Richard Nobles
Biographic Data
| ID | 2495942 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Richard Nobles |
| GIVEN NAMES | Richard |
| FAMILY NAME | Nobles |
| SIGNATURE | NOBLES R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Queen Mary University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6275-9253 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 29 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1983 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
“But his sense of justice turned him into a brigand and a murderer.” On Gunther Teubner’s “Self-subversive Justice: Contingency or Transcendence Formula of Law?”
Teubner’s article on self-subversive justice is an inspiring example of the way in which he tries to move forward Luhmann’s sociological endeavour of understanding law in terms of how it understands itself. Moving Luhmann’s autopoietic systems theory forward is something that Teubner significantly does in many of his writings. Here he contrasts various social and legal philosophical accounts with a potential sociological account of justice that u…
Catchment-wide interactive effects of anthropogenic structures and river levels on fish spawning migrations
Worldwide, rivers are extensively fragmented by anthropogenic structures, reducing longitudinal connectivity, inhibiting migration and leading to severe declines in many fish populations, especially for diadromous species. However, few studies have determined the effects of annual differences in hydrology on catchment penetration past barriers to spawning habitats. We investigated the upstream spawning migration of 120 (n = 61 & 59) acoustic tagg…
Taking the Complexity of Complex Systems Seriously
Language, Subjectivity, and Freedom in Rousseau’s Moral Philosophy
This book, first published in 1991, has two related goals. The first is to explicate Rousseau’s conception of subjectivity; the second is to trace the influence of that conception on his theory of freedom. It argues that Rousseau’s conception of subjectivity provides us with a basis for understanding both his analysis of the ‘social problem’ of advanced civil societies, and the solutions he proposes to this problem.
Reasons to Doubt: Wrongful Convictions and the Criminal Cases Review Commission
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has, since 1997, taken over the role formerly executed by C3, a small staff of civil servants working within the Home Office, of identifying convictions to be referred to the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division (CACD), for a review of their safety.1 In carrying out this role, the CCRC has been the subject of considerable scrutiny and often criticism from academics, legal practitioners and journalists but…
Observing Sovereignty, Law and Politics at the Global Level
As part of the fallout from the British EU referendum, any suggestion that sovereignty has no relevance in the 21 st century would be hard to justify.And, in light of the same example, any suggestion that sovereignty has a clear referent, either in terms of a form of power, or the consequences of the exercise of that power, is also suspect.As such Ji Pib's book is a timely contribution to current debates on the relevance of sovereignty to our cur…
Civil disobedience and constituent power
This paper uses the example of civil disobedience to explore Luhmann's description of the constitution as structural coupling between law and politics. Civil disobedience highlights the paradox of constituent and constituted power. The claims made for constituent power provide a basis for challenging the current configuration and expression of constituted power. This paradox is first avoided in the legal system through that system's inability to …
Pulling Back from the Edge
Using Systems Theory to Study Legal Pluralism: What Could Be Gained
This article examines the ability of modern systems theory to provide a foundation for understanding the problematic notion of legal pluralism, and to the ability of scholars to apply that understanding to engage in the study of pluralistic legal orders. In particular, it develops the observations of systems theory of the relationship between state law and violence by adopting one of its linked ideas, that of structural coupling. It also consider…
Disobedience to Law – Debbie Purdy's Case
This case note examines the implications of the House of Lords decision to order the DPP to issue offence specific guidelines allowing those contemplating assisting terminally ill persons to commit suicide to know the risk they face of prosecution under section 2(1) of the Suicide Act 1961. On the assumption that these guidelines will be law, and binding upon the DPP as well as the CPS, does this represent a change in the law, or a situation in w…
Public Confidence in Criminal Justice: The Lessons from Miscarriages of Justice
This article describes how the media understand miscarriages of justice, and how that understanding is distinct from the understanding of miscarriages of justice that determine the Court of Appeal's decisions and enable it to reach the conclusion that a conviction is unsafe. It demonstrates how at particular times the media construct a story of a ‘crisis of public confidence’ in the criminal justice system, how such a story is periodic and recurr…
Why do judges talk the way they do
The Hartian tradition of jurisprudence utilises linguistic philosophy to examine legal communications, most particularly those made by judges, and seeks to reach conclusions about the commitment of legal actors towards legal systems, the part played by morality, and what aspects of law involve the exercise of discretion. But this approach fails to take account of the nature of communication within modern society. If one approaches these issues th…
Absurd Asymmetry – a Comment on R v Cottrell and Fletcher 1 and BM, KK and DP (Petitioners) v Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission 2
This note examines two cases in which English and Scottish courts have insisted that the English and Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commissions adopt the same definition and approach as them to alleged ‘miscarriages of justice’ in order to reduce the number of potential referrals and increase finality, and to reduce the challenge posed by these Commissions to the courts' authority in the legal sphere. The authors consider whether the courts' appr…
The Emperor's New Clothes
Guilt and Innocence in the Criminal Justice System: A Comment on R (Mullen) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
The House of Lords upheld the Secretary of State's right to deny compensation under section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and the ex gratia scheme to Mullen, whose conviction for conspiracy to cause explosions had been quashed by the Court of Appeal solely by reference to actions by the authorities (securing his illegal deportation to the UK) that constituted an abuse of process, without impugning the fairness of his trial or the accuracy …
A sociology of jurisprudence
Niklas Luhmann's sociological theory treats law, along with politics, economics, media and ethics, as systems of communication. His theory not only offers profound and novel insights into the character of the legal system in modern society, but also provides an explanation for the role of jurisprudence as part of that legal system. In this work the authors seek to explore and develop Luhmann's claim that jurisprudence is part of law's self-descri…
A Story of Miscarriage: Law in the Media
This article utilizes the work of the sociologist Niklas Luhmann in order to examine the relationship between law and the media. Luhmann views both law and the media as closed systems of communication, systems which cannot duplicate the meaning of each other's communications. After introducing Luhmann's approach to media reporting, and applying this to the relationship between law and media reporting on law, the article analyses a recent miscarri…
Rules, Principles and Ombudsmen: Norwich and Peterborough Building Society v The Financial Ombudsman Service
The judgment in Norwich and Peterborough Building Society v the Financial Ombudsman Service 1 provides good evidence of the drawbacks of rule based adjudication, and the need for ombudsmen to be able to rely on principles of fairness. Further, it demonstrates, to those who associate ombudsmen and general standards of fairness with arbitrary and subjective decisions, 2 how such determinations are constructed through, and constrained by, the legal …
The Right to Appeal and Workable Systems of Justice
This article explores the practicalities of a right to appeal. Appeals and appeal systems are usually conceived of in terms of a top–down hierarchy, with appeals functioning as an instrument for superior bodies to correct the decisions of and otherwise to control inferior ones. A fuller appreciation of systems of appeal places at least equal weight on the need for appeal bodies to establish stable, workable relationships with the bodies which the…
The Criminal Cases Review Commission: Reporting Success
Due Process and Dirty Harry Dilemmas: Criminal Appeals and the Human Rights Act
Personal Pensions Misselling: The Causes and Lessons of Regulatory Failure
The Never Ending Story: Disguising Tragic Choices in Criminal Justice
Pattenden, Rosemary English Criminal Appeals, 1844–1994: Appeals Against Conviction and Sentence in England and Wales
Criminal Appeal Act 1995: The Semantics of Jurisdiction
Pensions Act 1995
Using Systems Theory to Study Legal Pluralism: What Could Be Gained
This article examines the ability of modern systems theory to provide a foundation for understanding the problematic notion of legal pluralism, and to the ability of scholars to apply that understanding to engage in the study of pluralistic legal orders. In particular, it develops the observations of systems theory of the relationship between state law and violence by adopting one of its linked ideas, that of structural coupling. It also consider…
A Story of Miscarriage: Law in the Media
This article utilizes the work of the sociologist Niklas Luhmann in order to examine the relationship between law and the media. Luhmann views both law and the media as closed systems of communication, systems which cannot duplicate the meaning of each other's communications. After introducing Luhmann's approach to media reporting, and applying this to the relationship between law and media reporting on law, the article analyses a recent miscarri…
Miscarriages of Justice: A Systems Approach
Why do judges talk the way they do
The Hartian tradition of jurisprudence utilises linguistic philosophy to examine legal communications, most particularly those made by judges, and seeks to reach conclusions about the commitment of legal actors towards legal systems, the part played by morality, and what aspects of law involve the exercise of discretion. But this approach fails to take account of the nature of communication within modern society. If one approaches these issues th…
The Right to Appeal and Workable Systems of Justice
This article explores the practicalities of a right to appeal. Appeals and appeal systems are usually conceived of in terms of a top–down hierarchy, with appeals functioning as an instrument for superior bodies to correct the decisions of and otherwise to control inferior ones. A fuller appreciation of systems of appeal places at least equal weight on the need for appeal bodies to establish stable, workable relationships with the bodies which the…
Personal Pensions Misselling: The Causes and Lessons of Regulatory Failure
The Never Ending Story: Disguising Tragic Choices in Criminal Justice
Pattenden, Rosemary English Criminal Appeals, 1844–1994: Appeals Against Conviction and Sentence in England and Wales
Pensions: The New Framework
Selling Charity”
Pensions: The New Framework
Don't Trust the Trustee
Miscarriages of Justice: A Systems Approach
Criminal Appeal Act 1995: The Semantics of Jurisdiction
Pensions Act 1995
The Never Ending Story: Disguising Tragic Choices in Criminal Justice
Pattenden, Rosemary English Criminal Appeals, 1844–1994: Appeals Against Conviction and Sentence in England and Wales
Personal Pensions Misselling: The Causes and Lessons of Regulatory Failure
The Criminal Cases Review Commission: Reporting Success
Due Process and Dirty Harry Dilemmas: Criminal Appeals and the Human Rights Act
The Right to Appeal and Workable Systems of Justice
This article explores the practicalities of a right to appeal. Appeals and appeal systems are usually conceived of in terms of a top–down hierarchy, with appeals functioning as an instrument for superior bodies to correct the decisions of and otherwise to control inferior ones. A fuller appreciation of systems of appeal places at least equal weight on the need for appeal bodies to establish stable, workable relationships with the bodies which the…
Rules, Principles and Ombudsmen: Norwich and Peterborough Building Society v The Financial Ombudsman Service
The judgment in Norwich and Peterborough Building Society v the Financial Ombudsman Service 1 provides good evidence of the drawbacks of rule based adjudication, and the need for ombudsmen to be able to rely on principles of fairness. Further, it demonstrates, to those who associate ombudsmen and general standards of fairness with arbitrary and subjective decisions, 2 how such determinations are constructed through, and constrained by, the legal …
A Story of Miscarriage: Law in the Media
This article utilizes the work of the sociologist Niklas Luhmann in order to examine the relationship between law and the media. Luhmann views both law and the media as closed systems of communication, systems which cannot duplicate the meaning of each other's communications. After introducing Luhmann's approach to media reporting, and applying this to the relationship between law and media reporting on law, the article analyses a recent miscarri…
Guilt and Innocence in the Criminal Justice System: A Comment on R (Mullen) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
The House of Lords upheld the Secretary of State's right to deny compensation under section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and the ex gratia scheme to Mullen, whose conviction for conspiracy to cause explosions had been quashed by the Court of Appeal solely by reference to actions by the authorities (securing his illegal deportation to the UK) that constituted an abuse of process, without impugning the fairness of his trial or the accuracy …
A sociology of jurisprudence
Niklas Luhmann's sociological theory treats law, along with politics, economics, media and ethics, as systems of communication. His theory not only offers profound and novel insights into the character of the legal system in modern society, but also provides an explanation for the role of jurisprudence as part of that legal system. In this work the authors seek to explore and develop Luhmann's claim that jurisprudence is part of law's self-descri…
The Emperor's New Clothes
Absurd Asymmetry – a Comment on R v Cottrell and Fletcher 1 and BM, KK and DP (Petitioners) v Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission 2
This note examines two cases in which English and Scottish courts have insisted that the English and Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commissions adopt the same definition and approach as them to alleged ‘miscarriages of justice’ in order to reduce the number of potential referrals and increase finality, and to reduce the challenge posed by these Commissions to the courts' authority in the legal sphere. The authors consider whether the courts' appr…
Public Confidence in Criminal Justice: The Lessons from Miscarriages of Justice
This article describes how the media understand miscarriages of justice, and how that understanding is distinct from the understanding of miscarriages of justice that determine the Court of Appeal's decisions and enable it to reach the conclusion that a conviction is unsafe. It demonstrates how at particular times the media construct a story of a ‘crisis of public confidence’ in the criminal justice system, how such a story is periodic and recurr…
Why do judges talk the way they do
The Hartian tradition of jurisprudence utilises linguistic philosophy to examine legal communications, most particularly those made by judges, and seeks to reach conclusions about the commitment of legal actors towards legal systems, the part played by morality, and what aspects of law involve the exercise of discretion. But this approach fails to take account of the nature of communication within modern society. If one approaches these issues th…
Disobedience to Law – Debbie Purdy's Case
This case note examines the implications of the House of Lords decision to order the DPP to issue offence specific guidelines allowing those contemplating assisting terminally ill persons to commit suicide to know the risk they face of prosecution under section 2(1) of the Suicide Act 1961. On the assumption that these guidelines will be law, and binding upon the DPP as well as the CPS, does this represent a change in the law, or a situation in w…
Using Systems Theory to Study Legal Pluralism: What Could Be Gained
This article examines the ability of modern systems theory to provide a foundation for understanding the problematic notion of legal pluralism, and to the ability of scholars to apply that understanding to engage in the study of pluralistic legal orders. In particular, it develops the observations of systems theory of the relationship between state law and violence by adopting one of its linked ideas, that of structural coupling. It also consider…
Pulling Back from the Edge
Civil disobedience and constituent power
This paper uses the example of civil disobedience to explore Luhmann's description of the constitution as structural coupling between law and politics. Civil disobedience highlights the paradox of constituent and constituted power. The claims made for constituent power provide a basis for challenging the current configuration and expression of constituted power. This paradox is first avoided in the legal system through that system's inability to …
Observing Sovereignty, Law and Politics at the Global Level
As part of the fallout from the British EU referendum, any suggestion that sovereignty has no relevance in the 21 st century would be hard to justify.And, in light of the same example, any suggestion that sovereignty has a clear referent, either in terms of a form of power, or the consequences of the exercise of that power, is also suspect.As such Ji Pib's book is a timely contribution to current debates on the relevance of sovereignty to our cur…
Language, Subjectivity, and Freedom in Rousseau’s Moral Philosophy
This book, first published in 1991, has two related goals. The first is to explicate Rousseau’s conception of subjectivity; the second is to trace the influence of that conception on his theory of freedom. It argues that Rousseau’s conception of subjectivity provides us with a basis for understanding both his analysis of the ‘social problem’ of advanced civil societies, and the solutions he proposes to this problem.
Law (27 works) · Political science (27 works) · Sociology (21 works) · Citation (12 works) · Legal principles and applications (12 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Law and economics (10 works) · Law in Society and Culture (10 works) · History (9 works)