Profiles

Martin Clark

UTAS Home Dr Martin Clark

Martin Clark

Adjunct Lecturer in Law and Research Fellow at the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute

Room 2.16 , Law

Martin is a Modern Law Review Postdoctoral Fellow, Visiting Fellow at the Institute for International Law and the Humanities (Melbourne Law School) and an Adjunct Lecturer at the Faculty of Law.

He was unit coordinator and seminar leader for Contract Law in Semester 2, 2020 and Semester 1, 2021, and unit coordinator and seminar leader for Legal Theory in Semester 1, 2021. He received a Unit Commendation for Legal Theory and was nominated for a UTAS Teaching Award for Contract Law (Semester 1, 2021).

Arriving in Hobart from Scotland in March 2020, he was awarded his PhD in Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science in May 2020, where he was a Judge Rosalyn Higgins Scholar and Modern Law Review Scholar. In 2021 he was also awarded a Modern Law Review Postdoctoral fellowship.

His work focuses mostly on the history of legal thought, international law and public law. He is an assistant editor at the London Review of International Law, and Web Assistant at the Modern Law Review. He is trying to work on a book about the history of the domestic and international in British legal thought, and finish another on law and commodities.

Biography

Martin worked through a BA/LLB at the University of Melbourne, focusing mostly on history and philosophy, but becoming gradually more interested in law when he took Comparative Constitutional Law. He went to the Center for Transnational Legal Studies in London in 2011, which cemented this interest in law, leading eventually to a few final year research projects and working as an Editor of the Melbourne Journal of International Law in 2012. After finishing honours in history and philosophy, in 2014 he began an MPhil at MLS under the supervision of Laureate Professor Anne Orford on the history of the concept of recognition in British international law thought. This led to a PhD place at the London School of Economics and Political Science under Professors Gerry Simpson and Thomas Poole, focusing on the history of the ideas of the ‘domestic’ and ‘international’ in British legal thought, passed without corrections in May 2020. He and his family moved from Dundee, Scotland to Hobart in March 2020. In addition to trying to write a book based on the PhD thesis, and finishing another on the history of law told through global commodities, he is working on a new project on legal thought and the climate emergency.

Career summary

Qualifications

  • PhD, LSE Law, 2020. Thesis: ‘The “International” and “Domestic” in British Legal Thought from Gentili to Lauterpacht’, Judge Rosalyn Higgins Scholar and Modern Law Review Scholar; supervisors: Gerry Simpson, Thomas Poole, examiners: Karen Knop, Martin Loughlin, passed without corrections May 2020.
  • PGCert in Higher Education (LSE), 2017.
  • MPhil, Melbourne Law School, 2016. Thesis: ‘A Conceptual History of Recognition in British International Legal Thought’, ARC Australian Postgraduate Award, supervisors Anne Orford, Kirsty Gover, examiners: Janne Nijman, Antony Anghie, passed April 2016
  • LLB (Hons), Melbourne Law School
  • BA (Hons, History and Philosophy), University of Melbourne
  • Certificate in Transnational Legal Studies, CTLS London

Languages (other than English)

French (intermediate--reading)

Memberships

Professional practice

Web Assistant, Modern Law Review

Assistant Editor, London Review of International Law

Research Fellow, Opinions on High: High Court Blog

Administrative expertise

Joint Editor, Melbourne Journal of Internaional Law, 2012.

Teaching

Teaching expertise

Martin has been unit coordinator, lecturer and seminar leader for LAW251 Contract Law in Semester 2, 2020 and Semester 1, 2021. He was also unit coordinator, lecturer and seminar leader for LAW453 Legal Theory in Semester 1, 2021. He won a Unit Commendation for Legal Theory and was nominated for a UTAS Teaching Award for Contract Law (Semester 1, 2021).

He is currently also a JD Teaching Fellow at Melbourne Law School, teaching seminar groups on JD Contract Law. His past teaching includes an LSE Summer School course on international law, an LSE LLM Dissertation writing course, Corporate Law (MLS, 2014), and college tutoring in a range of law subjects including legal theory, public law.

View more on Mr Martin Clark in WARP

Expertise

Martin works on law, history and theory, focusing mostly on public and international law. His past work has focused on histories of particular concepts in law and legal thought, including ‘recognition’ (of states, governments and peoples) and the twinned ideas of ‘domestic’ and ‘international’. Both of these studies focused on these ideas in British legal thought, and how these concepts were linked to the expansion and activities of the British Empire in colonising much of the world through force and law. He is working on a book around the PhD project, tentatively titled Juridical Monsters. Another book Eating the World: A Global History of Law and Commodities, with Dr Yoriko Otomo, is almost complete; it is an introductory text that charts the history of law through empire and changes in the trade of particular commodities (sugar, rubber, oil, etc).

Awards

Modern Law Review Postdoctoral Fellow (2021)

Judge Rosalyn Higgins Scholar (2016-20, four-year scholarship, fees and stipend)

Modern Law Review Scholar (2018 and 2019)

Arthur Watts Fellow (2015, supporting work at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law)

2015 Student Published Research Prize, Graduate Research Student category, Melbourne Law School

2014 Australian Society of Legal Philosophy Student Essay Prize

University of Melbourne Global Mobility Scholarship (2011)

Jessie Legatt Scholar for Comparative Constitutional Law (MLS, 2010)

Current projects

Martin’s current project, in very early stages, aims to bring these interests together. It investigates the concept of 'nature' in law and legal thought, to examine how and why ideas about the natural world and human nature filtered into particular legal structures, forms and institutions underlying extractive industrialised capitalism. It seeks to revive a rival, radical tradition around communitarian 'commons'-views of rights to and in nature. This history will form the basis for understanding and examining present problems around climate change in law and institutions, and aims to offer some critical pathways for remaking or unmaking laws and concepts in law that contribute to the climate emergency.

Fields of Research

  • International criminal law (480306)
  • Constitutional law (480702)
  • Law reform (480406)
  • Law and society and socio-legal research (480405)
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the law (450518)
  • Other economics (389999)
  • Legal institutions (incl. courts and justice systems) (480504)
  • Legal theory, jurisprudence and legal interpretation (480410)

Research Objectives

  • Expanding knowledge in law and legal studies (280117)
  • Law reform (230405)
  • Expanding knowledge in economics (280108)

Publications

Total publications

19

Journal Article

(8 outputs)
YearCitationAltmetrics
2020Clark M, ''Something like the principles of British liberalism': Ivor Jennings and the international and domestic, 1920-1960', Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 71, (2) pp. 157-174. ISSN 0029-3105 (2020) [Refereed Article]

[eCite] [Details]

Tweet

2018Clark M, 'Ambivalence, anxieties / Adaptations, advances: Conceptual History and International Law', Leiden Journal of International Law, 31, (4) pp. 747-771. ISSN 1478-9698 (2018) [Refereed Article]

DOI: 10.1017/S0922156518000432 [eCite] [Details]

Citations: Scopus - 6Web of Science - 8

Tweet

2018Clark M, 'A conceptual history of recognition in British international legal thought', British Yearbook of International Law, 87, (1) pp. 18-97. ISSN 2044-9437 (2018) [Refereed Article]

DOI: 10.1093/bybil/bry003 [eCite] [Details]

Tweet

2018Clark M, ''Whatever Happens on Earth Stays on Earth': Some Other Discourses and the 2017 Chorley Lecture', The Modern Law Review ISSN 0026-7961 (2018) [Non Refereed Article]

[eCite] [Details]

2015Ali P, Anderson M, Clark M, Ramsay I, Shekhar C, 'No thought for tomorrow: young Australian adults' knowledge, behaviour and attitudes about superannuation', Law and Financial Markets Review, 9, (2) pp. 90-105. ISSN 1752-1440 (2015) [Refereed Article]

DOI: 10.1080/17521440.2015.1052667 [eCite] [Details]

Citations: Scopus - 1

Tweet

2015Clark M, 'Building the dignified authority of legislation: towards the office of dignified legislator, process and representation', Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy ISSN 1440-4982 (2015) [Non Refereed Article]

[eCite] [Details]

2015Clark M, 'Experiences of coming to law: an interview with Bob Brown on the Tasmanian wilderness society as client in the Tasmanian Dam Case', Griffith Law Review, 24, (1) pp. 58-67. ISSN 1839-4205 (2015) [Refereed Article]

DOI: 10.1080/10383441.2015.1035426 [eCite] [Details]

Tweet

2015McMillan M, Clark M, 'Making sense of indigeneity, aboriginality and identity: race as a Constitutional conundrum since 1983', Griffith Law Review, 24, (1) pp. 106-126. ISSN 1038-3441 (2015) [Refereed Article]

DOI: 10.1080/10383441.2015.1048044 [eCite] [Details]

Citations: Scopus - 3

Tweet

Book

(1 outputs)
YearCitationAltmetrics
2016Orford A, Hoffmann F, Clark M, 'The Oxford Handbook of the Theory of International Law', Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 1045. ISBN 9780198701958 (2016) [Edited Book]

[eCite] [Details]

Tweet

Chapter in Book

(2 outputs)
YearCitationAltmetrics
2016Clark M, 'British Contributions to the Concept of Recognition during the Interwar Period: Williams, Baty and Lauterpacht', British Influences on International Law, 1915-2015, Brill, R McCorquodale and J-P Gauci (ed), Leiden, The Netherlands, pp. 110-144. ISBN 978-90-04-28417-3 (2016) [Research Book Chapter]

DOI: 10.1163/9789004284173_008 [eCite] [Details]

Tweet

2013Stone A, Chowdhury R, Clark M, 'The Comparative Constitutional Law of Freedom of Expression in Asia', Comparative Constitutional Law in Asia, Edward Elgar, R Dixon and T Ginsburg (ed), Melbourne, Australia, pp. 1-34. ISBN 978 1 78100 269 8 (2013) [Research Book Chapter]

DOI: 10.4337/9781781002704.00017 [eCite] [Details]

Citations: Scopus - 1

Tweet

Review

(1 outputs)
YearCitationAltmetrics
2020Clark M, Simpson G, Pahuja S, Craven M, 'Cold War International Law', Oxford Bibliographies Online - International Law pp. 1-29. (2020) [Substantial Review]

DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199796953-0214 [eCite] [Details]

Tweet

Contract Report, Consultant's Report

(1 outputs)
YearCitationAltmetrics
2021Gogarty B, Clark M, Barnes A, 'Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conversion Practices, Final Report No. 32', Tasmania Law Reform Institute, Tasmania, Australia (2021) [Contract Report]

[eCite] [Details]

Co-authors: Gogarty B; Barnes A

Other Public Output

(6 outputs)
YearCitationAltmetrics
2020Gogarty B, Clark M, Roydhouse J, Csabs C, Savage J, et al., 'Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conversion Practices', Tasmanian Law Reform Institute, Hobart, Tasmania, Issues Paper 31, November (2020) [Report Other]

[eCite] [Details]

Co-authors: Gogarty B; Roydhouse J; Neil A; Otlowski M; Hilkemeijer A

Tweet

2018Tzouvala N, Clark M, 'On Rosa Parks' Tomahawk, or, The US Strikes in Syria', Critical Legal Thinking (2018) [Magazine Article]

[eCite] [Details]

Tweet

2016Clark M, 'Roll Up, Roll Up for A Transformational Journey into the Australian Constitution!', Melbourne Law School: Opinions on High, Melbourne Law School (2016) [Magazine Article]

[eCite] [Details]

Tweet

2016Clark M, 'Dictators, Discretion and Systems of Public Law: Bell Group NV (in liq) v Western Australia', Opinions on High, Melbourne Law School, Australia (2016) [Magazine Article]

[eCite] [Details]

Tweet

2013Clark M, 'Remembering the Tasmanian Dam Case', Opinions on High, Melbourne Law School, Australia (2013) [Magazine Article]

[eCite] [Details]

Tweet

2013Clark M, 'Justice Gummow Reflects on His Time on the High Court', Opinions on High, Melbourne Law School, Australia (2013) [Magazine Article]

[eCite] [Details]

Tweet

Grants & Funding

Funding Summary

Number of grants

1

Total funding

$42,000

Projects

Conversion practices (2020)$42,000
Funding
University of Tasmania ($42,000)
Scheme
Grant
Administered By
University of Tasmania
Research Team
Gogarty B; Clark M
Year
2020

Martin welcomes inquiries from potential HDR students on topics in public law, international law, legal history and legal theory.