Academic literature on the topic 'Clergy, legal status, laws, etc'

The content of information in legal relations is expanding due to the achievements of the scientific and technical process and the emergence of new ways of working with legal information. It was found that within the framework of the theory of state and law, it became necessary to formulate general provisions and laws that are applicable to all industries. The main categories of industry-wide character are: information, information security, information technology. The science theory of state and law is designed to develop approaches to understanding and interpreting general theoretical categories and their relationship (personal data and the right to privacy; the limits of using information about a person and citizen and the right to entrepreneurial activity, etc.). It is concluded that information legal relations are characterized by a high risk of negative legal consequences. A hypothesis is stated about the potential of information legal relations to change legal practice in all sectors in the future. One of such technologies has been investigated - blockchain, the legal status of which is not clearly defined. Legal information relations need to be analyzed at the doctrinal level, it is recommended to anticipate a new pool of problems and threats in advance in order to find universal ways to prevent them, suitable for all branches of law. The science “theory of state and law” has the potential to make forecasts for the development of state and legal phenomena, taking into account new technical realities.

Scientific approaches to determining the employer’s labor legal personality within labor legal relations have been studied. The norms of the Labor Code of Ukraine and the drafts of the Labor Code of Ukraine in regard to labor legal personality of the corporate employer and the employer being an individual have been researched. It has been found out that the current Code of Labor Laws of Ukraine does not clearly define the moment of emergence of labor legal personality of the employer. Besides, labor law uses different terms to denote this aspect of the contract. It has been recommended to change all synonyms of the term of “employer” for the specified term in all acts of national legislation. It has been stated that the employer can be any legal entity. The employer powers arise from the moment of state registration. Employer powers of legal entities are vested in officials (chiefs, directors, presidents, etc.) who are given the right to hire and fire employees. Separate divisions of legal entities may be employers, if the relevant legal entity delegates part of its authority to them in order to accept the dismissal of employees and the use of their labor. It has been substantiated that we should rely on the full civil capacity of an individual while determining the employment status of the employer being an individual. The author has offered to envisage the following norm in the Labor Code of Ukraine and in the future Labor Code of Ukraine: “An employer may be any individual who has reached the age of eighteen. An individual who has reached the age of sixteen and wishes to be engaged in entrepreneurial activity may be an employer with the written consent of the parents (adoptive parents), guardian or a guardianship authority. An individual has employment powers from the moment of state registration as an entrepreneur”.

Relevance. In this work, the author examines the history of the formation of consumer protection legislation in accordance with the socio-economic circumstances in Vietnam in general and civil circulation in particular. Consumers are involved in civil circulation as subjects of civil law, however, they are considered a "weaker side" in relation to the counterparty. Consequently, the formation of a special legal mechanism is extremely necessary to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. The aim of this work is to study the genesis and development of the legal institution for consumer protection in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The objectives of the study are to analyze important innovations in the 2010 Consumer Protection Act compared to the previous 1999 Consumer Protection Ordinance; define the concept of "consumer" under the laws of Vietnam and other countries, thereby establishing the most complete and clear definition of "consumer". Methodology. In the process of research, the author used general scientific methods of cognition (analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction) and special methods (comparative legal, descriptive, historical method, etc.). Results. Vietnamese consumer protection legislation establishes the relatively complete legal status of these participants in civil law relations, including their fundamental rights in accordance with UN guidelines, manufacturer's liability for violation of consumer rights and measures to ensure a legal mechanism for resolving disputes with con-sumers. Conclusion. Consumer protection is currently a fairly important institution in Vietnam, which is strictly regulated by regulatory legal acts and guaranteed by the state and its competent authorities. However, the concept of "consumer" should be clearly defined and consistent with the development of consumer relations in the modern market.

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of digitalization of international trade through the introduction of blockchain technology and the identification of issues that require legal regulation for the implementation of the relevant process in Ukraine. It is emphasized that digitalization of international trade through the introduction of blockchain technology opens up opportunities for optimization of administrative trade procedures and stimulation of foreign trade activity, in particular, it allows modernizing and optimizing the work of “single windows” (including certification and customs clearance); cross-border data exchange between government agencies or authorities and economic entities; payment transfer system, etc. In turn, the use of smart contracts, built on the appropriate technology, can automate the compliance of stakeholders with various contractual obligations; and data (in the blockchain) — is a stream of reliable information about past transactions, as they remain unchanged after entry. This provides greater transparency and the ability to trace the movement of a product or document throughout the supply chain with a high level of security and immutability, as well as eliminates double spending (in particular, by using the same digital documents as collateral for financing, which is a common source of fraud in international trade. At the same time, blockchain technology is only a tool on the way to optimizing administrative trade procedures and stimulating foreign economic activity and can be used only if there is appropriate legislation. In particular, the issues of determining the legal status of the blockchain (in particular, the terminology — “blockchain”, “smart contracts”) and blockchain-based applications need to be settled. Analysis of international experience proves the lack of unified approaches in this area. This actualizes the need to intensify work at the global international level to address the above issues. It is also advisable for Ukraine to join this process. For the sake of end-to-end digitalization of trade and limiting the possibility of potentially conflicting individual approaches that could lead to further disconnection and barriers to trade, harmonization of domestic legislation in accordance with existing international documents (in particular, UNCITRAL model laws) is becoming important. Digital trade agreements (e.g., the upcoming Digital Trade Agreement between Ukraine and the United Kingdom) are one of the tools that will help to intensify actions in this direction. In addition, among the issues that require regulation prior to the introduction of blockchain technology in international trade are the following: (1) the procedure for entering data (in particular, ensuring their accuracy and completeness) to be transmitted and exchanged on the blockchain; (2) protection of the transmitted data, (3) responsibility for data entry and processing, as well as the legal algorithm for their correction in case of errors (in particular, it should be clearly defined whether it is possible to make changes to the code underlying the blockchain to correct errors and, if so, who has the right to do it), (4) dispute resolution procedure; (5) mutual recognition of documents/certificates issued (this will ensure that the algorithms used work accurately with the data entered and comply with specific (international and national) rules), etc., as well as recognition of electronic signatures and electronic documents (in particular, transfer documents, bills of lading, promissory notes, warehouse receipts, etc. On this basis, it is considered expedient not to adopt a separate legal act like the Illinois State Law “On the Implementation of Blockchain Technology”, but to modernize the existing laws of Ukraine: the Law of Ukraine “On Electronic Commerce”, the Law of Ukraine “On Electronic Documents and Electronic Document Management”, etc. These are the directions of further research. It is considered appropriate at the legislative level to allow the use of smart contracts, records and signatures protected by blockchain in the field of trade and to use the method of analogy of the law in order to extend the legal regime of electronic contracts and signatures to them, which is reflected in the law-making of certain foreign countries (in particular, the United States (New York State). It is proposed to develop and adopt legislation on the digitalization of economic policy in general and foreign economic policy in particular, taking into account the principles of functional equivalence and technological neutrality. This will protect domestic legislation from the need for constant amendments to take into account the emergence of new technologies.

Problem setting. In Ukraine competition policy aims to support healthy competition and limit abuses of monopoly position. However, there are special markets that society requires to meet its needs, but doing business in these areas is very resource-intensive, requires a difficult activity, and therefore objectively engage in such economic activities is too difficult and / or unfavorable to the vast majority of business entities. Then objectively “natural” monopolies are formed, and at the same time only one / several business entities claim to operate in such a market. Accordingly, these monopolies require special legal regulation by the state. Moreover, without proper government intervention, such socially useful activities would not be carried out on the market at all, or would be carried out according to other standards (level of quality, availability, safety, etc.). State regulation of Ukraine in this area is rightly criticized by Ukrainian researchers. Accordingly, an interesting question arises: is the state regulation of different markets, which are in a state of natural monopolies, based on the same principles and approaches? Target of research. The purpose of the article is to analyze the nature, features of the criteria for defining markets as natural monopolies and the objectivity of the classification of markets for certain services in seaports to natural monopolies in Ukraine. Analysis of recent researches and publications. Some issues of the analysis of the state antimonopoly (competition) policy were considered by O.O. Bakalinskaya, V.M. Grudnitsky, V.I. Polyukhovych, Y.I. Yasko, features of problems of a natural monopoly in the market of pilot services were covered by E.M. Klyueva, M. Gardus et al. Article’s main body. Unlike traditional natural monopolies (for example, markets for oil and oil products, natural gas, pipeline, air, rail transport, electricity) in Ukraine, the status of natural monopolies have some services in seaports, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine from June 3, 2013 № 405 by granting exclusive rights to the State Enterprise “Administration of Seaports of Ukraine”. But this list was compiled without proper feasibility studies and arguments. However, some of these services in ports (pilotage, icebreaking) do not meet the criteria of natural monopolies. Bylaws that contradict special laws have created a vicious circle where it is impossible to become a pilot without pilots, and a specialist can only be considered a pilot if he is recognized as such by a pilot after fulfilling a number of requirements. But such a situation contradicts the special legal norms of the Laws of Ukraine, in particular, the Merchant Shipping Code of Ukraine and “On Seaports of Ukraine”. In accordance with Art. 19 of this Law of Ukraine, the provision of pilotage is not a service provided only by state enterprises. After the entry into force of the Code of Merchant Shipping of Ukraine on June 13, 2013, pilotage services were removed from the exclusive competence of state-owned enterprises. The novelties were approved by the Law of Ukraine of May 17, 2012 № 4709-VI. But in the bylaws there are some provisions that directly contradict the laws of Ukraine, for example, paragraph 4.1.2. Order of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Ukraine of August 1, 2007 № 655 “On approval of the Rules of navigation and pilotage of vessels in the north-western part of the Black Sea, Bug-Dnieper-Estuary and Kherson sea canals”. It is interesting to note that most of the bylaws that currently contradict these laws and in fact create barriers to access to the market for pilotage services were not only not adapted to the new requirements of the laws, but were adopted after the adoption and shortly before the entry into force of this already approved by the Supreme Council of Ukraine of the Code of Merchant Shipping of Ukraine: Order of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine № 292 of May 8, 2013 and Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine № 405 of June 3, 2013. Of course, after the entry into force of laws, the rules of law must be given in bylaws in strict accordance with the laws of Ukraine. However, this has not been done so far, although changes to them and to the order of the Ministry of Transport № 655 of August 1, 2007, were made in 2015, 2016 and 2018. On the contrary, despite the fact that the pilot market does not fall directly under the criteria of a natural monopoly, neither the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine nor the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has provided public reasoned explanations or feasibility studies, whether in this state there is demand in this market. more effective in the absence of competition, and such a justification is essential to clearly establish the main criterion of a natural monopoly – the state of the commodity market. Because of this, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine in its Report of 2017 pointed out that it is possible to state the controversy of including the market in which pilotage services are provided in the market, which is in a state of natural monopoly. The analysis of judicial practice in resolving disputes related to the provision of specialized services in ports (icebreaking works) shows the possibility of providing specialized services by a business entity that is not a monopolist and the lack of responsibility for providing such services to a company that is not a natural monopolist. Conclusions and prospects for the development. So, in Ukraine the current legal regulation of the status of natural monopolies among certain services in seaports is ambiguous, reminiscent of the artificial intervention of the regulator in relations, rather than the natural formation of such monopolies, as such criteria do not fully meet the statutory criteria of natural monopolies. the acts actually formed natural monopolies. Moreover, these bylaws must be brought into strict compliance with the Merchant Shipping Code of Ukraine, abolishing the exclusive rights to carry out at least pilotage and icebreaking operations of the State Enterprise “Administration of Seaports of Ukraine”. Licensing of these activities is possible in order to allow private entities to enter these markets and to ensure proper state control.

The decisions and activities of legal persons have consequences in many states, some-times giving rise overseas to disputes arising out of contracts, torts. The foreign element in such cases raises a number of difficult questions related to the legal status of the subjects of these relations: whether a legal entity created under the laws of one state is recognized as such in another state where it is engaged in economic activities; the laws of which state determine the legal capacity of a foreign legal entity? - etc. The answers to these questions may be found by means of the personal statute of a legal entity (lex societatis). The personal statute of a legal entity (lex societatis) is commonly referred to as the law, determined on the basis of a conflict of laws rule, to be applied to the totality of relations related to the legal entity and complicated by a foreign element, or at least to the main part of such relations. The application of the personal statute of a legal entity is relevant in civil cases in which at least one of the parties is a foreign corporation. This statute has to be resorted to in the case of a dispute on the merits, as well as in a number of other cases: determining the legal status of the disputing parties at the stage of initiation of the case and its subsequent resolution, checking the powers of the parties' representatives, etc. The court must examine the legal status of the corporation as a party to the proceeding before deciding on the applicable law. The purpose of this article is to analyze the practice of application by Russian courts the personal statute of a legal entity in resolving a number of procedural issues related to the determination of the legal status of the disputing parties, the verification of the credentials of the parties' representatives. The article provides an analysis of the content of the mentioned conflict of law norm, which is designed to help courts in their activities. The improvement of the investment climate in the state, the attractiveness of the national jurisdiction for economic activity, the stability of the civil turnover in general depend on the effective protection of the rights and legitimate interests of participants in corporate conflicts through justice. The study of features of the judicial form of protection of violated rights and interests in the light of the foreign element is of enduring theoretical and practical importance.

The paper discusses formation and development of criminal legislation on the subject and subjective signs of the crime in the countries of medieval Europe within the comparative jurisprudence. The authors note that the level of culture and statehood in any society and its government bodies as a whole depends on the attitude of the society and the state to those who committed unlawful, criminally punishable acts. On the materials of criminal law in the Ancient World and the Middle Ages (Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, etc.) a strict liability was in law-enforcement practice. New states were formed during the Middle Ages. That led to the need of strengthening their authority of state power and statehood. Consequently, the state got the right to protect the interests of the individual and society, and the right to creation a new criminal legislation and its institutions. The church survived after liquidation of many public and state institutions. On the one hand, it contributed to the preservation of scientific achievements of the Ancient World. On the other hand, the church deprived science of free critical attitude to the issues under study. Philosophy and jurisprudence were based on theology. Criminal-legal institutions could be developed only in the direction, which had been approved by the church. Clearly, the idea of protecting the rights of the individual, strict liability and conditions of sanity could not be widely applied. As soon as the states were originated, strict liability was necessary to stop the blood feud and delegation of the judiciary from the society to the state. The obtained knowledge about the world and deeper understanding of the causality of what is happening facilitated the process. From the political point of view, theology (a Christian doctrine) influenced the criminal law policy in Medieval Time. The legislator regulated a range of subjects of the crime. In X - XI centuries, ancient ideas of strict liability were accepted in Europe. Crimes were divided into willful and not deliberate. The principle of the personal guilty is directly related to the subject of the crime. Murderers, rapists, thieves, swindlers and others were declared criminals. Judicial practice of many times and peoples gives us numerous examples confirming the existence of views on the animal as a subject of crime. Age limits of legal responsibility were defined as the minority, which is different from the social maturity, and sometimes old age, were considered the reason for the undisputed crime blamed of a crime to a subject. People under 14 years old could not be subjected to the death penalty, except when "malice can make up for the lack of age". The authors pay attention to the fact that the interests of healthy individuals guided medieval jurisprudence and medicine. They also regulated peculiarities of the healthy individuals’ legal capacity, presence of dementia and mental illnesses, etc. The mitigation of punishment in some cases when the fault of the subject of the crime was absent, fixing the criminal-legal significance of the motive of the crime, intent and some other subjective features in the legislation were a progress. Studies of the Medieval European States shows that the legislator at that time did not formulate general signs of the subject of the crime and did not know the criminal legal concept of strict liability. However, there was a need to solve the problem. Thus, the paper discusses the essence of the criminal legal significance of the сorpus delicti, its place in the criminal law and law enforcement practiceю. The authors used scientific literature of both foreign and Russian

<p> With the gradual rise of financial science and technology, the traditional currency tends to be eliminated due to various limitations. Digital currency technology based on block chain technology emerges as the times require. With the gradual deepening of the research on legal digital currency by the central bank, the implementation of legal digital currency will be the inevitable choice of China’s economic development, and also the inevitable requirement of complying with the trend of economic globalization and informatization. This paper studies the development status of digital currency at home and abroad and the importance of central bank issuing digital currency, and analyzes the main causes of the risk problems of circulation environment, laws and regulations, financial system and technical system faced by the Central Bank of China in promoting digital currency, including the implementation of laws and regulations, protection of users’ rights and interests, establishment of monitoring and analysis department, promotion of digital currency, etc. This paper puts forward specific measures and suggestions for the central bank to issue digital currency.</p>

The article presents the results of a study of the functional, formal and substantive features of the texts of Russian laws, which approve program-goal docments (development strategies, concepts, programs, forecast plans, etc.). The article is based on discourse and genre approaches to the study of legislative texts, the legislative text space as a whole. It is noted that, on the one hand, this type of laws reflects the general features of modeling and transроforming of modern legal discourse; reproduces the institutional aspects of the legislative process; broadcasts legislative intentions, strategies and tactics. On the other hand, laws that approve documents of a program-goal nature have distinctive characteristics that allow defining these laws as a separate subgenre type. The subgenre of law is defined by the author on the basis of the following parameters: (1) intention of the uthor; (2) the purpose and functions of the law; (3) the factor of the subject of legal discourse (author/addressee of the law); (4) spatio-temporal and other circumstantially determining characteristics reflected in the text of the law explicitly or implicitly (who adopted and signed the law, during which period and in which territory it is applied, etc.); (5) type of institutional action; (6) the institutional status of the law within the system of laws; (7) subject-thematic “radius” of the text; (8) formal segmentation of text; (9) features of the correlation of functional semantic types of speech; (10) degree of uniformity, subgenre markers and clichés. The formal and informative structures of program-approving laws are analyzed on the basis of the fol-lowing segments: pretext and post-text details, intra-text components, post-text application (approved document). These segments are analyzed from various points of view: obligation, localization, combinatorics, unification, etc. When conducting research, special attention is paid to structural, typological, comparative and other types of analyzes.

In the nineteenth century the Karaim community of Lithuania was attributed to the non-Christian burgher estate, and laws set to the Jewish community were applicable to the Karaim as well. However, the authorities saw the difference between the two communities with respect to morality and ethics and consequently rendered the Karaim certain social and economic freedoms. The Karaim community, living in Trakai and Naujamiestis, Panevėžys district, sought to retrieve its former legal and social status, formed in the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries. For over half a century it maintained contacts with the authorities asking and sometimes even requiring more favourable conditions for its existence, retention of its distinctiveness and the right to preserve its collective identity. This dialogue resulted in a sort of compromise. The Karaims were not accorded the desired special status that would have made them equal to other privileged estates. Nevertheless, they were separated legally from the Jews, they acquired the rights of the Christian burgher community and their priests enjoyed the rights of Christian clergy.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: One of the biggest revolutions in the United States, equal to the political revolution by which that country came into being, concerns a change in people's concept of God. In this context, freedom of religion came to playa fundamental role in society. In the United States religious freedom means that that country's central power should be completely neutral towards religion. This view is criticised as being the result of just another philosophical presupposition, called "secular individualism:" According to this view, state and church (or religion) are rigidly separated. Religion is viewed as an "irrational power", and should be limited to private life only. The South African Constitution did not follow this route. The state is not expected to be secular. It may even create circumstances conducive to the promotion of religion, although it should remain neutral towards specific religions. In South Africa religious freedom entails the acknowledgement of a group right, an important aspect of democracy, as long as the exercise of this right contributes towards tolerance and cultural openness. The premise is that the exercise of collective group values can play an important role to inspire people towards embracing human rights (which lie at the heart of the Constitution) as a core value of their social morality. I also deal with the problem of the limitation of this group right. Religious freedom further entails that the courts should not embark on judging in the theological and doctrinal conflicts of religious groups. However, churches cannot withdraw themselves from the ambit of the courts' authority, although this authority never allows for a decision about the internal dogmatic affairs of churches, It only applies to its administrative legal acts, particularly concerning the position of its paid officials. I further deal with the church as a legal entity, and confront the problem of the South African jurisprudence that treats the church as a mere voluntary organisation. The thesis is that the church is a legal entity sui generis. In other word, the church's legal status emanates from within, and is not bestowed upon it. From a legal point of view; the church should primarily be judged on the basis of its own ecclesiastical statutes. Thereafter I discuss the labour law position of ministers, referring to a number of labour court cases in which ministers were involved. The conclusion is that a minister is not an employee in the ordinary, legal sense of the word, but rather an independent contractor or atypical worker. The nature of his work is such that his divine calling not only encompasses his working life, but his whole life, in the service of God as his employer. As such, the minister's position is fundamentally different from that of an ordinary employee. I take the position that this view is the best way of expressing the church's uniqueness, constitutionally guaranteed, as well as the theological dimension of the church as a unique communal body. Against the minister's possible vulnerability towards exploitation and possible loss of his or her livelihood, he or she enjoys a constitutional as well as an administrative law guarantee.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Een van die grootste revolusies in die VSA soortgelyk aan die politieke revolusie waardeur Amerika tot stand gekom het, raak mense se Godsopvatting. In dié konteks speel die begrip godsdiensvryheid 'n fundamentele rol. In die VSA beteken godsdiensvryheid dat dié land se sentrale gesag heeltemal neutraal is teenoor godsdiens. Die kritiek hierop is dat so 'n opvatting voortkom uit 'n spesifieke filosofiese voorveronderstelling, naamlik "sekulêre individualisme". Hierin word staat en kerk (of godsdiens) rigied van mekaar geskei en die invloed van godsdiens as 'n "irrasionele mag" slegs tot die privaatlewe beperk. In Suid-Afrika volg die Grondwet nie dieselfde weg nie. Van die staat word nie verwag om sekulêr te wees nie. Dit mag selfs omstandighede skep om godsdiens te bevorder, alhoewel dit neutraal teenoor spesifieke godsdienste moet wees. Binne die Suid-Afrikaanse opset beteken godsdiensvryheid dus erkenning aan 'n groepsreg, wat 'n vername aspek van demokrasie is, solank die beoefening van dié groepsreg bydra tot toleransie en kulturele openheid. Die premisse is dat die beoefeninq van kollektiewe groepswaardes 'n belangrike rol kan speel om mense te inspireer om ook menseregte (die hart van die Grondwet) as 'n kernwaarde van hulle sosiale moraliteit te aanvaar. Die probleem is of beperkings op hierdie groepsreg ooit geoorloof sou wees. Godsdiensvryheid beteken verder dat die howe nie tot die beoordeling van die dogmatiese en teologiese twispunte van godsdienstige groepe mag toetree nie. Die kerk kan homself egter nie aan die gesag van die howe onttrek nie, alhoewel dié gesag nooit vir 'n beslissing oor die interne dogmatiese sake van die kerk geld nie, maar net vir sy administratief-regtelike handelinge - in die besonder waar dit die diensposisie van die kerk se betaalde ampsdraers aangaan. Ek handel verder oor die kerk as regspersoon en konfronteer die probleem dat die Suid-Afrikaanse regspraak die kerk bloot as 'n vrywillige organisasie sien. Die tese is dat die kerk 'n regspersoonlikheid sui generis is. Dus kom die kerklike regspersoonlikheid eintlik vanuit die kerk self voort. Regsvrae binne die kerk moet dus primêr aan die hand van sy eie statuut of Kerkorde beoordeel word. In die lig van die voorafgaande bespreek ek vervolgens die arbeidsregtelike posisie van die predikant na aanleiding van verskeie arbeidshofsake, en bevind dat hy of sy nie in 'n kontraktuele diensverhouding staan nie, maar eerder 'n onafhanklike kontrakteur of 'n a-tipiese werker is. Die aard van die predikant se werk as Godsgeroepene omvat nie net die arbeidslewe nie, maar die hele lewe wat hy of sy onder die beheer van sy of haar Werkgewer stel. Dit maak dat die predikant se posisie fundamenteel van dié van 'n gewone werknemer verskil. Ek handhaaf die posisie dat dié standpunt die beste gestalte gee aan die uniekheid van die kerk wat deur middel van grondwetlike godsdiensregte gewaarborg word, asook die teologiese dimensie van die kerk as 'n unieke samelewingsverband. In die aangesig van moontlike uitbuiting is die predikant se lewensonderhoud of "traktement" egter gewaarborg in soverre hy of sy 'n grondwetlike sowel as 'n administratief-regtelike aanspraak op 'n billike bedeling binne die kerk het.

In a 3-year timeframe, nearly 800 student negligence suits were filed, and most involved some claim of personal injury. Despite heightened public attention of negligence lawsuits against school districts and their employees, an empirical study of court decisions revealed that the volume of litigation against school districts remained steady from 1990 to 2005, the majority of cases were ruled in favor of the school district employees, and government and official immunity were most often the basis for these rulings. Researchers have concluded that immunity laws are strong in the United States, although they vary by state in their application. However, a primary recommendation was that, because of the misconception of a lack of immunity for public school employees, a comprehensive study on governmental and official immunity is needed. This dissertation employed legal research, analysis, and methodology to engage in a comprehensive investigation of teacher immunity in the four southern states of Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and New Mexico. Of central concern to this dissertation was the Tort Claims Act of 1978 from the State of New Mexico. The Tort Claims Act is the vehicle by which immunity is granted to public school employees. Court findings over the last 35 years point to three primary domains under which cases pertaining to immunity fall: negligence (62.5%), evaluation and supervision (16.7%), and student discipline (8.3%). Immunity appears strong across all three domains; however, only future studies on cases by state will determine whether states in the southwest United States are the norm or an anomaly.

This study will examine the circumstances surrounding the passage of the British Columbia Married Women's Property Act, 1873 and the judicial response to it. The statute was an attempt on the part of legislators to clarify and facilitate married women's actions in the marketplace, while accomodating new ideas about women's place in society. But despite the rhetoric about women's rights and the bill's more egalitarian potential, it precipitated no domestic revolution. The courts, in turn, ignored the legislation's more liberal provisions and interpreted it solely as a protective measure. Notwithstanding their different views on gender relations and marital property reform, legislators and judges shared common beliefs about the importance of family life. Consequently, the law defended women's legal rights as family members more than as individuals. Overall, the bill represented a compromise. Although it was meant to alleviate some of a wife's legal disabilities so that she could participate more freely in the economic life of the community, it was also grounded in the Victorian paternalism of the legislators who enacted it and the judges who enforced it. As a result, despite the challenge presented by the provisions of the Married Women's Property Act, the doctrine of marital unity proved remarkably resilient.
Arts, Faculty of
History, Department of
Graduate

In an era of globalisation, often described as the era of mobility and of the decline of the relevance of territory, the Roma and the Travellers embody a transnational and non-territorial society. Yet this minority group experiences deplorable living conditions and the survival of its culture is endangered. A study of minority protection mechanisms in international law reveals that the grasp of territory and "sedentarism" has far from disappeared from this branch of law. Territory (or the absence thereof) and movement are the main challenges faced by international law in the development of solutions to the situation of the Roma and the Travellers. In light of the failure of current minority protection regimes, the quest for recognition of a "Roma nation" appears to be an avenue worth exploring. However, while the Roma may not fall clearly within the parameters of minority protection, they do not fall clearly within the concept of nation either. When examining the potential of such recognition, one realizes that it is necessary to redefine the right of self-determination in the context of minority protection and in a transnational and non-territorial perspective.

Zimbabwean widows need to inherit property when their husbands die. Property, be it material or financial in nature, is a source of sustenance and wealth. Depriving women of property inheritance rights has untold consequences. This study focuses on the property inheritance rights of widows in Zimbabwe in the Sikalenge Ward of Binga District. The aim of the study is to understand how property grabbing affects widows and to find possible solutions and intervention strategies social workers may use. The literature reviewed in the study was drawn from both the legal field and social work to create a link between the fields. The study was shaped by radical feminism for conceptualising property grabbing while the formulated intervention strategies utilised the empowerment model. The study is qualitative in nature using interviews to collect data from ten widows and five social service providers who constitute the total of fifteen participants in the study. Data was analysed qualitatively using interpretive approaches and presentation is textual rather than statistical. The main finding of the study is that widows are still being denied their inheritance rights despite the provision of such rights by the Intestate Succession Laws promulgated in November 1997 by the government of Zimbabwe. Moreover, the widows are not aware of the inheritance laws of Zimbabwe and hence did not seek any professional intervention. The few who attempted the legal process for recourse were not successful. Even though it was minimally attempted, the study established that the main form of failed intervention tried by the women was legal in nature and suggests and emphasises an eminent need for Social Work intervention to supplement legal intervention.

The purpose of the study was to assess the general knowledge of Indiana school law possessed by Indiana public secondary school teachers. The population consisted of three hundred and thirty randomly selected Indiana public secondary school teachers.A researcher developed assessment instrument comprised of thirty items from Indiana school law in the areas of teacher tenure, pupil control, and tort liability was utilized. One statistical hypothesis and six statistical subhypotheses were analyzed with a Z test. The five percent level of significance was established as the probability level for non-acceptance of the hypothesis and subhypotheses.Conclusions1. The percentage of Indiana public secondary school teachers who possess a fair or better level of knowledge of pupil control, and tort liability is likely between seven and fifteen.2. There is no significant difference in the level of knowledge of Indiana school law possessed by Indiana public Indiana school law in the combined areas of teacher tenure, secondary school teachers when grouped according to years of teaching experience, location of their teacher education training, and inclusion of instructional units on school law in their teacher education training.3. The percentage of Indiana public secondary teachers who possess a fair or better level of knowledge of Indiana school law in the area of teacher tenure is likely between four and twelve.4. The percentage of Indiana public secondary school teachers who possess a fair or better level of knowledge of Indiana school law in the area of pupil control is likely between twenty-two and thirty-four.5. The percentage of Indiana public secondary school teachers who possess a fair or better level of knowledge of Indiana school law in the area of tort liability is likely between seventeen and twenty-seven.

This thesis examines the participation of Armenians in the shari'a courts of the Ottoman Empire from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Scholars have traditionally thought that Armenians in the Ottoman Empire resolved their disputes within their own communities' legal systems. However, new studies of Ottoman court records reveal that Armenians in the Ottoman Empire frequently used the shari'a courts to resolve a wide variety of disputes. There are several possible reasons to account for this frequent shari'a court use by a community that theoretically had its own courts. The first is that the Armenian millet's legal structures were perhaps exaggerated or misunderstood by previous scholars. The second is that Islamic law was not as unfavourable to dhimmis as presumed and that the shari'a courts were adequate for their needs. Finally, the way the courts applied Islamic law was sometimes advantageous to certain dhimmis.

This thesis addresses the problems related to the assessment of gender-based claims of persecution under the international definition of 'refugee'. The 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees does not list 'gender' as one of the persecution grounds that entitle a person to seek refuge. In attempting to solve this apparent dilemma, the 'membership of a particular social group' category was long considered to be the appropriate assessment framework.
While nowadays the other four enumerated Convention grounds---race, religion, nationality, and political opinion---have increasingly received regard, the approach to gender-based persecution has so far been neither systematic, nor consistent. Moreover, the most critical interpretative hurdles continue to arise in the context of the 'membership of a particular social group' category,
This study therefore examines the link between the two concepts of gender-based persecution and the 'membership of a particular social group' category. For this purpose, both concepts are first considered independently (Parts II and III). Following this, the larger part of the analysis is assigned to the examination of the international case law concerning gender-based claims (Part IV) which shall determine if and how gender-based persecution can appropriately be accommodated under the 'membership of a particular social group' category,

“No civilized society, regards children as accountable for their actions to the same extent as adults”.1 In the absence of a justice system applicable exclusively to children in conflict with the law in South Africa, children are subjected to the same rigours of the criminal law applicable to adults in South Africa. “States Parties recognize the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child's sense of dignity and worth, which reinforces the child's respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others and which takes into account the child's age and the desirability of promoting the child's reintegration and the child's assuming a constructive role in society”.2 As a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, South Africa has a duty to ensure that the children in conflict with the law are treated in a manner that gives effect to the protectionary ideals espoused in the Convention. In July 2000, the South African Law Commission [Project 106] released the Child Justice Bill3, together with its Report on Juvenile Justice. Because the child justice system at present is not governed by legislation, uncertainty and inconsistency are constant dangers. We need legislation to ensure that all children in conflict with the law are dealt with consistently, fairly and appropriately. The question that needs to be answered in this treatise, is whether the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008, which comes into effect on 01 April 2010, is a legislative framework that incorporates due process rights together with the rights of children who is alleged to have committed an offence, to be protected and treated in a manner appropriate to their age.

Insurance of life in favor of third parties is more important than the insurance of life in case of death. Moreover, in some rights this type of insurance can be contracted only in the event of the death of the insured person. There are no such restrictions in our insurance law, which means that the same can be agreed in case the isured person reaches a certain age. With this type of insurance, the insured event can be realized on the person of the insurance policyholders or on some other person. The insured person can therefore be the insurance contractor himself and it can also be another person. Considering that in this type of insurance, upon the occurrence of the insured event, the payment of the insured amount is always made to a certain third party beneficiary and that the insurance contract mentions several persons with different legal status, the insurance contract must clearly define the issues such as clear determination of the beneficiary insurance, what happens if the insurance beneficiary dies before the insured person, or the contractor assures, whether it is necessary for the insurance beneficiary to give his consent to be paid compensation, whether and until when the insurance policyholder can revoke the benefit he has contracted for a third party-beneficiary of the insured, etc. All these issues are mainly regulated by legal provisions, but of particular importance are General Conditions of life insurance of life insurance companies, as the above issues are clearly defined on the basis of experiences that have proven to be open in practice.

In this chapter, we present the legislative branches of eight countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary) through the following subjects: a) legislative bodies and sources of parliamentary law (laws regulating the function of the parliament, bylaws etc.); b)the authorities of parliaments; c) the officeholders of parliaments, the house president, and committees of parliaments; d)parliamentary groups; e) the legal status of officeholders (rights of the MPs, conflict of interest, immunity). The structure of the study follows the order of the above-mentioned subjects and treats them as subchapters. At the beginning of each subchapter is a short explanation of the subject, highlighting in broad terms what it wishes to showcase. The study focuses on the legislative branches of governments as the main goal of the study is to observe their legislative ecosystem and organs, powers and members.

The problems related to the procedure of detention by an authorized official without the decision of the investigating judge or court, of a person suspected of committing a crime have been studied, namely: the uncertainty about who is authorized to detain persons under Art. 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine; lack of understanding or authority of the above-mentioned persons to detained persons before entering information into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations, to execute search warrant of detained person and to carry out temporary seizure of things and documents and whether further evidence obtained during such proceedings will be declared inadmissible; the lack of an effective mechanism for ensuring the rights of detainees, in particular, round-theclock urgent linguistic assistance for persons under criminal prosecution, etc. The purpose of the study is the new scientifically substantiated results of detention by an authorized official without the decision of the investigating judge, of a person suspected of committing a crime, as well as formulating on their basis scientifically based proposals and recommendations for improving criminal procedure law and practices of its application in the aspect of the subject of research. It is concluded that in today’s actuality it is possible to change the practice of detention only by taking comprehensive measures. The first aspect is related to legislative changes. We believe that the law should be clear. Consequently, the CPC of Ukraine must clearly define, first, the procedural status of a detained person, with the provision in a separate rule of his concept, rights and responsibilities; second; the issue of legality of detention before entering information into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations has been resolved; thirdly, the procedure for searching of a detained person has been regulated. The second aspect is related to the development of bylaws on the algorithm of actions of the authorized official, which would clearly define his powers; the order of interaction between different services and units during the detention of a person. The third aspect is related to the continued implementation of pre-trial investigation and pre-trial detention facilities in all units of the Custody Records system, which allows recording of all actions of a detainee from the moment of his/her actual detention until the issue of choosing a measure of restraint against him/her is resolved, in particular – and during the explanation of the rights of the detainee by the officials responsible for the stay of the detainees. The fourth area is to strengthen the measures of respect of the rights of the detained person and, in particular, the need to develop a procedure for hiring an interpreter through the Centers for Free Secondary Legal Aid and an effective round-the-clock mechanism for providing urgent linguistic assistance to detainees who do not speak the language of criminal justice.