Court Cases Research Articles

Seizing overflows: exploring how accounting becomes emancipatory

Purpose Through an in-depth case study, this paper aims to investigate how workplace struggles can meaningfully change management accounting practices. Design/methodology/approach This is an archival study drawing on 10 years of governmental documents, news media and a court case. The theoretical notions of framing and overflowing are used to investigate how a calculative change was introduced, problematized and reverted. Findings An initiative to increase care quality through the empowerment of care recipients led to a calculative change and to an intensification of work, which union representatives turned into a health and safety complaint. “Seizing” the overflow from the calculative change and “redirecting” it into the health and safety arena allowed the unions to draw support from the national work health and safety agency. In response, the organization rolled back the calculative change. Originality/value This paper introduces the notions of seizing and redirecting overflows. When combined with conduits of overflows, a part of Callon’s (1998) conceptual apparatus that previously has received little attention, these notions constitute a framework that helps identify conditions that make emancipatory uses of accounting and control outputs possible.

Bullying in Schools: Persistent Legal Challenges

In 2019, about 22% of students ages 12–18 reported being bullied, with a higher percentage of female students than male students reporting victimization. Recent empirical reports indicate that students with disabilities are more likely to experience bullying and be punished for bullying. Bullying has been linked to increased risk for experiencing short- and long-term consequences for victims and perpetrators, and it may result in violations of civil rights acts. Unfortunately, despite federal civil rights acts, federal guidance issued through Dear Colleague Letters, and case law, schools still engage in practices that amount to violations of students’ civil rights and make them subject to liability. In this brief, we highlight two recent court cases involving bullying in order to illustrate persistent school failures in addressing these important concerns. Implications for practice are also considered.

New Technologies in Search and Seizure

The Fourth Amendment and court cases interpreting it provide guidelines for how law enforcement should legally approach searching for and taking evidence in criminal investigations. Though it originally applied to physical intrusion by law enforcement, current—and likely future—intrusions are more virtual in nature. Law enforcement officers no longer need to walk onto someone's property to search for criminal activity because various technologies now provide similar or more in-depth information. Technological innovations have stretched the bounds of the Fourth Amendment. Although public opinion cannot answer the policy implications, it can speak to what the public reasonably expects of the police. In general, limited research demonstrates that the public has concerns about the way law enforcement officers can use technology in their investigations, but those concerns are not strong enough to decrease individuals’ technology use.

Who counts as a stateless person? Nation-statist logics and the liabilities of potential citizenship elsewhere

ABSTRACT This article examines how the definition of statelessness is contested below the formal letter of the law in Malaysia. Analysing court cases, interviews with lawyers, and public discourse, I encounter a paradox: that stateless people in Malaysia are produced through juridical, bureaucratic, and discursive repudiations of their claims to statelessness. Adhering to “nation-statist logics,” Malaysian state actors commonly reject citizenship claimants’ assertions of being stateless by classifying them instead as foreigners, thus shunting responsibility for their inclusion elsewhere beyond Malaysian borders. These practices disproportionately burden minorities with racialized, migrant backgrounds with presumptions of having “potential citizenship” elsewhere, even if such links are tenuous or merely theoretical. By centering how stateless people articulate their belonging in the face of abject exclusion, and how categories of stateless and citizen are flexibly mobilized in legal, political, and social spheres, this article offers new avenues for critiquing the normativity of the contemporary nation-state system.

Breaking the chains of discrimination: an assessment of India’s legal framework and rehabilitation initiatives for manual scavengers

ABSTRACT Tragically, between March and April of 2023, during a period lasting just one month, eight individuals perished while undertaking one of society’s most hazardous jobs: cleaning sewers. These fatalities have resurrected anxieties regarding the persisting deaths among manual scavengers despite explicit legal prohibitions against such practices nationwide. Despite legal efforts against it, news reports reveal that this harmful practice continues across India. The dangers are real for those who work in septic tanks or sewage systems, with incidents frequently cited where death results from accidental asphyxiation. Through a comprehensive analysis of social and legal factors at play for manual scavengers, this research looks into how far the laws and government schemes have successfully improved the condition of manual scavengers. It explores recent court cases alongside legal developments to determine efficacy while highlighting challenges faced in the implementation stages of relevant laws. By considering cultural perspectives and these factors, it becomes clear that pervasive stigmatization has severe psychological consequences for those working as manual scavengers within India’s caste system today. This research highlights how this scenario affects those who scavenge as they deal with being socially excluded while enduring economic exploitation and denying their fundamental human rights and dignity. Furthermore, it examines current rehabilitation plans by analyzing their efficacy and what hinders implementation through social empowerment initiatives for these individuals who manually scavenge human waste.

Thinking with Children: Climate Change and the Democratic Politics of Renewal and Risk

AbstractClimate change poses serious political challenges to liberal democracies arising from the problem of short-termism and the priority accorded to the vested interests of present adults over the vulnerabilities of children and future generations. This article aims to analyse the justifications, benefits, and policy implications of centring children in climate change politics in order to overcome these problems. The central argument is that ‘thinking with children’ introduces normative vantage points for tackling climate change based on taking responsibility for future harms. Such a vantage point also produces new sites of contestation shaped by adult representations of the renewal and risk embodied in children. First, we outline what “thinking with children” means for democratic politics, focussing on how child-as method approaches centre the injustices faced by children and youth and the implications for the renewal of democracy. We then analyse how this normative shift to centre children addresses the problems of vested interests and short-termism by de-naturalising present adult interests, foregrounding impacts on young people as the future demos, and giving long-term priority to the affectedness of future generations. Finally, we analyse the policy implications that thinking with children offers, using a recent landmark court case in Australia to propose independent legal standing for children in public interest cases and the introduction of Child Impact Assessments in climate policymaking.

Lessons for expert psychiatric witnesses from recent judgments and updated procedural rules

SUMMARY The past 5 years have seen numerous court judgments and changes to rules and procedures that relate to the work of expert psychiatric witnesses in the British Isles. This article outlines these changes, pointing out their implications for the expert witness, and highlights pertinent judgments in over 100 court and tribunal cases.

Retaliation in workplace sexual assault: The effect of #MeToo on federal court cases in the United States

The number of federal claims filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in the United States by alleged victims of workplace sexual assault increased following the #MeToo movement along with allegations of retaliation by employers against these victims for making formal claims of sexual discrimination. This study distinctively presents an examination, not of the number of EEOC claims, but instead those claims which became federal court cases over the last three years in which a claims of workplace retaliation were alleged because of sexual assault in the workplace. The study provides an empirical examination of numerous characteristics, related factors, and outcomes of such retaliation cases involving sexual assault in the contemporary #MeToo era. The implications of these diverse results are advanced along with recommendations for employers and employees alike.

Does Use of Generic Depictions or Scenarios Matter in Perceptions of Crime Seriousness? An Empirical Test

This study examined the influence of crime type and crime representation in survey design on perceptions of crime severity using one-line crime descriptions and crime vignettes. A unique feature of the study was the use of hate crime as an offence category. A sample of 917 university students completed an online questionnaire measuring perceptions of crime severity for one-line crime descriptions as well as crime scenarios based on actual court cases. Consistent with past research, the results showed that both perceptions of wrongfulness and harmfulness are strong predictors of perceived crime seriousness. Violent crimes ranked highest on measures of wrongfulness, harmfulness, and seriousness, while property crimes like break and enter tended to be ranked lowest in perceived severity. Hate crime was viewed as quite serious by respondents and was rated equivalent to high-scale fraud embezzlement in terms of severity. Comparisons between responses to one-line crime descriptions and crime scenarios revealed that scenarios elicited significantly stronger severity ratings, although hierarchical rankings for crime type remained similar. The representation of crime in academic research may affect participant responses. It is recommended that researchers consider the impact the choice of crime representation in survey tools has on measures of perceived crime severity.

Challenges in reintroducing fair market value to US public water/wastewater systems

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the debates around the shift in public water/wastewater systems valuation from a book value-based system towards a market-driven exchange approach, ‘fair market value’ (FMV). FMV legislation has been introduced in the past decade in 12 additional states. What is driving this shift in state policy and what does it mean for our understanding of value? Based on a review of the FMV acquisition process we explore the debates around this shift in water/wastewater system valuation drawing on historical court cases, two recent acquisitions and a review of public utility commission documents, legislative transcripts, court cases and statutes.

What does voluntariness do to participation? Mitmachen in New Deal America and National Socialist Germany, 1933−1945

ABSTRACT This article interrogates the significance of voluntary participation to both liberal and illiberal societies. Based on conceptual discussions of the terms voluntariness and mitmachen, the article merges two exemplary studies of court cases in New Deal America and Nazi Germany. Both cases bring out how liberal and illiberal societies depend on, rely on, motivate, inculcate, demand, and try to enforce their citizens’ voluntary participation, which is best captured by the German term mitmachen. In both New Deal America and National Socialist Germany, it was evidently the voluntariness of participation that constituted what was perceived as a good citizen-subject. Yet both cases show citizens’ reluctance and even refusal to comply with the state’s demand for voluntary participation. They also exhibit differences in this regard. Whereas the defendants in the American court case succeeded in denying the state the right to enforce their participation against their will, for the German defendant, accused of undermining the war effort, his voluntary engagement for the National Socialist state in other respects had only mitigating effects.

“Interesting Cases”: On the Problem of Embezzlement in the Russian Army of the 18th – Early 19th Century

The article is written mainly on the materials of military court cases from the Russian State Military Historical Archive, as well as regulatory and legislative sources. The author examines property crimes within the Russian army from a socio-cultural perspective. The author concludes that the tools and practices that served as constraints in plundering money and resources have evolved over several decades. The practice of intimidation and capital punishment, which originated under Peter I, very quickly proved to be uneffective. As a result, by the middle of the 18th century, a system was formed so that, aside from the usual financial liability of the perpetrators, criminal and disciplinary penalties, it was effectively complemented by the principle of the command vertical liability in the matter of compensation for damage, which gave it a special corporate character. A specific attitude towards damage also facilitated this. The claim arose from a specific military unit, not from the treasury. This damage could not be forgiven even by the emperor. Measures such as sequestration of the culprit’s real estate and extending material claims to their heirs further reinforced the corporate identity of the regiment’s property.

Deepfake Detection: A Comprehensive Survey from the Reliability Perspective

The mushroomed Deepfake synthetic materials circulated on the internet have raised a profound social impact on politicians, celebrities, and individuals worldwide. In this survey, we provide a thorough review of the existing Deepfake detection studies from the reliability perspective. We identify three reliability-oriented research challenges in the current Deepfake detection domain: transferability, interpretability, and robustness. Moreover, while solutions have been frequently addressed regarding the three challenges, the general reliability of a detection model has been barely considered, leading to the lack of reliable evidence in real-life usages and even for prosecutions on Deepfake-related cases in court. We, therefore, introduce a model reliability study metric using statistical random sampling knowledge and the publicly available benchmark datasets to review the reliability of the existing detection models on arbitrary Deepfake candidate suspects. Case studies are further executed to justify the real-life Deepfake cases including different groups of victims with the help of the reliably qualified detection models as reviewed in this survey. Reviews and experiments on the existing approaches provide informative discussions and future research directions for Deepfake detection.

Corruption in unlikely places

Corruption, defined as the “misuse of public position for private gain”, represents an act of deviance from official duties in the interest of self-enrichment. Denmark is ranked as one of the least corrupt countries in the world. Danish court records, however, show that corruption cases have appeared in the 21st century. Using Luhmann’s systems theory and Foucault’s method of genealogy, this article asks how this has happened. I argue that understanding corruption in Denmark may go back to changes in public administration ideas and practices since the 1990. New Public Management reform has increased the complexity in public administration where meaning horizons of communication related to different functional systems – especially the sub-systems of law and economy – clashes. I theorise and illustrate using court cases how the coexistence of different codes creates an environment for public employees that in some circumstances – however still rare – result in corruption.

ISLAMIC FAMILY LAW ON POLYGAMOUS MARRIAGE IN MALAYSIA: BETWEEN ROSES AND THORNS

Marriage is a way of gaining a peaceful mind and soul, be it monogamous or polygamous marriage. This is the sweetness of marriage as enshrined by Islam. To achieve this wisdom, conditions laid down by the religion and legal requirements must be observed. Otherwise, a marriage may turn into a miserable and thorny life for couples, especially in polygamy. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to disseminate legal knowledge and refine the understanding about polygamous law in Malaysia. The central arguments of this study are two-pronged: (1) to deliberate on the Malaysian legal framework for polygamous marriage and (2) to discuss a crucial legal issue related to polygamy, namely cross-border marriage and its effects. The qualitative method of doctrinal legal research was employed to obtain and analyse primary and secondary data from various sources. It included examining the statutes and decided cases of the Syariah Courts, including reported and unreported cases. The relevant statutes studied were the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) Act 1984 and the Enactment of Islamic Family Law (Kedah Darul Aman) 2008. In substantiating arguments, data from e-Syariah Version 3 (ESV3) was used together with existing literature. The findings revealed that refusal or failure to comply with legal requirements pertaining to polygamous marriage may lead to cross-border marriage and its aftermath effects on the legality of the marriage, jurisdiction of the court, and the rights of wives and children in the context of law. Hence, the enforcement of existing laws on polygamy should be emphasised to control any abuse of power by a man to contract a polygamous marriage. More importantly, the laws and enforcement should be strengthened to protect the rights of the wives and children. Future research may focus on issues involving the rights of the wives and children of a polygamous marriage upon the death of the husband or father according to Islamic family law in Malaysia and its implementation.

Populism-in-state-practice under neoliberalism: Museveni’s ad-hoc squads to ‘halt all evictions’ from land in Uganda

ABSTRACT Populism in Africa has been studied as political rhetoric, strategy and performance, with focus on ethnicity, nationalism, mobilisation and elections. Less attention has been given to populism-in-practice, specifically populism-in-state-practice (PISP): how a populist rhetoric by an actor in power gets translated into an administrative/executive intervention, and how this fares on the ground. This paper uses the case of populist interventions of President Museveni in neoliberal Uganda to address rampant land conflicts in the 2010s – specifically his ad-hoc initiatives aimed at ‘helping the poor’ by ‘stopping’ evictions – to explore characteristics of PISP. We thus contribute to the literature through an analysis of the implementation of a populist measure under neoliberalism. Using land laws, decided court cases, government statements, and media reports, our analysis shows that although somewhat helpful in the interim, the initiatives unleashed new turmoil, extended land (tenure) insecurity, advanced a Presidentialisation of justice delivery, deepened institutional impasse and suspended institutional efforts that could advance pro-poor change. PISP did not address the root causes of the problems that it set out to tackle, and failed to alter the legal insecurities, and perilous power position of the declared beneficiaries. Yet, it enhanced political legitimacy of the President and state.

Onion Services in the Wild: A Study of Deanonymization Attacks

Tor, the leading anonymization network, routes traffic over multiple relays to ensure client anonymity. Its Onion Services allow users to host services within the Tor network without revealing their location. While these techniques are crucial for users in authoritarian regimes and whistleblowers, they are also exploited by criminals. This paper diverges from the common focus on the technical vulnerabilities of the Tor protocol and instead explores the practical aspects of deanonymizing Onion Service users and operators. Despite Tor's robust security mechanisms, human errors in its usage and operation frequently lead to deanonymization. This study models law enforcement agencies as powerful attackers and evaluates documents from 136 court cases to determine investigative methods. We find that investigators employ different methods depending on the offense, with user mistakes being the dominant angle. Technical attacks, though comparatively rare, are highly effective and can potentially impact a large number of users simultaneously. Attacks on the well-researched Tor protocol are exceptionally rare, but their impact is even more significant. We argue that the human aspect of using Tor is the most critical deanonymization angle and that tailored guidelines for ethical users can help protect them from oppressive retaliation while still enabling the prosecution of criminal activity.

Study on the Tort of Misrepresentation in the Inter-bank Bond Market--Taking Case No. 1 of the Beijing Financial Court as an Example

Chinese interbank bond market dates back to June 1997, when the People's Bank of China decided to open an interbank bond trading business at the National Interbank Lending Center, which was formally established. In the following years, this market developed relatively fast, and in June 2002, the bond counter market of commercial banks began to operate, which to a certain extent made the interbank bond market, which institutional investors dominate, expand through the counter trading for all kinds of investors in the whole society.In recent years, applying direct financing tools such as corporate bond issuance has become increasingly widespread. This paper takes Beijing Financial Court Case No. 1 as an example to study in detail the important reasons for the emergence of this type of infringement, focusing on the obligations and responsibilities of each participant, including the issuer Dalian Machine Tool Group, the intermediary bank Industrial Bank, and the investor Bluestone Capital Management. This paper aims to sort out the obligations and responsibilities of each participant in the inter-bank bond market to find out the reasons for the emergence of the phenomenon of misrepresentation and to explore the issues that appear to be suitable for this paper to find out the causes of misrepresentation, explore the operation rules and risk prevention measures of the interbank bond market that are suitable for China's national conditions, to solve the problems of misrepresentation, standardize the obligations and responsibilities of all parties, and promote the development of China's interbank bond market.

Məhkəmənin hökm və ya qərarlarına yeni açılmış hallar üzrə baxılması üçün əsaslar

This research article conducted the grounds of proceedings on newly found circumstances, which are a type of particular proceedings in the criminal process of the Republic of Azerbaijan. According to newly found circumstances, the review of judgments and decisions of the court, which led to the issuance of a legally binding judgment or decision, and which were present during the investigation and trial of the case, but happens due to discovery of new unknown cases by the person who conducted the investigation or the court on the merits of the case. Chapter 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan is devoted to the proceedings of newly opened cases. The first article - 461 of that chapter is dedicated to the grounds for considering court judgments or decisions in newly found circumstances. However, the specified article did not establish a legal understanding of the newly found circumstances. In this regard, we would suggest that Article 461 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan to be amended regarding proceedings on newly opened cases and that institution to be given the following legal meaning: "Proceedings on newly found circumstances, the legally binding judgment of the court or other cases that make it possible to change any final decision are those cases that were not determined before - neither during the preliminary investigation nor at other stages of the criminal proceedings". Keywords: newly newly found circumstances, judgement, Supreme Court, the right to appeal, new verdicts, cassation instance.

입법과 사법의 경계: 법률해석의 한계

What is the relationship between legislation and adjudication? Traditionally, it is believed that judges should simply apply the law to specific facts and render judgments accordingly. Montesquieu encapsulated this view by describing judges as "the mouthpieces of the law." In contrast, the Free Law Movement posits that judges are not strictly bound by the text of the law and have the freedom to discover or even create law as needed. Between these two extremes, there exists a range of perspectives on the relationship between legislative and judicial powers. This relationship is crucial because it defines the limits of legal interpretation, making it a central issue in judicial decision-making. This paper begins by exploring the objectives and methods of legal interpretation. It then examines how the Supreme Court of Korea, particularly through its en banc decisions, navigates the relationship between legislation and judicial precedent, or between legislative theory and interpretive theory. The Supreme Court cases discussed in this paper — covering topics such as the gender correction for transgender individuals, parental status of children born through artificial insemination, nominee trusts and unconscionable legal transactions, special limited approval for minor heirs, and judicial reduction of penalty clauses — all address challenging issues that sit at the intersection of legislation and adjudication. The judiciary is vested with the authority to interpret the law, determine its meaning, define its scope, and apply it to specific cases. However, this authority is not without limits. Judges must interpret laws in a manner that respects the legislative power to create laws and must avoid distorting, altering, or replacing the legislator' s decision that can be ascertained from relevant statutory text. This approach is consistent with the constitutional principles of separation of powers and the rule of law, which delineate the distinct roles of the legislative and judicial branches. A legislator's legislative decision cannot be overturned by a judge's judicial decision. Judges must also fulfill their constitutional duty to adjudicate independently according to their conscience (Article 103 of the Constitution of Republic of Korea). It is the judge's role to ascertain the just meaning of the law, grounded in the Constitution and statutes, and to apply it to individual cases. When interpreting and applying laws, judges must confront the critical question of whether to prioritize the intent of the legislature, adhere strictly to the text of the law, or pursue the broader objectives of the law. This question forms both the starting and ending points of legal interpretation and influences views on the boundary between legislative and judicial functions. Whether there has been a legislative decision is a question of the boundaries of statutory interpretation. Legislative solutions, within the constitutional framework, offer the advantage of providing comprehensive resolutions and selecting the best option among various alternatives. However, it is not always possible or appropriate to defer to legislative solutions. The judiciary must, therefore, seek the optimal resolution within the boundaries established by the Constitution and statutes, guided by judicial conscience.