Law Judges Research Articles

Judge rules for employee alleging harassment, retaliation

Title VII

Inquiry into the Continued Practice of Trokosi (Indentured Servitude) in Ghana: An Outlawed Culturo-Religious Practice

Purpose: Ghana was the first country in the world to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and signatory to many anti-slavery international treaties. Clearly therefore, the practice of ‘Trokosi’ where young virgin girls are sent to serve fetish priests as deity slaves in shrines in atonement for alleged sins of family members, violates the laws of Ghana. In particular, Section 314 (A) (1) (b) of the 1998 Ghana’s Criminal Code Act, outlaws the practice, imposing severe punishment on offenders. This study investigates the lapses that have to do with the non- enforcement of the law. 
 Methodology: The study adopted a mixed design research approach that gathered data both qualitatively and quantitatively, using structured questionnaire instruments, in-depth interview guides, observation, and group discussions. The targeted population included shrine priests, ritual slaves and their relatives, community leaders and members, law enforcement agencies, government officials, security experts, legal practitioners, judges and non-governmental organizations from communities in the Volta Region of Ghana where the trokosi practice exists. Seventy-five (75) respondents with requisite knowledge in the study area and locations, were randomly and purposively sampled. Data which was textually, tabularly and graphically presented, was analyzed using Statistical Package Social Sciences (SPSS-21) software, within the interpretivist-constructivist paradigm. 
 Findings: Findings were the following: the enforcement of the law is inadequately effective; enforcement agencies many times fail to take action for cultural-related reasons; and out of fear, relatives and the public tend not to report cases of violation. 
 Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy (recommendations): The study recommends the following: a call for the recommitment of Ghanaian authorities to the fight against ritual enslavement; strict enforcement of the law where defaulting shrine priests are prosecuted and punished to serve as a deterrence; and public awareness education and campaigns should be intensified.

Judge rules in favor of employee alleging hostile work environment

Disability

Legal Reasoning Across Commercial Disputes

Legal reasoning lies at the heart of the interpretation of the facts, it determines the application of law to the facts or the award of compensation as a result of a finding of liability, and it is of the utmost importance. Laws, court statutes, and arbitration rules require that judgments and awards be reasoned, so that the losing party, as well as every other reader, may be able to follow the reasoning of the adjudicator and understand the decision reached. Yet, legal reasoning is highly individualistic and different judges and arbitrators can decide similar or the same issues in variegated manners. The nagging questions then emerge: how do judges and arbitrators reason and why do they do so? In particular, do arbitrators reason differently than judges and should preference be given to arbitration over a court system, or vice-versa? Do domestic judges and arbitrators decide differently than international judges and arbitrators? Do common law judges and arbitrators reason differently than civil law judges and arbitrators and, to the extent that parties can make appointments, who should they choose? These are important questions that can impact the desirability of one type of dispute settlement over another, the selection and appointment of an arbitrator in a dispute, or the way legal counsel formulate arguments. In order to make sense of the process by which a judge or arbitrator reasons and ultimately decides, and why he or she reasons the way they do, some legal scholars have taken the challenging path of pushing beyond the boundaries of pure legal analysis to engage in interdisciplinary research and study the empirical data that helps explain the process of legal reasoning. Professor SI Strong’s book Legal Reasoning Across Commercial Disputes is unique in this respect, for its innovativeness, robust methodology, the quantitative data it presents, and its qualitative analysis and outcomes.

The Power of Judges in Law Making In Tanzania and Its Effects on the Growth of Law in Digital Environment

When you are looking at the title of this work someone may notice that, this work is not mainly based on legal circumstances. But I believe that no lawyer who is a writer writes something of no legal significance. This work mainly looks on the power and the stand of judges in making laws in Tanzania mainland particularly on what is the history behind the judges in Tanzania to make laws and the motive behind them making such laws. Further it looks on the problem that is the lacunae in the applicability of the doctrine of precedents in Tanzania in relation to the development of the science and technology in this present digital era. The issue is where does this lacuna come from? As the title stated, stand and power of the Judges in law making in Tanzania can be looked in a narrow way but in wider sense the title also includes the power of Court because judges cannot make judgment and laws in their home or in street but only in the Courts. One author Richard H. Bruce provided that the judges have stand an power to decide different cases and dispute brought with consideration a legal procedure and rules to them, in this they make different decision which form part of laws and thus they are described to as law makers. United Republic of Tanzania as a follower of common law system as established by its laws follows the doctrine precedent .The doctrine of precedents tend to make the subordinate to follow the decisions of the higher courts. The essence of this is to avoid giving the parties and the general public a false impression that results of cases in courts of law perhaps depend more on the personalities of the judges than on the laws of the land. Another author called Spencer, J,R, Jackson, provided that the doctrine is there to bind the lower courts by the decisions of courts of records, it is there to give directives, thus in order for the said issue to be followed there must be communication of the two and also other users of the Judicial organ like the people with conflict and even lawyers and advocates, thus the doctrine goes hand in hand with accessibility and communication of the decisions of the Courts of records and to other lower courts and different personnel. In United Republic of Tanzania the said accessibility and communication is adhered by which the some of the cases from the courts of record are kept together in different publications and books like the Tanzania Law Report and the High Court Digest also they are kept in the East Africa Law Reports. This report is done in some sometimes after the case has been decided, but the problem is that the said report does not place all cases decision. The said problem affects the determination of justice in to a greater extent since there can rise different problems like the conflicting decisions and also the disregarding of the doctrine due to the unaware of the said decision to the magistrates or any umpire side in deciding a case on table, not only the deciding umpire but also to their legal personnel as the lawyers and the advocates due the unaware of the said decisions and thus they mislead the Courts of law in deciding a matter on merit and also breach their duty as officer of the court in helping it to reach in justice final. In reflection to the digital environment is that the said problem occurs because the essential element of accessibility is not well looked by the judicial, but to the advance of science and technology, the said accessibility can be in a greater extent to the fact that an individual from different jurisdiction can access the said binding decision easily and use it for the purpose of precedent. So the main issue here it is not the insufficient of the doctrine of precedent particularly on its normal use, but it is mainly on the applicability of the doctrine in relation to the development of science and technology in Tanzania. The question here is how the development of science and technology assists the applicability, availability and accessibility of these cases in solving various disputes arises before the court of law particularly when a judge or a lawyer or any other person with such knowledge wants to apply the doctrine of precedent? Can this inaccessibility of information (cases) undermine the applicability of the doctrine of precedent? What is the role played by the technology in the development of the doctrine of precedent? It is from this paper which consists of not more than four (4) parts whereby the above questions are going to be answered.

Juridical Review of the Criminal Acts of Economic Exploitation of Children

Exploitation of children is an act that is prohibited by statutory regulations. Several laws and regulations, both the results of ratification of international conventions and laws and regulations issued by Indonesia. This study aims to analyze the criminal sanctions against child exploitation actors in Indonesia. The research method used is the normative juridical method, which is sourced from statutory regulations and literature. The research results show that child exploitation still occurs in Indonesia. The reason for the economic exploitation of children is poverty. The existence of criminal sanctions contained in statutory regulations has not yet provided a deterrent effect for perpetrators of child exploitation. So it is necessary to have the role of the central and local governments in order to reduce child exploitation, namely by enforcing both laws and regional regulations. Law enforcers, especially prosecutors and judges, provide maximum sanctions or threats to perpetrators of child exploitation. Exploitation of child labor will eliminate the existing rights of children such as playing and learning.

(Draft) Research Report on Federal Agency ALJ Hiring after <i>Lucia</i> and Executive Order 13843

This draft report examines federal agency hiring practices for administrative law judges (ALJs), who preside over formal agency hearings, in light of the Supreme Court's determination that ALJs are constitutional officers and President Trump's executive order to exempt ALJs from certain statutory competitive-service hiring requirements. The report also provides recommendations for best agency hiring practices. Professors Jack Beermann and Jennifer Mascott co-authored this initial draft report. After Professor Mascott stepped down from the Administrative Conference of the United States to work in the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, Professor Beermann edited the report and produced its final May 2019 version, which is available here: https://www.acus.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Submitted%20final%20draft%20JB.pdf.

Judge rules employee failed to prove pervasive harassment

Title VII

The degendering of male perpetrated intimate partner violence against female partners in Ontario family law courts

ABSTRACT In this paper, we conducted a critical community-engaged Ontario family law case review of 46 cases from 2019 where intimate partner violence was identified. We explored the extent to which judges identified and addressed intimate partner violence and whether the gender of judges impacted on trial outcomes and judges’ parental assessments. We found that judges de-gendered the language of violence, which impacted trial outcomes (e.g., more rulings of unsupervised access for fathers despite them having been violent) and a mutualisation of responsibility by referring to the violence as ‘conflict.’ We also found that male judges were more likely to negatively assess the mothers as both parents and witnesses. We call for more research that explores whether the changes to the Canadian federal Divorce Act (which includes ‘family violence’) will have an impact on the manner in which intimate partner violence is identified and/or referred to by family law judges, and if and how this influences the weighting of salient outcomes in Ontario family court cases.

You Can’t Always Get What You Want: Appealing CMS Enforcement Actions

You Can’t Always Get What You Want: Appealing CMS Enforcement Actions

‘Indirect Method of Proof’ and the Kuwaiti Anti-Money Laundering Law: A Lesson from the UK

The money laundering offence (ML offence), as established by the Kuwaiti Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 106/2013 (“AML/CFT Act”), has the potential to combat financial crimes. The broad definition of ‘proceeds of crime’ and the ‘all crimes’ approach adopted in the AML/CFT Act are two features that help the ML offence to do so. In relation to Kuwait, where the problem of public corruption is a common, prevalent pattern of criminality, the ML offence becomes of paramount importance. Corruption can be effectively combated by the ML offence. Using the indirect method of proof, the ‘stand-alone’ ML offence can do the trick. Yet, the ML offence is underused by Kuwaiti practitioners; it is used as a secondary, additional charge. In this context, this paper builds on public policy work on ‘policy transfer’ and argues that rather than being a rational response to a real problem, the AML/CFT Act has been transferred to Kuwait based on a ‘coercive transfer’, and that process is responsible for the misapplication and misunderstanding among Kuwaiti practitioners of the AML law. To that end, the Kuwaiti law enforcement authorities, prosecutors, and judges should reconsider their understanding and implementation of the existing AML law, and effectively harness the role of the ML offence in counter-corruption function. This paper’s thesis is a feasible one. Instead of calling for legislating for new laws, which may be stunted by broader political factors, this paper argues for employing existing legal instruments.

DIGITALIZATION AS A DIRECTION OF TRANSFORMATION OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

The article is devoted to the study of the influence of the process of digitalization on the transformation of modern criminal proceedings, the functioning of the institution of justice in general. The introduction of electronic criminal proceedings in our country is due to the development of a modern electronic society and trends in the introduction of information and communication technologies in the world. Electronic criminal proceedings is a “smart” information and analytical system that digitizes paper documents, allows the exchange of files within the framework of criminal proceedings. It is proposed to carry out a detailed and systematic analysis of the provisions of the current national legislation in order to introduce the appropriate substantiated legislative changes and consolidate the concept, stages, and algorithm of the electronic criminal proceedings; the introduction of electronic criminal proceedings on the basis of the functioning of Unified Register of Pre-trial Inquiry. Electronic criminal proceedings are an inevitable phenomenon of the modern information world. For the quality of operation of electronic criminal proceedings, it is necessary to take into account the advantages and risks of the functioning of a “smart” system. The advantages of introducing electronic criminal proceedings include: saving money and time; reduction of terms for consideration of procedural documents; simplification of access of subjects of criminal proceedings within their competence to procedural materials; increasing the efficiency of the investigation of criminal proceedings and so on. The introduction of electronic criminal proceedings should take place quite deliberately, with the understanding that digital technologies will inevitably affect relationship between people and the formation of their thinking. We believe that digital intelligence is not capable to replace a specialist completely. The digitalization of criminal proceedings will entail certain risks and difficulties. It is necessary to protect the collected personal data, which will prevent the drafting of clone documents and the «leaking» of confidential information in connection with cyber-attacks. It is also necessary to protect the provision of necessary equipment for law enforcement officers and judges in the field; the need to integrate among themselves the working electronic systems of the pre-trial inquiry bodies and the court; training of personnel capable of working with digital computer technologies and so on.

Judge denies Rehabilitation Act claim

Disability

Judge rules in favor of employee in performance evaluation case

Discrimination

Judge rules behavior not sufficiently offensive to warrant suit

Title VII

C CRIMINAL LIABILITY AGAINST CHILDREN AS OFFENDERS OF NARCOTICS ABUSE BASED ON THE DECISION OF THE TEBING TINGGI DISTRICT COURT NO. 21/PID.SUS-ANAK/2018/PN.TBT

The development of narcotics abuse is increasingly increasing. The government has issued regulations governing the handling of children as perpetrators of criminal acts of narcotics abuse, namely Law No. 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics and Law No. 11 of 2012 concerning the Juvenile Criminal Justice System. This study will examine and analyze the Tebing Tinggi District Court Decision No. 21/Pid.Sus-Anak/2018/PN.TBT., Which has been decided by the judge for action against the child perpetrator of the crime of narcotics abuse, even though in the case diversion can be carried out, but not done. The problems in this study, namely: the criminal responsibility of child offenders of criminal offenses of narcotics abuse based on the Narcotics Law and the Child Criminal Justice System Law; analysis of decisions used as examples of cases in this study. This research is a descriptive normative legal research analysis. The data used are secondary data and empirical data. Furthermore, analyzed using qualitative analysis methods. The results showed that: First, the criminal act of narcotics crime based on the Narcotics Law and the Juvenile Criminal Justice System Law in both laws have narcotics crime; Second, Tebing Tinggi District Court Decision No. 21/Pid.Sus-Anak/2018/PN.TBT., Diversion was not attempted, which the Law Enforcement Officials, investigators, public prosecutors, and judges can seek diversion based on Article 7 of the Juvenile Criminal Justice System Law to avoid children from the judicial process, but not carried out.

Mendialogkan Hakikat Hukum dan Keadilan Pada Berbagai Aliran Pemikiran Hukum dalam Novel Les Miserables

Justice should be clearly presented in the wording of written law since it will serve as a basis by law enforcement officer and judges in adjudicating cases. The spirit of justice that is contined in the written law should also inspire the way law is enforced and decision made. This paper tries to reflect the essence of justice and law through various plots and characters in Victor Hugo’s novel Les Miserable by looking at it from the perspective of various schools of legal thought. The reflection made shows that a legal event can be studied using various perspectives based on schools of thought in legal science. In the analysis, natural law schools of thought, positivism and feminist jurisprudence were used. Dialoguing these various schools of thought leads to a perspective on how law and justice should be perceived and then expressed normatively before being applied to society.

Tele-Lawyering and The Virtual Learning Experience: Finding the Silver Lining for Remote Hybrid Externships & Law Clinics after the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has rocked the world in innumerable ways. This Article argues that the COVID-19 pandemic has a silver lining for law students in experiential learning programs. The pandemic has forced law schools across the country to fully utilize remote learning technology. The pandemic similarly forced courts to accept virtual tools in an environment that had previously relied primarily on in-person appearances. The lessons that law faculty and judges have learned from the pandemic will be permanent and may change the methods of operation going forward. Law schools that embrace the lessons they learned can help their law students and graduates be better prepared for a new practice environment, as distance learning and virtual law practice are likely here to stay. This article discusses why, despite what some may think, remote learning can happen successfully with experiential education and why virtual experiences will benefit students, their employers, and the public in the future. This article offers a guide as to how one law school, with a long history of remote delivery3, made this pivot, and offers concrete guidance for other schools that might want to continue using virtual technology to help deliver experiential education post-pandemic.In Part II of this article, we describe the legal academy’s historic resistance to remote learning and the standards that govern experiential learning. We analogize law school resistance to remote experiential learning to the resistance of parts of our judiciary system in embracing remote court operations. In Part III, we document the way in which COVID changed the world of legal education and the courts. In Part IV, we offer our thesis that virtual or hybrid legal practice is here to stay, and virtual experiential learning is essential training for the modern law student. In Part V, we discuss several pedagogical modifications that should be made to address challenges that arise from the virtual practice format and how to most effectively teach law students. Additionally, we discuss best practices for designing fully remote and hybrid clinic and externship courses. Lastly, in Part VI, we discuss the broader lessons on how remote work in experiential settings can lead the way for transforming modern legal education post-pandemic and provide concrete guidance on how to do so. Finally, we offer an appendix, outlining some practical guidance and a checklist to utilize when designing remote or hybrid externships and clinics.

Уголовно-правовая охрана свободы личности подозреваемого, обвиняемого и осужденного

The criminal-legal influence exerted on a person must be legal and justified, and the constitutional right of a person to inviolability must be reliably protected. Law enforcement practice shows that the rights of a person involved in criminal repression are especially vulnerable. Violations of personal freedom can be committed not only during the preliminary investigation, but also at the stages of proceedings in court and the execution of a sentence. Increasing the effectiveness of criminal law protection of the constitutional right to liberty and security of a person is possible provided that one refers not only to the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, but also to other normative grounds for its permissible restriction, as well as to the mechanism of possible encroachments on the part of law enforcement officials and judges. The aim of the study was to identify threats to personal freedom in the sphere of criminal proceedings and the execution of sentences, which had not previously been an object of a study. Drawing attention to the existing gaps, the authors formulate a consistent and scientifically grounded proposal to improve the criminal law protection of the inviolability of the suspect, the accused, and the convicted. The methodological basis of the research was formed by dialectics as a doctrine of the development and interconnection of social phenomena. To achieve the aim, a normative approach was used in conjunction with general (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, formal-logical, structural) and specific (formal-legal, comparative) research methods. The authors show that the Penal Code of the Russian Federation allows the detention of convicts who maliciously evade the execution of punishment for up to 48 hours. This period can be extended by the court up to 30 days. In accordance with Paragraphs 18 and 18.1, Art. 397, of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, a convicted person hiding in order to evade serving a sentence and on other grounds specified in the law may be detained, but for not more than 30 days. Based on the analysis of judicial practice and scientists' positions, the authors of the article come to the conclusion that it is advisable to extend the prohibition contained in Art. 301 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation not only for the unlawful detention of a suspect and its extension, remand during the preliminary investigation, but also for the deliberately unlawful detention, its extension, and remand of a convicted person. Interpretation of Art. 301 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as providing for responsibility and for knowingly illegal detention and its extension or remand of a convicted person is socially conditioned, and also complies with both the text of this norm and its place in the structure of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and in the chapter on encroachments on the interests of justice.

Concept of Rule of Law with Regard to Supreme Court Judgment

The rule of law is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as the authority and influence of law in society, especially when viewed as a constraint on individual and institutional behaviour, hence the principle whereby all members of a society (including those in government) are considered equally subject to publicly disclosed legal codes and processes. The term rule of law is closely related to constitutionalism and refers to a political situation, not to any specific legal rule. The rule of law was further popularized in the 19th century by British jurist A. V. Dicey. However, the principle, if not the phrase itself, was recognized by ancient thinkers. Aristotle wrote: It is more proper that law should govern than any one of the citizens. This Research topic defines, the rule of law implies that every person is subject to the law, including people who are lawmakers, law enforcement officials and judges. In this sense, it stands in contrast to tyranny or oligarchy, where the rulers are held above the law. This Research paper emphasis, Lack of the rule of law can be found in both democracies and monarchies, when there is neglect or ignorance of the law. The rule of law is more apt to decay if a government has insufficient corrective mechanisms for restoring it. The clearest way to show what the rule of law means to us in everyday life is to recall what has happened when there is no rule of law. - Dwight D. Eisenhower The bedrock of our democracy is the rule of law and that means we have to have an independent judiciary, judges who can make decisions independent of the political winds that are blowing. - Caroline Kennedy