Interstate arbitration is commonly viewed as an essentially judicial process, suitable for the resolution of legal questions but inappropriate to deal with “political” issues. This conception, however, arguably flies in the face of both the origins and historical function of interstate arbitration and the complex legal-political nature of most interstate disputes. This paper offers an alternative account of interstate arbitration, which views it as a sui generis hybrid mechanism that combines “legal” and “diplomatic” dimensions to effectively resolve all aspects of interstate disputes. The paper examines this proposed account by analyzing four complex interstate territorial disputes that were submitted to arbitration and assessing the extent to which these two dimensions were recognized and employed, and how this may have affected the resolution of the disputes. Based on this analysis, the paper offers a two-dimensional operative framework intended to guide states and arbitrators in the resolution of future complex interstate disputes.

Acknowledging a relationship between international human rights and international trade law adds to the legitimacy of economic, social and cultural rights already enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the central institution for international trade law and it has demonstrated a commitment to enhance human rights. This commitment has been realized through WTO efforts to enhance human dignity and eradicate poverty. These WTO efforts ought to be fostered and used to promote human rights. The purpose of this study was two fold – first, demonstrate that a relationship between international trade law and international human rights exists; and second, that this relationship is useful in promoting economic, social and cultural rights. This relationship will be examined through WTO initiatives, case studies and the Accession of the Republic of China in 2001.

Constitutional change is relentless. Today, states jockey with regional associations, international organizations, transnational networks and sub-state authorities to define the scope of legitimate political conduct and establish rival bases for political affiliation. Constitutional theorists must be resolute but they should not be rigid. Especially in such uncertain conditions, theories are best understood not as plans to be implemented but as hypotheses to be tested. Charles Sabel and David Dyzenhaus write separately but share this pragmatic orientation, in which doubt is indispensable and truth is the end of public inquiry. They also share a distinctive belief that constitutionalism serves a moral end: it is the project of cultivating citizens who conceive their political community in terms of the commitments revealed by its practices. Their position, which is well suited for contemporary challenges, warrants elaboration and examination. British Columbia offers an ideal constitutional laboratory for that test. During the 1970s and 1980s, doubts mounted about the legitimacy of the constitutional settlement imposed by the Crown in the westernmost province of Canada. Legal, political and constitutional decisions raised the possibility that aboriginal rights and title survived colonization and Confederation. Since 1990, their existence has been confirmed in a cascade of constitutional experiments. Those initiatives can be distilled into four procedures: litigation, negotiation, consultation and collaboration. Although they have delivered practical benefits to some indigenous peoples, these procedures have not transformed provincial politics into a moral endeavour. The constraints on constitutionalism in British Columbia are both conceptual and institutional. Despite marginal improvements, those constraints endure and constitutionalism remains for now the sporadic pursuit of a small elite. To conceive constitutionalism as a project is to set a sound but exacting standard. Although British Columbia falls short, its failure is informative: the theory is useful.

This thesis analyses the consistency of WTO law with international environmental law and general international law in the field of trade and environment. GATT obligations require trade measures to comply with national treatment (Article III) and most –favoured nation treatment (Article I) and to prohibit import and export restrictions (Article XI). GATT exceptions permit measures to protect human, animal or plant life or health (Article XX(b)) and to conserve exhaustible natural resources (Article XX(g). This thesis analyses the consistency of unilateral and multilateral environmental measures with these GATT obligations and exceptions. It argues that the Article XX exceptions should be interpreted according to the proximity of interest between the country using trade restrictions and the environmental problem. It argues further that Article XX should be interpreted in accordance with customary international law regarding sovereign equality, non-intervention and the doctrine of necessity. Applying the principle of sovereign equality to WTO rights, this thesis proposes that WTO provisions be designed and interpreted to compensate for the economic inequality of WTO members in order to ensure equal access to WTO rights. Moreover, the principle of non-intervention should be applied in the WTO context to prohibit economic coercion. Unilateral environmental trade restrictions fail both tests. They use economic coercion to intervene in the internal affairs of sovereign States and are available in practice only to countries with significant market power. However, the doctrine of necessity may be invoked to excuse the non-observance of WTO and other international obligations to permit the use of trade restrictions to address urgent environmental problems with which the enacting country has a jurisdictional nexus.

In the course of 2002 and 2003, the Australian Government introduced a fundamental change to the taxation of corporate groups. The new tax consolidation legislation allows wholly-owned groups to be regarded as one homogenous entity for income tax purposes from 1st of July 2002. After making an irrevocable decision to implement the elective consolidation provisions, a group, consisting of a head company and at least one other wholly-owned entity (company, trust or partnership), lodges a single income tax return and pays a single set of PAYG instalments over the period of consolidation. The assessment of the policies, principles and rules governing the implementation and operation of the consolidation regime reveals far-reaching implications for the accessibility of tax attributes and changes to the tax cost / adjusted values of capital / depreciating assets. Tax accounting systems and corporate governance guidelines established by groups are also affected. Groups deciding against the implementation of the consolidation rules, on the other hand, face the removal of previous grouping concessions, such as loss transfer provisions, CGT asset roll-overs and inter-corporate dividend rebates. Furthermore, a number of modified anti-avoidance and integrity measures affect intra-group transactions undertaken outside the consolidation regime. This thesis identifies and analyses the areas of taxation, accounting and corporate governance which are relevant for the initial consolidation decision. The following analysis is structured with primary regard to legal concepts stipulated by the consolidation legislation. However, frequent references to policies underlying the relevant provisions, for instance the wholly-owned approach, allow a deeper understanding of the consolidation core rules and the effects arising for groups deciding to implement them. Finally, this thesis also provides a comparative perspective through the discussion of consolidation policies and rules delivered by German tax legislation, accounting regulations and corporations law.

A state contract is a common mode of entry for foreign direct investment, especially in developing states. It can form the legal basis of the investment relationship between a foreign investor and a host government. But, like any other contract, it cannot stand itself covering all aspects of the legal relationship. The contract thus must belong to a specific legal system or a body of rules or principles which is usually called “applicable law “or “governing law”.Historically, a “concession contract” in the natural resources sector was the predominant form of a state contract and it used to be governed by the domestic law of each host state. However, since the 1950s, international investment arbitrations have abandoned the tradition and advanced a theory subjecting state contracts in the foreign investment sector to an external legal system, ie public international law. One of the bases of the theory of internationalisation was the principle of party autonomy that allows parties to a state contract to select any law of whatever country they like. Then, the 1965 Washington Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (ICSID Convention)1 formally adopted the principle of party autonomy in Article 42 (1) as the primary choice of law rule in disputes arising out a foreign investment contract concluded between a state and a national of another state.The object of this thesis is to prove that the fundamental problems of party autonomy in foreign investment contracts involving considerations of public and private law issues remain unsettled. It explores the main controversies and confusions in the theory of internationalising state contracts, looking at its historical context. It examines the extent of the application of party autonomy in state contracts such as natural resource exploitation contracts and construction of a plant and infrastructure contracts which reflect important economic development policies of developing countries.In considering past and current problems in the field of international investment law, the thesis argues that arbitral tribunals resolving disputes between a state and a foreign private individual should abandon the party autonomy approach because contractual freedom to choose the law of the contract would disregard the objectives which host states normally pursue through economic regulations such as development, environment and human rights concerns of foreign investment. It suggests a consensus-based approach similar to the rule adopted in the Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Certain Rights in Respect of Securities (Hague Securities Convention)2 and which would produce the desired effect. It recommends that the choice of law provisions found in Article 42 of ICSID Convention would need to be either modified or repealed. In doing so, this thesis attempts to contribute to the positive development of international investment law balancing state authority and private property rights.

The fundamental aim of any regulatory system for professional services should be the provision of quality professional services that serve the public interest. The public interest element is paramount to determine what services are regulated and how those services are regulated. This thesis suggests that the current regulatory structure is dominated by the public interest as defined by orthodox medicine (OM). This has skewed the regulatory structure against consumer choices that favour greater reliance upon complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). A postmodernist perspective suggests the need to revisit the current regulatory structure to embrace perspectives on health derived from individuality and personal empiricism free of the modernist outlook characteristic of OM.

This thesis analyzes the technical definition of the crime of persecution for the purpose of prosecutions at the International Criminal Court. The provisions on the crime of persecution are found in Article 7(1)(h) and Article 7(2)(g) of the Rome Statute and Article 7(1)(h) of the Elements of Crimes. Lack of clarity is a difficulty with these provisions. The writer analyzes the provisions by pooling together primary and secondary sources and drawing on the customary international law that has emerged from the ad-hoc International Criminal Tribunals established between 1945 and 2003.

In recent years, countries across the globe have come to realise the importance of an official corporate governance regime, which provides a platform for market integrity and efficiency, as well as facilitating economic growth. Formulating effective corporate governance measures is a complex task for legislators. The purpose of this paper is to provide an in depth analysis and comparison of the corporate governance legislative frameworks in Australia and Jordan. In 2004, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in conjunction with national and international governmental organisations, finalised a universal set of corporate governance principles. Although non-binding, the OECD Principles 2004 are a serious attempt to strengthen every aspect of corporate governance and, accordingly, have been utilised in this paper as an international benchmark.The ultimate objective of this paper is to formulate a number of detailed and specific recommendations to the Jordanian Government. Jordan’s legislative framework for corporations received a significant shake-up a decade ago when the Jordanian Government began the process of implementing a privatisation program under the guidance of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Despite a number of positive developments since this program was initiated, the Jordanian Government has continually failed to recognise the importance of promoting good corporate governance. There can be no doubt that the Jordanian companies’ legislation is in desperate need of reform. The vast majority of the provisions are ambiguous and lack the necessary detail to regulate the complex sphere of company law. In this writer’s opinion, the relevant authorities in Jordan must act immediately to bring the country’s legislative regime into line with internationally recognised standards and practices. Chapter 1 of the paper sets out an introductory explanation of corporate governance and corporate structure. Chapter 2 provides a brief account of the history of company law in Jordan and a description of the different types of company structures permitted under the relevant Jordanian legislation. Chapter 3 provides a detailed discussion of the corporate governance principles formulated by the OECD. The process began in 1999 and was completed in 2004 after extensive revision and consultation. Chapter 4, the core part of the paper, presents a comparative analysis of the implementation of the OECD principles in Australia and Jordan. Chapter 5 provides an explanation and analysis of two important shareholders’ remedies in the Australian companies’ legislation that do not exist in Jordan. Finally, Chapter 6 provides a summary of analysis and sets out a list of recommendations to the Jordanian Government.

The rapid expansion of the Chinese economy has made China aware if the importance of the rule by law. Perfecting its legal system and expanding its economy are the two goals of modern China. Many laws and regulations have been enacted since the economic reform was launched at the end of 1970s. The enactment of the Chinese Law of Trusts is an important step in the refinement of the Chinese legal system.This thesis aims to identify the deficiencies in the Chinese Law of Trusts by giving a critical and comparative study of the Australian and the Chinese trusts law, so as to propose amendments to the Chinese Law of Trusts. This thesis is divided into two Parts, and seven Chapters. Part One, which comprises five chapters, is a comparative study of the Australian and the Chinese trusts law. It also discusses the laws of trusts in other important Common Law and Civil Law jurisdictions. Chapter 1 of this Part deals with the basic concept of the trust. It introduces and discusses the definition, and the characteristics of the trust, the comparison between the trust and other similar concepts, and the classification of trusts. Chapter 2 deals with the creation of express trusts. With respect to the rights and duties of the trust parties, Chapter 3 gives a detailed discussion. Chapter 4 examines the variation and termination of trusts. The last chapter of Part One, Chapter 5, specifically analyses the charitable trusts.Part Two comprises two chapters: Chapter 6 and Chapter 7. Chapter 6 discusses the practical impact of the Chinese Law of Trusts on the Chinese State-owned enterprise reform, which has been progressing for more than two decades in China. Chapter 7 is a general concluding chapter. It pinpoints the deficiencies in the Chinese Law of Trusts, analyses the reasons for the deficiencies, and suggests two solutions to improve the Law: namely, to improve the existing provisions of the Law and to adopt eclectically the elaborate concepts of the Australian law of trusts.