Academic Freedom and the Law
Subtitle: A comparative study
Publisher: Hart Publishing
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Oxford and Portland, Oregon
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 331
ISBN-13: 9781841136943
Description: Academic Freedom and the Law: A Comparative Study provides a critical analysis of the law relating to academic freedom in three major jurisdictions: the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. The book outlines the various claims which may be made to academic freedom by individual university teachers and by universities and other higher education institutions, and it examines the justifications which have been put forward for these claims. Three separate chapters deal with the legal principles of academic freedom in the UK, Germany, and the USA. A further chapter is devoted to the restrictions on freedom of research which may be imposed by the regulation of clinical trials, by intellectual property laws, and by the terms of contracts made between researchers and the companies sponsoring medical and other research. The book also examines the impact of recent terrorism laws on the teaching and research freedom of academics, and it discusses their freedom to speak about general political and social topics unrelated to their work. This is the first comparative study of a subject of fundamental importance to all academics and others working in universities. It emphasises the importance of academic freedom, while pointing out that, on occasion, exaggerated claims have been made to its exercise
Table of contents: title: 1. Introduction; title: 2. What is academic freedom?; title: 3. Justifying academic freedom; title: 4. Academic freedom in the United Kingdom; title: 5. Academic freedom in Germany; title: 6. Academic freedom in the United States; title: 7. Restrictions on freedom of research; title: 8. Academic freedom in the age of terrorism; title: 9. Freedom of extramural speech; title: 10. The Chris Brand case