Unlawful Occupiers, Eviction and the National State of Disaster: Considering South Africa's Emergency Legislation and Jurisprudence During COVID-19

This article analyses how emergency regulations protected persons living in urban poverty, particularly unlawful occupiers, from eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. It is set against the socio-economic and environmental effects of unlawful occupiers being forced onto the streets through evictions. It examines the judicial interpretation and application of the COVID-19 regulations on the prohibition of the eviction of unlawful occupiers, together with remedies for compensation for demolished dwellings. Ultimately, the article shows that the regulatory and judicial responses to the pandemic were pro-poor and sought to protect human dignity, the right to life, and the right to an environment that is not detrimental to human health and well-being. The responses safeguarded access to housing at a time when many vulnerable people could have been rendered homeless by eviction and the demolition of their dwellings.

Hong Kong Competition Law

This is the first academic monograph on the new competition law in Hong Kong. It provides an overview of the historical background of the Competition Ordinance, highlighting the debate and the process that led to the adoption of the Ordinance. It offers detailed comparative and theoretical analysis of the key provisions of the Ordinance, focusing on the First Conduct Rule, the Second Conduct Rule, the exclusions and exemptions, and the procedural provisions. It draws on overseas legislation and jurisprudence that inspired the provisions in the Ordinance and incorporates a detailed examination of the latest cases decided by the Competition Tribunal. It engages in relevant academic debates and theoretical analysis of how competition law in Hong Kong should develop in light of its unique economic and political contexts. It concludes by setting forth of a set of recommendations for further reform.

The Concept of Social Rehabilitation and its Elements in the Transfer of Prisoners for Further Execution of a Custodial Sentence

This article analyses the origins of the aim of social rehabilitation in the transfer of prisoners for further execution of a custodial sentence, elements of social rehabilitation, and its concept, which is not explicitly defined at the European Union level. In order to deliver a more thorough analysis of social rehabilitation elements, special attention is given to the relevant Lithuanian legislation and jurisprudence regarding the elements of social rehabilitation and their assessment.

Presumption of Consent or a Lack Thereof of the Victim and the Presumption of Guilt (Innocence) of the Accused in Cases of Sexual Offences: Emphasise What Is Necessary, Cross Out Everything Unnecessary

The article focuses on the significance and relevance of victims consent in sexual offenses cases. The case-law of national legal systems as well as of international judicial bodies demonstrates that consent is a conditio sine qua non for qualifying an act as a sexual offense. However, the recent examples of criminal cases raised from national and international jurisprudence allow authors to conclude that the non-consensual character of sexual acts is frequently complicated to prove in due to some peculiarities of the sexual offenses per se. This paper analyses the modern technique of sexual offenses criminalization which can be characterized by one of two possible approaches: first, the presumption of the alleged victim’s consent to sexual intercourse or, on the contrary, second, the presumption of the lack of thereof. Despite the fact that the second approach seems to be more favorable for alleged survivors, the implementation of this approach entails a number of difficulties. The main one is the hypothetical conflict with the metapresumption of criminal procedure (i.e. the presumption of innocence). In the paper this contradiction is analyzed from the perspective of the legislation and jurisprudence of different jurisdictions, as well as the practice of international judicial bodies (European Court of Human Rights, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda).

Teletravel in Labor Reform

The present study aims to discuss the requirements that characterize teleworking with the advent of Labor Reform. Thus, it seeks to understand general aspects inherent to this new form of work organization, such as concept, characteristics and modalities. To carry out this research, as a methodology, we opted for a literature review on doctrines, legislation and jurisprudence that deal with the topic under analysis. It was seen that teleworking has advantages and disadvantages for the worker, for companies and for society. Everything indicates that, if the sense of teleworking is not distorted and, if implemented with due care and minimum observance of the recommended standards, this type of work tends to prove beneficial for the members of the employment relationship and to positively impact employment. society. However, the theme demands a more in-depth study, in view of the existence of a large field to raise judicial questions, especially with regard to the teleworking workday. The real effects, benefits and damages to the rights and health of the worker, only time can reveal.

Digital Law and Digital Rights in Russia: Polemical Notes

Digitalization has become omnipresent today. No longer limited to the security sphere, digital technologies are actively transforming society as a whole. However, the conservative institution of law does not always respond promptly to changes, and many lawyers believe that the traditional legislation in force is sufficient to handle this new object of regulation. Yet the fact is that this object cannot be called traditional from the regulatory standpoint. Technology has a powerful impact on both law and the state and so requires new solutions. Under such circumstances, it is important to gain a legal understanding of digitalization without delay. The purpose of this article is to analyze the current state of legal regulation of digital technologies in Russia. By employing classical legal methods for analyzing doctrine, legislation and jurisprudence, the author comes to the conclusion that digital law is a new branch of law. At the same time, its most significant aspect is the regulation of digital rights — subjective rights associated with the use of digital technologies. Despite the neutral and universal character of technologies, a comparative legal approach allows us to identify the specific features of Russian digital law, as well as the nuances of the regulation and protection of digital rights in Russia. The present article reflects the author’s position and strives to inspire further discussion about these issues.

Obtaining Evidence in Patent Litigation and Trade Secret Protection – A Tale of Two Poles

In this article, the authors compare how the courts in two different jurisdictions handle trade secrets in patent litigation. Even though the two countries observed, Finland and Germany, are both continental European civil law systems with similar legal traditions, the approach to trade secret protection in litigation is quite different in many aspects. While Finland already has comparatively sophisticated legislation and jurisprudence when it comes to the protection of trade secrets, the German approach is rather different, and could be compared to a patchwork carpet. In this article, the authors review the international and European legal framework before delving into the details of the two national legal systems. Finally, they give guidelines on how to harmonize trade secret protection in litigation in order to strike a fair balance between the different interests at stake.

"The Bermuda triangle" of company, bankruptcy and law on takeover of joint stock companies: Three subjects of protection: Company, creditor and shareholder

Company, bankruptcy and the law on takeover of joint stock companies, by regulating the duties (obligations - debtor of the obligation) of members of the management of the public joint stock company (first of all), do not have the same approach in determining the subject of protection to which there is a prescribed duty (creditor of the prescribed obligation). On the other hand, the regulation of this issue is not uniform in the relevant comparative laws of these branches of law, both at the level of legal ("hard") law as well as at the level of autonomous ("soft") law. In this paper, the author seeks, first of all, to determine the dominant position of comparative regulations regarding the determination of the subject of law (the subject of protection) of the prescribed duty of the management of a company, as well as the reasons for such determination. The author takes the position, based on the appropriate argumentation that in the company law the subject of protection is a joint stock company (company as a legal entity), in the bankruptcy law it is an unsecured creditor while in the takeover law it is a shareholder. Since there is no unique position on these issues in legal theory, legislation and jurisprudence, the author refers to this situation as a kind of "Bermuda triangle".