Editor:

William Edmundson
College of Law
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 4037
Atlanta, GA 30302-4037
wedmundson@gsu.edu

The question, "Why should I obey the law?" introduces a puzzle as old as antiquity. The puzzle (often referred to as "the problem of political obligation") is especially troublesome if we think of cases in which breaking the law is not otherwise wrongful, and in which the chances of getting caught are negligible. Philosophers from Socrates to H.L.A. Hart have struggled to give reasoned support to the thought that we do have a general moral duty to obey the law but, more recently, the greater number of learned voices has expressed doubt that there is any such duty, not even a prima facie one. Doubt here calls into question the nature of authority and the very possibility of a legitimate state. This issue will devoted to the duty to obey the law, its nature, its existence, and its role in legal and political philosophy.

Editor:

Richard Nunan
Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies
College of Charleston
Charleston, SC 29424
nunanr@cofc.edu
(803) 953-6522

Since a number of recent issues have been devoted to specific topics, it seems appropriate to schedule an open issue for a change, for the purpose of encouraging broader participation from the readers of this newsletter. Any topic relating to the interface between philosophy and law is welcome.

There are many philosophically interesting topics that fall under this heading, raising not just First Amendment questions (e.g., the ongoing debate about public high school biology curricula, or the one about state support for parochial schools), but also sometimes involving questions about the right to privacy (e.g., the question of state in/tolerance of "private" consensual religiously-motivated activity which happens to be criminalized in other contexts [peyote ingestion as a sacramental rite, for instance], or the issue of medical treatment refusal cases [especially for minor children]), equal protection (e.g., state prohibition of religiously-motivated polygamy), and legal procedure questions (e.g., preemptory strikes of jurors of a certain religious persuasion, or whether in judicial proceedings lawyers are constitutionally entitled to compel testimony about the nature of private religious beliefs). Prospective contributors should feel free to conceive this topic fairly broadly.

If you are interested in submitting an article to be considered for inclusion in one of the forthcoming issues, it would be prudent to send an inquiry in advance, briefly describing your proposed topic. Space is very tight in the Newsletter, and there is room for only a few articles in each issue. Since the Newsletter aims for broad coverage of the range of issues relevant to a particular topic, it is unlikely that two articles which treat of the same subtopic will be published. Advance inquiries will also enable guest editors to furnish prospective contributors with more detailed information about the formatting requirements for submissions. In any event, authors should restrict their contributions to 3,000-4,000 words (about 10-15 pages, double-spaced).

Please mail inquiries concerning article submissions to the individual editor designated for the relevant issue. All other inquiries (e.g., concerning possible announcements, suggestions of possible law review articles to abstract, notices of new books of interest, etc.) should be sent directly to Richard Nunan (see Spring 2000 issue above for address).

Richard Nunan, the current Editor of the APA Newsletter on Philosophy and Law, will complete his five-year term of office as of June 30, 2000. Consequently, the APA Committee on Philosophy and Law is now soliciting nominations (including self-nominations) for that position. The term of office runs from July 1, 2000 through June 30, 2005. To ease the transition, there is some overlap of editorial duties during the first months of the new editor’s term of office. Specifically, the old editor will be responsible for organizing the Fall 2000 of the Newsletter, and the new editor’s first responsibility will be for the Spring 2001 issue. (Similarly, the last issue for which the new editor bears responsibility will be Fall, 2005.)

APA newsletter editorships are uncompensated service contributions to the profession. The primary duties of the the Philosophy and Law Newsletter Editor include: solicitation of guest editors and (for issues without guest editors) of article contributions; refereeing unsolicited contributions; soliciting law review article abstracts from APA Commitee members (and writing several of your own for each issue); critiquing articles for content reform when necessary; editing articles for grammatical, spelling, and citation errors, and for APA formatting requirements; submitting print and disk copies of the complete issue MS to the APA central office for final formatting and printing. The Editor is also an ex officio member of the APA Committee on Philosophy and Law.

Nominees should submit a letter of interest and CV to the Philosophy and Law Committee Chair:

Professor Stefan Baumrin
Ph.D. Program in Philosophy
CUNY Graduate School and University Center
33 W. 42nd St.
New York, NY 10036

Smith College invites applications for a two-year appointment as senior editor of Meridians, a new interdisciplinary journal providing a forum for scholarship and creative work by and about women of color in both U.S. and international contexts, investigating the intersections of feminism, race, and transnationalism. A joint venture of the Women’s Studies Program of Smith College and Wesleyan University, Meridians will be published twice a year by Wesleyan University Press, with the inaugural issue appearing in June 2000.

The senior editor is a half-time twelve-month position. In consultation with a national and local editorial board, the senior editor will oversee the solicitation and review of manuscripts, convene annual editorial meetings, and plan the inaugural conference. For qualified candidates, the editorial position may be combined with a half-time visiting teaching appointment at Smith College. We seek an editor with demonstrated experience on an editorial board of an academic journal, an established reputation in one of the fields served by Meridians, a vision of the place of interdisciplinary work on women of color in the academy, a Ph.D. in a liberal arts field, and experience teaching courses on women of color informed by interdisciplinary scholarship. Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Preference will be given to applications complete by February 15, 1999. To apply, send a statement of interest, a curriculum vitae documenting editorial and teaching experience, and three letters of recommendation to Meridians, c/o Susan Van Dyne, Seelye 207b, Smith College, Northampton, MA, 01063. Smith College is an equal opportunity employer encouraging excellence through diversity.

In addition, we are currently seeking submissions for the premiere issues. Through a dialogue across traditional disciplinary boundaries, and across ethnic and national boundaries, Meridians wishes to engage in the complexity of ongoing debates about the contested terms ‘women of color’, ‘feminism’, ‘race’, and ‘transnationalism’. Work that contributes to the understanding of post-colonialism, nationalism, sexuality, and women’s activism outside of the U.S. is especially welcome (including in particular the extent to which history, geography, and culture inform the practices and meanings of women’s political and economic lives, forms of resistance, diaspora and exile, artistic expression, and activist strategies). Meridians seeks to feature discussions about the conditions of women’s lives that are relevant to a broad audience, addressing academics, public intellectuals and activists.

Meridians invites submissions of essays, interviews, poetry, fiction, theater, artwork, photo-essays, as well as political manifestoes, position papers, and archival documents of continuing interest. Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis, reviewed by members of the editorial board, and by readers with competence in the appropriate fields. The review process should usually take about three months. Please submit three copies of the manuscript and three copies of an abstract of not more than 150 words to:

Meridians
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063

Manuscripts without abstracts will not be considered. We cannot accept electronic submissions. All submissions should be word-processed, double spaced, unstapled and accompanied by a title page. The title page should contain the author’s name, postal address and e-mail address. The author’s name should not appear on the manuscript, and all references in the text and in footnotes that might identify the author should be removed and cited on a separate page. Scholarly articles should follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition, for text and endnotes. Articles should not exceed 25-30 pages or 9000 words. Creative Manuscripts: visual material ­ submit black and white prints rather than slides; manuscripts of 3-5 poems should be typed double-spaced; prose or fiction manuscripts should be typed double-spaced, no longer than 25 pages; excerpts from works of fiction or theater are acceptable if self-contained. Please do not submit manuscripts or materials that are under review elsewhere or that have been previously published. Meridians does not accept unsolicited book, film or video reviews. Submissions cannot be returned.

During the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology in Washington, DC in November 1998, several members of the society met to form a new association for the study of all aspects of justice--criminal, social, economic, and restorative. The Justice Studies Association is intended to serve as a forum for scholars, activists, and practitioners to share their ideas and current work. Members might come from any field of endeavor interested in justice: anthropology, social work, history, philosophy, religion, criminal justice, sociology, psychology, or law. Their work might range from broad theories of social justice to specific restorative justice demonstration projects.

The Justice Studies Association grew out of two recent and related conferences on justice. The first, held in Albany, New York in June 1997, and sponsored by the Institute for Economic and Restorative Justice and the Criminal Justice Department of Hudson Valley Community College, was called "Justice Without Violence: Views From Peacemaking Criminology and Restorative Justice." A follow-up conference was held in June 1998 at Saint Anselm’s College in Manchester, New Hampshire in the form of a symposium. A small number of scholars and activists came together for two days to talk about issues related to just community.

The JSA will sponsor its first annual conference on June 2-3, 1999, on the topic: "The Next Wave of Restorative Justice: Community Justice or Just Community? Lessons From Indigenous Cultures" at Saint Anselm’s College in Manchester, New Hampshire. The keynote address will be Dr. James Zion, Solicitor of Navajo Nation Courts, Window Rock, Arizona, speaking on "Monster Slayer and Born For Water: The Intersection of Indigenous and Restorative Justice." The keynote address will be followed by an extended discussion of the speaker’s ideas. All remaining sessions will be plenary, and contributors are invited to submit papers for the following topic areas:

Basic Principles of Indigenous and Restorative Justice (see keynote address)

The Differences Between Community Justice and Just Community

Creating "Tribes" in Our Everyday Lives--What Navajo Culture Says About Community Justice and Just Community

Restorative Justice as a Way of Life: Beyond the Ethic of "Civility"?

The Next Wave: Can Restorative Justice Survive Without Attending to Social Structural Issues?

Those wishing to make a presentation related to the conference theme and specific topic areas should provide conference organizers with a title and brief description of the presentation by April 15th. For the first year, conference registration will be very limited, so we encourage those interested in attending to register early. The registration fee is $40.

New School University
Swayduck Auditorium
New York, NY
October 15-16, 1999

Theme: Civil Liberties in the New Millennium

Topics Include: The Death Penalty and the Prison Industrial Complex; Democracy and its Discontent; Market, State and the Concept of Dignity; New Age Surveillance

Contact:

J. Everet Green
Department of Philosophy
Rockland Community College
145 College Road
Suffern, NY 10901
Phone: (914) 574-4797
E-mail: everet@aol.com

Leonard Harris
E-mail: harrisl@omni.cc.purdue.edu