Judicial responses to the protected confidential communications legislation in Australia

The article examines the background, aims and scope of recent legislation enacted in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia to protect from disclosure in court of "confidential communications" generated in the context of counselling persons who allege that they were victims of sexual offenses. In drafting the "confidential communications" legislation, the legislators undertook a difficult task of balancing the public interest in therapeutic confidentiality that would encourage victims of sexual assaults to report these offenses and seek psychological and psychiatric care on the one hand, and the public interest in fairness of the trial, which may be prejudiced by exclusion of evidence pertinent to the forensic process on the other. In South Australia this task was fulfilled with greater success than in New South Wales and Victoria.     

Substituted consent: from lunatics to corpses

This analysis traces the origins and evolution of the doctrine of surrogate or substituted judgment, especially its application to medical treatment, including non-therapeutic sterilisation, decisions regarding life and death choices, and more recently, removal of sperm or eggs from incompetent, dying or dead males and females. It argues that the doctrine, which has been acknowledged to be a legal fiction, has an effect of devolving legal and moral responsibility for life and death choices, as well as non-consensual, non-beneficial intrusive procedures, from the competent decision-makers to the incompetent patient. It focuses on the subjective nature of the substituted judgment standard; the problematic nature of evidence propounded to establish the putative choices of the incompetent person; lack of transparency relating to the conflict of interest in the process of substituted judgment decision-making; and the absence of voluntariness, which is an essential element of a valid consent.     

传染病控制与国际法

全球化时代控制传染病这一公共健康问题必须进行国际合作才能解决。WTO及其SPS协议在控制通过国际货物贸易传染疾病方面有一些法律机制。国际卫生条例(IHR)是约束WHO成员国防止传染病蔓延的主要国际法律机制。世界卫生组织针对传染病的新形势,对国际卫生条例进行了修改,其修改集中于:(1)扩大各国报告义务范围;(2)加强对非官方信息的依赖;(3)各国出现紧急状态时,WHO采取什么控制方式、建议还是其他;(4)争端解决方式。此外,还有信息、媒体、人权等其他一些法律问题。     

县域政治系统的政策制定:政府主导输入与公民政治参与--兼论丘北县的民族政策输入机制

县域政治系统是县域政策的制定、执行和反馈的系统,在县域政治系统的政策议程中,政策输入具有政府主导输入的特征.政府主导输入强化了公共问题的政治系统的体认和意志,而忽视了政策过程中的公民政治参与,导致了县域公民政治参与的缺乏和不足,因此,增强公民的政治参与不仅是县域科学、民主决策的需要,而且也是县域社会主义民主政治建设的需要.     

农村经济产业化模式下土地流转法律规制研究

自从实行家庭联产承包责任制以来,农民生产积极性的提高已经极大地促进了农村生产力的发展,农村土地流转成为农村村民间进行交易的一种常态,成为一种经济形式,<农村土地承包法>、<物权法>等法律的实施,为调整农村土地流转关系提供了充分的法律依据.但是随着农民专业合作社的实施和发展,我国农业生产产业化进程的加快,农业市场化、国际...     

Sexual coercion among adolescents: victims and perpetrators

Adolescence is a transitional period when the pressure to engage in romantic and sexual relationships can leave teenagers feeling confused and at risk for sexual coercion. Our studies investigated characteristics of male and female perpetrators and victims of peer sexual coercion, focusing on self-esteem, sexist attitudes, and involvement in nonsexual deviant behaviors, such as drugs and alcohol. The participants, all of whom were in Grades 8 to 11, were from Quebec, Canada. They completed self-report measures. Female victims had lower self-esteem and more sexist attitudes than other female participants, whereas male perpetrators had more sexist attitudes than other male participants. Furthermore, all victims and perpetrators were more likely to be involved in other types of nonsexual deviance.     

Psychiatric injury law in England and Australia--drawing closer together?

Major differences developed between English and Australian psychiatric injury law from about 1990 onwards, particularly in "secondary victim" cases. The House of Lords endorsed the traditional restrictions of aftermath, direct perception and sudden shock, whereas the High Court of Australia adopted a more enlightened approach which relied chiefly on foreseeability of psychiatric injury. In the last five years, there are indications that the gap has narrowed a little. The English courts, first in medical negligence cases but then more generally, have shown that they are now prepared to interpret the aftermath requirement more creatively. In Australia, by contrast, the codification of the law on "mental harm" has narrowed the law in certain respects, and there is scope for further restriction in the process of statutory interpretation. This analysis assesses the significance of these developments and attempts to sum up the present position.