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Showing papers on "Legislation published in 2014"


Book
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: The Telecom “Reform” Act of 1996 as mentioned in this paper makes it unlawful and punishable by a $250,000 fine to say “shit” online, or to discuss abortion openly.
Abstract: Yesterday, that great invertebrate in the White House signed into the law the Telecom “Reform” Act of 1996, while Tipper Gore took digital photographs of the proceedings to be included in a book called “24 Hours in Cyberspace.” I had also been asked to participate in the creation of this book by writing something appropriate to the moment. Given the atrocity that this legislation would seek to inflict on the Net, I decided it was as good a time as any to dump some tea in the virtual harbor. After all, the Telecom “Reform” Act, passed in the Senate with only 5 dissenting votes, makes it unlawful, and punishable by a $250,000 to say “shit” online. Or, for that matter, to say any of the other 7 dirty words prohibited in broadcast media. Or to discuss abortion openly. Or to talk about any bodily function in any but the most clinical terms. It attempts to place more restrictive constraints on the conversation in Cyberspace than presently exist in the Senate cafeteria, where I have dined and heard colorful indecencies spoken by United States senators on every occasion I did. This bill was enacted upon us by people who haven’t the slightest idea who we are or where our conversation is being conducted. It is, as my good friend and Wired Editor Louis Rossetto put it, as though “the illiterate could tell you what to read.” Well, fuck them. Or, more to the point, let us now take our leave of them. They have declared war on Cyberspace. Let us show them how cunning, baffling, and powerful we can be in our own defense. I have written something (with characteristic grandiosity) that I hope will become one of many means to this end. If you find it useful, I hope you will pass it on as widely as possible. You can leave my name off it if you like, because I don’t care about the credit. I really don’t. But I do hope this cry will echo across Cyberspace, changing and growing and self-replicating, until it becomes a great shout equal to the idiocy they have just inflicted upon us. I give you... A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace

791 citations


Book
13 May 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a rich international comparative analysis of law and practice relating to maternity protection at work in 185 countries and territories, comprising leave, cash benefits, employment protection and non-discrimination, health protection, breastfeeding arrangements at work and childcare.
Abstract: This report provides a picture of where we stand and what we have learned so far about maternity and paternity rights across the world. It offers a rich international comparative analysis of law and practice relating to maternity protection at work in 185 countries and territories, comprising leave, cash benefits, employment protection and non-discrimination, health protection, breastfeeding arrangements at work and childcare. Expanding on previous editions, it is based on an extensive set of new legal and statistical indicators, including coverage in law and in practice of paid maternity leave as well as statutory provision of paternity and parental leave and their evolution over the last 20 years. The report also takes account of the recent economic crisis and austerity measures. It shows how well national laws and practice conform to the ILO Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183), its accompanying Recommendation (No. 191) and the Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156), and offers guidance on policy design and implementation. This report shows that a majority of countries have established legislation to protect and support maternity and paternity at work, even if those provisions do not always meet the ILO standards. One of the persistent challenges is the effective implementation of legislation, to ensure that all workers are able to benefit from these essential labour rights.

197 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The EU is a pre-eminent player in sustainable development, adopting more than 200 pieces of legislation that have direct repercussions for marine environmental policy and management and here is an overview of this change.

161 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: Transnational Private Regulation (TPR) as discussed by the authors is a new body of rules, practices and processes, created primarily by private actors, firms, NGOs, independent experts like technical standard-setters and epistemic communities, either exercising autonomous regulatory power or implementing delegated power, conferred by international law or by national legislation.
Abstract: Transnational Private Regulation (TPR) constitutes a new body of rules, practices and processes, created primarily by private actors, firms, NGOs, independent experts like technical standard-setters and epistemic communities, either exercising autonomous regulatory power or implementing delegated power, conferred by international law or by national legislation. Its recent growth reflects (A) a reallocation of regulatory power from the domestic to the global sphere and (B) a redistribution between public and private regulators. When in place, TPR produces strong distributive effects both among private actors and between them and nation states. It differs both from global public regulation and from conventional forms of private rule-making identifiable with the law merchant. The main differences concern both actors and effects. TPR is generally voluntary, mirroring domestic private regulation. Parties who wish to join the regulatory bodies participating to the regime are free to do so, however once they are in, they are legally bound and violation of the rules is subject to legal sanctions.* This freedom can be partially limited when the participation in a private regime and compliance with its standards is the condition to access to other regimes which provide market opportunities for the regulated entities. Often, subscription to a regime or compliance with a set of standards condition the access to the market or the ability to compete thereby reducing the freedom to choose. Voluntariness can be undermined by public intervention changing the regime from voluntary to compulsory. Less frequent than those observed at the domestic level are the examples of delegated private regulation to be found at the transnational level, where an explicit act of delegation by an IO or an IGO empowers a private body with regulatory power and makes the regime mandatory for the regulated entities. More diffused are the examples of ex post judicially recognised private regulation, when domestic courts recognise privately produced standards as part of customary public or private (international) law making it binding. The paper will address the factors driving towards the emergence of new TPR are identified in comparison with, on the one hand, lex mercatoria and, on the other hand, international public regimes. The focus will be then on the private sphere, looking at both the different conflicts of interests arising in the regulatory relationships and the need for governance responses; and then institutional complementarity between public and private regimes will be examined. In light of this approach, the claim that differences between public and private at the global level exist is substantiated. The publicprivate divide is analysed, comparing the domestic and the transnational level. Four different models of interaction are identified: hybridisation, collaborative law-making, coordination and competition.

127 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article revisited the two questions that future Nobel Prize winner, George Stigler, posed to the economics profession in his seminal 1946 American Economic Review article urging us to speak out in the debate over the efficacy of increases in the minimum wage: (i) Does such legislation diminish poverty? and (ii) Are there efficient alternatives?
Abstract: Economists have long been involved in public policy-making, both as policy advisors and policy advocates. This article revisits the two questions that future Nobel Prize winner, George Stigler, posed to the economics profession in his seminal 1946 American Economic Review article urging us to speak out in the debate over the efficacy of increases in the minimum wage: (i) ‘Does such legislation diminish poverty?’; and (ii) ‘Are there efficient alternatives?’. I review this literature in the United States in the context of the Congressional Budget Office's answers in 2014 to these questions and what Australian policy-makers can learn from them.

105 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a content analysis of environmental disclosure provided in annual reports, environmental reports and web sites by 26 French companies listed in the CAC 40 is performed throughout the period 2001-2011.
Abstract: Purpose – The paper seeks to adopt an institutional view of legitimacy to examine how a sample of French companies reacted to the introduction of the “New Economic Regulations” in French law in 2001 requiring that publicly listed companies disclose environmental information.Design/methodology/approach – The approach used in the paper is both quantitative and qualitative. A content analysis of environmental disclosure provided in annual reports, environmental reports and web sites by 26 French companies listed in the CAC 40 is performed throughout the period 2001-2011.Findings – The findings of this study show a significant and enduring improvement in the quality and quantity of environmental disclosure from 2001 to 2011. Even in the absence of penalties for non-compliance, the NRE law stimulated a stark and positive lasting change in the way that French companies account for their environmental information. These findings are consistent with the institutional view of legitimacy theory whereby legislation provides corporate managers with a representation of relevant audiences' perceptions about social and environmental reporting, prompting them to comply with the law to ensure organizational legitimacy.Originality/value – Social and environmental reporting studies generally adopt a strategic view of legitimacy to examine how organizations use social and environmental reporting to respond strategically to legitimacy threats. This study provides early empirical evidence about the relevance of institutional legitimacy theory in explaining environmental reporting.

102 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors discusses the limitations of Australian legislation, within its policy, market and cultural context, in enabling private tenants to exercise control over their dwellings, and compares the Australian situation with Germany to demonstrate that alternative approaches that afford more control to private tenants are possible in rental systems dominated by private rental.
Abstract: English-language literature on the relationship between home and dwelling has largely focused on the benefits of homeownership and (to a lesser extent) social rental in facilitating ontological security. Less consideration has been given to the experiences of private tenants. This paper draws on findings of a study on security of occupancy to discuss the ability of private renters to exercise control over their dwellings in Australia. The paper discusses the limitations of Australian legislation, within its policy, market and cultural context, in enabling private tenants to exercise control over their dwellings, and compares the Australian situation with Germany to demonstrate that alternative approaches that afford more control to private tenants are possible in rental systems dominated by private rental. The paper concludes with a call for a wider debate about the importance of home and the impact of social norms regarding the purpose of different types of tenure on housing policy and thus on the rights...

96 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Oct 2014-Futures
TL;DR: The authors argue that many artisanal miners are in fact operating at various stages of legality, through payment of informal taxes, and following informal agreements made with local government officials, which can be seen as a locally grounded formalization, benefiting both cash-strapped miners who are unable to pay the full fees required by the Mining Code and underpaid government officials who are presented with an opportunity to supplement their incomes.

96 citations


BookDOI
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Charter of fundamental rights of EU citizens and residents) as discussed by the authors was proposed in 2000 by the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the European Commission.
Abstract: The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union enshrines the key political, social and economic rights of EU citizens and residents in EU law In its present form it was approved in 2000 by the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the European Commission However its legal status remained uncertain until the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in December 2009 The Charter obliges the EU to act and legislate consistently with the Charter, and enables the EU's courts to strike down EU legislation which contravenes it The Charter applies to EU Member States when they are implementing EU law but does not extend the competences of the EU beyond the competences given to it in the treaties

95 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The most detailed, complete and comprehensive legal dataset of the most prevalent tort reforms in the United States between 1980 and 2012 is the DSTLR (5th) dataset as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: This manuscript of the DSTLR (5th) updates the DSTLR (4th) and contains the most detailed, complete and comprehensive legal dataset of the most prevalent tort reforms in the United States between 1980 and 2012. The DSTLR has been downloaded almost 2000 times and has become the standard tool in empirical research of tort reform. The dataset records state laws in all fifty states and the District of Columbia over the last several decades. For each reform we record the effective date, a short description of the reform, whether or not the jury is allowed to know about the reform, whether the reform was upheld or struck down by the states’ courts, as well as whether it was amended by the state legislator. Scholarship studying the empirical effects of tort reforms relies on various datasets, (tort reforms datasets and other legal compilations). Some of the datasets are created and published independently and some of them are created ad-hoc by the researchers. The usefulness of these datasets frequently suffers from various defects. They are often incompatible and do not accurately record judicial invalidation of laws. Additionally, they frequently lack reforms adopted before 1986, amendments adopted after 1986, court-based reforms, and effective dates of legislation. It is possible that some of the persisting variation across empirical studies about the effects of tort reforms might be due to the variations in legal datasets used by the studies. This dataset builds upon and improves existing data sources. It does so through a careful review of original legislation and case law to determine the exact text and effective dates. The fifth draft corrects errors that were found in the fourth draft, focuses only on the most prevalent reforms, and standardizes the descriptions of the reforms. A link to an Excel file which codes ten reforms found in DSTLR (5th) is provided. It is hoped that creating one “canonized” dataset will increase our understanding of tort reform’s impacts on our lives.

94 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
26 Nov 2014-JAMA
TL;DR: Recent national trends in medical liability claims and costs are reviewed, which indicate a sharp reduction in the rate of paid claims and flat or declining levels in compensation payments and liability insurance costs over the last 7 to 10 years.
Abstract: For many physicians, the prospect of being sued for medical malpractice is a singularly disturbing aspect of modern clinical practice. State legislatures have enacted tort reforms, such as caps on damages, in an effort to reduce the volume and costs of malpractice litigation. Attempts to introduce similar traditional reform measures at the federal level have so far failed. Much less prominent, but potentially more important, are proposed alternative approaches for resolving medical injuries; a number of these efforts are currently being tested in federally sponsored demonstration projects. These nontraditional reforms have considerable promise for addressing some of the system’s most challenging issues, including high costs and barriers to accessing compensation. In this Special Communication, we review recent national trends in medical liability claims and costs, which indicate a sharp reduction in the rate of paid claims and flat or declining levels in compensation payments and liability insurance costs over the last 7 to 10 years. We discuss a number of nontraditional reform approaches—communication-and-resolution programs, presuit notification and apology laws, safe harbor legislation, judge-directed negotiation, and administrative compensation systems—and we conclude by describing several forces likely to shape change in the medical liability environment over the next decade.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The role of legislation is examined, proposals for helping victims of IPV are addressed, and important remaining issues regarding intimate partner violence need to be addressed by future legislation are addressed.
Abstract: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is defined as violence committed by a current or former boyfriend or girlfriend, spouse or ex-spouse. Each year, 1.3 to 5.3 million women in the United States experience IPV. The large number of individuals affected, the enormous healthcare costs, and the need for a multidisciplinary approach make IPV an important healthcare issue. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) addresses domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. It emphasizes development of coordinated community care among law enforcement, prosecutors, victim services, and attorneys. VAWA was not reauthorized in 2012 because it lacked bipartisan support. VAWA 2013 contains much needed new provisions for Native Americans; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gay, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals; and victims of human trafficking but does not address the large amount of intimate partner violence in America's immigrant population. There are important remaining issues regarding intimate partner violence that need to be addressed by future legislation. This review examines the role of legislation and addresses proposals for helping victims of IPV.

Journal ArticleDOI
Gillian Abel1
TL;DR: New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective (NZPC) was the key player in getting decriminalization on the policy agenda and their effective networking played an essential role to the successful campaign for legislative change as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: New Zealand was the first country to decriminalize sex work. This article provides a reflective commentary on decriminalization, its implementation and its impacts in New Zealand. New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective (NZPC) was the key player in getting decriminalization on the policy agenda and their effective networking played an essential role to the successful campaign for legislative change. There were contentious clauses within the Prostitution Reform Act (PRA) which were of concern to NZPC and others. However, the research which informed the review of the Act has shown that decriminalization has been successful in making the industry safer and improving the human rights of sex workers within all sectors of the industry. The PRA provides several protections for sex workers, which means that their human rights and citizenship can be safeguarded. Yet there has been little movement towards decriminalization in other countries and reluctance by some to draw on New Zealand’s experience. Indeed, it cannot ...

01 Feb 2014
TL;DR: The GLOBE Climate Legislation Study as discussed by the authors is the most comprehensive audit of climate legislation across 66 countries, together responsible for around 88% of global manmade greenhouse gas emissions, and it was formally launched at the 2nd Global Climate Legislation Summit held at the Senate of the United States of America and at the World Bank in Washington DC.
Abstract: The GLOBE Climate Legislation Study is the most comprehensive audit of climate legislation across 66 countries, together responsible for around 88% of global manmade greenhouse gas emissions. It is produced by the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics in collaboration with GLOBE International. The 4th edition of the Study was formally launched at the 2nd GLOBE Climate Legislation Summit held at the Senate of the United States of America and at the World Bank in Washington DC on 27th-28th February 2014. The next edition of the Climate Legislation Study will be launched in early 2015, covering legislation in 100 countries. Key messages from the 4th edition: ◾Almost 500 climate laws have been passed in the 66 countries covered by the study; the direction of travel is clear; and encouragingly, it is developing countries and emerging markets, which are advancing climate change laws and regulation at the fastest pace. ◾Even though the legislative progress is impressive, the cumulative ambition of these laws is not yet sufficient to limit global average temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the agreed goal of the international community. ◾In order for a successful outcome in Paris in 2015 there is now extreme urgency to strengthen commitments, and for countries that have not yet passed climate change laws and/or regulations to do so.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors found that state legislators are more likely to rely on businesses' proposals when they lack the time and resources to develop legislation on their own, especially when they also hold an ideological affinity for business.
Abstract: Which policymakers are most likely to enact legislation drafted by organized business interests? Departing from the business power scholarship that emphasizes structural, electoral, or financial mechanisms for corporate influence, I argue that lawmakers are likely to rely on businesses' proposals when they lack the time and resources to develop legislation on their own, especially when they also hold an ideological affinity for business. Using two new datasets of “model bills” developed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a policy group that promotes pro-business legislation across the states, I find strong support for this theory. These results indicate that ALEC provides private policy capacity to state legislators who would otherwise lack such support, and relatedly, that low state policy capacity may favor certain organized interests over others—namely the business interests affiliated with ALEC. My findings have implications for the study of business influence in policymaking, as well as for state politics.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article conducted two experiments in which they alter aspects of the political context to see how people respond to parties (not) coming together to achieve broadly popular public policy goals, finding that preferences for bipartisanship in the legislative process do not outweigh partisan desires in the evaluation of public policies.
Abstract: At a time of a high level of polarization in Congress, public opinion surveys routinely find that Americans want politicians to compromise. When evaluating legislation, does the preference for bipartisanship in the legislative process trump partisan identities? We find that it does not. We conduct two experiments in which we alter aspects of the political context to see how people respond to parties (not) coming together to achieve broadly popular public policy goals. Although citizens can recognize bipartisan processes, preferences for bipartisan legislating do not outweigh partisan desires in the evaluation of public policies.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the global reach of EU law in the context of current debates about the rise of the EU as a global regulatory power and find that the enactment of extraterritorial legislation by the EU is extremely rare.
Abstract: This paper examines the global reach of EU law in the context of current debates about the rise of the EU as a global regulatory power. Challenging recent claims to the contrary, its findings are that the enactment of extraterritorial legislation by the EU is extremely rare. Nevertheless, the EU makes frequent recourse to a legislative technique that I term territorial extension, in order to gain regulatory traction over activities that take place abroad. This technique not only leads to the EU governing transactions that are not centered upon the territory of the EU, but it also enables the EU to influence the nature and content of third country and international law. Nevertheless, it is inaccurate to say that the EU thereby seeks to export its own norms. EU legislation which engages in territorial extension is generally characterized by an international orientation revealing the EU to be engaged in action-forcing contingent unilateralism rather than the exportation of norms. The EU seeks to galvanize third country or global action to tackle transboundary problems and to pursue objectives that have been internationally agreed upon. The importance to the EU of this international orientation is clear from the criticisms that the EU has made of extraterritoriality and territorial extension in United States law.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An outline for a model law that would govern the non-consensual treatment of people who lack the capacity (or competence) to consent due to mental impairment, whether this is due to "mental disorder" or "psychiatric disorder" as conventionally conceived, or due to a "physical disorder".
Abstract: An outline for a model law is presented here that would govern the non-consensual treatment of people who lack the capacity (or competence) to consent due to mental impairment, whether this is due to ‘mental disorder’ or ‘psychiatric disorder’ as conventionally conceived, or due to a ‘physical disorder’. Our aim in drafting this model law is to give coherent and practical expression to the case, previously made by two of the current authors, that separate legislation authorising the civil commitment of ‘mentally disordered’ persons is unnecessary, and discriminatory, and should be replaced by new, comprehensive legislation that would govern the non-consensual treatment of both ‘mental’ and ‘physical’ conditions. This new scheme – which we have described as the ‘fusion’ proposal – would be based squarely on incapacity principles: that is, on the impaired capacity of a person to make decisions about treatment, from whatever cause – whether this is due to schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s Disease, a learning disability, a confusional state due to infection, a cerebrovascular accident, a head injury, or any other mental impairment. A model statute of this kind, drafted largely by Rowena Daw, is presented here in skeleton form.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Legislation that substantially changed the malpractice standard for emergency physicians in three states had little effect on the intensity of practice, as measured by imaging rates, average charges, or hospital admission rates.
Abstract: Background Many believe that fear of malpractice lawsuits drives physicians to order otherwise unnecessary care and that legal reforms could reduce such wasteful spending. Emergency physicians practice in an information-poor, resource-rich environment that may lend itself to costly defensive practice. Three states, Texas (in 2003), Georgia (in 2005), and South Carolina (in 2005), enacted legislation that changed the malpractice standard for emergency care to gross negligence. We investigated whether these substantial reforms changed practice. Methods Using a 5% random sample of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, we identified all emergency department visits to hospitals in the three reform states and in neighboring (control) states from 1997 through 2011. Using a quasi-experimental design, we compared patient-level outcomes, before and after legislation, in reform states and control states. We controlled for characteristics of the patients, time-invariant hospital characteristics, and temporal trends...

16 Dec 2014
TL;DR: The social contagion model as discussed by the authors suggests that state residents react to neighboring policies by changing their aggregate opinions on that policy, and if state opinion becomes supportive, state officials respond by enacting similar policies in the home state or risk being ousted from office.
Abstract: Scholars have offered two primary explanations for the influence that neighboring states have on policy diffusion: state officials learn by observing the outcomes of policies and states seek an economic advantage over other states. Both models contend that decision making occurs laterally as state officials learn from or react to the policy decisions of other elites; the public has a minor role. I offer an additional explanation, the social contagion model, which suggests that state residents react to neighboring policies by changing their aggregate opinions on that policy. If state opinion becomes supportive, state officials respond by enacting similar policies in the home state or risk being ousted from office. Using both individual and aggregate data on antismoking legislation, I find empirical support for the social contagion model. The results reorient theories of policy diffusion to the public and, consequently, open up new avenues for future research.

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that the positive effects of human rights treaties increase when there are more legislative veto players, and they use an empirical strategy that attempts to address the selection effects in treaty commitment decisions.
Abstract: Do national legislatures constitute a mechanism by which commitments to international human rights treaties can be made credible? Treaty ratification can activate domestic mechanisms that make repression more costly, and the legislative opposition can enhance these mechanisms. Legislative veto players raise the cost of formalistic repressive strategies by declining to consent to legislation. Executives can still choose to rely on more costly, extralegal strategies, but these could result in severe penalties for the leader and require the leader to expend resources to hide. Especially in treaty member-states, legislatures can use other powers to also increase the cost of extralegal violations, which can further reduce repression. By using an empirical strategy that attempts to address the selection effects in treaty commitment decisions, I show that positive effects of human rights treaties increase when there are more legislative veto players.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article examined the discourse related to unconventional natural gas development in western Pennsylvania in order to illuminate expressions of political power in attempts to manufacture consent, focusing on the overlapping spheres of influence between the state and capital to dissect techniques of governance at the level of civil society.
Abstract: In this policy ethnography we examine the discourse related to unconventional natural gas development in western Pennsylvania in order to illuminate expressions of political power in attempts to manufacture consent. We focus on the overlapping spheres of influence between the state and capital to dissect techniques of governance as they operate at the level of civil society. Data collection from fieldwork and discourse analysis, particularly focused on discourse about recent legislation to regulate the booming natural gas industry in Pennsylvania, reveals the ways in which industry proponents attempt to corral public opinion to the goal of extracting and amassing capital. We analyze how industry actors try to gain and draw from the authority and approval of the state in those efforts. In turn, the state uses its socially sanctioned authority to reframe water, land, air, community, health, and self around a paradigm that interprets those as sources of profit. This case study examines how, under neoliberalism, the state organizes knowledge on the topic of fracking such that the balance of power shifts further out of democratic reach. Key Words: capital, discourse analysis, ethnography, fracking, Marcellus Shale, Pennsylvania Act 13, governance

Journal ArticleDOI
Yehya Badr1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined whether art 20 of the O.C.T.L gives the contracting parties the freedom to choose the Unidroit principles, herein after the principles, as the law governing their contract and what are the constraints and legal bars that might exist under O.c.t.L. against adopting the principles.
Abstract: In May 2013 the Sultanate Decree number 29/2013 promulgated the Omani Civil Transactions Law (O.C.T.L) that contained several choice of law rules . Among them is art 20 that adopts the Party Autonomy as a choice of law rule for Contracts. This paper will examine whether art 20 of the O.C.T.L gives the contracting parties the freedom to choose the Unidroit principles, herein after the principles, as the law governing their contract and what are the constraints and legal bars that might exist under O.C.T.L. against adopting the principles.In part two I examine the wording of the art 20 to determine if it possible for the parties to a contract to choose the Principles as a non-state law and I will reach the conclusion that the art 20 does allow the selection of the principles as the law governing the contract . In Part three, I move towards examining the constraints that O.C.T.L. imposes on the parties' ability to chose the principles which are statutory restraints that stems from the existence of Omani special legislation and non-statutory restraints which are the traditional public policy defense and the duty to comply with Islamic Shariah. I will demonstrate that neither the Omani Public policy nor Islamic Shariah prevent the parties form selecting the principles if the Omani Courts adopted an open minded approach to choice of law in general.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In the wake of school shootings such as Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Jonesboro, a similar discourse appeared which prompted policymakers to introduce a number of pieces of legislation aimed at more efficient firearms regulation as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The recent mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut sparked an immediate discourse calling for a review of gun control legislation. However, this discourse was not new; rather, it was one that routinely follows this type of tragedy. In the wake of school shootings such as Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Jonesboro, a similar discourse appeared which prompted policymakers to introduce a number of pieces of legislation aimed at more efficient firearms regulation. While a few of these bills were enacted, many never made it past introduction. The flurry of legislative responses to such incidences warrants further discussion as to whether these bills are effective, or rather simply “feel good legislation.” Further, public opinion is a driving force behind such policy, but how can this change in the wake of school shootings? This paper examines both considerations and proposes directions for continued research in this critical and understudied area.

24 Apr 2014
TL;DR: Villasenor et al. as discussed by the authors provide a discussion of how products liability law will impact autonomous vehicles, and provide a set of guiding principles for legislation that should and should not be enacted.
Abstract: Executive Summary As driverless cars—or more formally, autonomous vehicles—continue to attract growing interest and investment, the associated liability issues are also getting increased attention. Often, this attention comes in the form of suggestions that liability concerns will slow or even completely prevent consumer access to advanced autonomous vehicle technology. That would be a mistake. While liability will always be important with respect to motor vehicle operation, automation will dramatically increase safety on the highways by reducing both the number and severity of accidents. To some extent, it already has. For example, electronic stability control systems, which help drivers maintain control on turns and slippery surfaces by automatically selecting which wheels to use for braking, have saved thousands of lives. 1 And, they have done so without confronting the courts with insurmountable questions regarding liability. Of course, emerging autonomous vehicle technologies are much more sophisticated than electronic stability control and can handle many more of the functions that today are performed by human drivers. Over the next decade, spurred by new state laws permitting the operation of autonomous vehicles and by continued investment in research and development, many more vehicle automation technologies will transition out of the laboratory and into widespread commercial use. This paper provides a discussion of how products liability law will impact autonomous vehicles, and provides a set of guiding principles for legislation that should—and that should not—be enacted. In some very specific, narrow respects, state-level legislative clarity regarding autonomous vehicle liability can be beneficial. Vehicle manufacturers that sell non-autonomous vehicles, for example, should not be liable for defects in third-party vehicle automation systems installed in the aftermarket. But broad new liability statutes aimed at protecting the manufacturers of autonomous vehicle technology are unnecessary. The legal precedents established over the last half a century 2 of products liability litigation will provide manufacturers of autonomous vehicle technology with a very strong set of incentives to make their products as safe as possible. In the overwhelming majority of cases, they will succeed. However, despite these efforts, there will inevitably be some accidents attributable in whole or in part to defects in future vehicle automation systems. While this will raise complex new liability questions, there is no reason to expect that the legal system will be unable to resolve them. John Villasenor is a nonresident senior fellow in Governance Studies and the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings. He is also …

Book
21 Apr 2014
TL;DR: The birth of the NAACP, mob violence, and the challenge of public opinion as mentioned in this paper, as well as the unsteady march into the Oval Office, anti-lynching legislation and the sinking of the Republican ship in Congress.
Abstract: 1. Rethinking civil rights and American political development 2. The birth of the NAACP, mob violence, and the challenge of public opinion 3. The unsteady march into the Oval Office 4. Anti-lynching legislation and the sinking of the Republican ship in Congress 5. Defending the right to live 6. Civil rights bound Appendix: manuscript sources.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In an effort to narrow some of the gaps left by the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), four states have enacted or proposed individual state-VRAs or functional equivalents as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Passed largely to address the problem of vote dilution and racially polarized voting, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) bans racial discrimination in voting practices by federal, state, and local governments. While the VRA has been successful in many respects, several large gaps remain. In an effort to narrow some of the gaps left by the federal VRA, four states have enacted or proposed individual state-VRAs or functional equivalents (herein referred to as individual state-VRAs).In this paper, I seek to explore how these states have attempted to use individual VRAs — and how successful they have been — in closing the gaps in coverage existing under the federal VRA. For each of the four enacted or proposed VRAs, I explore the background of the legislation, followed by an analysis of how the legislation operates. For California, Illinois, and Florida — the three states with enacted individual state-VRAs — I then examine how successful the legislation has been in increasing minority representation, and how it can be strengthened to further the state’s goals. Since Washington’s VRA has yet to become law, I explore the background, followed by an analysis of the proposed legislation. I conclude by assessing which individual state-VRAs — or aspects thereof — are best suited to serve as models for the forty-six other states without such legislation.I find that all four state-VRAs are ultimately successful insofar as they expand protection against minority vote dilution beyond that which is afforded to minority voters under the federal VRA. However, the level of success varies by state plan.

Book
15 May 2014
TL;DR: Taylor as discussed by the authors argues that the existing historiography understates society's resistance to joint-stock enterprise; it employs an eclectic range of sources, from newspapers and parliamentary papers to cartoons, novels and plays, to unearth this forgotten economic debate.
Abstract: Winner of the Economic History Society's Best First Monograph award 2009 The emergence of the joint-stock company in nineteenth-century Britain was a culture shock for many Victorians Though the home of the industrial revolution, the nation's economy was dominated by the private partnership, seen as the most efficient as well as the most ethical form of business organisation The large, impersonal company and the rampant speculation it was thought to encourage were viewed with suspicion and downright hostility This book argues that the existing historiography understates society's resistance to joint-stock enterprise; it employs an eclectic range of sources, from newspapers and parliamentary papers to cartoons, novels and plays, to unearth this forgotten economic debate It explores how the legal system was gradually restructured to facilitate joint-stock enterprise, a process culminating in the limited liability legislation of the mid-1850s This has typically been interpreted as evidence for the emergence of new, positive attitudes to speculation and economic growth, but the book demonstrates how traditional outlooks continued to influence legislation, and the way in which economic reforms were driven by political agendas It shows how debates on the economic culture of nineteenth-century Britain are strikingly relevant to current questions over the ethics of multinational corporations James Taylor is Senior Lecturer in British History at Lancaster University

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Brahm Norwich1
TL;DR: Norwich et al. as mentioned in this paper set the recent legislative changes in the special education system in England, the Children and Families Act (2014), in the context of wider changes, such as changes in curriculum-assessment, the governance of schools and inspection arrangements.
Abstract: This article, by Brahm Norwich of the Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter, sets the recent legislative changes in the special education system in England, the Children and Families Act (2014), in the context of wider changes in the school system, such as changes in curriculum–assessment, the governance of schools and inspection arrangements. It also sets out the recent legislative changes in terms of the recent history of the Labour period of government, with its adoption of market principles with social inclusion as key policy commitments. A case study of a secondary school is presented to illustrate some of these points. Despite the new legislative system being described as a radical approach involving aspiration and support for special educational needs, the article argues that proposed changes promise to be marginal and defined by policy commitments to markets and small government. Moreover, there are continuing and unresolved issues from the Labour Government period that are still to be fully addressed. Research is also presented on the distribution of pupils with Statements in secondary schools and the recent rising pattern of special school placement for the first time in 30 years.

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TL;DR: In this article, a review of the literature on water law and resilience is presented and a set of practical examples of legal mechanisms from the water resources management sector, identified according to the guiding principles of adaptive capacity, adaptive governance as well as adaptive and integrated water resource management.