Amicus Curiae

Facing China: The Prospect for War and Peace by Jean-Pierre Cabestan

Michael Palmer — 2025-02-27

Consumer Protection in Asia, edited by Geraint Howells, Hans-W Micklitz, Mateja Durovic and André Janssen

Ling Zhou — 2025-02-27

Lawyers for the Poor: Legal Advice, Voluntary Action, and Citizenship in England, 1890-1990 by Kate Bradley

Patricia Ng — 2025-02-27

Constitutional Change in the Contemporary Socialist World by Ngoc Son Bui

Johannes San Miguel Giralt — 2025-02-27

Children’s Voices, Family Disputes and Child Inclusive Mediation: The Right to be Heard by Anne Barlow and Jan Ewing

Marian Roberts — 2025-02-27

The Constitutional System of the Hong Kong SAR: A Contextual Analysis by Albert Hung-yee Chen and Po Jen Yap

Michael Palmer — 2025-02-27

Full issue

Maria Federica Moscati — 2025-02-27

News and Events

Eliza Boudier — 2025-02-27

The Discontents of the Pan European Game Information (PEGI)

Salvatore Fasciana — 2025-02-27

This article explores the practical application of visual law and legal design in the context of consumer protection and video games, and it examines the Pan European Game Information System (PEGI) and its limitations in the classification of video games. While PEGI effectively translates regulatory concerns into an accessible and standardized visual format, its content-based approach oversimplifies the complexity of the video game medium while also overlooking how the human–machine interaction takes place. With this in mind, this article proposes a shift towards a PEGI-grounded classification system that focuses on “gameplay bricks”: the rules and mechanics that shape the game environment. By integrating principles and insight from visual law and legal design, this model aims to enhance clarity, accessibility and understanding of the legal message behind an icon or indicator. In this context, legal design ensures that the rule/mechanic structure is translated into visual indicators and icons that have the capacity to empower consumers to make informed decisions. This approach thus aligns with the policy objectives that constituted the cornerstones of the very existence of PEGI.

Keywords: video games; PEGI; video games rules; indicators; rating gameplay.

Instrumenting(s):

Lucy Finchett-Maddock — 2025-02-27

This Visual Law article accounts an event “A Royal Dis-Sent – Re-Writing and Re-Imagining a Series of Repetitive Beats CJA 1994” held at House of Annetta, on London’s Brick Lane, on Sunday 3 November 2024. On that day it was 30 years since the notorious Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (CJA) 1994 was given royal assent, illegalizing raves, banning music that “includes sounds wholly or predominantly characterized by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats” (section 63(1)(B)). Discussions as to the nature of sound and law are unravelled, considering prohibition, nomadism, repetition and property concerning the connections found between law, music and aesthetics that the CJA 1994 and the workshop highlighted. The summary relays the work of event organizers Dr Daniel Hignell-Tully and Dr Lucy Finchett-Maddock under the guise of transdisciplinary project “Instrumenting(s)”, investigating the relations between sound, property and law, and how we may best understand the history of land within legalities and their resistances via a combination of legal, scientific and artistic research through the development of a “geosocial instrument”.

Keywords: CJA 1994; sound; prohibition; nomadism; repetition; law and aesthetics.

Tony Whatling (1939–2024)

Mohamed M Keshavjee — 2025-02-27

Editor's introduction

Maria Federica Moscati — 2025-02-27

How Do You Solve a Problem Like English Partnerships?

Chris Thorpe — 2025-02-27

English partnerships are transparent for tax purposes, but there is no legislation outlining the tax rules besides a Statement of Practice (SP) (1975). Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are treated the same for tax purposes but are bodies corporate. This has led to concerns over employment and partnership status being confused and highlights the necessity for specific anti-avoidance legislation for LLPs. Partnerships and LLPs can also be regarded as (bare) trusts for tax purposes, potentially leading to confusion and disputes as to beneficial ownership. These problems would largely disappear if members of LLPs chose to treat their partnership as a separate legal entity for tax purposes. If they did so, LLPs could be subject to corporation tax; otherwise, they and general partnerships should be subject to tailored, dedicated primary legislation governing the tax treatment—instead of that covering a mere SP.

Keywords: partnerships; Partnership Act 1890; SP D12; LLP; beneficial ownership; legal entity; employment.

Cultural Connections

Canan Çetin — 2025-02-27

With increasing migration, integration has become a critical priority for host countries. This article discusses the findings of the research project titled “All the Same with Dance”, which examines the role of cultural activities, specifically dance, in the integration process of migrants. Migration often involves challenges such as xenophobia, which hinder social cohesion. Employing qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews, content analysis and focus group discussions, “All the Same with Dance” explored how dance influences perceptions of similarity and reduces prejudices. Findings reveal a shift from nationalistic sentiments before the event to a focus on shared experiences afterward, demonstrating the positive impact of dance. This article contributes to the academic discourse by highlighting the transformative role of cultural exchange in fostering migrant integration.

Keywords: dance; integration; xenophobia; cultural biases; migrants.

Self-Regulatory ODR in China’s e-Commerce Market

Yang LIN — 2025-02-27

This article explores the evolution and application of online dispute resolution (ODR) within China’s e-commerce landscape, focusing on the self-regulatory mechanisms employed by Alibaba’s Taobao platform. It provides an overview of China’s ODR development, analyses Taobao’s crowdsourced jury system as a case study, and examines the platform’s rulemaking and dispute resolution procedures. The analysis highlights Taobao’s ability to resolve disputes efficiently while addressing important challenges, such as transparency, data privacy and legal accountability. The study emphasizes Taobao’s role in shaping China’s e-commerce governance, underlining the need for balance between innovation and consumer trust in a rapidly expanding digital marketplace.

Keywords: online dispute resolution (ODR); e-commerce; Taobao; self-regulation platform; consumer protection; crowdsourced jury.

Introduction to Special Section

Maya Unnithan — 2025-02-27

This Is Texas

Heather Jacobson — 2025-02-27

Using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and interview data, the history and experience of commercial surrogacy in the state of Texas—one of the first in the United States (US) to permit third-party pregnancy and legislate for the surrogacy contract enforcement—is examined. Findings reveal a neoliberal pro-industry stance in a state with a strong Evangelical base has enabled legislative support for surrogacy and strongly shapes the experience of Texas reproductive work. While these state characteristics have enabled a robust surrogacy industry in Texas, the current precarity of abortion care in the US has the potential to disrupt the surrogacy industry in new ways.

Keywords: surrogacy; Texas; third-party pregnancy; assisted reproduction.

Surrogacy and Consent under Irish Law

Brian Tobin — 2025-02-27

In July 2024 Ireland enacted detailed legislation regulating both domestic and international surrogacy arrangements, in the form of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024. This article will discuss the model for regulating domestic surrogacy in Part 7 of the 2024 Act and critique the court’s inability to dispense with the surrogate’s consent to a post-birth parental order except in the most unusual circumstances. The consent provisions in Part 7 of the 2024 Act are very similar to those in the UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008. The article demonstrates how the 2024 Act accords a gestational surrogate remarkable weight in determining a genetically unrelated child’s legal parentage, and how this may be detrimental to intended parents and their surrogate-born children. Further, the approach in the 2024 Act may conflict with the provisions on children’s rights, and familial rights, and the state’s concomitant obligations in relation to same, in the Constitution of Ireland, and international surrogacy-related best practice in the Verona Principles. The article concludes by suggesting amendments to the 2024 Act to better balance the rights of all parties to a domestic surrogacy.

Keywords: surrogacy; consent; parentage; parental order; best practice; Verona Principles; Constitution of Ireland; law reform.

Best Interests as a Rule of Procedure

Lottie Park-Morton — 2025-02-27

This article examines the extent to which the best interests of the child, under Article 3 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, has been utilized as a rule of procedure when developing legislative responses to surrogacy. Three jurisdictions are examined which have adopted vastly different regulatory responses to surrogacy: Sweden, impliedly prohibiting surrogacy; England and Wales, permitting surrogacy on an unenforceable basis; and California, providing for enforceable surrogacy agreements. Through analysis of the development of the legislation in each jurisdiction, it is argued that the concept of best interests carries a significant risk of being a term of empty rhetoric and seeks to reinforce the value of using child’s rights impact assessments to ensure a child-centric approach to surrogacy regulation.

Keywords: best interests; surrogacy; children’s rights; UNCRC.

Legal (Dis)Orders

Madhusree Jana — 2025-02-27

This article critically examines India’s legislative framework on women’s reproductive labour, focusing on the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021, and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021. It explores how these laws, with their prohibitionist approach, demand altruism on the part of women and undermine their reproductive autonomy. Our analysis combines constitutional arguments on reproductive rights, privacy and bodily autonomy with empirical research to assess the law’s ramifications in a privatized labour market. The findings underscore the resilience of women involved in reproductive labour, who resist the unjust laws and assert their rights within a complex regulatory landscape. The research further reveals that the widening demand–supply gap as a result of the restrictive laws potentially fosters an underground economy where reproductive services are rendered with exploitative repercussions for the women, which demands urgent reworking of the law.

Keywords: assisted reproductive technology (ART); reproductive labour; surrogacy; egg donation; reproductive justice.

The Undue Importance of Marriage in India’s Current Surrogacy Legislation

Maya Unnithan — 2025-02-27

Focusing specifically on the marginalization of “single”, unmarried women in the Indian Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021, we highlight the socio-cultural biases that centre on the notion of marriage in the legislation. Drawing on insights from legislative mobilization (Kothari 2024) post 2021, we suggest that the current surrogacy legislation in India only selectively empowers certain women’s reproductive autonomy. This defies the constitutional “right to family” of especially single women and discriminates against their equality of citizenship. The barriers presented by patriarchal concepts which frame the contexts in which the law is enacted must be recognized to remove the intentional and unintentional gender biases through which the law is implemented and experienced.

Keywords: surrogacy; marriage; singlism; gender bias; discrimination.