[Reader-list] Call for Submissions: Socio-Legal Review, National Law School of India University

[atreyee majumder]

The '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.

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.

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.

Guidelines for Submission

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.

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.
Notes from the field should not ordinarily exceed 5000 words.

Contributions should be mailed in a soft copy to slr at nls.ac.in. The name of
the author should not appear anywhere in the submission. Biographical
information should be provided in a separate title page.

The last date for submission is December 10, 2007.

Submission is, however, on a rolling basis. Submissions made after this date
may be considered for publication in the next volume.

For any clarifications, please mail us at slr at nls.ac.in.