CEO duality has been the subject of debate for over twenty years and shows no signs of abating. With conflicting theoretical and empirical evidence underpinning the debate the practice has fluctuated, investor perception of board leadership structure has altered, international regulation has reacted, scholarly conceptualizations of duality have become overly complex, and the need to understand duality and conclude the debate has increased. This thesis explores duality in listed corporations and aims to form an appropriate solution to end the dichotomy. My solution requires one to confront misunderstandings which have led to a traditional insistence towards structural reform and prolonged the contentious debate, and recognize an underlying contention which needs to be resolved to bring finality to the debate. I argue finality is possible if a process oriented approach is adopted and corporations recognize the need to be technically equipped to deal with leadership structures in the modern corporate arena.

Before the 1990s controlled research using mock jurors consistently found black defendants guilty more often than white. However, more recently, research has generally failed to find this effect. One explanation is that prejudice has been reduced so much that there is no longer an effect. While there does seem to have been a reduction in overt prejudice, it is unlikely that it has decreased to the point that it does not affect verdicts. A more likely explanation is that strong social norms exist concerning prejudice which result in efforts to avoid being (or appearing) biased. Thus, when motivation to reduce prejudice is salient, mock jurors and perhaps real jurors will display little or no prejudice; but when motivation to reduce prejudice is not salient, decision-making becomes spontaneous and whatever prejudice does exist will affect decisions. In a series of 6 studies, race of defendant, race of witness, and the salience of the importance of being unbiased were varied. Results revealed a complex situation with many factors playing a part. Race of key alibi witness played a key role, with the white witness favoured, and the black witness mistrusted. Outcomes may be partially predicted based on Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). Those high in SDO treat incongruent defendant/witness race pairs more harshly than congruent race pairs. Modern apparently egalitarian outcomes are perhaps due to low prejudice participants’ bias in favour of black defendants while high prejudice participants were biased against black defendants – effectively cancelling out each others’ verdicts. Those low in SDO treat incongruent defendant/witness race pair too leniently as compared to congruent race pairs. When race is made salient, bias is reduced, and though the average results are still essentially egalitarian, these verdicts are more truly egalitarian – much fairer and less biased when considered at an individual level. These results also reinforce theories of dual process models of attitudes. Individuals may have common stereotype knowledge, but separate activation based on prejudice levels. Both high and low prejudiced individuals can control bias with the proper motivation.

Before the 1990s controlled research using mock jurors consistently found black defendants guilty more often than white. However, more recently, research has generally failed to find this effect. One explanation is that prejudice has been reduced so much that there is no longer an effect. While there does seem to have been a reduction in overt prejudice, it is unlikely that it has decreased to the point that it does not affect verdicts. A more likely explanation is that strong social norms exist concerning prejudice which result in efforts to avoid being (or appearing) biased. Thus, when motivation to reduce prejudice is salient, mock jurors and perhaps real jurors will display little or no prejudice; but when motivation to reduce prejudice is not salient, decision-making becomes spontaneous and whatever prejudice does exist will affect decisions. In a series of 6 studies, race of defendant, race of witness, and the salience of the importance of being unbiased were varied. Results revealed a complex situation with many factors playing a part. Race of key alibi witness played a key role, with the white witness favoured, and the black witness mistrusted. Outcomes may be partially predicted based on Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). Those high in SDO treat incongruent defendant/witness race pairs more harshly than congruent race pairs. Modern apparently egalitarian outcomes are perhaps due to low prejudice participants’ bias in favour of black defendants while high prejudice participants were biased against black defendants – effectively cancelling out each others’ verdicts. Those low in SDO treat incongruent defendant/witness race pair too leniently as compared to congruent race pairs. When race is made salient, bias is reduced, and though the average results are still essentially egalitarian, these verdicts are more truly egalitarian – much fairer and less biased when considered at an individual level. These results also reinforce theories of dual process models of attitudes. Individuals may have common stereotype knowledge, but separate activation based on prejudice levels. Both high and low prejudiced individuals can control bias with the proper motivation.

CEO duality has been the subject of debate for over twenty years and shows no signs of abating. With conflicting theoretical and empirical evidence underpinning the debate the practice has fluctuated, investor perception of board leadership structure has altered, international regulation has reacted, scholarly conceptualizations of duality have become overly complex, and the need to understand duality and conclude the debate has increased. This thesis explores duality in listed corporations and aims to form an appropriate solution to end the dichotomy. My solution requires one to confront misunderstandings which have led to a traditional insistence towards structural reform and prolonged the contentious debate, and recognize an underlying contention which needs to be resolved to bring finality to the debate. I argue finality is possible if a process oriented approach is adopted and corporations recognize the need to be technically equipped to deal with leadership structures in the modern corporate arena.

Rationing of lifesaving resources in pandemics is likely to be an increasingly relevant issue. While the broad legal and ethical implications of pandemic preparedness have been explored at length, little attention has been paid to the legal issues associated with rationing. This thesis seeks to analyze the potential for administrative and private law challenges to governments’ rationing of vaccines, ventilators and antivirals. The wide variety of statutory authorities, and their associated conditions and discretionary limitations, that governments may rely on for mandating rationing protocols, makes them susceptible to administrative law challenges on the grounds of errors of jurisdiction. An analysis of the tort liability of governments, hospitals and physicians suggests that negligence suits will likely not be successful due to a lack of proximity required for a private law duty of care, the policy-making immunity of governments and a contextual standard of care.

Recently, Peru went through a major process to reform its mining tax system oriented to striking an appropriate balance between two conflicting goals: (1) to raise tax revenues, and (2) to attract investment to the mining sector. This thesis analyzes if this objective is being achieved. This thesis analyses the recent enactments in the Peruvian mining tax regime by using a combination of doctrinal analysis, law and economics and public choice analysis. This thesis contains a detailed assessment of the political dynamics that give rise to the particular law reform and presents some recommendations as to what should be considered by the government when enacting additional mining tax legislation in order for the reform to be successful in achieving the goals intended.

Recently, Peru went through a major process to reform its mining tax system oriented to striking an appropriate balance between two conflicting goals: (1) to raise tax revenues, and (2) to attract investment to the mining sector. This thesis analyzes if this objective is being achieved. This thesis analyses the recent enactments in the Peruvian mining tax regime by using a combination of doctrinal analysis, law and economics and public choice analysis. This thesis contains a detailed assessment of the political dynamics that give rise to the particular law reform and presents some recommendations as to what should be considered by the government when enacting additional mining tax legislation in order for the reform to be successful in achieving the goals intended.

This thesis examines the implications of the operation of the Armed Forces (Jammu & Kashmir) Special Powers Act 1990 (“Act”) on Kashmir from human rights perspective. It draws a comparison between the Act and the existing penal legislations in India. It proposes that the Act should be repealed and actions of the armed forces should be governed by the already existing penal legislations. It suggests amendment of similar state and central legislations conferring immunity to the armed forces. The precondition of approval of the Central Government for instituting a legal proceeding should be removed. It proposes constitution of special grievance cells at district levels to adjudicate cases against the armed forces before being referred to the higher courts. The thesis urges the Indian Government to approach the issue of Kashmir following principles of Ahimsa (“non–violence”) and Satyagraha (“insistence on truth”) adopted by Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian independence struggle.

This thesis describes a new theoretical framework for characterizing legal systems and legal thought. Broadly speaking, legal systems can be characterized as undertaking three functional activities: the intake, processing and distribution of information. The thesis defines and explains what those three activities consist of, their interrelation and describes some of the emergent phenomena which arise as a result of their co-existence. Additionally, examples are provided which show elements of legal systems having behavior neatly predicted by information-first methods of analysis. The aim is to develop information-related tools to understand the function of legal systems and subsystems in society by reference to those three activities, and a robust set of fields and concepts are presented for future development.

An analysis of company law may allow us to abandon a perception that company law is impartial to the political context in which it is applied. This paper argues that state protectionism is reflected in the design of company law. Specifically, states may confer public functions to board of directors through their duties and authorities; in turn, directors’ functions may become barriers to foreign investments. To illustrate this argument, focus is placed on the duties of Canadian corporate directors and how their functions affect foreign direct investment in Canada. It demonstrates that the public function conferred to corporate directors echoes the State’s policy and regulations governing foreign investment. As a consequence to the redundancy of the public interest rationalization and the lack of political will to affect real market openness, unnecessary barriers are being placed for market access which may ultimately render Canada less attractive for foreign investors.