This Ph.D thesis evaluates the impact of the concept of risk on mental health law and policy in England following the introduction of the Mental Health Act 2007, which amended the Mental Health Act 1983. First, the thesis investigates the role played by risk as the principal policy driver of the 2007 Act, arguing that the concept’s renewed significance heralds an era of ‘New Medicalism’ in which the law’s determinative power is reduced in order to foster a greater responsiveness to patients’ risks. Secondly, it argues that the works of Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens, which popularised the ‘Risk Society’ perspective, and Michel Foucault, who developed the ‘Governmentality’ thesis, help to illuminate the prevailing trends in mental health policy in the 21st Century. The author contends that Foucault’s Governmentality thesis may provide the theoretical foundation on which the concept of risk was deployed by the policy-makers who shaped the 2007 Act. Thirdly, the thesis discusses the reason why risk is such a difficult concept to understand from a legal point of view. It shows that risk-based statutory provisions have the potential to undermine certainty in decision-making processes and notionally make it difficult for patients to predict the nature and extent of their engagement with mental health services. It also demonstrates that risk is a problematic concept for the courts, which have preferred to leave it as a matter of fact. Fourthly, and as a corollary, the thesis hypothesises that because of the greater prominence given to risk there is now more control of, and less liberty for, patients with mental disorder following the introduction of the 2007 Act. To test this, the author draws upon literature examining the current state of play in mental health practice, the legal oversight of psychiatric decision-making, and the significance of law reform on mental health practice. He finds that in fact the law is rarely determinative of mental health decision-making and that legislative changes do not fundamentally alter the functioning of the compulsory powers. As a result, there is no evidence to suggest that the 2007 Act has jeopardised patients’ liberty whilst facilitating greater control over them. For that reason, the final chapter offers a defence of the concept of risk in mental health law. It argues that while the law can never achieve certainty, the concept’s inclusion reflects the realities of mental health practice and allows decision-makers to operate according to their training and expertise. This chapter argues that mental health practitioners possess a level of knowledge and understanding of risk which defies objective explication. While mental health policy may be shaped by the desire to control deviance and the law may be drafted to accomplish that end, the reality is that practitioners invariably achieve the ‘right’ outcome notwithstanding legal and policy uncertainties. The thesis concludes that the 2007 Act has aligned the law with the realities of mental health practice and, for that reason, has not directly jeopardised liberty.

The proliferation of the corporate form has resulted in a state of dependency by the economy on the companies operating within it. These companies require the free flow of capital for investment, growth, and avoidance of precipitate insolvency. For over a century, the floating charge has played a cardinal role in the provision of credit to companies in the UK. Over the same period, the charge has undergone several statutory interventions raising doubts as to the ability of financiers to rely on the charge as a basis for extending and securing credit. This thesis explores the impact of some of these changes on lending practices and insolvency outcomes. The changes examined primarily relate to the redistribution of floating charge assets in favour of other creditors in insolvency. The thesis uses analytical and empirical research methods. There are six chapters in the thesis. Chapters 1 and 2 provide a commercial background to the study and identify the research question; they explore the impact of companies on the economy, and the importance of credit and security. Chapter 3 contains an empirical account of the impact that the treatment of the floating charge in insolvency has on lending practices and insolvency outcomes. Chapter 4 examines the interest conferred by a floating charge against current inroads into the rights of a floating chargee. Chapter 5 scrutinises the raison d’être for redistributing floating charge assets. Chapter 6 concludes the thesis by providing analytical commentary on proposals regarding the future of the floating charge and factoring. This is followed by a Postscript which summarises the arguments and evidence contained in the thesis, and sets out a number of recommendations. The thesis will show that the floating charge is still used in corporate finance transactions. Proposals to unify company security interests would not affect this. However there are noticeable alterations in lending practices, partly devised as a response to the treatment of the floating charge. These alterations sometimes have adverse effects on insolvency outcomes. Overall, it argues that the treatment of the floating charge lacks sound justification, and, in certain respects, fails in its objectives.

Disputes continue to beset English law governed shipbuilding contracts to this day, despite the fact that English law’s characterisation of the shipbuilding contract and relationship have been established since the late 19th Century. For English law to develop such that shipbuilding disputes do not occur in future, this thesis argues that lawmakers and judges must give due regard to shipbuilding industry norms. In order to do so, this thesis will firstly demonstrate that there is a disparity between how English law characterises all shipbuilding contracts and relationships, and the variety of shipbuilding contracts, relationships and projects found in the industry. It is thus argued that reconciliation of this void between law and industry is contingent upon the law having regard for industry norms. This thesis will then examine the causes of shipbuilding disputes, before exploring the judicial remedies available to parties following dispute - both if shipbuilding contracts continue to be characterised as sale of goods provisions under English law, and if legislators decide otherwise. The context of remedies will in turn be used to demonstrate how industry norms can influence both the judicial remedies issued by judges and arbitrators, and the contractual remedy clauses which parties insert into their contracts to resolve or mitigate shipbuilding disputes.

This thesis explores the structure of the criminal law and, in particular, the structural device of element analysis. Building upon the classical actus reus/mens rea distinction, element analysis further sub-divides both parts of an offence into acts, circumstances and results. In doing so, element analysis offers advantages within the criminal law, both as a structure for legal discussion and analysis, and as a structure for law reform. In relation to the latter, recent reform of inchoate assisting and encouraging (as well as a range of Law Commission recommendations) has made use of element analysis to structure the reform of the general inchoate offences, requiring different levels of fault in relation to different offence elements. However, despite the increasingly important role played by element analysis, it remains a controversial device. Critics have exposed a lack of objectivity within the separation of elements, and an unacceptable level of complexity, particularly in relation to assisting and encouraging. Accepting much of their criticism, but rejecting the viability of the alternatives offered, this thesis therefore seeks to reinterpret and remodel element analysis in order to realise its potential

Licensing regimes which regulate the use of animals generally implement a process whereby an individual must be deemed to comply with a particular set of regulations in order to be granted, and retain, a licence to keep or use animals in a particular manner. The set of regulations will differ dependent on the specific use that the licensee intends to put the animals to. This research will consider the efficacy of the common regulatory model of the licensing regime as a means of regulating animal use in England, with a particular focus on their ability to ensure animal welfare. The research aims to address the gap in available information on the practical application of two pieces of legislation, whose provisions create licensing regimes; The Zoo Licensing Act 1981 (ZLA 1981) and The Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012 (WWATC 2012), introduced under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (AWA 2006).

Until recently sentencing was not considered to be a separate subject within the discipline of law. It was thought to be a matter essentially for judges. Sentencing was not taught as such. Rather, on ascending to the bench lawyers took with them their experience of the law in practice and their knowledge of their powers as limited by statute. Thereafter there was little in the way of guidance. In the last quarter century sentencing has developed in a number of ways. Parliament has passed an increasing number of laws creating and limiting new powers. Academic commentators have analysed judgements and they have sought to establish a scheme of things to do with sentencing. Judges themselves have tended increasingly to explain their decisions and to develop an order of priorities. This work is a study of the sentencing policy laid down in judicial decisions in cases of contraventions of The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. By studying the sentencing decisions in reported cases of drugs offences, a legal model of the drugs trade is established. Such a model in broad terms follows the nature and terms of the offences contained in the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. But it is clear that there are certain aspects that cut across the conventional order of offences. In particular, the sentencing of drug addicts has posed difficult questions for the courts to consider. It is uncertain as to whether lawyers have grasped fully the implications of drug abuse on the scale practised by most addicts. This particular study has been completed in the context of the present literature relating to sentencing offenders. The law is predominantly that of England and Wales because that is the jurisdiction with the greatest number of reported cases. Consideration is given to both Northern Ireland and Scotland. The Law is stated as at 31st December 1986.

Evidence from eyewitnesses is often the starting point for police investigations and it is estimated that it plays an important role in one quarter of all contested Crown Court cases. However, the memory is a fragile and malleable instrument which can produce unreliable yet convincing evidence. Because mistaken witnesses can be both honest and compelling, the risk of wrongful conviction in eyewitness identification cases is high, as is illustrated in a number of famous miscarriages of justice. This thesis assesses the sufficiency of the protections offered to defendants in cases involving eyewitness identification by examining psychological research on memory, police procedures for the collection of evidence from eyewitnesses, and judicial discretion to exclude unreliable evidence found in \(R\) \(v\) \(Turnbull\) and section 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. In interview, startling levels of guessing were reported by witnesses attending identification procedures; and suspects were largely unaware of their rights. Current identification procedures are time-consuming and inefficient; and psychological research offers some guidance but few answers, precluding the usefulness of expert evidence. The thesis concludes that an increase in specialised identification officers, reform of procedures to allow for greater use of video identification, guidelines on the exercise of discretion under s.78, and judicial education regarding the importance of using a comprehensive \(Turnbull\) direction are required before an adequate level of procedural and evidential protection against erroneous identification can be offered to suspects.

This research considers the interface between the restraint of trade doctrine (hereinafter ROTD) and competition law in England and Wales (comprising the UK Competition Act 1998 and Articles 101-102 TFEU). The ROTD and competition law overlap in cases where both laws appear to be applicable to certain restrictions on professionals (e.g. non-competition clauses). It will be argued that the ROTD and competition are different legal regimes whose prima facie concurrent applicability creates an interface problem for some professionals who are precluded from relying on the ROTD to resist a particular restriction. The most acute problem, in cases of overlap, arises where a restriction does not infringe competition law but falls foul of the ROTD. By examining developments in UK law and in EU law this study analyses how the interface problem evolved incrementally. UK competition legislation may be interpreted so that the ROTD applies only in a residual fashion. Moreover, Art 3 of EU Reg. 1/2003 delineates the interface between EU competition law and national competition law. The High Court has interpreted Art. 3 so that once EU competition law is applied to a restriction the court cannot reach a different conclusion under the ROTD. For reasons of consistency, this conclusion may also hold true for the interface between the ROTD and UK competition law. The scale of persons affected by this problem becomes greater if some professionals in employment are classified as “undertakings” because such classification would increase the overlap and interface between competition law and ROTD. This thesis proposes fresh solutions for courts when applying the ROTD. The solutions aim to ensure the availability of the ROTD’s unique protection to professionals who are subject to restrictions to which competition law also applies.

The law of contractual receivership has evolved quietly over a period of one hundred and fifty years or so. The institution of receivership started out as a mortgagee's remedy, but has proved remarkably adaptable to the commercial needs of large financial organisations, so much so that it has enjoyed ascendancy as a method of debt enforcement for the latter half of the twentieth century. This thesis attempts to chart the developmental process of receivership law, and to evaluate both judicial and legislative responses to the particular issues of policy it raises. In particular, it investigates the impact of receivership, both in legal and practical terms, on the various parties interested, in their various capacities, in the corporate entity. The main body of the thesis addresses this question from a number of perspectives. Corporate insolvency affects a wide variety of constituents. Receivership, as an insolvency regime, is frequently criticised as overly biased in favour of powerful financial institutions at the expense of both the corporation itself and its other stakeholders. By affording a contractually appointed receiver dominion over the entirety of the company's property, and by sanctioning the proposition that his decisions be informed exclusively by his appointor's interests, this censure of the law might appear justified. Alternatively, proponents of receivership have promoted the institution as a 'rescue' mechanism, a means by which viable companies, or viable sectors of their businesses, may be nurtured back to productivity and profitability. These two conflicting views will be examined in the final Chapter, in the light of recent reform initiatives which appear to envisage at least some minor modification to the existing 'balance of power'.

This study, which seeks to conceptualise client behaviours within the professional service relationship is located within the academic literature associated with relationship marketing. However, this study differs from the main characteristics of that literature in two ways. First, that literature focuses on the organisational benefits of retaining customers and empirical work to explore the benefits customer's receive is limited. This study, among clients of a professional service, provides a better understanding of why clients maintain relationships with solicitors and how their motives influence their behaviours within that relationship. Secondly, empirical studies are primarily focused within the business-to-business context and attempts to extend theory generated from that context into consumer markets have been criticised. The focus of this study is the private client perspective. Consequently, this thesis draws heavily on construct and theory development within the social exchange literature to explain the empirical findings and highlight limitations with the conceptual development and measurement of constructs with the relationship marketing literature. This thesis provides empirical support for the propositions that the presence of particular interaction variables will generate trust in the solicitor among private clients and that the presence of trust in the solicitor will result in private-client commitment to that relationship. Specific behaviours, exhibited by clients committed to the private client-solicitor relationship, are identified and suggestions made regarding client behaviours that emerge when private clients are not committed to the relationship. The thesis also critiques the way in which the trust and commitment constructs have been conceptualised and measured within the marketing discipline. An agenda is identified for future research to extend knowledge in four broad areas: the appropriateness of relationship marketing theory for the professional service context; conceptual and measurement scale development of constructs that underpin relationship marketing theory; differentiation of antecedents generating trust in, or reliance upon, professional services providers; and further understanding of private client behaviours within the professional services relationship.