Today there exists a legal norm that declares the existence of a global responsibility to protect civilians from mass atrocities. Previous doctrines of non-intervention and permissibility were inadequate and demonstrated the need for a new outlook. From a commission proposal to international acceptance the doctrine of a responsibility to protect (R2P) developed quickly and legitimately. Recent events, especially the events in Libya during the Arab Spring, highlight the conceptual evolution of the norm and, more importantly, an international acceptance of its binding quality. Therefore, it is apparent R2P has achieved the status of a legal norm of international law.

This thesis offers a comparative study of Chinese and the U.S. legislations on the issue of cross-border insolvency. China has included one article concerning this issue in its Enterprise Bankruptcy Law promulgated in 2006. Four years after that, when facing a real case, it is found that the legislation is too preliminary to be used. In the meantime, great efforts have been made among many western countries in order to promote international cooperation on this issue. The United States is one of the most active countries. This thesis analyzes the Chinese version of cross-border insolvency legislation, factor by factor. It also does case study of mostly U.S. cases and some other countries’ cases and tries to find out how the courts interpret the corresponding factors. In doing so, it hopes to improve the Chinese legislation by taking international experience as reference.

The utilitarian theory contemplates rewarding the risks of inventors by providing them with a defined period of exclusivity to recoup their investment. For inventions requiring further investment, patents enable the creation of financial relationships between inventors and investors by providing patent exclusivity during the commercialization process. Innovation, contrasted from invention and conceptualized as commercialization, however, does not necessarily form the best means for delivering to the public inventions intended to improve health. Although patent policy conflates the economic growth and health improvement objectives of innovation, these goals do not always align. While the exercise of BRCA patents instantiates exclusive practicing of patents that failed to adequately deliver health technology, the patent system does not need significant change. Rather, to maintain the expectations of patent holders while balancing the needs of the public, current practices should continue with the encouragement of the creation of voluntary patent pools.

This paper is intended, first, to look at the deterrence versus compliance debate, and the various punishment principles that exist in securities regulation. Secondly, a brief overview of the experiences and complexities of securities regulation and sanctioning in Ontario and Canada will be presented. Third, I introduce and apply the “Responsive Regulation” model and the “enforcement pyramid” as posited by Ian Ayres and John Braithwaite to securities enforcement. I advocate for adoption of a three stage enforcement reform process that incorporates restorative justice through an enforcement pyramid and an “enforcement priority ladder”. The expert reports and statistics are used to develop the argument that the OSC is hindered in its enforcement mandate, ultimately, from a lack of sound enforcement guidelines. The end goal is to provide useful recommendations to the OSC and other Canadian securities regulators in achieving a more self-sustaining and investor focused securities regulatory environment.

How would you feel if after having spent many years incarcerated for a crime that you did not commit and when finally you are released to a broken life where there is nobody to respond effectively to all the damages that you have and that you will continue to endure due to an unfortunate miscarriage of justice? In Canada, compensation for wrongful convictions is a legal issue which has yet to find a solution for those who the government has denied to pay compensation for and the damages such wrongful conviction brought to their lives. This thesis will analyze the legal problem of compensation for wrongful convictions in Canada from a tort law perspective and will present an alternative to the existing regime to serve justice to those who have been victims of miscarriages of justice.

Universal suffrage is a guiding principle of democracy. However, it has a long history of being selectively denied. While many of these exclusions have dissipated in twentieth century rights revolutions’, the right to vote is still widely withheld for prisoners. This paper looks at criminal disenfranchisement, its origins, development, and contemporary manifestations. Part I will discuss the history of criminal disenfranchisement to trace its development from a tool of social exclusion to a collateral consequence of criminal conviction. Part II will look at the judicial treatment of contemporary disenfranchisement laws through a selection of representative case studies. Part III will consider how the representative cases form a trend towards criminal enfranchisement, and the implications of this trend for future constitutional challenges in jurisdictions where such laws persist. This paper argues that this trend, while tangible, is tentative and its force may be strengthened through a transnational judicial dialogue.

The emerging technologies of prenatal human genetic enhancement give to third parties the unprecedented power to design newborn genetic traits such as eye and skin color, intelligence, and emotional profile. The literature has not provided any answers to the question as to why these genetic enhancement technologies are prohibited by the European Biomedicine Convention. This thesis will demonstrate, by way of legal theory, that the prohibition on prenatal genetic enhancement is thoroughly justified on grounds that it violates the human right to dignity, as expressed in Kantian philosophy. In light of Kant’s Philosophy, genetic interventions for designing identity-related characteristics treat human beings instrumentally, to satisfy the desires of others, as mere means and not as ends in themselves. This thesis offers a deeper understanding of the law and policy regarding the prohibition on human genetic enhancement in order to safeguard future generations in the wake of a brave new world.

At first sight in copyright, moral rights seem to form a less significant part compared with economic rights. However, new technology has strongly overwhelmed traditional moral rights regime and consequently, inherent but concealed conflicts between moral rights and other legitimate interests have become increasingly prominent. Notwithstanding recognition of moral rights doctrine shows much unevenness both theoretically and in legislation with different jurisdictions in the world, the rush of economic and informational globalization has prompted the convergence of sentiment on moral rights worldwide. There can be no doubt that the essence of copyright, whether moral part or economic part, is to keep a “balance”. How to strike such a balance in moral rights system is thus becoming the main task of this thesis. Drawing from typical countries’ legislation, this thesis applies a restrictive perspective, to depict the picture of a “balanced” moral rights regime to fit in current trend of globalization.

The United States has justified targeted operations against suspected terrorists as a legitimate tool in the war against terrorism. In response to international criticism that a November 2002 targeted killing operation in Yemen violated human rights standards, the US asserted that the right to life was suspended during war. While this assertion is prima facie incorrect, many legal experts, scholars and authors agree in principle that a military response to international terrorism -- along with the concomitant dilution of the right to life -- is not only appropriate, but also complies with international law. However, the modern jus ad bellum limit the circumstances in which a state may lawfully resort to armed force. A fulsome understanding of international humanitarian law and the characteristics of groups such as Al Qaeda reveals that international law does not permit states to employ their military forces to responde to the international crime of international terrorism.

Certain provisions of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act 2004 appear to have been enacted as a legislative response to the objections to surrogacy noted by the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies in 1993. However, the legislation may not be successful in tackling concerns generated by recent developments in assisted reproductive technologies. This thesis identifies the shortcomings of the AHRA provisions that impact its ability to effectively regulate the surrogate act in Canada. The discussion suggests shifting the existing regulatory framework away from the imposition of legislative prohibitions on commercial surrogacy and towards a model that is more effective in dealing with the current reality of the surrogate arrangement. Upon consideration of regulatory regimes in Israel and the United Kingdom, a framework for surrogacy is suggested that balances the reproductive rights of the individuals who participate in such an arrangement, while minimizing the potentially exploitative aspects of the surrogate act.