Legal Status Research Articles

An exploration of the social determinants of the health and well-being among older African immigrants living in San Diego. A socio-ecological approach

Background As immigration continues to be a global phenomenon, the number of aging immigrants will increase. There is a knowledge gap in the United States on the social determinants of health among older immigrants, especially the older refugee population. We aimed to explore the social determinants of health among older African immigrants living in San Diego, California, and to suggest strategies that can inform the design of health-promoting interventions. Methods We employed a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with 11 participants (nine females and two males). We used deductive thematic analysis to explore and analyse the factors that influence their health and well-being based on the five levels of the socio-ecological model (individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and public policy). Results Participants were aged between 62 and 90 years; eight participants had arrived as refugees. Thematic analysis resulted in the following themes within the five levels: individual (pre-migration and migration experiences and impact on health, aging-related health decline, sedentary lifestyle, side effects of medications,language barrier); interpersonal (social support and social participation); organizational (access to healthcare and support services, transportation, - disruption to services due to COVID-19, perception of healthcare and support services); community (social, emotional and practical support, connecting older adults to services) and public policy (financial barriers, immigration policies and legal status). Conclusions Given the distinct linguistic and cultural backgrounds coupled with the unique health needs of our study participants, there is a need for diverse and complementary interventions that seek to build a sense of community and social support for older adults. Such interventions ought to be co-developed with immigrant communities and local organizations to ensure cultural acceptability and effectiveness. Crucially needed are immigration policies that consider the unique situation of older immigrants from low-income backgrounds to ensure equitable access to health and social care services.

Ethical Expertise for Gene Diagnostics and Gene Therapy Clinical Studies

Purpose of the study: to develop proposals for improving regulatory documentation on ethical expertise (EE) of gene diagnostics and gene therapy clinical studies.Materials and methods. We used general philosophical research methods, including the formal-logical, historical method, comparative method, systematic approach and axiological method. We analyzed 10 international acts, including acts of «soft law», 4 documents adopted at the level of interstate integration entities, 7 domestic normative legal acts, and a number of various doctrinal sources on the topic under consideration. In addition, we analyzed the regulatory documents for ethical committees (EC) acivities, including those from a historical perspective.Results. We formulated the concept of EE, defined the principles and main areas of EE, including the personalized medicine, and suggested the regulatory principles of EE operating.Conclusion. To improve the regulation of EE, the legal status and requirements for the activities of independent ECs should fit the scope of EE, differentially related to the area of a trial (non-interventional trials, clinical trials with a drug treatment); at the national level, independent ECs conducting EE of drug treatmemnt clinical trials should be institutionalized into a single system; to improve the activities of independent ECs in the field of clinical testing, the development of a special normative regulation is required.

Urgency of Addressing the Problem of State Ideology: Divergent Perspectives from Scholars and Politicians

Throughout its centuries-long history, Russia has repeatedly attempted to define its historical purpose, determine the course and strategy of sociopolitical development, and articulate the value preferences guiding its society. It is evident that addressing such a complex undertaking, burdened with profound objectives, necessitates an appropriate framework of ideas, perspectives, and theories. This article substantiates the possibility, necessity, and practical significance of a state ideology, while also questioning the relevance, in contemporary historical conditions, of maintaining the constitutional prohibition on a state or mandatory ideology. Russia possesses an ideology of statehood, with its main substantive components enshrined in the country’s Constitution, relevant legal statutes, annual presidential addresses to the Federal Assembly, and relevant programs, doctrines, and other political documents. Central to this ideological framework is the concept of a federal democratic legal social secular state harmoniously integrated with the traditional ideals, values, and priorities of Russian civilization. This study adopts a comparative institutional and functional approach.

The Historical Stages of the Discussion about the Status of Prisoners of War at the International Conferences of the 19th Century

Nowadays the study of the formation and development of the legal status of prisoners of war is a task of current importance for historians. Present-day events demonstrate that moral treatment of prisoners of war is one of the developmental quotients of the whole society. The chronological frames of the paper are determined by the fact that it was in the 19th century that the fundamentals of the unifi ed legislation related to prisoners of war were created. The purpose of the work is to analyse the stages of formation of the legal status of prisoners of war within the framework of conventions and declarations adopted in the 19th century at the international conferences held in Geneva, Saint Petersburg, Brussels and The Hague. Finally, the author draws a conclusion about the international legal status of the prisoners of war at the end of the 19th century.

The Legal Status of Artificial Intelligence Systems and Models of Differentiation of Legal Liability for Damage Caused by them

The objective of this paper is to define the models of responsibility for intelligent systems in situations when harm is caused (in the form of any wrongdoings, including crimes). For this purpose, the paper examines the current state of artificial intelligence technologies from the standpoint of moral, volitional and intellectual autonomy for modeling approaches to their legal personality. Such autonomy can be expressed only through the software element of a technological system, that is, even in the case of robots (cyberphysical systems), their legal assessment requires an analysis of how operations are carried out in order to evaluate incoming information rather than the physical characteristics of such a system. The author analyzes approaches according to which intelligent systems can be compared with legal entities, individuals, animals, and meta-directional structures in terms of the volume and nature of their legal capacity. The conclusion is made about the need for an independent legal assessment of artificial intelligence systems beyond their comparison with the existing legal categories. The need to train a system using a limited dataset, that is, without additional training in a real environment, adversarial attacks and internal errors of intelligent systems are considered as examples of technical limitations of technology that do not allow to raise the question of its subjectivity at the moment. The author highlights that in order to determine responsibility for the harm caused by an intelligent system, it is necessary to establish a circle of persons between whom it is distrubuted: an intelligent system itself, its developer and the operator (user). Thus, the author defines 10 models of responsibility distribution between them.

Collective Data Protection Litigation

Abstract At first glance data protection litigation seems to be a niche topic. Yet, record sum compensation such as those resulting from the Meta – Cambridge Analytica lawsuit (725 million usd) reveal enormous practical relevance. This proceeding took the form of a class action, brought before a Californian court. Such collective proceedings might sweep across the Atlantic, as the EU Directive on Representative Actions introduced a new collective litigation mechanism. We commence our comparative analysis by outlining the relevant legal landscapes in the EU and the US, give an account of the latest developments, and examine relevant case law and scientific literature (paras. 1.–4.). Subsequently, the law and economics of data protection litigation are explained (para. 5.), which will serve as standard of comparison. On this basis, in para. 6. the article contrasts the efficiency of collective litigation mechanisms, enabling enforcement against data protection infringements, with the objectives of evaluating the legal status quo and distilling proposals for future legal policy.

Common Concern of Humankind and Its Legal Consequences for Climate Stability

Abstract One of the main challenges for modern international law is its capacity to deal with global public interests. In a world characterized by growing interdependence, the international community requires instruments to regulate the global commons, provide global public goods, and enforce its fundamental values. In this context, this article contributes to the debate on the legal consequences of recognizing climate stability as a global public good. While these goods are regulated on a case-by-case basis, some of them have the status of being common concerns of humankind. Since the icj and the ilc have not clarified the content of this legal status, I discuss the main academic perspectives and propose a new standpoint. Considering the current stage of public international law, I argue that the common concern status does not generate new state obligations but impacts the content of those commitments already included in the international climate change regime.

Representation in the Interests of the Civil Law Association

The norms governing the institution of representation are still not clearly defined in the science of civil law: the concepts of representation and authority, which are the central categories of this institution, remain controversial. In the case of representation, the legal capacity of the representative is joined to the legal capacity of the represented, which is confirmed by the relevant powers. Thus, both the representative and the represented person must have legal personality.At the same time, the legal status of civil law associations that are not recognized as subjects of civil law relations but are able to make decisions with legal consequences remains uncertain. How can the interests of such an association be represented in relations with third parties? Are the provisions of the institution of representation applicable to the regulation of these relations? The paper concludes that in some cases, the provisions of the institution of representation can be applied to relations involving civil law associations, when the circle of their participants is specifically defined and their interests coincide — a representative can act on behalf of and in the interests of each of the participants of such a community.However, the possibility of collective representation of the common interests of persons whose circle is not precisely defined needs to be clarified. The issue of applying the provisions regulating direct representation requires special attention in cases where the general interests of the civil law community do not correspond to the private interests of an individual participant. In this sense, it seems that when specifying the circle of community members, the application of the provisions on representation is possible by virtue of the indication of the law and the decision of the meeting. However, the category of common interests of the represented persons needs to be clarified.

Racial Disparities in Patterns and Modes of Current and Daily Marijuana Use among Adults Living with Children.

This study sought to examine racial disparities in marijuana use among U.S. adults living with children. Data are drawn from the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to examine the prevalence of current (past month) and frequent (≥20 days in the last 30 days) marijuana use along with the mode of marijuana use by 7 racial and ethnic groups (non-Hispanic [NH] White, NH-Black, Hispanic, NH American Indian or Alaskan Native [AI/AN], NH-Asian, NH Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander only [NH/PI], and other/multiple races, n=22,659). Compared to NH White adults with children, NH Black adults had a higher prevalence of current marijuana use (23.1% vs. 16.9%, p=0.003) and NH AI/AN adults had two times higher prevalence of frequent use (17.3% vs. 8.4%, p=0.0003). Adults living in recreational marijuana legal states (vs. no) were also more likely to report marijuana use, and there were significant age × race/ethnicity and education × race/ethnicity interactions (p<0.05) on marijuana use. Regarding the mode of use, racial minority users except Asians also reported a higher prevalence of smoking marijuana than their White counterparts. Substantial racial disparities in marijuana use patterns among adults who live with children highlight a potential risk for adolescents' health. Addressing these differences is essential for promoting equitable health outcomes in diverse communities.

"Caminando Con Riesgo": perceptions of occupational injury, workplace safety and workers rights among Spanish-speaking hospitalized patients.

Occupational health disparities are well documented among immigrant populations and occupational injury remains a high cause of morbidity and mortality among immigrant populations. There are several factors that contribute to the high prevalence of work-related injury among this population and those without legal status are more likely to experience abusive labor practices that can lead to injury. While the work-related injuries and experiences of Spanish-speaking workers have been explored previously, there is a paucity of literature documenting injury among hospitalized patients. Additionally, there are few documented hospital-based occupational injury prevention programs and no programs that implement workers rights information. The purpose of this study was to further explore the context of work related injuries primarily experienced by Spanish speaking patients and knowledge of their rights in the workplace. This was a semi-structured qualitative interview study with Spanish speaking patients admitted to the hospital for work related injuries. The study team member conducting interviews was bilingual and trained in qualitative methodology. An interview guide was utilized for all interviews and was developed with an immigrant workers rights organization and study team expertise, and factors documented in the literature. Participants were asked about the type and context of the injury sustained, access and perceptions of workplace safety, and knowledge of participants rights as workers. All interviews were conducted in Spanish, recorded, transcribed in Spanish and then translated into English. A codebook was developed and refined iteratively and two independent coders coded all English transcripts using Dedoose. Interviews were conducted until thematic saturation was reached and data was analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. A total of eight interviews were completed. All participants reported working in hazardous conditions that resulted in an injury. Participants expressed a relative acceptance that their workplace environment was dangerous and acknowledged that injuries were common, essentially normalizing the risk of injury. There were varying reports of access to and utilization of safety information and equipment and employer engagement in safety was perceived as a facilitator to safety. Most participants did have some familiarity with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspections but were not as familiar with OSHA procedures and their rights as workers. We identified several themes related to workplace injury among Spanish speaking patients, many of which raise concerns about access to workplace safety, re-injury and long-term recovery. The context around immigration is particularly important to consider and may lead to unique risk factors for injury, recovery, and re-injury both in the workplace and beyond the workplace, suggesting that perhaps immigration status alone may serve as a predisposition to injury. Thus, it is critical to understand the context around work related injuries in this population considering the tremendous impact of employment on one's health and financial stability. Further research on this topic is warranted, specifically the exploration of multiple intersecting layers of exposure to injury among immigrant populations. Future work should focus on hospital-based strategies for injury prevention and know your rights education tailored to Spanish speaking populations.

Temporary Custody in Care Centres. Report from a Study in the Silesian Voivodeship

One of the most important assumptions about the operation of the contemporary foster care system is that caring for a child deprived of proper living conditions in their own family is temporary. The aim of a child’s stay in foster care is to rebuild the stability of the family and restore it to the child or—should that emerge as impossible—to regulate the child’s legal status and initiate the adoption procedure.The research objective is to determine to what extent care centres fulfil the assumptions of foster care temporariness and define mutual relations between variables significant for the fulfilment of this assumption. It also aims to determine differences between towns with district rights and country districts concerning the indicators of foster care temporariness. The study was conducted based on financial and material reports on the performance of tasks in the field of family support and the system of foster care in the province of Silesia. The study results show that, on average, family reintegration occurs in the instance of one in nine children placed in institutional foster care. At the same time, the adoption rate is depicted by a downward trend. Another phenomenon of concern is that an increasing proportion of children leaving institutional foster care are those who become independent. This means that the temporariness of institutional foster care is decreasing. Research also demonstrated that the indicators of deinstitutionalisation and intensity of foster care do not have a statistically significant impact on fulfilling the temporariness assumption at care institutions. The type of county, on the other hand, has a statistically significant effect on the fulfilment of adoption tasks.

Missing Persons from the Communist Era in Albania as a Human Rights Challenge

Although more than three decades have passed since the fall of communism in Albania, nothing is still known about the burial place of over 6,000 missing persons. Family members still do not know the truth about the fate of their missing relatives. Such a thing not only represents a serious violation of the right to life, but has been causing a continuous suffering to the relatives of the missing people. During the last decades, a number of international and domestic laws have focused on the state obligation to create the necessary approach and mechanisms to handle this issue. The paper aims to make an analysis of the legal status of the missing people from the communist era in international and domestic law. In particular, the paper aims to examine domestic measures about this issue. The paper supports the hypothesis that despite the legal and institutional measures undertaken, the issue of missing persons from the communist era in Albania still represents a social and human rights challenge. Received: 25 December 2023 / Accepted: 25 February 2024 / Published: 23 April 2024

The Legal Status of LGBTQ+ in China: A Law and Politics Perspective

This short article analyzes the rights and status of LGBTQ+ individuals in China from the perspective of the relationship between law and politics. More specifically, it aims to further the discussion surrounding the legal status of LGBTQ+ individuals by examining the power dynamics and interplay among the government, society, and business interests that have collectively shaped laws and policies affecting LGBTQ+ communities alongside culture and ideology.

Validity of Property Sale and Purchase Agreement between Residents in Taman Duren Sawit Housing with Developer PT Altan Karsaprisma as a Result of a Lawsuit by a Third Party

This research aims to examine the validity of land and building sales and purchase agreements between residents at the Taman Duren Sawit Housing Complex (buyers) and developers (sellers), due to a lawsuit by a third party. This research is normative juridical, which uses a statutory approach (statute approach) and a case approach. The results of this research indicate that the developer as the seller has violated the objective conditions for the validity of the agreement, especially the conditions of "a certain thing" and the conditions of "halal causes", by selling objects whose ownership is still in dispute and there is no transparency regarding the legal status of the land of the sale and purchase object, which is still in dispute. Therefore, the agreement made is considered null and void by law. The legal remedy that can be taken by the buyer is to file an unlawful act lawsuit with the local district court based on Article 1365 of the Civil Code. This research concludes that the land and building sale and purchase agreement entered into by the parties is null and void because it has violated the terms of "a certain thing" and the terms of "halal causes" while the legal remedy that can be taken by buyers in good faith are to file a lawsuit. unlawful acts to the local district court.

Intellectual Property as Business Loan Collateral: A Taxonomy of Institutional and Economic Determinants

Abstract As a promising strategy to secure debt financing, firms can use their intellectual property rights (IPR) as collateral. Despite an ongoing shift to a more technology-based economy, the collateralization of IPR is still trailing behind the use of more traditional asset classes. In this paper, we address the challenges and opportunities of using IPR as collateral from a legal and economic angle by also exploring the role of and consequences for IP law. We develop a new taxonomy, i.e., a classification of the key determinants of using IPR as collateral. The taxonomy defines two pillars that govern the use of IPR collateral that distinguish between institutional and economic determinants. The institutional determinants cover contract law, IPR registries, and banking regulations. The economic determinants constitute the influence of IPR characteristics on the trade-off between the economic costs and benefits of collateralizing IPR. We apply the derived taxonomy to the legal and economic status quo in several industrialized economies to identify potential impediments to IPR-backed debt financing. Taken together, our taxonomy can be viewed as providing guidance for future research in the fields of law and economics on IPR as loan collateral for businesses.

Moral principles of advocacy: general provisions

This article, taking into account, first of all, the specifics of the legal status of a lawyer and lawyer activity in general, analyzes the essence of moral principles, as well as their importance in the context of ensuring the independence of a lawyer’s professional activity. The position is argued, according to which the possibility of practicing law at a high level is directly related to the strict observance of all moral requirements that apply to the legal profession and has a direct connection with the lawyer’s personality. Every lawyer should be aware that the lack of proper qualifications and non-compliance with moral principles results in the impossibility of ensuring the realization of the rights, freedoms and interests of persons who are the highest social value in society.&#x0D; The positions of both domestic and foreign scientists are analyzed, highlighting certain aspects of the independence and professionalism of the lawyer’s activity and their relationship with the moral principles that apply to the legal profession in general. It is concluded that moral principles are one of the foundations of ensuring the independent legal status of a lawyer, and a lawyer must proceed from the fact that all means and methods of lawyer activity must not only be legal, but must also meet the moral principles of society. Attention is drawn to the fact that the lawyer must, on the one hand, not forget the principle of prioritizing the client’s interests, and on the other hand, must proceed from the fact that the law and morality in his professional activity are higher than the will of his client.&#x0D; To reveal the stipulated tasks, and therefore, to achieve the set goal, the author used methods that are characteristic of legal science (systemic-structural, formal-dogmatic, comparative-legal), as well as the dialectical method of learning legal reality.

Participation of a lawyer in disciplinary proceedings against judges

The article examines certain aspects of a lawyer’s participation in disciplinary proceedings against a judge. It is noted that a lawyer in disciplinary proceedings against a judge can be both the initiator, upon whose complaint the disciplinary proceedings were opened, and the judge’s representative for the purpose of protecting his rights and interests. The focus of the study is on the representation of judges by a lawyer. Such interest is due to a number of reasons. First, since August 2020, the High Council of Justice has accumulated a significant number of disciplinary proceedings against judges, the resumption of proceedings of which took place only recently. Secondly, advocacy during the war underwent a significant transformation, as the demand for advocacy services changed. Many areas of lawyer practice have lost their relevance, which requires lawyers to review their approaches to their own professional development and areas of professional activity. In this context, a significant array of disciplinary proceedings against judges opens up new opportunities for lawyers. Their participation in the disciplinary procedure in relation to the judge is a promising direction for the development of the specialization of advocacy.&#x0D; Representation of a judge by a lawyer in disciplinary proceedings is a rather specific type of lawyer’s activity. After all, as a jurisdictional procedure, disciplinary proceedings against judges must meet the requirements of a «fair court» within the meaning of Art. 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which has many nuances. In particular, we are talking about the observance of such principles as openness, equality of parties, competitiveness and others in disciplinary proceedings. At the same time, the legal status of a judge implies a set of specific rights and duties of a judge along with numerous guarantees of his independence, which must be observed by all without exception. In addition, the legislation regulating the procedure for bringing a judge to disciplinary responsibility has recently undergone significant changes. Collectively, this requires a significant intellectual resource from the lawyer, which will allow to effectively protect the rights and interests of the judge in disciplinary proceedings, as well as to reasonably position oneself on the market of legal services in this segment of the lawyer’s specialization.

Energy Renovation and Inhabitants’ Health Literacy: Three Housing Buildings in Paris

Today, whether condominiums or social housing, Parisian buildings are undergoing a series of renovation processes aimed at enhancing their construction quality. This renewal, however, impacts the social life of the buildings, which has consolidated over the years. As a socio-technical process, renovation transforms existing architectural forms based on current housing standards. However, while a building may be composed of materials and populations, it is also the result of history, from its construction to its daily maintenance or degradation. Interpreted as such, this article posits that people with no control over their living environments are more likely to suffer from health problems, due to a lack of knowledge about underlying causes or low health literacy regarding living spaces. Consequently, their inability to adapt raises the question: How does an individual’s ability to control their living space influence their health? As part of the SAPHIR program, this article explores this by seeking to understand residents’ abilities, actions, and feelings concerning the tension between individual satisfaction levels and their impact on physical and mental health. It does so through three case studies of buildings constructed prior to 1973, focusing on their design, morphology, location, legal status, norms, and population types. Conducting individual interviews and collective focus groups allowed us to highlight the links between these elements by creating inhabitant and building typologies from different historical periods and standards.

Legal status and regulation of the German language in the Federal Republic of Germany

ABSTRACT Despite being an official language of several countries in Central and Western Europe, German is not formally recognised as the official language of the Federal Republic of Germany. However, in certain situations the use of the German language, including the spelling rules, is subject to state regulation (by acts of Federal Parliament or by administrative decisions). This article presents the content of this regulation, its scope, and the historical context in which it was adopted.

Navigating the legal liminalities of a de facto state: Migrant precarity and placeholder identity papers in Northern Cyprus

Abstract This article studies the contested legal–political dynamics around forced migration flows to and through an unrecognized state: the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). We adopt an analytical perspective drawn from the literature on performative politics and the legal anthropology of documents to explore how migration dynamics interact with the contested legal status of the TRNC. Our two main questions are: What practical shape do the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers take in an interstitial legal space, where the foundation of law is itself subject to ambiguity, suspension, and contestation? And what implications—opportunities and hazards—does this constellation have for refugees and asylum-seekers? Drawing on interviews, lived experience and fieldwork observations, we make two arguments. First, we contend that the interstitial status of the TRNC represents both an opportunity for refugees and a threat. Secondly, we argue that a purely legal or technical understanding of legal identity and concurrent rights is inadequate; we must subject these phenomena to a politically informed analysis of the everyday practices through which legal norms and spaces are continuously shaped and reshaped.