcasting, education, freedom of expression, religious practices, marriage and family, and religious institutions.

Contentious issues about religious accommodation are not going away. Fighting over God cites over six hundred legal cases, across nearly four centuries, to provide a rich context for the ongoing social debate about the place of religion in our increasingly secular society.