<br>The Law and Society Committee is an Activity-Based Committee, run
by students of the National Law School and funded by the University.
The Committee's area of interest is activity relating to the
convergence of legal and social forces. Pursuant to this
mandate, it includes reading groups, film screenings, talks and
discussions as a means of academic engagement. <br> <br>'Socio-Legal
Review', a peer reviewed journal, is an initiative of the Committee
that hopes to inspire socio-legal writing among members of the legal
and social science community. It aims at exploring themes relating to
the interface of law and society and providing a platform for students
and young scholars. The Committee is keen to give 'law and society' an
expansive interpretation, thereby keeping its basic criteria for
contributions simply that of high academic merit, as long as there is a
perceivable link. This would include not just writing about the role
played by law in social change, or the role played by social dynamics
in the formulation and implementation of law, but also writing that
simply takes cognizance of legal institutions/ institutions of
governance/administration, power structures in social commentary and so
on. Through this effort, the journal also hopes to fill the lacunae
relating to academic debate on socio-legal matters among law students.
Socio-Legal Review has recently received a generous grant from Modern
Law Review, United Kingdom to carry on its efforts, in spite of this
being only its third year of publication. <br><br>The first issue of
'Socio-Legal Review', published in 2005, carried the theme 'Law and
Marginalisation'. The first issue included contributions from Shail
Mayaram (Senior Fellow, Centre for Study of Developing Societies,
Delhi), Sivamohan Sumathy (University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka), apart
from contributions from within the National Law School. Themes ranged
from 'Poverty, Migration and Memory in the Mega-City', 'Migration and
'Displacement of Sri Lankan Tamil Women', 'Globalisation and the
City-zen' to 'Reservation Policy of India and Rawls' Theory of Justice'
and 'Contours of the Dalit Movement'. The second volume, published in
2006, has articles by W. T. Murphy (London School of Economics) and
Rajeev Dhavan (Advocate, Supreme Court). As a theme was not imposed on
contribution, writing ranged from subjects as varied as the
pharmaceutical industry and patents to the impact of genetics on
theories of crime and punishment. The third volume of the journal,
released in August 2007, includes contributions by Dr. Fiona Kumari
Campbell (Griffith University) and Dr. Narnia Bohler-Muller (Nelson
Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth), besides contributions
from law students. <br><br>The Socio-Legal Review welcomes
contributions for its fourth volume to be released in 2008.
Contributions may be in the form of articles or notes from the
field.This year's Editorial Board has decided to continue with the
policy of not imposing a theme. A contribution is eligible as long as
fits in with the general mandate of the journal. <br><br><DEFANGED_span style="text-decoration: underline;">Guidelines for Submission </DEFANGED_span><br>
<br>
All contributions submitted to the journal should be original and
should not be simultaneously considered by any other publication.
Articles should not ordinarily exceed 8000 words.An abstract of about
300 words should accompany the contribution.<br>
<br>
Besides articles, the journal has a column on notes from the field,
titled 'Law's Translations'. Notes from the Field are shorter pieces
designed to provide a glimpse into a new legal strategy, political
initiative or advocacy technique applied in the field, a current
problem or obstacle faced in, legal reform or development work, or a
new issue that has not yet received much attention and needs to be
brought to light. This section is designed for the student researchers,
legal practitioners, field staffers, and activists who often have the
most significant insights to contribute, but the least time to write
longer, scholarly articles. <br>
Notes from the field should not ordinarily exceed 5000 words. <br>
<br>
Contributions should be mailed in a soft copy to <a href="mailto:slr@nls.ac.in">slr@nls.ac.in</a>. The
name of the author should not appear anywhere in the submission.
Biographical information should be provided in a separate title page. <br>
<br>
The last date for submission is December 10, 2007. <br>
<br>
Submission is, however, on a rolling basis. Submissions made after this
date may be considered for publication in the next volume. <br>
<br>
For any clarifications, please mail us at <a href="mailto:slr@nls.ac.in">slr@nls.ac.in</a>.