Abstract

The central question examined in this paper is: does a state of legal exception exist in the context of sport and sporting competitions? That is, does the law of a particular land no longer apply on the fields of sport, much like it does not on many fields of war? An unobtrusive methodology, using legal case files as data, is used in this study to further examine this question. Four main areas of law are explored in particular including: 1) procedural law, 2) human rights law, 3) criminal law, and 4) EU law. The overall finding of this study is that no all-encompassing exception from the law exists in sport, but that sport does receive special considerations and privileges allowing for legal exceptions in many areas.

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