This dissertation examines the varying roles of lawyers and judges in Canada, the United States, England, France and Germany in a selection of “fictional legal narratives”: novels, movies, television shows and plays that explore legal themes. The study focuses on contemporary works after 1960, and explores the North American fascination with lawyers that saturates the major levels of culture, from the popular (including television shows, movies and novels) to the academic. Fictional images of lawyers and judges not only reflect but arguably also influence our attitudes toward the legal system, and offer a concrete way of conceptualizing abstract legal concepts. However, the vast differences between the Anglo-American adversarial legal system and the continental European inquisitorial legal system spawn very different fictional portraits of lawyers and judges. The differences between fictional legal narratives produced by each country, even those with similarly structured legal systems, are also striking. Chapter One begins by outlining a number of factors that contribute to the proliferation of fictional legal narratives in some countries, and their relative scarcity in other countries. Next, Chapter Two traces the wide range of lawyer images in American fictional legal narratives, which both glamourize and demonize the figure of the lawyer. Turning to anthropomorphizations of law in the United Kingdom, Chapter Three examines the British tendency to perpetuate the idea that, if correctly executed, the fundamental principles of British law would lead to a just and harmonious society. Chapter Four then explores the “anxiety of influence” reflected in Canadian images of law, which are more “soft-boiled” than the fictional legal figures of other countries. Moving to French fictional legal narratives, Chapter Five contemplates the predominance of the juge d’instruction figure and the prevalence of the investigatory mode. The dissertation then discusses the relative scarcity of fictional legal narratives in Germany, and the cynicism in existing German stories about law in Chapter Six. The study concludes by considering the future directions of the law and culture movement, as well as both the challenges and rewards of this interdisciplinary work.

This dissertation examines the varying roles of lawyers and judges in Canada, the United States, England, France and Germany in a selection of “fictional legal narratives”: novels, movies, television shows and plays that explore legal themes. The study focuses on contemporary works after 1960, and explores the North American fascination with lawyers that saturates the major levels of culture, from the popular (including television shows, movies and novels) to the academic. Fictional images of lawyers and judges not only reflect but arguably also influence our attitudes toward the legal system, and offer a concrete way of conceptualizing abstract legal concepts. However, the vast differences between the Anglo-American adversarial legal system and the continental European inquisitorial legal system spawn very different fictional portraits of lawyers and judges. The differences between fictional legal narratives produced by each country, even those with similarly structured legal systems, are also striking. Chapter One begins by outlining a number of factors that contribute to the proliferation of fictional legal narratives in some countries, and their relative scarcity in other countries. Next, Chapter Two traces the wide range of lawyer images in American fictional legal narratives, which both glamourize and demonize the figure of the lawyer. Turning to anthropomorphizations of law in the United Kingdom, Chapter Three examines the British tendency to perpetuate the idea that, if correctly executed, the fundamental principles of British law would lead to a just and harmonious society. Chapter Four then explores the “anxiety of influence” reflected in Canadian images of law, which are more “soft-boiled” than the fictional legal figures of other countries. Moving to French fictional legal narratives, Chapter Five contemplates the predominance of the juge d’instruction figure and the prevalence of the investigatory mode. The dissertation then discusses the relative scarcity of fictional legal narratives in Germany, and the cynicism in existing German stories about law in Chapter Six. The study concludes by considering the future directions of the law and culture movement, as well as both the challenges and rewards of this interdisciplinary work.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2009. / Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts and Education. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 260-272)

My thesis is focused on the prohibition of discrimination in labor relations. This topic is very large and in future its content will continue to expand. Discrimination occurs in all areas of human life, dangerous a frequently occurring is in the area of labor relations. The aim of this thesis is to analyze legislation of anti-discrimination law in area of labor relations. I will also deal with analyzes of important judgments of the Court of justice of the EU and of the Czech courts. The first chapter defines the basic concepts, which related to the topic of thesis. The second chapter deals with issue of discrimination in labor relations in international law. International legislation is divided on the basis of international organizations that issued these rules. It's mainly United Nations, the Council of Europe and from the area of international organizations which related with labor law, it is International Labour Organization. The third chapter presents anti-discrimination law and case law in the European Union and its impact on the law of the Czech Republic. The fourth chapter deals with the prohibition of discrimination in labor relations in the framework of the legislation in the Czech Republic. There is also described the development of the prohibition of discrimination in Czech legislation. I will...

The purpose of my thesis is to provide a comprehensive view on the issue of discrimination based on sex in labour-law relations. The aim of my thesis is to investigate why discrimination is still present in society despite all the effort made by the international organisations, legislators and non-governmental organizations. Therefore, the main objective of this work is to analyse the current position of women in society, the causes of why discrimination based on sex is emerging and to find out whether the status of women has improved over the decades and in which direction it is developing. The thesis is composed of seven chapters, each discussing different aspects of gender discrimination. The first chapter is an introductory part providing a brief look at the historical developments of the issue in the Czech Republic and abroad. It also examines individual areas of labour-law relations in which discrimination often occurs. The second chapter defines basic terminology used in the thesis, i.e. "equality", "direct and indirect discrimination", "sex", "gender" and "labour-law relations". The third chapter describes various international organisations such as The United Nations, The International Labour Organization and The Council of Europe that are active in the field of fighting discrimination and...

This thesis deals with the prohibition of discrimination in labor law relations on grounds of gender. Discrimination in labor law relations is only part of the broad issue of discrimination, but the importance of labor relations in the society makes this issue it very important. Discrimination on grounds of gender is specific in that it covers a wide range of social groups, and despite the long development and changes in society, which was achieved with great effort of many organizations and individuals, is still the subject to date. The objective of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive view on the issue by analysis of the evolution of sex discrimination in the historical context, analysis of current legislation and isolating social phenomena that have influence on this issue. The thesis consists of an introduction, four chapters and conclusion. The first chapter is devoted to defining the basic terms and their evolution and changes in historical context. This chapter is divided into two parts, each of which addresses one of the main concepts of this work. These concepts are equality and discrimination. The second chapter discusses the legislation of equal treatment and non-discrimination in employment relations. The chapter is divided into four subchapters. The first subchapter is dedicated...