Rule Of Law Research Articles

Is employment protection legislation a driver or an inhibitor of entrepreneurship? The interaction between stringency and enforcement

PurposeThis study aims to revisit the relationship between the stringency of employment protection legislation and entrepreneurship at the macro-level using time series data from 28 OECD countries.Design/methodology/approachTo address model uncertainty, a Bayesian model averaging methodology is employed, overcoming issues related to predictor selection. Additionally, the study delves into the interaction between employment protection legislation and the rule of law, considering potential unintended consequences and overlapping effects. Heterogeneity within self-employment is explored, making a distinction between solo self-employment and employer entrepreneurship.FindingsThe findings reveal that the impact of employment protection legislation, both for regular and temporary employment, on aggregate solo self-employment rates is contingent upon the level of practical regulatory compliance. The legislation can either stimulate or hinder entrepreneurship, highlighting the nuanced nature of its influence on macro-level entrepreneurial activities.Practical implicationsThe results of this study provide valuable insights for policymakers and regulators by emphasizing the complexity of the relationships under consideration. Understanding the potential interactions between employment protection legislation, rule of law and practical regulatory compliance is crucial for designing an effective and conducive regulatory environment for entrepreneurship.Originality/valueThis research offers a unique contribution to the literature in three distinct ways: by addressing model uncertainty through Bayesian model averaging, examining the interaction between employment protection legislation and the rule of law and differentiating between solo self-employment and employer entrepreneurship. These distinctive elements enhance the originality and value of the study, providing a more nuanced understanding of the intricate relationship between legal frameworks and macro-level entrepreneurship.

Finality and Certainty in the Integrated National System of Chapter III Courts: Judge Vasta v Stradford

Australian authority holds that there is a critical distinction between superior and inferior courts when it comes to the legal force of judicial orders affected by jurisdictional error. It is said that such orders, when made by a superior court, have legal force unless and until set aside but that, when made by an inferior court, they lack legal force from the outset. This distinction — recently consigned to pre-1846 history by the United Kingdom Supreme Court — does not align with the contemporary reality of the integrated system of courts established under Ch III of the Australian Constitution. The appeals in Commonwealth v Stradford, Judge Vasta v Stradford and Queensland v Stradford present an opportunity for the High Court of Australia to set a new approach that reflects the constitutional context for Ch III court operation. Specifically, the appeals may be upheld on the basis that any purported order made by a Ch III court acting as a repository of judicial power has legal force unless and until set aside.

Principles Governing the Exercise of Discretionary Powers by Public Authorities: Systematic Structure and Constitutional-Legal Foundation

This study aims to substantiate the need to establish a modern system of principles for the implementation of the discretionary powers of public authorities as a fundamental element of their operational mechanism. This study provides an overview of the principles of the principles governing the exercise of discretionary powers, as outlined in international and national legal frameworks. Key principles such as the rule of law, legality, reasonable restraint, equality, legal certainty, objectivity, impartiality, and proportionality are identified, and their constitutional and legal interpretations are analyzed. Special attention should be given to the importance of constructing a coherent system of principles for exercising discretionary powers. The following classifications are proposed: 1) Fundamental principles: the rule of law and legality is of paramount importance in shaping the legal institution of discretionary powers; 2) General principles: proper use of discretionary powers, equality before the law, objectivity, impartiality, and reasonable timeframes; 3) Special principles: proportionality and constitutional restraint. In addition, the principle of prudentiality is highlighted as a distinct principle, despite its absence in national legislation, as it is applied in the practices of certain authorities. This study concludes that the formal legal establishment and practical application of the aforementioned principles not only share the nature and outcomes of interaction between public authorities but will also provide robust guarantees for the rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests of individuals and organizations, protecting them from abuse and arbitrariness

European Arrest Warrants, the rule of law and communication: What future for mutual recognition?

This contribution addresses the insistence of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the two-step test in the context of European Arrest Warrants (EAWs) and focuses on the advantages this approach offers whilst acknowledging its downsides. Crucially, the Court's approach keeps the vertical and horizontal channels of communication open and is flanked by a subtle broadening of the criteria, which the requested judicial authority can take into consideration when assessing the second limb of the test. This shift provides national judicial authorities with tools to respond to rule of law violations by refusing the execution of an EAW. This move to judicial subsidiarity creates pitfalls, but the Court's focus on communication has the potential to transform the Court's initial top-down approach to mutual trust into a bottom-up approach, which could foster the emergence of, and strengthen, real trust between national judicial authorities.

X-raying Human Rights Violations by Government Agencies in Nigeria's Democratic System of Government

Respect for human rights is diminishing within Nigeria's democracy, with the political elite often acting with impunity and ignoring the rule of law. Gender discrimination and exclusion of marginalized citizens persist in politics. This study investigated human rights violations by government agencies in Nigeria, with the aim of enhancing understanding of the situation and proposing policy recommendations for promoting human rights. The study employed a descriptive survey research design, with 150 individuals randomly selected from government agencies in Lagos state. Data was collected through in-depth interviews, with the analysis focusing on patterns in conversations, text, and activities. The findings reveal the emotional and systemic impacts of government agencies' human rights violations, calling for sweeping reforms and enhanced accountability. Respondents also stress the complexity of accountability challenges and advocate for a collaborative approach. They offer valuable strategies, including government reforms, civil society involvement, education and awareness, learning from successful examples, and using media and digital platforms to promote human rights and accountability. The study concluded that the findings underscore the urgent need for comprehensive and collaborative efforts to address the multifaceted challenges of human rights violations in Nigeria. This requires the involvement of all stakeholders, including the government, civil society organizations, and the media. Sweeping reforms and enhanced accountability mechanisms are essential to ensure justice and the protection of human rights for all Nigerians. This study provides a valuable overview of human rights violations by government agencies in Nigeria's democratic system of government. The findings highlight the need for urgent action to address the root causes of these violations and to ensure accountability for perpetrators. The study's recommendations offer a roadmap for promoting human rights and strengthening democracy in Nigeria.

How Does the Level of Rule of Law Affect Foreign Direct Investment in Renewable Energy Power Projects?

ABSTRACT Using a manually curated database, we assess the installed capacity of 203 overseas renewable energy power projects invested in by Chinese companies from 2014 to 2023 to examine the relationship between the level of rule of law and foreign direct investment. Our results indicate that there is a negative correlation between the level of rule of law and the installed capacity of renewable energy power projects in FDI. The results of heterogeneity tests reveal that when investment decisions are primarily influenced by the legal framework rather than other factors, the negative correlation between the level of rule of law and FDI is more significant. Finally, we conduct three robustness tests, all of which robustly support our conclusions.

The effects of rule of law, regulatory quality, and R&D on Japan's environmental sustainability

AbstractThis study investigates Japan's ecological footprint, addressing the lack of comprehensive research on the environmental impacts of globalization, trade openness, regulatory quality, and rule of law in the country. Using data from 1990 to 2021, the study explores the relationship between these variables and Japan's ecological footprint through autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) analysis, Granger causality tests, and diagnostics to assess variable stability. The ARDL results reveal that (i) the rule of law and trade openness reduce Japan's ecological footprint, (ii) regulatory quality and globalization increase it in the long run, and (iii) research and development improve the ecological footprint in the short run. Additionally, the Granger causality test indicates a unidirectional relationship, where the ecological footprint influences all the explanatory variables. These findings highlight the importance of coordinated policies to address Japan's environmental challenges. To mitigate its ecological footprint, Japan should promote stronger legal frameworks, trade openness, and investment in research and development, while ensuring adherence to the rule of law.

The Role of Governance in Strengthening of the Constitutional Judiciary

This research article aims to identify the governance of the judiciary in various aspects (transparency, rule of law, participation, accountability, justice, and equality) and its impact on the development of constitutional judicial powers. To centralize the authority and achieve judicial goals within the state, reforms must be implemented. The concept of judicial governance was previously nonexistent, with some viewing judicial power as separate entities performing their duties independently. However, due to developments that the world has witnessed, the responsibilities of the constitutional judiciary have increased, leading to the adoption and application of governance principles. This can only be achieved through promoting the concept of governance and implementing its principles in all state institutions, particularly those of a constitutional nature. This includes reforming the institutional structure to recover the powers to the judiciary, which serves as the arbiter, separator, and balancer among all branches of government.

Crimes against Palestinian Civilians Under Zionist Occupation

Throughout its long history, humanity has coexisted with conflicts, power, influence, policies of violence and distress, bloodbaths, massacres, racial calamities and famines. Its present and future visions are still subject to horrors, hardships and tragedies. International humanitarian law has come to express these values in legal language that imposes the obligation on the States parties that make up these agreements. The basic rules and principles of this law have become a set of values accepted by the entire international community and to know that the civilian population is the first to be exposed in most cases to acts of aggression and violence. In different parts of the world, we are witnessing the process of ethnic cleansing, mass killings and atrocities committed against civilians and destroying their homes and property. This is what prompted the researcher to choose his research ( crimes committed against Palestinian civilians under the Zionist occupation) to answer many questions, including knowing who are civilians through the concept of crimes against civilians. The international trend of retaliation against civilians was rejected during the military operations. In the UN General Assembly resolution adopted in 1970, it is not permissible to retaliate against the civilian population, whether they are a group or individuals in armed conflicts. Civilians, in particular, within the framework of international humanitarian law, which is a newly established law that includes a set of international legal rules targeting situations of armed conflict and the protection of civilians suffering from the scourge of this conflict , and the subsequent military occupation. The rules of international humanitarian law are characterized by moral highness, as they codify the rules of morality that must prevail during armed conflict and military occupation

Mikhail M. Speransky and his Constitutional Project

Mikhail M. Speransky was a versatile person, who knew law, politics, philosophy, mathematics, physics, eloquence. Even Napoleon was impressed by the sharpness of the mind of the Russian political figure. The statesman clearly understood the needs of the society of the 19th century, realized what and how it was necessary to bring the Russian Empire into the state system in order to improve it. Indeed, a detailed analysis of the constitutional project of the great reformer is of great importance for the history of Russia. Thus, research on this topic remains relevant now. Mikhail M. Speransky is a key figure who found himself at the junction of two eternally opposing movements of socio-political thought, namely: conservatism and liberalism. The reformer was a supporter of liberal transformations, but for their successful implementation it was necessary to have a society, albeit conservative, but internally ready for new trends in politics, state and law. Why did a statesman with radical views fail to fully implement his ambitious plans? Is his large-scale plan only a ghostly illusion? The paper examines the main directions of the liberal policy of Mikhail M. Speransky in the process of creating and trying to implement a constitutional project, analyzes objective and subjective socio-historical factors that influenced the possibility of the actual implementation of the ideas of an astute and wise state and legal figure. Special attention is also paid to the significance of the personality of Mikhail Mikhailovich — a reformer with radical views — in the history of our country. Undoubtedly, Mikhail M. Speransky formulated a large number of liberal postulates governing the creation of a rule of law. Echoes of some of his ideas can be seen in modern concepts and principles implemented in Russia.

Rule of Law, Regulatory Quality and investment Growth in Nigeria: An Impact Analysis

This study focus on rule of law, regulatory quality and investment growth in Nigeria employing ordinary least square method of estimation. A time series data spanning from 1997 to 2019. The economic growth was proxied with investment growth, while other variables include rule of law, regulatory quality, consumer price index, premium lending rate, trade openness, financial deepening, investment, gross investment and gross fixed capital formation. The finding of the OLS result shows that there is significant positive relationship between rule of law, regulatory quality and economic growth. Also, the result of the ECM shows that the speed of adjustment of the investment growth in the long run would be accounted for in short run by the magnitude of 27% and 40%. In the robustness check, negative significant relationship exist between rule of law, regulatory quality, investment and gross investment. Findings from granger causality test shows that there is a unidirectional causality between rule of law and economic growth, and also a bidirectional causality between regulatory quality and economic growth. Thus, improvement in the governance and institutional framework in Nigeria is suggested as policy recommendation.

The Use of Good Governance Principles in Educational Institution Administration by Administrators of Vocational Educational Institutions in Chonburi Province

Background and Aims: Administrators are considered to be the people who play the most important role in promoting and developing a culture of democracy and good governance in educational institutions. The management ability of the administrators affects various operations in the educational institution in order to achieve maximum efficiency and effectiveness. This research aims to study and compare the use of good governance principles. Including guidelines for managing educational institutions under vocational education in Chonburi Province. Considering the gender, position, and work experience of executives in each area. Methodology: The research sample consisted of 269 administrators and teachers in educational institutions under vocational education in Chonburi Province. The research instrument was a questionnaire with a 5-level rating scale with a confidence value of 0.97 and the concordance value (IOC) ranged from 0.8 to 1.00. There was a question about the use of good governance principles in the management of educational institutions among the said administrators. For data analysis, basic statistics were used, including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. Including testing with t-test and F-test to get accurate and reliable results. Results: (1) The results of the study found that opinions regarding the use of good governance principles in the administration of educational institutions by administrators under the vocational education department in Chonburi Province Overall it is at a high level. (2) When classifying the use of good governance principles by gender It was found that overall there was no difference. But when considering each aspect It was found that the moral aspect transparency. And the responsibility aspect is significantly different at the 0.05 level, while there is no difference in other aspects. (3) For classification by status It was found that school administrators and teachers used good governance principles in the overall management of educational institutions. But when considering each aspect It was found that the principles of participation responsibility and value for money are significantly different at the 0.05 level, while other aspects are not different. (4) Classification according to work experience It was found that the overall use of good governance principles was not different. But when considering transparency, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level. While the rule of law, morality, value for money responsibility and there was no difference in participation. Conclusion: The administration of an educational institution according to the principles of good governance consists of two groups of important people: 1) administrators, who are responsible for setting a clear vision, strategy, and policy for educational institution administration. 2) Teachers, whose role is to perform their duties in teaching and promoting the learning of pupils and students. Using a variety of teaching methods to develop students' full potential.

Microfinance, Financial Inclusion and Economic Welfare in Africa: A Panel Investigation

This study explores the relationship between microfinance, financial inclusion, and economic welfare in a sample of 23 African countries for the period of 2004 to 2023 using annual time series data. We measured microfinance with the number of Branches of Microfinance banks, Microfinance Borrowers, Microfinance outstanding deposits, Microfinance outstanding loans; financial inclusion number of registered mobile money accounts per 1,000 adults; the number of mobile money agent outlets par 1,000 adults; and digital card ownership; governance and institutional quality with Rule of law, regulatory quality, and government effectiveness; and economic welfare with household consumption; while we controlled for the inflation rate, interest rate and exchange rate. These variables were estimated using Panel Least Squares, Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS), Dynamic OLS (DOLS), and Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation techniques. The result of the cointegration revealed that cointegration exists between the variables of the model. Findings from the aforesaid estimation techniques show that there is the existence of long-run relationships between microfinance, financial inclusion, and economic welfare since the coefficients of the microfinance and financial inclusion variables are statistically significant. The coefficients of the error correction terms which measure the effects of the short-run dynamics of the model suggest that the speeds of adjustment from the long run to the short run in the models would be 76%, 61%, 83%, 67%, 68%, 34%, and 80% respectively for all the specified models. Following the findings of the study, conclusions were drawn and the study suggests that microfinance institutions should adapt to the digitization of their products and services for wider coverage on one hand; the government should provide digital financial amenities to create a fertile ground for micro-financial institutions to rely on to maximize the welfare of the economy.

Agricultural trade liberalization, governance quality, and technical efficiency in the agricultural sector of Southeast Asia

International trade has been regarded as an essential factor in enhancing a country's productivity and efficiency. Nevertheless, developing countries squander money and resources as a result of their deficient institutional quality, impeding their ability to profit from specialization and trade. Therefore, this study intends to investigate the impact of agricultural trade liberalization and governance quality on technical efficiency in Southeast Asia's agricultural sector using balanced panel data spanning from 2002 to 2021. The research utilizes translog stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) with a single-stage maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to simultaneously calculate the time-varying technical efficiency scores and explore the core factors influencing agricultural inefficiency. The findings reveal that the average output-oriented technical efficiency for ASEAN-8 countries was 94 %. This suggests that there is significant potential to enhance technical efficiency in agricultural production by up to 6 % by addressing the adverse impacts of technical inefficiency. The research findings further point out that Malaysia is the most technically efficient country, having a technical efficiency score of 99.82 %, followed by Vietnam (99.75 %), Thailand (99.70 %), Lao PDR (98.90 %), Myanmar (95.42 %), Indonesia (91.64 %), the Philippines (90.65 %), and Cambodia (76.11 %). The results of disaggregated agricultural trade liberalization demonstrate a significant reduction in agricultural inefficiency in Southeast Asia through agricultural exports and imports. The findings also emphasize that improvements in the rule of law positively contribute to agricultural efficiency, whereas enhancements in terms of voice and accountability and regulatory quality appear to reduce it. Based on these findings, the government should consider enlarging open and liberalized trade policies in order to facilitate the exchange of technology and knowledge within the agriculture sector. Additionally, the government should involve farmers, agricultural cooperatives, local communities, and other relevant stakeholders in the decision-making process to ensure that policies address the specific needs and constraints faced by the sector.

Mortgage Rights as a Guarantee of Legal Protection for Creditors in Financing According to Thomas Hobbes's Theory of Justice

This study discusses the right of dependency as a guarantee of legal protection for creditors in financing based on the theory of justice from Thomas Hobbes. The right of dependents, as a legal instrument that gives creditors priority rights to repay debts through objects used as collateral, has an important role in maintaining a balance of interests between creditors and debtors. In the context of Hobbes' theory of justice, security and legal certainty are fundamental aspects that need to be maintained to avoid conflicts and ensure a stable social order. This article outlines how Hobbes' concept of justice, which emphasizes the need for the state to maintain order through the rule of law, is relevant to the regulation of dependent rights in the financing system. The right of dependency provides legal certainty to creditors, which can be considered as part of the mechanism to achieve distributive justice in society. In the end, this article concludes that the right of dependency plays a role as a form of legal protection that is fair to creditors, in line with Hobbes's concept of justice which prioritizes security and certainty in social life.

Access to justice for atrocities in the comparison of land-mark cases on state immunity in Brazil and Italy

ABSTRACT This article investigates differences and similarities in the approach of Italian and Brazilian domestic courts to the topic of access to justice for atrocities and the role of state immunity, taking particular note of the limited and select dialogue between the two judiciaries and reflecting on the potential for further developments of the customary international law rule on state immunity. To do so, the article first outlines the rule on state immunity and offers an overview of the articulated Italian case law on why state immunity cannot bar access to justice for atrocities, considering the judicial developments occurred after 2004. The paper moves on to describe the recent 2021 decision of the Brazilian Supremo Tribunal Federal, in which the Brazil judiciary seemingly joined the Italian trend against state immunity when atrocities are committed. The two different judicial trends are then compared and analysed, with a discussion on the limited explicit reference to Italian decisions by the Supremo Tribunal Federal. The article concludes the research by describing the likely impact of these judicial trends on future developments on the relationship between access to justice for atrocities and state immunity.

The Life of the Rule of Law

The rule of law has become all things to all people, which is precisely why it has been hard to define. Rather than attempt that feat, this article traces how the rule of law has developed as a set of specific governing practices both in the history of comparative law and in recent policy debates. Whereas national legal traditions blended ideas about the constraining effects of law with normative ideas about the organization of politics, the policy conversation has tended to depoliticize law altogether. As a result, it became possible for aspirational autocrats determined to undermine normative legal constraints to game the system and use law for autocratic ends. The rule of law is now beginning a new life, however, through a movement to deparochialize law and re-embed it in transnational norms. This rule of law writ large has become a new touchstone for holding political power accountable through law.

Neurophysiological Correlates of Expert Knowledge: An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Study about Law-Relevant Versus Law-Irrelevant Terms.

The evaluation of evidence, which frequently takes the form of scientific evidence, necessitates the input of experts in relevant fields. The results are presented as expert opinions or expert evaluations, which are generally accepted as a reliable representation of the facts. A further issue that remains unresolved though is the process of evaluating the expertise and knowledge of an expert in the first instance. In general, earned certificates, grades and other objective criteria are typically regarded as representative documentation to substantiate an expert status. However, there is a possibility that these may not always be sufficiently representative. The goal of the present study was to provide evidence that the neural processing of law-relevant and law-irrelevant terms varies significantly between participants who have received training in the field of law (experts) and those who have not (novices). To this end, changes in brain activity were recorded via electroencephalography (EEG) during visual presentations of terms belonging to five different categories (fake right, democracy, filler word, basic right and rule of law). Event-related potentials (ERPs) were subsequently averaged for each category and subjected to statistical analysis. The results clearly demonstrate that participants trained in law processed fake rights and filler words in a similar manner. Furthermore, both of these conditions elicited different levels of brain activity compared to all law-relevant terms. This was not the case in participants who had not received legal training. The brains of untrained participants processed all five term categories in a strikingly similar manner. In light of prior knowledge regarding language processing, the primary focus was on two distinct electrode locations: one in the left posterior region, and the other in the left frontal region. In both locations, the most prominent differences in brain activity elicited by the aforementioned term categories in law-trained participants occurred approximately 450 milliseconds after stimulus onset. The results were further corroborated by a repeated-measures ANOVA and subsequent t-tests, which also demonstrated the absence of this effect in law-untrained participants. The findings of this study provide empirical evidence that brain activity measurements, in particular ERPs, can be used to distinguish between experts trained in a specific field of expertise and novices in that field. Such findings have the potential to facilitate objective assessments of expertise, enabling comparisons between experts and novices that extend beyond traditional criteria such as qualifications and experience. Instead, individuals can be evaluated based on their cognitive processes, as observed through brain activity.

On Procedural Safeguards of the Rights of the Accused and Suspect in Termination of Criminal Prosecution on Non-Rehabilitating Grounds

The institute of termination of criminal cases (criminal prosecution) on non-rehabilitating grounds has long raised questions in the theory of criminal procedure regarding its legitimacy. Many authors see a significant logical contradiction between this institute and the principle of presumption of innocence, which is essential for protecting human rights. However, this issue cannot be resolved by declaring the question of guilt in cases terminated on these grounds as “open”, or by simply replacing the term “finding of guilt” with the term “ascertaining of guilt”. It is proposed to address this issue within the framework of legal interpretation of the concept and essence of presumptions, including the presumption of innocence. By providing that the accused is considered innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the law and established by a court verdict that has entered into legal force, the presumption of innocence applies only to a specific situation where the criminal process ends with a guilty verdict. However, it operates more broadly outside of this situation – as a mechanism for distributing the burden of proof between the parties in the process, which is used only until it is no longer necessary, that is, when the process of proving guilt is not completed by any final decision in the criminal case (not just a guilty verdict), and only until that moment can it be stated that the accused is considered innocent. Among such decisions are procedural decisions to terminate a criminal case (prosecution) on non-rehabilitating grounds, in which the investigator, taking into account the above, ascertain the person’s guilt in committing a crime and informs them of this.

Money Talks? The Effectiveness of Sanctions in the ‘Rule of Law’ Conflict in the European Union

Money Talks? The Effectiveness of Sanctions in the ‘Rule of Law’ Conflict in the European Union