scholarly journals THE INFLUENCE OF HYPNOSIS ON CRIMINAL LIABILITY

Obiter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Hoctor

“Sleep. Your eyelids are getting heavy. Sleep. Watch the swinging object. Concentrate. When you awake you will be completely under my power.” These words are familiar language to almost all of us, from images of the popular media, of a hypnotist attempting to place a subject in a hypnotic state. This subject has proved to be a source of fascination for many, and a source of intense debate in both psychological theory and jurisprudence for over two centuries, largely because of one controversial issue: can a person be induced to commit acts which are against his or her normal prudence and moral standards by means of hypnosis (or its historical antecedent, mesmerism)? The mysterious power of hypnotic coercion has moreover been absorbed into the popular consciousness, as reflected by the issue frequently featuring in fiction. For a single telling example, note the words of the villainous Baron Gruner to Sherlock Holmes: “You have heard of post-hypnotic suggestion, Mr Holmes? Well you will see how it works, for a man of personality can use hypnotism without any vulgar passes or tomfoolery.” The notoriety of hypnotic techniques is no doubt in no small measure due to accounts of sexual coercion of hypnotized subjects, as evidenced in the 1976 New South Wales Supreme Court case of R v Palmer, where a lay hypnotist was convicted on charges of rape, attempted rape and indecent assault. Evidence that this threat has been regarded as real by the courts even though no such case has arisen in South African law emerges from the declaring undesirable under the Publications and Entertainment Act 26 of 1963 of the magazine “True Men” for the publication of an article entitled “Amateur Hypnotism … Ruins 50 Girls a Week”. Gibson notes that “the idea that one person can dominate the will of another by occult or arcane means” goes back to the dawn of history, and is founded in pre-scientific ideas about magic and witchcraft. It has furtherbeen suggested by Gibson that in the present day, “hypnosis” has become a construct which has replaced “witchcraft” in the context of an accused performing criminal acts through an agent by means of coercion (perhaps this statement applies to both Anglo-American and European systems, less so to SA where witchcraft is as yet still a significant issue). This process has been aided by the proliferation of myths which have come to be established surrounding the notion of hypnosis in the public mind. The myths include: that hypnosis is done to the subject (as opposed to being self-induced); that it involves a battle of wills, with the stronger party (the Svengali-like hypnotist) winning over the weaker one; that the hypnotist must be a charismatic person; that hypnotic subjects are foolish or weak; that the hypnotist has unlimited power over the subject; that hypnosis is equivalent to sleep or loss of consciousness; that hypnosis is dangerous and destructive of the will; that hypnosis is a cure-all; that hypnosis confers special powers on subjects; that the hypnotic trance is irreversible; that hypnosis is fakery or sham behaviour; that hypnosis is a “truth serum” and that there are people who cannot be hypnotized. The law is not immune to these myths, and hypnotism has yet to be formally categorized in the general principles of criminal law. The search for a clear and rational explanation of the nature of hypnosis has further not beenassisted by the differing theories which have been offered in this regard. As will be indicated later, the courts (rather unsurprisingly) have also found difficulty with the concept. 

Author(s):  
Richard Adelstein

This chapter elaborates the operation of criminal liability by closely considering efficient crimes and the law’s stance toward them, shows how its commitment to proportional punishment prevents the probability scaling that systemically efficient allocation requires, and discusses the procedures that determine the actual liability prices imposed on offenders. Efficient crimes are effectively encouraged by proportional punishment, and their nature and implications are examined. But proportional punishment precludes probability scaling, and induces far more than the systemically efficient number of crimes. Liability prices that match the specific costs imposed by the offender at bar are sought through a two-stage procedure of legislative determination of punishment ranges ex ante and judicial determination of exact prices ex post, which creates a dilemma: whether to price crimes accurately in the past or deter them accurately in the future. An illustrative Supreme Court case bringing all these themes together is discussed in conclusion.


2022 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 214-225
Author(s):  
Emanuela Furramani ◽  
Rrezart Bushati

This article aims to analyze the thematic of medical team liability considering the recent Italian Supreme Court case-law, highlighting the various problems linked to the identification of the responsibility of each member of the team. The participation of several subjects in the execution of medical treatment makes the question of criminal liability very complex, especially when it comes to inauspicious events, such as injuries or death, occurring during medical treatment. The question concerns the exact identification of the duty of care and vigilance of the medical team and whether this duty is in line with the principle of individual criminal responsibility guaranteed by Article 27 of the Italian Constitution. In this regard, the case-law has elaborated the so-called “principle of reasonable confidence”, according to which the division of labour that belongs to each member should involve a delimitation of his responsibility, limited only to what is within his competence, except in case of the person who organizes, directs, and controls the team. Precisely, based on this principle, the Italian Supreme Court in 2018 reasserted that in the medical team is necessary to identify the role played by each member, thus avoiding resorting to objective responsibility.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Buchalska

Abstract The protection of personal rights in Poland is currently one of the fastest developing areas of law. Each year it is noted that the number of cases in this area is growing, mostly because people are looking to protect their rights, such as freedom, name, pseudonym, image, health or another right on the basis of the Polish Civil Code. It allows them to receive financial compensation where their, mostly, immaterial rights were infringed or when they feel injured. This is also why the open catalogue of the values protected by personal rights is increasing rapidly, and now one can observe that such values as national identity, a sense of belonging to a gender or dignity are protected by these rights. The subject matter of this article is an opinion on the Polish Supreme Court case where the Court decided that the nickname ‘Tiger’ used by a Polish boxer cannot be protected as a personal right on the bases of the Civil Code. This article presents basic information about protecting personal rights in Polish law and sets out the author’s opinion on this case.**


2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 361 ◽  
Author(s):  
David V Williams

The English Laws Act 1858 declared the reception date for the arrival of English law and statutes of general application in New Zealand to be 14 January 1840. This Act was passed because the New Zealand Supreme Court had decided the Wills Act 1837 (UK) did not apply in New Zealand. New Zealand was annexed to the British Empire as a dependency of New South Wales with a reception date in 1825 or 1828. The Supreme Court case that so decided was McLiver v Macky (1856). The New Zealand Law Foundation's 'Lost Cases Project' ascertained that this judgment was fully reported in an Auckland newspaper – The Southern Cross. This article examines the facts of the case and the reasoning of Acting Chief Justice Stephen as to the basis for British sovereignty in New Zealand and the application of English law to British subjects here.


1996 ◽  
Vol 70 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 291-300
Author(s):  
Stephan Palmié

[First paragraph]Santeria from Africa to the New World: The Dead Sell Memories. GEORGE BRANDON. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. x + 206 pp. (Cloth US$31.50) Working the Spirit: Ceremonies of the African Diaspora. JOSEPH M. MURPHY. Boston: Beacon, 1994. xiii + 263 pp. (Cloth US$ 25.00)Walking with the Night: The Afro-Cuban World of Santeria. RAUL CANIZARES. Rochester VT: Destiny Books, 1993. xii + 148 pp. (Paper US$ 12.95)Since 1959, the steady exodus from revolutionary Cuba has led to the gradual emergence of an Afro-Cuban religious diaspora in the United States. While this phenomenon has attracted scholarly attention for some time, the literature has grown particularly rapidly in recent years. It is, perhaps, not entirely fortuitous that a spate of current academic publications on the subject coincided with a scramble by the popular media to exploit its exotic potential in the context of the 1993 U.S. Supreme Court case on animal sacrifice. Clearly, what has come to be called an Afro-Cuban "cultic renaissance" in exile holds promise both for sensationalist journalism and certain kinds of theoretical projects. Partly articulating with older, but politically reinvigorated debates about the relations between African and African-American cultures, partly addressing fundamental questions about conventional models of cultural boundedness and coherence, and, finally, calling into question both popular and academic notions of "modernity" (and its inevitable counterpart "tradition"), the 292 New West Indian Guide/Nieuwe West-Indische Gids vol. 70 no. 3 &4 (1996)problems posed by the emergence of an Afro-Cuban religious diaspora in the United States present a timely challenge.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-30
Author(s):  
Daria V. Titlova

The subject of the scientific research is social relations, arising in the process of preparation and participation of the athlete in competitions at the international, Russian and regional levels. The purpose of the research identify the limits of criminal legal protection of social relations in the sphere of sports, related to the consumption of medical products of stimulating and other effects on the human body. Methods and objects of research. The presented work uses general scientific and private scientific methods of cognition, the main of which is: dialectical, formal logical, analysis, synthesis, system-structuraland etс. The object of the research is represented by a complex of relations in the field of sports, the peculiarities of establishing prohibition on the consumption of doping drugs, as well as criminal liability for its violation. The results and conclusions of the research are boils down to the need for systematization and meaningful correction of criminal law norms on liability for declination of the victim to consume drugs that have a stimulating and other effect, and using these drugs against or besides the will of the athlete-victim.


2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 415-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reuel E. Schiller

More than any other case from the postwar period,Brown v. Board of Educationhas captured the attention of historians and the public alike. The case itself, and the NAACP's campaign that led to it, have been the subject of books and articles beyond counting. In many history textbooks it is the only court case mentioned between the end of World War II and the early 1960s. It is one of a handful of cases that is recognized by the public at large and is surely the only Supreme Court case that has its own National Historic Site.


Liquidity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-52
Author(s):  
M. Koesmawan ◽  
Darwin Erhandy ◽  
Dede Dahlan

In order to meet the needs of living which consists of primary as well as secondary needs, human can work in either a formal or an informal job. One of the informal jobs that is became the subject of this research was to become an ojek driver. Ojek is a ranting motorcycle.  Revenue of ojek drivers, accordingly, should be well managed following the concept of financial management. This research was conducted for the driver of the online motorcycle drivers as well as the regular motorcycle drivers they are called “The Ojek”. Ojek’s location is in Kecamatan (subdistrict) Duren Sawit, East Jakarta with 70 drivers of ojeks. The online ojeks earn an average of Rp 100,000 per day, can save Rp 11,000 to 21,000 per day, while, the regular ojek has an average income per day slightly lower amounted to Rp 78,500, this kind of ojeks generally have other businesses and always record the outflow of theirs money. Both the online and regular ojeks feel a tight competition in getting passengers, but their income can help the family finances and both ojeks want a cooperative especially savings and loans, especially to overcome the urgent financial difficulties. Almost all rivers, do not dare to borrow money. They are afraid of can not refund the money as scheduled.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-48
Author(s):  
Warren Swain

Intoxication as a ground to set aside a contract is not something that has proved to be easy for the law to regulate. This is perhaps not very surprising. Intoxication is a temporary condition of varying degrees of magnitude. Its presence does however raise questions of contractual autonomy and individual responsibility. Alcohol consumption is a common social activity and perceptions of intoxication and especially alcoholism have changed over time. Roman law is surprisingly quiet on the subject. In modern times the rules about intoxicated contracting in Scottish and English law is very similar. Rather more interestingly the law in these two jurisdictions has reached the current position in slightly different ways. This history can be traced through English Equity, the works of the Scottish Institutional writers, the rise of the Will Theory, and all leavened with a dose of judicial pragmatism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-40
Author(s):  
Nur Syafiqah Hussin ◽  
Naqiah Awang ◽  
Farah Husna Mohd Fatzel

Covid-19 is an unprecedented crisis that has affected almost all industry players including education. It has transformed our way of life and introduced a new normal to how things are done. As an effort to contain the outbreak of pandemic Covid-19, universities have shifted to online learning. In line with this, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) has decided to execute open and distance learning (ODL) for the current semester until 31 December 2020. ODL introduces a different learning environment as compared to the traditional classroom that requires students to be self-reliant in learning new things. Hence, the purpose of the study is to explore students’ experiences in the process of knowledge transfer through ODL specifically for accounting subjects. A questionnaire was distributed to students who were taking the subject of Introduction to Financial Accounting and Introduction to Cost Accounting in UiTM Pahang Kampus Raub and a total of 206 responses were received. The study found over half of the students enjoy learning through ODL but only one-third were looking forward to having ODL for the next semester. Poor internet connection is the main reason found in the study that makes ODL not preferred by the students. At the same time, few features were highlighted by the students about ODL such as the advantage of pre-recorded video to catch up the new material and flexibility for them to learn at their own pace.


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