Social rights,child rights,discrimination and devolution: untangling the web

Abstract

This article examines judicial reviews of two areas of social security policy and practice in the UK – the household benefit cap and the restriction of bereavement benefits to bereaved spouses and civil partners. While each case ostensibly concerned discrimination against claimants, in practice much of the legal argument centred on the impact on claimants’ children. The judiciary is revealed to be deeply divided on the lawfulness of the acknowledged discrimination. The article considers what lessons can be drawn about the relative weight that ought to be afforded to claimants’ property rights, the best interests of affected children, anti-discrimination provisions and the state’s stated policy imperatives of cost control and administrative convenience. Insights are also sought into whether devolutionary differences can be identified between the approaches of courts in London and Belfast.     

A detailed and rigorous examination of moral rights

‘A book may be good for nothing; or there may be onlyone thing in it worth knowing; are we to read it all through?’(Samuel Johnson) This section is dedicated to the review of ideas, articles,books, films and other media. It will include replies (and rejoinders)to articles, the evaluation of new ideas or proposals, and reviewsof books and articles both directly and indirectly related tointellectual property law. Elizabeth Adeney begins this work with the observation thatmoral rights     

Social role playing and moral judgment development

This study examined the relationship between social role playing and moral judgment development. Subjects were 197 students enrolled in introductory social science courses at a public junior/community college in a metropolitan area in southeast Florida. The 78 males and 119 females ranged in age from 17 to 66 years, with a mean age of 22. Rest's (1979a, 1979b) Defining Issues Test (DIT) was used to measure level of moral judgment. Social role playing was measured by the number of separate roles held by subjects in the past or present. Academic aptitude, socioeconomic status, age, and sex were included as control variables. Academic aptitude, age, and social role playing each had significant zero-order correlations with moral judgment, and social role playing added significantly to the explanation of moral judgment, controlling for academic aptitude and age. Implications of these results for the understanding of the development of moral judgment and for intervention programs are discussed.     

The Creative Commons licences through moral rights provisions in French law

Since 2002, Creative Commons has been continuously evolving in order to create a licensing scheme that not only fulfils the needs of the author but also stays compatible with already existing national copyright laws. The extent of the respect of moral rights provisions has always been highlighted during the licences’ evolution. This Article first examines whether moral rights are expressly mentioned in the licences and if so, what their treatment is. Each element of the moral rights in the French system will be considered in order to verify their compatibility with the Creative Commons licences. In this context, it will be also asserted whether some existing clauses in the licence contradict with the moral rights of authors. The Article will conclude that although a more flexible interpretation of moral rights provisions is needed when dealing with open content licences, it is essential that Creative Commons addresses the aspects of the licences that are identified as problematic in relation to moral rights. Finally, it will be demonstrated that regardless of the legal status of the licences, the authors' responsibility towards their rights is what will ultimately be the safeguard of their creations' path.     

跨国公司人权责任的规制及其反思

在追究跨国公司的国际人权责任方面，目前主要有三种规制方式：国家对跨国公司的管制；来自非政府组织和其他国际组织的监督以及跨国公司的自律。但这些途径尚不足以成为跨国公司承担人权责任的有效保障．因而必须采取措施强化跨国公司国际人权责任的规制。     

Social justice and women leaving prison: beyond punishment and exclusion

Questions related to social justice are often considered frivolous or irrelevant in the context of people who come into conflict with the law. Young (1990, Justice and the politics of difference, Princeton University Press) has pointed to the importance of social justice, especially in societies where the dominant perspective of the privileged is regarded as neutral (and presumably fair), while others remain oppressed and excluded. We investigate the relevance of social justice in the treatment of women who are in prison. Based on more than a decade of practice and four years of research with women in one of Canada's federal prisons for women, we explore the question of social justice in the context of a recreation and leisure initiative whose aim is to assist women not only while they are incarcerated but most especially on release. The social recreation program is brought into the prison by a restorative justice community‐based organization. Men and women from the community come into the prison to recreate together and, in that context of natural conversation, relaxation and dialogue, Circles of support may develop. If a Circle is formed, volunteer members then follow the woman into the community and support her efforts to live as a participating citizen on release. The relevance of the work of Circles in furthering social justice within a system that, despite recent potentially innovative approaches to incarcerating women, has struggled to move beyond traditional practices of punishment and exclusion, which tend not to encourage strong and healthy community life, will be explored.     

碰撞、误解与反思——读《An Underground Education》和《接触与碰撞》

中国传统文化与西方文化的相遇是近代以来的事情。而在这两种文明相碰撞的过程中，由于发展向路、文化内核的差异和发展阶段的错位，使人们产生了一种误解，那就是中国传统的东西是落后的，保守的，甚至是腐朽的，而西方的东西则都是进步的。通过对理查德·扎克斯的《AnUnderground Education》和田涛等的《接触与碰撞：16世纪以来西方人眼中的中国法律》两本书进行分析，以中西法律文化文切入点，反射出这种误解的存在，并对之进行批判性反思。     

HIV,AIDS and human rights

Solicitor, Lecturer in Law. This research has been undertaken with the support of the University of Sussex, Arts Area Research Fund. Special thanks to Neil Duxbury, Zdenek Kavan, Professor Arthur S. Leonard, William B. Rubenstein, Tom Stoddard and the staff of the Aids Discrimination Unit of the New York City Human Rights Commission especially Catherine Franke.     

HIV,prisons and prisoners' rights

Senior Project Officer, HIV/AIDS and Drug Misusing Offenders Project, at the Standing Conference on Drug Abuse.     

Deregulation,property rights,and legal system

During regulation the regulator carries out an intermediary role between shareholders and managers, consequently affecting property rights and the agency relation between the two. Deregulation implies that this intermediary role ceases to exist. This article analyses how government deregulation changes property rights, differentiating between firms of network and non-network structures. Changes in property rights affect the agency relation between shareholders and managers, increasing information asymmetry and agency costs. I argue that the way to reduce agency costs depend to a great extent on the country’s legal system classified as of common or civil law tradition.

Human rights and trade mark rights

Legal context. For some time the UK Trade Marks Registry hasrefused to register trade marks which consists of the name ofa well-known individual. This article examines whether the practiceis permissible, not in the terms of intellectual property lawbut whether it is in contravention of the applicant's humanrights. Key points. Looking at the application of the Human Rights Actin the United Kingdom, the article asks how it could apply toan intellectual property case, concluding that the Trade MarkRegistry is clearly a ‘public authority’ and thatthere are a number of ways in which current practice in respectof well-known individuals could be said to infringe their humanrights. Practical significance. It remains to be seen what the Registry'sresponse will be to such arguments and whether it might in thefuture be possible to obtain protection for the name of a celebrity.