Jonathan Sumption's 2019 Reith Lectures

Jonathan Sumption, formerly a UK Supreme Court Justice, before that a barrister and before that an academic historian, gave the 2019 BBC Reith Lectures. The titles of his five lectures were

• Law’s Expanding Empire 
• In Praise of Politics
• Human Rights and Wrongs
• Rights and the Ideal Constitution
• Shifting the Foundations

Each is about 40 minutes long. Transcripts are available.

The Law Report in Winter

While the northern hemisphere was on holiday recently, in the southern hemisphere Australia was going full steam. Some interesting stories from the Australian program The Law Report include :

• a discussion of new German legislation about hate speech on social media
• the rule of law in China
• reflections on justice and injustice
• transgender and identity

About 30 min, transcripts available.

Tax avoidance or tax evasion?

The BBC Radio 4 programme Analysis of 22 July is entitled The Rule of Law v the Rule of Man
A new law punishing tax avoidance (not tax evasion) schemes has raised questions about the rule of law. Is it OK to punish tax avoiders who have obeyed the letter of the law?

Law in China

The Brookings Institute, an American think tank, recently held an event entitled “Rule of Law in China: Prospects and Challenges” to launch Chinese law professor He Weifang’s book In the Name of Justice: Striving for the Rule of Law in China.
He Weifang spoke about China’s judicial system, covering key Communist Party players and scandals such as the prosecution of Bo Xilai. He used some slides during his presentation. His remarks were simultaneously interpreted in English. 1 hour, 26 min
Former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Hunstman talked about the rule of law in China. He was joined in discussion by law professors from Yale, Harvard, and New York University. 1 hour, 27 minutes
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer who has recently published Making Our Democracy Work: A Judge's View talked about constitutionalism in China, giving suggestions about how to improve the rule of law there. 1hour 12 min

Niall Ferguson on the rule of law and its economic consequences

Harvard economic historian Niall Ferguson gave the BBC's Reith Lectures for 2012. The general theme was  The Rule of Law and Its Enemies: 2012. In his third lecture, The Landscape of the Law,  Ferguson asks "... what, if anything, developing countries like China can learn from the West about the rule of law." 42 min, transcript available.