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Legal Status (legal + status)
Selected AbstractsInventing Mastery: Patriarchal Precedents and the Legal Status of Indigenous People in AustraliaJOURNAL OF HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2000Pavla Miller The paper discusses some aspects of Aboriginal legal status in Australia from the perspective of survival, transformation and reinvention of early modern legal codifications of household mastery. Traces of masters' and husbands' entitlement to the labour of servants, children and wives, as well as their magistracy over household dependents, not only survive in today's laws and social relations; at times, they have been reinvented in a process which reversed the presumed movement from contract to status. The original dispossession of Australia's Indigenous peoples by British settlers set the stage for a particularly destructive instance of such process. Its legacy continues to shape contemporary struggles for Aboriginal rights. [source] Use of Public Transfer Programs and Privat Aid by Farm WorkersINDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 1 2000Enrico Moretti Legal status affects the use of public welfare and insurance and private assistance programs by families of farm workers. Families of unauthorized immigrants are more likely to use public medical assistance and less likely to use other public transfer programs than authorized immigrants and citizens. Unauthorized immigrants with young children in the United States are slightly more likely to use welfare, and welfare recipients are slightly more likely to have young children here. [source] Poppy seed tea and opiate abuse in New ZealandDRUG AND ALCOHOL REVIEW, Issue 2 2007KLARE BRAYE Abstract The opium poppy Papaver somniferum contains an array of opiates. There is a variety of methods of preparation that can be used by people with opiate dependence, with patterns of use determined by numerous factors including cost, safety, potency and legal status. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and nature of poppy seed tea (PST) use by opiate-dependent patients in the form of a written questionnaire. The study took place at the Community Alcohol and Drug Clinic, Wellington, New Zealand, and comprised 24 opiate-dependent patients attending the clinic. A total of 11 of 24 (46%) patients reported having used PST. In five patients currently using PST it represented the major source of opiates, and two had managed to withdraw from use of other opiates with regular PST use. Patients reported a median onset of action of 15 minures and an effect lasting a median of 24 hours. The major limitation of PST use was the foul taste. PST is used commonly by opiate-dependent patients attending an alcohol and drug clinic in New Zealand. The use of PST as the major source of opiates could be considered favourably within ,harm reduction' philosophies, because of its low cost, legal availability and oral route of administration. Conversely, there is the potential for PST to act as a ,gateway drug' by inducing opioid dependence and introducing people to the culture of drug abuse. [source] SPECIAL SECTION: EVALUATION OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN CANNABIS INFRINGEMENT NOTICE SCHEME,PHASE 1: Community attitudes towards cannabis law and the proposed Cannabis Infringement Notice scheme in Western AustraliaDRUG AND ALCOHOL REVIEW, Issue 4 2005JAMES FETHERSTON Abstract Western Australia (WA) became the fourth Australian jurisdiction to adopt a prohibition with civil penalties scheme for minor cannabis offences when its Cannabis Infringement Notice (CIN) scheme became law on 22 March 2004. Previous criminological research has demonstrated the importance of public attitudes towards the law in determining the effectiveness of legislation. This survey represents the first phase of a pre-post study that attempted to gauge public attitudes towards the legal status of cannabis, the proposed legislative reforms surrounding the drug and their likely effects. A random telephone survey of 809 members of the WA population was conducted prior to the implementation of the new laws with a view to exploring contemporary views of the existing legal status of cannabis, attitudes to the proposed legislative model and respondent perceptions of its likely effects. Despite cannabis being viewed negatively by large numbers of the sample, criminal penalties for minor cannabis offences were viewed as inappropriate and ineffective. Once explained, the proposed civil penalty scheme was viewed as ,a good idea' by 79% of the sample, despite significant differences due to personal experience of cannabis use, political affiliation, religiosity and age of offspring. Most believed that the legislative change would not result in changes to levels of cannabis use (70%) or ease of obtaining cannabis (59%). These data suggest that prior to its implementation the new legislation was highly acceptable to the majority of the community. These baseline data will be compared with data to be collected at the post-change phase of the study to allow empirical observations of attitudinal and behavioural changes occurring in the community. [source] Hauling Down the Double Standard: Feminism, Social Purity and Sexual Science in Late Nineteenth-Century BritainGENDER & HISTORY, Issue 1 2004Lesley Hall Nineteenth-century feminism and the related social purity movement, and the emergent scientific discourse of ,sexology', are usually seen as antagonistic. Both trends, in fact, were in profound opposition to the widespread assumption that the double moral standard was an embodiment of ,natural' transhistorical law. This article suggests that feminist agitation against the Contagious Diseases Acts of the 1860s (and other manifestations of the deleterious legal status of women) overtly attacked unthinking social assumptions about sex and gender, destabilising concepts about the naturalness of the existing sexual system and creating the context for the pioneers of sexology to interrogate even further accepted notions of gender and sexuality. [source] THE INTERSECTIONS OF GENDER AND GENERATION IN ALBANIAN MIGRATION, REMITTANCES AND TRANSNATIONAL CAREGEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2009Russell King ABSTRACT. The Albanian case represents the most dramatic instance of post-communist migration: about one million Albanians, a quarter of the country's total population, are now living abroad, most of them in Greece and Italy, with the UK becoming increasingly popular since the late 1990s. This paper draws on three research projects based on fieldwork in Italy, Greece, the UK and Albania. These projects have involved in-depth interviews with Albanian migrants in several cities, as well as with migrant-sending households in different parts of Albania. In this paper we draw out those findings which shed light on the intersections of gender and generations in three aspects of the migration process: the emigration itself, the sending and receiving of remittances, and the care of family members (mainly the migrants' elderly parents) who remain in Albania. Theoretically, we draw on the notion of ,gendered geographies of power' and on how spatial change and separation through migration reshapes gender and generational relations. We find that, at all stages of the migration, Albanian migrants are faced with conflicting and confusing models of gender, behavioural and generational norms, as well as unresolved questions about their legal status and the likely economic, social and political developments in Albania, which make their future life plans uncertain. Legal barriers often prevent migrants and their families from enjoying the kinds of transnational family lives they would like. [source] The effects of price and policy on marijuana use: what can be learned from the Australian experience?HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2004J. Williams Abstract This research examines the responsiveness of the demand for marijuana to changes in its money price and criminal status using data on individuals from the Australian National Drug Strategy's Household Surveys (NDSHS). The results suggest that both the prevalence of marijuana use and the conditional demand for marijuana in the general population are responsive to changes in its money price. Significant differences are found in the effect of price on participation in marijuana use across age-groups, with participation by youth more price sensitive than participation by older age-groups. Similarly, the effect of the legal status of marijuana use on the participation decision is found to differ across age-groups and gender. Specifically, decriminalisation is associated with an increases in the prevalence of use by males over the age of 25. There is no evidence that decriminalisation significantly increases participation in marijuana use by either young males or females, or that decriminalisation increases the frequency of use among marijuana users. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Immigration Policy and Employment Conditions of US Immigrants from Mexico, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic1INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 5 2005Katharine M. Donato ABSTRACT Prior studies suggest that the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) in 1986 signalled a deterioration in the labour market conditions of Mexican migrants. In this paper, we examine whether and how labour market conditions worsened for Dominicans and Nicaraguans after 1986, and the extent to which these shifts were comparable to those experienced by Mexicans. Our analysis relies on a new source of data that offers comparable data across the three national origins. We estimate multivariate models that capture the effects of demographic attributes, human and social capital, migration-specific human and social capital, legal status, period of trip, national origin, and other controls on the hourly wages earned by household heads and whether they received cash wages on their last US trip. Models with interaction terms reveal significant pre- and post-1986 wage effects, but few differences in these effects between Mexicans and Dominicans or Nicaraguans. In contrast, group differences appear in the risk of cash receipt of wages. Dominicans and Nicaraguans experienced a greater increase in this risk relative to Mexicans pre- and post-1986. Together, these findings depict a broader, negative impact of IRCA on Latino migrant wages than has been documented elsewhere. [source] Periodontology as a recognized dental speciality in EuropeJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PERIODONTOLOGY, Issue 6 2006Mariano Sanz Abstract The impetus of the Bologna Process under the auspices of European Union governments has raised enormous expectations. It is the major educational change in Europe within the last 50 years and all the focus from university institutions, learned societies and thematic networks has shifted to this process, with the aim of developing consensus schemes in order to arrive at the expected European Convergence in Higher Education (to be completed by 2010). Dentistry as one of the health professions with clear Educational Standards, as defined by the European Dental Directives, is also reviewing its educational processes within this Bachelor,Master,Doctorate scheme and evaluating how the current and future dental specialities should be accommodated within this framework. Among these specialities, Periodontology is currently considered a formal dental speciality in 11 countries belonging to the EU however it lacks this legal status in the rest of the 14 EU countries. The purpose of this position paper is to provide evidence for the need for a recognized specialty in Periodontology at European level focusing on both the educational and professional perspective, with the hope of providing discussions that may contribute to facilitate its legal establishment as a new dental speciality in Europe. [source] Intangible effort and performance: the case of the French wine industryAGRIBUSINESS : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2010Paul Amadieu This study investigates to what extent intangible investments have a positive impact on French wine companies' financial performance. French wine companies are small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), so the task is (a) to measure their intangible expenses and capital, and (b) to estimate their impact on companies' performances. The authors then analyze the effect of property structures (cooperatives and corporations) and business activities on the intensity of the relationship between intangibility and performance. Relationships between intangibles and performance were tested empirically by means of a questionnaire carried out in 2005,2006. Questionnaire data were completed using financial statements for 207 companies whose activity included one or more stages in the production and marketing of wine. Using MANOVA and the production function approach, the authors found evidence that intangible proxies had a negative impact on the firms' economic performance measurements and a positive impact on commercial performance for intermediate values of intangible ratios. They also found that production functions were very different with regard to legal status and business activity, but that the negative impact of intangible proxies remained. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Modified Shotguns in Turkey from 2006 to 2008JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES, Issue 4 2009Aylin Yalç, bey M.Sc., n Sar Abstract:, This study investigates the legal status of modified shotguns in Turkey by examining the cases submitted to the Ayd,n Regional Criminal Laboratory between January 2006 and August 2008. A total of 351 shotguns used in crimes were examined. These guns were evaluated in respect of their type, size, caliber, fitness for use, and legal classification. Eleven percent of these shotguns had been modified and it was found that 55% of the modified shotguns were classified according to law 6136 and qualified as a pistol and 45% were classified according to law 2521 and qualified as nonstandard shotguns. Within the Turkish criminal justice system, a nonstandard shotgun attracts a less stringent sentence than a pistol. It would therefore appear that this sentencing structure is considered when modifying shotguns in Turkey. This is clearly a loop-hole in the legislation that could perhaps be investigated and closed. [source] Inventing Mastery: Patriarchal Precedents and the Legal Status of Indigenous People in AustraliaJOURNAL OF HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2000Pavla Miller The paper discusses some aspects of Aboriginal legal status in Australia from the perspective of survival, transformation and reinvention of early modern legal codifications of household mastery. Traces of masters' and husbands' entitlement to the labour of servants, children and wives, as well as their magistracy over household dependents, not only survive in today's laws and social relations; at times, they have been reinvented in a process which reversed the presumed movement from contract to status. The original dispossession of Australia's Indigenous peoples by British settlers set the stage for a particularly destructive instance of such process. Its legacy continues to shape contemporary struggles for Aboriginal rights. [source] Subtle, Pervasive, Harmful: Racist and Sexist Remarks in Public as Hate SpeechJOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 2 2002Laura Beth Nielsen Using field observations and 100 in-depth interviews with participants recruited from public places in Northern California, this article documents the experience of being the target of hate speech in public places. Focusing on racist and sexist hate speech (as participants define the phenomenon), I show that there is a range of experiences with hate speech and that it is often quite subtle, leaving all but intended victims unaware that it occurs. These data also show that such interactions occur with regularity and leave targets harmed in significant ways. There can be little doubt that members of traditionally disadvantaged groups face a strikingly different reality on the street than do members of privileged groups. Although the legal status of hate speech remains ambiguous, its harms are not. [source] Making Order Out of Trouble: Jurisdictional Politics in the Spanish Colonial BorderlandsLAW & SOCIAL INQUIRY, Issue 2 2001Lauren Benton Jurisdictional fluidity was a central feature of early modem Iberian law, and jurisdictional tensions were exacerbated by overseas conquest and colonization. Contests over the legal status of conquered peoples featured both jurisdictional jockeying among colonial factions and widespread preoccupation with the symbols and rituals marking cultural and legal difference. This article examines the dynamics of jurisdictional politics in seventeenth-century New Mexico, where church and state officials carried on a bitter feud over legal authority during most of the century. Rather than viewing this contest as either transparently political or a mask for deeper processes defining hegemony, the article argues that seemingly dry legal distinctions were the focus of passionate and persistent struggle precisely because they merged institutional and cultural concerns of missionaries, settler elites, and Indians. The analysis leads to broader, more speculative claims about the role of jurisdictional fluidity in creating an "orderly disorder" that spanned diverse regions within Spanish America and, more broadly, across colonial regimes in the early modern world. [source] Citizenship and family life in Ireland: asking the question,Who belongs'?LEGAL STUDIES, Issue 4 2005Siobhán Mullally Citizenship laws provide us with models of membership. They define the terms on which strangers and natives belong to political communities, allocating both the benefits of membership and the brutalities of exclusion. Recent legal changes in Ireland, restricting the right to citizenship by birth and limiting the rights of migrant families, highlight the vulnerability of children in migrant families and the limits of citizenship status. Many other states have grappled in recent times with the right to citizenship by birth and the entitlements to family life that come with such a claim. In both the UK and Australia the jus soli principle has been significantly restricted. In the US, Canada and elsewhere, while the jus soli principle continues to apply, citizen children born to undocumented migrant parents are subject to de facto deportations, their right to membership of the nation-stute,postponed'because of the legal status of their parents. In challenges to deportation proceedings involving such children, the perspective of the child as a bearer of rights is marginalised, with disputes turning largely on the balancing of states'interests in immigration control against the residence claims made by migrunt parents. [source] The elderly and undue influence inter vivosLEGAL STUDIES, Issue 2 2003Fiona R Burns An important demographic and social trend is becoming indisputably evident in the UK. The population is ageing, and a clearly discernible group of elderly persons is growing. As this trend continues, it will be necessary to reconsider the effectiveness and application of the law from the perspective of the elderly claimant. While it has been recognised that there must be a legal scheme to oversee the care and protection of persons, including elders, who are unable to care for their interests due to severe disability, it is becoming evident that even elders who are apparently healthy and able may be vulnerable. Undue influence inter vivos is a significant legal doctrine upon which elderly people have relied in recent times to set aside gifs, contracts and guarantees which they (or their representatives) have considered in hindsight were not in their best interests. This paper seeks to provide an analysis of and contribute to an understanding of the doctrine of undue influence from the perspective of the elderly claimant in the UK. The paper considers actual and presumed undue influence and the impact of the House of Lords decision in Royal Bank of Scotland plc v Etridge (No2). It will be argued that the law of undue influence inter vivos is in transition from a nineteenth-century doctrine which did not confer a special legal status on the elderly to one which is applied in the context of an increasing recognition that the events leading up to the transaction and the circumstances of the case may indicate that elders need the relief which the doctrine affords. Nevertheless, the transition to a modem system of undue influence for the elderly is incomplete. There remain outstanding issues which need consideration before it can be said that there is a comprehensive or logically coherent approach to elders and undue influence. [source] The Authentic Consent Model: contractarianism, Creditors' Bargain, and corporate liquidationLEGAL STUDIES, Issue 3 2001Rizwaan Jameel Mokal The first part of this paper asks if the Creditors' Bargain Model, long employed by insolvency scholars as the starting point for many an analysis, can explain or justify even the most distinctive and fundamental feature of insolvency law. After examining the defining features of the model's construction, the role of self-interest and consent in it, and its ex ante position, it is concluded that the Bargain model can neither explain nor legitimate the coercive collective liquidation regime. The second part of the paper develops an alternative model to analyse and justify insolvency law. The starting premise is that all (but only) those affected by issues peculiarly governed by insolvency law are to be given a choice in selecting the principles which would determine their rights and obligations. Once these parties have been identified, they are to be given equal weight in the selection process, since their legal status (whether they are employees, secured or unsecured creditors, etc), wealth, cognitive abilities, and bargaining strength are all morally irrelevant in framing rules of justice. This part of the paper introduces the notion of a constructive attribute, characteristics this society accepts its citizens should have in their role as legislators. So all parties affected by insolvency issues are regarded as free, equal, and reasonable. The model sketched out in this part of the article requires all principles to be selected from its choice position. Here, all the parties are deprived of any knowledge of personal attributes, and must reason rationally. It is shown that parties in the choice position would in fact choose the principles laying down the automatic stay on unsecured claims. The paper concludes with the demonstration that because of the construction of the choice position and the constructive attributes of the parties bargaining in it, the principles chosen are fair and just, and chosen in exercise of the parties' autonomy. As it happens, they are also efficient. [source] Leases: are they still not really real?LEGAL STUDIES, Issue 4 2000Michael Harwood This article seeks to show why, historically, the lease/tenancy were viewed as being peripheral to the scheme of land law, not perceived as part of ,real property It suggests that the continued classification today of leases/tenancies as personalty reflects an uncritical perpetuation of this perception, a failure to reappraise their legal status and function in the context of today law and social relations concerned with land. More generally, it touches on a possible need to reappraise many of the underlying, historically derived schemata and structures of today's property law. Finally, as the offer of a small step in the reappraisal of the place of lease/tenancies, it argues that today, in law, they can and should properly be classified (together with freeholds) as part of real property. [source] "Cursed and blessed": Examining the socioemotional and academic experiences of undocumented Latina and Latino college studentsNEW DIRECTIONS FOR STUDENT SERVICES, Issue 131 2010William Pérez Although many undocumented high school students are demonstrated student leaders with records of outstanding academic achievement, their higher education prospects in the United States are limited due to their legal status. Many of these students enter higher education with academic and emotional challenges that need to be understood and addressed by student affairs professionals. [source] Citizenship and The StatePHILOSOPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 6 2009M. Victoria Costa This study surveys debates on citizenship, the state, and the bases of political stability. The survey begins by presenting the primary sense of ,citizenship' as a legal status and the question of the sorts of political communities people can belong to as citizens. (Multi)nation-states are suggested as the main site of citizenship in the contemporary world, without ignoring the existence of alternative possibilities. Turning to discussions of citizen identity, the study shows that some of the discussion is motivated by a perceived need for citizens to have a sense of political belonging, on the assumption that such a sense promotes political activity and has other personal and social benefits. But there are serious problems with the strategy of understanding the relevant sense of belonging in terms of identification with the nation-state. The study explores a more promising way to generate this sense of belonging. First, societies should function, to a sufficiently high degree, in accord with political principles of justice and democratic decision making. Second, there should be a general consensus on political principles among citizens, as well as high levels of engagement in democratic deliberation. [source] Dimensions and dynamics of irregular migrationPOPULATION, SPACE AND PLACE (PREVIOUSLY:-INT JOURNAL OF POPULATION GEOGRAPHY), Issue 3 2010Khalid Koser Abstract This contribution critically reviews existing data and other recent sources to provide an overview of the dimensions and dynamics of contemporary irregular migration. First it considers the utility and uses of irregular migrant statistics, considering their inherent inaccuracy, their inability to distinguish different types of irregular migrant, the way that data is collected, and the purposes to which it is put. The second section reviews the conceptual and practical challenges associated with counting irregular migrants. Conceptual challenges include: differentiating stocks from flows, addressing the variety of routes into irregularity, distinguishing migrant smuggling from human trafficking, separating asylum from aggregate statistics, and acknowledging that migrants' legal status can change quickly. Practical challenges associated with a series of direct and indirect methods for collecting statistics (including national censuses) are reviewed, and the difficulty for researchers to access official statistics highlighted. The third section presents estimates of the scale and scope of irregular migration, and data from regularisation programmes in various high-income countries. The fourth section reviews explanations for irregular migration, distinguishing macro-level explanations that focus on structural causes from meso-level explanations concerned with the role of policies and intermediaries, and also notes the shortage of micro-level explanations concerned with individual and family decision-making. The final section considers the consequences of irregular migration, with a particular focus on security. The review suggests that while irregular migration can undermine state sovereignty, the implications of irregular migration for the ,human security' of those involved should not be underestimated. The conclusion considers some implications for future research. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Pathological Gambling in Methadone Maintenance Clinics Where Gambling Is Legal Versus IllegalAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2010Einat Peles Lifetime potential and probable pathological gambling (PG) were assessed using the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) questionnaire. The prevalence between patients in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in Tel Aviv (Israel, gambling is illegal) and MMT patients in Las Vegas (NV, USA, gambling is legal) was compared. Urine toxicology and substance use was assessed as well. PG at MMT admission was higher in Tel Aviv (48/178, 27%) than in Las Vegas (19/113, 16.8%; p = .05). In Tel Aviv gambling mostly preceded opiate abuse (58.3%), while it followed opiate abuse in Las Vegas (66.7%, p < .001). Only 20.8% in Tel Aviv and 21.1% in Las Vegas were currently gambling. Multivariate analyses found older age on admission to MMT odds ratio (OR) = 1.05 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01,1.08), being male OR = 2.6 (95% CI 1.3,5.3) and being from the Tel Aviv MMT clinic OR = 2.5 (95% CI 1.3,4.9) to characterize PG. Detection of any drug in MMT admission urine specimens was unrelated to PG. Older age on admission to MMT, and male gender characterized PG in different MMT clinics, independent of the legal status of gambling. Low current PG rates for patients in both MMT clinics suggest that legality may not be relevant. [source] The study of organisational autonomy: a conceptual reviewPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2004Koen Verhoest We argue that contemporary research on the influence of organisational autonomy on performance in public organisations uses a diverse and a too restrictive conceptualisation of autonomy. After discussing that research, the article develops six dimensions of the concept of autonomy in public organisations. Second, weaknesses of contemporary research are shown by confronting their conceptualisations with the developed taxonomy. Third, data from a survey of Flemish public organisations illuminate the need to acknowledge the six different dimensions of autonomy when studying the effect of autonomy on performance. The empirical material points at the dangers of using formal,legal status of a public organisation as an indicator of its autonomy, given substantial heterogeneity of organisations with the same formal,legal status on each dimension of autonomy. Moreover, tensions between different levels of autonomy appear in practice, indicating the need for a combined and integrated study of the effects of the different dimensions of autonomy on performance. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Soft Governance, Hard Consequences: The Ambiguous Status of Unofficial GuidelinesPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 4 2006Taco Brandsen Soft governance is an approach to policy implementation in which the central government relies less on hierarchy than on information to steer local organizations. This allows for a combination of formal accountability and professional autonomy that improves the quality of public services in both the short and the long term. Guidelines of an advisory, unofficial status are one tool that central government can use for this purpose. However, an inherent problem with this approach is that even though guidelines have no official legal status, in practice, they can take on the character of formal regulation when local organizations suspect that they cannot choose alternative courses of action, however well reasoned, without being sanctioned. It is a situation that encourages conformist behavior and diminishes the long-term potential for innovation. This phenomenon is illustrated with an analysis of disaster management in the Netherlands. [source] The Mythology of Human RightsRATIO JURIS, Issue 3 2008GUNNAR BECK The underlying assumption,the idea that there are some human values that deserve special protection,implies the need for both a normative and a conceptual justification. This paper claims that neither can be provided. The normative justification is needed to support the priority of human rights over other human goods and to rank and balance conflicting human rights, but it can't be provided because of the fact of pervasive value pluralism, the fact that human values are many, incompatible and incommensurable. The conceptual justification is needed to avoid arbitrariness in the interpretation of human rights at the adjudication stage. Such a justification is impossible, however, as the concept of human rights, and the concepts used to justify them and to solve their conflicts are "essentially contested concepts." The paper concludes that, provided that the interpretation of human rights presupposes value judgements and political choices, the special legal status accorded to human rights is not justified. [source] Conceptions Of Liberty DeprivationTHE MODERN LAW REVIEW, Issue 5 2006Liora Lazarus This article adopts a theoretical and comparative perspective on the prisoner's legal status in England and Wales. Applying the principles of human rights, legality and proportionality, it argues that the prisoner's legal status must rest on a divisible conception of liberty. Such a conception must distinguish clearly between the liberty lost, and the rights restricted, by the imposition of the custodial sentence as opposed to the administration of prisons (the key distinction). In order for this to be achieved, the conception of the prisoner's legal status must also establish the purpose or purposes of the custodial sanction as distinct from the purpose of prison administration. Through comparison with Germany, the article demonstrates that the common law concept of the prisoner's legal status is unstable. Vacillating between a divisible and indivisible conception of the prisoner's liberty, the English conception of the prisoner's legal status lacks a foundation firm enough to satisfy the principles of human rights, legality and proportionality. [source] Unions without Borders: Organizing and Enlightening Immigrant Farm WorkersANTHROPOLOGY OF WORK REVIEW, Issue 2 2009David Griffith Abstract Farm workers pose special problems for union organizing due to their legal status, their high rates of turnover, their employment through subcontracts, and the temporary and seasonal dimensions of farm work. Yet by organizing farm workers, unions have developed and refined strategies that point to methods of meeting the challenges of contemporary work environments in and out of agriculture. This includes organizing workers across fragmented space, whether transnational or transregional, and organizing workers who are sifted into production regimes via subcontractual relationships. This paper examines two farm worker unions , the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers , in terms of their successes and failures with farm labor organizing. It finds that boycotts, the use of fine arts, balancing local and transnational interests, and building relationships based on confianza (trust) are critical to the formation and maintenance of effective union organization. [source] Abortion and Neonaticide: Ethics, Practice and Policy in Four NationsBIOETHICS, Issue 3 2002Michael L. Gross Abortion, particularly late-term abortion, and neonaticide, selective non-treatment of newborns, are feasible management strategies for fetuses or newborns diagnosed with severe abnormalities. However, policy varies considerably among developed nations. This article examines abortion and neonatal policy in four nations: Israel, the US, the UK and Denmark. In Israel, late-term abortion is permitted while non-treatment of newborns is prohibited. In the US, on the other hand, late-term abortion is severely restricted, while treatment to newborns may be withdrawn. Policy in the UK and Denmark bridges some of these gaps with liberal abortion and neonatal policy. Disparate policy within and between nations creates practical and ethical difficulties. Practice diverges from policy as many practitioners find it difficult to adhere to official policy. Ethically, it is difficult to entirely justify perinatal policy in these nations. In each nation, there are elements of ethically sound policy, while other aspects cannot be defended. Ethical policy hinges on two underlying normative issues: the question of fetal/newborn status and the morality of killing and letting die. While each issue has been the subject of extensive debate, there are firm ethical norms that should serve as the basis for coherent and consistent perinatal policy. These include 1) a grant of full moral and legal status to the newborn but only partial moral and legal status to the late-term fetus 2) a general prohibition against feticide unless to save the life of the mother or prevent the birth of a fetus facing certain death or severe pain and suffering and 3) a general endorsement of neonaticide subject to a parent's assessment of the newborn's interest broadly defined to consider physical harm as well as social, psychological and or financial harm to related third parties. Policies in each of the nations surveyed diverging from these norms should be the subject of public discourse and, where possible, legislative reform. [source] Unwritten law in Hobbesian political thoughtBRITISH JOURNAL OF POLITICS & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Issue 2 2000Alan Cromartie In Hobbesian terminology, ,unwritten laws' are natural laws enforced within a polity, by a non-sovereign judge, without some previous public promulgation. This article discusses the idea in the light of successive Hobbesian accounts of ,law' and ,obligation'. Between De Cive and Leviathan, Hobbes dropped the idea that natural law is strictly speaking law, but he continued to believe unwritten laws must form a part of any legal system. He was unable to explain how such a law could claim a legal status. His loyalty to the notion, in spite of all the trouble that it caused, is a sign of his belief that moral knowledge is readily accessible to all. [source] Tribunals and guidelines: Exploring the relationship between fairness and legitimacy in administrative decision-makingCANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION/ADMINISTRATION PUBLIQUE DU CANADA, Issue 3 2006France Houle The role of tribunals in policy-making and/or policy-implementing raises important questions. For example, to whom are tribunals accountable for the development and application of guidelines where the functions of a tribunal - especially the adjudicative functions - are intended to be independent of government? The authors seek to understand better the dynamics of tribunals' role in the policy process. They propose a classification of guidelines based on the function they perform in administrative proceedings and provide an analysis of the normative framework underlying guidelines. The authors explore how a legal analysis of guidelines might shed on the theory and practice of public administration. The authors conclude that in the absence of a nuanced understanding of the legal status of guidelines, the relationship between administrative practice and the rule of law remains uncertain and unstable. Sommaire: Cet article cherche à répondre à deux questions: pourquoi les tribunaux administratifs comme la Commission de l'immigration et du statut de réfugié ont-ils recours à l'élaboration de directives? Et quels sont les principes et les valeurs qui justifient ces initiatives? Le rôle des tribunaux dans l'élaboration et/ou la mise en ,uvre des politiques soulève des questions importantes. Par exemple, à qui les tribunaux doivent-ils rendre compte en ce qui concerne l'élaboration et l'application de directives lorsque les fonctions d'un tribunal - en particulier les fonctions juridictionnelles - sont supposées être indépendantes du gouvernement? Les auteurs cherchent à mieux comprendre la dynamique du rôle des tribunaux dans le processus d'élaboration de politiques. Ils proposent une classification des directives d'après la fonction qu'elles jouent dans les procédures administratives et ils fournissent une analyse du cadre normatif sous-tendant ces directives. Les auteurs étudient comment une analyse juridique des directives pourrait éclairer la théorie et la pratique de l'administration publique. Ils concluent qu'en l'absence d'une compréhension nuancée du statut légal des directives, la relation entre la pratique administrative et la primauté du droit demeure incertaine et instable. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||