Personal Autonomy, the Private Sphere and Criminal Law

Peter Alldridge is a Professor of Law at Queen Mary University of London.Chrisje Brants is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Utrecht,the Netherlands.

This book contains original essays by a distinguished group of jurists from six different European countries confronting the increasing range of legal and philosophical issues arising from the relationship between privacy and the criminal law. The collection is particularly timely in light of the incorporation into English law of the European Convention on Human Rights. It compares legal cultures and underlying assumptions with regard to the private sphere,personal autonomy and the supposed justifications for State interference through criminalization and the implementation of substantive criminal law.The book moves from treatment of general ideas like the relationship between sovereignty, the nation-state and substantive criminal law in the new European context, (with its concomitant aspiration towards the establishment of transnational morality) to more detailed consideration of specific areas of substantive law and procedure, viewed from a range of perspectives. Areas considered include euthanasia, surrogacy, female genital mutilation and sado-masochism.

These essays by jurists from six European countries confront legal and philosophical issues arising from the relationship of privacy to criminal law. The collection is timely in light of the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

INTRODUCTIONPeter Alldridge and Chrisje Brants1. LEGAL MORALISM OR PATERNALISM? TOLERANCE OR INDIFFERENCE? EGALITARIAN JUSTICE AND THE ETHICS OF EQUAL CONCERNKoen Raes2. PRIVACY, AUTONOMY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE RIGHTS:PHILOSOPHICAL PRELIMINARIESPaul Roberts3. THE PUBLIC, THE PRIVATE AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PAYMENTSPeter Alldridge4. SOVEREIGNTY, CRIMINAL LAW AND THE NEW EUROPEAN CONTEXTLeonard F. M. Besselink5. THE STATE AND THE NATION'S BEDROOMS: THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT OF SEXUAL AUTONOMYChrisje Brants6. HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE CRIMINALISATION OF TRADITION: THE PRACTICES FORMERLY KNOWN AS "FEMALE CIRCUMCISION"Loïs Bibbings7. DENYING SHOAHBert Swart8. CRIMINAL LEGISLATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: THE HISTORIC ROOTS OF CRIMINAL LAW AND NON-INTERVENTION IN THE NETHERLANDSC.M. Pelser9. CONSENT IN DUTCH CRIMINAL LAWConstantijn Kelk10. DANGEROUSNESS, POPULAR KNOWLEDGE AND THE CRIMINAL LAW: A CASE STUDY OF THE PAEDOPHILE AS SOCIOCULTURAL PHENOMENONRichard Collier11. THE FIGHT AGAINST SEX WITH CHILDRENM. Moerings