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All Outputs (24)

Universalizing the Particular; or, Hotel and Carrier Bag (2024)
Book Chapter
Nicholson, M. (2024). Universalizing the Particular; or, Hotel and Carrier Bag. In I. Aral, & J. d'Aspremont (Eds.), International Law and Universality (57-70). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198899419.003.0004

This chapter explores the relationship between the universal and the particular in international legal thought. I argue that contemporary, formalist international legal thought prefers the universal to the particular, that this constrains the possibi... Read More about Universalizing the Particular; or, Hotel and Carrier Bag.

On the Origins of Human Rights (2020)
Journal Article
Nicholson, M. (2020). On the Origins of Human Rights. European Human Rights Law Review, 5, 512-525

This article reviews Pamela Slotte and Miia Halme-Tuomisaari’s edited volume Revisiting the Origins of Human Rights, treating it as an opportunity to reconsider theories about the history and origins of human rights thought and practice. It argues th... Read More about On the Origins of Human Rights.

New International Legal Positivism: Formalism by Another Name? (2019)
Book Chapter
Nicholson, M. (2019). New International Legal Positivism: Formalism by Another Name?. In L. (. Siliquini-Cinelli (Ed.), Legal positivism in a global and transnational age (93-119). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24705-8_4

This chapter explores the work of Jörg Kammerhofer and Jean d’Aspremont. Through a review of Kammerhofer’s Kelsenian approach to international law and d’Aspremont’s HLA Hart-inspired theory of the sources of international law and the nature of intern... Read More about New International Legal Positivism: Formalism by Another Name?.

Towards a Representational International Law (2018)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Nicholson, M. (2018, December). Towards a Representational International Law. Paper presented at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Law Faculty) Seminar (by invitation), Amsterdam, Netherlands

Psychoanalyzing International Law(yers) (2018)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Nicholson, M. (2018, December). Psychoanalyzing International Law(yers). Paper presented at Lauterpacht Centre Friday Lecture (Cambridge University, by invitation), Cambridge, England

On 'The Horniman Walrus' (2017)
Journal Article
Nicholson, M. (2017). On 'The Horniman Walrus'. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 68(3), 370-390

London and international environmental law. Drawing on my experience of reproducing this walrus in clay, it uses the walrus as a microcosm of international environmental law’s engagement with nature in the context of cultural and philosophical trends... Read More about On 'The Horniman Walrus'.

Psychoanalyzing International Law(yers) (2017)
Journal Article
Nicholson, M. (2017). Psychoanalyzing International Law(yers). German law journal, 18(3), 441-510. https://doi.org/10.1017/s2071832200022033

This article reads the work of Martti Koskenniemi – arguably the most significant international legal thinker of the post-Cold War era – as an exercise in (Lacanian) psychoanalysis. Excavating the links between Koskenniemi and French psychoanalyst Ja... Read More about Psychoanalyzing International Law(yers).

Dress Code Formal ... or, Hegemony and International Legal Strategy (2016)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Nicholson, M. (2016, December). Dress Code Formal ... or, Hegemony and International Legal Strategy. Paper presented at 25th Annual SLS-BIICL Conference on Theory and International Law: Beyond our comfort zone? Situating the authority of international lawyers, institutions, and other international actors, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London

Majority rule and human rights: identity and non-identity in SAS v France (2016)
Journal Article
Nicholson, M. (2016). Majority rule and human rights: identity and non-identity in SAS v France. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 67(2), 115-136

This article considers the July 2014 decision of the European Court of Human Rights in S.A.S v France in which the court upheld the legality of a ban on the wearing of the burqa and niqab in public places. Exploring the connection between S.A.S and a... Read More about Majority rule and human rights: identity and non-identity in SAS v France.

'The Political Unconscious of the English Foreign Act of State and Non-Justiciability Doctrine(s)' (presenting a 'work in progress' version of my 2015 ICLQ paper of the same title) (2015)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Nicholson, M. (2015, December). 'The Political Unconscious of the English Foreign Act of State and Non-Justiciability Doctrine(s)' (presenting a 'work in progress' version of my 2015 ICLQ paper of the same title). Paper presented at International Law Association (British Branch) Spring Conference 2015, University of Essex, England

The political unconscious of the English foreign act of state and non-justiciability doctrine(s) (2015)
Journal Article
Nicholson, M. (2015). The political unconscious of the English foreign act of state and non-justiciability doctrine(s). International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 64(4), 743-781. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020589315000299

This article reviews the history and politics of the English foreign act of State and non-justiciability doctrines in light of recent judgments in Belhaj and Rahmatullah. It argues that the doctrines have a political unconscious—a term borrowed from... Read More about The political unconscious of the English foreign act of state and non-justiciability doctrine(s).

A History of Faith in International Environmental Law (2014)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Nicholson, M. (2014, December). A History of Faith in International Environmental Law. Paper presented at Theorising and Historicising International Law and the Environment (workshop), University of Keele, England

Fragmented method: Walter Benjamin, law, and representation in Joseph S. Jenkins’ Inheritance Law and Political Theology in Shakespeare and Milton (2014)
Journal Article
Nicholson, M. (2014). Fragmented method: Walter Benjamin, law, and representation in Joseph S. Jenkins’ Inheritance Law and Political Theology in Shakespeare and Milton. Law & Literature, 26(3), 389-398. https://doi.org/10.1080/1535685x.2014.928503

This review article considers the place of Walter Benjamin's thought in Joseph S. Jenkins' recent book and offers some broad reflections on the possibilities of Benjaminian legal scholarship.