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Books > Law > Laws of other jurisdictions & general law > Constitutional & administrative law
This book explains how the People of Puerto Rico managed to adopt a
constitution whose content and process were both original and
colonialist, participatory and undemocratic, as well as progressive
and anticlimactic. It looks in detail at the rich contradictions of
the Puerto Rican constitutional experience, focusing on the history
and content of the 1952 Constitution. This constitution is the only
constitutional document written by the Puerto Rican People
themselves after more than 500 years of Spanish and US colonialism.
By exploring Puerto Rico's unique history and constitutional
experience the book shines a spotlight on key emerging themes of
comparative constitutional studies in this area: state
constitutionalism, the persistence of colonial relationships in the
Caribbean, and the continued development of constitutionalism in
Latin America. The book delves deep into the particular experience
of Puerto Rican constitutionalism which combines elements of
colonialism, democratic tensions, and progressive policies. It
explains how these features converge in a constitutional project
that has endured for 70 years and continues its contradictory
development. It considers issues such as the island's colonial
history, including its conflicting relationship with democratic
values and the constant presence of social movements and their
struggles. It also explores the content of the 1952 Constitution,
focusing on its progressive substantive policy, particularly its
rights provisions, its amendment procedures, and the governmental
structure it set up.
Several books have argued a hypothetical case for impeaching
George W. Bush, but Congressman Dennis Kucinich grabbed the bull by
the horns and put forward 35 Articles of Impeachment before
Congress in June 2008. This book presents all of Kucinich's
Articles along with supplementary material that cannot be found in
the Congressional Record.
We learn from investigator David Swanson (who assisted Kucinich
with his Articles of Impeachment) that when George Bush and his
cabinet leave office, the case for his impeachment is still
necessary and possible, and the case for the prosecution of his
crimes remains quite open.
For this book, Dennis Kucinich provides a new foreword and David
Swanson discusses a number of other prosecutable crimes that didn't
make Kucinich's final cut. Federal prosecutor and author Elizabeth
de la Vega ("United States v. George W. Bush et al.") contributes
an annotated list of criminal violations in the Articles.
Vincent Bugliosi's best-selling "The Prosecution of George W.
Bush for Murder" addresses only one of Bush's crimes, while Dennis
Kucinich's "35 Articles of Impeachment" fully opens the can of
worms, proving a case against dozens of executive crimes.
Dennis Kucinich is the former mayor of Cleveland and has
represented the Tenth District of Ohio for the United States House
of Representatives since 1996. He was also a candidate for the
Democratic nominee for president in the 2004 and 2008
elections.
This comprehensive Commentary provides the first fully up-to-date
analysis and interpretation of the Council of Europe Convention on
Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. It offers a concise yet
thorough article-by-article guide to the Convention's
anti-trafficking standards and corresponding human rights
obligations. This Commentary includes an analysis of each article's
drafting history, alongside a contextualisation of its provisions
with other anti-trafficking standards and a discussion of the core
issues of interpretation. The Commentary also presents the first
full exploration of the findings of the Convention's monitoring
body, the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human
Beings (GRETA), providing a better understanding of the practical
implications and challenges in relation to the Convention's
standards. Practitioners in the field of anti-trafficking,
including lawyers, law enforcement agencies and providers of victim
support services will find the Commentary's concise analysis
invaluable. It will also prove useful to researchers and students
of human rights law, as well as to policymakers looking for
guidance concerning obligations stemming from the Convention.
The Common Law is Oliver Wendell Holmes' most sustained work of
jurisprudence. In it the careful reader will discern traces of his
later thought as found in both his legal opinions and other
writings. At the outset of The Common Law Holmes posits that he is
concerned with establishing that the common law can meet the
changing needs of society while preserving continuity with the
past. A common law judge must be creative, both in determining the
society's current needs, and in discerning how best to address
these needs in a way that is continuous with past judicial
decisions. In this way, the law evolves by moving out of its past,
adapting to the needs of the present, and establishing a direction
for the future. To Holmes' way of thinking, this approach is
superior to imposing order in accordance with a philosophical
position or theory because the law would thereby lose the
flexibility it requires in responding to the needs and demands of
disputing parties as well as society as a whole. According to
Holmes, the social environment--the economic, moral, and political
milieu--alters over time. Therefore in order to remain responsive
to this social environment, the law must change as well. But the
law is also part of this environment and impacts it. There is,
then, a continual reciprocity between the law and the social
arrangements in which it is contextualized. And, as with the
evolution of species, there is no starting over. Rather, in most
cases, a judge takes existing legal concepts and principles, as
these have been memorialized in legal precedent, and adapts them,
often unconsciously, to fit the requirements of a particular case
and present social conditions.
Human trafficking is widely considered to be the fastest growing
branch of trafficking. As this important book reveals, it has moved
rapidly up the agenda of states and international organisations
since the early-1990s, not only because of this growth, but also as
its implications for security and human rights have become clearer.
This fascinating study by international experts provides original
research findings on human trafficking, with particular reference
to Europe, South-East Asia and Australia. A major focus is on why
and how many states and organisations act in ways that undermine
trafficked victims' rights, as part of 'quadruple victimisation'.
It compares and contrasts policies and suggests which seem to work
best and why. The contributors also advocate radical new approaches
that most states and other formal organisations appear loath to
introduce, for reasons that are explored in this unique book. This
must-read book will appeal to policymakers as well as advanced
undergraduate and postgraduate students in the fields of
criminology, human rights law, gender studies, political science
and international studies. Contributors: J. Debeljak, L. Holmes, S.
Kneebone, Z. Lasocik, K. Leong, S. Milivojevic, S.
Schwandner-Sievers, M. Segrave, O. Simic, S. Yea
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