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Victoria University of Technology

An outlaw practice: boxing, governance and western law

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

This investigation examines the uses of Western law to regulate and at times outlaw the sport of boxing. Drawing on a primary sample of two hundred and one reported judicial decisions canvassing the breadth of recognised legal categories, and an allied range fight lore supporting, opposing or critically reviewing the sport's development since the beginning of the nineteenth century, discernible evolutionary trends in Western law, language and modern sport are identified. Emphasis is placed on prominent intersections between public and private legal rules, their enforcement, paternalism and various evolutionary developments in fight culture in recorded English, New Zealand, United States, Australian and Canadian sources. Power, governance and regulation are explored alongside pertinent ethical, literary and medical debates spanning two hundred years of Western boxing history.

Degree

thesis:*
Name dc:type.qualificationname
phd
Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
doctoral
Grantor dc:publisher.institution
Victoria University of Technology
Year dc:date.issued
2005

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Warren, Ian J. M

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Rights

Language dc:language
en

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Victoria University (Australia)
Base URL
vuir.vu.edu.au/cgi/oai2
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Warren, Ian J. M. An outlaw practice: boxing, governance and western law. doctoral thesis, Victoria University of Technology, 2005.