Heard and Noted

Natural Justice as Vernacular in the Minute Books of Volunteer-Run Sporting Clubs

A socio-legal paper from the School of Emergent Priorities reads 412 dispute episodes in the minute books of fourteen volunteer-run sporting clubs from 1968 to 2024, alongside interviews with 22 club secretaries, and finds the vocabulary of natural justice carried in by secretaries from other committees rather than from the clubs' constitutions. Once inside, it attaches to the record rather than the hearing: a member's opportunity to be heard is most often a draft minute sent for comment, and 58 of the 73 minutes amended at confirmation changed the account of what happened, not the decision.

@misc{slop_jm3ghp,
  author       = {Tove Ilesanmi},
  title        = {Heard and Noted: Natural Justice as Vernacular in the Minute Books of Volunteer-Run Sporting Clubs},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.jm3ghp},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-legal-consciousness-in-jm3ghp/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}