This book deals with adoption laws and practices in small island developing states in the Pacific. It commences with an introductory chapter giving an overview of relevant laws and practices and pulling together the common themes and issues raised in the book. Each of the following chapters deals with adoption law and practice in a small South Pacific country. The countries in question all have plural legal systems, with systems of adoption and its closest customary law equivalent operating side by side. In most cases, there is an insufficiently developed relationship between the two systems, which has resulted in a number of problems. Additionally, international law adds another layer of complexity. Size and remoteness in the small states under discussion have a profound impact on local practices.

This study explores the socio-legal context of economic rationality in the legal and judicial systems. It examines the meaning and relevance of the concept of efficiency for the operation of courts and court systems,seeking to answer questions such as: in what sense can we say that the adjudicative process works efficiently? What are the relevant criteria for the measurement and assessment of court efficiency? Should the courts try to operate efficiently and to what extent is this viable? What is the proper relationship between 'efficiency' and 'justice' considerations in a judicial proceeding? To answer these questions, a conceptual framework is developed on the basis of empirical studies and surveys carried out mainly in the United States, Western Europe and Latin America. Two basic ideas emerge from it. First, economic rationality has penetrated the legal and judicial systems at all levels and dimensions, from the level of society as a whole to the day-to-day operation of the courts, from the institutional dimension of adjudication to the organizational context of judicial decisions. Far from being an alien value in the judicial process, efficiency has become an inseparable part of the structure of expectations we place on the legal system. Second, economic rationality is not the prevalent value in legal decision-making, as it is subject to all kinds of constraints, local conditions and concrete negotiations with other values and interests.

This book proposes a principled approach to the regulation of dispute resolution. It covers dispute resolution mechanisms in all their varieties, including negotiation, mediation, conciliation, expert opinion, mini-trial, ombud procedures, arbitration and court adjudication. The authors present a transnational Guide for Regulating Dispute Resolution (GRDR). The regulatory principles contained in this Guide are based on a functional taxonomy of dispute resolution mechanisms, an open normative framework and a modular structure of regulatory topics. The Guide for Regulating Dispute Resolution is formulated and commented upon in a concise manner to assist legislators, policy-makers, professional associations, practitioners and academics in thinking about which solutions best suit local and regional circumstances. The aim of this book is to contribute to the understanding and development of the legal framework governing national and international dispute resolution. Theory, empirical research and regulatory models have been taken from the wealth of experience in 12 jurisdictions: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England and Wales, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the United States of America. Experts with a background in academia, practice and law-making describe and analyse the regulatory framework and social reality of dispute resolution in these countries. On this basis the authors draw conclusions about policy choices, regulatory strategies and the practice of conflict resolution.

The reform of the European Constitution continues to dominate news headlines and has provoked a massive debate, unprecedented in the history of EU law. Against this backdrop Monica Claes' book offers a "bottom up" view of how the Constitution might work, taking the viewpoint of the national courts as her starting point, and at the same time returning to fundamental principles in order to interrogate the myths of Community law. Adopting a broad, comparative approach, she analyses the basic doctrines of Community law from both national constitutional perspectives as well as the more usual European perspective. It is only by combining the perspectives of the EU and national constitutions, she argues, that a complete picture can be obtained, and a solid theoretical base (constitutional pluralism) developed. Her comparative analysis encompasses the law in France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom and in the course of her inquiry discusses a wide variety of prominent problems. The book is structured around three main themes, coinciding with three periods in the development of the judicial dialogue between the ECJ and the national courts. The first focuses on the ordinary non-constitutional national courts and how they have successfully adapted to the mandates developed by the ECJ in Simmenthal and Francovich. The second examines the constitutional and other review courts and discusses the gradual transformation of the ECJ into a constitutional court, and its relationship to the national constitutional courts. The contrast is marked; these courts are not specifically empowered by the case law of the ECJ and have reacted quite differently to the message from Luxembourg, leaving them apparently on collision course with the ECJ in the areas of judicial Kompetenz Kompetenz and fundamental rights. The third theme reprises the first two and places them in the context of the current debate on the Constitution for Europe and the Convention, taking the perspective of the national courts as the starting point for a wide-ranging examination of EU's constitutional fundamentals. In so doing it argues that the new Constitution must accommodate the national perspective if it is to prove effective.

In this timely book, Beata Maihaniemi analyses and evaluates how the characteristics of information as a good, as well as the characteristics of digital platforms, affect the application of competition law in both theory and practice. Chapters offer a full evaluation and in-depth analysis of several key case studies in which information such as big data has been obtained, made use of, sold, or biased in an uncompetitive way. Such critical case studies include the European Commission's 2017 judgement against Google for granting illegal advantage to their own comparison shopping service, as well as the Bundeskartellamt's decision regarding Facebook's unfair trading terms under which it was gathering users' data without their voluntary consent. Reacting to these cases, the book offers guidance on how competition law can evolve to accommodate digital markets, such as classifying information as 'commons' or 'commodity', in order to realise social goals such as fairness. Compelling and insightful, this book will prove an important companion for students and scholars studying digital markets, as well as competition law more widely. It will also appeal to practitioners working on cases involving the regulation and usage of big data.

This timely book invites the reader to explore the lexicon of 'subjects' and 'objects' of EU law as a platform from which several dilemmas and omissions of EU law can be researched. It includes a number of case studies from different fields of law that deploy this lexicon, structuring the contributions around three principal elements of EU law: its transformations, crises and external-internal dynamics. The carefully structured case studies cover a wide range of areas in EU law, such as constitutional law, administrative law, external relations, trade and citizenship and present perspectives from a variety of EU Member States. The expert contributors explore how to discuss, analyze and frame core elements of a supranational legal order. This broad-ranging and collaborative research effort presents a fresh, critical perspective on contemporary EU law. The book offers a reflection on recent crises of the EU, such as Brexit, looking beyond the field of law to present solutions that apply theories of political economy, social theory and political theory. This thought-provoking narrative of EU law will be of interest to scholars in this field as well as to those in public international law, international relations, sociology, governance and political science. Contributors include: S. Bardutzky, A.D. Casteleiro, E. Christodoulidis, J. Corkin, S. Douglas-Scott, M. Everson, E. Fahey, F. Jacobs, E. Korkea-aho, D. Kostakopoulou, D. Kukovec, S. Poli, S. Rodin, M. Ruffert, A. Tataryn, A. Tryfonidou, J. van Zeben, S. Velluti, I. Vianello

Publicly funded legal aid has undergone rapid change in this century. Developing from charity to large scale, publicly funded schemes, legal aid flourished in many western countries in the 1960s and 1970s. But, during the 1980s governments began to lose faith in publicly funded legal aid. In the 1990s major funding and eligibility cuts have occurred in Sweden, England and Wales, the USA, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands. To answer the need for a better understanding of the extraordinary rise and fall of legal aid, this book brings together contributions from the leading international scholars in the field. Researchers from north America, Europe and Australia examine the origins of modern legal aid, analyse its recent rapid decline and consider its likely future. This collection of original studies does not, however, merely describe legal aids changing fortunes. The contributors also apply legal and social science perspectives to analyse and theorise about legal aid. In particular, rather than describe developments in individual societies, the contributors compare legal aid across societies to develop important insights including legal aids relationship with the legal profession, welfare states and legal families. This book will be embraced by all those interested in legal aid.

A unique reference work exploring the interaction of ever more pervasive media and the U.S. judicial system in the 20th century. At a time when two-thirds of local news is crime- or court-related, when Court TV broadcasts daily, and when one lurid case can push all other news aside, Media and American Courts: A Reference Handbook offers a much-needed examination of how the press and the judicial system interact. Despite the benefits (a better-informed public, judicial accountability), has expanded coverage of the courts in fact weakened our democracy? Media and American Courts approaches this question by exploring the cases, the personalities, and the controversies that have redefined the court/press relationship in the past century as the media expanded from print and radio to courtroom cameras, cable, and the World Wide Web. It also includes suggestions from legal and media experts for making court news more accurate, informative, and useful. Glossary definitions written in clear, layman's language describing the terms necessary for a full understanding of media coverage of the judicial system Biographical sketches of prominent courtroom journalists, lawyers, and judges such as F. Lee Bailey, Marcia Clark, and Johnny Cochran

Public Interest Litigation in South Africa offers a collection of grounded accounts - by leaders in the field - of the campaigns, cases, and causes that have defined key areas of public interest litigation in the country since the constitutional transition. The authors share their perspectives on the struggles led by people, communities, activists, and civil society organisations to realise the vision of the Constitution. This volume captures the legal narratives of those particular struggles in the hope that this will contribute to the broader, ongoing struggle for social justice. Part One of the book considers general themes relating to public interest litigation. These include its history, the development of the public interest sector and the impact and value of public interest litigation; the role of international law in public interest litigation; the ethics and politics of public interest litigation; and constitutional procedure. Part Two addresses public interest litigation in ten key areas of law: property rights, gender, basic services, health care, LGBTI equality, children's rights, basic education, freedom of expression, access to information, and prisoners' rights. Public Interest Litigation in South Africa seeks to share some of what has been achieved in the courts, beyond the well-trodden landmark appellate decisions, as a contribution to informed and critical engagement with litigation as a tool for social change.

The Handbook of Mediation gathers leading experts across fields related to peace, justice, human rights, and conflict resolution to explore ways that mediation can be applied to a range of spectrums, including new age settings, relationships, organizations, institutions, communities, environmental conflicts, and intercultural and international conflicts. The text is informed by cogent theory, state-of-the-art research, and best practices to provide the reader with a well-rounded understanding of mediation practice in contemporary times. Based on four signature themes-contexts; skills and competencies; applications; and recommendations-the handbook provides theoretical, applicable, and practical insight into a variety of key approaches to mediation. Authors consider modern conflict on a local and global scale, emphasizing the importance of identifying effective strategies, foundations, and methods to shape the nature of a mediation mindfully and effectively. With a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives, the text complements the development of the reader's competencies and understanding of mediation in order to contribute to the advancement of the mediation field. With a conversational tone that will welcome readers, this comprehensive book is essential reading for students and professionals wanting to learn a wide range of potential interventions for conflict.

A Historically Grounded Analysis and Defense of the Judiciary's Power to Override Legislation "The modern assailants of judicial power will find little comfort in this volume. It consists mainly in a clear and able presentation of convincing evidence that the power of the courts to override laws repugnant to the spirit of the Constitution was directly contemplated by the framers of that instrument. (...) He does not rest his case here, but proceeds with a discussion of other evidence in support of his position. (...) It is to be hoped that this volume will find a large audience and thereby perform a great public service in tending to limit the effect of many ill-considered statements bearing upon the power given to the judiciary by the Constitution of the United States."P.R.B., Yale Law Journal 22 (1912-13) 67-68 J. Hampden Dougherty was a prominent New York City lawyer whose practice focused on tax issues and land and water use. He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1874 and was the author of numerous titles including Electoral System of the United States (1906) and Constitutional History of New York State (2nd ed. 1915).

This innovative collection presents original theoretical analyses and previously unpublished empirical research on criminal victimisation. Following an overview of the development and deficiencies of victimology,subsequent chapters present more detailed challenges to stereotypical conceptions of victimisation through their focus on: male victims of domestic violence; victims of male-on-male rape; corporate victims; and the 'victim-offenders' who are the recipients of IRA punishment beatings. The second half of the book considers criminal justice responses to victimisation, focusing in particular on the potential of, and limits to, restorative justice, the social (and gendered) construction of the victim within contested trials and the exclusionary nature of current 'victim-centred' initiatives. This important book will further the debate on how we conceptualise victims as well as their appropriate role within the criminal justice system. New Visions of Crime Victims will be of interest to academics, students, criminal justice practitioners and policy-makers. It has particular implications for scholarship in the fields of victimology, restorative justice and feminist approaches to criminology and criminal justice. The integration of work by established criminologists, such as Carolyn Hoyle, Paul Rock, Andrew Sanders and Richard Young with that of young, previously unpublished scholars, makes for an interesting and stimulating book. As well as being a valuable addition to the literature, it can be used to support undergraduate and postgraduate courses in criminal justice and criminology.

This collection of essays by leading commentators on civil justice is an attempt to assess the present state of civil procedure in the UK and the possible impact of proposals recently put forward by Lord Woolf. In addition, the essays deal with the fundamental problems that are encountered today in the administration of civil justice everywhere. The contributors are distinguished practitioners and academics who have extensively contributed to the subject in the past. This book is intended for practising lawyers, judges, and academics concerned with civil justice, the legal system, access to justice, and court procedures campaign groups LAG, CPAG etc.

This book challenges certain differences between contract, tort and equity in relation to the measure (in a broad sense) of damages. Damages are defined as the monetary award made by a court in consequence of a breach of contract, a tort or an equitable wrong. In all these causes of action, damages usually aim to put the claimant into the position the claimant would be in without the wrong. Even though the main objective of damages is thus the same for each cause of action, their measure is not. While some aspects of the measure of damages are more or less harmonised between contract, tort and equity (e.g. causation in fact and mitigation), significant differences exist in relation to (1) remoteness of damage, which is the question of whether, when and to which degree damage needs to be foreseeable to be recoverable; (2) the compensability of non-pecuniary loss such as pain and suffering, distress and loss of reputation; (3) the effect of contributory negligence, which is the victim's contribution to the occurrence of the wrong or the ensuing loss through unreasonable conduct prior to the wrong; (4) the circumstances under which victims of wrongs can claim the gain the wrongdoer has made from the wrong; and (5) the availability and scope of exemplary (or punitive) damages. For each of the five topics, this book examines the present position in contract, tort and equity and establishes the differences between the three areas. It goes on to scrutinise the arguments in defence of existing differences. The conclusion on each topic is that the present differences between contract, tort and equity cannot be justified on merits and should be removed through a harmonisation of the relevant principles.

Judicial errors, deliberate or otherwise, often cause damage to litigants. Sometimes the damage suffered by the litigant is irreversible. In England and many other common law countries the injured person will normally have no redress because of the privilege of immunity from suit enjoyed by judges. This result also normally follows when the complaint is against the actions of someone acting in a quasi-judicial capacity. The situation then raises a number of questions, including questions about civil rights, the redress of wrongs, and the whole foundation of judicial independence. As more people resort to the courts and other judicial tribunals for the resolution of their disputes the question of the proper approach to injurious judicial errors becomes more important, especially since every participant in judicial proceedings is a potential victim. This book presents an in-depth study of the substantive, procedural and theoretical issues that arise when a judge is to be sued. The material is drawn mainly from English and American Federal case law. The study however also incorporates some Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand case law.

Although international arbitration has emerged as a credible means of resolution of transnational disputes involving parties from diverse cultures, the effects of culture on the accuracy, efficiency, fairness, and legitimacy of international arbitration is a surprisingly neglected topic within the existing literature. The Culture of International Arbitration fills that gap by providing an in-depth study of the role of culture in modern day arbitral proceedings. It contains a detailed analysis of how cultural miscommunication affects the accuracy, efficiency, fairness, and legitimacy in both commercial and investment arbitration when the arbitrators and the parties, their counsel and witnesses come from diverse legal traditions and cultures. The book provides a comprehensive definition of culture, and methodically documents and examines the epistemology of determining facts in various legal traditions and how the mixing of traditions influences the outcome. By so doing, the book demonstrates the acute need for increasing cultural diversity among arbitrators and counsel while securing appropriate levels of cultural competence. To provide an accurate picture, Kidane conducted interviews with leading international jurists from diverse legal traditions with first-hand experience of the complicating effects of culture in legal proceedings. Given the insights and information on the rules and expectations of the various legal traditions and their convergence in modern day international arbitration practice, this book challenges assumptions and can offer a unique and useful perspective to all practitioners, academics, policy makers, students of international arbitration.

Reprint of the first American edition. First published in Italian in 1936, Elogio dei Giudici Scritto da un Avvocato, this is a collection of maxims, anecdotes and observations on the nature of law and justice by a professor of legal procedure at the University of Florence. Some chapters are: On the Faith of Judges, The Prime Requisite of Lawyers; On Etiquette (Or Discretion) in The Court; On the Relationship Between the Lawyer and the Truth, or on the Necessary Partisanship of the Lawyer. With a new preface by Jacob A. Stein, prominent Washington D.C. trial lawyer and author of Eulogy of Lawyers (2010), Legal Spectator & More (2003) and other titles.

A behind-the-scenes examination of the special court dedicated to claims that vaccines have caused harm The so-called vaccine court is a small special court in the United States Court of Federal Claims that handles controversial claims that a vaccine has harmed someone. While vaccines in general are extremely safe and effective, some people still suffer severe vaccine reactions and bring their claims to vaccine court. In this court, lawyers, activists, judges, doctors, and scientists come together, sometimes arguing bitterly, trying to figure out whether a vaccine really caused a person's medical problem. In Vaccine Court, Anna Kirkland draws on the trials of the vaccine court to explore how legal institutions resolve complex scientific questions. What are vaccine injuries, and how do we come to recognize them? What does it mean to transform these questions into a legal problem and funnel them through a special national vaccine court, as we do in the US? What does justice require for vaccine injury claims, and how can we deliver it? These are highly contested questions, and the terms in which they have been debated over the last forty years are highly revealing of deeper fissures in our society over motherhood, community, health, harm, and trust in authority. While many scholars argue that it's foolish to let judges and lawyers decide medical claims about vaccines, Kirkland argues that our political and legal response to vaccine injury claims shows how well legal institutions can handle specialized scientific matters. Vaccine Court is an accessible and thorough account of what the vaccine court is, why we have it, and what it does.

Through studies of beheaded Irish traitors, smugglers hung in chains on the English coast, suicides subjected to the surgeon's knife in Dresden and the burial of executed Nazi war criminals, this volume provides a fresh perspective on the history of capital punishment. The chapters 'Introduction: A Global History of Execution and the Criminal Corpse' and 'The Gibbet in the Landscape: Locating the Criminal Corpse in Mid-Eighteenth-Century England' are open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Could you really:

-Handle your own divorce?
-Find a better way to deal with business creditor and debtor disputes?
-Get City Hall and the County Prosecutor to make some sense of the justice system?

"Dispute Management" knowledge and skills will guide you to more successful and satisfying resolution of these and other disputes and conflicts. Let Trial Judge, Trial Lawyer and award-winning mediator and arbitrator David Strawn show you how!

This new edition of Criminal Defence offers a step-by-step guide to practice and procedure in all of the criminal courts. It covers the process in detail, from the role of the defence solicitor, through to shaping a case at the police station, to preparing for trial and finally action after acquittal or conviction and sentence. It also contains specific chapters on youths and clients at a disadvantage. Based on up-to-date case law, it is a best practice guide to being a criminal solicitor and complements the goals of the Law Society's Criminal Law Accreditation Scheme.

An in-depth examination of the U.S. Supreme Court under the 11-year reign of Chief Justice Edward Douglass White. The White Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy examines the workings and legacies of the Supreme Court during the tenure of Chief Justice Edward Douglass White. Through detailed discussions of landmark cases, this reference work explores the role the Court played in steering the country through an era of economic growth, racial discrimination, and international warfare. The White Court reveals how the Court established its greatest legacy, the "rule of reason," in antitrust cases against the American Tobacco Company and Standard Oil, and how it resolved controversies concerning the expansion of executive power during wartime. Individual profiles of the 13 White Court justices describe their rise to prominence and controversies surrounding their nominations, their work on the Court, judicial philosophies, important decisions, and overall impact. A-Z entries on key people, laws, cases, events, and concepts such as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Hipolite Egg Co. v. United States, and Standard Oil of New Jersey v. United States Appendix with excerpts from primary documents of key cases decided during the White Court tenure