Karim on 'Maritime Autonomous Vehicles and International Law: Maritime Security Perspectives'

Professor Md Saiful Karim of the University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice has co-edited a new collection titled Maritime Autonomous Vehicles and International Law: Maritime Security Perspectives (Routledge, 2025).  Here is the publisher's summary:

"Maritime autonomous vehicles (MAVs) have the potential to radically alter all uses of maritime space, with technology progressing faster than the law. This book explores the current international legal framework and the options available to regulate maritime security in the face of emerging technologies.

MAVs are starting to play a role not only in policing and military security but also for the perpetration of maritime crimes. Through discussing the existing international legal framework for combating maritime security threats, the book will consider the use of MAVs by states for various security purposes and the potential dangers of MAVs in the hands of non-state actors. As the intersection of maritime technology with international maritime security law is crucial to a safe future for all, this timely book makes essential suggestions to adapt existing legal frameworks to match emerging technologies. Addressing critical questions such as who exercises jurisdiction when ships are remotely controlled, how jamming technology may be lawfully deployed and what force may be permissible during maritime law enforcement, this book identifies a diversity of current legal gaps and problems and makes suggestions as to how to rectify them.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars in the field of the law of the sea, maritime security and emerging technologies."

Young and Smith on ‘Who Built This Fence? Regenerating Faculty Landscapes for Lasting Educational Reform'

Professor Simon Young and Kirstie Smith of the University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice have published a new paper titled 'Who Built This Fence? Regenerating Faculty Landscapes for Lasting Educational Reform'.  The article appears as a book chapter in Nicole Watson and Heather Douglas (eds), Legal Education through an Indigenous Lens: Decolonising the Law School (Routledge, 2024).  Here is the abstract:

"This chapter offers tactics to address obstacles to incorporating Indigenous knowledge and building First Nations student support at a young regional law school. Viewing structural reform as a critical early step in achieving sustainable pedagogical advances, the chapter proposes means of breaking institutions away from the old exclusionary habits of law and education by advocating for changes to be made at the grassroots level. The chapter discusses a range of methods for these purposes: building relevant connections and reciprocal collaborations (with communities, the profession, alumni and other parts of the university); collecting and curating resources; ensuring First Nations’ visibility in physical and digital spaces; illustrating a sustained commitment to First Nations issues in public lectures and seminars; identifying new pathways and opportunities for students; embracing the inter-disciplinary nature of many First Nations issues; and understanding where expert First Nations advice and leadership are required."

Crowe on 'Injustice and the Moral Obligation to Obey the Law'

Professor Jonathan Crowe of the University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice has published a new paper titled 'Injustice and the Moral Obligation to Obey the Law'.  The paper appears as a book chapter in Coel Kirkby, Wojciech Sadurski, and Kevin Walton (eds), Law, Politics and Responding to Injustice (Routledge, 2025).  Here is the abstract:

"It is commonly thought that injustice undermines the moral obligation to obey the law. However, injustice is ubiquitous in legal and social institutions. Does the ubiquity of injustice therefore entail philosophical anarchism? The present chapter responds to this problem by advancing a multilayered account of the moral obligation to obey the law. According to this theory, the moral obligation to obey a law depends upon three primary factors: the law’s salience as a mode of social coordination, its reasonableness, and its capacity to promote common goods. The ubiquity of injustice, on this view, does not entail philosophical anarchism. Some deeply unjust laws are incapable of imposing moral obligations because they fail on these three criteria. However, other unjust laws may be salient and even reasonable modes of promoting common goods. Governments can—and often do—employ coercive and manipulative measures to bootstrap unjust laws into moral obligations. This kind of moral manipulation constitutes a serious and understudied form of moral harm inflicted by governments on their subjects."

Braun on 'A Tale of Podcasts and DNA Lab Failures – Was Queensland's Double Jeopardy Law Reform the Answer?'

Professor Kerstin Braun of the University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice has published a new article titled 'A Tale of Podcasts and DNA Lab Failures -- Was Queensland's Double Jeopardy Law Reform the Answer?'  The article appears in Volume 47(3) of the Criminal Law Journal.  Here is the abstract:

"The double jeopardy rule protects persons from being tried and punished twice for the same offence. In Queensland, limited exceptions to this rule have been in operation since 2007. For example, an acquitted person can be retried for murder, where there is “fresh and compelling evidence”, and the re-trial is in the interests of justice. In 2023, after the discovery of DNA testing failures at a state-run Queensland forensic DNA laboratory, the Queensland government introduced a bill expanding these exceptions to additional offences. The bill became law in March 2024. This article ponders whether double jeopardy law reform was needed to respond to the DNA lab shortfalls. It considers the problem, how the new double jeopardy law reform responds to it and whether the introduced law is an appropriate remedy."

Hemming on 'Did They Do It? Six Notorious Australian Murder Trials'

Associate Professor Andrew Hemming of the University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice has published a new book titled Did They Do It? Six Notorious Australian Murder Trials (LexisNexis, 2024).  Here is the publisher's description:

"In this engaging and insightful book, a leading expert in criminal law and procedure and evidence examines the trials of the accused in six high-profile Australian murder cases.

The author explores the matching of court room procedure to the evidence, considering the procedural, evidential and tactical decisions taken in each case, so that the reader has a better understanding of the significance of the choices made by counsel representing the Crown and the defendant during the trial process and how these choices may have affected the verdict. It also discusses the crimes with which each defendant was charged, the impact of delays, police investigations, media coverage, expert evidence, and judicial decisions leading to the final outcomes for each of the accused.

The six cases discussed were all subject to appeals – some successful and others not – and the book explains for the general reader why some appeals were upheld and others dismissed."

Braun on ‘Is the Time Right to Enact Autonomy-Only Assisted Dying Laws?’

Professor Kerstin Braun of the University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice has published a new article titled 'Is the Time Right to Enact Autonomy-Only Assisted Dying Laws?'  The article appears in Volume 31(3) of the Journal of Law and Medicine.  Here is the abstract:

"An increasing number of jurisdictions worldwide have enacted assisted dying laws allowing persons to end their lives with assistance. All existing frameworks have in common that they restrict access to persons who (1) act autonomously and (2) suffer from certain illnesses. The second restriction has been criticised on the basis that it makes judgments about which lives are worth living by only allowing persons with specific medical conditions, but not others, to die with assistance. To avoid such judgments, some scholars endorse an autonomy-only view which requires autonomy as the only necessary condition for assisted dying. After considering the criticism the second access restriction has attracted, this article analyses the complexities of enacting autonomy-only assisted dying laws using Germany as a case study. It concludes that the challenges this approach faces in practice will likely prevent autonomy-focused assisted dying frameworks from becoming law in the near future."

Sundra-Karean on Constitutional Reform in Malaysia

Dr Vanitha Sundra-Karean of the University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice has provided the Malaysia entry for the 2023 International Review of Constitutional Reform.