Foreword
| Published date | 01 March 1995 |
| Date | 01 March 1995 |
| DOI | 10.1177/135822919500100101 |
International Journal
of
Discrimination
and
the
Law,
1995,
Vol.
1,
pp.
i-ii
1358-2291/95
$10
©
1995
A B
Academic
Publishers.
Printed in
Great
Britain
FOREWORD
The
appearance
of
the International Journal
of
Discrimination and
the Law marks the coming-of-age
of
anti-discrimination law as a
major subject
of
academic study, some
50
years after its practical
beginnings in 'civil rights' legislation introduced in Massachusetts
and New York.
The heroic contribution
of
black Americans in the Second World
War
increased recognition among the previously apathetic (where not
actively racist) white majority
of
the cruel absurdity
of
racial
segregation. Yet it was only after the march
on
Washington under
the charismatic leadership
of
Dr. Martin Luther King
in
1963 that
legal backing for anti-discrimination policies began to be extended
over the whole
of
the United States.
To-day it is a feature
of
many other legal systems as well -not
only the common law jurisdiction
of
Britain, Canada, Australia and
New Zealand, but others following different legal traditions, such as
Holland. New jurisdictions are being added all the time: South Africa
is developing a new anti-discrimination law and in Europe there is
growing pressure for Community-wide legislation.
This geographical growth has been accompanied by
an
increas-
ing range
of
injustices brought within the scope
of
the law: in addi-
tion to discrimination
on
grounds
of
race and gender, we see increas-
ing attention paid to discrimination
on
grounds
of
religion, disability
and sexual orientation. Even more significantly, the legal prohibition
of
discrimination has been embodied in international human rights
law, especially by the widespread endorsement
of
the International
Covenant on the Elimination
of
All Forms
of
Discrimination.
Anti-discrimination law has given a new meaning to the notion
of
equality before the law. The duty
of
courts to deal equally with
those who come before them is extended to a duty
on
those who
wield economic power to exercise it equally. The social, political and
cultural ramifications
of
this revolutionary change are immense. The
meaning, scope and extent
of
the duty
of
equal treatment, the situ-
ations to which it applies, and the consequences
of
breach, are what
this Journal
is
about.
The range and depth
of
the legal issues which have already
emerged, and which will continue to confront us, are correspondingly
daunting, but an impressive body
of
practical experience in the use
of
anti-discrimination measures already exists, especially in the
United States and Britain. And, in celebrating the leap forward
marked by the appearance
of
this Journal, we acknowledge the work
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