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Underpinning change and influencing policy in international refugee law and guidance

Summary of the impact

Professor Cryer's research on International Criminal Law has changed how the human rights of refugees are protected under International Law. First, it has significantly influenced Canadian jurisprudence in this field. Prior to the July 2013 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Ezkola v Canada, refugee claimants had been excluded from Canada on the basis of their association with others, rather than because they were individually responsible for the commission of international crimes. The Supreme Court of Canada relied directly on Cryer's research to develop a new test to determine eligibility for refugee status. Secondly, Cryer's research has helped to shape the revised 2003 UNHCR guidelines on the application of exclusion clauses, which will be published in 2014. Beneficiaries of the research include the UNHCR and all States which implement the UNHCR's guidelines on refugee status, and individuals who would previously have been denied refugee status.

Submitting Institution

University of Birmingham

Unit of Assessment

Law

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Law and Legal Studies: Law
Philosophy and Religious Studies: History and Philosophy of Specific Fields

Case Study 4: Shaping the development of international environmental law

Summary of the impact

A research programme led by Boyle in Edinburgh (with Birnie (LSE) and Redgwell (UCL)) pioneered the discipline of international environmental law. That work, in turn, informed the infrastructure for international environmental law in practice. Through Boyle's work as legal counsel in several high-profile international cases (2010-11), his proposed subject-paradigm has been translated from theory to legal framework. Crucially, it has been endorsed and applied by both the International Law Commission and relevant international courts, including the International Court of Justice.

Submitting Institution

University of Edinburgh

Unit of Assessment

Law

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration
Law and Legal Studies: Law

Informing Approaches to Improving Human Rights in South Sudan and Foreign Policy in the UK (Mashood Baderin)

Summary of the impact

The predominant perception of the relationship between Islamic law and international human rights law is that of one grounded in conflict, with Islamic law often presented as fundamentally incompatible with the tenets of international human rights. Mashood Baderin's research challenges this notion, arguing that, while the two legal systems operate differently in terms of scope and application, they also share important commonalities that facilitate the fulfilment of human rights obligations in Muslim states. The research has resulted in Baderin's appointment to a number of high-profile advisory roles that have enabled a significant contribution both to the guaranteeing of human rights in Islamic countries, and to the shaping of UK foreign policy.

Submitting Institution

School of Oriental & African Studies

Unit of Assessment

Law

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Political Science
Law and Legal Studies: Law
Philosophy and Religious Studies: Religion and Religious Studies

Criminal law, complicity and homicide

Summary of the impact

This research has made a sustained and continuing impact on the development and application of the substantive criminal law, including mens rea and general defences, and especially in the areas of complicity and homicide, in terms of

i) development of the law by the appellate courts;

ii) application of the law by practitioners; and

iii) government policy as to the reform of the law of murder and complicity.

Submitting Institution

University of Central Lancashire

Unit of Assessment

Law

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Law and Legal Studies: Law, Other Law and Legal Studies

National and international development and reform of the law of criminal evidence

Summary of the impact

Professor Adrian Keane's research relates to the law of criminal evidence, that body of law which regulates the means by which facts can be proved in criminal trials. His publications on the subject have effected change and benefited the awareness, capacity, performance and understanding of the subject on the part of:

(i) the judiciary in the UK and internationally, in reaching decisions at both first instance and at appellate level; and in giving directions to juries on evidential issues that are as clear and consistent as possible

(ii) legal practitioners

(iii) law academics and students (an impact that extends significantly beyond the submitting higher education institution)

(iv) legislators in the People's Republic of China.

The most significant impact stems from participation in a project in Beijing that led directly to a revised Criminal Procedure Law that has improved the quality of the administration of Chinese criminal justice. Specifically, it has rendered criminal trials fairer to the accused and reduced the potential for miscarriages of justice, especially in relation to offences carrying the death penalty.

Submitting Institution

City University, London

Unit of Assessment

Law

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Law and Legal Studies: Law, Other Law and Legal Studies

Governance, Legal Reform and Access to Justice

Summary of the impact

Professor Faundez's research has set out how legal reform projects should be designed and implemented in order to be successful in the context of existing local conditions and to ensure access to justice for indigenous peoples and other vulnerable groups. His work as policy advisor both to development agencies (the World Bank, the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), and the Inter-American Development Bank) and to Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs) (Amnesty International, the World Justice Project) has helped these organisations broaden their approach to the design, implementation and evaluation of legal reform projects. The range of his publications - from academic articles to specially commissioned reports - has ensured a fruitful dialogue with practitioners in the field of law and governance.

Submitting Institution

University of Warwick

Unit of Assessment

Law

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Law and Legal Studies: Law, Other Law and Legal Studies

Legislative change and legal practice

Summary of the impact

Two particular examples of impact on legislative change and legal practice are described: impact on the parliamentary process and impact on mental health practice and procedure. The first example describes contribution to debate during the parliamentary process for the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill and contribution to the decision to reject rushed emergency legislation. The research team's response to the consultation by the Justice 2 Committee was widely referred to by organisational representatives and individuals in the debates. The second example focuses on the impact from a key text, which has been used by both sides and judges in Sheriff Court appeals. The impact here is in its verifiable effect on the practice of law in courts and in the making of legal determinations.

Submitting Institution

Robert Gordon University

Unit of Assessment

Law

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Law and Legal Studies: Law, Other Law and Legal Studies

Legal Education: Strategies for Learning and Teaching

Summary of the impact

  1. New methodology for researching and teaching human rights law and empirical research used in biosecurity law
  2. Pioneering a human rights model of disability through an international project leading to development of strategies for monitoring law and training future legal practitioners in disability rights
  3. Developing a model for pro bono undergraduate research projects in the local community
  4. A student feedback guide and model adaptable across disciplines which has been referred to in law schools
  5. New visual teaching aids - accessed by the global law tutor and legal education market
  6. An innovative use of mobile phone voting technology.

Submitting Institution

University of Greenwich

Unit of Assessment

Law

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Privacy, Libel and Freedom of Expression

Summary of the impact

Research conducted by Durham University on the reconciliation of free speech with rights of privacy and reputation has significantly affected contemporary law and policy around the law of privacy, media injunctions and libel reform. Specifically, it has:

(1) resulted in a substantial contribution to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Libel Working Group and hence to the Defamation Bill 2012 which followed (now the Defamation Act 2013);

(2) strongly influenced the report of Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights on the human rights aspects of that Bill;

(3) influenced a major parliamentary inquiry on privacy;

(4) helped change Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidelines on prosecuting the media for privacy-related offences including phone-hacking;

(5) been used in argument by an NGO intervening in two important cases before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

Submitting Institution

University of Durham

Unit of Assessment

Law

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Law and Legal Studies: Law
Philosophy and Religious Studies: History and Philosophy of Specific Fields

Ensuring that the interests of the UK are considered when courts affect the law of a British Overseas Territory

Summary of the impact

Professor John Finnis has been engaged in a programme of research in legal and constitutional theory. His work on the legal and political responsibilities of UK ministers when acting to affect the law of a British Overseas Territory played a pivotal role in the decision of the House of Lords to reverse the Court of Appeal`s interpretation of the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865 (CVLA). The Court of Appeal had held that UK ministers could not properly legislate in the interests of the UK as a whole (including its dependent territories), but only in the interests of the particular territory itself. Relying on Finnis`s arguments, the House of Lords changed that precept. Finnis`s work also persuaded members of the House of Lords to express doubts about a central holding of an earlier decision, which concerned the capacity in which ministers acted in legislating in dependent territories. Finnis`s arguments have been relied on in legal argument in later cases, and have been recognised and reaffirmed in subsequent Court of Appeal and Supreme Court judgments. In this way, they have helped to change fundamental constitutional principles affecting not only all citizens in the UK, but also those in its Overseas Territories around the world.

Submitting Institution

University of Oxford

Unit of Assessment

Law

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Political Science
Law and Legal Studies: Law
Philosophy and Religious Studies: History and Philosophy of Specific Fields

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