Dr Jane Calderwood Norton

Jane's research lies in the areas of constitutional law and legal theory. She is particularly interested in how the state recognises or enforces non-legal norms and how it regulates voluntary associations. Her research also looks at the relationship between public law norms (such as non-discrimination and procedural fairness) and what has traditionally been seen as private activity. This research interest extends to examining legal issues around trust law, contract law, and justice within the family.

Jane has a particular interest in discrimination law, religious freedom and associational freedom and her book Freedom of Religious Organizations was published by Oxford University Press in August 2016 and was funded by the British Academy. In 2017 she was awarded the JF Northey Memorial Book Award for the best book published by a New Zealand-based author.

In additional to her work on religious freedom, she has published on religious tribunals, freedom of expression and privacy, and evidence.

She has recently finished two projects with Dr Tarun Khaitan (Oxford/Melbourne) that examine the conceptual and doctrinal distinctions between religious freedom and religious discrimination protection. This research will be published in two interrelated articles in the International Journal of Constitutional Law in 2019 and is available on SSRN. She is currently researching religious education and rights of children and writing papers on public benefit in the law of charities and expressive harm in discrimination law. She is also developing a long-term project that examines application of non-legal norms to private disputes.