Regulation of online pharmacy: an Australian perspective

This article argues that existing Australian regulations do not adequately cover online pharmacies or Internet advertising of medicines and that existing penalties and sanctions are often ineffective, potentially placing public health and safety at risk. Suggestions are made for future regulatory approaches. It is concluded that as well as an effective program of public education, cautious domestic legislative reform is necessary to ensure specific regulation of Australian online pharmacy practice and Internet advertising of medicines. In addition, the global nature of the Internet demands international co-operation and increased regulator and consumer vigilance.     

Female impulsive aggression: A sleep research perspective

The rate of violent crimes among girls and women appears to be increasing. One in every five female prisoners has been reported to have antisocial personality disorder. However, it has been quite unclear whether the impulsive, aggressive behaviour among women is affected by the same biological mechanisms as among men. Psychiatric sleep research has attempted to identify diagnostically sensitive and specific sleep patterns associated with particular disorders. Most psychiatric disorders are typically characterized by a severe sleep disturbance associated with decreased amounts of slow wave sleep (SWS), the physiologically significant, refreshing part of sleep. Among men with antisocial behaviour with severe aggression, on the contrary, increased SWS has been reported, reflecting either specific brain pathology or a delay in the normal development of human sleep patterns. In our preliminary study among medication-free, detoxified female homicidal offenders with antisocial personality disorder, the same profound abnormality in sleep architecture was found. From the perspective of sleep research, the biological correlates of severe impulsive aggression seem to share similar features in both sexes.     

Equity in assessment: discrimination and disability issues from an Australian legal perspective

Assessment equity concerns all educational authorities and practitioners. When educators consider issues of equity, their predominant concern is accommodation of students with special needs, cultural issues, and creating alternative assessment activities that have equivalence to standard activities, so as not to advantage or disadvantage any student in their demonstration of knowledge. This paper examines equity issues in assessment from a legal perspective, drawing on case history from Australia, and based in discrimination and disability law. The paper is intended to assist authorities and practitioners to understand legal implications of educational assessment in order to promote practices that reduce the likelihood of legal claims and the resultant use of financial and human resources away from educational activities. However, the discussion of cases and judgements is also intended to raise issues of whether educational providers and authorities should be more conscionable in their consideration of educational equity and assessment.     

Australian tort law reform: statutory principles of causation and the common law

By mid-2004, Parliaments in each Australian jurisdiction will either complete or will be in the process of partial codification of the law of torts. The reforms, including those to the law of negligence, are extensive. This article focuses on codification of the law of causation as an element of the cause of action in negligence. It examines the background to "tort reform", as the process has been labelled, and discusses the common law paradigm of negligence and various approaches to causation. It then analyses and compares the causation provisions in each jurisdiction.     

在司法实践中检讨中国的商事留置权

针对海事法院经常受理的港口货物仓储合同、打捞合同、海上货物运输合同中经常出现的债权人错误行使留置权的案件,对我国现行有效商事留置权相关法律进行体系研究,并对临近其他成文法国家和地区的相关法律规定进行比较法研究,分析我国商事留置权法律制度构架之缺陷,并试图提出解决方案,以期丰满该制度,使商事留置权之行使清晰明确.     

Judges as satisficers: a law and economics perspective on judicial liability

If judges are guardians of the law, who is to protect the individual member of society from the occasional corrupt, malicious, or reckless judge? The aim of this paper is to provide an answer to the last part of this question, focusing more heavily on cases of negligently inflicted harm. Departing from Simon’s bounded rationality and influenced by other constructs in behavioral law and economics, we view judges as satisficers who make decisions within real-world constraints, such as imperfect information and uncertainty, cognitive limitations and erroneous information. Judges are limited by the commonly observed barriers to the decision making process. Because their goal is not to optimize but to render opinions that are merely satisfactory, they often act as poor agents of their principals’ interests. In this light, it becomes clearer why judges tend to engage in behavior that is “improper”, especially under the circumstances of the currently overloaded judicial caseloads. We first address the differences in judges’ roles in Anglo-American and Continental legal systems. We then present our simple model for judicial misbehavior based on an understanding of judges as “satisficers”. Next we discuss the particularities of judicial errors and introduce a realistic and viable construct of “inexcusable judicial error”. On this basis we evaluate the impact of various incentive schemes on judicial behavior, focusing on the civil liability of judges. We conclude that civil liability for grave judicial errors is the most adequate remedy.     

Rethinking subjectivity in law and ideology: A semiotic perspective

Post-Renaissance thought ushered in a new global optimism; however, postmodernist thought has recently challenged many of the claims to truth that form the basis of this line of inquiry and semiotic analysis has been one of its critical tools. Accordingly, this paper focuses on establishing a psychoanalytic semiotic perspective in law which is materially based. Law, ideology, and subjectivity are investigated in terms of discourse analysis. A Lacanian framework is integrated with a critically informed analysis that examines how the ‘what happened’ in the courtroom is constructed. It is argued that subjectivity is intrinsically connected with discourse. Two levels of discourse analysis are examined: the level of juridico-semiotic production, and the sphere of intra- and inter-subjective semiotic production. The notion of a semiotic grid constituted by three axes is developed, and extraverbal context is conceptualized as determinative. An alternative conceptualization of subjectivity in law based on Lacan is then argued for.     

Peer effects in affirmative action: Evidence from law student performance

In the Grutter case, Justice O’Connor suggested that universities could justifiably try to enroll a “critical mass” of minority students. Enroll fewer than that “critical mass,” reason some observers, and minority students will feel too marginalized to perform at their highest levels. In this article, we test whether minority students perform better with other students from their ethnic group in a class or school. To do so, we assemble data on the ethnicity and performance of each student in all classes at two law schools - for three years at one, and for 16 years at the other. Although these schools enrolled a smaller fraction of African-Americans than most law schools, they are located in states with a much smaller fraction of African-Americans than in the United States as a whole. There is also a large amount of variation in the percent African-American across classes. At these schools, we find no consistent evidence that having additional students from one's ethnic group raises a student's performance. Instead, we find some evidence that having additional ethnic peers lowers performance - albeit by a very small amount.     

Promotion and implementation of international humanitarian law: a Commonwealth perspective

This paper provides an update on some important developments and initiatives relating to international humanitarian law (IHL), with specific reference to the Commonwealth. In particular, the paper considers the promotion and implementation of IHL and highlights the importance of preventing and punishing violations of IHL. It also outlines key humanitarian themes and legal concepts.     

Camera/video phones in schools: law and practice

The emergence of mobile phones with built-in digital cameras is creating legal and ethical concerns for school systems throughout the world. Users of such phones can instantly email, print or post pictures to other MMS1 1. MMS stands for Multimedia Messaging Services. MMS is frequently used to send photos from camera phones to other MMS phones or email addresses. View all notes phones or websites. Local authorities and schools in Britain, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and elsewhere have introduced outright bans on their use because of the problems or risks they pose if misused. Risks concerned with pupils surreptitiously photographing other pupils in changing rooms or photographing examination papers are obvious examples. The article examines some worldwide examples of the misuse of camera phones in schools and the issues and problems that emerged. A landmark decision concerning the European Data Privacy Directive (Directive 95/46/EC) in the case of Bodil Lindqvist by the European Court of Justice is explored and the implications for camera phones considered. The article concludes by stating that because of their ubiquity and social potency, it is probably a mistake and an overreaction for education authorities or schools to introduce blanket bans on the possession of camera phones. Rather they need to devise sensible agreements and policies on camera phone usage.     

Access to donor insemination: Canadian ideals--UK law and practice

Reproductive technology has made a huge impact on society, exposing many long-standing, unresolved anomalies in our values and traditions. Access to medically assisted reproduction is particularly controversial, raising medical, legal and ethical issues. The 1980s saw increasing demands across several jurisdictions for clear legal rules, the hope being expressed in Canada that "the law may reflect the community's level of tolerance; but...also stretch or fashion it in the interests of a worthy goal." The Canadian Law Reform Commission recommended that, with regard to donor insemination, "protection for the traditional family should not be incorporated in legislation" and that "access should be limited only in terms of the cost and scarcity of resources", selection not being based on "family status, sexual orientation and so on". This paper attempts a comparative examination of UK legislation on reproductive technology in this light, with particular focus on the rationing of access to donor insemination.     

Death penalty in China: The law and the practice

China is a nation that carries out the death penalty with a broad scope in its transition to a market economy. The present study described and analyzed the legal concept and practice of the death penalty in China in a comparative context. It presented an overview of the Chinese legal tradition of the death penalty, the legal development of the death penalty since the Chinese Communists took power, and the current practice of the death penalty in China. It represented an attempt to offer a research-based understanding of the capital punishment in a nation that was experiencing significant change and transformation since the early 1980s.     

Digital technology: its impact on copyright law and practice in North America

Legal context. The effect of rapid technological change on copyrightlaw in Canada and the United States, and in particular on thebalance between creators' rights and users' rights. Key points. Copyright law involves a balance between the rightsof both creators and users. When initially faced with fast-evolvingdigital technology, the courts struggled with the balancingact and tipped it in favour of users' rights. The Supreme Courtof Canada elevated various exceptions to infringement to userrights, and cautioned against a low standard of originalitywhich would favour creators' rights. The US Court of Appealsremarked that introduction of new technology is disruptive tocopyright owners whose works are sold through traditional mechanisms;and others suggested that a bias in favour of owners rightsmay have well impeded the development of digital culture. Despitethe initial struggles, legislative changes, market forces andrecent deference by the courts to the balancing of various interests,have slowly restored the copyright balance, even when facedwith rapid technological change. Practical significance. Copyright litigants must give carefulconsideration to the balance between creators' and users' rights,and be prepared to justify traditional copyright protectionin fields of new technology.     

Google liability for misleading or deceptive conduct: Australian perspective

On 6 of February 2013, the Australian High Court handed down an important decision in respect of the Google Inc's (Google) appeal against the decision of the Full Federal Court of Australia, holding that Google a search engine operator was not liable under s 52 of the Trade Practices Act (TPA) 1974 (Cth) for misleading or deceptive conduct (in respect of misleading advertisements published using Google's online ‘AdWords program’). The decision of the High Court is of great significance for jurisprudence on misleading and deceptive conduct with its broad implications for search engine providers such as Google, advertisers and trademark owners.