Author: TBLS Admin

TBLS lecturer Marc Johnson’s article titled “Legislative Sovereignty: Moving from Jurisprudence Towards Metaphysics” has been published in “Jurisprudence: An International Journal of Legal and Political Thought”. TBLS students can access the online version through Taylor & Francis Online and HeinOnline via University of Liverpool. Publication in print is pending.

Abstract:
Legislative sovereignty is often discussed with one eye on the past and one eye on the procedural functions of law-making in the present. This limits the scope for a conceptual understanding of legislative sovereignty and hinders its theoretical progress. This article argues that legislative sovereignty contains within it the concept of an idol and that understanding the scope and impact of the idol of sovereignty is necessary for future development in this field. Theories from Kant, Nietzsche, von Mises and Derrida are used to offer a divergent critique of legislative sovereignty while the author calls for a move towards a nuanced view of legislative and Parliamentary Sovereignty to account for its idolism. The key factor preventing the development of a truly nuanced and reflective theory of sovereignty is the devotion to former idols which are inoperable and inconsistent with modern geopolitical, inter-state relationships. The author also argues that our knowledge of sovereignty is synthetic a priori and that development in this area can only be by reason, as knowledge derived experientially is subject to the Kantian Transcendental Idealism.

https://doi.org/10.1080/20403313.2020.1744990

In a special lecture given by Laura Panades, students at the Truman Bodden Law School got to grips with the causes and consequences of “Brexit”.

Brexit is a word used to describe “Britain’s Exit” from the European Union, a unique political and economic international organisation.

The European Union exists to promote free and fair trade across 28 different European countries and does special trade deals as a group with the rest of the world.

In a referendum held in June 2016, the UK voted to leave the European Union by 52% compared to the 48% that voted to remain in the European Union. The two-year notice period was extended to 31 January 2020.

Panades’ lecture raised concerns about the uncertain impact Brexit will have on the Cayman Islands. She anticipated a generally negative effect on Cayman because of changing rules regarding financial aid, access to the EU’s financial markets and international trade.

Panades also explained how Brexit would affect local students who study EU law as a core final-year module in the Law School’s law degree programme.

The special Brexit lecture welcomed all TBLS students studying any of the three degrees the Law School offers: the undergraduate law degree, the Professional Practice Course and the International Finance postgraduate degree.

Students took part in engaging activities, recreating the 2016 referendum debate and discussing the results of the 12 December General Election.

Mitchell Davies, Law School Director, said:

“The high participation we saw from students attending this lecture shows how important it is for our students to keep on top of developing legal events.”

“Staff initiatives like this lecture are strongly encouraged as a sign of our commitment to providing quality legal education in the Cayman Islands.”

Laura Panades, LLM Course Leader, said:

“As the module leader for European Union law, students often ask how the subject affects them in the Cayman Islands. This lecture was a great opportunity to answer that question.”

“I look forward to exploring the topic further in future special lectures.”

FURTHER PRESS INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM

Laura Panades

laura.panades@gov.ky

Phone number 945 00 77 (ext. 229)

Laura Panades, LLM Course Leader at the Truman Bodden Law School, was invited to present her research on Cayman Islands Law at an international conference in Hong Kong, China.

The three-day conference was called “Unpacking the Complexity of Regulatory Governance in a Globalising World” and focused on good governance and compliance in complex regulatory environments.

Ms Panades’ research analyses Cayman’s new public procurement law, the Law of public purchases. It discusses the current state of play, pointing out positive developments, as well as the next stages necessary to achieve a World-Class system.

The research also features the results of interviews conducted with main public procurement stakeholders in Cayman.

The event was organised by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a prominent and quickly growing Chinese tertiary institution, and the European Consortium for Political Research, an academic network focusing on teaching and research into politics and international relations comprising 350 institutions across 50 countries.

The paper has now been accepted for publication in a top international journal and will be released next month.

Laura Panades, LLM course leader and author of the research, said:

“On the first anniversary of public procurement, it is important to reflect on Cayman’s achievements and pending tasks.

“My research seeks to make sure that Cayman’s public money is well spent.”

Mitchell Davies, Law School director, said:

“Ms Panades’ internationally recognised research feeds into our LLM programme in ‘International Finance: Law and Regulation’, which includes a course on public-private partnerships and public procurement.

“Conferences are a fertile ground for TBLS staff in order to consolidate knowledge and to keep abreast of new developments worldwide whilst acquiring new ideas to stimulate further research and feed into teaching.”

FURTHER PRESS INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM:

Laura Panades

laura.panades@gov.ky

Phone number 945 00 77 (ext. 229)