Diaries always make for a fascinating read; and Gregory Tardi’s Anatomy of an Election is no exception. Subtitled Canada’s Federal General Election of 2019 Through the Lens of Political Law, the bo...

The outbreak of COVID-19 (also known as the novel coronavirus disease) has led to the initiation of several disputes. While some of these relate to the non-performance of contracts, others concern the damages arising from the injuries caused by coming into contact with the virus. Considering the nature of the pandemic, a plethora of disputes arising from tortious liability for the injuries caused are likely to involve a foreign element—when it results in injuries in some form to persons by the violation of quarantine rules by foreigners or the failure to impose a lockdown to curb the outbreak. For instance, in the United States [US], a group of individuals and business owners have reportedly initiated proceedings against the Chinese government for failing to prevent the disease from spreading. Likewise, tourists from several countries such as the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom have initiated mass litigation against the Austrian Federal State of Tyrol and tourist businesses such as sports resorts, bars and restaurants for continuing the to operate in the State despite being designated as a high-risk zone. International disputes such as these chiefly involve the identification of the law that will govern the claim to decide the rights and liabilities of the parties. Unlike in the case of contractual claims, the determination of the applicable law is more arduous in the case of torts for the reason that the parties rarely, if ever, know each other and do not expect any particular person to injure them by the harmful behaviour. That said, several countries across the globe have made remarkable progress over the years in developing a framework to identify the governing law to adjudicate cross-border disputes on torts. The European Union [EU], the UK, China, Russia, Australia and Canada are some examples. In contrast, India continues to adhere to the century-old mechanism developed under the English common law which has mostly been replaced in the UK itself. In the absence of any black-letter law on the subject, the development of the method to identify the applicable law in matters of tort has depended on the courts. The Indian courts, however, lack experience in handling international disputes on tort. As a result, there is no conclusive and coherent mechanism to identify the governing law in such matters in India. The paper demonstrates how the rules to determine the applicable law in the present form in India will severely debilitate access to justice and increase transactional costs in obtaining legal information. In particular, it highlights the plethora of problems that are likely to arise in adjudicating disputes concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. In this respect, the author provides some suggestions that the lawmakers may consider while reformulating the mechanism to identify the applicable law in matters of tort and, in particular, while adjudicating disputes relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As emoji 1 become more commonplace in courtroom proceedings, a question arises: what role do emoji play in social media messaging? The author draws a comparison between oral communication and social media messages and concludes lawyers have been too quick to treat text and emoji as a bundle when they should be adopting a piecemeal approach. While emoji may add context and clarity to social media messages that might otherwise appear ambiguous; emoji interpretation is far from an exact science. By exploring linguistic, gesture, and non-verbal communication theory, the author intends to discuss the tension that exists when it comes to deciphering the meaning of online communications – that include emoji – in court proceedings. While there is a tendency to conflate emoji with text in linguistic and non-verbal communication theory, a proper evidentiary analysis requires a piecemeal approach. To permeate these dynamics, the author has researched Canadian, U.K, Australian, and New Zealand case law over the period 2015 to 2020 where emoji were referenced in court decisions. The paper focuses on the treatment of emoji by the courts in these cases. Finally, the paper reviews the relevant legal issues and concludes with a consideration of whether the existing laws relating to electronic documents ought to be reformed to accommodate the admissibility of emoji messages in court proceedings.

Section 38 of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 guarantees freedom of religion for churches and other religious organisations. This freedom allows churches to acquire and manage their own property to carry out their religious objectives. However, these religious institutions are to comply with the civil law requirements regarding acquisition, management and disposition of their property. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in legal disputes, which may adversely impact on the churches. This article accordingly analyses some case examples to pinpoint some legal issues arising from the processes of acquisition and management of property by Nigerian churches. This is against the backdrop of the increasing legal disputes involving the acquisition and management of church property in the country. The article observes among others that the churches’ failure to have good procedures to ensure that they conduct due diligence and comply with the civil law standards regarding the acquisition of property can be attributed as contributing to the increasing lawsuits. The article further implicates most lawyers that represent churches in lawsuits as not having adequate knowledge of church law and its workings. Following the above findings, the article proffers some recommendations to aid churches in the effective management of their properties.

Access to programs and data is the key to cybercrimes. It is mainly done through various means, but the Malaysian law is broad enough to cover any means adopted by the criminals. This article discusses relevant provisions from the Malaysian Computer Crimes Act governing this illegal activity, and cites relevant cases on the matter. To ensure that readers understand the real scenario, the author has conducted library research and fieldworks for sufficient deliberation on the matter, since cases in the lower courts were unreported. The need for enhancing the mechanisms is highlighted to be pondered by the relevant enforcement authority.

The Internet, a medium of communication, commerce and governance, is increasingly subjected to government control, like absolute Internet Suspensions. India, the world’s largest democracy, has had the largest number of such Suspensions in recent years. This is due to its internet suspension legal regime not conforming to separation of powers. In 2020, the Supreme Court in Anuradha Bhasin, extended constitutional protection to freedom of online expression. However, it failed to address the concentration of power in the Executive, and the Review mechanism being inconsistent with Principles of Natural Justice. The paper draws a comparison to the United Kingdom and the United States jurisdictions which conform to Separation of Powers, through legislative and judicial oversight respectively. These insights are utilized to devise a policy reform for India. The Suspension Rules should be replaced by a validly enacted legislation, with a review mechanism consistent with Principles of Natural Justice and with ex-ante remedies.

Covid-19 had created not only a health crisis but also a social and economic crisis. The need to control the pandemic forced the Malaysian Government to impose partial lockdown, disrupting the economic sector, resulting in hardship on the vulnerable groups. This pandemic allows the country’s social security framework to provide assistance. To ensure the vulnerable groups are continued to be protected, the government had rolled out various assistance. This article examined the existing social security framework in responding to the pandemic. It also attempted to assess the said response in order to understand the effectiveness of the social security framework.

This article discusses top core elements of offenses of insiders trading and market manipulation in terms of the different legislation in those areas. The article finds out that, despite attempting to test insider deals, insider dealing activity is still struggling due to incentives to increase profits. Therefore, a constructive recommendation that could be used to improve the curbing of market abuse practices in these financial market regions has been made to include, businesses must be required to disclose all information and communication concerning the value of their shares and to put in place tighter disclosure rules.

After the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh, a total 195 Pakistani war criminals were specifically alleged to have committed genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against the civilian Bangladeshi people. However, they are yet to be prosecuted and therefore, whenever the demand of ending this impunity arises, the amnesties granted to them by the Bangladesh government appears as the biggest challenge. In contrast, there have been debates over granting amnesties to the individuals who are charged with committing such crimes. Hence, the authors endeavour to re-evaluate the validity of the concerned amnesties considering the developments of international law.

While India battles COVID-19, hand washing is the survival strategy. The research objective is to critically examine water rights in India. The research asks whether there are rights to water in India, and if so, what kind. The thesis proposition is that India has derivative rights to water that are neither fundamental nor human rights. The research methodology is by narrative analysis. States prefer an economic good theory, rom the Dublin Statement. Fundamental rights to ground water in India are unlikely to be shifted. The India Constitution now provides additional rights. Human rights for water are only derivative and undeclared.