Science topic

Law and Legal Studies - Science topic

Research on law and the juridical state apparatuses (group of jurists and [other] social scientists)
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I am currently researching an criminal responsibility of legal persons (corporations) under international criminal law (decision of Special Tribunal for Lebanon). I know that never ever such responsibility was drawn in history of int. crim. law, but now I thinking about domestic level. Do you know any case where such responsibility of legal person was drawn on national level for crimes under international law such as war crimes or crimes against humanity? Thank you very much.
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Briefing of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.
Facts: This case involves a complaint brought under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) alleging that the Appellants—the parent holding companies at the apex of the huge Royal Dutch Shell international, integrated oil enterprise—are liable under the ATS on the theory that their actions aided the government of Nigeria in inflicting human rights abuses on the Ogoni peoples in the jungles of Nigeria. The complaint alleges that Shell knew of human rights abuses committed by officials of the government of Nigeria and took actions which contributed indirectly to the commission of those offenses.
Procedural History: The case has been heard by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Kimba M. Wood, Judge) and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (JACOBS, Chief Judge, LEVAL, and CABRANES, Circuit Judges). The courts have dismissed the complaint.
Issues: The main legal questions that the court must decide in this case are: (1) which body of law governs the question of corporate liability under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) - international law or domestic law; and (2) what do the sources of international law reveal with respect to whether corporations can be subject to liability for violations of the law of nations.
Rule: The court used the sources of international law identified in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (“ICJ Statute”) to come to a decision in this case.
Holding: The court decided that the complaint did not satisfy the standard of pleading specific facts that would allow the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant was liable for the misconduct alleged. Therefore, the court dismissed the suit against SPDC for lack of personal jurisdiction on June 21, 2010. No action or remedy was ordered.
Reasoning: The court reached its decision by looking to the sources of international law identified in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (“ICJ Statute”). These sources include international conventions, international custom, the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations, and judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of the various nations. The court then looked to international tribunals, such as the Nuremberg Tribunals, to see if any had held a corporation liable for a violation of the law of nations. It found that none had. The court then looked to the Supreme Court's decision in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692 (2004), which held that a norm must enjoy universal acceptance to qualify as a rule of international law. The court then looked to the sources of international law to determine whether corporate liability had attained universal acceptance as a rule of customary international law. It found that it had not. Lastly, the court looked to the arcane terminology of international law and found that a corporation is a “subject” of international law and is therefore capable of being a plaintiff or a defendant in an action based on a violation of the law of nations. The court concluded that nothing in the sources of international law revealed that corporate liability had attained universal acceptance as a rule of customary international law, and thus, it could not limit or foreclose criminal, administrative, or civil actions against any corporation under a body of law other than customary international law.
I hope that case information will help.
Kind regard,
Rada Pavlova
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State secret is a constitutional limitation reason for freedom of expression in Turkey. So I am looking for the laws or procedural legal principles which are balancing state secrets and human rights. I am searching laws about state secret privilege or state secrecy procedures.
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I've heard some talk about some people trying to get certain highly intelligent animals classified as nonhuman persons. (e.g. elephants, monkeys, orcas,). The primary intention of this action is that it would raise the consequences of abusing these animals as well as making them easier to protect.
I'm looking for both opinions and any factual information anyone may be able to offer. I'm particularly curious about the perspectives of people who have worked relatively extensively with highly intelligent animals, as well as those of people who have significant experience in animal testing.
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I read somewhere that Ulema in British India agreed to Shafei provision of Khula which was not granted under Hanafi Law because Muslim women had started converting to Christianity to seek divorce. Does anyone know any source providing more information and evidence on this?
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Most of the current laws within this sphere were designed before the rapid progress of digital agriculture and therefore they can be interpreted differently. Most of the farmers using benefits of digital agriculture are concerned about data use (or theft) since they are no ICT experts and the data can be used for various reasons. Is it really a data theft then, since some of that data could (and should?) be used by the local (of national) agriculture authorities to monitor the agricultural process or production of the farmer (in case of governmental incentives)? For what else can it be used in that case? What if the software is freeware as a part of the agricultural incentives for farmers? To what level the farmer should be informed about it since there is no possibility to guarantee what will happen with that data in practice?
How do you see the advancement of the law in this field? How do you assess the current situation? Let me know what do you think.
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Agriculture is a sea of opportunities, where the farm laws are helping to create digital opportunities. Digital agriculture requires data and skills to proceed so, it is developing at slow pace. Digital agriculture is sustainable tool but good things take time !
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On 1 July 2012, the preliminary reference procedure was introduced at the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. When lower civil courts face controversial points of law, they may refer a question of interpretation to the Supreme Court and request a preliminary ruling. This way, the Supreme Court should be able to provide legal practice with a faster and more specific response to pressing legal questions than through the ‘ordinary’ procedure.
This preliminary reference procedure is not a modern invention. It was already known in Rome, existed in a specific form in France (référé législatif, where a question of interpretation was referred to the legislator), was used at the Italian Corte Costitutionale and has been a powerful tool for the development of EU law by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg (see the attached blog and article). Furthermore, Protocol 16 to the ECHR will allow highest courts of states that have ratified this Protocol to refer a question of principle to the European Court of Human Rights for an advisory opinion.
I wanted to use ResearchGate for a small comparative exercise. Perhaps you would like to answer the following questions. May lower courts in your country refer a question of interpretation to the highest court(s) in your country? Did such an instrument once exist, or is the introduction of such an instrument currently under consideration in your country?
I am also interested in literature on this subject and in other relevant international examples.
Your help is greatly appreciated,
Ruben
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The Curia of Hungary, as the highest instance judicial forum of the country, has the constitutional duty to harmonise the administration of justice within the Hungarian judiciary, mainly by means of rendering uniformity decisions. The Curia renders uniformity decisions in cases rasing issues of theoretical importance in order to ensure the uniform application of law within the Hungarian judiciary. Such decisions are binding on all Hungarian courts. The operative parts of uniformity decisions – as brief summaries – are accessible hereunder:
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Are the low rates of rearrest of pedophiles due to them being unlikely to offend again, or are they due to the fact that it's very unlikely to have victims of child sex abuse step forward?
We had a public defender come speak to my class again and she told us that sex offenders have an incredibly low rate of recidivism. However, I know that people who rape people, particularly people who rape children are remarkably likely to reoffend. I also know that there is no "cure" to pedophilia or to sexual sadism.
I was wondering if the "Low rates of recidivism" in pedophiles are due to actual lack of reoffending, or due to the fact that children are very unlikely report sexual abuse?
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There are a number of points I'd like to make here:
The first is that recidivism rates are reported for identified sex offenders, including offenders with child victims and including those who have been clinically assessed and identified as having pedophilia.
As I've written and spoken about for a long time, there is an important assocation between pedophilia and sexual offending against children but some persons with pedophilia have no known sexual offending -- they deny it, there are no reports to child protection, there are no criminal investigations -- and many offenders do not have pedophilia.
Going back to the original post, how do you know that people with pedophilia who have raped children are very likely to reoffend?
The follow-up studies that have been conducted show that sex offenders, as a group, are relatively unlikely to reoffend, e.g., Hanson and Bussiere found a rate across multiple studies of approx 13% after 4-5 years. The rate is higher among those with pedophilia, esp over the longer term, but it's not at the very high rate unless they are also psychopathic or highly antisocial.
I agree that there are multiple factors that affect recidivism rates, such as source of data, length of follow-up, and risk levels of the group one is following. The biggest is probably non-reporting, as most recidivism studies rely on official criminal records and we know many victims do not disclose.
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The penumbra doctrine has been decisive in cases such as Roe v. Wade and Obergefell v. Hodges.
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There may be an issue here of generalists trying to write in a specialized field. The question asks about "legal terms" having a "penumbra" of meaning. But that formulation does not capture the legal discussion. It then mixes in specific SCOTUS cases.
There is a special doctrine discussed in various SCOTUS cases concerning privacy. The doctrine is not about all legal terms, or indeed any legal term in isolation. It is specifically a metaphor used in these cases to illustrate how rights explicitly identified in the text of the Constitutution imply other rights that are not explicitly identified. (It appears that prior to this current meaning dating from Griswold, penumbra may have been used in different ways by courts.)
On the other hand, there is a branch of jurisprudence/philosophy of law that discusses textual interpretation. This branch is related to general philosophy of language and literary theory on the one hand and specific legal doctrines on the other. HLA Hart and Dworkin (maybe) engaged in this kind of scholarship. But a scholar would have to make an argument from their general theories to what they would have said about the specific SCOTUS penumbra doctrine.
Apparently Hart talked about "penumbra" cases of the meanings of particular terms as opposed to core meanings. But that theoretical concept is a different concept from the SCOTUS concept that a whole bunch of text about different rights implies non-stated rights. The whole mass of text is not a single term and the new penumbral right is not contrasted with old "core" rights as being more peripheral.
Similarly, Dworkin's theory that (roughly) principles underlie and justify all of our law together and we can infer new decisions from these principles is a different way of justifying a right to privacy than the SCOTUS penumbra metaphor (although you could argue whether it is a more precise way of stating the metaphor or just different).
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I would be grateful for references on research or discription of paralegal practices in different countries. How do we define who is 'a paralegal'? What functions s/he performs? What are regulations (if any) for such activities? Is there any relations with professional social work and community development?
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You may look here:
Maru V. Between Law and Society: Paralegals and the Provision of Justice Services in Sierra Leone and Worldwide -  https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/between-law-and-society-20100310.pdf.
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In China,rules are dicided into mandatory rules and non-mandatory ones.Besides,Chinese mandatory rules are next divided into valid mandatory rules and managerial mandatory rules. Contracts being  out of valid mandatory rules must be ineffective,however,contracts being out of managerial mandatory rules may be ineffective,which depends on details.
So I wonder if there are same or familiar kinds of mandatory rules  applied to public procurement contracts in European Union?
Thanks sooooooo much.
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Here are some EU rules to get you started. Directives are framework legislation that has to be implemented in the Member States. Regulations are directly applicable laws in the Member States. These rules apply in the 28 EU Member States and in the 3 EEA member countries.
Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC
Directive 2014/25/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors and repealing Directive 2004/17/EC
Directive 2014/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on electronic invoicing in public procurement
Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002 on the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)
Directive 2009/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on the coordination of procedures for the award of certain works contracts, supply contracts and service contracts by contracting authorities or entities in the fields of defence and security, and amending Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC
Directive 2014/23/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the award of concession contracts
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The Canadian Bill C-13: An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Canada Evidence Act, the Competition Act and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act was enforced on March 9, 2015. This law is "to protect “personal integrity” when it comes to sharing images and information online" (CTV news report)
I would like to know if anyone has any knowledge or recent articles concerning any cyberusers have been prosecuted under this anti-cyberbullying law in Canada so far? Are there any report on deficiencies of this law? 
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If we talk only about countering cyberbullying, it means regulating only a small part of the problem. The impact on humans through telecommunications is much more extensive. For example, in Russia, a huge problem is cybersuicide. I consider that it is necessary to develop a comprehensive law that will protect the person from any impact through the Internet and other telecommunications. This problem should be solved not only by the forces of individual states, but also by international law.
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I am researching criteria which can be used to define the scope of the liability of a convicted person before the ICC. In particular, I am concerned with cases where the State omitted negligently to prevent those crimes whereby the person was convicted. So at the reparation stage before the ICC, is it possible to envisage an ICC order which considers the negligent State behaviour in establishing the amount to repair by who acted intentionally? In other words, can a negligent State behaviour reduce the amount to be repaired by who acted intentionally? So, assumed that it exists a concurrent liability, by negligence and intention, how can be defined the scope of the respective liability?
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It would be necessary to link the criminal act with the negligence directly and that would be incredibly difficult.  There cannot be a concurrent liability of negligence and intention since intention, a criminal mens rea would by its very nature render negligence nugatory.
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I am especially interested in the decisions of the high courts (supreme courts, constitutional courts) and their judicial reactions to the scope of application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (national understanding and interpretation of the art. 51/1 of the Charter). Thanks a lot.
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I forgot to mention the Constitutional Court of my own country, its search engine gives you all the rulings in which the Charter is mentioned : http://www.const-court.be/ > Bienvenue (Français) > Moteur de recherche > Normes de référence > Date: 07-12-2000
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I am researching on the exploitation of minors for prostitution and I would like to know investigations, studies and cases in different countries. Also, I want to know the age of legality in some countries and the debate about the age limit for children prostitution.
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Thanks so much for everyone!
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Please explain the nature, significance and main features of the legal principle according to which an arbitral tribunal is entitled to rule on its own jurisdiction. 
What are the pros and cons of this legal principle?
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CHAPTER IV “JURISDICTION OF ARBITRAL TRIBUNALS” of the Indian The Arbitration And Conciliation Act, 1996 deals with ‘Competence of arbitral tribunal to rule on its jurisdiction.’
It states-
16. Competence of arbitral tribunal to rule on its jurisdictional. -
(1) The arbitral tribunal may rule on its own jurisdiction, including ruling on any objections with respect to the existence or validity of the arbitration agreement, and for that purpose,
(a) An arbitration clause which forms part of a contract shall be treated as an agreement independent of the other terms of the contract; and
(b) A decision by the arbitral tribunal that the contract is null and void shall not entail ipso jure the invalidity of the arbitration clause.
(2) A plea that the arbitral tribunal does not have jurisdiction shall be raised not later than the submission of the statement of defence; however, a party shall not be precluded from raising such a plea merely because that he has appointed, or participated in the appointment of, an arbitrator.
(3) A plea that the arbitral tribunal is exceeding the scope of its authority shall be raise as soon as the matter alleged to be beyond the scope of its authority is raised during the arbitral proceedings.
(4) The arbitral tribunal may, in either of the cases referred to in sub-section (2) or subsection (3), admit a later plea if it considers the delay justified.
(5) The arbitral tribunal shall decide on a plea referred to in sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) and, where the arbitral tribunal takes a decision rejecting the plea, continue with the arbitral proceedings and make an arbitral award.
(6) A party aggrieved by such an arbitral award may make an application forgetting aside such an arbitral award in accordance with section 34.
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IF the public procurement contract has been enforced or performed a half, the"out "contractor charge there was a bribery in open bidding process,then is this public procurement contract is ineffective? Or <Restatement of contract> is applicable to public procurement contract?
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Over the course of many years, the Asian Development Bank has developed and refined a set of procurement guidelines, available in several languages (including Chinese) at https://www.adb.org/documents/procurement-guidelines. The purpose is to inform those carrying out projects that are financed in whole or in part by loans from ADB, ADB-financed grants, or ADB-administered funds, but the of the guidelines are state-of-the-art and should be of interest to anyone with interest in procurement.
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The latest appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States Judge Neil Gorsuch has robustly criticised the use of courtrooms as a forum for social change. He states that this is bad for both democracy and for civil justice.
In view of the role of courts as interpreters of our laws, elected representatives as makers of our laws and our executive as those who implement them, the state of affairs we call the separation of powers does he have a point?
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Judge Gorsuch is correct in his assertions (and through his opinions) that the court is no place for social activism. We often hear conservatives loudly decrying "activist" judges (every time a ruling goes against their particular social engineering desires). However, it apparently depends on which political party you belong as to how (and what) you define as "social activism." Gorsuch was nominated (and the conservatives are supporting him precisely on this basis) because they believe he will support their fondest project of "social activism" ... the overturning of Roe-v-Wade ... and thereby, achieving their fondest social-engineering project of outlawing abortion throughout America.
As a progressive-liberal, I fully realize that not objecting to Judge Gorsuch runs counter to the dogma of my own political "party," who have become as guilty as the conservatives on the other side in trying to choose "biased" justices for the Supreme Court, who will favor their particular "social engineering" objectives.
I believe both parties err in seeking biased "activist" judges, and particularly in this case conservatives err badly, believing Judge Gorsuch will allow his personal biases to interfere in interpretation of the law, and go against against abortion in his findings, no matter how (venerable or how) settled the law is on this issue. Yes, he is a "textualist" (in the same vein as Scalia, except his genteel legal scholarship and magisterial demeanor are very different than that of the abrasive arrogance of Scalia ... who IMO often permitted his personal biases and hyper-inflated ego, to make an ass of himself and the law), who I believe is less likely to interject social biases (or a puffed-up ego) into his findings.
Textualism is a formalist theory that primarily interprets the law based on the ordinary meaning of the legal text, and not considering non-textual sources such as intention of the law when passed, the problem it was intended to remedy, or significant questions of the justice and rectitude of the law. Consequently, textualists (on the Supreme Court) tend to have difficulty in interpreting law relating to social issues (or any point of law) that is not expressly set out in the constitution. Conservatives (especially the anti-abortion activists) support Gorsuch because they believe (wrongly, I think) that Gorsuch is a "strict constructionist" that can be counted-on to overthrow Roe-v-Wade, for the simple-minded reason that the constitution does not expressly authorize it. But (IMO) they err.
Strict constructionism is often misused by laypersons and critics as a synonym for textualism. Nevertheless, although a textualist can be a strict constructionist, they are separate views: Justice Scalia, himself, for example, warns that "[t]extualism should not be confused with so-called strict constructionism, a degraded form of textualism that brings the whole philosophy into disrepute. I am not a strict constructionist, and no one ought to be... A text should not be construed strictly, and it should not be construed leniently; it should be construed reasonably, to contain all that it fairly means." Similarly, textualism should not be confused with the [now deprecated] "plain meaning" approach, a simpler theory used prominently by the Burger Court in cases such as Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill, which looked to the dictionary definitions of words, without reference to common public understanding or context.
So, I do not find the nomination of Judge Gorsuch to be objectionable (in fact, his is the first nomination of Trump's to an important position that is not an obviously deplorable or despicable choice), PRECISELY because I believe he will not engage in "social activism" but will interpret the law (perhaps a bit too "textually," yes, but that is a defect less dangerous than being socially biased) and not be affected by social currents nor attempt to "moralize" from the bench. 
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The 2001 UN Convention on the Assignment of Receivables in International Trade attempts to provide uniform rules for receivables financing in international business transactions. In the absence of a convention, the governing law would be national law. This gets messy in international transactions because seller and buyer are typically in different countries and the financing party may be in yet another country. Thus, it is not clear which rules apply to which part of the financing transaction and different national rules may be in conflict with each other. Some countries still restrict future receivables from serving as collateral for financing, other countries require specification and/or notification that is impractical in the reality of business.
The 2001 UN Convention provides both a measure of substantive law harmonization and conflict-of-law rules for other questions, i.e. it would regulate some aspects of receivables financing and tell us where to look for the answers to other issues. Unfortunately, it has so far been ratified only by Liberia and requires five ratifications to enter into force. Even if four more countries ratify and it does enter into force, it applies only if an assignment is made in a Contracting State (Article 1) and unless the EU MSs and the US ratify, this may rarely happen.
My question is whether the parties to a trade financing transaction, in particular the bank or other financing organization (assignee), can stipulate the applicability of the Convention by agreement and override any national law that would otherwise apply.
Thank you in advance!
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Dear Frank,
if I correctly understood your question: the parties cannot choose only the Convention, since the contract has to be regulated by an existing law (furthermore the Convention does not cover every aspect of contract law), but they can use the clauses of the Convention into their contract as long as they are not in conflict with mandatory rules and public order of the applicable law. They can "insert" the Convention as part of the contract.
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The Max Planck Institute Luxembourg (MPI), heading an international consortium of various research institutions, is undertaking a European Commission-funded Study (JUST/2014/RCON/PR/CIVI/0082) on the laws of national civil procedure of the 28 Member States and the enforcement of European Union law. The study encompasses two strands: one on cross-border proceedings and one on the enforcement of EU consumer law. Further information on the study can be found here (http://www.mpi.lu/european-commission-study-on-the-impact-of-national-civil-procedure) and on my projects page.
The study is nearing its end and we are still looking for consumer law experts to answer a set of questions regarding the (procedural) enforcement of EU consumer law. In case you would like to help us out, please contact me on Janek.Nowak@mpi.lu. It would take only around 15 minutes of your precious time but it would make a big difference to us.
Many thanks in advance!
Have a nice day,
Janek
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Dear Janek,
If you are interested in Italian law as well, I'll be glad to help.
Kind regards 
Chiara Gallese
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In recent days, we have been performing this type of forensic studies to verify the credibility of the statement of persons indicted for committing a crime; therefore derived from the characteristics and situations in which they find these people to be subject to a process of investigation or juducial accusation, and having other evidence, is that we wonder if valid from an ethical point of view, moral theoretical and methodological, conducting such studies credibility of testimony in persons indicted?
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Hi Jose,
Not an area I'm involved with now, however from previous work you might want to have a look at Statement Validity Assessment. The following link provides a link that gives the gist:
Regards,
Martin
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“It is therefore consistent with the Court’s case-law to submit to careful scrutiny any restrictions on the freedom of academics to carry out research.”[1]
[1].             Mustafa Erdoğan and Others v. Turkey, nos. 346/04 and 39779/04 40, 27 May 2014 
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"...academic freedom in research and in training should guarantee freedom of expression and of action, freedom to disseminate information and freedom to conduct research and distribute knowledge and truth without restriction (see Recommendation 1762 (2006) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe). It is therefore consistent with the Court’s case-law to submit to careful scrutiny any restrictions on the freedom of academics to carry out research and to publish their findings (see Aksu v. Turkey [GC], cited above, § 71). "Mustafa Erdoğan and Others v. Turkey, nos. 346/04 and 39779/04 40, 27 May 2014, parag. 40"
So, academic freedom is not a fundamental right all by itself. It should consider as part of  freedom of expression and of action. For the academicians it is implemented far-reaching. 
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Does anybody know of any books, articles or legal documents dealing with the imposition of Prohibition in Hawaii, Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands?
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Pedro
I have no idea what happened there, I had noticed it did not appear on the thread I intended.
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Family court judges typically possess little useful information about child development.  What research is being done to correct this?  Are there examples of where such teaching has worked.
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My experience of what could amount to "teaching" would include:
(1) In some jurisdictions, Judges attend continuing education seminars ( not sure if voluntary or required).  I have never observed any, but if they are anything like the continuing legal education seminars for attorneys, they cover a variety of topics, which may include lectures from experts on child development.  
(2) The Judge may be guided in a particular case by expert evidence that the litigants are relying on in a custody hearing, to prove child's state of mind, effect of parentin style, special cirumstances, etc. - it is usually something heavier than a probation report or home visit/interview report.  This sort of expert evidence would be backed by some theory of child development, and should be comprehensive (perhaps complex) ending  with the opinion of psychologist (or other expert), who should also be available for questioning by the Judge to clarify, explain, etc.     .
Whether these qualify as effective teaching may be another matter.
At the end of the day the Judge should choose the outcome that provides the best interest of the child ( welfare principle)
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I am trying to do a comparative study about simplification of the language used in legislative and jurisprudential texts in order to improve citizenship.
Do you have, in your country, any mesures in that sense?
In that case, could you tell me what is the legislation applicable, and were can I find it?
Thank you
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Dear Marien, thank you for your comments. Indeed the new Argentine Code was written in colloquial language and it's shorter than the previous one, but language simplification, from a linguistic perspective at least, was not even discussed. The contrast with the so-called plain language movement in the US, UK, Australia, NZ, etc., is stark. Countries like Mexico, Spain and Chile, to name a few, have official programs to simplify legal language and avoid unnecessary "legalese" in Spanish. I think we should do more.
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In some circumstances, unilateral acts conducted by the manufacturer/supplier may constitute a restrictive agreement within the meaning of Article 101 TFEU. I've been looking for the most recent judgments of the EU courts in this subject. 
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Sorry for the late reply. Thank you!
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In FIDIC,there is a DAB to solve dispute before lawsuit  and arbitration.Just like  ad hoc arbitration is one of atbitration ways,there may be a large difiniation concept  to discribe  it.DAB‘s procedure is kind of like arbitration but its  judgement is not support by force,while arbitration is supported by force and once is it decided,one cannot go for lawsuit help?
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I'll be another vote for mediation.  In our appellate court, cases come to us where they have already been decided at the trial level, whether as a matter of law by the judge, or as the result of a trial where evidence was taken. One might think that having an adjudicated "winner" and "loser" would tend to make the parties' positions more entrenched, and the parties less likely to change their views--particularly the "winners"  However, we do have a mediation office, to which we refer many cases which, in the judgment of our staff attorneys and judges are perhaps not so clear-cut.  Our mediator (whose surname is really Rambo) successfully mediates settlements about 40% of the time he is given a case, to the tune of perhaps 40 a year (our total caseload is about 900).  This is a significant achievement by an exceptionally gifted mediator, but demonstrates that even in situations where the legal posture of a dispute is more solidly established than before it would get to court, mediation can be an extremely successful way of bringing parties together to see a collaborative solution to difficult problems.
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Is it suitable to adopt the civil court's approach for the common law court in preference of justice?
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Your question - if I may say so - is a bit unclear.  Do you mean - as the responses assume -- the civil law (meaning the non-criminal law) being used in the criminal courts? E.g the issue of burden of proof. Or the civil law system features (i.e. not the common law but French and other systems that are categorised as "civil law systems") being used in  common law courts? E.g. the less adversarial system. 
It also depends what you had in mind when you use the word "justice"?
In the first sense the burden of proof in criminal cases is considered to be an important safeguard for justice.
In the second sense, whether there is better justice in the civil or the common law system (in criminal cases) is controversial. There is a good deal of literature comparing the two which should be easy enough to find. 
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To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry is commonly based on empirical or measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning. (Rules for the study of natural philosophy", Newton transl 1999, pp. 794–6, after Book 3,The System of the World.)
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Hello Scholars, does anyone know what it means for a research topic to be amenable to scientific study using a quantitative approach?
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An attempt to develop an eco-centric judicial approach by making improvements on existing anthropocentric approach.
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To be authority in a court of law, any "global consensus" must be legislated. Judges are not permitted (theoretically) to read scientific journals - or texts of stone-age religion - and therefore rule contrary to law. Fortunately -- at least in the U.S. where judges are more likely to be, and too often are, swayed by stone-age religion. Science, of course, can be admitted as evidence of fact, but not of law.
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It is essential to establish ethical principles for conducting a forensic examination of credibility of testimony in a possibly accused of a crime, especially as regards the informed CONSENT and limits of confidentiality.
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Thanks Jose, I assumed your first language was not English. I filled in the concepts the best I could from inference. But, I still have trouble understanding your question. How about one question at a time!  Sounds like an important topic. Is the main issue about Informed Consent with sexually abused/abusers of the population for your study? 
In the US if someone is a victim of sexual abuse and you are doing a study on them, yes you have to get Informed Consent, same if it were the abuser you were studying? Is that true in Brazil or Mexico? 
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The Case US v APPLE, INC. and others, Civil Action No. 12-CV-2826 (DLC), relevant law: 15 USC § 1- collective price setting and 15 USC § 16- procedure and penalties promises to be a very interesting legal affair. The relevant market: is retail commerce with e-books. Defendants: Apple Inc, Hachette, Penguin, MacMillan, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. Plaintiff: US government.
The CEO of the RoyaltyShare Inc and copyright attorney, Mr Bob Kohn has acted as amicus curiae in this case and in his quality, sent several comments, a motion to the Court to stay final judgment pending appeal and yesterday, the 7th of September, a memorandum supporting this motion.
While the defendants played a more passive role, three of them reaching a settlement with the US government, Mr Bob Kohn has extensively tried to prove that the matter should be treated in a different way. DOJ stated that the price fixing agreement is illegal per se and therefore it can not be excluded, exactly like the hardcore restrictions that cannot enjoy an exemption from the prohibition in 101(1) TFEU in European competition law. Mr Kohn invokes the argument of public interest in order to ask for an exclusion of the agreement from the prohibition in 15 USC § 1.
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yes, only when it is the matter of governance and interest of public at large . 
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This dissertation will only use secondary research (Probably an extended literature review?)
Criminological theory- Research question:
"Crimes of the powerless (Blue collar) vs. Crimes of the Powerful (White collar) - Is there a distinction between how these crimes are perceived by the public, and punished by judicial systems worldwide?"
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Dear Zion,
Is this dissertation an assignment or a Final Year project or a postgraduate thesis?
Either way the university should be conducting research methodology courses. There are excellent books and articles on research methodology specific to various disciplines. Do take a look at your library.
For legal research you could use either:
(i) purely doctrinal research i.e library based research which is what you appear to  have selected. This would require very critical analysis and it would be a good idea to bring in a comparative jurisdiction element to it. Remember research requires some novel original contribution.
(ii) qualitative - this includes doctrinal but also something more proactive eg. primary data collected through atleast some focussed interviews and analysis of feedback, verification etc.
(iii) quantitative - more suited to the scientific & social sciences.
(iv) interdisciplinary - which is gaining popularity among legal academics.
See:
Chynoweth, “ Legal Research” Chapter 3, Legal Research Styles, 29.
Arthurs, Legal Research Styles (1983) 29, Law and Learning: Report to the Social Sciences and Hummanities Research Council of Canada by the Consultative Group on Research and Education Law, Information Division, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. 
Mike Mc Conville and Wing Hong Chi, Research Methodology for Law,(.Edinburgh   University Press 2007) 1.
Best Wishes
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 we planing to weed our old collection , as a law librarian which policy could be best practicing while going  on for that 
is that possible the books been weed, can we change it format from physical to digital? is that against copy right law?
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Hi Yameen. Weeding out duplicates is the easy bit. Then go cautiously.
A Law (and the texts and commentary around it) might become obsolete in the sense that it no longer applies to citizens, but it still provides a vital part of the 'law story' which academic researchers rely on heavily. Understanding an old law sheds light on the new.
Also earlier editions of the same book can also continue to have relevance in research (if not in practice). For example, a Tax law is introduced. For the next 5 years it creates a lot of messy litigation, and perhaps some statutory amendments. The commentators are in a frenzy, and explain the issues in their textbooks in great detail. Then over time the law settles down, and everyone understands how it works. The new editions of the texts now just skim over the issues because everyone now knows how to use that Law. So, as a researchers, if you need to understand the complexities of that Tax Law, you'd have to read the earlier editions of the commentators textbook.
Good luck!
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In February 2014, the Belgian parliament voted to extend the euthanasia law to include children under the age of 18. Do children have capacity for agency? Are they able to make decisions concerning their health? Are children mature enough to make such grave decisions? Is there a difference between adult euthanasia and child euthanasia? 
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I guess the answer should be twofold, devided by CAN & SHOULD.
First you should answer the question, whether children actually have the capability – CAN – decide on euthanisia, as in grasp the consequences and the full meaning of their sickness, pain and death. That of course depends on the intellectual capacity, the age of the child, and their cultural and religious background. Only if they have the capability to see all the consequence so, you actually can ask the question, whether can be morally and legally allowed to – SHALL/SHOULD – decide either way. 
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How do you feel about the consolidation of the criminal law of each state's lifetime ban for positions of state and municipal services for the perpetrators of corruption offenses?
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It may be a double-edged sword. On the one hand harder penalties may discourage some from corruption that is incidences fall. On the other hand the increased risk may propel others to increase the ‘price tag’ that is the total sum of corruption stays the same.
These two propositions are typical of rational modelling with respect to corruption. Other perspective concerns democracy, revenge and rehabilitation of criminals.  
In the article below we looked at the recommendations from civil servants. This is a discussion of the above mentioned propositions and perspectives.
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I am doing a PhD on that and would be grateful to diverse opinions and views
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The OECD has elaborated guidelines and an international convention on fighting against money laundering and corruption. International law is based on the good will of states parties at uno, so they can or cannot transpose international conventions.
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Sovereign is immune from the tortuous liability in most of the jurisdictions. Now rights of an individual are paramount and even state can't deny its liability for its act. On the other hand state requires certain protection from liability while performing sovereign functions. Do you think that this immunity should continue..?
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I think most sovereigns have laws waiving the immunity in many instances, including torts, contracts, constitutional violations.  As Nancy notes, many of these are subject to time limits as to notice of the facts giving rise to the cause of action (think:tort claims).  Granting citizens the right to sue the sovereign for the exercise of  organically government functions is something that requires limitation.  
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Does anyone have an article or suggestion, about the legal basis and practices for the constitutional changes in the countries in transition?
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Thanks a lot Ervin.
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Working on a project which starts in 1918.  I know free online access to CR files is available from 1995 to the present, but I have not been able to find an online repository of CR prior to this.  Is anyone aware of one (including ones requiring a subscription), so I don't have to find and go through the bound volumes "by hand"?
Thanks!
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HeinOnline.org has a collection called "U.S. Congressional Documents," which contains the Congressional Record and it's predecessors. Vols. 1-157 pt. 11 (1873-2011) (43rd Congress, Special Session to 112th Congress, 1st Session).  It's primarily a digital repository, so the search engine isn't its strongest feature. 
If you can find a law school library near you that is open to the public, you should be able use this source in the building.  Many law school libraries are selective federal depositories, and that status requires them to be open to the public.
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I am conducting research into factors which are a hindrance to judicial independence (both actual and perceived) in developing nations who are heavily reliant on foreign aid.
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One way to approach this question is to note that most developing countries, which were former colonies, inherited their institutional arrangements from their colonizers. Those institutional arrangements, given the nature and purposes of colonialism, were not democratic and did not guarantee judicial independence. In fact, in most colonies, there usually were two sets of judicial and legal systems--one applied to the colonialists/colonists and the other, applied to the people classified by the colonial government as indigenes. Although such a practice was quite magnified in the former French, Portuguese and Spanish colonies, it was also present, to a certain extent, in the colonies of other European countries. John D. Hargreaves, West Africa: The former French States (Prentice-Hall, 1967) & France and West Africa: An Anthology of Historical Documents (Macmillan, 1969) provides an excellent review of the maintenance of two distinct legal systems in the French colonies in sub-Saharan Africa. 
In 1958, then French President, Gen. Charles de Gaulle, offered France's colonies in sub-Saharan Africa a proposal for attaining independence--these colonies would become autonomous entities/polities within the French Community and in doing so, they would base their institutions on the French Constitution of October 4, 1958. Except for Guinea, the French colonies accepted the offer and adopted institutions that were characterized by an imperial presidency, a relatively weak legislature, and a supreme court that was simply an organ within the Department of Justice and hence, was controlled by the President of the Republic. In addition, the constitution granted the President of the Republic the responsibility to guarantee independence of the judiciary! Unfortunately for these countries, they lacked at least two qualities that could have enhanced their ability to secure independence for the judiciary: (i) unlike their former colonizers, they did not have a long tradition of democratic governance, with separation of powers--if such a system ever existed, it was abrogated during colonial rule; and (ii) virtually all post-independence political elites engaged in various forms of opportunism to maximize their personal interests and hence, were not interested in engaging  in the types of institutional reforms that would have strengthened judicial independence. For more in depth analysis, see John Mukum Mbaku, "Judicial Independence, Constitutionalism and Governance in Cameroon: Lessons from French Constitutional Practice," European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance," Vol. 1, No. 4 (2014): 357-391. Also see Philip Aka, "Judicial Independence under Nigeria's Fourth Republic: Problems and Prospects," California Western International Law Journal, Vol. 45, No. 1 (2015): 1-79.
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Hi there,
I want to desrcibe and compare the implementation of the Peace Preservation Law in Japan in comparison to these two colonies (e.g. the use of force, investigations, prisoners, size of police etc.)
Thank you!
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Try to get bibliography related to the Rule of Law enforcement in the history of Japan.
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For testing work rules or policies, I am looking for scales which would allow to measure the perceived legitimacy of a rule or a policy. I looked into field beyond economics and management sciences and hoped to find tested scales there or even beyond in areas like criminology. So far I am not successful. And did not even find a hint. Any hint will help at this stage.
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Dear Michael, 
I am surprised of finding this very interesting question. I did research on a policy rule and had to tackle very difficult practical and theoretical issues, apparently moving in an almost unexplored terrain. I understand therefore your question of perceived legitimacy in the following way. 1. A policy rule can offer an advantage to a social group, compared to other groups: under this viewpoint, perceived legitimacy has to do with perceived social utility of the policy rule. I would expect a scale measuring legitimacy as perceived social utility being inversely correlated with the self-perception of being part of a social group that does not benefit or is disadvantaged from the policy rule. 2. I would also expect that a an higher degree of conformism generally increases perceived legitimacy for "all rules", regardless their content, aims, effectiveness. There are social personality scales measuring traits of conformism or authoritarianism at individual level (authoritarian personality scales). 3. At a more general level, I would think about the cultural or political environment: how far the culture legitimates having "opinions" about rules? The most authoritarian assertions might sounds like: "rules are just rules and you have just to conform to them". Societies where this assertion is frequently spoken, heard, or just assumed, do not worry about legitimacy of rules. Sometimes they may allow questioning the procedure adopted in order to introduce a rule, which is the legal interpretation of the word legitimacy, but it does not have anything to do with perception... I would expect a less authoritarian society admitting a public debate about the utility of specific rules, their effectiveness, who takes advantage from those rules, and so forth. Therefore, thank you for asking your interesting question.
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A few days to the end of the Jonathan administration May 2015, the President signed into law a number of bills that had earlier been passed by the National Assembly of Nigeria.  One of such bills/laws is the Standards Organisation of Nigeria Act which repealed and re-enacted the Standards Organisation of Nigeria Act, Cap S9 2004.
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hi there ! hope you've managed to locate the information that you were looking for. Otherwise you can try with the Nigerian Legal Information Institute website: http://www.nlii.org/
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In the framework of my research I'm looking for any available literature on the topics of drafting legislation, nomotechnics, legal standardization etc.
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Hello Adnan,
If you know the topics you are intend to write, search the keywords in the EURLEX and analyse the hits there. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/
Best, Zagon
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A pregnant lady with poly trauma due to assault admitted in hospital and she complaint to pain in abdomen as she was hit in her abdomen, during her course of treatment she aborted.
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In Pakistan the relevant provisions are contained in section 338, 338-A, 338-B and 338- C and section 338-F of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860. 
Section 338. Isqat-i-Haml (اسقاط حمل) .Whoever causes a woman with child whose organs have not been formed, to miscarry, if such miscarriage is not aused in good faith for the purpose of saving the life of the3 women or providing necessary treartment to her, is said to cause isqat-i-haml. 
Explanation:- A woman who causes herself to miscarry, is within the meaning of this section.
Section 338-A. Punishment for Isqat-i-Haml. whoever causes Isqati-Haml shall be liable to punishment as ta`zir
(a) with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, if isqat-i-haml is caused with the consent of the woman or
(b) with imprisonment of either description for term which may extend to ten years if isqat-i-haml is caused without the consent of the woman;
Provided that , if as a result of  isqat haml any hurt is caused to the woman or she dies, the convict shall also be liable to the punishment provided for such hurt or death, as the case may be.
Section Section 338-B. Isqat-i-Janin (اسقاط جنين)ز Whoever, causes a woman with aq child someof whose limbs or organs have been formed, to miscarry, if such miscarriage is not in good faith for the purpose of saving the life of the woman, is said to cause Isqat--Janin.
Explanation. a woman who causes herself tro miscarry is within the meaning of this section..
Punishment for Isqat-i-Janin. whoever causes isqat Janin shall be liable to:
(a) one twewntieth of the diyat if the c hild is boprn dead;
(b) full diyat if the child is born alive but dies as a result of any act of the offender; and
(c) imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years as ta`zir.
Provided that if there are more than one child in the womb of th e woman, the offender shall be liable to separate, duiyat or ta`zir, as the case may be, for every such child:
Provided further that if, as a resultof Isqat-i-Janin, any hurt is caused to the mwoman or she dies, the ofender shall also  be liable to the punishment provided for such hurt or death, as the case may be.
Section 338-D. Confirmation of sentence of death by way of qisas or ta`zir etc.- A sentence of death awarded by way of Qisas or Ta`zir, or a sentence of qisas awarded for  causing hurt, shall not be executed, unless it is confirmed by the HIgh Court.:
Section 338-E. Waiver or compounding of offences. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Chapter and section 345 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (V of 1898), all offences under this Chapter may be waived or compounded and the provisions of section 309 and 310 shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to the waiver or compounding of such offences:
Provided that , where an offence has been waived or compounded, the court may, in his discretion having regard to the fact and circumstances of the case, acquit or award ta`zir tot he offender according to the nature of the offence.
(2) All questions relating to waiver or compounding of an offence or awarding of punishment under section 310 whether before or after the passing of any sentence, shall be determined byTrial Court;
Provided that where the sentence of qisas or any otfher sentence is waived or compounded during the pendency of an appeal, such question may be determined by the Appellate Court.
338-F. Interpretation. In the interpretation and application of the provisions  of  this Chapter , and in respect of matters ancillary or akin thereto, the Court shall be guided by the Injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah.
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I want to compare the procedure of arbitration with litigation with that if the court process with a view to comment about the quality if arbitration awards in my country. I therefore think the phase of weighing the evidence is crucial to my study.
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I substiantally agree with Ida Ngueng Feze. Evaluating evidence in arbitration is similiar than before Corts, unless arbitrator can decide "ex aequo et bono". The peculiarity of arbitration is that parties voluntary choose such a method to compone their disputes or differences. One interesting field of comparision can be the power of the arbitral tribunal to grant an interim measures (it is possible in many countries, but not in every country, for instance, in Italy arbitrators has not such a power).
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I would like to have a comparative idea of how is the situación in the different EU Member States. It will be interesting to have different perspectives of how useful can it be the criminalization of cartels in Competición Law. 
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This is  a brief paper for Veronica Pinotti and Martino S. gives you an idea where anti-trust is considered a crime in EU.
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In a contract parties agreed on "replacement" of A ( a party to the original contract )with B in contract X(the original contract). Does this word "replace " give the meaning of assignment of the rights? The original contract is a charter party and governed by English Law.
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I cannot opine on U.K. law.
In most U.S. states (contract law is under 51 state laws, there is no such thing a "U.S. contract law"), the usual rule is that a contract can be assigned. To remove any ambiguity, most American contracts state "this contract is binding on successors and assigns," to make clear that the contract can be assigned.
One exception is if the performance is somehow personal to the party (for example, one opera singer cannot unilaterally ask a friend to fill in).
A second exception is if there is a "no assignment" or "no assignment without consent of the other party" clause.
If there's a history of C accepting performance from B, then it's going to be hard for C to argue that now that C has breached, that B cannot enforce rights attached thereto.  However, if C refused performance from B right at the outset, then C might have a case.
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I have seen some citizens preferring to watch TV or go to movie theatres or do something else than going to a polling booth for casting their votes. This results in reduction in the percentage of voting which may amount to choosing a wrong or incompetent or corrupt candidate (due to possibility of illegal proxy or dummy voting by the corrupt candidates) as ministers. Secondly, taking part in the making of government of a country is supposed to be a fundamental human right which can be exercised by casting the vote.
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The Australian system is philosophically flawed in that a duty that is compelled is no duty.  Compulsory voting does not make any difference to the quality of the 'democracy' it purportedly serves as the Australian electorate have so graphical demonstrated.
The democratic process in the UK is no better than the one that operated in the GDR.  The SED was the 'establishment' and guaranteed a majority of seats in the redundant Volkskammer.  In the UK the establishment operates behind the facade of party politics and it matters little which of the main parties are elected.  The same is true in the US.  Whoever you vote for the 'government' is elected.  Or as Brecht suggested, it would perhaps be easier to dissolve the people and elect another one.
The 'democratic countries of the European Union do not of course have a vast secret police network in the form of the Ministry for State Security but if Erich Mielke had had access to the technology GCHQ and the NSA have he would not have need so many staff either.  
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I would especially be interested in how the crime rate is affected by the rentention of telecommunication data?
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The title of the book is 'The Dutch implementation of the data retention directive. On the storage and use of telephone and internet traffic data for crime investigation purposes'.
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In the US federal judges are appointed for life. A student from France asked me about procedures to remove federal judges who may suffer from a mental disability but who have not committed some sort of crime which would warrant removing them from their positions. It's actually a tricky issue in the US (http://uslaw.blogbaker.com/2014/04/05/federal-judges-are-appointed-for-life-what-if-a-ju).
I was wondering about procedures in other countries.
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Thanks!
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Council Directive 2001/55/EC on minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons allows temporarily limited measures to receive refugees into the EU. Is there any legal reason the directive cannot be applied on the current situation of Syrians fleeing their country?
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The directive considers what to do when a mass influx of refugees either enters the European Union, or is going to enter in the very near future.
The directive applies"in the event of a mass influx or imminent mass influx of displaced persons from third countries who are unable to return to their country of origin, immediate and temporary protection to such persons" (Article 2(a))
Article 2(d): "mass influx" means arrival in the Community of a large number of displaced persons, who come from a specific country or geographical area, whether their arrival in the Community was spontaneous or aided, for example through an evacuation programme;
It does not say that the EU is going to create a means for refugees to enter the EU. Unless a "mass influx" of Syrians comes to the EU or is right on the border, the directive does not apply.
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It's not only Google, all search engines can be asked to remove search results. They then must delete results that are "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant". That sounds like services will face a lot of legal work to shoulder.
What's your view on this? Does it have any impact on your work (teaching and researching)?
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Dear Michael,
I have got the same trouble like Hanno has had. I cannot interpret what may be "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant" data. I cannot fancy how they will select them but I am afraid when bureaucracy start to implement something, the outputs may be too complicated and foreign from the normal way. Unfortunately, the ideas without imagination of a clerk or a lawyer are difficult to forecast.
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Ethical codes are often treated with almost religious reverence but on examination translate to not much more than a rule book. Medical ethics have been with us since Imhotep devised some in around 2600BCE and for over four and a half thousand years have guided medical practice. Are they a higher form of philosophy or just a list of do's and don'ts?
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"Have you got ethics?" Is a question I often hear about whether a research project has got appropriate governance approval. Such approval may involve seeking the opinion of a research ethics committee, but the question is not really asking wheher the ethical issues have been considered, it's asking whether the research can go ahead or whether some box has yet to be ticked. I agree with all the above who say that ethics is about nuanced, contextual consideration of the issues at stake, the complete opposite to a box ticking exercise. However, if the word ethics is used as (inappropriate) shorthand for the somewhat bureaucratic exercise of research governance approval, then confusion will result.
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Should medical personnel take an active role in investigation or intelligence collection?
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The laws in the countries of sovereign democracy dictate that a professional who has access to personal information of a person, may not disclose such, without the court's permission for the disclosure of personal information, including personal data.
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I am working on a paper and in one section I suggest that policy makers can adopt a policy of "fine-tuning" with regards to legislation, the idea being that they simply tweak pre-existing customary order, targeting particular inefficiencies but otherwise allowing the bulk of the system to function mostly unimpeded by regulation. By any chance, anyone think of any examples of this, preferably outside of contract (I examine contract in a separate section)? The more the better actually. Really in any area of law.
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Public International Law provides a valuable source to identify customary law. Given the contemporary context of virtually 200 Nation States, it is likely to be impossible to identify "customary" law, a European concept, since any particular custom must be recognised by almost all states to rise to a binding legal rule. In the domain of international commercial law, the same obstacle is encountered: the burden of showing that the custom is so widely accepted in commerce that it constitutes a rule of law. For example, many scholars advocate the lex mercatoria, but I do not believe such a regime exists. I find that widely accepted practices, such as Incoterms or UCP 600, become law by virtue of the institution of contract. Even given their widespread use, I would not deem them customary law. Finally, I do not think Model Law such as the UNIDROIT Principles capture custom.
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I have a suspicion that much international rights talk is based on European- and American-derived notions of hyperindividualism (characteristic of neoliberalism) that may be at odds with respect to collective care and responsibility (as found and practiced in some parts of the non-Western world).
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David, I think you are correct that Western, or Global North, influence on the modern human rights movement and law is disproportionate and rooted in neo-liberal traditions. However, it wouldn't be accurate to say that rights-based traditions do not exist elsewhere. Amartya Sen has a nice essay on "Asian values" that gets at some of these issues. Also there is a good amount of literature (I'm happy to suggest sources) on how at times "culture" has been used historically by the colonial power and indigenous elites to resist change that would threaten their power by recognizing broader application of rights. That is not to say that there are no conflicts between rights and cultural practices, but just that each gets used at times to further particular interests.
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There is a common logical fallacy that the crime statistics reflect in some way the morality of the society. STOP HERE AND THINK TWICE! The crime statistics reflect first to which extent the human behaviour may be considered to be criminal, i.e. these figures mirror the criminalization of certain activities. We can legalize prostitution or the retail sales of alcohol in Sweden and then statistics of crime will look different, not necessarily better. We can change the definition of the crimes; a broader definition will increase the statistics at least in the first period after the amendment. A narrower definition and a harder burden of proof for the prosecution will decrease the statistics, but attention not the criminality. The most fallacious part of the statement is to pass by the fact that an increase in the statistics can often reflect a more effective enforcement. The police and the other authorities have invested lots of public money in a betterment of the enforcement. This has nothing to do with the morality of the people living in that jurisdiction.
Think about the taxation for instance! One can define taxation as a very moral activity, it is after all about sharing and giving to the people in need, but also as an immoral activity because a person is dispossessed by his/he property, property which has been obtained completely in a legal manner. Of course that some crimes appear to be absolutely horrifying and undoubtedly immoral, but you as an outsider, as a second hand listener, you will never know the whole story. Therefore the biblical story is still wise: Don't throw any stones on nobody! You might be less innocent than that person.
Another short reflection about the truth and the search for truth and the idea that the ultimate truth is God! To me this statement is related with the first the biblical advice 'Don't throw stones!'. The socially constructed truth is always relative and it serves some common purposes. Panem et circenses, bread and circus/games, this is what it is served. Now-a-days the circus is more Hollywood constructed than live. The main idea is that you do not witness the truth, we are only told the 'truth' and if the truths being told fit with your frame of values, they are going to be accepted as reality. If they come in conflict with this frame of values, you will reject them and start to search about the 'real' truth and so on. It sounds strange but in order to provide justice and be impartial, you have to forget about your own cultural bias or moral bias and judge as to the law, not as to the morality.
The values of the society can not be alienated from the law, the law comes as a reflection of these values, but in the moment of becoming LAW, it becomes the main point of reference for the judge. The relation between law and moral values is a very complex one indeed.
I would like you to ponder a bit on the ideas of law and moral in society based on relative truths. What is the role of moral for the law maker or for the law enforcer? Do moral have any significance for a judge?
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In one sentence, law sets the minimum standard of human behavior while ethics sets maximum standard of human behavior. Law prescribes remedies and punishments for the violation of the standards it sets while ethics expects an ideal set of behavior of individuals concerned. The success of any law in a particular society depends upon its social acceptance in that society. Both law and morality influence each other. Some times law becomes instrumental to bring about social change e.g. social evils such as slavery has been eradicated to a great extent but sometimes a law becomes meaningless due to its persistent denial by the society as in the case of marriage dowry in India. Moral and ethical values can be instrumental in guiding the law making.
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A report describing workshop proceedings outlines the challenges globalization pose to the health, health laws, governance, and health policies in the Asia Pacific region. A copy of the report and other materials from the workshop is posted on the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) at http://www.idlo.int/english/WhatWeDo/Programs/Health/Pages/DetailsEvent.aspx?IDEVENT=227.
The report reviews the experiences of eighty public health and legal experts who assembled in Bangkok, Thailand on16 – 18 April 2012 to discuss the issues, approaches, and gaps in health laws, governance mechanisms, and policies created by globalization.
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Hi, Wanwipar. I did not see your response until I did some cross checking. The issue of essential medicine access is a major issue in SEA. Not only is it a major issue regarding patents and IP, it is a major issue for IHR (5) and access to viral isolates for pandemics. I am not sure if you looked inside the Report but there was a whole day featuring pharmaceutical access, CUTs, and other topics that may interest you. I wish I had seen your post much sooner. I hope you pursue this topic.
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What is the difference between these two terms in property law, "Right to possession" and "Right of possession"
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You must be careful when you refer to possession. At least in South American law possession is a variable completely different property. As well questions, I think the difference between the two questions is exactly the same.
Right to possession or right of possession is exactly the same just change the item used. Depends on how much you are to say one or the other definition. The point is that the right of possession is the same and explains:
Possession is the sum of the animus (intent to possess) + corpus.
The property is the sum of the animus + corpus + domain title.
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Merujuk pada pasal 2 UU No.17 tahun 2003 tentang keuangan negara yang (menurut saya) berbeda dengan Pasal 23 ayat (1) UUD 1945.
Bagaimana pandangan rekan2? Terimakasih.
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Bisa tolong dijelaskan lebih lanjut letak perbedaannya menurut anda?