Thesis (LLD (Private Law))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The objective of this study is to examine the significance of introducing and strengthening apartment ownership in China. The research aims to explore and scrutinize various apartment ownership options from selected jurisdictions in order to provide a framework for similar legislation in China. Hence, the research seeks to provide a legislative framework for a uniform condominium statute by closely examining the South African Sectional Titles Act and the American Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. This comparative study will help to establish a uniform condominium statute suitable to the Chinese national character and compatible with the pace of the country’s economic development. The thesis is organized into seven chapters. The first chapter explains the research topic, theoretical basis of the thesis, and research methodology. Moreover, in this chapter the historical background and status quo of Chinese condominium institution are also illustrated. Following this introduction, Chapter Two explores the theoretical structure of condominium ownership. It depicts the legislative innovation arising from its sui generis features and explains the objects of condominium ownership on the basis of its unique definition. In Chapter Three, a wide spectrum of provisions is identified pertaining to the creation of condominium in China with reference to South African and American acts. Specifically, it observes the requirements for land intended for subdivision and the buildings that comprise a condominium project. It is highlighted that a condominium’s constitutive document is unregulated in China. Moreover, the characteristic Chinese land registration procedure is also presented. Chapter Four demonstrates the significance of the participation quota and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of different participation quota calculating methods. Chapter Five emphasizes that inherent in the condominium living is the interdependence of interests among unit owners. Consequently, this chapter focuses on condominium owners’ use and enjoyment of their apartments and the common property. Chapter Six elaborates on condominium management. This chapter examines the management body, the general meeting, the executive council and the managing agent. It concludes that having a well-structured management body is essential since a condominium community cannot function efficiently without a management association to represent all of the owners and to handle day-to-day operations. The last chapter concludes that China needs to enact a uniform condominium to protect private interests within the condominium context.

Den tekniska utvecklingen, närmare bestämt introduktionen av fenomenet självkörande fordon, har medfört att det i skrivande stund föreligger viss oklarhet beträffande ansvarsfrågan enligt gällande rätt. Denna oklarhet har varit föremål för diskussion i ett delbetänkande från regeringen. I SOU 2016:28 finns sammanfattade förslag på reglering, däremot endast avseende försöksverksamheten ”Drive Me” som biltillverkaren Volvo ligger bakom. För att bemöta denna oklarhet har rättsläget diskuterats och problematiserats i hopp om ökad insikt i frågan. Detta utifrån framförallt skadeståndslagen, trafikskadelagen och produktansvarslagen samt generella skadeståndsrättsliga principer och ansvarsformer. Sammantaget har det kunnat konstateras att det inte finns någon självklar lösning på problemet, även om det i ett flertal situationer går att få en uppfattning av vad som vore juridiskt rimligt. Uppsatsen bidrar således till en problematisering av rättsläget inför den kommande harmoniseringen av teknik och juridik; ett steg i utvecklingen. / The technological development, specifically the introduction of the phenomenon of driverless vehicles, has meant that the time of writing, some ambiguity regarding the issue of liability under the law exists. This uncertainty has been discussed in an interim report from the government. Proposals on regulation are summarized in current SOU, however, only for the pilot project “Drive Me” as the automaker Volvo is behind. In order to address this uncertainty, the legal position has discussed and problematized in the hope of increasing awareness on the issue. Mainly from tort liability, Traffic damage Act, product liability law and liability forms and general principles of tort law. Overall, it´s been established that there is no obvious solution to the problem, although it´s possible to get an idea of what would be legally reasonable in a number of situations. The essay contributes thus to a discussion of problems of the legal position for the upcoming harmonization of technology and law; a stage of development.

This thesis inquires into the meaning of the right to security of person. This right is found in many international, regional and domestic human rights instruments. However, academic discourse reveals disagreement about the meaning of the right. The thesis first considers case law from the European Convention on Human Rights, the South African Bill of Rights and the Canadian Charter. The analysis shows that courts too disagree about the meaning of the right to security of person. The thesis then takes a theoretical approach to understanding the meaning of the right. It is argued that the concept of ‘security’ establishes that the right imposes both positive and negative duties but that ‘security’ does not determine which interests are protected by the right. For this, we need consider the meaning of the ‘person’. The notion of personhood as understood in the ‘capabilities approach’ of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum is then introduced. It is suggested that this theory could be used to identify the interests protected by the right. Next, the theoretical developments are applied to the legal context in order to illustrate the variety of interests the right to security of person would protect and the type of duties it would impose. As a result, it is argued that the idea of ‘security of person’ is too broad to form the subject matter of an individual legal right. This raises a question over the relationship between security of person and human rights law. It is proposed that instead of recognising an individual legal right to security of person, human rights law as a whole could be seen as a mechanism to secure the person, the capabilities approach determining what it takes to fulfil a right and thereby secure the person.

This DPhil thesis analyses the Takeover Bid Directive in the light of EU Law and examines the extent to which this Directive facilitates the exercise of the fundamental freedom of establishment and the free movement of capital in the internal market. Since the Directive is based on the EC Treaty chapter on freedom of establishment (Articles 43 and 44(2)(g) EC Treaty), it should in principle contribute to cross frontier corporate mobility in the internal market through takeover bids; this was the aim of the Commission in its various proposals. Takeover bids and the EC Treaty provisions on freedom of establishment are closely related. The Directive forms part of the EU company law harmonization programme whose weaknesses and limits are also explored. However, the Takeover Bid Directive is an EU company law instrument with strong links to EU capital market law. The initial aims of the EU legislature were to establish an internal market for companies and to achieve market integration in the field of EU company law. However, the Takeover Bid Directive is a compromise and watered down version of a proposal which the Commission envisaged would lead to a more effective pan-European takeover regime than that which actually proved possible. The need for compromise was the result of the very different legal and policy approaches of the Member States in the field of takeover regulation. Some provisions of the Directive are obligatory for all Member States. These provisions include the mandatory bid rule, the squeeze-out right, and the sell-out right. All these obligatory provisions of the Directive are in their present form open to criticism. The two key provisions of the Directive have been made optional for Member States. These are the non-frustration rule, requiring the board to obtain the prior authorization of the general meeting of shareholders before taking any action which could result in the frustration of the bid; and the breakthrough rule, requiring that any restrictions on the transfer of securities or voting rights provided for in the articles of association of the offeree company or in contractual agreements between the offeree company and the holders of its securities or in contractual agreements between holders of the offeree company’s securities shall not apply vis-à-vis the offeror during the time allowed for acceptance of the bid. Nevertheless, Member States, which opt out, are obliged to allow individual companies to opt in. Moreover, a reciprocity rule was also adopted, which allows Member States to permit those companies, which apply these provisions, to opt out again if they are the target of a bidder, which does not itself apply the same takeover provisions. Additionally, the non-frustration and the breakthrough rule are not fully comprehensive and even when a company applies them, it might still be able to evade their application since some corporate and financial structures remain outside the Directive’s scope. Finally, this thesis discusses the extent to which obstacles to cross border takeovers addressed by the Directive, or indeed left intact by the Directive, are to be regarded as restrictions on the right of establishment stricto sensu, or simply as obstacles in practice to making a successful takeover bid. More specifically, it scrutinizes the horizontal direct effect of the EC fundamental freedoms and seeks to analyze the extent to which conduct of the board and articles in the corporate constitution might be said to constitute restrictions on the freedom of establishment and on the free movement of capital.

Although both Canada and the United Kingdom had experienced terrorism prior to the attacks that occurred in the United States on September 11, 2001, Roach has argued that the events of that day ‘produced a horrible natural experiment that allows us to compare how international institutions and different countries responded’. Arguably, the most significant international response post-9/11 was the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373, which set a 90-day deadline for states to implement measures in accordance with the Resolution. Despite the fact that both Canada and the United Kingdom already had in place extensive provisions to deal with terrorism, both countries responded swiftly and their legislative responses reflect the histories and legal, political and social cultures of each country. This thesis tests the hypothesis that national security remains a bastion of national sovereignty, despite the force of international legal instruments like UN Security Council Resolution 1373 and, as such, the evolution of counter-terrorism policies in different jurisdictions is best analyzed and understood as a product of local institutional structures and cultures. To test this hypothesis, this thesis engages in comparative analyses of legal and political structures and cultures within Canada and the United Kingdom. It analyses variations in the evolution of counter-terrorism policies in the two jurisdictions and explores the domestic reasons for them. In its analysis of security certificates and bail with recognizance/investigative hearings in Canada, and detention without trial, control orders and TPIMs in the UK, this thesis reveals how domestic structures and cultures, including the legal system, the relative stability of government, local human rights culture, and geopolitical relationships all influence how counter-terrorism measures evolve.

Internet intermediaries facilitate a wide range of conduct using services supplied over the layered architecture of modern communications networks. Members of this class include search engines, social networks, internet service providers, website operators, hosts, and payment gateways, which together exert a critical and growing influence upon national and global economies, governments and cultures. This research examines who should face legal responsibility when wrongdoers utilise these services tortiously to cause harm to others. It has three parts. Part 1 seeks to understand the nature of an intermediary and how its liability differs from the liability of primary defendants. It classifies intermediaries according to a new layered, functional taxonomy and argues that many instances of secondary liability in English private law reflect shared features and underlying policies, including optimal loss-avoidance and derivative liability premised on an assumption of responsibility. Part 2 analyses intermediaries’ monetary liability for secondary wrongdoing in two areas of English law: defamation and copyright. It traces the historical evolution of these doctrines at successive junctures in communications technology, before identifying and defending limits on that liability which derive from three main sources: (i) in-built limits contained in definitions of secondary wrongdoing; (ii) European safe harbours and general limits on remedies; and (iii) statutory defences and exceptions. Part 3 examines intermediaries’ non-monetary liability, in particular their obligations to disclose information about alleged primary wrongdoers and to cease facilitating wrongdoing where it is necessary and proportionate to do so. It proposes a new suite of non-facilitation remedies designed to restrict access to tortious internet materials, remove such materials from search engines, and reduce the profitability of wrongdoing. It concludes with several recommendations to improve the effectiveness and proportionality of remedies by reference to considerations of architecture, anonymity, efficient procedures, and fundamental rights.

La liberté de religion, souvent reconnue comme étant la « première liberté » dans de nombreuses traditions juridiques, reflète également les différentes conceptions de la place de l’individu et de la communauté dans la société. Notre étude analysera les modèles constitutionnels canadien, américain et européen de liberté de religion et conscience. Dans un premier chapitre, nous examinerons les conceptions théoriques de la religion dans les sciences sociales ainsi les approches juridiques afin de mieux cerner comment la religion est conçue et de plus, comprendre les diverses influences sur sa conceptualisation. Dans un second et troisième chapitre, nous tenterons d’une part, de qualifier la relation entre la liberté de conscience et la liberté de religion au Canada en nous livrant à une analyse approfondie des deux libertés et d’autre part, d’identifier les questions qui demeurent irrésolues. Dans le chapitre final, nous observerons comment la liberté de conscience a été interprétée dans les contextes américain et dans l’Union Européenne, par le biais de la Cour Européenne des droits de l’Homme. Notre hypothèse est que l’on peut arriver à une meilleure compréhension de la relation entre les libertés de conscience et religion en clarifiant les conceptions théoriques de la religion et de la conscience en droit constitutionnel comparé. / Freedom of religion, often recognised as “first freedom” in numerous legal traditions, also reflects the different conceptions of the place of the individual and the collectivity in society. Our study will analyse the Canadian, American and European constitutional models of freedom of religion and conscience. In a first chapter, we will examine the theoretical conceptions of religion in the social sciences as well as from the perspectives of legal approaches in order to discern the manner in which religion is conceived and to better understand its various influences. In this way, we hope to enhance our understanding of both identity and to a greater extent, culture, both in and out of law. In the second and third chapters, we will attempt to characterise the relationship between freedom of conscience and freedom of religion in Canada, as well as identify unresolved issues. In the final chapter, we will observe how freedom of conscience has been interpreted in the American legal setting as well as in the European Union, by way of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). We hypothesise that a better understanding of the relationship between the freedoms of conscience and religion can be arrived at by clarifying the theoretical conceptions of religion and conscience in comparative constitutional law.

This thesis asks how manifestation of religious belief by religious individuals can best be protected in English law. It is particularly concerned with the protection available to religious individuals in the public sphere. This thesis assesses the current state of protection under religious freedom and religious discrimination models, before considering the potential for increasing protection by reconceptualising the right to manifest religious belief as an aspect of freedom of expression. This thesis asks whether the practical and conceptual limitations of a religious freedom model, and Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in particular, can be overcome by reliance on alternative modes of protection, namely religious discrimination protections in domestic, Convention, and EU law, or through litigating religious manifestation claims as freedom of expression cases under Article 10 of the ECHR. The difficulty of communicating the harm in being denied the ability to manifest religious beliefs publicly is a key limitation of both religious freedom and religious discrimination models. Similarly, this thesis highlights the difficulty in assessing what weight should be attributed to such religious harm within a proportionality exercise balancing the rights of religious individuals with the rights and interests of other parties. The analysis in this thesis draws primarily upon the sources of law which shape domestic English law in this area, namely the ECHR and European Union law. However, this thesis also considers foreign precedent and case law from the United States in particular. This thesis contends that no one model can address the range of cases where manifestation of religious beliefs arise, and that litigants should be able to draw from religious freedom, religious discrimination, and freedom of expression protections depending on the nature of their case.

Il n'existe pas de principe général de proportionnalité en droit américain. Un contrôle est néanmoins présent dans la jurisprudence de la Cour suprême, bien qu'il ne soit pas toujours reconnu comme tel. Au vu des techniques utilisées à cette fin, une partie de la doctrine évoque une expérience exceptionnelle tandis qu'une autre relativise ce point de vue dans le domaine de la limitation des droits. La décision US c Carolene products de 1938 marque la fin d'une période d'interventionnisme judiciaire et constitue le point de départ de cette étude. Sous l'ère Lochner, l'invalidation quasi automatique des lois restreignant les libertés économiques valut à la Cour le qualificatif de « Gouvernement des juges ». Afin d'asseoir sa légitimité, elle élabora la doctrine des « degrés du contrôle » selon laquelle le standard de justification des atteintes dépend de la nature du droit restreint. Son travail est depuis lors rationalisé par la « contrainte substantielle » des droits fondamentaux qui participa à l'émergence d'une nouvelle théorie du contrôle de constitutionnalité. On peut observer que plusieurs juridictions s'autolimitent d'une façon comparable à leur homologue américain, à travers l'analyse des techniques du contrôle de proportionnalité. En particulier la Cour suprême du Canada, la Cour constitutionnelle sud-africaine et la Cour européenne des droits de l'homme, bien que chacune d'entre elles présente des spécificités en ce domaine. Les deux grands modes de « mise en balance » permettent alors de souligner les convergences et les divergences entre les systèmes / There is no general proportionality principle in the United States but, if not always recognized, the review appears in the Supreme Court's case law. For most part of the legal community its techniques reveal american exceptionalism. Other ones say this remark deserves some qualification in view of right's limitation. This study historically begin with the US v Carolene products case ending a period by which the Court invalidated most statutes restricting economic liberties. Thus, the Lochner Era was called « Government by the judiciary ». By the « levels of review » doctrine she found a way to prove her legitimacy, making the standard of justification depends on the nature of the right limited. This « substantial fundamental rights'constraint » rationalized her work and contributed towards a new theory of judicial review. However many jurisdictions share the same self-restraint as their american neighboor. With regard to the techniques of proportionality review, the canadian Supreme Court, the south african Constitutional Court and the European Court present several common characteristics in spite of their specific experience. Two modes of « balancing » highlight convergence and difference between those four legal systems. Stare decisis especially conditions methodological and normative coherence in the United states, having an influence on the fundamental right's constraint. It curbs differently the judicial expanding power of interpretation. According to a comparative perspective the american particularism should be revealed by their definition and their effect on a differentiated right's guarantee

La liberté d'expression intervient dans différents domaines, et bénéficie de la protection des constitutions nationales ainsi que des conventions internationales. Toutefois, la question se pose de cette protection s'agissant du domaine commercial. La reconnaissance d'un discours commercial constitutionnellement et conventionnellement protégé est le fruit de nombreux revirements de jurisprudence, mais demeure encore contestée par une partie de la doctrine. Consacrer la liberté d'expression commerciale en tant que droit fondamental ne permet dès lors pas uniquement de renforcer sa protection, mais aussi de créer un rapprochement entre les droits fondamentaux et le droit économique. En effet, la nature économique du discours commercial est au coeur des débats dont il est l'objet, et l'amène à être confronté, d'une part aux autres droits et libertés, d'autre part aux droits de la propriété intellectuelle et des nouvelles technologies. La présence de la liberté d'expression commerciale au sein de ces derniers témoigne de la diffusion des droits fondamentaux dans l'ensemble du droit. Enfin, la reconnaissance de cette nouvelle liberté fondamentale, relevant à la fois des droits civils et des droits économiques, met en lumière un renouvellement des typologies de classification des droits fondamentaux. / The freedom of speech takes place in differents domains, and receives protection from the national constitutions and international conventions. However, concerning the commercial domain, the question of its protection may be asked. The recognition of a constitutional and conventional protection of the commercial speech is the result of many turnovers Court, but still remains disputed by some doctrine. To devote the commercial speech as a constitutional right can not only strengthen its protection, but also to create a connection between economy and the consitutional rights. Indeed, the economic nature of the commercial speech is in the middle of the discussions which it is the object, and causes it to be confronted on the one hand with the other constitutional rights, and on the other hand with the right of intellectual property and of new technologies. The presence of the commercial speech in these reflects the spread of the constitutional rights in the whole law. Finally, the recognition of this new constitutional right, under both civil and economic rights, highlights a revitalisation of the classifications' typologies of the constitutional rights.