Suchergebnisse

The first part of this work analyses the concept of hate speech and its legal-philosophical foundations linked to freedom of speech, through the use of tools provided by current trends in the theory of performativity. The second part, in turn, aims to suggest two possible perspectives on the translation of these philosophical demands into positive legislation within human rights law: the first one based on a liberal conception of freedom as non-interference and a perlocutionary understanding of performative speech acts; the second one adopting a neo-republican interpretation of freedom as non-domination and an illocutionary understanding of speech acts. Finally, the work aims to critically sift through the application of the theory of performativity to the legal definitions that hate speech has acquired within this context.

Just over thirty years ago, in the High Court decision Huakina Development Trust v Waikato Valley Authority, Justice Chilwell famously stated: "There can be no doubt that the Treaty is part of the fabric of New Zealand society".[1] At a symposium celebrating 30 years of the Huakina decision, Tom Bennion described the judgment as "a marker, a significant new structure sticking out in the legal landscape, indicating the shape of arguments to come." This collection of work brings together a range of arguments for our time as to the meaning and importance of the Treaty of Waitangi shaped by different perspectives as to its context and history. [1] [1987] 2 NZLR 188, at 210. As a result of that case, the Treaty is now part of the context in which legislation which impinges upon its principles is to be interpreted, even where a statute is silent as to the Treaty or its principles.