During the Second World War, just under two thousand British citizens were detained without charge, trial, or term set, under Regulation 18B of the wartime Defence Regulations. Most of these detentions took place in the summer of 1940, soon after Winston Churchill became Prime Minister, when belief in the existence of a dangerous Fifth Column was widespread. Churchill, at first an enthusiast for vigorous use of the powers of executive detention, later came to lament the use of a power which was, in his words, 'in the highest degree odious'. This book provides the first comprehensive study of Regulation 18B and its precursor in the First World War, Regulation 14B. Based on extensive use of primary sources, it describes the complex history of wartime executive detention: the purposes which it served, the administrative procedures and safeguards employed, the conflicts between the Home Office and the Security Service which surrounded its use, the part played by individuals, by Parliament, and by the courts in restraining abuse of executive power, and the effect of detention upon the lives of individuals concerned, very few of whom constituted any threat to national security. Much of what was done was kept secret at the time, and even today the authorities continue to refuse access to many of the papers which have escaped deliberate destruction. This study is the first to attempt to penetrate the veil of secrecy and tell the story of the gravest invasion of civil liberty which has occurred in Britain this century.
On the publication of its first edition, this textbook was welcomed as the definitive study of treaty law written from the viewpoint of an experienced practitioner. As with the first, this edition aims to provide the student and practitioner with a full understanding of the law and updates existing information and refines previous arguments. New to its scope of examination is the study of the use of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in litigation, the treaty-making capacity of entities such as the Vatican, Taiwan and Palestine, and the effect of hostilities on treaties. Given their increasing importance, there is also a new chapter on international organisations, including an attempt to explain the sometimes baffling roles in treaty-making played by the European Community and European Union. Students and practitioners alike will find this an invaluable guide to this increasingly important subject.
Consent has long been used to establish the legitimacy of society. But when one asks - who consented? how? to what type of community? - consent becomes very elusive, more myth than reality. This is particularly true when the spotlight is on the relationship between indigenous and nonindigenous peoples. In this volume, leading and emerging scholars in legal and political theory explore the various meanings that have been attached to consent as the foundation for political community and law, especially in indigenous contexts. From explorations of specific historical examples - such as consent in Gitksan society in the early years of the fur trade or relations between indigenous and nonindigenous Australians in the 1950s and 1970s - to a reconsideration of consent in political and legal theory, the authors examine the language of consent and how it has ordered indigenous societies and shaped their relationships with governments. Between Consenting Peoples explores the kind of consent - the kind of attachment - that might ground political community and establish a fair relationship between indigenous and nonindigenous peoples. In doing so, it draws perspectives from indigenous relations into the heart of political theory.
