Tackling Voyeurism: Is The Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 A Wasted Opportunity?

The Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 amended the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to introduce a new offence that would seek to tackle so‐called ‘upskirting’. Whilst it originated as a Private Members Bill, it was quickly taken over by the Government following a backbench blocking manoeuvre. The Act ostensibly seeks to fill a loophole that exists within the law and to protect the sexual autonomy and inherent dignity of women. Instead, I will argue, the legislation deals with a niche area and is a wasted opportunity. Parliament chose to kick the issue into the long grass, from where it will be difficult to recover, with parliamentary time likely to be scarce over the coming years.     

Concurrent application of the Hague and Hamburg rules: ascertaining the applicable law to contracts for the carriage of goods by sea in Nigeria

Misuse of ship-owners’ stronger bargaining power during the nineteenth century resulted in the formulation of rules to regulate carriage of goods by sea contracts. The adoption of the Hague Rules in 1924 was followed by that of the Hamburg Rules in 1978. Nigeria has domesticated both Rules – the Hague Rules under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA), 2004 and The Hamburg Rules by the United Nations Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (UNCCGSA), 2005. In order to bring the Hamburg Rules into force, article 31 of the same Rules enjoins parties to denounce the 1924 Convention. Since the domestication of the Hamburg Rules in Nigeria, the COGSA has neither been denounced nor repealed, leading to confusion as to the applicable law in this area. This paper sets out to evaluate whether the enactment of the UNCCGSA has repealed the COGSA or whether the two legislation apply concurrently in Nigeria. Through analysis of case law, it contends that the enactment of the UNCCGSA has impliedly repealed the COGSA in Nigeria. Finally, the paper offers further suggestions which will aid in bringing certainty and uniformity to this area of law in the country.     

Thinking Sexual Difference Through the Law of Rape

2013 marks 10 years since the Sexual Offences Act 2003 was passed. That Act made significant changes to the law of rape which appear now to have made very little difference to reporting, prosecution or conviction rates. This article argues that the Act has failed against its own measures because it remains enmeshed within a conceptual framework of sexual indifference in which woman continues to be constructed as man’s (defective) other. This construction both constricts the frame in which women’s sexuality can be thought and distorts the harm of rape for women. It also continues woman’s historic alienation from her own nature and denies her entitlement to a becoming in line with her own sexuate identity. Using Luce Irigaray’s critical and constructive frameworks, the article seeks to imagine how law might ‘cognise’ sexual difference and thus take the preliminary steps to a juridical environment in which women can more adequately understand and articulate the harm of rape.     

The Finnish legislation on workplace drug testing

In Finland, the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Working Life (759/2004) that entered into force in 2004 incorporates provisions related to drug use testing, e.g. on the employers' right to process in certain situations information on job applicants' and employees' drug use. In the same context, provisions were added to the Occupational Health Care Act (1383/2001) on the employer's obligation to draw up, together with the staff, a written programme dealing with alcohol and drugs for the workplace. The programme defines the overall objectives for and the practices to be observed at the workplace in order to prevent substance abuse and to refer the problem users to treatment. The Occupational Health Care Act also includes provisions on drug tests and the drug test certificate as well as on reimbursement of the expenses of drug tests. Furthermore, the Act lays down a definition of drug tests. Every workplace shall have a plan/programme on drug-free workplace, where the jobs in which the workers have to present a drug test certificate to the employer must be defined. This plan/programme shall be discussed in cooperation on tripartite basis at the workplace. A Government decree on drug use testing (218/2005) has been issued in virtue of the Occupational Health Care Act. It lays down provisions on the practical performance of drug tests, i.e. taking and analysis of samples, and interpretation of the test results. The purpose of the Government decree is to ensure that workplace drug testing is carried out in a way presupposed by a good occupational health care practice and the laboratory quality standards, taking into account the integrity and protection of privacy of the persons tested as well as their other fundamental rights.     

Interracial marriages in twentieth-century Cape Town: evidence from Anglican marriage records

ABSTRACT

One of the most controversial laws promulgated by the National Party as part of South Africa’s mid-twentieth century apartheid policies was the 1949 Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act. This Act stipulated that ‘a marriage between a European and non-European may not be solemnized, and any such marriage solemnized in contravention of the provisions of this section shall be void and of null effect’. We use more than 23,000 newly-transcribed Anglican marriage records of Cape Town for the period 1911 to 1964 to show that the Act had mostly followed, and not led, changing interracial marriage practices. In the years before the Act’s promulgation, interracial marriages were rare and on the decline, despite the fact that apartheid-era policies had not yet been institutionalized. Our results suggests that marriage behaviour in Cape Town, and probably in South Africa more generally, was shaped by racial stratification early in the twentieth century. The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949, although devastating to those affected, was a correlate to rather than the cause of changing marriage behaviour.     

The Vodka Sea: Comparative History of Spirits Smuggling in the Baltic Sea

This paper examines the spirits smuggling in the Baltic Sea region in the inter-war period. On 1 June 1919 the Finnish Parliament passed the Prohibition Act forbidding the production, transportation, sale, and storage of alcohol which activated spirits smuggling to Finland. Large-scale spirits smuggling was arranged during Prohibition by criminal organizations through international networks. Mostly cheap German liquor was delivered to Nordic countries and to the United States. The representatives of organized crime in the Baltic Sea region became rich fast during Prohibition thanks to limits set by countries. Contemporary drug smuggling and spirits smuggling are comparable due to similar organizational structure and modus operandi.     

Representing the healthcare organization in a post-Sarbanes-Oxley world: new rules, new paradigms, new perils

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Act) significantly changed the expected corporate behavior of public companies. The Act governs the relationship between corporate organizations and their in-house or outside counsel. Under Section 307 of the Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission initially proposed expansive rules regarding counsel's duties. After comments and criticism from much of the bar, a final, narrower, version of rules under Section 307 (Final Rule) was adopted. The Final Rule contains alternative reporting procedures, attorney responsibilities, and sanctions for violations. In addition to the Act, the American Bar Association's (ABA) Task Force on Corporate Responsibility(Task Force), which was itself a reaction to Enron, reported on the importance of counsel's role in a corporate setting (Cheek Report). The ABA adopted amendments to its Model Rules of Professional Conduct (Model Rules) 1.6 and 1.13 as proposed in the Cheek Report. The Final Rule and amended Model Rules together suggest that attorneys may owe duties beyond those owed to their clients.     

论禁止不利变更原则在行政复议中的适用

《行政复议法实施条例》第51条规定的禁止不利变更原则,是行政复议制度的一大创新。禁止不利变更原则的产生主要基于对公民申请权的保护以及国家权力对个人权利的谦抑。基于禁止不利变更原则的法理依据,应该注意该原则的适用;针对适用中可能会出现的难点问题,应该制定相应的应对方案。当原行政行为违反了国家的强制性规定而适用了错误的法律、法规或出现了紧急状态时可以不适用该原则,但同时应当对申请人进行必要的救济。     

From the kitchen to the bedroom: frequency rates and consequences of sexual harassment among female domestic workers in Brazil

Sexual harassment has been investigated mostly in developed countries. The authors examined frequency rates and consequences of sexual harassment among female domestic workers in Brazil. Twenty-six percent had been sexually harassed at work during the past year. Live-in workers were at significantly greater risk for experiencing sexual harassment than those residing in their own homes, when controlling for participants' age, race, and social class. Women residing in their employers' residences used more alcohol and drugs than their counterparts. Harassed women had significantly higher self-esteem impairment and anxiety and depression than nonharassed women. Nonharassed women residing in their own homes had the best physical well-being. Concerning participants' worst sexually harassing experiences, the perpetrators were likely to be men (75%), who also engaged in more severe types of sexual harassment than female perpetrators. The emotional reactions to such incidents were significantly more negative when perpetrated by men than by women. Implications for foreign in-home workers employed by Europeans and North Americans are discussed.     

Lifelong learning and age discrimination in employment

Age discrimination in employment can be perfectly lawful in the United Kingdom. Older workers are discriminated against when they seek employment and whilst they are in employment, as well as being encouraged to leave the workforce. One of the purposes of a programme of lifelong learning is to aid the employability and career progression of individuals within the workforce. There is, however, little evidence to show that those who enter or return to higher education as mature students fare any better than other workers in avoiding discrimination based upon their chronological age. The Government introduced a voluntary code of practice on age diversity in employment and resisted legislation on the subject. There appears, however, to be a contradiction between this resistance and the Government's encouragement of the principle of lifelong learning.     

Sausage rolls and sports fields: the debate over voluntary student unionism in Australia

The Australian Federal Government recently amended the Higher Education Support Act 2003. The effect of this amendment, which came into force on 1 January 2006, is to abolish compulsory up-front fees for the funding of student unions. Voluntary student unionism has been a plank of the Liberal (conservative) platform for many years, but its introduction is as unpopular with universities as with student organizations. This paper analyses the reasons for the introduction of the Act, and the debate over the introduction of the Act in universities and in the media. It considers some fundamental misapprehensions in the origins and rationale of the Act.     

Recordkeeping and reporting requirements for drug products containing gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB). Final rule

DEA is amending its regulations to require additional recordkeeping and reporting requirements for drug products containing gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) for which an application has been approved under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. DEA makes these changes under section 4 of the "Hillory J. Farias and Samantha Reid Date-Rape Drug Prohibition Act of 2000." These additional requirements are necessary to protect against the diversion of GHB for illicit purposes.     

The Australian Government's Affirmative Action Legislation: Achieving Social Change Through Human Resource Management*

Data from the Affirmative Action Agency Public Reports and the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey were used to review progress in the implementation of the Australian Government's Affirmative Action legislation and to examine the relationship between following mandatory procedures and achieving outcomes that impact positively on women's workforce experiences. The data suggest that while a relationship exists at the bivariate level, it becomes considerably weaker when organizational and workforce characteristics are controlled. The variables that emerged from the analyses as strong predictors of both procedural compliance and the adoption of accommodating practices for women centered around human resource management. Where companies were committed to human resource management, both procedural compliance and accommodating practices tended to be high. These data demonstrate the importance of linking legislation for social change with workplace functions, particularly when resistance to the legislation is high and capacity to enforce is low.     

From Rights to Claims: The Role of Civil Society in Making Rights Real for Vulnerable Workers

This article examines the contextual factors driving legal mobilization of workers in the United States through an analysis of national origin discrimination charges under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (2000–2005). Consistent with previous studies, this analysis confirms that high unemployment levels and weak labor protections promote legal mobilization. The findings also highlight the positive role that civil society may play in promoting claims-making. I argue that nongovernmental organizations fill the gap in places where organized labor is weak, and may help support claims-making particularly in places with a larger vulnerable workforce. The article concludes by offering suggestions for a renewed sociolegal research agenda that examines the role of 501c(3) civil society organizations for the legal mobilization of an increasingly non-unionized and immigrant workforce.     

On compensation schemes for data sharing within the European REACH legislation

There is an intense debate on the impact of labour regulation in India today. Labour regulation in India differ state-wise and apply differently across types of workers (both regular and contract workers). This paper examines the joint effects of Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) and variable enforcement intensity on the growth in a size of temporary contract workers in the organised manufacturing sector. It uses the state level amendments to Industrial Dispute Act of 1947, and the average size of total number of labour inspectors for each state, as independent variables to capture the variation in labour regulations and enforcement intensity across thirty-one Indian states for the period 2000–2007. This paper argues that, average Indian firms located in strict EPL states hire differentially more temporary contract workers as compare to regular workers in response to variable enforcement intensity. Among other findings, the empirical analysis shows that firms prefer to employ excessive number of contract workers to circumvent firing and overall compliance costs of regular workers as stipulated by the Indian labour laws. Our results are robust to alternative specifications.     

World Trade Center Health Program; addition of certain types of cancer to the list of WTC-related health conditions. Final rule

Title I of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 amended the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act) to establish the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program. The WTC Health Program, which is administered by the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), provides medical monitoring and treatment to eligible firefighters and related personnel, law enforcement officers, and rescue, recovery, and cleanup workers who responded to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and to eligible survivors of the New York City attacks. In accordance with WTC Health Program regulations, which establish procedures for adding a new condition to the list of covered health conditions, this final rule adds to the List of WTC-Related Health Conditions the types of cancer proposed for inclusion by the notice of proposed rulemaking.     

The Lockhart Committee: developing policy through commitment to moral values, community and democratic processes

The Lockhart Committee was appointed by the federal government in 2005 to review the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act 2002 (Cth) and the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002 (Cth). The issues in the review are ones on which community views differ widely and many people hold strong and diverging opinions. Yet all members of the committee were able to agree on their recommendations when the committee reported to Parliament in December 2005 and since that time, most of its recommendations have been implemented in amendments to federal and State legislation. This article describes the committee's process in considering the issues in the review, in consulting stakeholders and the broader community and in formulating its recommendations.     

The Street‐Level Response to Relationship Breakdown: A Lesson for National Policy?

In January 2001, the Government announced its intention to repeal the divorce reforms contained in the Family Law Act 1996. The ‘story’ of the Act is largely one of compromise: between a backward‐looking idealism, casting divorce law in the role of supporting marriage, and a more forward‐facing pragmatism, accepting the necessity of engaging with social reality. The result was legislation that sought both to save and end marriages – although a key reason for proposing the Act's repeal was an alleged failure to save marriages. This national approach to relationship breakdown contrasts sharply with that at ‘street‐level’, where work aims to provide a service catering to the diversity of modern family life. The apparent success of this approach prompts the question of whether there are lessons for national policy. Drawing on a series of interviews with national policy‐makers and street‐level workers, this paper compares national and local perspectives and suggests that a new mind‐set and approach, akin to that operating on the ground, is needed at national level if workable divorce law reform is to be achieved.     

Changing the immigration rules and withdrawing the ‘currency’ of legal aid: the impact of LASPO 2012 on migrants and their families

The provisions of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO 2012) will remove almost all immigration cases from the scope of legal aid with effect from 1 April 2013. Part One of this paper describes the expected changes LASPO 2012 will make and then explores their anticipated impact. It explains that large numbers of migrants and their family members are likely to be without legal advice and representation after April 2013, including in cases where the state-enforced removal or deportation from the UK of a parent is contemplated, with the consequence of separating parent from child. Part Two explores the possibility that an ‘exceptional case determination’ might provide a route back into legal aid funding, and finds that this is likely to be restricted, in immigration cases, to those making applications relying on Article 8 ECHR and who can demonstrate a particular and individual requirement for legal aid. Part Three explores the rationale for these changes, and concerns about access to justice for migrants and their family members in cases involving acute interference with rights to family and private life. It places these concerns in context, specifically the fundamental and restrictive amendments to the Immigration Rules relating to family migration introduced from July 2012. These amendments are enormously complex and their full legal implications have yet to be tested in the higher courts. Part Four questions whether the changes will in fact achieve their stated aim of cost savings or whether the costs will simply be transferred to other parts of the State (especially to the Tribunal system, in dealing with litigants in person). The paper additionally questions, in Part Five, whether the regulators are equipped to regulate the quality of the fee-charging immigration advice services to which at least some individuals will turn. The paper concludes that, at the very least, it is particularly harsh that the Government has removed the ‘currency’ of legal aid at this time, so that those with limited financial resources have neither access to legal aid advice about the meaning of those Rules nor legal aid representation to test their proper interpretation.     

Child abuse and neglect prevention and treatment program--Office of Human Development Services. Final rule

The Department of Health and Human Services is issuing final regulations to implement the amendments to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act contained in Title 1 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment and Adoption Reform Act of 1978, Pub. L. 95-266, as amended. The regulations also clarify, simplify and eliminate where repetitive of the statute, the rules governing the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention and Treatment Program and those related to the coordination of Federal activities related to child abuse and neglect.