Activities per year
Abstract
Over many decades, processes of juridification have brought about huge growth in legal rights, responsibilities and protections, yet citizens appear to poorly understand this ‘law thick’ world. This impacts citizens’ capacity to ʼname, blame and claim’ in the legal domain at a time of retreat from public funding of civil legal services. This article examines public knowledge of rights in key areas relating to consumer, housing and employment law. Drawing on data from the 2010-2012 English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey, the article uses responses to a series of hypothetical scenarios to explore public knowledge of rights and characteristics associated with knowledge. Our findings highlight a substantial deficit in individuals’ understanding of legal rights and responsibilities - even among those for whom particular rights and responsibilities have specific bearing.We also consider what these findings mean for public legal education and the efficiency, efficacy and legitimacy of the law.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 836-859 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Journal | The Modern Law Review |
Volume | 80 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Sep 2017 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Access to justice
- Civil justice
- Justiciable problems
- Legal rights
- Public legal education
Activities
- 2 Contribution to conference
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Conference on Empirical Legal Studies in Europe
Catrina Denvir (Speaker), Nigel J. Balmer (Speaker) & Pascoe Pleasence (Speaker)
11 Jun 2016 → 13 Jun 2016Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
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Conference on Empirical Legal Studies in Europe
Nigel J. Balmer (Speaker), Pascoe Pleasence (Speaker) & Catrina Denvir (Speaker)
11 Jun 2016 → 13 Jun 2016Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
Press / Media
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When is the Public Wrong About Rights
30/04/18
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Blogs, Podcasts and Social Media › Blogs