Renaud COLSON

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Renaud Colson is an Associate Professor at the Law & Political Science Faculty of the University of Nantes (France) and an Honorary Lecturer at Cardiff University. He is currently Director of the French Institute of Pondicherry. An academic globetrotter, he has worked in multiple institutions in various countries (France, the UK, Italy, Canada, Germany, and India) and explored a range of topics, including legal philosophy, drug policy, criminal law and criminology, and environmental governance. He prioritizes comparative and interdisciplinary approaches in his research. His doctoral thesis on the history of the judicial function in France was published as a book titled La fonction de juger: Étude historique et positive (LGDJ, 2006). Since then, he has published another monograph, edited five academic collections, and written more than 40 peer-reviewed articles.

CURRENT RESEARCH: Environmental Rights in India - Perspectives on Ecological Governance from the Global South

The project aims to analyze 1/ how the central government, the states’ institutions and the local authorities use the law to tackle the growing environmental challenges facing India, 2/ what cultural, social and political drivers shape this legal response, and 3/ how successful Indian environmental law is in meeting its assigned objectives. In a first phase, the research will map out the institutional structure and the normative content of Indian environmental law drawing on official sources (constitutional provisions and constitutional case-law, federal statutes, state laws and local regulations). Over a second phase, the research will contemplate the relevance and the feasibility of legal transplants in environmental policy from India to France (e.g. the National Green Tribunal, environmental public interest litigation…) and more generally from the Global South to the West. The project will also evaluate the potential contribution of Indian legal doctrine to the contemporary debate on global environmental governance.

BOOKS (authored)

- (with Henri Bergeron), Faut-il légaliser le cannabis ?, Foreword by Professor A. Benyamina, First Editions, 2021.

- (with S. Field), The Transformation of Criminal Justice: Comparing France with England and Wales / Les transformations de la justice pénale : Une comparaison franco-anglaise, (bilingual, Foreword by The Right Honourable The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Preface by Robert Badinter, L’Harmattan, 2011, 190 p.

- La fonction de juger. Étude historique et positive, Foreword by the Premier Président de la Cour de cassation G. Canivet, Preface by Professor L. Cadiet, coll. fondation Varenne, LGDJ, 2006, 348 p.

BOOKS & JOURNALS (edited)

- (with S. Field), Learning from Elsewhere: from cross-cultural explanations to transnational prescription in criminal justice?, Journal of Law and Society, 46, Special Issue 1, 2019, 135 p.

- (with Henri Bergeron), European Drug Policies: The Ways of Reform, Routledge, 2017, 305 p.

- (with S. Field), EU Criminal Justice and the Challenges of Diversity: Legal Cultures in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, Cambridge University Press, 2016, 275 p.

- (with Henri Bergeron), Les drogues face au droit, Presses Universitaires de France, 2015, 110 p.

- La prohibition des drogues. Regards croisés sur un interdit juridique, Foreword by H. Leclerc, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2005, 143 p.

JOURNAL ARTICLES (selection)

- 'The Shrimp, the Judge and the Amendment: Courts contribution to Aquaculture Regulation in India?', (avec A. Abhimanue Sulochana, P. Jayaprakash, M. Al. Dahdah), Journal of Environmental Law, vol. 37, 2025, 151–158, https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqaf001

- 'Comparing the Machineries of Extradition?', American Journal of Comparative Law, vol. 72, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcl/

- 'Juridictions environnementales : les leçons du droit comparé', Revue juridique de l'environnement, vol. 49, 2024, 633-649, https://droit.cairn.info/revue-juridique-de-l-environnement-2024-3-page-633

- (avec H. Bergeron), 'What lessons from France's experience could be applied in the US in response to the addiction and overdose crisis?', Addiction, 2022, 1191–1192, https://doi.org/10.1111/add.15826

- 'Fixing Transnational Drug Policy: Drug Prohibition in the Eyes of Comparative Law', Journal of Law and Society, 2019, 46, Special Issue 1, 73-94, https://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12184

- (avec S. Field), 'Socio-legal Studies in France: Beyond the Law Faculty', Journal of Law and Society, 2016, 43(2), 285-311.

- ‘Criminology à la française. French Academic Exceptionalism’, The British Journal of Criminology, 2013, 53(4), 588-604.

CHAPTERS IN EDITED VOLUMES (selection since 2020)

- 'Une justice pour l'environnement : l'exemple du National Green Tribunal Indien', in T. Clays (dir.), Mélanges en l'honneur du professeur Loïc Cadiet, LexisNexis, 2023, 341-352.

- ‘Drug offence’, in V. Mitsilegas, P. Caeiro, S. Gless (dir.), Elgar Encyclopedia of Crime and Criminal Justice, 2022 (7500 words).

- (with S. Field) ‘EU Criminal Justice and the Diversity of Legal Cultures in Europe’, in R. Pereira, A. Engel, S. Miettinen (eds.), The Governance of Criminal Justice in the European Union: Transnationalism, Localism and Public Participation in an Evolving Constitutional Order, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020, 82-101.

- (with Henri Bergeron) ‘Western and Central Europe: towards a cohesive model for drug policies?’, in C. Hallam, D. R. Bewley Taylor, K. Tinasti (eds.), Research Handbook on International Drug Policy, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020, 94-112.

FULL CV (in English)