The fact that domestic violence is a serious and ongoing social problem has been well recognized since the women's movement made the hitherto private experience of violence against women in the home into a political issue in the 1960s and 1970s. In Australia, a major national prevalence study of violence against women conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1996 found that 23% of women who had ever been married or in a de facto relationship-1.1 million women-had experienced violence from their partner at some stage during the relationship. Feminist legal scholarship, however, has highlighted the many failures of criminal law to respond adequately to women's experiences of domestic violence. Civil remedies for violence and abuse seem to offer better possibilities: there is a lower standard of proof, and the woman is the subject of her own action rather than merely being the object of proceedings. The availability of civil remedies has, in many cases, resulted from feminist campaigns to fill the gaps in protection left by the criminal law. It has also been argued that civil actions provide scope to change public discourses and legal understandings of violence against women. Listening to women's stories might force a revision of traditional conceptions and myths about what constitutes violence, its causes and effects, and "appropriate" reactions to it. This study investigates the ways in which women's experiences of domestic violence are heard and understood in civil court settings, and examines women's experiences of telling their stories (or at least attempting to do so) in those settings. The two areas on which the study focuses are intervention order proceedings in State Magistrates' Courts, and residence, contact, and property matters in the federal Family Court in Australia. The relevant legislation in the two jurisdictions is either partly or wholly a product of feminist legal activism. The study, therefore, seeks to determine whether the feminist claim that the criminal law silences women also pertains in the context of new civil claims specifically designed to respond to women's experiences. The general history and theory of law reform suggests that reforms often strike problems in the process of implementation. But because law does not operate monolithically, the exact nature of those problems is not necessarily predictable. In the context of this study, implementation problems may arise from social and legal discourses about domestic violence and about victims of violence which tend to operate constantly across the legal system, and/or they may arise from the particular rules and structures found in each institutional setting. There is thus a need for detailed examination and analysis of how these various elements operate and interact in different court settings. In undertaking this task, the study has two objectives. First, it draws conclusions about the nature of implementation problems in the two jurisdictions in order to inform future feminist activism around violence against women. Secondly, it makes a more general point about the importance of procedure in feminist legal theory and praxis. In Australia in particular, feminist legal scholars and advocates have placed a heavy emphasis on doctrinal revision and have largely ignored issues of implementation. The study argues that procedure (conceived broadly to encompass the what, where, how, and who of legal proceedings) crucially shapes women's experience of the legal process, and is neglected by feminists at their peril. This book will be of interest to feminist jurisprudence and law and society scholars and researchers, and to activists and advocates in the field of domestic violence.

Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations from An African Perspective addresses the often neglected question of whether African regional human rights instruments impose extraterritorial obligations on State parties, and if so, the extent and scope of these obligations.The prevalence of extraterritorial violations of human and peoples' rights in the African system, due to the actions or omissions of African as well as non-African states, has not gone unnoticed. Strengthening extraterritorial obligations in Africa is an urgent necessity to ensure a rights-based African regional order that seeks to address, among other issues, challenges stemming from globalisation, accountability for human rights violations in Africa where a third state or entity (as well as an intergovernmental organisation) is involved, and to ensure respect and protection of the human rights of future generations. With the increasing quasi-judicial and judicial scrutiny of the extraterritorial reach of human rights and states duties, at both international and regional levels, including from the African Commission, the African region is ripe for extraterritorial analysis.Extraterritoriality is an emerging concept in the context of international human rights law, and has generally not been the focus of many books, and less so in the African context. This book is therefore among the first book of its kind providing the reader with a unique perspective on this important topic.

Like systems and procedures in most areas of modern society, the functioning of courts throughout the world has been enormously affected by information and communication technologies (ICT). It has become crucial for lawyers to keep pace with technical changes in judicial systems, especially in international cases where an understanding of procedural variations from one system to another could spell the difference between success and failure. This text has been written by experts who have been engaged in the planning and implementation of ICT in the courts of their respective countries. To ensure information that is as homogeneous as possible, and to facilitate cross-border comparisons, the authors have followed a common and detailed "blueprint" which includes a brief description of the judicial system under discussion. Specific areas of court technology covered include case management systems, electronic filing, and electronic data interchange. Although the emphasis is on EU Member States, a general overview of ICT applications in some Latin American judiciaries is also provided.

The world appears to be globalising economically, technologically and even, to a halting extent, politically. This process of globalisation raises the possibility of an international legal framework, a possibility which has gained pressing relevance in the wake of the recent global economic crisis. But for any international legal framework to exist, normative agreement between countries, with very different political, economic, cultural and legal traditions, becomes necessary. This work explores the possibility of such a normative agreement through the prism of national constitutional norms. Since 1945, more than a hundred countries have adopted constitutional texts which incorporate, at least in part, a Bill of Rights. These texts reveal significant similarities; the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, for instance, had a marked influence on the drafting of the Bill of Rights for South Africa, New Zealand and Hong Kong as well as the Basic Law of Israel. Similarly, the drafts of Eastern European constitutions reflect significant borrowing from older texts. The essays in this book examine the depth of these similarities; in particular the extent to which textual borrowings point to the development of foundational values in these different national legal systems and the extent of the similarities or differences between these values and the priorities accorded to them. From these national studies the work analyses the rise of constitutionalism since the Second World War, and charts the possibility of a consensus on values which might plausibly underpin an effective and legitimate international legal order.

Examines the recent rise in the United States' use of preventive force More so than in the past, the US is now embracing the logic of preventive force: using military force to counter potential threats around the globe before they have fully materialized. While popular with individuals who seek to avoid too many "boots on the ground," preventive force is controversial because of its potential for unnecessary collateral damage. Who decides what threats are 'imminent'? Is there an international legal basis to kill or harm individuals who have a connection to that threat? Do the benefits of preventive force justify the costs? And, perhaps most importantly, is the US setting a dangerous international precedent? In Preventive Force, editors Kerstin Fisk and Jennifer Ramos bring together legal scholars, political scientists, international relations scholars, and prominent defense specialists to examine these questions, whether in the context of full-scale preventive war or preventive drone strikes. In particular, the volume highlights preventive drones strikes, as they mark a complete transformation of how the US understands international norms regarding the use of force, and could potentially lead to a 'slippery slope' for the US and other nations in terms of engaging in preventive warfare as a matter of course. A comprehensive resource that speaks to the contours of preventive force as a security strategy as well as to the practical, legal, and ethical considerations of its implementation, Preventive Force is a useful guide for political scientists, international relations scholars, and policymakers who seek a thorough and current overview of this essential topic.

This title, a second edition of Currie & Klaaren's The promotion of administrative Justice Act Benchbook, is a commentary on the PAJA, written to assist the judges, magistrates, lawyers and administrators who are required to interpret and implement the Act. The aim is principally to describe the impact of the Act on the body of law that it codifies and reforms or, to put it another way, to describe the difference that the PAJA makes to administrative law. The PAJA has become the legislative foundation of the general administrative law of South Africa. Though analysis of an administrative-law issue will not end with the Act, it certainly must begin with it - with attention to and interpretation of the Act's provisions. This title therefore aims at providing the Act's interpreters with guidance on this process of interpretation, rather than to cover South African administrative law comprehensively.

Legal Do's and Don'ts in Venture Capital Transactions goes a long way to fulfilling the need of practitioners and entrepreneurs to structure cross-border venture capital transactions that are not only initially successful but enjoy continued profitability with the strength to overcome inevitable obstacles. It will be warmly welcomed by the venture capital and private equity community throughout the world.

Justice Marshall once remarked that if people knew what he knew about the death penalty, they would reject it overwhelmingly. Foley elucidates Marshall's claim that fundamental flaws exist in the implementation of the death penalty. He guides us through the history of the Supreme Court's death penalty decisions, revealing a constitutional quagmire the Court must navigate to avoid violating the fundamental tenant of equal justice for all. History amply demonstrates, argues Foley, that capital punishment cannot be fairly and equally implemented, and that it violates the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. Nearly 100 influential Supreme Court capital punishment-related cases from 1878-2002 are examined, beginning with Wilkerson v. Utah, which question not the legitimacy of capital punishment, but the methods of execution. Over time, focus shifted from the constitutionality of certain methods to the fairness of who was being sentenced for capital crimes--and why. The watershed 1972 ruling Furman v. Georgia reversed the Court's stand on capital punishment, holding that the arbitrary and capricious imposition of the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment, and therefore unconstitutional. Furman clarified that any new death penalty legislation must contain sentencing procedures that avoid the arbitrary infliction of a life-ending verdict, which led to the current complex tangle of issues surrounding the death penalty and its constitutional viability.

This book explores the extent to which European Community law confers upon individuals the right to gain access to public services in other Member States. Are European citizens and third country nationals who have moved to other Member States entitled to claim minimum subsistence benefits,to receive medical care or to be admitted to education? Does Community law provide for a freedom of movement for patients, students and persons in need of social welfare benefits? If so, to what extent does Community law have regard for the Member States' fears for, and concerns about, welfare tourism? Besides addressing numerous detailed questions on the precise degree to which Community law allows for cross-border access to public services, the author analyses how Community law, and the Court of Justice in particular, have sought to reconcile the Community's objectives of realising freedom of movement and ensuring equality of treatment with the need to develop and maintain adequate social services within the Community. In addition, the book contains a detailed analysis of United States constitutional law on cross-border access to public services, exploring the question whether the European Community can possibly learn from the American experience.

This book provides a detailed examination of the issue of conformity of goods and documents under the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods 1980 (CISG). This issue lies at the heart of sales law and is one of the most frequently litigated. The book explores: the Convention's requirements as to quality, quantity, description and packaging of the goods (conformity); the requirements flowing from the need for the goods to be free from rights or claims of third parties; and the questions of what documents the seller must deliver to the buyer and what constitutes a 'good' document under the CISG. The book engages extensively with a substantial body of cases decided under the CISG and academic commentary. It systematises the Convention's experience to date with a view to turning it into an integrated, comprehensive and distinctive CISG legal regime on conformity of goods and documents. The analysis is comparative and draws on the experience of some major domestic legal systems, such as English and US law. The focus is both analytical and practical. The book will be of interest to legal practitioners, academic lawyers and students with an interest in international and comparative sales, commercial and contract law.

This provocative book investigates the relationship between law and artificial intelligence (AI) governance, and the need for new and innovative approaches to regulating AI and big data in ways that go beyond market concerns alone and look to sustainability and social good. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the contributors demonstrate the interplay between various research methods, and policy motivations, to show that law-based regulation and governance of AI is vital to efforts at ensuring justice, trust in administrative and contractual processes, and inclusive social cohesion in our increasingly technologically-driven societies. The book provides valuable insights on the new challenges posed by a rapid reliance on AI and big data, from data protection regimes around sensitive personal data, to blockchain and smart contracts, platform data reuse, IP rights and limitations, and many other crucial concerns for law's interventions. The book also engages with concerns about the 'surveillance society', for example regarding contact tracing technology used during the Covid-19 pandemic. The analytical approach provided will make this an excellent resource for scholars and educators, legal practitioners (from constitutional law to contract law) and policy makers within regulation and governance. The empirical case studies will also be of great interest to scholars of technology law and public policy. The regulatory community will find this collection offers an influential case for law's relevance in giving institutional enforceability to ethics and principled design.

The History of Corporate Law by the Foremost Legal Historian, James Willard HurstThis study, which is based on a series of lectures delivered at the University of Virginia Law School, explores the development of corporate law from the 1780s, a time when the special charter was the only form of incorporation, to the 1960s, a time when corporations were established exclusively through general incorporation statutes. More than a chronicle, Hurst emphasizes how legal institutions actively shaped the central traits of American capitalism. CONTENTSAnalytical Table of ContentsIntroduction: Time, Place and SubjectI.From Special Privilege to General Utility, 1780-1890II.Legitimacy: Utility and Responsibility, 1890-1970III.Institutional Contributions to PolicyConclusion: The Social Impact of Corporation LawBibliographyIndexJames Willard Hurst 1910-1997] revitalized the field of American legal history with The Growth of American Law (1950) and helped establish the study of law and American society in Law and Social Process in United States History (1960). He had a particular interest in the ways society and law influenced one another. He was a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Countries are increasingly introducing data localization laws and data export restrictions, threatening digital globalization and inhibiting cloud computing's adoption despite its acknowledged benefits. Through a cloud computing lens, this multi-disciplinary book examines the personal data transfers restriction under the EU Data Protection Directive (including the EUUS Privacy Shield and General Data Protection Regulation). It covers historical objectives and practical problems, showing why the focus should move from physical data location to effective jurisdiction over those controlling access to intelligible data and control of access to data through security measures. The book further discusses data localization laws' failure to solve concerns regarding the topical and contentious issue of mass state surveillance. Its arguments are also relevant to other data localization laws, cross-border transfers of non personal data and transfers not involving cloud computing. Comprehensive yet accessible, this book is of great value to academics in law, policy, computer science and technology. It is also highly relevant to cloud computing/technology organisations and other businesses in the EU and beyond, data privacy professionals, policymakers and regulators.

Constitutionalists have not been eager to deal with the legal structures and problems of the European integration process from the viewpoint of the nation-state and have often surrendered the treatment of these issues to Community law experts. This text offers a presentation of different nation-state constitutional approaches to the problems of European integration. It covers a number of diverse nation-state constitutional approaches to the phenomenon of integration and various integration processes in the contemporary world. Topics of particular focus include: the formation of supranational and federal structures; the relationship and differences between these two kinds of structures and a possible conflict between them; and the problems of European integration. The International Association of Constitutional Law organized a Round Table Conference in Turku, Finland in May 1997 on the theme of this book. The contributions comprise the updated papers delivered at the Turku Round Table.

This is an important book which explores the classification of obligations. This is a very topical subject and it is fitting that it is examined here by contributors who are among the best-known writers in this field. The contributions include A New 'Seascape' for Obligations: Reclassification on the Basis of Measure of Damages by Jane Stapleton; Basic Obligations by James Penner; and an essay by Peter Birks himself entitled, Definition and Division: A Meditation on Institutes. These essays combine practical and academic perspectives which usefully highlight contemporary trends in the law of obligations. The book will be a valuable addition to the libraries of all teachers involved in this area of law.