- Department for Continuing Education
Rewley House
1 Wellington Square
Oxford
OX1 2JA
UK
Matthew J Weait
University of Oxford, Department for Continuing Education, Faculty Member
- University of Hertfordshire, Directorate, Department MemberUniversity of Portsmouth, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty Memberadd
- Legal Pluralism, Socio-legal studies, Law, Criminal Law, Criminal Justice, Jurisprudence, and 47 moreConstitutional Law, Health Sciences, Medical Sciences, Health Promotion, Epidemiology, Infectious disease epidemiology, Social epidemiology, Women's Studies, Philosophy Of Law, Medical Law, Public Health Law, HIV and AIDS education, Children's Literature, History of Medicine, Feminist Theory, Access to Justice, HIV/AIDS policy, HIV Disclosure, Health and HIV/AIDS Communication in Journalism, Biography, Administrative Law and Bureaucratic Legalism, History & HIV and AIDS, Access to health services, HIV/AIDS, Civil Society and Human Rights, Queer Theory, International Public Health, Gender and Health, Inter faith Perspectives on Healht, Medical Anthropology, HIV/AIDS Activism, Civil Society, Civic Engagement, Nonprofit Organizations, Technology, Regulation, Policy formulation, Interest groups in EU, Human Rights, Public Health, Children's Literature & Culture, Policy, Communication, Transhumanism, Posthumanism, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and Justification and evidenceedit
- Matthew Weait is Director of the Department for Continuing Education, Professor of Law and Society and Fellow of Harr... moreMatthew Weait is Director of the Department for Continuing Education, Professor of Law and Society and Fellow of Harris Manchester College at the University of Oxford. He was formerly Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Law and Society at the University of Hertfordshire (2020-22), Executive Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Portsmouth (2015-20) and Pro-Vice-Master of Birkbeck, University of London (2011-2015).
Matthew graduated with a BA(Hons) in Law, and an MPhil in Criminology from the University of Cambridge before going to work at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford, where he researched his DPhil on financial services regulation under the supervision of Professor Keith Hawkins. He has taught at New College, Oxford, the Open University, Keele University, and Birkbeck, University of London (where he was a founding member of the Law School), and has been Parliamentary Research Officer for Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC at the Odysseus Trust. Matthew was awarded a Queen Mother Major Scholarship by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple and was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1999, but does not practise. He was elected a Bencher of Middle Temple in 2016. In 2017 he was made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
Matthew's research and scholarship centres on the impact of law on effective HIV prevention and on people living with HIV and AIDS. He has worked with a number of national, regional and international organisations including the European AIDS Treatment Group, WHO and UNAIDS. In 2010 he was appointed to be a member of the Technical Advisory Group for the new Global Commission on HIV and Law, which reported in 2012. He is Lead for Track F (law, human rights, policy, ethics) for the International AIDS Conference 2022.
Matthew has been a member of the Joint Academic Stage Board of the Bar Board and the Solicitors Regultion Authority, the Expert Advisory Group on AIDS (UK Dept of Health), a Trustee of River House, and a member of the Programme Advisory Committee at Cumberland Lodge. Windsor. He has held visiting academic positions at the American Bar Foundation, Cardozo Law School and the University of British Columbia. He was awarded an MA (with Distinction) in Creative Writing at Birkbeck College in 2009. His story "Air and Sea and Salt" was published in Issue 5 of the Mechanics Institute Review (September 2008), and another "the days he had seen", was shortlisted for the 2009 Bridport Prize.edit
Book synopsis: In what circumstances and on what basis, should those who transmit serious diseases to their sexual partners be criminalised? In this new book Matthew Weait uses English case law as the basis of a more general and critical... more
Book synopsis: In what circumstances and on what basis, should those who transmit serious diseases to their sexual partners be criminalised? In this new book Matthew Weait uses English case law as the basis of a more general and critical analysis of the response of the criminal courts to those who have been convicted of transmitting HIV during sex. Examining cases and engaging with the socio-cultural dimensions of HIV/AIDS and sexuality, he provides readers with an important insight into the way in which the criminal courts construct the concepts of harm, risk, causation, blame and responsibility. Taking into account the socio-cultural issues surrounding HIV/AIDS and their interaction with the law, Weait has written an excellent book for postgraduate and undergraduate law and criminology students studying criminal law theory, the trial process, offences against the person, and the politics of criminalisation. The book will also be of interest to health professionals working in the field of HIV/AIDS genito-urinary medicine who want to understand the issues that may face their clients and patients.
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Abstract: Traditional criminal law scholarship in the eld of offences against the person fails adequately to problematize core concepts, such as responsibility, harm and causation. This article considers different ways in which we might... more
Abstract: Traditional criminal law scholarship in the eld of offences against the person fails adequately to problematize core concepts, such as responsibility, harm and causation. This article considers different ways in which we might think about such concepts, by exploring questions ...
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Book Details: Jay Levy, Criminalising the Purchase of Sex: Lessons from Sweden, Oxfordshire, UK & New York, NY: Routledge, 2015, pp. 254, ISBN: 9780415739320 (hbk).
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Book synopsis: Advancing the Human Right to Health offers a prospective on the global response to one of the greatest moral, legal, and public health challenges of the 21st century - achieving the human right to health as enshrined in the... more
Book synopsis: Advancing the Human Right to Health offers a prospective on the global response to one of the greatest moral, legal, and public health challenges of the 21st century - achieving the human right to health as enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and other legal instruments. Featuring writings by global thought-leaders in the world of health human rights, the book brings clarity to many of the complex clinical, ethical, economic, legal, and socio-cultural questions raised by injury and disease including the deeper determinants of health, such as poverty. Including examination of the profound inequalities in health, which have resulted in millions of people condemned to unnecessary suffering and hastened deaths, this is much more than a primer on the right to health, it is a thoughtful account of its parameters together with strategies to achieve it, and discussion of why the right is so essential. Country-specific case studies provide context for analysing the right to health and assessing whether, and to what extent, this right has influenced critical decision-making that makes a difference in peoples' lives. Thematic chapters also look at the specific challenges involved in translating the right to health into action. Advancing the Human Right to Health highlights the urgency to build upon the progress made in securing the right to health for all, offering a timely reminder that all stakeholders must redouble their efforts to advance the human right to health. Informed by the history of the movement, the practical experience of local and national groups in implementing the right, and considered analysis of the challenges and opportunities in achieving the human right to health, this is a valuable resource for public health practitioners and researchers, legal scholars and policy makers interested in human rights and health. Readership: Public health practitioners and researchers, legal scholars, bioethicists, policy makers, infectious disease specialists, students and human rights activists.
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It is said to be impossible to draw a perfect circle, and so one is said rather to describe it, to give the impression of a circle, to approach it. Similarly, assessing the area of a circle demands the use of Pi, a figure which can be... more
It is said to be impossible to draw a perfect circle, and so one is said rather to describe it, to give the impression of a circle, to approach it. Similarly, assessing the area of a circle demands the use of Pi, a figure which can be infinitely refined but never exactly determined. In this essay I discuss the relationship between law and representation with an equivalent degree of uncertainty. I start with a description, with an interpretation, of a visual image. 2 In one of his paintings, Salvador Dali presents us with an image of swans on the water) One of the ...
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This volume forms part of a series exploring key issues in ethics, law and society, published in association with the Cardiff Centre for Ethics, Law and Society. The collection is a celebration of the approach and values embraced within... more
This volume forms part of a series exploring key issues in ethics, law and society, published in association with the Cardiff Centre for Ethics, Law and Society. The collection is a celebration of the approach and values embraced within previous volumes in the series. The works collectively address new technological, social and regulatory developments and the fresh ethical dilemmas these pose, but quite critically, also compel an urgent revisiting of social and legal issues that were once the subject of controversy but which have fallen out of the line of sight of academics, politicians and policy-makers. Bringing together selected papers, the editors seek to make apparent the thematic links between contributions in presenting works written by a group of international experts in response to specific ethical issues, including topics on the ethics of care, theorizing ethics, body politics and governance; as such, the collection is multidisciplinary in approach, seeks to appeal to a broad audience and provides a valuable resource for all those concerned with contemporary ethical issues. This fifth and final volume brings the series to a close and is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Jennifer Gunning.
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Citizens of the Commonwealth number 1.7 billion, amount to a quarter of the world's inhabitants, and live in 54 countries. Originally the term 'commonwealth' meant 'the body politic', and, more... more
Citizens of the Commonwealth number 1.7 billion, amount to a quarter of the world's inhabitants, and live in 54 countries. Originally the term 'commonwealth' meant 'the body politic', and, more broadly, a nation understood as a community in which everyone had a ...
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Across the world, more people now live in towns and cities than live in rural areas. As human activity of all sorts - political, educational, commercial, industrial and sporting - becomes more globally integrated and interrelated, so law... more
Across the world, more people now live in towns and cities than live in rural areas. As human activity of all sorts - political, educational, commercial, industrial and sporting - becomes more globally integrated and interrelated, so law is driven to adapt in order to govern such ...
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This paper describes the ways in which, over the past three decades, law has come to serve as an obstacle in the fight against HIV, and how it contributes to the stigmatisation of, and discrimination against, people living with the virus.... more
This paper describes the ways in which, over the past three decades, law has come to serve as an obstacle in the fight against HIV, and how it contributes to the stigmatisation of, and discrimination against, people living with the virus. It argues that in order to make unsafe law safer, policy-makers, legislators and those responsible for the interpretation and enforcement of law must base their HIV response not on populist morality but on the strong evidence base provided by three decades of clinical, scientific and social research. Drawing on that research and the author's own involvement in policy development in this area, it suggests that rights-based arguments are, while important, insufficient as the basis for delivering the changes that are necessary, discusses the difficulties involved in achieving those changes, and argues that legal scholarship and research has an important role to play in HIV activism and combating the global epidemic.
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This Working Paper for the Global Commission on HIV and the Law reviews laws criminalising HIV transmission and exposure
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Abstract: The article discusses the Ram Doctrine. The doctrine is based on advice set out in a memorandum in 1945 to Ministers of the Crown which states that a Minister may exercise any powers that the Crown may exercise, except in so far... more
Abstract: The article discusses the Ram Doctrine. The doctrine is based on advice set out in a memorandum in 1945 to Ministers of the Crown which states that a Minister may exercise any powers that the Crown may exercise, except in so far as the Minister is precluded from doing so, either expressly or by necessary implication. It explores the nature and limits of prerogative powers in the UK constitution, and the legitimacy of the Doctrine.
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This note provides a brief critical account of the decision of the Court of Appeal in Konzani1. The central issue for the court in this case was whether the trial judge had misdirected the jury as to the meaning of consent, and its... more
This note provides a brief critical account of the decision of the Court of Appeal in Konzani1. The central issue for the court in this case was whether the trial judge had misdirected the jury as to the meaning of consent, and its availability as a defence, where the defendant had ...
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This paper provides an empirical examination of the influences on decision-making by law enforce-ment agents in an independent regulatory organisation. A distinction is drawn between those external influences which relate to the... more
This paper provides an empirical examination of the influences on decision-making by law enforce-ment agents in an independent regulatory organisation. A distinction is drawn between those external influences which relate to the qualitative aspects of unlawful behaviour in ...
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Keeping Confidence: HIV and the criminal law from service provider perspectives Duration: June 2012 - March 2013 The Monument Trust generously funded Sigma Research at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Birkbeck College to... more
Keeping Confidence: HIV and the criminal law from service provider perspectives Duration: June 2012 - March 2013 The Monument Trust generously funded Sigma Research at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Birkbeck College to undertake a qualitative study on perceptions of criminal prosecutions for HIV transmission among HIV service providers. Five short reports outlining the key findings of the study focus on the main themes arising from our analysis of the focus group discussions. The findings and associated policy and practice recommendations will be of interest to: those who provide HIV health and social care and their professional bodies (for instance NHIVNA, CHIVA, BHIVA, BASHH, SSHA, BPS), police and others who play a role in criminal investigations and trials, and people with diagnosed HIV.
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The purpose of this statement is to outline issues at the interface between HIV transmission and the law and provide guidance to healthcare professionals (HCPs) working in the field of HIV medicine. The guidance is to support work in the... more
The purpose of this statement is to outline issues at the interface between HIV transmission and the law and provide guidance to healthcare professionals (HCPs) working in the field of HIV medicine. The guidance is to support work in the UK, and it is important to note that the law in England and Wales differs from that in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Approaches are suggested to deal with these issues consistently, within legal and General Medical Council (GMC) regulatory frameworks and in the context of the public health agenda. The guidance specifically addresses sexual transmission.
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In this book chapter I suggest that it may be possible to acknowledge the harmfulness of HIV, without this necessarily entailing the legitimacy of treating it as a harm for the purposes of the criminal law.
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This Working Paper for the Global Commission on HIV and the Law reviews laws criminalising HIV transmission and exposure
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This paper describes the ways in which, over the past three decades, law has come to serve as an obstacle in the fight against HIV, and how it contributes to the stigmatisation of, and discrimination against, people living with the virus.... more
This paper describes the ways in which, over the past three decades, law has come to serve as an obstacle in the fight against HIV, and how it contributes to the stigmatisation of, and discrimination against, people living with the virus. It argues that in order to make unsafe law safer, policy-makers, legislators and those responsible for the interpretation and enforcement of law must base their HIV response not on populist morality but on the strong evidence base provided by three decades of clinical, scientific and social research. Drawing on that research and the author's own involvement in policy development in this area, it suggests that rights-based arguments are, while important, insufficient as the basis for delivering the changes that are necessary, discusses the difficulties involved in achieving those changes, and argues that legal scholarship and research has an important role to play in HIV activism and combating the global epidemic.
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In recent times, informed consent has been adopted worldwide as a cornerstone to ensure autonomy during HIV testing. However, there are still ongoing debates on whether the edifice on which informed consent requirements are grounded, that... more
In recent times, informed consent has been adopted worldwide as a cornerstone to ensure autonomy during HIV testing. However, there are still ongoing debates on whether the edifice on which informed consent requirements are grounded, that is, personal autonomy, is philosophically, morally, and practically sound, especially in countries where HIV is an epidemic and/or may have a different ontological perspective or lived reality. This study explores the views of participants from Zambia. In-depth and focus group discussions were conducted at various locations in Lusaka and Chongwe, Zambia. Participants came from various demographics, including people living with HIV (PLHIV), healthcare professionals and workers, policymakers, pregnant women, churchgoers, teachers, rural-based persons, and police officers. Data were manually analysed by conducting inductive and deductive thematic analyses. Results show that participants were not in favour of HIV policies that promote personal autonomy...
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This paper provides an empirical examination of the influences on decision-making by law enforce-ment agents in an independent regulatory organisation. A distinction is drawn between those external influences which relate to the... more
This paper provides an empirical examination of the influences on decision-making by law enforce-ment agents in an independent regulatory organisation. A distinction is drawn between those external influences which relate to the qualitative aspects of unlawful behaviour in ...
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Book synopsis: Advancing the Human Right to Health offers a prospective on the global response to one of the greatest moral, legal, and public health challenges of the 21st century - achieving the human right to health as enshrined in the... more
Book synopsis: Advancing the Human Right to Health offers a prospective on the global response to one of the greatest moral, legal, and public health challenges of the 21st century - achieving the human right to health as enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and other legal instruments. Featuring writings by global thought-leaders in the world of health human rights, the book brings clarity to many of the complex clinical, ethical, economic, legal, and socio-cultural questions raised by injury and disease including the deeper determinants of health, such as poverty. Including examination of the profound inequalities in health, which have resulted in millions of people condemned to unnecessary suffering and hastened deaths, this is much more than a primer on the right to health, it is a thoughtful account of its parameters together with strategies to achieve it, and discussion of why the right is so essential. Country-specific case studies provide context for analysing the right to health and assessing whether, and to what extent, this right has influenced critical decision-making that makes a difference in peoples' lives. Thematic chapters also look at the specific challenges involved in translating the right to health into action. Advancing the Human Right to Health highlights the urgency to build upon the progress made in securing the right to health for all, offering a timely reminder that all stakeholders must redouble their efforts to advance the human right to health. Informed by the history of the movement, the practical experience of local and national groups in implementing the right, and considered analysis of the challenges and opportunities in achieving the human right to health, this is a valuable resource for public health practitioners and researchers, legal scholars and policy makers interested in human rights and health. Readership: Public health practitioners and researchers, legal scholars, bioethicists, policy makers, infectious disease specialists, students and human rights activists.
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It is said to be impossible to draw a perfect circle, and so one is said rather to describe it, to give the impression of a circle, to approach it. Similarly, assessing the area of a circle demands the use of Pi, a figure which can be... more
It is said to be impossible to draw a perfect circle, and so one is said rather to describe it, to give the impression of a circle, to approach it. Similarly, assessing the area of a circle demands the use of Pi, a figure which can be infinitely refined but never exactly determined. In this essay I discuss the relationship between law and representation with an equivalent degree of uncertainty. I start with a description, with an interpretation, of a visual image. 2 In one of his paintings, Salvador Dali presents us with an image of swans on the water) One of the ...
Research Interests: Law and Critique of Law
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An academic directory and search engine.
An academic directory and search engine.
These papers were written to inform the work of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, which is convened by UNDP on behalf of UNAIDS. The content, analysis, opinions and recommendations in the papers do not necessarily reflect the... more
These papers were written to inform the work of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, which is convened by UNDP on behalf of UNAIDS. The content, analysis, opinions and recommendations in the papers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission, UNDP or UNAIDS. While the Commission's
In their essay on the jurisprudence of Robert Cover, Sarat and Kearns ask whether law can ever make peace with violence (Sarat and Kearns, 2001). The reason for, and essence of, the question is the fundamental paradox that while law... more
In their essay on the jurisprudence of Robert Cover, Sarat and Kearns ask whether law can ever make peace with violence (Sarat and Kearns, 2001). The reason for, and essence of, the question is the fundamental paradox that while law purports to substitute itself for violence–in the form of a civilised, and civilising, alternative–it retains, and depends on, an immanent violence of its own. Cover, alone among his contemporaries, recognised the importance of revealing and reaffirming the fact that the violence embedded within the ...
An essay written for the MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck.
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An academic directory and search engine.
Video of lecture given in the Community Hub at the Australasian HIV/AIDS Conference 2016
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An interview in which I give my views about why the criminalisation of HIV is problematic
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A great film about the forced HIV testing of women in Athens in the run up to the Greek elections of 2012. (I was interviewed and take part)
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This is the video of the talks and discussion on the topic of HIV criminalisation held at City University on 1/12/09.
The video is at the bottom of the page.
The video is at the bottom of the page.
A short blog for World AIDS Day 2016 on how criminal law contributes to HIV stigma, and the public health consequences of this.
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This is an interview (in Norwegian) about Norway's use of criminal law in the context of allegations of HIV transmission, exposure and non-disclosure
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These are some observations about the use of SOPOs in cases involving convictions for the transmission of HIV
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In 2012 a Report was published that considered Norway's approach to the use of criminal law against those who transmit disease. These are some observations on that Report
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A brief Birkbeck blog entry on the Amsterdam Declaration on Police Partnerships for Harm Reduction - the outcome of a consultation in Amsterdam, October 2014
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A Comment in the Guardian on the criminalisation of HIV transmission
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A Comment piece in the Guardian criticising the criminalisation of herpes transmission
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This is a review of Ruins - a documentary about the forced HIV testing of women in Athens in the run up to the 2012 Greek elections.
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A short advocacy film made by me on behalf of the Law Enforcement and HIV Network. Consists of interviews with serving and retired senior police officers from across the world in which they talk about the role of the police in harm... more
A short advocacy film made by me on behalf of the Law Enforcement and HIV Network. Consists of interviews with serving and retired senior police officers from across the world in which they talk about the role of the police in harm reduction with key populations.
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A brief account of the Amsterdam Declaration on Policing and HIV, published in the Birkbeck in-house magazine (January 2015)
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In this book chapter I suggest that it may be possible to acknowledge the harmfulness of HIV, without this necessarily entailing the legitimacy of treating it as a harm for the purposes of the criminal law.
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This document sets out information about the Anniversary PhD Studentships which will be offered by Birkbeck School of Law for 2015/16. It also sets out a specific project that Matthew Weait (School of Law) and Joanne Winning (School of... more
This document sets out information about the Anniversary PhD Studentships which will be offered by Birkbeck School of Law for 2015/16. It also sets out a specific project that Matthew Weait (School of Law) and Joanne Winning (School of Arts) are interested in supervising. The deadline is April 27th 2015.
