1,721,188 research outputs found
Freedom of Expression in Italy in light of European Union Law/La liberté d'expression en Italie à la lumière du droit de l’Union européenne
No full textThis paper aims to highlight the relationship between freedom of expression and competition policy. The author affirms that in Italy this freedom is in danger because of the level of concentration in the media sector. She shows historical and anthropological reasons that explain why television became the most popular medium in the country and legal reasons that explain why EU law did not oppose the Italian oligopoly
Shaping notions of personal autonomy in plural societies: the traditional practice of FGC in French courts
No full textFemale genital cutting (FGC, excision) comes into conflict with the concept of personal autonomy as grounded in many ‘Western’ societies. It is one of the most challenging practices in the study of the paradoxes of personal autonomy in a plural society. With regard to this practice the concept of autonomy is embedded in the normative conflict between customary rules and state legal systems, which arises because FGC violates fundamental rights like the right to physical integrity, health, and non-discrimination on the basis of gender/ethnicity/culture. The study of the French criminal justice system’s treatment of this conflict confirms this remark. FGC is a very ancient practice that is widespread in several geographical areas, mainly Africa, which consists in the ablation, to differing degrees, of female genital organs. Some traditional practices that were ignored when only perpetuated in colonised areas, were considered crimes once ‘imported’ in ‘Western’ countries. These crimes transpose ‘in the realm of criminal law a situation of legal pluralism’ (Foblets, 1998). France is the country with the most extensive jurisprudence on the matter. It is the only country where cases of FGC are systematically brought to court. It is also one of the few countries, among the ‘Western’ countries sanctioning this practice, that did not adopt ad hoc provisions (through an act or an article in the Penal Code) to prohibit it. In France, the practice of excision was strongly debated after a few little girls died from the haemorrhaging caused by FGC. These behaviours were also strongly debated when they were no longer qualified as délit but as crime, with their consequent transfer from the jurisdiction of the Tribunal Correctionnel to the one of the Cour d’Assises. The author conducted an ethnographic inquiry into the French criminal trials related to this practice, that analysed the judicial responses, disclosing the narratives of the trials, the influence of their main social actors, and the dialectic between two normative universes, which are conceptually distant with regard to the priority given to the individual and the group. This empirical research has been carried out through a qualitative content analysis of documents and in-depth interviews with some of the main social actors (judges, lawyers, doctors, anthropologists, interpreters, etc.) involved in the trials. To re-construct the cases and the trials, the author considered it necessary to derive from different sources, combining written sources, including legal (rulings) and non-legal sources (newspapers, periodicals, academic journals, and gray literature), with oral accounts. In her paper the author will directly confront the reader with one of these cases, the Coulibaly case. The author will show that, in perpetuating this practice, women often move away from tradition, thus building new spaces of autonomy, which are only apparently imperceptible. She will also show how the response of the French legal system links the customary norm of excision to the concept of violence and how this association is reiterated in the texts, including regulatory texts, of the European institutions on Female Genital Mutilations (FGM). This paper’s theoretical framework is shaped by Africanist perspectives on FGC. Because of serious health reasons a paper was sent without physically attending the conference
Gender, female genital cutting and human rights: assessing customary norms and conflicting values in a global world
No full textCustomary norms and state legal systems often reflect different narratives, which create normative conflicts. Frequently, these conflicts involve gender based issues and are emphasised by global migrations. The study of the French legal system’s treatment of female genital cutting (FGC, excision) confirms this remark. FGC is a very ancient practice that is widespread in several geographical areas, which consists in the ablation, to varying degrees, of female genital organs. Because FGC violates fundamental rights like the right to physical integrity, health, and non-discrimination on the basis of gender/ethnicity/culture, the practice of excision creates a normative conflict between a customary norm and the state legal system. This paper examines the reasons given by immigrants to explain the perpetuation of this traditional practice in migratory contexts, as well as how the French criminal justice system has dealt with the above-mentioned conflict, by transferring FGC cases from the jurisdiction of the Tribunal Correctionnel to the one of the Cour d’Assises. France is the only country where cases of FGC are systematically brought to court. It is also the only country, among the “Western” countries sanctioning this practice, that did not adopt ad hoc provisions to prohibit it. The author conducted an ethnographic inquiry into the French criminal trials related to this practice that analysed the judicial responses, disclosing the narratives of the trials, the influence of their main social actors, and the dialectic between two normative universes, which are conceptually distant with regard to the priority given to the individual and the group
Customary norms vs State Law : French Courts’ responses to the traditional practice of excision
No full textCustomary norms and state legal systems often reflect different narratives, which create normative conflicts. Some traditional practices that were ignored when only perpetuated in colonised areas, were considered crimes once “imported” in European and, more generally, “Western” countries. These crimes transpose “in the realm of criminal law a situation of legal pluralism” (Foblets, 1998). The study of the French legal system’s treatment of female genital cutting (FGC, excision) confirms this remark. FGC is a very ancient practice that is widespread in several geographical areas, mainly Africa, which consists in the ablation, to varying degrees, of female genital organs. Because FGC violates fundamental rights like the right to physical integrity, health, and non-discrimination on the basis of gender/ethnicity/culture, the practice of excision creates a normative conflict between a customary norm and the state legal system. This paper examines the main reasons given by immigrants to explain the perpetuation of this traditional practice in migratory contexts, as well as how the French criminal justice system has dealt with the above-mentioned conflict. France is the country with the most extensive jurisprudence on the matter. It is the only country where cases of FGC are systematically brought to court. It is also the only country, among the “Western” countries sanctioning this practice, that did not adopt ad hoc provisions (through an act or an article in the Penal Code) to prohibit it. In France, the practice of excision was strongly debated after a few little girls died from the haemorrhaging caused by FGC. These behaviours were also strongly debated when they were no longer qualified as délit but as crime, with their consequent transfer from the jurisdiction of the Tribunal Correctionnel to the one of the Cour d’Assises. This paper’s theoretical framework is shaped by legal anthropology’s contributions to the study of custom and customary law in traditional societies, in particular by Africanist perspectives. The paper discusses the premises of the French normative response to FGC, including the French model of immigrants’ social inclusion (modèle français/républicain d’intégration). The author conducted an ethnographic inquiry into the French criminal trials related to this practice, that analysed the judicial responses, disclosing the narratives of the trials, the influence of their main social actors, and the dialectic between two normative universes, which are conceptually distant with regard to the priority given to the individual and the group. This empirical research has been carried out through a qualitative content analysis of documents and in-depth interviews with some of the main social actors (judges, lawyers, doctors, anthropologists, interpreters, etc.) involved in the trials. To re-construct the cases and the trials, the author considered it necessary to derive from different sources, combining written sources, including legal (rulings) and non-legal sources (newspapers, periodicals, academic journals, and gray literature), with oral accounts
Film Support in the EU: The Uteca Case and the Future Challenges for the Main Characters
No full textThis chapter seeks to further explore the latent conflict between the EU Commission Directorate General for Competition and the DG Information Society and Media, and the declared conflict between the EU Commission and the Member States. It highlights some of the challenges that the ‘main characters’ involved will face in the treatment of these conflicts. To this end the author presents a case analysis of the case of Unión de Televisiones Comerciales Asociadas (Uteca) v. Administración General del Estado, ruled by the European Court of Justice
Cinema e diritto nell’integrazione europea : incentivazione economica e promozione della diversità culturale
No full textThis article concerns the issue of state aid to the cinema, which constitutes a form of incentive for an
industry and of promotion for cultural diversity. Comparing the influence exerted by the concept of cultural
diversity on the policy lines adopted by the European Commission in international negotiations about
audiovisual media and in the practice of state aid to cinema productions, it analyses the impact on this
practice of Article 167(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and of the UNESCO
Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. The author uses the
results of a research project studying Commission practice in the field of state aid to cinema productions
and of a study on the implementation of the UNESCO Convention commissioned by the European
Parliament. She concludes her analysis with a series of observations about the influence of a hypothetical
approach on the part of DG Competition to the policies of member states, including Italy
Migrazione, discriminazioni e diritto : l’escissione questa sconosciuta = Migration, Discrimination and Law : the Unknown Female Genital Cutting
Get PDFL’escissione è un’antica pratica, diffusa in numerose aree geografiche, in particolare in Africa, che consiste
nell’ablazione, di grado variabile, degli organi genitali femminili. Da un lato, questa pratica causa
discriminazioni perché viola diritti fondamentali, quali il diritto all’integrità fisica, alla salute e alla non
discriminazione in base al genere/all’etnia/alla cultura, ed è in conflitto con la nozione di autonomia personale
quale concepita in molte “società occidentali”, dall’altro la legge italiana sulle mutilazioni genitali femminili
discrimina le persone che la perpetuano. L’articolo intende far luce sulle narrative dell’escissione. Si propone di
produrre un’analisi che aiuti a trovare risposte alla stessa, che possano efficacemente ridurre le discriminazioni
causate sia da questa norma consuetudinaria, sia dalla legge statale. Esso attinge quindi dai contributi socioantropologici
sull’escissione, in particolare dalle prospettive degli africanisti.Female Genital Cutting (FGC, excision) is an ancient practice that is widespread in many geographic areas, mainly Africa. It consists in the ablation, to differing degrees, of female genital organs. On the one hand, this practice causes discrimination because it violates fundamental rights, like the right to physical integrity, health and non-discrimination on the basis of gender/ethnicity/culture, and comes into conflict with the concept of personal autonomy as grounded in many “Western” societies; on the other hand, the Italian law on female genital mutilations discriminates people who perpetuate FGC. This article draws from socio-anthropological contributions to the study of excision, in particular on Africanist perspectives. It aims at shading light on the narratives of excision. It is hoped that this analysis will help find responses to FGC which may effectively reduce the discrimination caused by both this customary norm and state law
Femmes, enfants et pratiques traditionnelles: la réponse judiciaire à l'excision en France
No full textIl contributo analizza la risposta giudiziaria data dall’ordinamento francese alla pratica tradizionale dell’escissione. Quest’ultima infatti, interviene in maniera irreversibile sugli organi genitali femminili. Pur essendo perpetrata senza l’intento di nuocere, confligge quindi con diversi diritti fondamentali. Pone pertanto gli ordinamenti dei paesi cosiddetti “occidentali” di fronte alla necessità di scegliere quale risposta normativa fornire qualora essa venga praticata sul loro territorio, così come su loro cittadine o residenti permanenti
Teaching legal anthropology in a global society: new challenges for Law Schools
No full textThis paper is based on my experience teaching short courses and seminars in continental Europe and Canada. It focuses on the teaching of legal anthropology in Law Schools. Integrated into the social sciences, the concepts and methods used in legal anthropology have much to contribute to analyzing the complexity of contemporary societies, including topics traditionally unexplored by anthropologists of all types. Following a path analogously explored in cultural anthropology (e.g. Marcus), students can be encouraged to explore topics “traditionally” covered by legal anthropologists, such as immigration and ethnic minorities’ inclusion, as well as topics often considered “forbidden” to these scholars, including, for example, international economic negotiations within the WTO and international trade. This paper recommends strengthening students’ theoretical and historical knowledge as a crucial challenge that would reinforce the autonomy of legal anthropology as a social science. In addition, the paper considers developing the interdisciplinary intersections between legal anthropology and the legal disciplines as an opportunity to encourage a more accurate comparison of legal cultures, and therefore a deeper understanding of our globalised and connected societies. This dual approach fosters the vitality of legal anthropology and limits its isolation. The paper underscores that, while this integrated approach is well developed and part of the legal academic culture in North America, it is still underdeveloped and mostly unexplored among European Law Faculties
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