Law and Society

UBC - Series Logos - Law and Society Series Logo

Founding editor: W. Wesley Pue

The Law and Society Series explores law as a socially embedded phenomenon. It is premised on the understanding that the conventional division of law from society creates false dichotomies in thinking, scholarship, educational practice, and social life. Books in the series treat law and society as mutually constitutive and seek to bridge scholarship emerging from interdisciplinary engagement of law with disciplines such as politics, social theory, history, political economy, and gender studies.

Showing 51-100 of 128 items.

Defending Battered Women on Trial

Lessons from the Transcripts

UBC Press

Drawing on trial transcripts, this book tells the stories of ten battered women who killed their male partners and one who did not, revealing why women don’t “just leave” and the serious barriers to achieving acquittal.

More info

To Right Historical Wrongs

Race, Gender, and Sentencing in Canada

UBC Press

A bold questioning of culture-based reparative justice initiatives – the political culture that inspired them and their efficacy in an age in which historically marginalized people are disproportionately represented in Canadian prisons.

More info

“Don’t Be So Gay!”

Queers, Bullying, and Making Schools Safe

UBC Press

Queer students speak out in a book that seeks to address the problem of homophobic bullying in schools.

More info

On the Outside

From Lengthy Imprisonment to Lasting Freedom

UBC Press

Drawing on the narratives of men who have served lengthy prison sentences, this book illuminates the tumultuous journey from life in a penitentiary to success in the community.

More info

Unjust by Design

Canada’s Administrative Justice System

UBC Press

This book describes a Canadian administrative justice system in transcendent need of fundamental structural reform and provides a detailed blueprint for change.

More info

Governing from the Bench

The Supreme Court of Canada and the Judicial Role

UBC Press

Governing from the Bench is a comprehensive and illuminating examination of the Supreme Court of Canada that draws on in-depth interviews to reveal the inner workings of this often-misunderstood institution at the heart of Canada’s justice system.

More info

Aboriginal Justice and the Charter

Realizing a Culturally Sensitive Interpretation of Legal Rights

UBC Press

This book explores the tension between Aboriginal justice methods and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, while searching for practical ways to implement Aboriginal justice.

More info

Hunger, Horses, and Government Men

Criminal Law on the Aboriginal Plains, 1870-1905

UBC Press

Tells the complex story of the relationship between Plains Indians and Canadian criminal law as it took root in their land.

More info

Still Dying for a Living

Corporate Criminal Liability after the Westray Mine Disaster

UBC Press

Still Dying for a Living investigates the state’s (in)ability to develop effective legal strategies for holding corporations accountable for serious injury and death in the workplace.

More info

The Right to a Healthy Environment

Revitalizing Canada's Constitution

UBC Press

Renowned environmental lawyer David R. Boyd argues that Canada must constitutionalize environmental rights and responsibilities if it hopes to improve its environmental record.

More info

International Trade Law and Domestic Policy

Canada, the United States, and the WTO

UBC Press

An innovative assessment of the extent to which international judicial bodies influence domestic law and policy arrangements.

More info

City of Order

Crime and Society in Halifax, 1918-35

UBC Press

A groundbreaking exploration of the causes and consequences of Halifax’s tough-on-crime measures in the interwar era.

More info

The Environmental Rights Revolution

A Global Study of Constitutions, Human Rights, and the Environment

UBC Press

David Boyd shows that recognition of the right to a healthy environment is not only growing, it is having a profound influence on public policy and environmental protection.

More info

Troubling Sex

Towards a Legal Theory of Sexual Integrity

UBC Press

Focusing on the Supreme Court of Canada, Craig attempts to overcome the constraints of theoretical frameworks and disciplinary boundaries by pursuing a more inclusive theory of law and sexuality.

More info

Being Relational

Reflections on Relational Theory and Health Law

UBC Press

This groundbreaking collection explores relational theory and how it can be brought to bear on practical areas of concern in health law and policy.

More info

Conflict in Caledonia

Aboriginal Land Rights and the Rule of Law

UBC Press

A powerful account of how land disputes reflect complex and often competing understandings of law, landscape, and identity among First Nations and non-Aboriginal people in Canada.

More info

Ghost Dancing with Colonialism

Decolonization and Indigenous Rights at the Supreme Court of Canada

UBC Press

Drawing on history, international law, and recent decision-making in the Supreme Court, this book seeks the truth behind allegations that Canadian law continues to colonize Indigenous peoples.

More info

Westward Bound

Sex, Violence, the Law, and the Making of a Settler Society

UBC Press

Through the study of hundreds of criminal cases, Westward Bound explores how encounters between the courts and ordinary people on the Canadian Prairies contributed to the construction of race, class, and gender hierarchies in a settler society.

More info

The Freedom of Security

Governing Canada in the Age of Counter-Terrorism

UBC Press

A trenchant exploration of how security and counter-terrorism practices are not only eroding civil liberties, but reshaping the very nature of our political freedom.

More info

Transforming Law's Family

The Legal Recognition of Planned Lesbian Motherhood

UBC Press

Drawing on the rarely heard voices of Canada’s lesbian mothers, Transforming Law’s Family explores the legal dimensions of planned lesbian parenthood and proposes avenues for legal change.

More info

Critical Criminology in Canada

New Voices, New Directions

Edited by Aaron Doyle and Dawn Moore
UBC Press

A new generation of critical criminologists examines the future of criminology and criminal justice in Canada.

More info

In Defence of Principles

NGOs and Human Rights in Canada

UBC Press

This exploration of the activities of four Canadian NGOs in advancing and defending human rights principles sheds new light on the fragility and resilience of human rights norms in liberal democracies.

More info

The Politics of Acknowledgement

Truth Commissions in Uganda and Haiti

UBC Press

This book examines the failure of truth commissions in Uganda and Haiti and develops a rigorous framework to evaluate truth commissions around the world.

More info

Constructing Crime

Contemporary Processes of Criminalization

UBC Press

Five unique case studies reveal how crime is being constructed and enforced in contemporary Canada.

More info

Aboriginal Title and Indigenous Peoples

Canada, Australia, and New Zealand

UBC Press

Offers a perspective on Aboriginal title and land rights that extends beyond national borders and the contemporary context to consider historical developments in common law countries.

More info

Constitutional Politics in Canada after the Charter

Liberalism, Communitarianism, and Systemism

UBC Press

The first systematic analysis of general theories about Canada’s post-Charter constitutional evolution.

More info

Contested Constitutionalism

Reflections on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

UBC Press

Contested Constitutionalism is a critique of Canadian democracy, judicial power, and the place of Quebec and Aboriginal peoples within the federation, all of which have been altered by the Charter’s introduction in 1982.

More info

A Perilous Imbalance

The Globalization of Canadian Law and Governance

UBC Press

Tackles the pressing question of how Canadian engagement with globalization can be marshaled to advance rather than impair human security, ecological integrity, and social emancipation.

More info

Justice Bertha Wilson

One Woman’s Difference

Edited by Kim Brooks
UBC Press

This timely, evocative book showcases Bertha Wilson’s contributions to the Canadian legal landscape and explores the issues that this controversial personality grappled with in her life and career.

More info

Feminized Justice

The Toronto Women’s Court, 1913-34

UBC Press

Drawing on case files and newspapers accounts of women’s confrontations with the law in the Toronto Women’s Police Court, Feminized Justice offers a multifaceted portrait of women, crime, and courts in early twentieth-century Toronto.

More info

Colonial Proximities

Crossracial Encounters and Juridical Truths in British Columbia, 1871-1921

UBC Press

Colonial Proximities traces the encounters between aboriginal peoples, mixed-race populations, Chinese migrants, and Europeans in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century British Columbia.

More info

Multi-Party Litigation

The Strategic Context

UBC Press

Drawing upon insights from law and politics, Multi-Party Litigation outlines the historical development, political design, and regulatory desirability of multi-party litigation strategies in cross-national perspective and describes a battle being fought on multiple fronts by competing interests.

More info

Murdering Holiness

The Trials of Franz Creffield and George Mitchell

UBC Press

Murdering Holiness explores the story of the "Holy Roller" sect led by Franz Creffield, a charismatic, self-styled messiah, in the early years of the 20th century.

More info

Landing Native Fisheries

Indian Reserves and Fishing Rights in British Columbia, 1849-1925

UBC Press
More info

Lament for a First Nation

The Williams Treaties of Southern Ontario

UBC Press

An important analysis of how the 1994 Howard decision on the Williams Treaties was based on erroneous cultural assumptions that favoured public over special rights.

More info

The Grand Experiment

Law and Legal Culture in British Settler Societies

UBC Press
More info

First Nations Cultural Heritage and Law

Case Studies, Voices, and Perspectives

UBC Press
More info

Multiculturalism and the Canadian Constitution

UBC Press

The essays illustrate how deeply multiculturalism is woven into the fabric of the Canadian constitution and the everyday lives of Canadians.

More info

Defining Harm

Religious Freedom and the Limits of the Law

UBC Press
More info

The New Lawyer

How Settlement Is Transforming the Practice of Law

UBC Press

This provocative, intelligent work looks at the evolving role of lawyers, articulating legal and ethical complexities, the growth of conflict resolution, and the increasing impact of alternative strategies on the lawyer-client relationship and the legal system.

More info

Domestic Reforms

Political Visions and Family Regulation in British Columbia, 1862-1940

UBC Press
More info

Negotiating Responsibility

Law, Murder, and States of Mind

UBC Press

Kimberly White provides an essential point of reference from which to evaluate current criminal law practices and law reform initiatives in Canada.

More info

Let Right Be Done

Aboriginal Title, the Calder Case, and the Future of Indigenous Rights

UBC Press
More info

Reaction and Resistance

Feminism, Law, and Social Change

UBC Press
More info

Poverty

Rights, Social Citizenship, and Legal Activism

UBC Press
More info

Defining Rights and Wrongs

Bureaucracy, Human Rights, and Public Accountability

UBC Press
More info

Diversity and Equality

The Changing Framework of Freedom in Canada

UBC Press

Critically examines the challenge of protecting rights in diverse societies.

More info
Find what you’re looking for...
Stay Informed

Receive the latest UBC Press news, including events, catalogues, and announcements.


Read past newsletters

Publishers Represented
UBC Press is the Canadian agent for several international publishers. Visit our Publishers Represented page to learn more.