{"title":"Guardian or Saboteur? The State and the Right to Choice in Marriage","authors":"P. Chowdhry","doi":"10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i4.111089","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i4.111089","url":null,"abstract":"The failure of the judicial system to ensure effective protection of the right to choice in marriage, especially in the face of modern, equitable law, and /or collusion of state agencies in sabotaging this right, is assuming alarming and dangerous proportions. This paper argues that, although the introduction of modern concepts like adulthood and the sanctity of individual rights has legalised the individual settlement of marriage between two consenting heterosexual adults, the emphasis is missing on a dynamic liberal and progressive implementation of legal rights. Instead, their infringement is aided by acceptance of customary norms that empower the family or community to take marriage decisions on behalf of individual members. This paper analyses just two cases as representative of many involving runaway couples – one from the judicial records and the other based upon my field-work in Delhi-Haryana – to argue that legal intervention not only delegitimizes individual attempts to break out of the traditional system of marriage alliances, it also criminalises all such attempts. It highlights the pronounced gender bias against women as her consent is taken cognisance of, without recognising her right to consent or make individual choices. A mutual act is turned unilateral, condemning the woman and holding her responsible to the exclusion of the man, although contradictorily it still punishes him. A man who seeks to divest a guardian of his possession/control of his daughter is termed a rapist and a criminal. The punishment underlines an ideology of guardianship which also means total control of woman and her sexuality, not withstanding her adult status. The judgement delivered in such cases is premised on the view that moral and ethical grounds override questions of the legal and human rights of individuals. In such matters the state acts for and is used by casteist and patriarchal forces, as a primary legitimating institution of popular cultural practices. Standing as an overarching patriarch and acting on behalf of the male guardians of a woman the state criminalises female sexuality, constructing it as essentially transgressive, illegitimate and morally reprehensible. It denies the woman autonomy over her body or the agency to gain control of her life. Instead, it imposes an identity on her that is not her own. This collusion of the family, community and state ends in tragedy.","PeriodicalId":130064,"journal":{"name":"NAVEIÑ REET: Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128467544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Field Notes Female Judges in Southern Punjab, Pakistan","authors":"R. Mehdi","doi":"10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i3.111109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i3.111109","url":null,"abstract":"No abstract ","PeriodicalId":130064,"journal":{"name":"NAVEIÑ REET: Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research","volume":"65 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132367318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Images of Justice: Contemporary Art in Retfærd. Nordic Journal of Law and Justice","authors":"Ole Hammerslev","doi":"10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i5.111081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i5.111081","url":null,"abstract":"Many of the texts written about the relationship between law and art have background in the perception of art that existed before the manifestation of idea based and conceptual art in the 1960s. By contrast, this paper examines how contemporary art visually portrays justice from a variety of themes and aesthetic expressions. It takes background in cover pages of a Nordic journal Retfærd. Nordic Journal of Law and Justice, which has exhibited contemporary art works since 2006. The paper discusses artworks that represent both thematic and aesthetic down strokes, to illustrate the variety in the artists’ and art’s engagement with law. Moreover, since all the artworks are contemporary, they illustrate issues of societal concern, not least images about the wars in the aftermath of the terror attacks on 9/11, identity formation and commerce.","PeriodicalId":130064,"journal":{"name":"NAVEIÑ REET: Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131202977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cover and Articles","authors":"R. Mehdi","doi":"10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i6.110169","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i6.110169","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":130064,"journal":{"name":"NAVEIÑ REET: Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research","volume":"49 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121149040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fear and Ecological (in)Justice in Edvard Munch’s The Scream of Nature","authors":"A. Akhtarkhavari","doi":"10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i6.111055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i6.111055","url":null,"abstract":"No abstract","PeriodicalId":130064,"journal":{"name":"NAVEIÑ REET: Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124541402","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hans Christian Andersen and the Blue Light","authors":"Bent Ole Gram Mortensen","doi":"10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i6.111061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i6.111061","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the development of energy law illustrated through the authorship of Hans Christian Andersen (1802-1875). The focus is on the implementing of city gas, which happened in the lifetime of H.C. Andersen. Based on the literary observations of H.C. Andersen the changes in the legal framework in energy law and other regulatory areas are analysed. H.C. Andersen’s references to gas lighting provides an emotional experience to change and an approach towards the empathetic understanding to make changing life recognizably human. With this reference I have availed of the opportunity to briefly describe the historical development of energy and laws which were introduced and developed into the modern legislation we now have. – Through his literary greatness H.C Andersen not only generates an attitude of respect toward energy but also widens horizons for lawyers when we look at the energy challenges on the global level.","PeriodicalId":130064,"journal":{"name":"NAVEIÑ REET: Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research","volume":" 38","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120834038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Law, Justice and the Pervasive Power of the Image","authors":"Sionaidh Douglas-Scott","doi":"10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i6.111048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i6.111048","url":null,"abstract":"No abstract","PeriodicalId":130064,"journal":{"name":"NAVEIÑ REET: Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123104419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring the Issue of ‘Run-away Women’ in Pakistan: A Call for Social and Legal Change","authors":"A. Hussain, Humaira Afzal","doi":"10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i4.111097","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i4.111097","url":null,"abstract":"Women are considered as vulnerable members of almost every society. In Pakistan the scenario is no different. ‘Run-away women’ is one of the socio-legal problems faced by women. Women who consider running away from their families often face difficult situations, which may result in being trapped into prostitution or even being murdered by their own families in certain cases. In runaway cases, the majority of women do return to their families after reconciliation. However, what happens to these women after reconciliation remains unknown. This paper aims to highlight the causes of running away and its consequences in Pakistani society. It also intends to examine the existing legal mechanisms and their role in dealing with this problem. This study also analyzes the Islamic and customary laws of Pakistan to identify whether both respect the decisionmaking authority and freedom of women, or whether they create any hindrances to women’s rights and their freedom to decide. Finally, measures for improvements in the legal and social system are suggested. analyzes the Islamic and customary laws of Pakistan to identify whether both respect the decision-making authority and freedom of women, or whether they create any hindrances to women’s rights and their freedom to decide. Finally, measures for improvements in the legal and social system are suggested. \u0000Key words: runaway women, runaway girls, runaway marriage, women’s rights, women’s protection","PeriodicalId":130064,"journal":{"name":"NAVEIÑ REET: Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research","volume":"111 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127114362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Competing Model–Nikahnamas: Muslim Women’s Spaces within the Legal Landscape in Lucknow1","authors":"Mengia Tschalaer","doi":"10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i3.111106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7146/nnjlsr.v0i3.111106","url":null,"abstract":"This paper delineates the growing women’s spaces within the legally pluralistic landscape of postcolonial India. Based on empirical data gathered in the city of Lucknow, Northern India, it explores the ways in which (i) Muslim women’s activists seek to carve out space for the creation of gender-just laws within a religious framework, and (ii) how within these women’s legal spaces, orthodox demarcations between secular and religious practice and legal authority become blurred. At the centre of my analysis are two women-friendly versions of the nikahnama (marriage contract), which stipulate conjugal rights and duties as well as conditions of divorce and financial support. This paper will contextualise and analyse these counter-hegemonic voices that address matrimonial rights - brought forth by two ideologically different Muslim women’s organisations in Lucknow. In so doing, this paper challenges simplified modernist accounts that depict secular conceptions of state law as incompatible with non-state religious law and norms. Conversely, this paper will demonstrate that current attempts by Muslim women’s rights activists to formulate gender-justice within the domestic sphere in fact, contribute to an emerging legal landscape of interlegality (Santos 1987/2002) - a field characterised by legal entanglements rather than parallel systems of law and morals.","PeriodicalId":130064,"journal":{"name":"NAVEIÑ REET: Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research","volume":"34 5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124979797","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review by Zoran Lapov Women, Judging and the Judiciary From difference to diversity","authors":"E. Rackley","doi":"10.4324/9780203098189","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203098189","url":null,"abstract":"No abstract","PeriodicalId":130064,"journal":{"name":"NAVEIÑ REET: Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research","volume":"199 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132101066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}