Role
Dr Helen Hall is an Associate Professor at the Nottingham Law School, with teaching responsibilities in Tort, Contract and Family law. Associate Director of the Centre for Rights and Justice.
Career overview
Helen is a qualified solicitor and Anglican priest.
Research areas
Research active in the fields of Law and Religion/Belief and Law and the Supernatural. She has a particular interest in law and exorcism/deliverance ministry. She also publishes widely on Constitutional Law, Human Rights, Legal History and Tort.
Her most recent book is Constitutional Culture, Independence and Rights: Insights from Quebec, Scotland and Catalonia (Toronto University Press, 2023), with Javier Garcia Oliva. She blogs with her coauthor as part of the Balancing Beliefs project, stemming from their previous monograph, Religion, Law and the Constitution: Balancing Beliefs in Britain (Routledge 2018).
She is the Editor in Chief of the Nottingham Law Journal, Journal of Rights and NLS Blog. Her external activities include advising groups working towards an effective legal ban on Conversion Therapy in England and Wales, and more robust legal position and better outcomes for individuals suffered accusations or abuse linked to beliefs about malevolent magic or spirit possession.
External activity
Editorial Board of Law and Justice
Research Associate for the Cardiff Centre for Law and Religion
Member of Law and Religion Scholars Network
Member of International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies
Member of Consorcio Latinamericano de Libertad Religiosa (Latin American Consortium on Religious Freedom)
Sponsors and collaborators
Currently collaborating on the Balancing Beliefs project with Dr Javier García Oliva at Manchester University
Publications
Books
Constitutional Culture, Independence and Rights: Insights from Quebec, Catalonia and Scotland (Toronto University Press: Toronto) (forthcoming, anticipated in 2022) (co-authored)
Law, Religion and the Constitution: Balancing Beliefs in Britain (Routledge: London) 2017 (co-authored)
Articles
The trial of the Cock Lane Ghost: Criminal Law, Religious Orthodoxy and Social Values in Enlightenment London’ Law and Justice 2023
Common law narratives and metanarratives: escape rooms as tools for exploring and challenging, Nottingham Law Journal 2023 (coauthored)
Boardgames and Legal Education: Insights from Brave New World, Nottingham Law Journal 2023 (co-authored)
‘Euthanasia, End of Life Care and Children: Democratic Dilemmas in England and Wales, Derecho y Religión 2022 (coauthored)
Islam, Marriage and the Legal Framework in England and Wales, Revista de Estudios Juridicos y Criminologicos 2022 (coauthored)
‘Religious Liberty and Freedom of Expression in the United Kingdom, Revista General de Derecho Canonico y Derecho Eclesiastico del Estado 2022
‘Children, Young People and the Contemporary Debate on Assisted Dying and Legal Reform’, Revista General de Derecho Canónico y Derecho Eclesiástico del Estado 2022 (co-authored)
‘The proposed conversion therapy ban: myths and reality’, Solicitors’ Journal SJ 165/02, 28th February 2022 (co-authored)
‘Peoples and Sovereignty: Constitutional Law Lessons from Greenland and Denmark’, Public Law 2020 (co-authored)
‘Trespass to the Person, Human Rights and Ethically Contaminated Food: Freedom of Belief and Bodily Autonomy’, European Journal of Tort Law 2019 (co-authored)
‘The Legal Framework on Education in England: Complexities and Shortcomings’, International Centre of Research and Information on the Public, Social and Cooperative Economy CIRIEC 2019 (co-authored)
‘Exorcism and the Law: is the ghost of the Reformation haunting contemporary debates about safeguarding versus autonomy?’, Law and Justice Hilary 2018 (co-authored)
‘Religious Liberty, Gender Identity and a Hierarchy of Rights from Strasburg: A UK Perspective’, Religión y Derecho 2018 (co-authored)
‘Having your cake and eating it: Human Rights, Religious Freedom and the Importance of Context’, Religión y Derecho 2018 (co-authored)
‘Responding to Non-Liberal Minorities with a Liberal State: The Challenge Posed by Children and Vulnerable Adults’, Public Law 2018 (co-authored)
‘Exorcism Religion Freedom and Consent: The Devil in the Detail’, Journal of Criminal Law 2016
‘Am I my brother’s keeper? The collective liability of religious orders for actions of individual members in England and Wales’, Revista General de Derecho Canónico y Derecho Eclesiástico del Estado 2014
‘Religious decision-making and the capacity of children in the United Kingdom’, Laicidad y Libertades2013 (co-authored)
‘Same Sex Marriage: An Inevitable Challenge to Religious Liberty and Establishment?’, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion 2013 (co-authored)
‘Religious Symbols in the Workplace: Chaplin and its Implications in British Law’, Revista General de Derecho Canónico y Derecho Eclesiástico del Estado 32 2013
‘Maga and Direct Liability in Negligence’, Law and Justice, Trinity/Michaelmas 2011
Book Chapters
‘Libertad Religiosa y Libertad de Expresión en el Reino Unido’ Libertad de Expresión y Libertad Religiosa: una Perspectiva Transatlántica, Madrid (co-authored) 2023
‘Constitutional Culture, Religion and England: Beyond Establishment’ Religious Freedom in Secular States: A 21st century perspective, Brill 2022
‘Outer Hebrides: is new legal recognition required?’, Los Pueblos Indígenas: Marco Especial de Protección y Efectividad de sus Derechos, V. Camarero and N. Reguart (eds), Thompson Reuters, 2022, (co-authored)
‘Religious Footprints in Secular Sand- the Imprint of Religious Culture in Civil Law’, J. Hossain Bhuiyan and A. Black (eds), Religious Freedom in a Secular State: a XXI century perspective (Brill) (co-authored) 2022
‘Covid and Education in England’, C. J. Russo (ed), The Yearbook of Education Law (Cleveland: Cleveland Clinical Educational Foundation) 2021
‘Law, Education and the Place of Religion in Public Schools in England’, C.J. Russo (ed), Religion in Public Schools: International Perspectives (Abingdon: Routledge) 2021 (co-authored)
‘Law, Education and the Place of Religion in Spanish Public Schools’, C.J. Russo (ed), Religion in Public Schools: International Perspectives (Abingdon: Routledge) 2021 (co-authored)
‘Public Gatherings during the Covid-19 Crisis: Responses from Public and Private Law in England’, M. Espejo Lerdo de Tejada, J. García Oliva and J.P. Murga (eds), Derecho y Pandemia desde una Perspectiva Global (Thomson Reuters) 2021 (co-authored)
‘Exorcism: Faith versus Fraud; the balance struck between Freedom of Religion and Protecting the Vulnerable of Exploitation’, J. Hossain Bhuiyan (ed), Law and Religion in the Liberal State (Oxford: Hart Publishing) 2020 (co-authored)
‘Libertad Religiosa, Padres y Educación en Inglaterra: la influencia de la Jurisprudencia de Estrasburgo’, J. Martínez Torrón y S. Cañamares (eds), Libertad Religiosa, Neutralidad del Estado y Educación: una perspectiva Europea y Latinoamericana’ (Navarra: Aranzadi) 2019 (co-authored)
Press expertise
- Exorcism/paranormal and the law
- Law and religious freedom
- Church and State issues
- Sexual abuse and religious groups
- Children’s rights in relation to religion