Executive impunity and parallel justice? The United Kingdom debate on secret inquests and inquiries

At the beginning of 2008, the United Kingdom Government rolled into the Counter-Terrorism Bill some controversial proposals to reform coronial inquest processes, namely clauses that would provide for "secret inquests". The provisions were heavily criticised both inside and outside Parliament, and took a rocky passage through both the House of Commons and the House of Lords before eventually being abandoned by the government. In 2009 the government again tried to introduce "secret inquests" with the Coroners and Justice Bill, instead ultimately succeeding in establishing what critics have termed a "parallel" system of justice through provisions around "secret inquiries". This move has been seen as subverting the principles of transparency and open justice in the investigation of contentious deaths. This article examines the government's efforts to introduce "secret inquests" and thereafter "secret inquiries" in the context of the United Kingdom's coronial law and purpose, human rights obligations and the ongoing issues around sensitive intelligence, and examines the clash of laws that gave rise to the controversial proposals.     

Integrity management in post-1997 Hong Kong: Challenges for a rule-based system

Unlike some of its Western counterparts, where the first line of defence against corruption and unethical behavior has been a reliance on a public service ethos, the Hong Kong government has traditionally relied on strict compliance with rules and regulations in its successful drive against bureaucratic malpractices. Since 1997, however, a changing political, economic and administrative environment has also seen efforts to introduce a more value-based approach to integrity. This article examines the factors that have led to the modification of the Hong Kong government??s strategy and evaluates its success in the wider theoretical context of the relationship between a predominantly rule-based and a value-based approach to integrity management.     

Towards a theory of bicameralism: the neglected contributions of the calculus of consent

In The Calculus of Consent (1962: 235) Buchanan and Tullock assert: (1)?ceteris paribus, while a coalition controlling less than a majority of voters may control in either chamber, the greater the difference in the bases of representation in the two houses, the less likely is any given coalition of voters to control a majority of the seats in both chambers; (2)?the potential of cross-chamber logrolls (on issues of unequal intensity) increases the likelihood that a minority may effectively control policy making. We link these ideas to social theory approaches to bicameralism and for the empirical study of legislatures.     

Infrared spectroscopic imaging for noninvasive detection of latent fingerprints

The capability of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic imaging to provide detailed images of unprocessed latent fingerprints while also preserving important trace evidence is demonstrated. Unprocessed fingerprints were developed on various porous and nonporous substrates. Data-processing methods used to extract the latent fingerprint ridge pattern from the background material included basic infrared spectroscopic band intensities, addition and subtraction of band intensity measurements, principal components analysis (PCA) and calculation of second derivative band intensities, as well as combinations of these various techniques. Additionally, trace evidence within the fingerprints was recovered and identified.     

The sensitivity and specificity of control surface injuries in aircraft accident fatalities

Among the important determinations that aircraft crash investigators try to make is which occupant of an aircraft was attempting to control the aircraft at the time of the crash. The presence or absence of certain injuries of the extremities is used to help make this determination. These "control surface injuries" reportedly occur when crash forces are applied to a pilot's hands and feet through the aircraft's controls. We sought to clarify the significance of these injuries and the frequency with which their presence indicates that the decedent was the person that might have been trying to control the aircraft, questions that are frequently asked of the examining pathologist. We studied sequential fatalities of airplane and helicopter crashes in which autopsies were performed by the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner, excluding those that were known to have been incapacitated before the crash and those that were known to have attempted to escape from the aircraft, collecting 100 "qualified" crash decedents. The incidence of control surface injuries was determined for both pilots and passengers. The sensitivity and specificity of control surface injuries were calculated by classifying the decedents into a 4-cell diagnostic matrix. The positive and negative predictive values for control surface injuries were also calculated. Injuries that met the published definitions of control surface injuries had high incidences in passengers, as well as pilots, giving the term control surface injury a diagnostically unacceptable sensitivity and specificity for indicating "a pilot attempting to control an aircraft." We offer caveats and refinements to the definition of these injuries that help to increase the sensitivity and specificity of this term.     

The social and legislative history of the Islamic trust (waqf) in Mauritius

In Islamic law, a trust for charitable purposes is a waqf (awqāf is the Arabic plural). The waqf pre-dates but shares essential features with the English trust. This article is the first published work on waqf in Mauritius. Based on two months of interview, observation and textual collection in Mauritius (July–August 2014), this article explores the social, political and legislative history of the Islamic charitable trust in a jurisdiction where the waqf has been upon statutory footing since 1941 and under which considerable assets continue to be secured and directed towards the benefit of Muslim and non-Muslim individuals, groups and families.