The distinction between universal human rights and jurisdiction specific legal rights has existed from the earliest days of formal justice. The story ‘The Nights Mary Poppins Died’ provides a useful context for elucidating this distinction. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the founding document of modern human rights doctrine. Framed in the aftermath of…
Category: Law
Overturn of “Gag Rule”
President Barack Obama recently struck down the Bush Administration’s ban on giving federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide abortion information-the so-called “gag rule”. President Obama’s ruling has elicited both joy and consternation within US. Do those very different reactions indicate something about where people stand on issues of moral relativism? If…
Should company law serve the interests of only those who contribute capital to companies or should it also consider public interest?
How well a business corporation performs in financial terms is significant for a broad group of people that includes potential/existing investors, creditors, employees or managers. With differing information needs and purposes, each category of stakeholders should be provided with data that is comprehensive, relevant and reliable, so as to allow an informed opinion to be…
Pros and Cons of Community Service and other Alternative Sentencing Programs
The American criminal justice system has adopted punitive measures of varying degrees, the harshest of them being capital punishment. Over the recent decades, the judiciary has decidedly moved toward incorporating more restorative measures in its sentencing. This is not applicable across the length and breadth of the country, as the conservative South is still differentiated…
Is the Supreme Court an effective agent for social change?
A careful assessment of the history of American judiciary reveals that the Supreme Court has played a significant role in helping move the nation toward progress. It also has to be admitted that the Supreme Court has at times been a barrier to progress, mainly because of its preoccupation with the technical aspects of constitutional…
The relations between cultural claims, power and universal human rights
The scholarship of Brown, Bromley and Athreye present a detailed and analytical account of the relations between cultural claims, power and universal human rights. From a historical perspective, ever since the conception of geo-political organization through formation of nation-states, the notions of national identity have been at the forefront of politics. The roles of cultural…
Forensic Science in the 21st Century
In the last decade or so, the applications of forensic science in criminal investigation have increased. For all sorts of criminal allegations, including rape and murder, the services of forensic scientists are being employed. The infiltration of forensic science into the field of criminal justice is so deep that courses in police academies have included…
Furman v Georgia, 1972
The debate surrounding the imposition of death penalty for grave offences had been a divisive issue in the American political realm. The 1972 verdict on the case Furman v Georgia is a landmark event in the history of the nation’s judiciary. The 5-4 verdict of the judges against its imposition had set a valuable precedent…
Sources of English Law
The English law of the present day is the culmination of a long tradition of revision, appraisal and amendment. Historically, what comes to be passes as law is derived and influenced by a range of sources. The following essay will capture a brief outline of these sources in their order of importance. European Community Law:…
The role and work of the International Law Commission
Origins of International Law movements: The concept of developing international law by bringing forth already accepted rules or through the design of new rules has a long history in international affairs. Prominent intellectual of the last century Jeremy Bentham proposed a system that would allow “codification of the whole of international law, though in a…