What is it about?
After decades of military dictatorship, defence lawyers undertaking ordinary criminal cases for their clients face many challenges in Myanmar, from an outdated and unfair legal system, biased and politically-motivated judges, a lack of professional respect and personal harassment and threats. Based on original fieldwork in which the authors interviewed 56 lawyers and other justice professionals in Myanmar, the article explores how even in such a hostile environment lawyers can support their clients dignity, which is a key feature of any legal process. Although 'direct' resistance to the authorities (such as demonstrations and protests) is difficult in Myanmar and often meets with fierce repression, lawyers upholding their clients' dignity can be seen as an effective form of passive resistance.
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Why is it important?
Focusing on how lawyers enhance the dignity of litigants in the criminal justice system of Myanmar provides a useful alternative perspective on the role of lawyers generally in non-democratic countries. It explores the idea of how everyday acts of such ordinary lawyers might constitute a form of resistance to a dictatorship.
Perspectives
I hope that the article leads people interested in lawyers in Myanmar (and other non-democratic or quasi-authoritarian countries) to consider virtues other than 'the rule of law', particularly the issue of dignity (in its widest sense). I also hope that it leads to more work on 'everyday' lawyers and their practice, and how this may lead to forms of 'everyday resistance' .
Alex Batesmith
University of Liverpool
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: In the Absence of the Rule of Law: Everyday Lawyering, Dignity and Resistance in Myanmar’s ‘Disciplined Democracy’, Social & Legal Studies, October 2018, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0964663918807739.
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