The rules of forfeiture prevent those who have committed a crime against another person from benefitting from that person’s will or law of intestacy. The common law rules on forfeiture, however, are subject to exceptions which have not been clearly defined. The recent decision in Morris v Morris [2024] EWHC 2554 addressed the crime of assisted suicide in the context of forfeiture and showed considerable discretion by holding that accompanying the deceased to a suicide clinic will probably not engage the forfeiture rule, depending on the likelihood of a prosecution under the Suicide Act 1961. Any additional acts, however, that would amount to assisting a suicide under the 1961 Act (and under the new Assisted Suicide Bill 2024), would continue to engage the rule of forfeiture. This note will look at the rationale behind the Morris decision, its historical context, and how it provides some clarity to the field.

Feminist criminology is the branch of criminology that examines how gender influences crime and the justice system. It explores how the judicial system treats woman-centric crimes differently, both for victims and offenders. Although the criminal justice system is meant to provide fair justice, it frequently exhibits subtle biases that influence sentencing outcomes. The law requires men and women to be treated equally for similar acts, but in reality gender frequently has a significant influence on the harshness of punishment. Despite being equally guilty, men and women are typically sentenced differently, with women more often receiving leniency. Judges and juries may be more sympathetic to female offenders due to their reluctance to impose severe punishments that would deprive them of their loved ones and interfere with their maternal duties. Due to this bias, women may receive rehabilitation rather than punishment from the courts, whereas men are more likely to face the full weight of the law.

This is a short paper on the essentialness of justice professionals with knowledge in both law and psychology for justice.

This paper aims to reflect the unwavering interconnection that exists between the law, its application, and psychology by demonstrating the degree to which the human dimension affects the work of judges or other parties in a judicial process. By illustrating unprecedented cases of this influence, it raises questions and attempts to resolve whether the latest technology can offer solutions and to what extent.

Corruption in Albania is examined through an interdisciplinary lens combining psychological theories and socio-legal analysis to reveal how cognitive biases, social norms, and institutional weaknesses interact to sustain corrupt practices. The study highlights how moral disengagement, anchoring bias, and social normalization embed unethical conduct within political and bureaucratic systems, undermining legal compliance and eroding public trust. Historical and cultural legacies, including patronage networks and kinship obligations, shape perceptions that justify misconduct as loyalty or necessity, complicating reform efforts. Structural anti-corruption measures often fall short without addressing underlying psychological mechanisms that rationalize and perpetuate corruption. Integrating behavioral interventions, such as moral identity reinforcement, peer group realignment, and transparency-enhancing strategies, with legal reforms is proposed to disrupt entrenched patterns. Emphasis is placed on consistent enforcement, visible accountability, and community-level norm recalibration to restore institutional credibility and support democratic integrity. This approach underscores the importance of aligning internalized ethical values with formal governance structures to achieve sustainable reductions in corruption and strengthen rule of law in transitional democracies.

This is a student perspective paper on psychology and law, following the Roundtable Unconference on Psychology-Law knowledge fusion for real-world challenges that took place at Hult International Business School, London, on 3 December 2025.

This Special Issue comprises the proceedings from the Roundtable Unconference that took place at Hult International Business School, London, on 3 December 2025. The event brought together researchers and practitioners with expertise in psychology and law who shared their insights into the importance of psychology-law fusion in addressing pressing societal challenges.

Keywords:

psychology and law; judges; lawyers; psychologists; interdisciplinary evaluation; psychology and justice; knowledge fusion

Modern education and professional training in most fields have followed the deep but narrow model, where deep expertise is acquired in a narrow field (e.g. specific area of law), with very few insights incorporated form other disciplines. A common alternative to deep but narrow is wide but shallow, where experts acquire superficial knowledge from across different disciplines, but without interdisciplinary integration needed to extract true value from these insights. In this paper we argue that recent advances in understanding the human mind, combined with unprecedented changes in accessibility of information enabled by AI, provide an opportunity for shifting to the deep and wide model of expertise acquisition. Using the legal profession as an example, we discuss how the shift towards deep and wide model can lead to improvements in decision making and consequent benefits to individuals and societies.

This is a follow-up expert opinion on sleep and the law, summarising the authors contribution at the Roundtable Unconference on Psychology-Law knowledge fusion for real-world challenges that took place at Hult International Business School, London, on 3 December 2025.

This submission explores the symbiotic relationship between law and psychology, arguing that judicial integrity is not merely the absence of corruption, but a courageous act of judge’s conscience against conformity and indifference.

This research facilitates the discovery of the relative strengths and weakness of UN Convention on Contracts for International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the Uniform Law for the International Sale of Goods (ULIS) and enhances wider and deeper comprehensibility of how and where CISG's Articles conflict with ULIS. Notwithstanding, this study involves looking back and draws a distinction between the past and present on the grounds that ULIS itself is regarded as a historical factor of CISG. Thus, looking attentively at the foundations of CISG is indispensible to the comprehensive interpretation of CISG. In clarifying the debate, it is important to synthesise the differences between the ULIS and CISG's provisions, which calls for a contextual approach, with an analytical eye, to appraise both Conventions. A comparative method was adopted for the purpose of applying an interdisciplinary approach and, as one scholar asserts, combating the attitude of parochialism, which limits the study to CISG and overlooks other considerations that may influence the effective application of the Convention. A comparability study provides a deeply informed perspective with which to achieve a better understanding of the practical and doctrinal purposes of the two legal systems, namely by asking how CISG and ULIS tackle similar contentions with different techniques. Comparison exercises in the field of international commercial law is considered as an effective 'laboratory' to improve and reform current practices. The principal tools of such a laboratory are the analytical approach and critical legal method, which assist the attainment of a future ideal legal framework and benefit practitioners by spotlighting the obstacles they may face under both Conventions at the present time.

Mechanisms and policies for compensation, support, and resettlement when the State acquires land for socio-economic development purposes are concretized by the 2013 Land Law, aiming to harmonize the interests of the parties. However, the report from the General Department of Land Management (in 2018) said that the adjusted documents on compensation and support have yet to cover all the problems arising in practice, leading to difficulties and confusion in implementation (Nhan, 2022). In essence, the land acquisition is within the competence of the State; in contrast to the types of assets established on the land, there must be a voluntary mechanism of agreement. In this case, the State should not use its power to impose compensation prices. Although the purpose is to acquire land for economic development, the law empowers the State to decide on the value of land assets, and set on the land is not standard. When comparing the same type of asset, but the value of each place has a difference, there is no uniformity. In many localities, the market price has changed several times but still set meager compensation prices for people. From the above issue, when conducting compensation when the State acquires land for socio-economic development purposes, in any case, it is necessary to correctly and fully calculate the damage caused by land acquisition to the subjects who are using land and assets attached to land, including related intangible and tangible damage. In addition, it is also necessary to delete the support policy because when the damage is fully estimated, there is no need for support-related regulations. Keywords: Land acquisition, economic development, compensation, support, and resettlement.

In this letter, we flag the importance of sleep for human behaviour. Sleep is essential for human functioning yet historically has been relatively neglected in various areas of psychological research such as that focusing on psychopathology (e.g., Gregory & Sadeh, 2016). Here we note empirical data and legal cases and considerations which emphasise the potential importance of further considering sleep in the context of the legal system. We argue for the need to conduct additional high-quality systematic research in this area, as well as the importance of interdisciplinary collaborations to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of human behaviour within the legal system and to maximise the impact of this work. Sleep has many functions including supporting emotional regulation (Palmer & Alfano, 2017) as well as memory and cognition (Girardeau & Lopes-Dos-Santos, 2021). Consequentially, missing out on sleep can result in poorer emotional regulation as well as have a negative impact on cognitive functions including attention and decision-making. It follows that sleep deprivation could play a role in certain crimes, including those committed in the context of emotional outbursts (‘provocation’) or due to significant failures (e.g., falling asleep at the wheel or making serious errors at work). Sleep quality and disorders also need to be considered in this context, with untreated or undisclosed narcolepsy or sleep apnea examples of disorders which could lead to falling asleep with serious consequences and legal ramifications, potentially adding a new dimension to legal proceedings. Indeed, undiagnosed severe sleep apnea was flagged as a possible contributor to the high-profile Long Island Rail Road Collision in 2017 in which 108 people were injured (NTSB, 2017). More generally, untreated sleep apnea is a risk factor for other outcomes, such as car accidents (Tregear et al., 2009). Such findings highlight the legal obligations of those with certain sleep disorders. While patients may legally be able to refuse treatment for a sleep disorder, they do not have a right to ignore risks to others caused by this decision (see Brown, 2022). The employer also holds legal obligations linked to their employees’ sleep – and may hold vicarious liability for sleep-related accidents occurring during work hours. In industries where safety is paramount (e.g., for doctors, pilots etc.) there may also be regulation restricting work hours and reducing tiredness (Brown, 2022). Where a sleep disorder qualifies as a disability this will have implications for reasonable adjustments required by law. Working conditions (e.g., shift work) which are deemed to cause harm (e.g., cancer) may result in compensation claims (Erren et al., 2009). Beyond employment law, early school start times, often considered to be out of sync with the internal timing of young people with consequential implications for accidents and missed potential, could hold implications for education law. What is more, if sleep is considered a fundamental human right, legal implications for housing, homelessness and detention could follow. Governments and local authorities might also want to consider promoting sleep quality via policies and public campaigns. As well as potential legal implications of the sleep disorders narcolepsy and sleep apnea, other sleep disorders have also been flagged in the legal context. These include sexomnia, which involves sexual behaviours related to sleep and may occur during a confusional arousal or in the context of sleep-walking (American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2023). This sleep disorder has led to sexual assaults (Dubessy et al., 2017) and been presented as a defence against allegations of rape with a recent case being dismissed because it was deemed possible that the alleged victim could have experienced an episode of sexomnia, something she strongly contested (Ailes, 2022). Sleep-walking and confusional arousals have also been considered in defence against accusations of violent crimes (Ebrahim & Fenwick, 2008; Ingravallo et al., 2014). In addition to the relevance of sleep-related variables to crimes committed and the potential defence (which could potentially be used to argue diminished capacity, lack of intent or involuntary behaviour), the sleep of others involved in the legal system may be worthy of further consideration. Given associations between sleep and memory, the quality and accuracy of an eyewitness testimony may vary as a function of the way a witness has slept prior to the event on which they are reporting; or whether statements are taken before or after periods of sleep. Some data support a role for sleep, and one report found that self-reported sleep quality prior to witnessing a mock crime, predicted the accuracy for which certain details were reported (Carlson et al., 2023). This chimes well with previous work showing that poorer self-reported sleep quality and greater sleepiness were associated with poorer accuracy in reporting the peripheral details of a crime (Thorley, 2013). Other reports have examined the role of sleep deprivation for false memories, finding that the former could increase the latter under certain conditions but not others (Frenda et al., 2014). Null findings have also been reported, and one study found no support for the idea that sleeping after witnessing a crime and before assessing a line-up improved eyewitness identification (Morgan et al., 2019). These mixed results for different sleep variables suggest that further empirical study, systematic reviews and meta-analyses may help to establish the full significance, magnitude, and the way in which sleep could be relevant to eyewitness testimony. Decision-making within the legal context may also be impacted significantly by sleep/circadian factors. One striking report found that judges in the US handed out sentences on the Monday following the shift to daylight savings (which is often accompanied by missing out on sleep) that were 5% longer when compared to other Mondays (Cho et al., 2017). It is however noteworthy that a further consideration of these data suggested that modelling decisions impacted these results and that therefore this effect (if it exists) may be smaller than first considered (Spamann, 2018). While the full extent of the importance of sleep for different aspects of the legal system is currently unclear, research and reports to date suggests that it might be fruitful to further consider this line of enquiry. It is beyond the aims of the authors (who have written this piece in our roles as sleep researchers and psychologists) to make suggestions about the way in which this information (if found to be robust) should be incorporated into legal recommendations and considerations – and it is and only with interdisciplinary collaborative research and discussion that this will become clearer. At the very least, further research should be conducted to examine robust effect sizes and legal experts should be aware of the role of sleep on human behaviour per se to decide if and how this needs to be further considered in a legal context.

Ryan Abbott, ed. Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence. Research Handbooks in Intellectual Property series. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022. ISBN: 978-1-80088-189-1.

This research facilitates the discovery of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the Uniform Law for the International Sale of Goods (ULIS), and enhances a wider and deeper understanding of how and where the provisions of the CISG conflict with those of the ULIS. Notwithstanding, this study involves looking back and drawing a distinction between the past and present on the grounds that the ULIS itself is regarded as a historical precursor of the CISG. Thus, looking attentively at the foundations of the CISG is indispensable to its comprehensive interpretation. In clarifying the debate, it is important to synthesise the differences between the provisions of the ULIS and the CISG, which calls for a contextual approach, with an analytical eye, to appraise both Conventions. A comparative method was adopted for the purpose of applying an interdisciplinary approach and, as one scholar asserts, combating the attitude of parochialism, which limits the study to the CISG and overlooks other considerations that may influence the effective application of the Convention. A comparative study provides a deeply informed perspective through which to achieve a better understanding of the practical and doctrinal purposes of the two legal systems, namely by asking how the CISG and ULIS address similar contentions through different techniques. Comparison exercises in the field of international commercial law are considered an effective ‘laboratory’ for improving and reforming current practices. The principal tools of such a laboratory are the analytical approach and critical legal method, which assist in attaining a future ideal legal framework and benefit practitioners by highlighting the obstacles they may face under both Conventions at the present time.

Conflict of laws is a term that sets out a long list of rules and regulations which are designed to resolve private disputes containing a foreign or an international element. 'Foreign' element actually indicates that there is some sort of a contact with some other law which is not exactly English law. A suitable example to explain the definition at ease can be that a tort was committed, but it was committed in a foreign country or, for instance, the parties who committed the tortious act are not English. An alternative term which is used for conflict of laws in Europe is “private international law.” Another example where the situation of conflict of laws may arise can be in a scenario where a contract has been signed in one state, and it has been to some other state. In such complicated scenarios, the court decides by the law of the territory having the closest connection with the entire transaction. This article focuses on what is exactly known as the conflict of laws and the history of it, showcasing some imperative cases like Robinson v Blant case where a significant doctrine has been introduced by the courts. The article discussed harmonisation and the type of it, and the different harmonising techniques that were used to bring harmonisation into effect. The article also displays fundamental information related to the nature of harmonisation, the advantages and the drawbacks of it, and also what are the two categories of conflict in harmonised areas. Finally, a neat conclusion has been drawn in this article that how the denationalisation of the uniform law along with the regulation of international business can effectively reduce the conflict of laws rules.

Helena Zakowska-Henzler, Zaneta Zemla-Pacud, and Tomasz Zimny. Biotechnology, Patents and Human Rights in Europe: Innovations concerning the human body. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023. 226pp.

The article examines five key problems in the field of real estate rights protection in the Russian Federation. The author attempts to find possible solutions, taking into account the positions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), as well as experience of foreign states and judicial practice in the Russian Federation. It was concluded that the position of the Russian Constitutional Court is not on all, but on many controversial issues in line with the position of the ECHR. Also, effective application of laws requires a more active position of Russian legislators in securing legal guarantees for holders of property rights to real estate and achieving a balance in regulation of relevant legal relations. Keywords: real rights, real property, human rights, European Convention on Human Rights

The literature on Artificial Intelligence (AI) as applied to legal practice can contain apparent paradoxes. On one hand, some researchers suggest that AI can transform law. On the other hand, others suggest that AI has more limited potential. This apparent tension can be understood by distinguishing different forms of AI technology. This paper reviews two contrasting types: It first examines expert systems and their component ‘decision trees’ and then turns to consider Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). It reviews the use of the former within the legal sector and the potential of the latter. Expert systems have fixed ‘knowledge’ that is codified into computer systems by human experts and, to some extent, enjoy wide legal-sector adoption–at least for the ‘decision tree’ part of the technology. Improvements for the legal sector can be made by enriching decision trees using methods from decision science and by using algorithmically-generated decision trees. ANNs are quite different. These are vast networks of connections within software systems that ‘learn’ from rich data by being exposed to examples. This technology simulates the way that connections between neurons in a biological brain are strengthened via training. This paper finds that ANNs have significant potential but face more limited legal-sector adoption than decision trees. Other forms of AI exist but are beyond the scope of this paper. Keywords: legal artificial intelligence; legal AI; expert systems; ANNs; artificial neural networks; legal technology; legal practice; machine learning.

On 22 December 2017 Microsoft Corporation ("MS") filed a lawsuit (Microsoft Corporation v. John Does 1-10 using IP address 73.21.204.220, (United States District Court, Western District of Washington at Seattle. Decided 2 Jan 2018, Microsoft Corp. v. Doe, CASE NO. C17-1911RSM) (the "MS case"). The suit alleges large-scale copyright infringement through software piracy and trademark infringement relative to Microsoft registered trademarks. What was unusual about this filing is that MS, at the time of filing, had nothing more on which to base its lawsuit than an IP address that had communicated over 28,000 times with its registration servers in Seattle. I discuss this in the first section discussing the MS Case. In 2017, Kristanalea Dyroff sued Ultimate Software Group, Inc for the death of her son due to a drug overdose. She contended that her son – 29 years old at the time – was guided to a dealer of fentanyl-laced heroin based upon recommendation from Ultimate’s proprietary machine learning (ML)-based tool that guided users to things on its website that might interest them. Although it could have been a major effort at applying the law to ML-based software, it failed because the judge failed to address the ML aspect directly. Instead, the court analyzed the case based upon conventional law and precedent. Likewise, the issue of personal jurisdiction in cyberspace was not, but should have been, addressed. A discussion with one of the attorneys for the plaintiff conducted by the author the week of 19 April 2021 confirmed that, in the attorney's opinion, the court erred in finding for the defense. This paper analyzes the jurisdictional and technical issues raised by these two types of cyber event and postulates the jurisdictional and technical challenges raised by next generation cyber events that employ artificial intelligence ("AI"), particularly machine learning ("ML") through the lens of two cyber case analyses.

Albania has established a representative system of protected areas, covering almost 16% of the Albanian territory. Over the past 20 years, protected areas in Albania have not been integrated into national and local development policies. Most of the natural resources in Albania are under the threat of constant pressures such as illegal logging, hunting, fishing. The National Agency for Protected Areas is actively working to improve the management of protected areas according to the requirements, international standards, and experience of other European countries. In the field of nature conservation and biodiversity, Albania has an obligation to identify and protect natural heritage areas of high conservation interest for the European Union. Using qualitative research methodology, this paper aims to address the issues related to protected areas by also identifying the measures that may improve their management. The findings from the analysis highlight problems and delays in meeting Albania’s obligations under the integration process in the field of nature conservation and biodiversity.

This article presents and discusses recent developments of using autonomous vehicles and analyses their effectiveness in terms of the theory of criminal responsibility for harm caused. The authors consider the liability of the autopilot according to several theoretical approaches. The main approaches assume liability for injury caused during the operation of the elevator, responsibility for damage caused by autopilots of large transport, and the charge of the human driver. There are some types of criminal liability concerning harm caused by autonomous vehicles. One way relates to using partially autonomous cars where a human driver is always responsible for driving. In the case of road incidents, only the human driver might be found guilty. In the case of full automation, when a human driver does not control the vehicle, be it autopilot as a self-learning program or not, only the developer or the technicians should be responsible in case of harm. Another case is related to the behaviour of the owner of the autonomous vehicle. The authors conclude that legal regulation is necessary. A separate corpus delicti as a new article is needed in the criminal legislation to provide criminal liability for death or other grave consequences caused by unmanned vehicles.

The inclination of humans towards self-preservation is the pivot for the universalist notion of human rights and a good starting point of what humans do and desire. What defines good is where the criticism by particularist jurisprudence halts the conclusion of universality. This article aims to resolve the question whether universalism should be the standard for human rights. Using qualitative data analysis, the arguments of the universalists and the particularists on the human rights discourse are examined. A deductive content analysis was applied on a set of data from treaties, declarations, internet sources, and journal articles, arguing that both worldviews failed to address some fundamental issues related to human rights. It is argued that the universality notion of human rights has a better operational value than the particularity perspective, since universality encourages a convergence of purpose which makes for determinable standards within the international law system. The article concludes that the universalist notion of human rights is important to a beneficial agenda of open societies, where governments would be accountable to their citizens, and where people would be able to express themselves without fear of oppression.

Formerly taken by the members of the assize in its early days, the foundations of a jury predate Norman roots whereby members of the assize took the oath to justly try the cause of land disputes; although it was not until the 15th century where a jury became a part of the criminal and civil trial. Nearly 6 centuries later the general practice of jury has survived historical evolution and has become a civic duty today, however this ultimately begs the question whether a jury system is fit for purpose in a cosmopolitan and modern society despite its centrality to the English and Welsh justice system. Whilst this article does not seek to challenge the importance of the jury system, it argues that the current system is in- adequate to an extent. By reflection of one’s own academic and career experiences, and by exploring studies from the domains of law and psychology, this article explores whether the jury system in England and Wales is fit for purpose today in consideration of its strengths and diffi- culties, whilst also offering alternatives and areas for reform in response to this critique.

This publication is a brief communication in response to the UK government report: “Genomics Beyond Healthcare”, which was released on January 26, 2022. We discuss some of the key areas covered by the report, as well as other recent research; and call for interdisciplinary and international collaborations.

Book Reviewed: Franco Ferrari and Diego P. Fernandez Arroyo, editors. Private International Law: Contemporary Challenges and Continuing Relevance. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019. ISBN: 978 1 78990 689 9. 520pp.

European Union law is an autonomous system of rules, principles, and institutions operating within the EU Member States and encompassing social and economic policies focused on cooperation and human development. The EU is not merely an economic union but also aims to ensure social progress and the continuous improvement of the working and living conditions of its citizens. The legal foundations of the EU are represented by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Treaty on European Union, respectively, signed in Rome on 25 March 1957, and in Maastricht on 7 February 1992. In recent decades, EU law has developed significantly. The new provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 January 2009, introducing relevant changes to the hierarchy of norms and the competence of the European Parliament, as well as a move from unanimity to qualified majority voting in certain policy areas. The Treaty of Lisbon also made the Charter of Fundamental Rights a legally binding instrument for all Member States. Following the Treaty of Lisbon, many areas of EU law have been affected by considerable legislative activity. Furthermore, in recent years, the EU Courts have issued important decisions in various areas of EU law, including citizenship, the free movement of goods, workers, and services, freedom of establishment, and human rights in general. Given these developments, the current legal framework is characterized by the ever-increasing structural complexity of EU law. The interplay between the EU legal order and national legal orders requires cooperation between Member States and EU institutions, as well as an understanding of an extraordinarily complex legal system. The book under review, *Advanced Introduction to European Union Law*, is authored by Jacques Ziller and provides a concise introduction to EU institutional and policy law. Ziller is a Professor of European Union Law at the University of Pavia, Italy, and was formerly a professor at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and the Université de Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne, France. In addition to his academic activities, he has also served as a consultant to the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the European Committee of the Regions. Building on his extensive work, Ziller provides an insight into EU law using clear and accessible language for readers interested in the diverse aspects of this complex legal field. The book addresses the functioning of EU law and policy and focuses the reader’s attention on “what the EU is supposed to do, and what it may or may not do in legal terms” (page xi of the preface). Accordingly, the book explores the sectoral policies of the EU before describing the functioning of its institutions. Furthermore, treaty provisions are subject to considerable discussion. As Ziller himself notes, “studying EU case law can only be successful if we constantly go back to the bases, that is the texts of the treaties” (page xii of the preface).

The intersection of technology with the law has always been slow and often fraught with confusion. Lawyers do not speak the language of technology and, conversely, technologists are often unfamiliar with the law’s complexities. The purpose of this paper is to bring the legal community into closer alignment with the technical community without requiring lawyers to undertake an in-depth education in machine learning (ML). A key area of confusion concerns jurisdiction in cyberspace. There are, essentially, two camps. One side argues that cyberspace is a domain of its own, without laws, governance, or enforcement. The other side maintains that, in most cases, existing international law is sufficient to manage the legal aspects of the Internet. The latter position is correct to a point. However, emerging areas of technology appear to challenge this position. One of the most dangerous and difficult areas, both theoretically and practically, is autonomous malware. This paper discusses that challenge and proposes approaches to addressing it. We begin with technical definitions and explanations to frame the legal issues properly within the technical context. We then address jurisdiction in cyberspace generally, followed by a demonstration of a standardized approach to examining the Internet through the lens of the law. Next, we present a hypothetical attack of the type envisioned. Finally, we propose possible solutions to the problem of autonomous malware and software-driven, as opposed to human-driven, attacks. Please note that this paper focuses on United States law and the state of technology in the United States. However, the author has cited an African journal article suggesting that the issues discussed here are present throughout the world (see footnote 35). Keywords. cyberspace, cyber law, jurisdiction, international law, private law, cyber definitions, autonomous malware, Internet

The Hong Kong Convention was adopted in 2009 to regulate the global industry of ship recycling, but the convention remains unenforced due to the problem of ratification by the leading ship recycling states. Due to the lopsided track record of ship breaking in the last forty years, the ratification currently depends primarily on the policy choices of few developing nations. Given the gross unpreparedness and oversight of Pakistan towards the treaty’s timely accession with India’s recent ratification, and the ban of China on the import of hazardous waste, the responsibility lies with the policymakers of Bangladesh to decide the fate of this influential global pact. This article attempts to track down the origin and evolution of ship recycling regime of Bangladesh, followed by a critical analysis of the salient provisions of the framework ship recycling regulations of this chief ship recycling state as adopted recently. It postulates that the drawbacks figured out may create significant obstruction or procrastination to accede to the convention by Bangladesh thereby endowing an inclusive and sustainable global ship recycling industry any time soon. The article ends with recommendations to the government of Bangladesh for necessary amendments in its framework regulations on ship recycling identified in this research.

For years, the imposition of monetary contributions by foreign tourists in Bali has been a subject of debates and controversy. The rationale of foreign tourist contributions is that they facilitate the preservation of Bali’s natural and cultural heritage. The recent enactment of the Bali Provincial Regulation No. 1 Year 2020 concerning Tourist Contributions for the Protection of the Natural Environment and Culture of Bali (the Provincial Regulation) seemingly solves the issue. However, a closer look suggests that the Provincial Regulation lacks a convincing legal concept of voluntary tourist contributions. This paper analyses the con- tent, process, and expectation of the creation of the above- mentioned Provincial Regulation, with reference to Indonesian laws and regulations, and reports conclusions drawn from meetings and interviews with relevant authorities. It is argued that, instead of providing specific regulations of the collection and management of voluntary contributions, the Provincial Regulation delegates the Governor to determine these matters through executive order. Undoubtedly, this dissociates with stakeholder expectations related to the preservation of Bali’s natural and cultural riches and the improvement of tourist facilities and services in Bali. Finally, the paper addresses the issue of implementing the Regulation in the light of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on tourism.

There have been tremendous advances in genetic science that have the potential to bring enormous benefits to humanity. However, there are concerns that genetic data could also be misused as a tool for discriminating against groups, such as ethnic minorities or people with genetic predispositions to health conditions. Such discrimination could occur in a variety of areas, including employment, healthcare, education, policing and the justice system, and the provision of goods and services, such as insurance. The concern that genetic data could be used for discriminatory purposes is rooted in bitter and painful historical experience. Crimes against humanity based on racism have left a lasting mark on our collective history, including the murder of approximately 1.5 million Armenians during the 1915 genocide, as well as the murder of more than 6 million Jews and approximately 500,000 Roma during the Holocaust of World War II, known by Roma as the ‘Porajmos’. Discrimination against Black people and other ethnic minority groups has also been influenced by discredited theories of ‘race’, such as those promoted by the Eugenics movement in the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, discriminatory practices have persisted in many States, including, for instance, the forced sterilisation of Roma women and the ethnic profiling of minority groups by the police. In 1997, UNESCO issued the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights, which stipulates in Article 6 that: ‘No one shall be subjected to discrimination based on genetic characteristics that is intended to infringe or has the effect of infringing human rights, fundamental freedoms and human dignity.’ In my view, there is a need to update equality and discrimination legislation in States to include a prohibition on the use of genetic data for discriminatory purposes in accordance with Article 6 of the UNESCO Declaration. In the meantime, there is an urgent need to educate the judiciary, lawyers, and the public about the risks associated with the use of genetic data and the safeguards that must be in place to ensure that its retention and distribution are lawful. In the absence of up-to-date legislation, courts can develop case law to protect individuals and groups from discriminatory practices by applying existing laws. However, such developments can take time and may lead to inconsistencies and anomalies. Nevertheless, decisions of supranational courts, such as the European Court of Human Rights, could contribute significantly to advancing the protection afforded to individuals and groups in a coherent and consistent manner. There is likely to be resistance to the introduction of legislative safeguards from scientists, corporations, and politicians who are keen to exploit the use of genetic data to its full potential within a relatively relaxed regulatory regime, even if such a regime allows some scope for discriminatory uses. Such resistance will need to be overcome if the most vulnerable members of society are to be protected from the misuse of genetic data.

Leading academics who spoke at the conference “Justice in the Genomic and Digital Era,” an international conference hosted by The Accessible Genetics Consortium (TAGC), explained that gaps exist in existing laws governing the protection of information extracted from sequenced genetic data. These gaps are observed across different continents. For example, in the United States, specific laws such as the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) 2008, and in Canada, the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act 2017, provide limited protection to individuals. In the European Union, even the most relevant legislation to date, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), provides insufficient protection; for example, one provision may provide protection while another may offer countervailing effects. These limitations arise, among other factors, from the high economic value and commercial interests associated with big data, including data generated from sequenced genetic information, as well as the need for such genetic data for various research purposes in medicine, science, and other fields. As the concluding student session of this intensive conference, students were required to undertake a practical task. Students from law, science, psychology, and linguistics backgrounds were grouped to work collaboratively on diverse topics relating to genetic issues. They were asked to imagine that they were members of the Interdisciplinary Council on the Use of Genetic Information in the Justice System. Their objective was to develop guidelines for policymakers concerning the use of genetic information in the justice system, drawing on the information and insights presented during the earlier conference sessions. In developing their proposals, students were required to consider several issues, including single-gene genotyping versus whole-genome sequencing; single-gene risks versus polygenic risk scores; gene–environment interactions; confidentiality and anonymity; the use of different factors as aggravating and mitigating circumstances in sentencing; genetic literacy and expertise among justice-system stakeholders; and the use of genetic information in the justice system in the era of artificial intelligence, including applications such as robotic judging.

SUMMARY. We are now faced with unprecedented progress in genomic research. Findings can be used for family planning, prediction, prevention and treatment of diseases, understand disabilities and behaviour disorders and to investigate crimes. DNA can be used to identify victims of disasters, locate missing persons, and even monitor trafficking of goods such as ivory or wood. They can also be used to the harm of individuals and society, including through discrimination (e.g. access to health, education) and unreasonable and unjustified state interference in the private life of individuals (e.g. through surveillance).

This article assesses genetic information in the system of civil rights under civil law of the Russian Federation.

This article analyzes the legal foundations of compulsory genomic registration in Russia and the UK. The paper assesses the prospects for the development of Russian legislation and law enforcement practice on ethical issues related to the right of access to genomic data, its confidentiality during storage, transmission and destruction.

Discoveries in the last two decades have created a ‘different world’, which requires ‘different’ laws. They have created a world where: enormous information on people’s past, present and future can be extracted from DNA alone; the DNA of millions of people has already been sequenced; the cost of sequencing is around 30 million times less than in 2003; additional detailed personal information is collected from numerous sources, such as mobile phones, hospitals, bank cards; this information is shared internationally among numerous powerful private and State organisations; and use of this information can be highly profitable for these organisations. Under these conditions, current law is unable to fully protect rights such as that of data protection, privacy, a fair trial, and non-discrimination on genetics and other basis – rights valued by societies. For the law to serve its key purpose, it now must adapt (evolve) to this fast and fundamental change in the ‘environment’. In relation to protection from data misuses, as privacy (genetic and other) is not possible, laws are required which can minimise negative impact of data misuses. Key stakeholders (e.g. judges, policymakers) would need to understand how genes work and how genetic information is used in order to appreciate the urgency of updating laws and to build effective protection.

Scientific and technological progress, the development of technologies, the consistent accumulation of empirical material on human genetic data and their potential value will objectively expand the conditions for their both legitimate and unlawful use. Therefore, the question of legal protection of human genetic data may arise in the very near future.

Genetic science has provided new knowledge that has the potential to reduce ‘race’ discrimination. This includes findings that around 95% of human genetic variability is present within any population; and that most human traits are influenced by a complex combination of many genetic and environmental factors. Despite this knowledge, racially discriminatory practices persist internationally, including segregation; unfair sentencing; state surveillance of children; and involuntary sterilisation. Moreover, there is an emerging risk that DNA may be used to propel harmful discriminatory practices. For example, new ‘DNA-based’ groups may emerge in the context of polygenic prediction – aggregating multiple genetic risks into individuals’ combined risk indexes. Such DNA-based groups could be viewed as ‘new races’ - adding yet another category to the already heterogenous definition of ‘race’. This paper reviews the genetic advances directly relevant to, and their impact on, ‘race’ and other group discrimination; and assesses current UK and international discrimination practices and effectiveness of the laws in place prior to and in the genomic era. The paper concludes that current laws provide insufficient protection from ‘race’ and other group discrimination and still reflect people’s beliefs in entrenched differences between ‘races’. The paper asserts that the very use of the term ‘race’ in equality legislation is problematic due to inconsistencies in definition across key legislations and its historical association with domination. Justice systems must update laws to reflect current genetic knowledge and to address existing and emerging risks of discrimination.

SUMMARY. This article aims to evaluate the “gray areas” in Russian legislation regulating the activities of medical organisations for the processing of genetic data as personal data. The analysis includes the relevance of the topic for the economy, science, and law in Russia, and current legislation from the perspective of gaps and enforcement issues. The paper also provides brief recommendations for improving legal regulation in the field of genetic data processing and associated risks.

In a recent appeal against Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, the Court of Appeal was wrong to find that Dr Rushd breached the standard of care in taking a patient’s history in *FB v Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust* [2017] EWCA Civ 334. An analysis of the court’s judgment shows that it failed to assess the standard of care for taking a history against the measure of reasonableness. Applying the measure of reasonableness demonstrates that Dr Rushd did provide a reasonable standard of care. Although the court was right to uphold *Wilsher v Essex AHA* [1987] 1 QB 730, because junior doctors should not be held to a lower standard of care, this does not justify the Court of Appeal setting the standard of care higher than that expected under a reasonable standard. Upholding this precedent places an onerous burden on GPs.

Copyright clearly faces the constant challenge of achieving a balance between confluent interests of several stakeholders. As it is an area of the law related to culture and science, it touches multiple aspects of legal analysis from philosophy, international law to criminal and private law. This Research Handbook on Copyright presents questions and challenges on copyright issues that project the discipline in the future. This book offers a broad perspective of areas to consider of possible research about copyright. Although most of the attention is paid to issues related to EU copyright law and its problems of harmonisation, it also reflects global issues and interesting perspectives from other jurisdictions.

The United Kingdom’s expanding practice of immigration detention has been described as a ‘dark stain’ on its human rights record. A number of aspects of the UK’s detention practice engage fundamental human rights, including the practice of indefinite and prolonged detention, the lesser procedural safeguards afforded to detainees and the detention of particularly vulnerable persons. This paper evaluates the utility of international human rights law as a tool of constraining these harmful detention practices. In exposing the limits of international human rights law in protecting the rights of immigration detainees, it is concluded that while claims of territorial sovereignty remain unchallenged and ‘othering’ of migrants continues, international human rights law will struggle to constrain - let alone abolish - immigration detention.

Moral and economic dilemmas are often caused by the patent system as new drugs enter the market. This is because patents are mostly centred on economic profit, regardless of the possible negative consequences on public health.(fn) Some of the consequences include the difficulty for the less economically-advantaged classes to access particular drugs(fn) and that a drug is often isolated from competition as a result of a 20-year mandated monopoly. Competition would contribute to a proliferation of medical products and, therefore, reduce the holistic medication price.(fn) Access to effective and affordable medicines is regarded as a prerequisite for global public health. At the same time, the pharmaceutical industries deserved remuneration for the product and its value which they produce. The current system is flawed and must be restructured.

This research explores a theory of cyber law expressed in the form of seven guidelines and based upon international principles of jurisdiction. Focus in cyberlaw largely has been on aspects of cybercrime rather than the theory, philosophy, and science of cyber law generally. This article seeks to characterize the jurisprudential aspects of cyber law jurisdiction by developing a broad measuring stick that can be applied to the law as it impacts cyberspace. The attention herein is on private law, and the primary focus is to begin to regularize a vocabulary that can be understood by both the legal and cyber communities, to develop guidelines for applying settled concepts in the physical space to the problem of jurisdiction in cyber space, and the development of new legal paradigms addressing yet unknown issues in cyber jurisprudence. These issues vocabulary and jurisdiction - form the most significant stumbling blocks to the development of a coherent, universal, and useful jurisprudence addressing issues in cyber space, now and in the future. The private law explored addressing private law jurisdiction is derived from international legal concepts. The landscape is viewed in three ways (“Law Types”): 1. Settled, physical space law; 2. Physical space law that can be molded or interpreted to address cyberspace; 3. Areas where new laws must be made to address issues that are uniquely cyber-related. This article addresses some of the most relevant issues, resources and cases, both from the U.S. and internationally. It is not intended to be pervasive, but rather as a starting point for further discussion and research.

This book is aimed at academics in the field of international law, with a particular focus on the EU, its composition, and its politics. It is an excellent research tool that provides a wealth of information on the topic addressed in the title, *The EU as a Polity*, primarily by examining the term “security” in a broad sense. It also provides scope for further research by suggesting additional questions that could be addressed. It considers the uniqueness of the EU as a regional group and whether the EU is, in fact, a polity—that is, a political entity with collective goals and the capacity to assemble resources, organized by some form of institutional hierarchy. It does not define this concept until the end of the book; it would be useful to have this definition at the beginning so that readers could reflect on it as the discussion develops. The book considers the hurdles that the EU may face both in becoming and in functioning as such a polity. The examination is thorough and does answer the questions that it sets out to address. Importantly, the EU is considered both as part of, but also distinct from, the domestic sphere of law. ‘It possesses its own norms, principles, institutions which respond, at least in part, to a logic that is separate from and overlapping with the domestic legal framework.’ (page 2). EU law has primacy, but that does not mean that national law is invalidated; rather, national law is disapplied (page 11). This is one of the arguments used by the author to dismiss federalist claims concerning the shift in sovereign power from the national to the EU level. He also asserts that the argument in the book is ‘neither purely legal, nor purely political – but crosses both fields, because the EU is considered simultaneously as a legal system/order and as a polity’ (page 29). Therefore, the theoretical approaches within the book move from black-letter law to socio-legal analysis in places.

Alina Averchenkova, Sam Fankhauser, and Michal Nachmany, eds. Trends in Climate Change Legislation. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017. ISBN 978-1-78643-577-4.

Summary. For the Crime of Genocide, mens rea plays a significant role. The two assessed criminal cases—Goran Jelisić and Momčilo Krajišnick—demonstrate the difficulty in proving the level of intent as a means of convicting genocide criminals. Special intent is hard to prove in the court of law, and perpetrators can disguise genocidal acts to avoid conviction. The systematic genocidal violence aimed at the Rohingya population in Myanmar also shows the difficulty in proving special intent. It is recommended that the revision proposed by Alexander Greenawalt, that both the meaning and interpretation of intent from ‘purpose-based’ to ‘knowledge-based’ perspective, is necessary. More importantly, the paper suggests steps which can potentially bring these atrocities to an end, inlcuding labelling them what they are, a ‘genocide.’

Ronald Dworkin’s Life’s Dominion has set the tone of jurisprudential discourse on the ethics of abortion. Dworkin, addresses the basis of the debate over the morality of abortion. However, he does so from an uncommon lens. He is not concerned with whether abortion should be morally permissible or not. Instead Dworkin asks, ‘Why does a large section of society vehemently oppose abortion?’. Dworkin claims that abortion is opposed because it violates the intrinsic value or ‘sacredness’ bestowed in any living being, fetus or adult. This is significant because our understanding of the moral-ethical basis of the abortion debate greatly influences abortion laws all over the world which allow or prohibit it. In this context, I deconstruct Dworkin’s theory. Dworkin’s account of what makes things sacred fails to explain why human life is special. He fails to distinguish the sacredness of human life as something more than the life of a tree or caterpillar. Specifically, I propose that a better way of understanding opposition to abortion is to acknowledge the potential personhood of the fetus which illicit strong protective sentiments in individuals, who then go on to oppose abortion.

The unprecedented and growing amount of predictive information we can draw from an individual’s genetic data poses serious threats to fundamental human rights for a number of reasons. Large-scale whole genome sequencing and data sharing, enabled by technological advancements, are ongoing internationally. The extent of data availability, and genetic data being the ‘gold mines’ of the 21st century, has led to large-scale data breaches being regular and unavoidable. The traditional protective measure – anonymisation of data – is ineffective in preventing re-identification of individuals. Moreover, genetic data are useful for more than a generation. Therefore, once information is extracted from genetic data and is in possession of potential misusers, even the discarding of sequenced genomes does not protect individuals from the numerous potential misuses of genetic information. Protection provided by the law is either non-existent or scattered across a number of legislations even in countries with recently updated laws, with fundamental rights being under threat. This threat is particularly imminent in developed economies, as genomic testing is becoming common and genomic medicine a reality. To protect individuals, societies must enact specific laws to regulate existing and anticipated uses of genetic information.

The obligation of States to not use force against other States is now well established in international law both on land and at sea. Unless authorized by the Security Council or based on self-defence, non-compliance with this rule is a breach of international law and may give rise to State responsibility for wrongful act. The same cannot be argued about States’ behaviour towards non-State actors. An example comes from the area of contested waters, where private oil companies authorized by one of the disputing States may be forcibly evicted or have their personnel detained by the other disputant with acts which exceed the limits of law enforcement. International law of the sea fails to determine the legality of such behaviour and the means by which the affected private actor may respond. But insofar as the law does not explicitly oblige States to respect private actors and prevents the latter from submitting personal claims to international fora, private interests in contested waters will remain unprotected against unlawful State acts.

Contradictory Practices of Turkish Courts With Respect to Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards

In December 2017, it was decided that the International Criminal Court would activate its jurisdiction over the crime of aggression on 17 July 2018. The crime is directed towards the leadership of a State that plans or initiates an aggressive war. Lower-level military commanders on the ground cannot be tried for the crime. Further, the principle of the ‘equality of belligerents’ protects soldiers on the battlefield from decisions made by their leaders, meaning that lower-level military commanders cannot be held accountable merely for taking part in an illegal war. This preserves the distinction between *jus ad bellum* (the justifications for going to war) and *jus in bello* (the law regulating conduct during war). However, preserving this distinction while bringing the crime of aggression within the ICC’s jurisdiction means that the ICC can now rule that the same civilian deaths are lawful and unlawful at the same time and in the same place. This article addresses this concern by arguing that, through the proportionality rules contained in Article 8(2)(b)(iv) of the Rome Statute, the ICC has the ability to prosecute military commanders who participate in an aggressive war. It will show that the rules of proportionality have developed to a point where an overlap exists between *jus ad bellum* and *jus in bello*, with the former now defining the perimeter of the latter. When examined in this new light, the ICC can prosecute a lower-level military commander who takes part in an aggressive war.

Restrictive legislation prohibiting the cross examination of sexual offence complainants about their previous sexual behaviour is a common feature of most Common Law jurisdictions. The current mechanism by which this line of questioning is restricted in England and Wales is section 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, which prima facie prohibits such questioning save for four limited exceptions. Yet the sustainability of s.41 has been called into question, Harriet Harman MP has proposed an amendment to the Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill currently before Parliament that would see the prohibition of questions about sexual behaviour with third parties. A number of academic commentators go further and suggest the similarity clause within s.41(3)c(i), which allows evidence of the complainant’s sexual behaviour to be included should it be “so similar” to their behaviour at the time of the alleged offence, should also be removed. It will be argued, however, that legislative reform relating to both third party evidence and the similarity gateway is unnecessary, instead there is much more to be gained by focusing on the broader application of s.41, addressing both procedural inconsistencies and “rape myths” that have potential to operate notwithstanding legislative protections.

Since the birth of theories linking genetics to crime and delinquency, the theology of crime has inadvertently become associated with neurological deficits. Accordingly, these theories have developed into the introduction of the study of criminology and in the recent years, neurocriminology. Both disciplines and more specifically the latter, aims to study and better understand the reasons why criminal actions are made and how the actor arrived at the decision to offend the criminal law. Put simply, one point of central focus in neurocriminology is to examine the extent of freewill to which decisions to act are made, and the burden of hindrance that social environment and genetics, amongst many other facts, plays in influencing those decisions. As such, it has been contended by some criminologists that due to the incapability of a person to necessarily control the external factors influencing their actions, neurochemical intervention should be introduced as a solution in crime policy both for pre-emptive and present purposes. This paper evaluates and rejects the introduction of neurochemical intervention in crime policy through examination of the moral and ethical considerations.

This article considers the ways in which the role of humanitarian intervention, which currently does not have any clear legal status, can be defended through international law. Using both realist and liberal cosmopolitan theoretical approaches, it considers three notions of legitimacy to argue that humanitarian intervention can be justified: legitimacy through humanitarian crises; humanitarian intervention supported through a creative interpretation and application of general principles of international law; and humanitarian intervention justified by morality and “natural law.” It considers the use of force that has taken place in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya as case studies and examples. A broader sense of legality is argued to reconcile the notion that humanitarian intervention could be legalized; however, a restrictive factor remains in the horizontal rather than vertical nature of international law, which requires the will of States. Thus, the next best alternative is considered. Humanitarian intervention both before and after the adoption of the UN Charter has not gained the status of established international law sufficient to justify the use of force. From a purely legalist perspective, it is not permitted. Nevertheless, there is support for the concept. In the present day, one might assume that the use of force for humanitarian purposes remains subject to each State’s understanding of a particular situation. Therefore, it is important to consider the legitimacy of “non-legal” action. To consider any use of force legitimate, it must be perceived by other States as legitimate; therefore, it must be widely accepted as appropriate conduct. Usually, a State embarking upon the use of armed force will search widely for a legal justification, even if the argument is weak, in order to obtain support for the action. In Iraq (2003), the coalition sought to base its action on the ‘legality’ of UNSC-adopted Resolutions. In Afghanistan (2001), the USA based its argument on the ‘legality’ of self-defence. Council inaction has also been suggested as an argument for “non-legal” intervention. If the institution responsible for maintaining peace and security fails to fulfil its function, then a State may be justified, from a realist and practical point of view, in taking unilateral steps. Nevertheless, such action would still not be strictly ‘legal’ and could therefore be considered potentially ‘illegal’ under international law. It could be argued that the failure of the UNSC to condemn what is, from a strictly positivist standpoint, ‘illegal’ action, such as that in Kosovo (1998–99), gives it some legal status with possible precedential value. If this is so, then the UNSC could potentially authorize the use of force retroactively, including armed force, provided that it remains within the spirit of the relevant Resolution. However, this view is problematic because it undermines the rule of law. In order to follow the law, one must know what the applicable rule is at the time the transgression takes place. Otherwise, it would be impossible to know what the law was at any particular point in time and, therefore, impossible to determine whether a transgression had occurred. Moreover, failing to condemn a use of force is not necessarily equivalent to condoning it or rendering it legal. Perhaps a more suitable characterization is that such use of force is ‘tolerated.’ Legalists would not recognize any retroactive legality and would not consider legitimacy a viable alternative. It would require a form of law to set aside the UN Charter. However, from a realist and, even more so, a cosmopolitan perspective, there may be broader justifications or legitimate reasons for engaging in uses of force that are strictly illegal. Nevertheless, these arguments concern legality in a broader sense. They do not always conform to a strict understanding of legality or legalist theory. Kohen even suggests that US policies were not concerned with strict legality. If this were so, then even legitimacy would constitute a weak argument if the reasons for intervention were purely nationalistic interests. Nevertheless, the USA, and any State engaging in the use of force, should be required to justify its decision to the international community of States, including the UN. Therefore, whether legal or not, there must be a reason for each specific use of force. The following section considers various conceptions and models of legitimacy that could potentially provide a justification for humanitarian intervention that has not yet gained the status of international law *per se*.

Caddy and Cobb define forensic science as “…science used for the purpose of law. ” This definition implies strongly that a foundation in law is one of the requisites for any branch of the forensic sciences. The Scientific Working Group on Digital Evidence (SWGDE) defines digital evidence as “…Information of probative value stored or transmitted in digital form. ” Taken as a pair, these two definitions connect the law and science solidly. Generally, we see science and the law as tied together by Caddy and Cobb being a typical fragment of almost all definitions of forensic science. As well, SWGDE talks about “probative value” of digital evidence, harking to Black’s definition of evidence: “Something that tends to prove or disprove the existence of an alleged fact.” If this strong connection between law and science in forensics is axiomatic, why, then, are digital (or “cyber” in today’s vernacular) forensic students taught almost nothing of the law and why is cyber forensics often taught in the criminal justice departments (typically part of the social sciences curriculum) rather than in computer science departments in most American universities? At no time in the history of jurisprudence has there been a greater need for real cyber forensic scientists than today in the age of pervasive, and sometimes massive, cybercrimes. The author takes the position that there are two critical paths to remedy the lack of the clear application of justice in cyber events: a development of a cyber jurisprudence and significant refining of education in the science of cyber forensics. This paper addresses the latter. In the early days of digital forensics, the term was debated among forensic scientists and technologists. There was an early consensus that digital forensics was not a science at all, in fact, barely a technology. At that time, it was largely a tool of law enforcement for discovery of those few computer-based crimes, such as child pornography, that managed to catch hold when the criminal justice community was more focused upon “hard” crimes such as rape, robbery and murder. Vendors of digital forensic tools drove improvements to the technology and eventually the consensus shifted to an acceptance of digital forensics as a technology. This also was in part due to advancements in computer technology, lower costs for computers and the increased use of computers in various types of crimes. In the early 2000s The American Academy of Forensic Sciences, after extensive long-term lobbying by forensics practitioners, created a section that covered digital forensics. It would seem that digital forensics had finally received its due as a legitimate forensic science. However, practitioners still were “trained” rather than “educated” and the early digital forensics programs in universities were at the Master’s level and addressed, predominantly, management rather than scientific issues, and virtually no law. When undergraduate programs began to appear, the focus was on criminal justice and a bit of technology. Still, there was very little law taught leaving newly minted practitioners with little more legal understanding than how to testify and a vague idea of what a Daubert Hearing was. Moreover, it was not, and is not necessary for a digital forensic practitioner to have a university education (although that is improving rapidly as a younger group of practitioners enters the field and older ones retire). When (ISC)2, the primary certification organization for computer security practitioners created a certification for cyber forensic scientists, it became the first certifying organization to require a university degree. The requirements were so unacceptable to the cyber forensic community that the certification was abandoned after a few years. This paper takes the position that facing the challenges under discussion at this symposium relative to cyber forensic science requires a far stronger academic footing that it now enjoys – especially in the law and its relationship to cyber science and forensics - and greater attention to clear definitions of what cyber forensic science is and how it relates to science, technology and the law.

The environmental impact assessment (EIA) regime has become the standard procedure for implementing the public participation concept based on Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment adopted at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, as a strategy for preventing environmental harm. Even though this paper accepts the basic premise of the concept of public participation and its acclaimed virtues, it is argued that the EIA regime is an unreliable procedure for implementing the concept in developing markets. This is because of the fundamentality of access to justice to effective participation. The weak and inefficient justice systems in developing markets is unlikely to be able to effectively support the EIA process to ensure effective and meaningful participation of the public or the potential victims of environmental harm. Since meaningful participation of the public and interest groups in the process is the major driver of the public participation concept, the paper concludes that participation at a more fundamental level of corporate decision-making will be more appropriate for developing markets to obviate the need to rely on their weak and inefficient judicial systems.

This Comment examines the commercial court decision of Navalmar UK Ltd v Kale Maden Hammaddeler Sanayi VE Ticart AS (THE MV Arundel Castle) [2017] EWHC 116; [2017] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 370. [Comm.] as to the issue of when a vessel can be considered an arrived ship under a port charter in shipping law.

Self-represented litigants in England and Wales, as well as many other countries, form a large heterogeneous proportion of the population. In contrast, the justice system provides for the whole population a standard platform that cannot accommodate the variability in education, ability, personal characteristics and circumstances. In addition, there are high barriers to access, including high costs, excessive formalities and unclear interpretation of the law. These barriers are prevalent even in venues of justice designed to be public friendly. To provide justice for all, the legal system needs to assimilate latest scientific findings on individual differences and minimise barriers to access.

Section 26 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, as amended in 2013, provides for the protection of children from child marriage. A lack of understanding of the meaning and implications of this statutory provision has widely been regarded as limiting its significance and effectiveness in child protection work. Therefore, this study employs legal hermeneutics to analyse the statute’s legal and practical implications and highlights key insights for child protection interventions by Zimbabwean practitioners, particularly in relation to protecting children from child marriage, including the prosecution of perpetrators and child rights advocacy.

Few unmarried couples enter into express agreements regarding what should happen to property if their relationship ends. The law has developed in different directions in the past fifty years as courts try to find an appropriate test to apply to cohabitation relationship breakdown. As cohabitation becomes more common, the need for a more flexible approach has become pressing. The application of the common intention constructive trust to family home disputes remains unsettled and far from satisfactory, particularly for women playing the role of a housewife or a mother, often non-legal owners of the property with little legal sympathy to their non-financial contributions to the property. Children are also victims in the sale of family home under Section 15 of TOLATA 1996. The potential consequences could tip the scale to the interests of creditors; and the unpredictability and inappropriate balance between co-owners’ life and interests of creditors will bring about either human right challenges on the rights to private and family life of involved wife and children, or commercial and financial repercussions on creditors to absorb the adverse effects of court rulings on their interests.

The debate surrounding climate change has focused on many disciplines, including scientific, economic, and political perspectives. There is a growing discourse that is gaining traction within legal academia, connecting these disciplines to the principles of international law. *The Research Handbook on Climate and Trade Law* identifies the need for stronger environmental laws through existing treaties and organisations and provides a clear outline of how this might be achieved. Climate change must first be understood as negatively affecting the entire world and, secondly, as being caused largely by human activity. The evolution of global environmental changes has had, and will continue to have, potentially catastrophic consequences; this Handbook scrutinises the issue through the lens of law and invites a long-overdue discussion. The Handbook efficiently begins by detailing how human consumption and production have developed through periods of industrialisation, spurred by social greed and the growing demands arising from economic inequality (1). There is an underlying truth with which one must agree in order to understand the premise of the Handbook: the consumption of wealthier nations and the disproportionate ownership of the world’s wealth by an identifiable few have fuelled the changes we see in relation to consumption and production. The beginning chapters of Part I introduce current facts and developments regarding climate change, referencing several agreements and accords. The authors state that the book attempts to fill a gap in the literature on climate law by discussing pressing questions concerning climate change and trade (10). The author claims that these effects need to be addressed for any further discussion to occur (4). Past and present climate change treaties have seemingly fluctuated in their success in addressing both trade and environmental laws and policies. For example, the Kyoto Protocol (5) is heavily discussed and referenced throughout the Handbook. Indeed, this provides an important starting point for international discussions on environmental policy and trade law. The Protocol might be argued to have failed to create a unified solution, while nevertheless succeeding in putting forward the notion that “climate change is a more than delicate issue in which the solution/outcomes will vary depending upon the nation...there’s no homogenous solution as the term climate change itself needs to be reassessed per the status of the nation - developed/developing” (5). Interpretations regarding climate change, which was initially treated as a general topic of discussion, suddenly became a global issue as the international community could not establish a unified definition of the term. Even among developed nations, particularly the United States, a global leader and major power, which was the largest emitter of GHGs during the Obama presidency, there was significant political opposition when the administration proposed a 32% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030; the proposal was rejected by more than half of the US population (1). A government cannot continue with efforts to address climate change if the opposition is in a position of majority.

In a recent appeal against Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, the Court of Appeal was wrong to find that Dr Rushd had breached the standard of care in taking a patient’s history in *FB v Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust* [2017] EWCA Civ 334. An analysis of the court’s judgment shows that it failed to assess the standard of care required when taking a patient’s history against the measure of reasonableness. Applying this measure demonstrates that Dr Rushd did provide a reasonable standard of care. Although the court was correct to uphold *Wilsher v Essex AHA* [1987] 1 QB 730, on the basis that junior doctors should not be held to a lower standard of care, this does not justify the Court of Appeal setting the standard of care higher than that expected of a reasonably competent practitioner. Upholding this approach places an onerous burden on GPs.

The Human Tissue Authority has very recently posted seven new Codes of Practice to update its guidance on human tissue legislation. Code G - Donation of Allogeneic Bone Marrow and Peripheral Blood Stem Cells for Transplantation - aims to improve the regulation of offences, referrals, and the interview process for children donating bone marrow. Code G comes under criticism in this article for not properly taking into account the welfare of very young saviour siblings. It introduces minor changes to consent procedures but disappointingly, parents of saviour siblings can still enjoy significant discretion to consent to a potentially harmful trespass upon their child without a welfare test or court approval. This article suggests that a stronger emphasis should be placed upon the objective provisions of the welfare test under section 1(3) of the Children Act 1989 and its adjoining common law before a decision to harvest a very young child for bone marrow is made. This would better protect the “saviour sibling” from unnecessary physical and psychiatric harm.

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012 has been highly controversial since its new schemes and amendments have come to light. The governmental justifications for the legal aid reductions explain the need for reforms in the UK. An overview of the post-funding changes and criteria of entitlements to legal aid highlights the issues of the right of access to court, gender inequality and the challenges facing the legal profession, from a justice perspective. Currently, the courts have found that the cuts were not always lawful. Certain landmark cases illustrated the incompatibility of the cuts with the European Convention on Human Rights and the Equality Act 2010 in respect of the principles of equality of arms and discrimination. These violations place the most vulnerable people at a disadvantage and at a risk of further poverty; yet a vast majority has been left in the invisible light spectrum, widening social divergence and conflicting with the government’s objectives of targeting legal aid to those in desperate need.

Following Vinter v United Kingdom [2014], whole life orders without a sufficiently clear review mechanism at the outset of sentencing were incompatible with Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights. The Hutchinson v United Kingdom [2017] judgment raised academic trepidation that this requirement had been removed. This article focuses on how Hutchinson relates to the specific requirements for whole life orders, in Vinter, and whether legal consistency is present between the two judgments. It will do so by highlighting how the substantive issue of whether a review mechanism exists is distinct from the procedural issue of whether this review mechanism is clear and certain. In the latter, a margin of appreciation is necessary to find the appropriate balance between the procedural autonomy of Member States, and the secondary role of the european Court of Human Rights as a supervisor to the domestic authorities and courts. This article will also address the factual question of whether the Grand Chamber in Hutchinson had omitted the issue of whether the applicant was aware at the outset of his sentencing of a review mechanism, even if this still falls short of causing a counter-revolution of legal principles.

Some Anglophone legal theorists look to analytic philosophy for core presuppositions. For example, the epistemological theories of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Willard Quine shape the theories of Dennis Patterson and Brian Leiter, respectively. These epistemologies are anti-foundational since they reject the kind of certain grounding that is exemplified in Cartesian philosophy. And, they are coherentist in that they seek to legitimate truth-claims by reference to entire linguistic systems. While these theories are insightful, the current context of information and communication technologies (ICT) has created new informational concepts and issues. As a result, the analytic epistemologies are increasingly challenged by alternative perspectives. One such alternative is Structural Realism (SR), which is influential among the natural sciences, and especially physics. “Informational Structural Realism,” (ISR) is a variant of SR that was introduced by Luciano Floridi. Unlike the coherentist theories, ISR promotes examination of the connections among types of information and informational structures. It is an important shift for legal theory today, since the challenges that the ICT presents have to do with pattern recognition across vast domains of diverse data. An informational jurisprudence is now required to understand the issues emerging from the ICT.

The History of Law in Europe is an ambitious work, and therefore the small size of the volume might surprise a reader. After all, it covers civil law from the Roman Empire, to the Early, Middle, and Late Middle Ages, to he early Modern Age, with a final chapter on the Common Law. But these authors have done an excellent job of meeting the challenge of covering such a wide span of time and topics in an introductory title. Targeted to law students and this interested in ‘essential aspects of European history’, the authors leave out footnotes (but include a healthy bibliography), focus on the sources of law, a bit of jurisprudence, and provide concise and summarizing descriptions of character, topics, and institutions. The skill with which the authors accomplish this tricky act is a testament to their grasp of the topics. The authors, Bart Wauters and Marco de Benito, are professors of law at IE University in Spain. Wauters is also the author of De Controverse Rond De Jurisdictie Van De Nuntius : Het Placet Op De Geloofsbrieven Van Spinelli, Valenti-gonzaga, Tempi En Crivelli, 1725-1749 (Universitaire Pers Leuven, 2001); de Benito published Convenio Arbitral (Civitas Editions, S.L.) in 2010. Both have published in a number of journals as well. The goal of this book is to provide ‘a short introduction, not an encyclopedic overview of the legal traditions of every single European country’ (2). To do so, they focus on civil law and common law families, giving little or no analysis of other legal customs unless they had an impact on the former. The authors also intend the book ‘to help lawyers and legal professionals, of today and tomorrow, to develop the ability to critically assess their own professional endeavors’ (3). That is, to place their own work in the context of its development, the effects of current and past social and political trends, and how it interacts with culture and intellectual endeavors. The authors focus their account on four sources of law: legal science, legislation, courts, and customary law. The approach is comparative, which serves well the subject at hand. The developments of law in the larger civil and common law worlds, and within each country, is placed in its cultural and political contexts.

The increase in global activities of multinational corporations (‘MNCs’), especially the involvement of extractive MNCs in emerging markets, has been a source of human rights concern in recent years. This is because of the impact of corporate activities on the human rights of the local communities where they operate. The rising corporate impunity for human rights violations has been attributed to the lack of access to judicial remedies for human rights victims and the inadequacy of existing regulations available to rein in global MNCs. This has led to suggestions, especially by human rights scholars, to explore the human rights obligations of corporations under international human rights law as a means for promoting corporate accountability for human rights, with a focus on emerging markets. This paper challenges this view and argues that reliance on international human rights law as a regime for promoting corporate accountability in emerging markets is misplaced, because enforcement of international human rights law depends on municipal institutions, and the institutions available in emerging markets are weak, corrupt, and inefficient. The rampant violation of human rights has begun to generate conflicts which threaten local, national, and global security, such as the situation in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. This paper argues that the growing distrust between MNCs and local communities, which is mostly responsible for the insecurity in the region, could be addressed through a legal regime that focuses on promoting moral behaviour from inside the corporations. Therefore, this paper proposes a review of the corporate legal architecture to incorporate the interests of those affected by corporate activities, especially the local communities, into the corporate governance structure as a strategy for promoting responsible and human rights friendly decision-making and for them to hold MNCs to human rights standards rather than relying on international human rights law itself.

S.I. Strong, Katia Fach Gómez, and Laura Carballo Piñeiro. Comparative Law for Spanish–English Speaking Lawyers: Legal Cultures, Legal Terms and Legal Practices. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-84980-786-9. 720pp.

Feminist legal theory strives, in part, to uncover the ways in which gender shapes law (and vice versa) and propose solutions to change or redirect the law to rectify gender inequality. In this sense, this is a feminist project focusing on the regulation of coercive heterosexual pornography. Traditionally, liberal states around the world, such as the United Kingdom, rely mainly on obscenity law to minimise the dissemination of pornography. However, such an approach is conceptually flawed and, in practice, it will continue to inadequately protect women who are harmed in and through pornography. This is because the traditional approach misunderstands the nature of the damage that flows from pornography and avoids expressly addressing a multitude of indirect harm. Instead, prominent radical feminists view pornography as not merely perversity but also a display and exercise of male dominance. In the light of this understanding, the radical feminist’s approach is to expressly acknowledge that pornography is an issue of gender inequality, and one way to resolve this inequality is through an adjudicatory shift. Specifically, I argue in this paper that adjudication through a dominant/subordinate lens is a preferable alternative that the law and courts should adopt.

Violence Against Women (VAW) is a worldwide pervasive phenomenon. This submission makes use of a variety of primary and secondary resources; such as legislation, international law instruments, official statistics, books and book chapters, and journal articles. The focus on VAW will be in the Palestinian context, with occasional reference to “honour” crimes where appropriate. The article will commence in covering the main points of convergence and divergence in the literature available on VAW and “honour” crimes. Further, the occurrence and prevalence of VAW – in Palestine – will be situated and analysed within the social, economic and legal dimensions of patriarchy. An in-depth, critical analysis of the impact of colonialism and neo-liberalism/ capitalism will be employed to deconstruct the factors that underpin VAW. Moreover, this section will highlight the persistence of VAW; shedding light on the absence of alternatives, for women survivors of violence and the role of the legal system. For the purposes of critically engaging with VAW, exclusive focus will be dedicated to the treatment of the penal code applied in Palestinian courts of HRV, and crimes in the Palestinian society. The final part of the paper will tackle “law” as a medium to address VAW, highlighting its importance through showcasing the impact of legal reform efforts—a temporal analysis of progress within this parameter will be employed. To further vindicate the need for comprehensive action in pursuance of gender equality, complementary strategies that feed into the “prevent” component of the due diligence standard, as well as the transformative equality concept of the gender mainstreaming model will be presented; including educational reform, economic empowerment, and rehabilitation of perpetrators. Thus, seeking to identify possible answers for the reasons that make legal reform insufficient to eliminate VAW, and thereafter determine necessary strategies to complement legal reform.

This article builds on previous works examining whether private enforcement should be prioritised over public enforcement for breaches of competition law within the EC. Data is analysed from European and national competition authorities case law, and from applicable explanatory documentation. A new theory is laid out – that for the most efficient outcome both public and private enforcement should be utilised in different situations. Following the statement of intent in Preamble 6, Damages Directive 2014/104, ‘both tools are required to interact to ensure maximum effectiveness of the competition rules’. This article uncovers that the Directive follows the direction of the European competition policy. Case law such as Courage v Crehan, Courage v Crehan, and Kone demonstrate that private effects for damages should be at least as important as public enforcement strategies. Other solutions–such as costs, proportionate damages, and collective redress–would be more effective than the current design, since the Directive arguably does not go far enough to incentivise private actions for damages.

Copyright law grants a commercial monopoly over original expression embodied in fictional characters for a specific time. Thus, the copyrightability of created characters depends on their originality. However, free speech, fair use, and the public domain should not be affected by copyright protection. Conversely, the ideas which the characters are based on are outside the sphere of copyright protection. Problematically, it is not always easy to draw a clear, consistent line distinguishing between the elements of fictional characters which are protected, and those which are not. This paper scrutinises the U.K. and the U.S. Jurisprudence in order to clarify their perspectives on this matter.

Since the Insurance Act 2015 came into effect, it is meaningful for people in the Insurance Industry to be acquainted with certain key changes and/or some reasons of these changes. Official materials, such as Law Commission report relevant to Insurance Contract Law and oral or written evidences from the Bill Committee on Insurance Bill, are selected to deduce what ought to be the judicial practice. A certain amount of prejudication or case law is also of benefit to our perception of the Insurance Act 2015. These materials indicate that the Insurance Act 2015 balances various interests and is going to be impactful around the world. The article is divided into four main parts: the first is an introduction to the principles of fair presentation and proportionate remedy; the second is an analysis of breach of warranty in the context of the new Act; the third examines remedies for fraudulent claims; and the last part looks at how the Act is supplemented by the Enterprise Act 2016 on the issue of compensation of late payment.

In an age of globalization, as a result of the ongoing global ‘war on terror,’ and the rise in foreign military interventions, states’ military conduct is increasingly expanding outside their territorial boundaries. This phenomenon has caused an additional vulnerability for individuals, increasingly posing a threat to their human rights, and the right to life in particular, even across borders. This case comment examines the recent developments in the extraterritorial scope of application of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as they arise from the recent judgment in Jaloud v The Netherlands (2014).1 Particular emphasis will be given to the legal difficulties in protecting the human right to life, in the context of multinational military operations overseas; as well as the developing trend towards further extending a state’s scope of jurisdiction in foreign battlefields. As the jurisprudence of the UK national courts indicates, Jaloud’s new ‘checkpoint’ test for jurisdiction, leaves the door wide-open for establishing the ECHR States’ jurisdiction in aerial bombardments (previously rejected in Bankovic2), or targeted killings by drones in the context of future operations. Certainly, such a finding would open the way for the courts to challenge governmental decisions on major policy choices in foreign affairs and further judicialise armed forces’ conduct. Keywords: Human Rights, Extraterritoriality, Jurisdiction, Armed Conflict, Military Operations, Drones.

A homeless person may be owed a duty to be re-housed by a local housing authority if they can meet the requirements set out in the Housing Act 1996. The authority does not owe the full duty, however, in circumstances where the homeless person has made themselves ‘intentionally homeless’ - where they have carried out a deliberate act or omission which has led to their loss of accommodation. The House of Lords ruling in Din v Wandsworth London Borough Council [1983]1 had created a consistent and certain approach to findings of intentionality. The Supreme Court in Haile2 claims not to have departed from the reasoning in Din. Still, it will be shown that the express findings in Haile have completely changed the approach to intentionality. Despite the Supreme Court’s protestations to the contrary, a certain deliberate act by a homeless person can now be ignored if, hypothetically, the homeless person would have become homeless anyway—creating a causational nightmare for authority decision makers. Keywords: Housing Act 1996; Intentional homelessness; Din; Haile.

Abstract: US Courts have either preferred to address dilution-by- blurring as trademark infringement, or have involuntarily misunderstood the concept as infringement in the past. Even upon recognition of ‘blurring’ as a separate claim, decisions of the courts with regards to the determination of dilution-by-blurring have differed from one another. Alongside the definition of blurring, this paper critically evaluates how blurring has become a conceptually difficult area of trademark law. Although the latest revision law in the US is believed to have immensely contributed to the better understanding of blurring, this paper identifies certain areas, addressing which would better conceptualize dilution-by- blurring. Keywords: Trademarks, Trademark dilution, Dilution-by-blurring, Intellectual property law.

This is a review of the current and on-going controversial scope of retention of title clauses, drawn from a detailed analysis of case law and academic commentary. Provided is a clear summary of the various types of retention of title clauses, the origins of those clauses, and the academic debate that has surrounded each of the clauses. Further, it details the current position of each type of clause, drawing on links between traditional Commercial Law and cases in the Law of Restitution; to draw a conclusion that the retention of title clause is theoretically now certain. Keywords: Romalpa, retention of title clauses, mixed goods clauses, commercial law, proceeds of sale clauses, all monies clauses.

Following the landmark decision of Prest v Petrodel Resourcs in 2013, it has been emphasized that it is indeed important to limit corporate veil piercing powers to very carefully defined circumstances. However, because the common law fails to clearly distinguish the circumstances under which corporate veil piercing may occur, there remains a lack of predictability in this area for those seeking justice. Furthermore, there are increased difficulties faced by victims of fraud committed by corporate groups when seeking redress, as frequently judges’ hands are tied by the need to respect the doctrines of separate legal personality and privity. It has been a much-debated topic as to whether this lack of responsibility and injustice in the law calls for development of new legal constructions to help victims achieve more practical and fairer outcomes. This paper evaluates and rejects the urgency call for development of new legal constructions and examines alternative avenues of the law that may achieve similar outcomes without requiring the corporate veil to be pierced. Keywords: Corporate Veil, Corporate Groups, Limited Liability.

Whilst trans issues have been explored in political, medical, queer theory and US legal literature, the UK’s legal literature remains more limited. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA) marked a shift in the debate on trans issues from academia to implementation. This article attempts to go some way in filling the legal lacuna by engaging in a socio-legal analysis of English law’s ability to provide gender justice by giving full legal recognition to all trans and non-discriminatory access to rights based on this. First, drawing upon the foundations provided by feminist discourse on what constitutes ‘sex’, ‘gender’, ‘male’ and ‘female’, we can analyse the historical development of English law. Secondly, the law is historically conceptually limited by its privileging of sex over gender and its affirmation of the male/female binary as epitomised in Corbett v Corbett. Thirdly, an analysis of the GRA and its relationship with key civil law legislations demonstrates that English law remains conceptually limited because of an incomplete shift from sex to gender and reaffirmation of the binary. Finally, a reflection upon the relationship between social progress, the law’s theoretical limitations and implementation leads to the conclusion that, although the law contributes to trans gender justice, social change is fundamental to shaping more conceptually progressive legislation that can itself have a transformative role on society and the law’s effective implementation through social compliance. Neither the law nor public policy and politics may be neglected when contemplating greater gender justice for trans individuals. Keywords: transgender, Corbett v Corbett, Gender Recognition Act 2004, Equality Act 2010.

The issue of whether women should be paid to provide eggs for research or reproduction is complex. An overview of the legal framework of the UK, the US, and some European States reflects this complexity and lack of consensus. Ethical concerns are often raised, but even if money is a driving force, it does not deprive women to freely consent nor does it constitute coercion, exploitation, or commodification. Paying for the services, not for the eggs as goods, justifies the monetary reward (no matter the provider and eggs’ characteristics). Accepting this payment would only enhance women’s autonomy, who are able to decide regarding their own bodies. Moreover, payment for sperm provision is allowed, and so payment for egg provision would establish equality between genders. Furthermore, altruism, an important principle of egg provision, would not necessarily suffer from payment. Currently, there are no strong safeguards, including price and informed consent. Implementation of strong safeguards is essential, and would allow for sufficient supply as well as for more women to experience childbirth and to develop research. Keywords: human eggs, payment, reproduction and research, autonomy, ethics.

This article examines the situation where a State embraces an investment belonging to a foreigner. How a State can regulate its affairs without harming foreign investors and without being accused of implied expropriation of such investment? Some municipal laws restrict the government's power to expropriate investments indirectly, such as Cambodia's Investment Act 1994.1 Other domestic laws do not constrain the government from doing so. This article examines specific measures in order to determine whether a State creates new legislation to disengage itself from its obligations towards foreign investment, or whether such a rule is promulgated merely to govern internal matters. Keywords: International Investment Law, Indirect Expropriation.

The law of omissions regarding emergency services have always been rather controversial because of the vague ‘public immunity’ defence or justification invoked by the courts. In light of the recent decisions by the highest courts regarding the emergency services, including the latest Supreme Court decisions of Smith v Ministry of Defence1 and Michael v Chief Constable of South Wales2, this article questions whether the logical underpinnings of the defence itself is prima facie reasonable. This article questions further whether the same judicial reasoning for omissions should be applied to the general public and emergency services, given that the latter do occupy a position above the general layman and is able to actively prevent harm from being inflicted onto the claimants. Keywords: Tort Law; Negligence; Omissions; Public Authorities; Immunity; Hill v CC of West Yorkshire; Michael v Chief Constable of South Wales.

The traditional juristic definition of the sovereign as ‘he who decides on the exception’, which has been introduced by the social and legal philosopher Carl Schmitt in Political Theology, arguably constitutes the clef de voûte which enables us to underpin the philosophy of the state of exception. Whereas exceptions of law under ordinary circumstances operate within a predetermined constitutional order, which provides guidelines on how these situations are to be dealt with, a state of emergency does not need an existing legal order to function. Within this context, the sovereign has the ultimate power to transcend the legal order and impose such measures as deemed necessary to confront the crisis and re-establish order and stability within the nation, usually by invoking the ‘public good’. In Agamben’s work, the concept of necessity has a fundamental role in establishing the state of exception. It has been acknowledged that ‘necessity creates its own law’ and, occasionally, it constitutes the main justification for governments to implement their executive orders, albeit the transgression of the law. In the aftermath of 9/11, the United States faced an exceptional situation of national emergency in which it was deemed urgent to confront a new kind of threat by any necessary means. More than a decade on, and following similar events in other Western countries, it can be argued that the global legal and political order of the 21st century has changed dramatically, manifesting, what it is now evident, a permanent state of emergency. Keywords: political theory, state of exception, ‘force-of-law’, post-9/11 jurisprudence

This article outlines the criminalisation of drug possession in the UK, with reference to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, and discusses the inadequacies of criminalisation. It presents the theoretical concept of paternalism and the sub-concepts of soft and hard paternalism. These are compared in order to illustrate the current legislative situation in theoretical terms and to provide a suitable backdrop to advocate for the decriminalisation of drug possession on the basis of the un-paternalistic harm such criminalisation causes. The particular social consequences an individual may currently face as a result of an approach based on criminalisation are articulated. The reforms made in Portugal, regarding the decriminalisation of drug possession, are examined in detail and the suitability of introducing such reforms under UK legislation are assessed. Using the evidence gained from the reforms made in Portugal this paper advocates for the decriminalisation of drug possession in the UK, with the view to introducing a softer paternalistic approach. The connotations of decriminalisation are briefly discussed, with legalisation being dismissed as an option, and submissions are made for an approach that places a focus on healthcare and education in place of criminal sanctions. Keywords: Drugs, Paternalism, Decriminalisation, Portugal, Reform

In Norfolk and Norwich Healthcare NHS Trust v W1, Justice Johnson found a mother incompetent to refuse a caesarean section despite not suffering from any mental disability because, as a result of “acute emotional stress and physical pain in the ordinary course of labour”2, he believed that she was not able to weigh up the information presented to her. On that very same day, Johnson J similarly decided in Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust v C3 that the mother was not capable of weighing the information given to her because she “was in the throes of labour with all that is involved in terms of pain and emotional stress”4. Besides suggesting that the state of labour has a bearing on finding the patient incapable, Johnson J went further to assess the content of the patient’s refusal—that one who was able “to accept the inevitability of her own death” was evidence of someone who was incapable of weighing up the information, therefore her refusal of a caesarean section that could potentially save her life would be invalid.5 These two cases illustrate the creation of a catch-22 situation, whereby if a competent mother exercises her discretion to refuse medical intervention, the psychiatrist and judge would consider the mother incompetent by virtue of that very decision. The corollary is that “women in labour may only have the capacity to withhold consent as long as they do not”.6 Such an illusion of autonomy demonstrates how pregnant women have implicitly been newly classed as incompetent adults. Keywords: Enforced caesarean section, patient autonomy, right to life, incompetent adult, consent, Mental Capacity Act 2005

This article discusses the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the modern world. The problems that led to the financial crisis will be assessed, as well as why the CSR has been left outside the substantial reforms currently taken by a number of companies and financial institutions. The importance of stakeholders will also be discussed and the stakeholder theory will be analysed, as this is a fundamental part of CSR. Both CSR and stakeholder theory are aspects of an organic theory that acts as a fundamental mechanism in the institution’s development. Moreover, reference will also be made to various corporate scandals, the new Company Law Act 2006, the recent regulations published in 2014 and the ground-breaking India Companies Act. These will serve as strong examples, supporting the author’s suggestion that CSR is not a fad whose time has come, but an important theory, which is slowly emerging as one of the fundamental principles of legislative reform. In the author’s opinion, this is a huge development post-financial crisis. Furthermore, the author will attempt to prove that CSR is an important component, which will help the development of a corporate financial market less vulnerable to a future financial crisis Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Company Law Act 2006, India Companies Act

This article argues that Civil Law is fundamentally unsuitable to dealing either with i) grievances against the way a Public Authority has handled a particular situation; or ii) loss that one has suffered at the hands of a public authority acting negligently. The rationale behind this conclusion is based on the belief that suing public bodies for negligence is problematic as it is an inordinately expensive process for the taxpayer and, being a fault- based system of liability, often leaves deserving individuals who have simply been the victims of bad luck with no compensation for their loss. Moreover, the state of the case law is doctrinally incoherent and unstable, and thus in need of re-examination. Keywords: liability of public authorities, negligence, duty of care, public bodies, fault-based compensation, law reform, public liability, omissions liability.

Traditionally, investment disputes between foreign investors and host countries were resolved in the local courts of the host countries.1 However, developed countries tried to protect their foreign investors from discrimination and weak legal systems of developing countries and therefore resorted to international arbitration. The capacity of foreign investors to choose international arbitration as a dispute settlement mechanism gave rise to new problems.2 The paper first examines the current investor-state dispute settlement regime under the International Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID Convention) and United Nations Commission on International Trade law (UNCITRAL). It then identifies and analyzes the various criticisms of the current system. The next section of the paper aims at recognizing and evaluating the commonly proposed recommendations with a special focus on the ones by United Nations Convention on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Lastly it is argued that the current challenges of the investor-state dispute settlement can only be improved by undertaking responsibilities of drafting exhaustive treaty provisions by the state parties and maintaining transparency and accountability by the arbitration forums.

This article examines the minute and fascinating relationship between the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the international governing body for association football, FIFA. This paper will attempt to examine how effective the CAS has been. It will tease out whether subsequent complicate within FIFA occurs and why the judicial principles of the CAS provide a sobering voice within FIFA. Additionally, in examining the close relationship the CAS has with FIFA, it will become clear why FIFA is capable of extracting unanimous adherence to CAS findings. In essence, it creates an international regime in which compliance is a tacit criterion of participation. Examining FIFA through the lens of international political theory authorizes a fascinating perspective on the CAS and its relationship. It is the organization’s structure and operation as an international regulator that contributes to CAS award adherence. To facilitate this journey, one must first understand the role FIFA plays in international sport, and the type of relationships it has with subsidiary members. Keywords: FIFA, Court of Arbitration for Sport, international regime, effectiveness, law.

This article considers issues of international legal classification in the historical and contemporary context of the use of private military by states and non-governmental organisations. There is more to these questions than contemporary practices can reveal, so this enquiry begins with a historical approach, tracing the lineages of private security through centuries. Particular focus will be on the status and composition of the colonial army of the English East India Company, drawing parallels with the current private military company (PMC) regulation. This article raises questions about the customary notions of ‘public’ and ‘private’ in order to draw attention to the changing nature of military norms and to build a stronger case for regulation. Building upon British colonial activities in India, the article demonstrates the importance of maintaining control and revising codification of new irregular military forces. Keywords: Army of the East India Company, codification of irregular military forces, Private Military Companies, public and private violence.

This article addresses the issue of partly new inventions and the possibility of granting them patentability. The route of the analysis starts with the identification of the sectors in which this issue frequently arises. It consequently continues with finding and locating all those common characteristics of the circumstances under which the ‘phenomenon’-in-question arises. The interesting conclusion of this analysis is that the phenomenon of partially new inventions being granted patentability occurs mainly within the pharmaceutical (and chemicals) sector. This realization leads to even more substantial concerns, especially from a competition law perspective. That is because pharmaceutical (and chemicals) companies apply for – and get granted- patentability of partly new inventions to a wide extent. One of the questions at this point is whether this is causing a restriction to competition by threatening the delicate balances of the specific market. This question is answered through references not only to the law itself, including leading case-law from both the EU and the UK, but also to policy concerns and market-related considerations. Finally, the aforementioned findings are used in order to address the question of whether patentability should be granted to partly new inventions, whilst following a further analysis and assessment of relevant competition -and other- policy issues. Keywords: patents, European Union, EPC 1973, EPC 2000, pharmaceuticals, competition law.

This Comment examines how the Fourth Amendment applies to warrantless cell phone searches in United States v Camou, and questions whether the Ninth Circuit’s ultimate position is desirable. Last year, in Riley v California, the United States Supreme Court held that a police officer should generally get a warrant before searching a defendant’s cell phone incident to her arrest. It explained that cell phone searches may be very intrusive of one’s privacy because of the amount of information that cell phones can contain, as well as their pervasiveness in our lives. The Camou court was challenged with what this insight meant for other exceptions to the Fourth Amendment’s traditional warrant requirement. After discussing, in Part I, Camou’s holding that evidence was improperly obtained and had to be excluded, Part II examines Camou’s analyses of the exigency and automobile exceptions to the traditional warrant requirement, and good faith exception to the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule. It suggests, in Part III, that the Supreme Court should reject exigency searches of cell phones altogether, endorse but further elaborate Camou’s holding that cell phones are non-containers under the automobile exception, and reject its understanding of good faith. We should expand defendants’ rights by requiring police to get a warrant in all cell phone searches—since it is quick and easy to do so—but constrain their remedy to include evidence where an officer relies on her own objectively reasonable mistakes or binding court precedent—since the exclusionary rule’s goal is to deter police misconduct. Keywords: Cell phones, Fourth Amendment, Riley v California, exigency, automobiles, good faith, technology.

This paper addresses a frequent omission in the contemporary discussion of Natural Law Theory; it is often the case that when addressing it, academics and jurists focus on Fuller or Dworkin, and sometimes progress as far back as Aquinas, but seldom are the true roots of Natural Law Theory pursued. This paper offers the story of Marcus Tullius Cicero, expounding upon the great Roman lawyer’s role in the trajectory and development of Natural Law Theory (which is arguably the foundation for the existence of all Western democracies and Republics). This paper argues that Cicero’s victory in the trial known as In Verrem changed the course of jurisprudential history due to the rise of the Cicero as a result of said victory, which permitted him to significantly influence Roman republican jurisprudence. Germaine to this paper’s conclusion is the illustration of a nexus between modern Natural Law incarnations and the postulations of Cicero. In order to demonstrate that Cicero should be credited with the crafting of the first Natural Law Theory (in the systemic sense of the word theory), this discussion also incorporates an effort to identify similitude, or a cause-effect relationship, between Cicero’s Natural Law Theory and its more modern forms. Keywords: Jurisprudence, Legal History, Natural Law Theory, Roman Jurisprudence.

This article provides a fresh look at the state of UK equal pay law and provides a comprehensive overview of the current problems women face in gaining equal pay to their male comparators and a reform proposal for the UK government in order to address the problem of the UK pay gap. The article first sets out the manifest issues evidenced by equal pay statistics. Then case law is assessed that has arisen under the Equality Act 2010, composing an evaluation in relation to a) women bringing equal pay claims in the first place and b) women succeeding in their equal pay claims. The article then provides a critical analysis of reforms previously proposed by academics (and those implemented by other states), The article closes with suggestions for the best reform route for UK legislation. The value of this article is its original contribution in providing an up-to-date analysis on the status of equal pay, with a reform proposal which would suit the values of contemporary society. Keywords: Equal Pay, Employment Law, Sex Discrimination, Equality Act 2010, Armstrong v Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Hospital Trust, Equal Pay Act 1970, ECHR.

Genocide is the intent to destroy a particular group. Indeed, systematic mass murder is the most obvious way this intent materializes. Rape, while not readily apparent, is also an effective technique for perpetrators to execute genocide. During such a campaign, the targeted population is brutally tortured and murdered; however women, having a unique ability to carry the next generation, are strategically and perversely taken advantage of. The criminals responsible for such heinous acts are either not tried, or, even if they do stand trial, are held accountable for sexual violence, but not the genocide intent that motivates the rape. Sexual violence in the context of genocide is difficult to prosecute. While international laws have evolved over the years, they do not specifically identify how certain criminal acts fall under genocidal rape, making it problematic to determine liability. International courts and tribunals have struggled with defining rape as a tool of genocide. This article proposes a solution: an eight-factor balancing test that helps determine when a particular act of sexual violence crosses the line into genocide. The majority of these factors are drawn from international court cases as well as a famous psychological experiment.

In November 2013 the Euromaidan protests swept Kiev and brought violence to the streets. President Yanukovyk had chosen closer economic ties to the Russian Federation over the European Union and in February he was ousted and an acting-President appointed by Ukrainian Parliament. The crisis escalated when unmarked forces seized the Crimean peninsula and penned Ukrainian forces into their bases. Furthermore, Eastern Ukraine saw increased pro-Russian protests against the Government and in the subsequent twelve months the rebel groups that seized control have attempted to create break away from Ukraine. The rebel groups have been supported by Russia by provisions of weapons, armour and logistics but the full extent of Russia’s involvement is unclear. This article locates the breaches of international law with regards to Russia’s actions in Ukraine and addresses the extent to which the sovereignty of Ukraine has been violated. The use of force and potential acts of aggression are examined and the right to self-determination of the Ukrainian people. Keywords: International Law, Ukraine Crisis, Russia, Use of Force, Sovereignty, Self-Determination

There is a need for a resonance of the doctrine of joint criminal enterprise (hereinafter, JCE) in the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973. Thus, this paper explores whether or not the 1973 Act accommodates the provision of joint criminal enterprise. There is substantial presence of the basic and systematic forms of JCE in the criminal jurisprudence of Bangladesh. Reasons are three-fold. First, the doctrine of JCE was already a settled principle of criminal liability in the criminal jurisprudence of Bangladesh during 1971; second, this doctrine in the form of common purpose liability was in practice in the post-World War II international tribunals and national courts trying international crimes of similar nature; third, the ICT Act by its very nature, purpose and language, accommodates the principle of JCE.