Law Scholars Research Articles

Digital Platforms and the Right to Just and Favorable Conditions of Work: A Business and Human Rights Perspective

Abstract Digital platform economy has radically changed the modes in which work is organized, stretching the functionality of legal environment of work and its governance. This article builds on a strand of labor law scholarship that advances the need to rethink the legal construction of work and work relationship in order to adapt it to the dynamically evolving socio-economic context. By applying a business and human rights lens to this process, this article confutes the mainstream argument that labor rights guarantees remain contingent on an individual’s enjoying the status of an employee under national jurisdiction. We survey a largely underexamined conception of affording protection to platform workers under International Human Rights Law (IHRL). In doing so, we argue that the instruments of IHRL may in some respects be even better placed than that of national law, both strengthening and complementing areas where state protection is weak or non-existent. Through the right to just and favorable conditions of work perspective, we outline the non-contested, albeit partly poorly implemented obligations of states, as well as largely contentious and contested responsibilities of private actors such as digital platforms towards the rights-holders. We conclude by arguing that the leverage offered by IHRL in the struggle to curb a quasi-sovereign power of the platform largely outweighs the democratically motivated objections this avenue may raise.

THE IMPACT OF LABOR LAWS ON FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE WORKPLACE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN NIGERIA AND THE UNITED STATES

Labors laws are the body of rules that regulate the relationship between employers and employees at work places. Like all other laws, it provides for the rights and duties of both parties to labor contract. However, the rights so granted under this law has been subtly categorized under the specie of economic and social rights as against the civil and political rights which, arguably, are considered as fundamental. While in one breathe, labor law scholars are protesting the relegation of these rights, they are on the other hand are beginning to interrogate the potency of the former rights and found that they, by their very nature, are capable of adding meaning and advancing the civil and political rights. Thus, a genuine effort at protecting the fundamental rights would necessarily involve the protection of labor rights as economic and social rights. The problem in Nigeria, however, is that the government and generally employers of labor exploit the provisions of various labor laws to hinder the protection and advancement of the fundamental human rights of their employees. Hence, this paper seeks to draw lessons from the labor laws and practice of the United States to demonstrate the positive impacts that Labor laws could have in strengthening the protection of fundamental human rights of Nigerian workers at their workplaces.

From Development of the Foundations of Sovereign Democracy Towards the Paradigm of a Unified System of Public Power: Milestones of Scientific Creativity of Valerian A. Lebedev (to the Anniversary of the Scholar)

The review article is dedicated to one of the landmark events for the entire legal world and the community of constitutional law scholars: the anniversary of Doctor of Law, Professor Valerian A. Lebedev, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Honorary Worker of Higher Professional Education of the Russian Federation. Prof. Valerian A. Lebedev started his work during a difficult period of reforms initiated for the development of Russian statehood, a change in the paradigm of constitutional law development and a radical restructuring of the basic principles of ensuring and protecting fundamental rights and freedoms of the man and citizen. The paper highlights the main milestones of Prof. Valerian A. Lebedev’s scientific work related to the study of the problems of genuine democracy and sovereignty of the people, the priority of development in compliance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and substantiation of the concept of sovereign democracy, functioning on the constitutional mechanism for the protection of individual rights, ensuring the principle of political pluralism, building a unified system of public power and a unified legislative system of the country, implementation of the constitutional reform. The paper highlights critically important role of Prof. Valerian A. Lebedev and his scientific creativity for the transitional and modern path of development of the national statehood, comprehensive, acute, problematic nature of his works, the unique scientific foresight of the scholar, who not only foresaw the constitutional reform, but also revealed its key concepts-novels, pitfalls and prospects for improving specific constitutional law institutions. The possibility of studying modern and past research works by Prof. A. Lebedev is presented as a special value for the modern science of constitutional law, since their subject of research covers the key concepts and categories of the theory of Russian constitutionalism, correct understanding of which depends on the possibility of effective implementation of the constitutional principles of the existence of the state and society.

Vulnerable witnesses in Chilean criminal proceedings: New developments

Common law countries have long been implementing legal reforms that recognise the special needs of vulnerable witnesses. While these issues have been the subject of considerable scrutiny and debate in evidence law scholarship, this is not the case across Latin American legal systems. This article intends to contribute to such a debate. Chile recently enacted two special laws that significantly amended the general evidentiary regime in an effort to account for the challenges facing children and victims of sex crimes. This article provides an account and analysis of these recent legal reforms. We contend that while both laws address critical issues impacting specific classes of victims, the lawgivers failed to recognise that there is conflict between the rights of the victims and the rights of the accused, generating legal reforms that have unreasonably restricted the right of defendants to confront witnesses.

The Family of the City, the Family of the Country

Abstract In this Article, we argue that the state supports different familial practices in urban and rural areas. Spatial laws and policies are affecting family members’ ability, availability, and commitment to care for one another based on their geographical location. We support the argument using a bottom-up approach that works with three case studies from three jurisdictions: China, Israel, and the United States to uncover and understand the phenomenon. In all these instances, state policies and laws effectively create gaps in familial practices between the city and the country. The analysis identifies and compares two categories of state involvement: differential treatment and spatially blind policies. Collectively, the case studies introduce to family law scholarship the rich, contextual phenomenon of state involvement in spatially shaping families.

Automated Uncertainty: A Research Agenda for Artificial Intelligence in Administrative Decisions

Administrative bodies in the European Union (EU) and its Member States increasingly rely on artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to make sense of complex scenarios. However, scholarship and practice have both shown that the adoption of AI in the public sector is accompanied by various risks, such as algorithmic discrimination or lack of oversight over decision-making. This article proposes that analyses of administrative decision-making in the age of AI must account for automated uncertainty, that is, for the uncertainty stemming from using AI in the public sector. Automated uncertainty is closely connected to the technical opacity of AI systems—but, unlike traditional forms of scientific uncertainty, it affects not only the facts but also the very decision-making structures of public administration. As a result, traditional remedies for uncertainty in administrative decision-making do not fully respond to the implications of AI-based automation for the procedural duties governing administrative decision-making. The article accordingly concludes with proposals of how administrative law scholarship can account for automated uncertainty and ensure that the use of AI does not erode the safeguards provided by the legal framework for administrative decision-making.

Bridging the Divide: Some Recollections of Undertaking Comparative Labour Law Research with Former European Socialist Countries

This paper offers some reflections on comparative scientific research in the field of labour law by reference to the former socialist countries of Europe prior to 1989. The focus is primarily upon approaches to collaborative research and techniques for comparative evaluation rather than any attempt to deliver a detailed elaboration of “socialist labour law”. The perspective is that of a British labour lawyer whose contemporaneous activities extended to publication, research and teaching projects in collaboration with a broad range of socialist academic experts of the time. This presentation sets out by noting the relative lack of attention paid to experiences in those socialist legal systems – in part as a result of difficulties in accessing and understanding scientific works published in the official languages of those countries, but also due to widespread scepticism on the parts of non-socialist researchers towards the value of work undertaken by the academic community in the socialist countries. The author points to the importance of studying experiences of these legal systems not only for the sake of historical reflection but also by virtue of insights that those experiences can offer to an appreciation of labour law as it has developed post-1989. The historical context provided by this work thus highlights the opportunity for reflection in relation to concrete national systems, as well as clearly illustrating the timeless importance of conducting comparative research on labour law. Emphasis is placed upon the need for an inclusive approach to the study of labour law in order to discern the totality of developments in that field, rather than limiting the focus to regionally oriented developments as scientific facts and the drawing of conclusions based on them. In the course of presenting this paper, the author also provides an insight into the career of Prof. Željko Potočnjak, whose position as a prominent scholar of labour law in Central and Eastern Europe is considered through the prism of personal recollections and illustrations of the significance accorded to his contributions in that area.

Tom Angier’s Natural Law vs. the Natural Law Formula

This article presents a comprehensive overview and analysis of Tom Angier’s latest book, “Natural Law Theory”, published in 2021 by Cambridge University Press, and also compares its main conclusions with another study that analyses how natural law scholars have argued over the last century. To achieve this goal, the article initially outlines the core ideas of Angier’s book, which seeks to elucidate and assess the most significant theories of natural law throughout history, with an emphasis on the traditional approach rooted in Aristotle and the Stoics. Angier introduces the innovative “via negativa” method for identifying natural law principles within this framework. Following the exposition of the book’s content, the article draws parallels between Angier’s conclusions and the findings of another research project about the “Natural Law Formula” (or methods) currently used by natural law experts in legal literature. Both Angier and this research observe that contemporary authors face challenges in grounding the principles of natural law in the physical and spiritual human nature. Lastly, the article evaluates the “via positiva” and “via negativa” methodologies, highlighting their potential contradictions and concordances, while suggesting avenues for further refining Angier’s arguments.

The protection of intellectual property rights in modern conditions

Intellectual property is no less valuable an asset than tangible property, and ensuring its adequate protection is crucial to stimulate innovation and societal development.
 The protection of intellectual property rights should be an important concern for international law scholars, as new innovative ways of violating them are emerging every day with the development of technology. This article provides an overview of the ways in which intellectual property rights are protected in Ukraine. The author highlights the imperfection of national legislation on the protection of intellectual property rights in comparison with the countries of the European Union.
 In particular, the article focuses on the role of intellectual property in the modern digital environment. With the increasing number of digital content and online services, the likelihood of intellectual property rights infringement through piracy and illegal use is growing. The author discusses the problems and contradictions that affect this area today and suggests ideas for further research.
 The article goes on to discuss various mechanisms for the protection of intellectual property rights, including alternative methods of protection, such as mediation, damages, compensation, etc. The author offers recommendations on how to improve the existing rules and procedures to ensure effective protection of rights holders.
 In general, the article emphasizes the importance of ensuring fair and effective protection of intellectual property rights, which contributes to creating incentives for innovation, technology development and economic growth. Knowledge and conscious attitude to the protection of intellectual property rights is of great importance for the progressive development of society. After all, the protection of intellectual property rights can stimulate the exchange of technology and knowledge between countries and organizations, which contributes to scientific and technological progress on a global scale.

Time for a pluralist approach? Judicial review of non-state decision makers in Canada

The doctrinal project of delineating the supervisory jurisdiction of the common law courts and the scholarly project of elucidating the public law–private law divide have had a long and close relationship. The Supreme Court of Canada strengthened this relationship in Highwood Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Judicial Committee) v Wall, establishing a bright-line test for the availability of judicial review that takes a presumed state/non-state dichotomy as its organizing principle. In this article, I build on existing critiques of the decision, describing how Wall’s categorical paradigm has reduced the judicial oversight of powerful decision makers that have historically been subject to standards of fairness and rationality. However, I also use Wall to raise a more fundamental question, which is whether the public law–private law divide continues to provide the best vocabulary and framework for determining judicial review’s boundaries. I explore legal pluralism, a project that has developed in parallel with the public law–private law scholarship and consider whether it might provide a superior framework for understanding the challenges to practices of normative decision making that lie at the heart of cases like Wall. I argue that legal pluralism is more phenomenologically correspondent than the public law–private law divide with cases involving norm-generating communities and more coherent with the values that the common law supervisory jurisdiction should be seeking to promote.

Civic Action Against Son Preference in Tirupati, India: Critical International Law Put into Practice?

AbstractIn this paper based on original fieldwork, I seek to contribute to critical scholarship in international law by providing an investigation into the engagement with international law by actors in civil society working against son preference primarily in Tirupati, India. I suggest that the turn to the international legal order by civic actors should be theorized as something else than as merely coming ‘from above’, ‘from below’ or as a ‘translation’ of ‘global’ law to ‘local’ conditions. Instead, I propose that the mobilization of international law within Tirupati’s civil society should be seen as an emancipatory undertaking, an act of resistance with the overarching ambition to reclaim the zenana. In that, I argue, the strategies within Tirupati’s civil society are more appropriately understood as critical international law put into practice.

Comparative Law and Christianity-A Plank in the Eye?

This article examines the epistemic bias of comparative law scholarship. Comparatists are unable or unwilling to recognise the religious dimensions in Western law as they see religion only in the context of non-Western law. This problem is typical of modern macro-comparative law, which fails to recount the influence of Christianity on Western law and legal culture. The article invites legal scholars to reach beyond the notions of 'religious law' and 'secular law' in terms of classifying the world's legal systems. Firstly, the article explains how comparative law has a problematic relationship with religion; secondly, it shows that, despite Christianity having been deemed a thing of the past, its influence can and should also be charted in modern law. I argue for a need to rethink the manner in which Western law is depicted as a thoroughly secular law as opposed to the religious law of exoticised others.

The Robot and Human Futures: Visualising Autonomy in Law and Science Fiction

This article argues that legal discourses about robots are framed within a limiting ‘human paradigm.’ While this is not a specific failure of lawyers, it has significant consequences for law in a digital future. This visualising of robots has its origins in mainstream twentieth-century science fictional tropes of artificial beings. This article begins by identifying the predominant science fiction tropes regarding artificial beings as a source of anxiety for human futures, as located in discrete bodies and as separate from humans. The article then traces this ‘human paradigm’ in robot law scholarship. It is shown how a focus on embodiment and separation disrupts appreciation of the emerging partial disembodiment and hybridity of digital autonomy. There is a continual sense of needing to keep robots and humans distinct and separate, which is not how digital futures are manifesting.

Navigating the Complexity of Administrative Actions: A Taxonomy and Legal Analysis

In recent years, public functionaries have been heavily burdened by the growth of administrative responsibilities. Due to their responsibilities, they have taken on a variety of actions that the legislature and judiciary were unable to handle. These actions are of various types, such as administrative, quasi-judicial, discretionary, and quasi-legislative, etc. Despite being under the executive branch, these actions differ usually in their scope, methodology, and usage. It is a significant challenge in administrative law to precisely differentiate between these actions, as they may sometimes overlap. Judge C.K. Thakker even pointed out that there is no precise scientific test to differentiate between them. Due to the increase in the duties of government and the pursuit of the welfare state, a strict separation of the basic functions of government into three classes—legislative, executive, and judicial—is not possible, and the lines between the branches have blurred. Yet, from a legal and citizenry perspective, it is imperative to understand these diverse administrative actions. For this purpose, administrative law scholars have developed a taxonomy of administrative actions to classify different types of administrative actions and to identify the legal principles that apply to each type. In spite of the difficulties in distinguishing between various administrative actions, this research paper provides a comprehensive review of the taxonomy of administrative actions that will help in understanding each type of administrative action. This understanding is crucial for the accountability and transparency of the administrative process and for its judicial review.

Holocaust Denial as Memory Criminal Law Seen Through the Nordic Lenses


 
 
 Dealing with historical matters by means of law has become increasingly common. The matters, such as the Holocaust, that have merited the attention of legislatures are, however, exceptional. The painful memory of the horrible events has required a profound rethinking of the basic premises of political and legal life in Europe.
 When criminal law is being used to protect the memory of those facts and of the victims of the offences, we enter a level of highly symbolical legislation. In Continental Europe, the discussions concerning criminalisation of Holocaust denial emerged in the 1970’s, and in the 1990’s criminalising was already in full swing.
 The Nordic countries have been slow in joining such developments. In this paper we will try to bring the Nordic countries on this map by introducing some of these discussions to the Nordic scholarly audience, but also by reporting to the international scholarly community about some Nordic and particularly Finnish aspects of those subject issues. It is time for Nordic criminal law scholars to join these debates and to bring in viewpoints on the basis of Nordic criminal law and theorising. This article aims at contributing to such a discussion.
 
 

Benign and Radical Africanization in International Investment Law and Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Africa

Abstract The current Africanization approaches mask some nuances present in current reform efforts of international investment law (IIL) and investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) in Africa. I adopt the categorization of international law scholarship in Africa developed elsewhere into two trends: contributionist (weak) and critical (strong) scholarship. For reforms in African IIL and ISDS, I relabel this trends benign Africanization representing the contributionist (weak) strand and radical Africanization representing the critical (strong) strand. I argue that African states must focus on wider economic justice engendered in the radical Africanization approach. I propose three lines of action that will implement radical Africanization: first African States, in their reforms, must focus on both extra and intra-African investment; second, the reforms must engage deeply seated substantive issues in addition to the current procedural reforms; and finally, African States must have a real reckoning and engagement with the imperial history of IIL generally and ISDS specifically.

Koncept kontradiktornosti v trestním řízení

The article deals with the issue of adversarialism in relation to Czech criminal proceedings. Although it is a frequently mentioned aspect of the criminal process, adversarialism has not yet been established in Czech criminal law scholarship in the broader professional discourse. Legal practice also treats this concept rather restrainedly and selects certain partial aspects of this problem. In the Czech environment, therefore, one cannot yet speak of a doctrine of adversarialism. It is questionable whether the new Criminal Procedure Code, if adopted, could change this, since it explicitly mentions adversarialism. The author is of the opinion that adversarialism is an immanent part of every criminal process, especially criminal proceedings before the court. He considers adversarialism to be a principle which he elaborates in a broader context than is usually stated. He sees the essence of adversarialism in the legitimate clash of allegations and legal opinions, not merely in the right to be informed of the substance of oneʼs accusation and the right to comment on such an accusation. He considers the audiatur et altera pars rule to be the very minimum and unbreakable guarantee of an adversarial finding of law.

BENTUK KOMUNIKASI ORGANISASI PERUSAHAAN PADA FITUR SHOPEE PAYLATER DALAM MENETAPKAN GAYA KONSUMTIF KAUM MILLENIAL MENURUT PRESPEKTIF ISLAM

The Shopee app is one of the most downloaded online retail apps and is used as a digital storefront to search for goods or personal needs using electronic devices as gadgets . Shopee has launched many features to help consumers meet their needs more easily and quickly, different from buying offline or buying directly at the store. Startups like Shopee with a target market of millennials or people with busy jobs who do not have time to shop in person, this marketing strategy has had a very good impact on the sales curve of many stores. recorded on this single application. Judging from the media network data, Shopee is really the most downloaded application by the public because of the attractive features it brings, which is also one of the company's marketing tactics in the form of an organization. . Online shop. However, in this endeavor, there are also pros and cons regarding the payment feature offered by this app, which gives rise to the opinion of scholars of this payment law from the point of view of and the point of view of Islam, in order to educate people so that they do not use this feature carelessly, they should think about the risks of the world and more.

‘The Law of The Board of Health’? Rhetoric, Failure and Public Health in the English Periphery, C.1848–1875

Scant attention has been paid to public health in small, peripheral towns between 1848 and 1875, often because it elicited little physical or infrastructural effect in these places. Drawing on recent scholarship of the New Poor Law, this article argues that public health in this period was important in establishing a uniform rhetorical register, administrative process and a ‘public health thinking’. Statute and regulation were used to constrain local authorities’ alternatives, citizens adopted the register in complaint, and gained a new understanding of their rights to health. It argues that while public health did fail in this period, its lexicographical progress enabled the relative achievements post-1875.

Decentring Europe in EU social law scholarship

Decentring Europe in EU social law scholarship