Comparative law in legal education – building a legal mind for a transnational world

This paper considers the role of comparative law in contemporary legal education. The discussion builds on an idea according to which it is helpful to make a distinction between educating lawyers and doing comparative research. It is suggested that we should pay more attention to comparative law pedagogics in today’s world, where law graduates must be prepared for working in a global context. Whereas in academic comparative research the goal is to reach a deep cultural understanding of foreign law, in legal education the goal is to learn to “think like a lawyer”. It is argued that by means of teaching foreign law, it is possible to transfer the focus of legal learning away from detailed rules and instead concentrate on general principles. Comparative law-based material and teaching ought to be regarded as a stimulus that sets the learning process into motion. Moreover, it is claimed that more significance ought to be given to the transnational dimensions of law as part of legal education within all branches of law.     

Surrogacy: is there a case for legal prohibition?

Surrogacy arrangements are a complex and challenging issue for legal regulation. On the one hand, if we wish to promote personal autonomy and enable the infertile to experience parenthood, there is a case for allowing these arrangements to proceed. However, objections to legal sanctioning of surrogacy include concerns for the surrogate and the child born through the surrogacy arrangement. Legally sanctioning surrogacy may also adversely affect social conceptions of women's roles or may be considered a form of commodifying women's reproductive capacities. This article examines these challenges to allowing surrogacy, but concludes that surrogacy should not be legally prohibited.     

Utilising AI in the legal assistance sector—Testing a role for legal information institutes

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in law has again become of great interest to lawyers and government. Legal Information Institutes (LIIs) have played a significant role in the provision of legal information via the web. The concept of ‘free access to law’ is not static, and the evolution of its principles now requires a response from providers of free access to legal information (‘a LII response’) to this renewed prominence of AI. This should include improving and expanding free access to legal advice. This paper proposes, and proposes to test, one approach that LIIs might take in the use of AI (specifically, ‘decision support’ or ‘intelligent assistance’ (IA) technologies), an approach that leverages the very large legal information assets that some LIIs have built over the past two decades. This approach focuses on how LIIs can assist providers of free legal advice (the ‘legal assistance sector’) to serve their clients. We consider the constraints that the requirement of ‘free’ imposes (on both the legal assistance sector and on LIIs), including on what types of free legal advice systems are sustainable, and what roles LIIs may realistically play in the development of such a ‘commons of free legal advice’. We suggest guidelines for development of such systems. The AI-related services and tools that the Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) is providing (the ‘DataLex’ platform), and how they could be used to achieve these goals, are outlined.     

Internet of things – Need for a new legal environment?

The Internet of Things as an emerging global, Internet-based information service architecture facilitating the exchange of goods in global supply chain networks is developing on the technical basis of the present Domain Name System; drivers are private actors. Learning from the experiences with the “traditional” Internet governance it is important to tackle the relevant issues of a regulatory framework from the beginning; in particular, the implementation of an independently managed decentralized multiple-root system and the establishment of basic governance principles (such as transparency and accountability, legitimacy of institutional bodies, inclusion of civil society) are to be envisaged.     

Is money laundering a true problem in China?

Money laundering was stipulated as an offense by Chinese criminal law more than 10 years ago. However, the judicial situation is such that no one has yet been prosecuted for it. This article describes the phenomena that are closely related to money laundering, namely the current situation of the predicate offences and other factors conducive to money laundering such as corruption, underground bank shops, and shell companies. Based on these facts, the article infers that money laundering is a real problem in China. Then it explores the reasons why case examples of money laundering are not available. Finally, this article presents some of the factors necessary in the investigation of money laundering.     

The right to health in public health: is this a new approach?

The international human rights community has frequently reaffirmed the importance of full respect for the right to health. However, there remains a large gap between the standards set out in Art 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the situation prevailing in most countries. While there has been a substantial amount of work done to expand upon the content of the right to health, there has been little consideration of what a right to health means for public health programming generally. This article addresses this issue by considering the compatibility of the essential elements of contemporary public health programming practice with the principles contained in General Comment No 14, para 43(f) (a minimum core obligation of the right to health). The article considers that while both contemporary public health practice and para 43(f) do contain compatible elements, the right to health brings with it new elements of monitoring (through right to health indicators) and accountability, both of which will require new tools to be adopted by the public health sector.     

Balancing in a crisis? Bioterrorism, public health and privacy

Post-September 11, the government has been rapidly funding public health initiatives to bolster the Nation's ability to respond to bioterrorist attacks. While the infusion of money into the public health system is laudable, the pressure to enact legislation quickly has resulted in laws and policies that ignore privacy and civil liberties and that favor anti-bioterror initiatives over more common public health concerns. A public health agenda that ignores privacy and civil liberties will undermine public trust, leading people to not fully participate in critical public health activities. Our Nation is far more likely to succeed in preventing and responding to a potential act of bioterrorism if we embrace the principle that advancing public health and preserving individual liberties are symbiotic and inextricable.