ABSTRACT In May 2022, the High Court of Australia ruled that the correspondence between Governor-General Sir John Kerr and Queen Elizabeth II constituted Commonwealth records and not ‘personal’ records as the National Archives of Australia (NAA) claimed. The NAA held similar correspondence between the Queen and six other Governors-General but did not release it for almost two years, much of it redacted. A freedom-of-information (FOI) request revealed the extensive consultation the NAA undertook to decide what would be redacted and when those records would be released. The Palace featured in this consultation fifteen times, and was closely involved in the final decisions on access. The largest number of redactions occurred in the letters from the Queen to Sir William Deane, during his tenure 1996–2001 which included the 1999 republic referendum. We requested an internal review by the NAA under the Archives Act of the original redactions. This paper examines what was revealed in the eighteen folios for which the original redactions were reversed following review. Much of the previously redacted material related to comments by the Queen about timing of Royal visits, and Australia’s deliberations in 1998–1999 about the republic. We argue that this now open material would not have ‘unreasonably affected’ the Monarch’s reputation had it been revealed, and should not have been concealed under the Archives Act.

Judicial symbolism or substance in combating corruption and economic crimes? Evidence from Tanzania’s High Court Corruption and Economic Crimes Division

ABSTRACT This article interrogates the continued place of committal proceedings and the use of assessors within Uganda's criminal justice system, situating both within their historical and doctrinal foundations. It argues that these features, inherited from colonial legal frameworks, have persisted without sufficient normative justification in a contemporary, post-1995 constitutional order which is premised on respect for fundamental human rights and judicial accountability. Through a doctrinal analysis, the article evaluates whether committal proceedings meaningfully contribute to trial fairness or instead generate delay and duplication. It further examines the mandatory requirement for assessors in trials in the High Court, questioning their practical relevance and compatibility with modern adjudicative standards. The article contends that both mechanisms reflect an incomplete process of procedural decolonisation and calls for a principled reassessment grounded in constitutional values and comparative practice.

Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder typified by low body weight, restrictive eating behaviours, and body image distortion. It is associated with significant risk of medical complications, with one of the highest mortality rates of any mental illness. While the majority of patients receive treatment on a voluntary basis, a small proportion of severely ill patients refuse treatment and are treated involuntarily. The legal mechanisms used for involuntary treatment vary between jurisdictions, including mental health law, capacity-based law, guardianship, and use of inherent jurisdiction, the power of a superior court to rule on matters not included in statute. In Ireland, involuntary treatment of anorexia nervosa occurs within a legislative lacuna, not regulated by either the Mental Health Act 2001, or the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act, 2015. Instead, treatment occurs under the Inherent Jurisdiction of the High Court, resulting in reliance on judicial discretion for decision-making. In this article, we explore the gaps in Ireland's current legal framework as applicable to care and treatment of anorexia nervosa, with reference to case law in England and Wales as a comparison. This includes an examination of the potential impact of the proposed changes to legislation as set out in the Mental Health Bill, 2024. We argue that these gaps mean that legislation governing the involuntary treatment of anorexia nervosa is urgently needed to safeguard the rights of this potentially vulnerable patient cohort, and ensure justice, transparency and consistency in legal approach.

ABSTRACT This contribution examines the legal treatment of religion-related disputes in Japan and Indonesia, highlighting how courts navigate legal gaps in secular governance. Drawing on Saba Mahmood’s insight that political secularism regulates religion and promises religious freedom, it explores how courts exercise judicial imagination where the law is silent or open-textured. In Japan, the 1989 Supreme Court ruling on a temple leadership dispute exemplifies judicial restraint, while other cases, such as Honmonji and subsequent High Court decisions, demonstrate how jōri is applied flexibly to extend oversight without undermining neutrality. In Indonesia, blasphemy and minority rights cases, including the Ahok and Meliana decisions, illustrate how rechtsvinding gives judges interpretive latitude to address legal gaps, while interventions remain largely case-specific rather than producing systematic doctrinal guidance. This contribution conducts a double comparison: first, between Japan’s jōri and Indonesia’s rechtsvinding as doctrinal tools for addressing legal gaps; and second, between how these tools shape secular courts’ engagement with religious matters. The comparison shows that judicial reasoning in both countries is contingent and informed by doctrinal, historical, and sociopolitical factors. The absence of explicit law does not suspend political secularism; rather, courts in Japan and Indonesia continue to exercise legal imagination in governing religious life.

ABSTRACT Previous comparative Rights of Nature (RoN) research has predominantly focused on secular dimensions, examining the diversity of legal designs and frameworks across cases sharing the meta-norm of Earth Jurisprudence. While some studies acknowledge religion as a factor shaping diverse RoN forms, they tend to treat religious contexts as stable, essentialised ‘legal cultures’ that pre-exist the law-making process. This contribution proposes an alternative approach to comparison based on ethnographic fieldwork in India and Japan. Instead of analysing existing laws or judgments, I compare how the legal concept of RoN becomes entangled with religious matters in the process of a court of law reaching its decision. To achieve this, I focus on two cases: the 2017 public interest litigation in the Uttarakhand High Court, which granted the Ganges River ‘the same legal rights as humans’, and the Amami Oshima court case (1995–2000) against the construction of a golf course, in which the plaintiffs were the Amami rabbit and three other animal species. By comparing how lawyers compared the ‘Rights of Nature’ concept with people’s religious interests, feelings, and natural entities, I elucidate the dynamic entanglement and co-making of legal and religious elements and the under-researched multiplicity of emergent RoN cases.

Illegible handwritten patient records pose a significant threat to clinical accountability and legal integrity in South Africa's healthcare system. Despite clear guidelines from the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), poor documentation remains widespread, particularly in public sector facilities. A black-letter doctrinal analysis was conducted of South African law (Medicines and Related Substances Act General Regulations, HPCSA Booklet 9, and the National Health Act) and the evidentiary treatment of clinical records in case law. A focused comparative reference to a 2025 Punjab & Haryana High Court judgement was used to contextualise the normative stakes of legibility in another common-law system. South African primary law already requires legible prescriptions and legible, understandable clinical records; courts treat hospital notes as hearsay unless properly admitted, with clarity impacting the weight accorded to such documentation. The Indian judgement constitutionally frames legibility as part of the right to health and mandates interim capital-letter prescriptions pending digitisation. Clear documentation is essential for justice, safety and the dignity of patients. The article calls for curriculum reform, digitisation, policy enforcement and legal recognition of legibility as a component of the right to access healthcare. This article may assist legal and medical professionals in recognising legibility as a constitutional obligation, thereby strengthening medico-legal accountability and promoting patient-centred care.

ABSTRACT This article argues that Indian law on platform governance has split into two competing doctrinal models. The Bombay High Court’s decision in Kunal Kamra v Union of India (2024) advances a rights-first approach grounded in judicial oversight and constitutional safeguards, while the Karnataka High Court’s ruling in X Corp v Union of India (2025) endorses an executive-first model centred on opaque, State-controlled digital portals. The article situates this conflict within the evolving framework of the Information Technology Act 2000, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (DPDP Act), examining how these instruments reallocate regulatory power among the State, platforms and users. Drawing on the framework of Digital Constitutionalism, it contends that the post-2021 regime notably traceability mandate under the IT Rules 2021 and broad State exemptions under the DPDP Act 2023, weakens constraints on executive power, undermines institutional independence and structurally incentivises collateral censorship. A limited comparison with the EU’s Digital Services Act and Brazil’s Marco Civil da Internet 2014 demonstrates that such outcomes are design choices, not technological inevitabilities. The article concludes with doctrinal reforms aimed at restoring court-centred review, narrowing data-protection exemptions, protecting encryption and establishing an independent, multi-stakeholder digital regulator.

Abstract This article explores the impact of the Japanese Intellectual Property High Court (IPHC) 2025 Thaler decision, critically reflecting on how the court approached the issue of DABUS and artificial intelligence (AI) inventors, building to a more international and comparative reflection on the legal points raised. The Japanese judgment demonstrates that, in many ways, the Thaler cases have globally reached their endpoint. Throughout the judgment, the court interprets AI as an inventor through the prism of rights. However, even the most inventive, creative or autonomous AI system cannot be recognized within the patent system as an inventor because it cannot hold rights, thereby suppressing the more abstract consideration of what it means for an AI to be truly ‘creative’ in a patent context. The decision emphasizes the interconnected nature of patent law. Allowing an expansive interpretation of the naming requirement in patent law would have consequences in the legal system more generally. Ultimately, the judgment necessarily defers the question of modifying these interconnections to a more appropriate legislative context, highlighting the international task of AI reform in patent law.

This article analyses the Bombay High Court (Goa Bench) ruling in Colorcon Asia Pvt. Ltd. v. Joint Commissioner of Income Tax (December 2025), on whether dividend distribution tax (DDT) qualified for relief under the India-United Kingdom double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA). Under India’s pre-2020 dividend taxation regime, dividends were exempt for shareholders, while companies declaring dividend paid DDT under Indian tax law. The Court held that DDT is an additional income-tax on dividend income within article 2 of the the India-United Kingdom DTAA and thus subject to article 11’s 10% limitation, notwithstanding its collection from the company. Rejecting the Special Bench ruling in Total Oil and distinguishing the Supreme Court’s ruling in Godrej & Boyce, the judgment confirms treaty supremacy, clarifies DDT’s nature and opens the door for refund claims where excess tax was collected. Though likely to reach the Supreme Court, the ruling significantly reshapes India’s treaty-based dividend taxation framework.

The 2014 reform to Article 50 of Argentina’s Consumer Protection Law removed the explicit three-year term for judicial actions, reigniting debate over the one-year statute in the Insurance Law versus the five-year term in the Civil and Commercial Code. Recent rulings by Córdoba’s High Court of Justice adopt a pro-consumer approach, applying the Civil Code’s five-year term to insurance disputes within consumer relationships. This note analyzes the competing hermeneutic theses and extracts practical implications for litigation strategy.

Abstract We extend cue theory to examine why and how dissent on the court below acts as a cue to apex courts in selecting the cases they hear. We posit that dissent on the court below is a cue to the apex court that the case involves complex legal issues. To test our predictions about how dissent on the court below affects the selection of cases and factors mediating and moderating this relationship, we use original data on 8,405 special leave applications to the High Court of Australia (2003–2018), finding evidence in support of cue theory.

Comparative research on law and legal institutions depends on high-quality data infrastructure. This article introduces the Australian High Court Database—a new resource that encodes structured information on all full judgments of the High Court of Australia between 1995 and 2020, and all leave applications (Australia’s equivalent to petitions for certiorari) from 2003 to 2018. The database is built in accordance with core principles that support comparative research: it is adaptable, and comparable. By attending to jurisdictional specificity while adhering to general standards, the database supports both within-country analysis and cross-national comparison. We illustrate how the Australian High Court Database can be used to study comparative judicial behavior by analyzing judicial dissent rates across apex courts, judicial ideology, and agenda setting.

ABSTRACT The need for a specialized High Investment Court in Ukraine arises from the challenges of effectively adjudicating investment disputes, ensuring legal certainty and promoting economic growth. This research aims to analyze the feasibility and necessity of establishing such a court, taking into account international practices and the Ukrainian legal landscape. The methodology includes a comparative legal analysis of investment dispute settlement mechanisms in different jurisdictions, as well as an examination of current legal framework and arbitration procedures in Ukraine. The findings reveal significant gaps in the protection of investors’ rights, delays in the resolution of cases, and inconsistencies in judicial decisions that deter foreign investment. The study concludes that a High Investment Court would improve Ukraine’s investment climate by providing a specialized, transparent and efficient dispute resolution mechanism. Its establishment would align Ukraine with global best practices, increase investor confidence, and contribute to economic stability.

The paper discusses the interrelation between displacement, resettlement, and infrastructure affected by the ethnic conflict in Manipur. The conflict between the Meitei community and the Kuki tribes began in May 2023, triggered by the Manipur High Court’s recommendation on the Meitei demand for “Scheduled Tribe” status, which led to large-scale internal displacement and the collapse of essential infrastructure. The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of inadequate infrastructure on the internally displaced persons (IDPs) residing within the relief camps. A qualitative research design is utilised, which is based on secondary data sources, such as reports by international organizations, government documents, media reports, and academic literature. The results indicate a lack of proper infrastructure in relief camps, which contributes to overcrowding, inadequate sanitation, inaccessible healthcare, and disrupted education, proving that a planned rehabilitation plan, humanitarian support, and universal peace-building measures are highly needed to facilitate sustainable recovery and resilience among the diverse communities in Manipur.

In a limited liability company, the General Meeting of Shareholders serves as the highest corporate organ authorized to determine strategic matters, including the transfer of shares. This study examines the legality of share transfer conducted without fulfilling the quorum requirements, as reflected in Surabaya District Court Decision No. 7/Pid.B/2020/PN.Sby in conjunction with Surabaya High Court Decision No. 1476/Pid/2020/PT.Sby. This research employed a normative juridical method with qualitative analysis based on statutory and case approaches. The findings indicate that such transfer is legally defective unless justified through the Circular Resolution of Shareholders mechanism. Notaries play a crucial role in ensuring legal certainty and the validity of the transaction.

This case note analyses and comments on the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) judgment of 15 November 2024 in Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service v Diageo SA (Pty) Ltd [2024] JOL 67602 (SCA) (SCA judgment). The dispute concerns the tariff classification of a locally manufactured liqueur, Cape Velvet Cream Original (CVCO), for purposes of determining the applicable excise duty rate. To promote the labour-intensive wine industry, a lower rate of excise duty was introduced for liqueurs containing only “wine spirits to which other non-alcoholic ingredients have been added.” CVCO is made from wine spirits to which other ingredients, including a flavouring, are added. The flavouring consists of, inter alia, vanilla extract (which has an alcohol content of 0.6%). After the ingredients making the flavouring have been combined in their respective quantities, the flavouring has an alcohol content of 0.002%. The parties disagreed on whether the ingredients added to the wine spirits were non-alcoholic, with Diageo (the taxpayer) contending that they were and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) contending that they were not. The dispute turns on the interpretation of the aforementioned phrase in the legislation. Preceding the appeal to the SCA, the full bench of the high court, taking the relevant provision’s purpose and context into account, held that as the alcohol content contributed by the vanilla was so minute, it could be ignored by virtue of the application of the de minimis non curat lex principle. This decision was, however, overturned on appeal, with the SCA holding that the phrase’s wording is “plain and unambiguous” and that “non-alcoholic” should thus be given its ordinary, grammatical meaning of “containing no alcohol”. The SCA thus concludes that both the vanilla and the flavouring are “alcoholic”. Accordingly, it upheld SARS’s classification and as such, CVCO does not qualify for the lower excise duty rate. The SCA was unwilling to apply the de minimis principle, which we argue is wrong. Furthermore, we highlight some errors and inconsistencies in the SCA judgment and assert that the SCA did not correctly apply the prevailing approach to statutory interpretation laid out by the Constitutional Court. Finally, we offer a word of caution as to the potential broader implications of the interpretative approach as applied by the SCA in this case and appeal to the Constitutional Court to bring sobriety back to the courts’ application of the unitary approach to statutory interpretation.

Purpose In 2022, after the full-scale invasion, the unique measure was introduced by the amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Sanctions,” namely, collection of the assets into state income. The measure aims to force private persons who in one way or another contribute to the aggressive war against Ukraine to modify their behavior. It effectively allows to seize and turn into state property the assets belonging to private persons (both individuals and legal entities). The purpose of this paper is to analyze this measure and practice of its application through the lens of European standards of human rights. Design/methodology/approach This study provides an overview of the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Sanctions” and the Code of Administrative Procedure pertaining to the sanction measure in the form of collection of the assets into state income. Then, the authors analyze the case law of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) that applies the relevant provisions of law. In particular, the analysis focuses on whether the sanction is compatible with the right to peaceful enjoyment of one’s possessions (protection of property). The jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) serves as a reference point. Next, compliance with the standards of fair trial are examined. Particular attention is paid to the fact that most of these cases are tried in the absence of the defendants. Finally, the thorniest substantive issue will be in focus, namely, how to establish whether the defendant exerts effective control over the asset without having official title over it. In this context, the problem of good faith third party protection will be touched. Findings The analyzed measure resembles non-conviction-based forfeiture as it is directed against private persons (individuals and corporations), is implemented in a judicial procedure and does not involve criminal conviction. The HACC’s jurisprudence demonstrates Ukraine’s commitment to the rule of law. While considering these cases, the HACC conducts thorough balancing of competing interests using the proportionality test developed by the ECtHR. This is true with regard to both the right to peaceful enjoyment of property and the right to fair trial. In the absence of postal communication between Ukraine and Russia, the HACC takes all possible measures to inform the defendant of the hearings. However, the damage that the Russian war has brought about and continues to bring about is so grave that the goal of putting an end to it has a considerable weight in the scales of Themis when the Court exercises the proportionality test and decides on whether the interference with the defendant’s rights is compatible with the European standards of human rights protection. Originality/value This paper presents an original analysis of the unique Ukrainian restrictive measure as seen from the perspective of human rights standards.

ABSTRACT This article is a case study of two Glasgow police officers tried at the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh accused of attempting to rape a young working-class woman. The assault occurred against the backdrop of the bitter Leith dock strike in 1913, was debated in the highest political and legal offices, and exposed questionable practices within the Scottish criminal justice system. The article argues that the narrative, and the ethnographic detail it reveals about police collusion and cover-up, exposes how the police across the ranks of multiple forces fostered a culture of self-protection that shielded sexual abusers within their own institutions. In doing this, it provides the first in-depth historical account of how ‘structural misogyny’ and the infamous ‘blue code of silence’ played out in practice and underpinned police culture. The case study underscores the difficulties victims of sexual assault faced in having their complaints taken seriously by those entrusted with enforcing the law. Community action and external political pressure were, it is argued, necessary to force the hands of the authorities, albeit with limited success.

State Law No. 6.745/1985, which governs civil public servants in the State of Santa Catarina, remains in force even after the promulgation of the 1988 Federal Constitution and generates both normative and practical tensions within the state Public Administration. This article examines the disciplinary provisions of the aforementioned law, particularly Articles 135, 136, 137, and 152, considering constitutional principles, current case law, and contemporary standards of Administrative Law. The research identifies provisions incompatible with the existing legal framework, underscores omissions that hinder the administrative accountability of modern forms of misconduct and highlights the urgent need to update Santa Catarina’s disciplinary regime to ensure legal certainty, proportionality, and effectiveness in functional accountability. The research adopts a dogmatic legal method with a qualitative approach, centered on the analysis of federal and state legislation, as well as related regulatory instruments. Case law and precedents from higher courts were also examined, along with specialized doctrine in Administrative Law. The study is therefore essentially theoretical and documentary in nature, aiming to identify constitutional incompatibilities, normative gaps, and legal obsolescence in the disciplinary regime applicable to civil public servants in the State of Santa Catarina.