Drawing on a range of global case studies, Market Distortions in Privatisation Processes illustrates the ways in which market distortions damaged the ability of privatisation processes to yield concrete benefits to consumers. The book compares and contrasts privatisations of state-owned enterprises around the world where competition informed the regulatory design and thus liberated consumer welfare. In particular, the cases are drawn from the electricity and gas sector, the telecoms industry, and postal services - each of which has been frequently privatised in different context. For each industry, the book explores the UK and US experiences as well as looking at international cases from both developed and developing countries including, where appropriate, Japan, Colombia, Romania and Mexico. The emphasis is on analysing the impact that market distortions have had on the outcomes of those privatisations. The book also looks at how public service objectives were achieved and how they too can be designed in pro-competitive or anti-competitive ways. This book will be of significant interest to readers in international business, economics, and law.

First published in 1998, this volume is the first full-length discussion of women's experiences in the solicitors' profession in the UK. It provides an account which is grounded in historical research and a contemporary research study. The authors explore this material to analyze both women's own experiences and the mainstream culture and structure of the profession. Following a treatment of the struggle against the formal exclusionary barriers to women's entry to the profession, this book then seeks to identify the informal obstacles which were subsequently erected to women's participation and career progression, and examine their persistence, in a modified form, into the contemporary era. The analysis draws on perspectives from feminist jurisprudence to the sociology of the professions to shed light on the processes which support women's continued subordination in employment as lawyers.

This book presents practical advice to law students and those entering and now working in the legal profession that will help them to reconcile who they are as a person with the demands and opportunities of a legal career. The book sets out a clear framework and practice examples for: (i) defining "success", (ii) understanding the role of a professional in relation to clients, colleagues, adversaries and community, (iii) reconciling demands of practice within ethical rules and norms, business considerations and personal values and (iv) building a values-centered, economically viable practice and reputation. Complete with practical advice and experiences that produce and reinforce a holistic approach, this book provides invaluable support for second- and third-year law students and lawyers in practice to establish elusive work-life balance over the course of a legal career.

This book offers a critical introduction to trends and developments in contemporary criminological theory. Designed both as a companion to An Introduction to Criminological Theory - also by Roger Hopkins Burke and published by Routledge - and as a standalone advanced textbook, it develops themes introduced previously in more detail, incorporates new critical and radical concepts and explores cutting-edge advances in theory. Key topics include the following: * Constitutive, anarchist, green and species, bio-critical, cultural, abolitionist and convict criminologies * Globalization and organized crime * Southern theory * Critical race theory * Terrorism and state violence * Gender, feminism and masculinity * Ultra-realism * Radical moral communitarianism These key issues are discussed in the context of debates about the fragmentation of modernity and the postmodern condition; the rise of political populism, risk, surveillance and social control, and speculation about living in post-COVID-19 society and the future of neoliberalism. Written in a clear and direct style, this book will appeal to both undergraduate and postgraduate students of criminology, sociology and politics and is essential reading for advanced students of criminology looking for a way to engage with contemporary themes and concepts in theory.

This book is quite simply about contract administration using the JCT contracts. The key features of the new and updated edition continue to be its brevity, readability and relevance to everyday practice. It provides a succinct guide written from the point of view of a construction practitioner, rather than a lawyer, to the traditional form of contract with bills of quantities SBC/Q2016, the design and build form DB2016 and the minor works form MWD2016. The book broadly follows the sequence of producing a building from the initial decision to build through to completion. Chapters cover: Procurement and tendering Payments, scheduling, progress and claims Contract termination and insolvency Indemnity and insurance Supply chain problems, defects and subcontracting issues Quality, dealing with disputes and adjudication How to administer contracts for BIM-compliant projects JCT contracts are administered by a variety of professionals including project managers, architects, engineers, quantity surveyors and construction managers. It is individuals in these groups, whether experienced practitioner or student, who will benefit most from this clear, concise and highly relevant book.

The law that applies to maritime operations at sea is complex and comprises two distinct elements: treaty law (1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), and the cases and incidents that occur at sea in both peacetime and during armed conflict which result in the creation of customary international law applicable to maritime operations at sea. Covering sovereignty and vessel status, jurisdiction and interdiction, freedom of navigation, maritime law enforcement and security, and the law of naval warfare, this edited collection brings together the most famous and influential cases and incidents at sea. Exploring the entire spectrum of maritime operations from 'high end' war-fighting to constabulary operations that are conducted by naval forces and maritime law enforcement agencies at sea to provide the factual circumstances of each case or incident; offering sophisticated analysis and insights into the case or incidents enduring importance, and their significance for the development of the law applicable to maritime operations; and offering a detailed account and evaluation of the most critical but rarely understood cases in maritime operations law, which encourages comparison between key cases, this book will be an essential reference for practitioners, scholars, teachers, and students of maritime operations law.

Adopts a unique methodology to provide a detailed hermeneutical reading of the story of al-Khidr. The book rethinks and revives the marginalized Qur'anic global humanitarian message. The Qur'anic Dilemma is a groundbreaking resource for all scholars of Islamic Studies, or those interested in Qur'anic interpretation, Muslim ethics, or comparative theology.

The rapid globalization of capital markets has increased attention toward examining the quality of the disclosure practices implemented by companies, as internationalization and globalization are the most important motives of the harmonization of financial statements preparation and presentation. Given the expansion of trade and the openness to foreign capital markets, investment decisions became not limited only for local users, but also international users may need to access the financial information. The issuance of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to be used throughout the world aims to improve the comparability and understandability of financial statements, and hence, to enhance investment decisions through helping investors across the borders to invest in multinational companies. Although fluid and under-developed institutional arrangements remain central features of emerging markets, ensuring effective corporate governance mechanisms would indeed support companies in complying with IFRS - the latter imposes a challenge for companies operating in emerging markets. This book evaluates the differences in the level of compliance with IFRS across the GCC states, exploring the impact of corporate governance on the level of compliance with IFRS and presenting an empirical analysis of companies across the GCC. It makes an important contribution by providing a detailed empirical analysis of the interplay between corporate governance and IFRS in emerging market setting and highlights the way for future research. It will provide international business, management, and accounting and finance students and senior practitioners with a completely new and updated guide to the work in the field of corporate governance and IFRS compliance in emerging markets.

Placing contemporary technological developments in their historical context, this book argues for the importance of law in their regulation. Technological developments are focused upon overcoming physical and human constraints. There are no normative constraints inherent in the quest for ongoing and future technological development. In contrast, law proffers an essential normative constraint. Just because we can do something, does not mean that we should. Through the application of critical legal theory and jurisprudence to pro-actively engage with technology, this book demonstrates why legal thinking should be prioritised in emerging technological futures. This book articulates classic skills and values such as ethics and justice to ensure that future and ongoing legal engagements with socio-technological developments are tempered by legal normative constraints. Encouraging them to foreground questions of justice and critique when thinking about law and technology, the book addresses law students and teachers, lawyers and critical thinkers concerned with the proliferation of technology in our lives.

Arguing that the translation of scientific and technical learning materials, and the publication of these translations in a timely and affordable manner, is crucially important in promoting access to scientific and technical knowledge in the developing world, this book examines the relationship between copyright law, translation and access to knowledge. Taking Sri Lanka as a case study in comparison with India and Bangladesh, it identifies factors that have contributed to the unfavourable relationship between copyright law and the timely and affordable translation of scientific and technical learning materials, such as colonisation, international copyright law, the trade interests of the developing economies and a lack of expertise and general lack of awareness surrounding copyright law in the developing world. Highlighting the need to reform international copyright law to promote the needs and interests of developing countries such as Sri Lanka, the book points to a possible way forward for developing countries to achieve this and to address the problem of striking a proper and delicate balance in their copyright laws between the protection of translation rights and the ability of people to access translations of copyright protected scientific and technical learning materials.

There has been a recent increase in clashes between warships asserting rights to navigate and states asserting sovereignty over coastal waters. This book argues for a set of rules which respect the rights of coastal states to protect their sovereignty and of warships to navigate lawfully, whilst also outlining the limits of each. The book addresses the issue of the clash between warships and states by considering the general principles applying to use of force in the law of the sea and the law of national self-defence. It focuses on the right of coastal states to use force to prevent passage of warships which threaten their sovereignty, with particular reference to the specific maritime zones, as well as by warships to ensure passage or to defend themselves. The book also assesses the extent to which the law of armed conflict may be applicable to these issues. The conclusion draws together a set of rules which take account of both contemporary and historical events and seeks to balance the competing interests at stake. Providing a concise overview of the enduring issue of freedom of navigation, this book will appeal to anyone studying international law, the law of the sea, security studies and international relations. It will also be of interest to naval, coast guard and military officers as well as government legal advisors.

This book explores how public and private actors can interrelate to achieve also by means of law a sustainable development which is beneficial for the environment, society and the economy. The Role of Law in Governing Sustainability assesses the structure, functions and perspectives of law in the wider governance frameworks of sustainable development. It provides latest and in-depth insights from each of the three dimensions of sustainable development and the relations among them. Latest political developments on global and regional level related to the environmental, social and the economic dimensions are provided as well as in-depth case studies. Thereby the book explores how international and national laws and governance can help us move towards a more sustainable future. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental law, global governance and sustainable development.

This book explores the series of issues that emerge at the intersection of disability, care and family law. Disability studies is an area of increasing academic interest. In addition to a subject in its own right, there has been growing concern to ensure that mainstream subjects diversify and include marginalised voices, including those of disabled people. Family law in modern times is often based on an "able-bodied autonomous norm" but can fit less well with the complexities of living with disability. In response, this book addresses a range of important and highly topical issues: whether care proceedings are used too often in cases where parents have disabilities; how the law should respond to children who care for disabled parents - and the care of older family members with disabilities. It also considers the challenges posed by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, particularly around the different institutional and state responsibilities captured in the Convention, and around decision-making for both disabled adults and children. This interdisciplinary collection - with contributors from law, criminology, sociology and social policy as well as from policy and activist backgrounds - will appeal to academic family lawyers and disability scholars as well as students interested in issues around family law, disability and care.

Prisons are everywhere. Yet they are not everywhere alike. How can we explain the differences in cross-national uses of incarceration? The Politics of Punishment explores this question by undertaking a comparative sociological analysis of penal politics and imprisonment in Ireland and Scotland. Using archives and oral history, this book shows that divergences in the uses of imprisonment result from the distinctive features of a nation's political culture: the different political ideas, cultural values and social anxieties that shape prison policymaking. Political culture thus connects large-scale social phenomena to actual carceral outcomes, illuminating the forces that support and perpetuate cross-national penal differences. The work therefore offers a new framework for the comparative study of penality. This is also an important work of sociology and history. By closely tracking how and why the politics of punishment evolved and adapted over time, we also yield rich and compelling new accounts of both Irish and Scottish penal cultures from 1970 to the 1990s. The Politics of Punishment will be essential reading for students and academics interested in the sociology of punishment, comparative penology, criminology, penal policymaking, law and social history.

Ideas are the fuel of industry and the entertainment business. Likewise, manufacturers receive suggestions for new products or improvements to existing products, and retailers frequently receive ideas for new marketing campaigns. Many ideas are not new and may be used by anyone without the risk of incurring any legal liability, but some ideas are novel and valuable. If the originator of a potentially useful idea does not have the financial resources to exploit the idea, he or she may submit it to another, with the expectation of receiving compensation if the idea is used. Although an extensive body of intellectual property law exists to protect the rights of inventors, authors, and businesses that own valuable brands or confidential proprietary information, raw ideas receive no protection. Nevertheless, the originator of a potentially useful and marketable idea is not without legal recourse. The courts have developed, through a long line of common law precedents, legal protection for novel and concrete ideas under certain circumstances. The originator of an idea can rely on contract law, whereby the recipient may expressly or impliedly agree to pay for the idea. Alternatively, if the idea is disclosed in confidence, its unauthorized use by the recipient allows the originator of the idea to recover compensation. Finally, some courts have treated the ownership of ideas as quasi-property rights.

This book draws together themes in business model developments in relation to decentralised business models (DBMs), sometimes referred to as the 'sharing' economy, to systematically analyse the challenges to corporate and organisational law and governance. DBMs include business networks, the global supply chain, public-private partnerships, the platform economy and blockchain-based enterprises. The law of organisational forms and governance has been slow in responding to changes, and reliance has been placed on innovations in contract law to support the business model developments. The authors argue that the law of organisations and governance can respond to changes in the phenomenon of decentralised business models driven by transformative technology and new socio-economic dynamics. They argue that principles underlying the law of organisations and governance, such as corporate governance, are crucial to constituting, facilitating and enabling reciprocality, mutuality, governance and redress in relation to these business models, the wealth-creation of which subscribes to neither a firm nor market system, is neither hierarchical nor totally decentralised, and incorporates socio-economic elements that are often enmeshed with incentives and relations. Of interest to academics, policymakers and legal practitioners, this book offers proposals for new thinking in the law of organisation and governance to advance the possibilities of a new socio-economic future.

In excess of loss reinsurance, the reinsurer covers the amount of a loss exceeding the policy's deductible but not piercing its cover limit. Accordingly, a policy's quantitative scope of cover is significantly affected by the parties' agreement of a deductible and a cover limit. Yet, the examination of whether a loss has exceeded deductible or cover limit necessitates an educated understanding of what constitutes one loss. In so-called aggregation clauses, the parties to (re-)insurance contracts regularly provide that multiple individual losses are to be added together for presenting one loss to the reinsurer when they arise from the same event, occurrence, catastrophe, cause or accident. Aggregation mechanisms are one of the core instruments for structuring reinsurance contracts. This book systematically examines each element of an aggregation mechanism, tracing the inconsistent usage of aggregation language in the markets and scrutinizing the tests developed by courts and arbitral tribunals. In doing so, it seeks to support insurers, reinsurers, brokers and lawyers in drafting aggregation clauses and in settling claims. Focusing on an analysis of primary sources, particularly judicial decisions, the book interprets each judicial decision to describe a system of inter-related rules, collating, organising and describing the English law of aggregation as applied by the courts and arbitral tribunals. It further draws a comparison between the English position and the corresponding rules in the Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL).

This book addresses the questions of discrimination, vulnerable consumers, and financial inclusion in the light of the emerging legal, socioeconomic, and technological challenges. New technologies - such as artificial intelligence-driven consumer credit risk assessment and Fintech platforms, the changing nature of vulnerability due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the sophistication of digital technologies, which help circumvent legal barriers and protections - necessitate the continuous study of the existing legal frameworks and measures that are capable of tackling these challenges. Organized in two major parts, the first addresses, from multiple national angles, the idea of a human rights approach to consumer law, in order to replace the mantra of economic efficiency that characterizes financial services with those of human dignity and freedom from discrimination and from debt-induced servitude. The second tackles the challenges posed by increased usage of technology in connection with financial services, which tends to solve, but also creates, additional issues for consumers in general, and for vulnerable groups in particular.

Parricide and Violence Against Parents takes a historical and criminological approach to the research on parricide and violence against parents, placing the research in the context of social development from the 1500s to contemporary society, and giving a global overview and comparison. The book examines parricide and violence against parents as historically and culturally sensitive phenomena. It offers evidence on a seemingly rare subject from different eras, areas, and cultures, and then uses the cross-disciplinary data to produce a new, systematic insight for the reader. Case studies shift the discussion from the contemporary focus on adolescent to parent abuse, to examining the sources of conflict during life cycles of parents and their offspring. A historical approach illuminates the variations in conflicts between parents and their offspring that are shaped by the life stages of the victims and offenders themselves across time. The book argues that parental authority has been marked by property ownership and tax paying responsibilities throughout history. The continued possession of property resulted in power, the reluctance to part with it, becoming a notable source of conflict across generations within families. Parental authority was protected by means of heavy penalties and punishments and didactic teachings in almost every society at every stage of historical development. It was also challenged constantly by children as a part of their coming into adulthood. The abuse of parents has often been connected to situations where adult children were prevented from gaining the amount of independence appropriate to their position in life. This led to disputes over authority and the legitimate grounds for that authority. Offering an insight into complicated and interconnected histories of generational conflicts and how they affect modern families in different parts of the world, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of criminology, history of crime, history of the family, family violence, homicide studies, gender studies, history of emotions, political violence, and social work.

There is an urgent need to better understand the legal issues pertaining to alternative dispute resolution (ADR), particularly in relation to mediation clauses. Despite the promotion of mediation by dispute resolution providers, policy makers, and judges, use of mediation remains low. In particular, problems arise when parties lack certainty regarding the legal effect of a mediation clause, and the potential uncertainty regarding the binding nature of agreements to pursue mediation is problematic and threatens the growth of ADR. This book closely examines the importance and complexity of mediation clauses in commercial contracts to remedy this persistent uncertainty. Using comparative law methods and detailed empirical research, it explores the creation of a comprehensive framework for the mediation clause. Providing valuable insight into the process of ADR and mediation, this book will be of interest to academics, law makers, law students, in-house council, lawyers, as well as parties interesting in drafting enforceable mediation clauses.

This book assesses the construction, operation and effects of the international protection regime for human rights defenders, which has evolved significantly over the last twenty years in response to the risks people face as they promote and protect human rights. Drawing upon the experiences of human rights defenders who continue to persevere in their activism in Indonesia, Egypt, Kenya, Mexico and Colombia, this edited collection examines the ways in which formal protection mechanisms by state and civil society actors intersect with self-protection measures and informal protection initiatives by families and friends. It highlights that protection practices are most effective when they are designed to address the specific risks that human rights defenders face (which are gendered and intersectional); reflect how defenders understand 'risk', 'security' and 'protection'; and are appropriate for the dynamic sociopolitical and legal contexts in which defenders operate. This book proposes ways in which the protection of human rights defenders at risk should be reimagined and practised. This book will be a thought-provoking guide for students and scholars of politics, international relations, law and human rights, as well as to practitioners engaged in the protection of human rights defenders at risk.

Introducing the Negev-Bedouin land issue from the international indigenous land rights perspective, this comparative study suggests options for the recognition of their land. The book demonstrates that the Bedouin land dispossession, like many indigenous peoples', progressed through several phases that included eviction and displacement, legislation, and judicial decisions that support acts of dispossession and deny the Bedouin's traditional land rights. Examining the Mawat legal doctrine on which the State and the Court rely on to deny Bedouin land rights, this volume introduces the relevant international law protecting indigenous land rights and shows how the limitations of this law prevent any meaningful protection of Bedouin land rights. In the second part of the work, the Aborigines' land in Australia is introduced as an example of indigenous peoples' successful struggle for their traditional land rights. The final chapter analyzes the basic elements of judicial recognition of the land and shows that the basic elements needed for Bedouin land recognition exist in the Israeli legal system. Proposing practical recommendations for the recognition of Bedouin land, this volume is a key resource to scholars and students interested in land rights, international law, comparative studies, and the Middle East.

Drawing on the Homeric epics, this multidisciplinary work reveals the cultural transformations which need to take place in order to transition from today's modern extractive agricultural system to a sustainable natural-systems agriculture. In order to provide an imaginative foundation on which to build such a cultural transformation, the author draws on the oldest and most pervasive pair of literary works in the Western canon: the Iliad and the Odyssey. He uses themes from those foundational literary works to critique the concept of state sovereignty and to explain how innovative federalism structures around the world already show momentum building toward changes in global environmental governance. The book proposes a dramatic expansion on those innovations, to create eco-states responsible for agroecological management. Drawing from many years of experience in international institutions, the author proposes a system of coordination by which an international agroecology-focused organization would simultaneously (i) avoid the shortcomings of the world's current family of powerful global institutions and (ii) help create and implement a reformed system of local landscape-based agriculture wholly consistent with ecological principles. Acknowledging the difficulty of achieving reforms such as these, the author suggests that a new cultural-conceptual narrative can be constructed drawing on values set forth 2,700 years ago in the Homeric epics. He explains how these values can be reimagined to drive forward our efforts in addressing today's the climate and agricultural crises in ways that reflect, not reject, the natural processes and relationships that make the Earth a living planet. This book will be of great interest to students, academics and policymakers addressing issues of agrarian values, environmental and agricultural law, environmental restoration, agroecology, and global institutional reform.

This edited volume offers a critical discussion of the trade-offs between transparency and secrecy in the actual political practice of democratic states in Europe. As such, it answers to a growing need to systematically analyse the problem of secrecy in governance in this political and geographical context. Focusing on topical cases and controversies in particular areas, the contributors reflect on the justification and limits of the use of secrecy in democratic governance, register the social, cultural, and historical factors that inform this process and explore the criteria used by European legislators and policy-makers, both at the national and supranational level, when balancing interests on the sides of transparency and secrecy, respectively. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of security studies, political science, European politics/studies, law, history, political philosophy, public administration, intelligence studies, media and communication studies, and information technology sciences.

Utilizing the principle of reciprocity, Reciprocity and China's Transboundary Waters: The Law of International Watercourses analyses the past, present and future of the law of international watercourses with a particular focus on China. As a legal principle, reciprocity plays a strong role in the formation, interpretation and maintenance of international law. Implementing this framework, the book examines the development of the law of international watercourses, highlighting how this basic legal principle is a foundational notion. It applies the framework to China and offers insights into one of the most important transboundary states in Asia. As a primarily upstream state, China is of great significance to its transboundary neighbours; however, there remain significant hurdles, misunderstandings and mistrust between China and its neighbours. China is faced with a complex challenge - how to meet its own development needs while also taking into consideration its primarily downstream neighbours? By focusing on this prominent state this work not only fosters a greater understanding of the law of international watercourses within China, but also clarifies and challenges current perceptions of China's transboundary water treaty practice. More generally, the book provides a past, present and future view on international watercourse law, starting with an analysis of the UN Watercourses Convention and UNECE Water Convention leading to a discussion of reciprocity's continued influence as well as charting a path forward. This book will be of great interest to legal students and scholars with an interest in international watercourses, environmental politics and international law, as well as students and scholars interested in Chinese politics and natural resource management and conflict.