A Question of Inequality

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Sophia Moreau
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Moral Thought ◽  
Single Feature ◽  
The Law

Chapter One, “A Question of Inequality,” argues that complaints of wrongful discrimination are best understood as claims that one has been treated as the inferior of others, rather than as their equal. It then introduces the question that the book will answer: When we disadvantage some people relative to others on the basis of certain traits, when and why do we wrong them by failing to treat them as the equals of others? The author discusses monist theories of why discrimination wrongs people—that is, theories that trace the wrongness of discrimination to some single feature in all cases—and argues that such theories are problematic, and that we need to look instead for a pluralist theory. The author discusses a number of challenges facing pluralist theories, and explains how the theory elaborated in this book will address these challenges. The chapter also includes a detailed discussion of the relevance of the law to our moral thought about why discrimination is wrong, and a discussion of the importance of using real examples with real claimants. The author argues that particularly because the different wrongs involved in wrongful discrimination depend on the background social context, hypothetical examples that have no background social context will not help us assess what is wrongful about wrongful discrimination. Moreover, hypothetical examples risk leaving in place misunderstandings about the groups that have historically faced wrongful discrimination and who have not been given a voice. If we are to understand the situation of these groups, we need to try to take their perspective and learn from their actual experiences.

Contract Formation in Hong Kong

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lusina HO
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Common Law ◽  
General Rule ◽  
Good Faith ◽  
Local Context ◽  
General Duty ◽  
Contract Formation ◽  
Formal Requirement ◽  
The Law

This chapter examines the law on contract formation in Hong Kong which is closely modelled on the English common law but adapts the English solutions to the local context if and when required. The test for ascertaining the parties’ meeting of the minds is objective, the agreement (an offer with a matching acceptance) must be certain, complete, and made with the intention to create legal relations—the latter being presumed to be present in a commercial context and absent in a familial or social context. Offers are freely revocable although the reliance of the offeree is protected in exceptional circumstances. Acceptances become effective as soon as they are dispatched. In the ‘battle of forms’ scenario, the Hong Kong courts follow the traditional ‘last-shot’ rule. There is no general duty to negotiate in good faith, and even agreements to negotiate in good faith are normally unenforceable for lack of certainty. As a general rule, contracts can be validly made without adhering to any formal requirement. Online contracts will normally be valid and enforceable; the formation of such contracts is governed by common law as supplemented by legislation.

The Rule of Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. W. Barber
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Successful Operation ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Law

The rule of law requires that law make the differences it purports to make; linking the formal demands of law and the reality of the rules that structure power within a community. The chapter begins by outlining the rule of law. There are two aspects to the principle: first, the rule of law requires that laws be expressed in a way that enable people to obey the law; secondly, the rule of law requires that the social context is such that people are led to obey these rules. The second part of the chapter examines the connection between the rule of law and the state. First, it will be contended that states need to comply—to a degree—with the rule of law in order to exist. Secondly, in societies such as ours, non-state legal orders require the existence of the state, and state legal orders, for their successful operation.

scholarly journals Presecular character of Montenegrin Law on Freedom of Religion in context of Fuller's demands for internal morality of law

2020 ◽  
pp. 7-26
Author(s):  
Vladimir Đurić ◽  
Vasilije Marković
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Basic Principle ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
Internal Morality ◽  
The Law

The authors analyse the new Montenegrin Law on Freedom of Religion or Belief and the Legal Status of Religious Communities from two aspects: the aspect of the socio-political context of its adoption (material sources of law) and formal aspects of the provisions of the Law itself (formal source of law) in order to point out the serious imperfections of that Law. Regarding the first aspect, wider social context in Montenegro is analysed in comparison with European regulative principles of area of religious freedoms. As for the provisions of the Law itself, they are considered in the context of Fuller's theory of the internal morality of law and its 8 requirements that make law possible in order to examine in detail whether and to what extent the Law fulfils the principles of legality as a basic principle for realization of the rule of law. The conclusion of the analysis from both aspects is that the analysed Law is also full of imperfections and obviously incompatible with the values of the rule of law.

Lying and the Law

2018 ◽  
pp. 482-494
Author(s):  
Stuart P. Green
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Political Candidates ◽  
Chilling Effect ◽  
Criminal Sanctions ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Law

This chapter considers the various ways in which the law regulates lies and other forms of deception. In the case of offenses such as perjury, fraud, and rape by deception, it takes a hard line, subjecting offenders to serious criminal sanctions. With respect to deception used by the police (during interrogations) and lawyers (in litigation), the law is more tolerant. And lies told by the media and by political candidates are sometimes regarded as constitutionally protected and therefore beyond the scope of permissible legal regulation entirely. The main point is that the law’s treatment of deception varies significantly depending on the role of the person deceiving (e.g., private individuals versus government officials), the social context in which the deception occurs (e.g., courtrooms, the marketplace, police stations, and sexual encounters), the harms the deception is believed to cause, and the chilling effect its regulation might entail.

ISSUES ON THE JUSTIFICATION OF THE AMENDMENT OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURAL LEGISLATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA FROM 2011

2021 ◽  
pp. 321-332
Author(s):  
MILOŠ STAMENKOVIĆ
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Criminal Procedure ◽  
Basic Feature ◽  
Procedural Law ◽  
Procedure Code ◽  
Introductory Part ◽  
Social Dynamic ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Republic

The issue of the development of criminal procedural law is an extremely broad and complex consideration, one that is difficult to cover in one study. In this paper, the author will deal with the development of criminal procedural legislation of the Republic of Serbia by 2011 in the first part. The current Criminal Procedure Code, with its most recent amendments from 2019, is still based precisely on the mentioned Code. The systematic presentation of the development of criminal procedural legislation in the Republic of Serbia has been burdened with both numerous changes in legislative sources and changes in the broader social context. The issue of state frameworks and the validity of the law, therefore, often requires a review of the broader territorial framework and an understanding of this social dynamic. If one considers the period of formation of the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes in 1918, the basic feature of criminal procedural law implied the particular interests of individual states and separate procedural arrangements. Following the above, which is in a way an introductory part, the paper will address the most important changes to the current Criminal Procedure Code in relation to the 2011 Criminal Procedure Code. After the Criminal Procedure Code of 2001 was repealed, the new Criminal Procedure Code of 2011 came into force, which regulates several issues in a whole new way. Finally, special attention will be paid to the inconsistency of the Criminal Procedure Code of 2011 with the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia.

scholarly journals Restating the common law? The Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Act 2015

Legal Studies ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Goudkamp
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Personal Injury ◽  
Large Network ◽  
Reasonable Care ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Law

The Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Act 2015 entered into force on 13 April 2015. It is too soon for it to have been considered judicially, and it has not yet been subjected to sustained academic analysis. Accordingly, this article considers its impact. In doing so, it situates the Act in its social context and draws attention to the fact that it is part of a large network of statutes that share the same objectives. It is argued, contrary to prevailing views, that parts of the Act change the law. It is also maintained that the Act’s reach is not confined to personal injury cases or even to tort cases. It potentially applies far more widely, including to contractual actions that allege a failure to take reasonable care. In addition to analysing the Act, this article investigates why the legislature might want to restate the common law (which is what the Act does in part), whether replicating the common law is desirable and, if the legislature is bent on restating the common law, how it should go about doing so.

Preoccupied with occupation: critical examinations of the historical development of the law of occupation

2012 ◽  
Vol 94 (885) ◽  
pp. 51-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yutaka Arai-Takahashi
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
General Principle ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Historical Evolution ◽  
Administrative Structure ◽  
Jus In Bello ◽  
European Project ◽  
The Law ◽  
Scholarly Discourse

AbstractThis article examines the historical evolution of the law of occupation from two angles. First, it analyses scholarly discourse and practice with respect to the general prohibition on the Occupying Power making changes to the laws and administrative structure of the occupied country, as embodied in Article 43 of the 1907 Hague Regulations. Many Occupying Powers and scholars have endeavoured to rationalize exceptions to this ‘general principle’ governing the entire corpus of the law of occupation. Their studies support the contingent nature of the law of occupation, with its interpretation being dependent on different historical settings and social context. The second part of the article focuses on how the law of occupation that evolved as a European project has rationalized excluding the system of colonialism from the framework of that law. The historical assessment of this body of jus in bello would be incomplete and biased if it did not address the narratives of such structural exclusivity.

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