In 2013, Edward Snowden provided journalists with copies of classified documents detailing the operations of the National Security Agency of the United States and its allies; in particular, the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters. Snowden explained that he hoped to set the conditions for a new technical literacy that would alter understandings of the relationship between digital communications and law. This thesis asks whether or not law is capable of repaying Snowden’s faith. To that end, it offers a media-theoretical genealogy of the interception of communication in the UK. Interception is presented as an effect of different sets of technical operations, mediated and processed by communication devices and networks. The thesis traces interception techniques: from their beginnings in the General Post Office; in their evolution through the operations of technical media; to their reappearance in the operations of digital media that constitute the internet. The authorisation of interception, meanwhile, has always depended upon legal techniques mediated by interception warrants. A genealogy of the interception warrant is presented through an archival study of the distinctly different practices of document production that manufactured and programmed warrants in different media epochs; from the medieval Chancery and paper bureaucracies of state institutions to the graphical user interface, which mediates between interception techniques and law today. Finally, the thesis addresses the function of legislation as it in turn addresses warrants and interception techniques. Law and legislation, it is argued, are incapable of constraining technical operations of interception because, like interception, law is already an effect of media-technical operations. The law operates not by controlling interception, but by processing it, assigning meaning to it, and protecting the secrecy of ongoing interception operations.

In this thesis I critique the modern tendency to construct the legal subject upon a sharp distinction between Reason and body and to ground the normative force of law on an ideal conception of Reason. The legal subject is thereby presented as a disembodied cogitans to the neglect of his corporeality. This disregards both the necessarily material aspect of the legal subject and the necessarily embodied aspect of legal action, and results in an inadequate account of how legal normativity is manifested in material reality. This thesis aims to construct a theory of material legal normativity by re-incorporating the body of the subject into legal action and presenting that as the proper locus of law’s normative force. Although I focus on the material body in favour of Reason or rationality as the locus of action, I do not dismiss the possibility of meaningful normative action which is free from determination by material forces. I aim to construct a theory of action which is both material and normative by navigating the opposition between ideal Reason and material determinism. I do this by proposing an alternative conception of normative action which draws together the mechanism of habit and the manner of interaction with the material world. This theory of normative action will then form the basis for an account of normative legal action which gives due weight to the embodied nature of the legal subject as the proper locus for the material manifestation of the normative force of law.

The thesis has looked at the application of competition law of the European Union to sport. The main objective of the thesis is to understand whether the European institutions have adopted a sport-specific approach when applying competition law, and to identify problems connected to it. Sport presents a number of characteristics that differentiates it from any other industry. It is an area where private and public interests arise and demand protection. These range from private economic interests, to the protection of cultural aspects, health and well-being, and employment. The European Union has moved from an approach according to which sporting rules were not falling under EU law, to one where any sporting rule is capable of having economic effects and could therefore be assessed. In parallel, Sport Governing Bodies have stopped rejecting the intrusion of EU institutions in sport, and have accepted that the role of the authorities could be channelled to guarantee an area of autonomy. The thesis provides an original contribution to the body of knowledge in assessing the intensity of the economic analysis adopted by the EU institutions when examining conduct of Sports Governing Bodies. This aspect is particularly connected to the specific characteristics of sport, and of the sporting market. The research suggests to adopt a system of governance that is more collaborative and inclusive, and that is capable of representing the needs and protect the interest of all the industry stakeholders. This would require a greater involvement of the stakeholders in the rule setting and enforcement procedure, in order to channel the expertise of Governing Bodies and restrict the tendency to abuse of their regulatory powers.

In this thesis I explore how ageing, gender and sexuality intersect to influence equality in later life, in relation to older lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals and non-labelling individuals in same-gender relationships (LGBN). In particular I argue that temporality and spatiality shape uneven outcomes in later life by informing the discursive and performative production of ageing, gender and sexuality, which in turn influence access to resources, recognition and representation in older age contexts. Taking a feminist socio-legal perspective, my thesis addresses four questions: 1) How are the lives of older LGBN individuals framed in regulatory contexts?; 2) How do these regulatory frameworks inform ageing LGBN subjectivities and kinship formations?; 3) What are the main concerns of older LGBN individuals in relation to ageing?; and 4) How are the lives and concerns of older LGBN individuals represented by activists working on their behalves? To address these questions, I analyse the regulatory contexts relevant to LGBN ageing (Chapter Two). Methodologically, I expand understandings of ageing, gender and sexuality in later life through utilising qualitative data from interviews with older LGBN individuals and activists working on their behalves (Chapter Three). I analyse data from these interviews to consider: LGBN ageing subjectivities (Chapter Four), kinship constructions (Chapter Five) and anticipated care futures (Chapter Six), and to explore activists’ representations of older LGBN individuals’ lives, issues and concerns (Chapter Seven). In the final chapter I consider the implications for social policy and future research (Chapter Eight).

This thesis aims to examine the complex relationship between Sharia law and the Saudi Arabian copyright law. It focuses on the implications of the inconsistencies between the law governing intellectual property rights imposed by the TRIPs agreement and Sharia law in Saudi Arabia, specifically as regards copyright law. Original sources from the different schools within Sharia law are analysed in depth to assess their perspectives on conceptions of property, ownership, selling, punishment, grievances, legislation, the role of the judiciary, theft, piracy and how laws should apply to individual countries and obligations as regards international treaties. The compatibility between Sharia approaches to these topics and the TRIPs derived laws protecting copyright in Saudi Arabia is compared to reveal significant inconsistencies. The thesis argues that unique difficulties arise in applying TRIPs related laws in Saudi Arabia, where Sharia law is theoretically the sole source of law. TRIPs related laws which are almost identical in many areas to those in Saudi Arabia apply in Lebanon and Jordan, where, as the thesis shows, these difficulties do not arise as Sharia law is only one out of several sources of law. Thus the demonstration of the inconsistencies between Sharia and TRIPs imposed laws in Saudi Arabia provides a basis from which to demonstrate and explore the unique difficulties associated with applying piracy enforcement measures in Saudi Arabia which arise from these disparities. Questionnaires were handed out to different segments of the Saudi Arabian society addressing public perceptions of the adequacy and appropriateness of both Sharia and TRIPs related laws governing copyright in hindering piracy and whether having both laws could incur a negative impact. The findings derived confirm the argument of the thesis that given the inconsistencies between them, the application of both laws leads to undesirable consequences. Some suggestions to address these issues are put forward.

This body of work examines law’s response to non-genetic families. I have always centred the experience of family formation and family life such that I have traversed and linked distinct legal sites and doctrines, examining access to family formation avenues, models for legal recognition of families once formed and, latterly, legal responses to information sharing and broader kinship practices among genetically related individuals in childhood and later life. In doing so I have made a major contribution to a body of scholarship centring ‘lived lives’ in the exploration of family, relationship and reproduction law at its broadest, incorporating comparative analysis across closely related jurisdictions, attention to and integration of sociological data, and a focus on responsive practical reform outcomes. As an important part of my focus upon lived lives I have brought a continual awareness of gender to the unpacking of ‘gay and lesbian’ equality claims and reform movements to analyse the differential position of women and men in relation to parenting and paid labour, and latterly to build a framework of analysis that bridges heterosexual/same-sex family formation issues (papers 1, 2, 3) to examine links and resonances across ‘reproductive outsiders’ or non-genetic family forms (papers 3, 4). The sweep and reach of this approach makes an original contribution by stepping out of doctrinal and jurisdictional silos to examine the impact of law upon, and the unmet legal needs of, non-genetic families through the life cycle. Throughout these works I have contributed to analysis and debate about the role of ‘the eternal biological family’ in law, specifically engaging in the inter-relation of developing social notions of genetic essentialism, father’s rights and recognition of non-genetic family forms, in legal regimes governing family relationships. I have been one of the leading thinkers in the area of ‘functional family’ developing a clear articulation of how these ideas, drawn from psychology and sociology were mapped across into legal regimes recognising informal relationships (paper 1), examining the limitations of ‘functionality’ when in conflict with genetic parenthood (paper 2) and going on to build a framework for understandings of legal parenthood in non-genetic families as involving a dynamic interaction of intentionality and functionality (paper 2 and 3). In my work on ART and surrogacy I have built upon a body of feminist work on relational theory, agency and resonant choice. I have applied this approach to argue for the centring of an understanding of the interests and needs of parties in ART as part of a web of relationships rather than as isolated and oppositional rights (papers 6, 7, 8). In particular I have made original contributions to understandings of the human embryo in law not as an entity worthy of recognition in its own right, but as an object of unique value to the woman who created it, including on occasion as an imagined relation (paper 6); in directing attention to lateral rather than simply linear genetic links in ART law and policy (paper 6, 7, 8); in looking at how the views of parents shape and interact with those of offspring in seeking information on genetic relatives (paper 8) and in understandings of the significance of the numbers of potential genetic relatives (paper 7). In this area I have made important contributions to unpacking policy rationales and examining the largely ignored evidence base concerning family numbers and identity disclosure regimes (papers 7, 8) and concerning the experiences of surrogates in the development of laws governing surrogacy parentage and payment (papers 4, 5). I have argued for a nuanced and attentive notion of relatedness in law, incorporating the diverse and changeable understandings of the significance of genetic links (traversing a wide range of meanings from information source to family member) that individuals in non-genetic families formed through ART have expressed (papers 4, 5, 6,7, 8). Taken together, this is a body of feminist socio-legal work on the regulation of family relationships, assisted reproduction, genetics, kinship in law. Through this work I have made an original contribution to both scholarly thinking and legislative and policy frameworks responding to the needs of non-genetic family forms.

The new terrain of increasing interaction between national and supranational legal systems within the European Union presents new challenges for conventional approaches to police accountability and transparency. Each EU Member State is responsible for policing within its jurisdiction, and the EU institutions are increasingly responsible for enhancing the conduct of police cooperation between the Member States. The thesis explores the challenges of reconciling national approaches in the international sphere by conducting a critical analysis of ‘how and to what extent national legal and administrative norms on police accountability and transparency are informing the concept, design and operation of EU cross-border policing instruments’. Building on the work of Peter K. Manning, Geoffrey Marshall and David Bayley amongst others, the thesis develops a pragmatic typology of police accountability through which to view the evolution and adequacy of national and supranational approaches. The typology contains three key dimensions, namely codes, co-option and complaint. Using the typology to critique conventional approaches in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, the thesis identifies legal and procedural anomalies and challenges at both the national and supranational level since the traditional elements of police accountability were originally formulated within the confines of national legal, political, historical and cultural constraints. Employing the typology to both elucidate problems and suggest methods of internalisation, the thesis argues that the EU should follow the lead of the Member States’ legislatures by seeking to regulate a wider range of policing processes through more expansive procedural ‘codes’ which facilitate police discretion and co-option. The thesis shows that it is not sufficient for the EU to prioritise its post-Lisbon policy of ‘co-decision’ in order to remedy its democratic deficits but that it must oversee the establishment and enhancement of parliamentary committees, inspectorates and other oversight bodies in the interest of police accountability. A number of recommendations are made for police reform at both the national and supranational levels to this end. More particularly, the research indicates that additional treaty changes are needed beyond the Lisbon Treaty in order to adequately reconcile national and supranational approaches to police accountability. I am grateful to the Irish Research Council for supporting this research by the award of a Government of Ireland Research Scholarship.

This thesis contributes new and unique perspectives on the post 2007-09 crisis reform agenda established in the European Union. The focus of the thesis will be specifically on reform of the regulatory and the supervisory framework aimed at mitigating the effects of systemic risk. The starting point will be a review of the literature on the concept of systemic risk which will demonstrate that its unpredictable nature requires a malleable regulatory response. In light of the suggested areas of concern by the pivotal ‘de Larosiere report’, analysis will be provided on the progress achieved so far. On the regulatory front, the systemic risk aspects of the various legislative measures introduced are assessed in terms of their relevance and potential effectiveness. The reformed supervisory framework under the new European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS) requires close scrutiny due to the transfer of power to centralised authorities. Although the reform should be considered a success in terms of reaching its objectives in a timely manner, some critiques and suggestions will be provided on how to carry the framework forward. The thesis will also argue that taking the framework to the next step may require testing the boundaries of European Treaties and its case law in relation to delegation of powers. The measured success of the new framework could however be jeopardised by the recent introduction of the first steps towards a banking union in the Eurozone. By creating a new supervisory dynamic within the EU, it will be argued that such a move raises the potential of creating a ‘two speed’ model of financial supervision in the EU. Additionally it risks polarising the supervisory debate between the European Central Bank and the Bank of England at the detriment of the EU.

In 1933 Canada enacted the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act with little consultation. Parliament described the CCAA as federal ‘bankruptcy and insolvency law’ but the Act provoked constitutional controversy because it could compulsorily bind secured claims, which fell under provincial jurisdiction. Even after the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the CCAA, the intended beneficiaries of the Act preferred not to use it. In the 1950s the Act fell out of use, and by the 1970s commentators considered it a ‘dead letter.’ But during the 1980s and 1990s recessions, courts ‘revived’ the CCAA through progressive interpretations of its few ‘enabling’ provisions. This helped justify debtor-in-possession reorganisation as a policy objective of Canadian bankruptcy and insolvency law. This thesis attempts to understand why this occurred. This study provides a theorised interpretation of CCAA history. I rely on concepts such as path dependence, interest groups and institutions to shed light on periods of stability and change in CCAA law over time. I bolster this with a socio-legal analysis that takes account of gradual changes in practice that often preceded and gave shape to formal reforms. This thesis shows that large secured creditors have been major drivers and beneficiaries of CCAA law. The Act originally extended provincial receivership reorganisations into federal law. In the 1980s-1990s courts facilitated ongoing access to the CCAA by recasting it as a debtor-remedy. In both instances the solvency of large secureds (financial institutions) highlighted the necessity of restructuring corporate borrowers, and prevailing social, economic, and political factors influenced the substance and mechanisms of legal changes. Despite its public stature as a ‘debtor-remedy,’ CCAA law continues to advance the interests of large secured creditors.

The recently institutionalised global Performers’ Rights Regime (PRR) aims to improve the economic position of those performers whose work can be audio-recorded and reproduced. This thesis asks whether the PRR achieves this aim. The thesis investigates this question through a case study of Sri Lankan vocalists. Vocalists in Sri Lanka are a significant constituent within the music industry, and they had hoped that the PRR would make their work more economically secure. However, this thesis finds that the PRR, as developed internationally and implemented in Sri Lanka, is predicated on a particular understanding of the role of performers and their relationships with other actors in the music industry; that this understanding of performers’ roles and relationships does not reflect established practices and relationships within Sri Lanka’s contemporary music industry; and that consequently the PRR fails to deliver the improved economic security that Sri Lankan singers had sought.