‘The UK government intends to replace the Human Rights Act with a new ‘British Bill of Rights’. However, any change to existing human rights law promises to be a complex and difficult project. Reform of the HRA has the potential to impact upon devolution, as well as on the UK’s relationship with its European partners. It also risks generating greater legal complexity, and may dilute rights protection. This seminar will epxlore the current state of play and consider the past, present asnd future of the HRA.’

Date: 7th March 2016, 6.00pm

Location: The Constitution Unit – The Rubin Building, UCL. 29/30 Tavistock Square. London WC1H 9QU

Charge: Free, registration required

More information can be found here.

‘Professor Anthony David, Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, Vice Dean Academic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London will give the fourth in The John Toulmin Lecture in Law and Psychiatry lecture series.The series was set up following a gift by John and Carolyn Toulmin to the College with the aim of establishing a collaborative relationship between the College’s Dickson Poon School of Law and the College’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience.

Tony David graduated in medicine from Glasgow University in 1980 and trained in neurology before entering psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital, London. He also has a Masters degree in Cognitive Neuropsychology. He has been an honorary consultant at the Maudsley since 1990 and was awarded a personal chair from the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London in 1996. He was appointed Vice Dean for Academic Psychiatry at the IoPPN in 2013.

Professor David has a wide and diverse range of research interests including schizophrenia, neuropsychiatry, medically unexplained syndromes and neuroimaging – both structural and functional. He is especially interested in the concept of insight in schizophrenia and how this relates to treatment compliance and decision making capacity. Professor David is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Academy of Medical Sciences. He is a member of the Experimental Psychology Society and a founder member of both the British Neuropsychological Society and British Neuropsychiatry Association and was Chairman to the latter from 2004-7.

Professor David is editor of the journal “Cognitive Neuropsychiatry” and has co-edited several books including, The Self in Neuroscience and Psychiatry (2003) with T Kircher, and Insight and Psychosis (2nd Ed) (2004) with X Amador and Lishman’s Organic Psychiatry (2009). He is author of over 500 publications in peer reviewed medical and scientific journals.’

Date: 23rd March 2016, 6.30-7.30pm

Location: Edmond J Safra Lecture Theatre, King’s Building, Strand Campus, King’s College, London WC2R 2LS

Charge: Free, registration required

More information can be found here.

‘Proportionality is a distinctively legal concept. It figures prominently in criminal law, where it speaks to doctrinal questions such as the appropriate degree of the severity of punishment and the limits of using force in self-defense.

It also plays an important role in war law, qualifying principles of jus ad bellum and jus in bello. But perhaps its lead role is to be found in constitutional law.

In Europe and other parts of the world, courts use it as a test for determining whether someone’s fundamental rights have been violated.

In this lecture Professor Letsas argues that proportionality is neither a form of cost-benefit analysis, nor is it about the balancing of all pertinent moral reasons.

He defends instead the view that the different uses of proportionality in law express the same moral concern, a concern that is self-standing in some appropriate sense, in that it exists independently of the law.

The moral dimension of proportionality lies in the distinct normative roles we play while engaging in different practices, and the sub-set of moral reasons that define these roles.’

This event is accredited with 1 CPD hour with the SRA and BSB

Date: 17th March 2016, 6.00-7.00pm

Location: UCL Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, Wilkins Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT

Charge: Free, registration required

More information can be found here.

‘The work discussed in this lecture is part of a much larger, book-length project titledCriminalizing Sex: A Unified Theory. Although the incidence of voyeurism and indecent exposure is relatively low compared to other sexual offences, both crimes raise important questions about the proper scope of the criminal law in a liberal society, the resolution of competing rights to sexual autonomy, and the nature of privacy rights in our digital age.

This lecture will consider four basic points: First, the wrongs entailed by voyeurism and indecent exposure are in some sense reciprocal. The former involves a violation of the victim’s right to exclude others from her private sexual domain; the latter involves a violation of the victim’s right not to be included in the private sexual domain of others. Second, the harms entailed by both voyeurism and indecent exposure are often elusive. While the exhibitionist typically intends to cause shock or dismay in his victim through his exposure, the voyeur normally intends that his victim will be unaware of his act. Any harm that results from either offence is at most psychological and, in the case of voyeurism, often lacking entirely. Third, while the “offence” caused by voyeurism is relatively straightforward, the offense caused by indecent exposure is more contested, more sensitive to cultural variation and individual tolerances, and more likely to vary depending on the specific purposes for which such conduct is performed. Finally, the means by which a potential victim of voyeurism or indecent exposure loses her right not to be exposed to such conduct are quite different from the means by which a potential victim loses her right not to be raped or sexually assaulted. There is no requirement that the potential victim must give her voluntary consent; it is normally sufficient that she assume the risk of exposure.’

Date: 15th March 2016, 6.30-8.00pm

Location: Hong Kong Theatre, London School of Economics and Political Science, Clement House, London WC2A 2AE

Charge: Free

More information can be found here.