SPUR Project

2010 winner (2 of 19)

Modelling sports law: Identifying trends and drivers in judicial responses to 'sports cases'

Supervisor: Simon Boyes (Academic Legal Studies)

The discipline of sports law is one of increasing significance in both academic and professional circles. The project will involve reflection on the deficiencies of current vertical approaches to presenting sports law to students, i.e. by reference to established legal sub-disciplines. The project also seeks to identify the key themes emerging from the interface between law and sport. The principle question underpinning this study is the extent to which it is possible to discern something that can properly be described as sports law – a horizontal approach to the study of sports law that can cut across traditional legal classifications and provide students with theoretical background against which to test the application of law in practice. The aim of the project is to develop a model that can be used to identify such patterns. In particular the project will seek to map the deviation of sports cases from the norm and identify, through a literature review and dicta from the cases themselves, the drivers behind this, with a view to identifying and defining a concept of sports law. Student tasks will include a literature review and assistance with the population of the map/model.