This thesis examines the challenges confronted by a developing country such as Uganda in the administration ofjuvenile justice. Despite facing acute and intractable problems of poverty, disease and civil war, Uganda has recently made tentative steps to implement in legislation and practice, some of the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights ofthe Child 1989 relating to juvenile justice. The study is divided into two major sections, dealing with international and domestic developments; and looks at the concept ofjuvenile justice during the pre-colonial, colonial, post-independence and contemporary periods. It centres on an empirical study ofthe impact ofthe Ugandan Children Act 1996 and considers whether it was accompanied by sufficient reforms in institutional structure and personnel training to make it effective. The institutions dealing with juvenile offenders are critically assessed in order to gauge their competence and capability. Further, the punishments imposed on juveniles are examined in order to assess their fairness and proportionality within the terms ofthe Act. The findings indicate that despite significant improvements to the law and serious attempts to comply with international standards, Uganda still has not been able to design new, appropriate and effective responses to the problem ofjuvenile crime. The Di'ssertation argues that the theories put forward t6 explain juvenile crime in the West may not fully explain the situation of African children. A number of loopholes in the legal structure are the result of a failure to take into account the realities of the country's level ofdevelopment, local customs and poverty.

This thesis considers the concept of involuntary action in the criminal law. In particular it examines the defence of automatism. The discussion of the defence by the courts in England and Wales and jurisprudential commentary regarding involuntary action are considered. Present legal definitions of involuntary action do not take account of current scientific or philosophical debates relating to consciousness and the science of the mind. It is argued that modern neuroscientific definitions of consciousness are useful to the criminal law. They suggest how consciousness is used by the brain to assist in the carrying out of tasks and to monitor the interaction between the individual and the world in which her behaviour takes place. They provide evidence that conscious awareness of tasks differs according to the complexity of the task undertaken and the experience of a particular person in performing a particular task. On this view conscious awareness will exist in varying degrees according to the task which is being undertaken and the person performing that task. It is argued that a purely mechanistic or reductionist evaluation of consciousness will not assist in defining criminal responsibility. The thesis also examines differing types of explanation of action. These include philosophical definitions of action and discussions of how consciousness relates to action. The opinions of courts in five other jurisdictions on certain approaches to the automatism defence are considered. The problems of combining legal and philosophical definitions are discussed. A revised test of involuntariness is suggested. The research findings contribute to the fund of knowledge in a number of ways. Firstly they review the case law of automatism in England and Wales and certain aspects of the defence of automatism in five other jurisdictions. Secondly the research examines the relevance of modern neuroscientific research and the philosophy of consciousness in relation to the criminal law's approach to involuntary action. Finally the research findings are utilised to propose a new test of involuntariness.

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For many decades, defamation law in England in Wales has predominantly only had to deal with material that has been published via printed publications, radio and television. As such, defamation law has been tailored to best suit these media. Since the introduction of the Internet, defamation law has been tested to its limits with a number of commentators arguing that it is not equipped to deal with the uniqueness of the online publications. Consequently, Internet service providers, content hosts and Internet users are all at risk of being held as the publisher and being sued for defamation, potentially, anywhere in the world, even if they had no prior knowledge of the material in question. Previous research regarding the Internet and defamation has been scarce. This research has set out to gain a greater understanding of the problems facing Internet service providers and the threats to freedom of expression on the Internet caused by defamation law, procedures and practice. This has been achieved by conducting an indepth desk research of academic text, press commentary and case law followed by interviews with Internet service providers, content hosts and lawyers with an expertise of defamation. Initial assumptions were that defamation law, procedures and practice was threatening freedom of expression on the Internet. This proved to be correct and of great concern to the Internet publishing community. It was also found that defamation law procedure and practice was in many cases efficient in the removal of alleged defamatory (Internet based) material and in its attempt to restore a person s reputation. It has been concluded that parts of defamation law in England and Wales could be revised to improve the preservation of freedom of expression on the Internet. Furthermore, current defamation law coupled with defamation procedures and practice are leaving Internet publishers vulnerable to vexatious claims of defamation. There is also evidence to suggest that conditional fee agreements used within defamation legal practice are becoming more popular for defamation cases and consequently, threatening freedom of expression on the Internet. Finally, Internet defamation cases and disputes are becoming a greater part of a defamation lawyer's practice and in some practices becoming more popular than traditional printed libel cases. It is for this reason that the results, conclusions and recommendations of this research are of a timely nature and of significant importance to the field of Internet publishing.

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This thesis seeks to determine the degree of compatibility between the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the relevant principles and practices in operation in Saudi Arabia which are derived from Islam's Shari'ah law. The prospects for the harmonization of international sales will be enhanced considerably if no fundamental conflicts can be shown to exist. Furthermore, given its success in gaining worldwide acceptance, compatibility of the CISG with Shari'ah law would have significant implications for individual businessmen and women, companies, banks and arbitrators in commercial disputes who desire their transactions to be governed by recognised international standards as well as Islamic rules. A comparative study is therefore undertaken of the CISG and Saudi law concerning two crucial elements of sales contracts: the seller's obligations and the buyer's remedies. The contexts and backgrounds of the two legal systems and their approaches to contractual agreements are first described, revealing strongly contrasting origins, structures and procedures but nevertheless demonstrating encouraging underlying similarities in general aims and principles. The main body of the thesis then discusses in detail questions of the delivery of goods, their conformity to the contract and the law, protection against third party rights, and remedies for failure to perform in conformity. Key issues include the nature and timing of control of the goods, the identification of defects and the passage of risk associated with them, protection against third parties, recognition of the main buyer's remedies (specific performance, avoidance and reduction in price) and the role of customary usage within particular business spheres. Widely divergent forms of expression are found to produce many of the apparent differences found in the analysis, which are rendered eminently reconcilable when the deeper guiding intentions of the two legal frameworks are taken into account. Potentially obstacles to compatibility are explained in terms of the sources of Western traditions in civil and common law whereas schools of thought in Saudi jurisprudence vary in interpretations of Islamic primary texts. Nonetheless the rights of the parties to freedom of contract, the role of custom and the encouragement of certainty surrounding their expectations are common driving principles in Saudi and Islamic law, and adoption of the prevailing international norms would, in fact, help make this more explicit in contemporary Saudi practice. In addition the impact of different interpretations of the primary texts provides certain flexibility in Saudi law to recognise and accept the provision of the CISG particularly when the CISG's rules have already been suggested by one of the representatives school of thought. A final summary of the research findings thus concludes that no substantial barriers are found with respect to the specific comparisons made. Given the many benefits that would accrue, and subject to the outcome of further work examining other aspects of the CISG including the rule of interest, it is provisionally recommended that the Saudi Arabian government should consider signing the Convention.