This text is a study of the public/private law divide in the common law tradition. Its starting point is that substantive duties of legality, fairness and rationality are imposed by the common law on bodies discharging public functions, but not always on bodies discharging 'private' functions.

"This publication is a collection of papers of the second meeting of the Dornburg Research Group on New Administrative Law which was held in London in May 2007"--Acknowledgments.

This book investigates the intersection between law and worker voice in a sample of industrialised English speaking countries, namely Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, and USA. While these countries face broadly similar regulatory dilemmas, they have significant differences between their industrial systems and legal cultures

This collection of essays draws together innovative scholars to examine the relationship between two legal and political phenomena: the shrinking of the state as a monopoly of power in favour of the expansion of power over individuals in private hands, and the change in the nature of rights. The authors expertly discuss the implications of the changing boundaries of state power, the legal responses to this development, its application to human rights, and re-conceptualizations of public life as obligations are handed over to private hands. This innovative book deals with an important set of problems and offers a fresh perspective of different legal themes in an integrated fashion.

Is charity law a 'private law' or a 'public law' subject? This book maps charity law's relationship to the public law-private law divide, arguing that charity law is best understood as a hybrid (public-private) legal tradition that is constantly seeking to maintain an equilibrium between the protection of the autonomy of property-owning individuals to direct and control their wealth, and the furtherance of competing public visions of the good. Of interest to scholars and charity lawyers alike, The Public-Private Nature of Charity Law applies its unique lens both to traditional topics such as the public benefit rule and charity law's rules of standing, and to more contemporary issues such as the co-optation of charitable resources by threatened welfare states and the emergence of social enterprise. 'This book should be read by all who are interested in the respective domains of public and private law. Kathryn Chan brings new light to the divide and reveals the way in which both public and private law inform charity law. The book is subtle, original and rigorous, with an excellent grasp of primary and secondary material.' - Paul Craig, Professor of English Law at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St John's College 'An original and thought-provoking book which takes the somewhat unruly law of charities and, with great insight and clarity, helps it to find its place on the legal map.' - Mary Synge, Associate Professor in Law at the University of Exeter 'Kathryn Chan's impressive monograph breaks new ground in its analytical approach towards charity in the modern world. Her careful study helps us to understand how charitable enterprises partake of the values and concerns of both public and private law, and to evaluate the strength and weaknesses of different approaches to the governance of charitable enterprises.' - Lionel Smith, Sir William C Macdonald Professor of Law, McGill University

Political accountability forms a cornerstone of modern democracy: it directs the political system towards the public interest and allows the exercise of the principles of autonomy and self-determination that lie at the core of democratic politics. Sadly, existing democracies, with their large, centralized bureaucracies, have evolved in ways that progressively undermine the ability of citizens to keep their representatives accountable and political regimes responsive. Far from reversing this trend, the neoliberal reforms introduced since the 1980s have increased that accountability gap. Globalization and the alleged passage from 'government' to 'governance' have aggravated the problem further. The notion of accountability that survives these changes is a problematic form of auditing carried out by a constellation of quangos, autonomous agencies and NGOs whose own accountability is problematic. This volume collects the main contributions to current debates on political accountability. It explores the challenges traditional conventions of accountability face today at the domestic, trans- and international levels and indicates the distinctive solutions those challenges require.

A scholarly and accessible examination of key themes, debates and issues in contemporary public law by leading authorities on the subject.