University of Macau / Faculty of Law

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Bochum, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 298-311) and register.

Title: Jurisdictional Immunity of States Abstract The major purpose of this diploma thesis is to clarify the situation of jurisdictional immunity and immunity from enforcement measures of states. This thesis is composed of two main parts. In the first part the institute of jurisdictional immunity of states is explained. The first part is divided into several chapters which are dedicated to the specific aspects of jurisdictional immunity. The first chapter deals with the theoretical terms which are closely related the topic such as sovereignty of state and jurisdiction. It was also necessary to explain the difference between the state acts iure imperii and iure gestionis. The following chapter is dedicated to the explanation of the historical evolution of this institute documented by the most significant decisions of national courts which have strongly influenced forming of the state immunities. The legal sources are described in the following chapter, a special attention is paid to the international treaties, national legal acts and also to the situation in the Czech Republic. The last chapter of the first part deals with the exceptions from jurisdictional immunity. The second part of the thesis is focused on the topic of state immunity from enforcement measures. This institute is a secondary immunity of...

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2019-03-19T12:31:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Thomas Augusto Ferreira de Almeida.pdf: 1309103 bytes, checksum: 4d7dffcaa81fb86c4056d9a1a60e7466 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2019-03-19T12:31:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Thomas Augusto Ferreira de Almeida.pdf: 1309103 bytes, checksum: 4d7dffcaa81fb86c4056d9a1a60e7466 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2019-02-19 / One of the dimensions of the existing asymmetry in Brazilian federalism concerns the parliamentary material immunity embodied in the freedom to express opinions and criticisms in the exercise of the parliamentary function. In view of the peculiar stature of federated entity attributed to the municipalities in the Federal Constitution of 1988, it is questioned whether its parliamentarians should have identical or less guarantees in relation to those of the parliamentarians of other federated entities. In other words, despite the similar nature of the exercise of parliamentary activity, one wonders whether the asymmetry of structures, powers and functions of the federated entities would imply a difference of content in parliamentary material immunity. For this investigation it is essential to analyze the jurisprudence of the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil in view of the jurisprudential nature of the principle of symmetry, guiding the organization of state entities based on an interpretation of the applicability of the federal model to other federative entities. We will argue that the city councilor's material immunity is symmetrical in Brazilian federalism, even though the constitutional text apparently points to a differentiation, proposing at the end of the thesis a method to identify the parliamentary speech immunized / Uma das dimensões da assimetria existente no federalismo brasileiro diz respeito à imunidade material parlamentar consubstanciada na liberdade de expressar opiniões e críticas no exercício da função parlamentar. Diante da peculiar estatura de ente federado atribuída aos Municípios inovadoramente na Constituição Federal de 1988, questiona-se se os seus parlamentares devem ter garantias idênticas ou menos abrangentes em relação às dos parlamentares dos demais entes federados. Em outras palavras, apesar da natureza semelhante do exercício da atividade parlamentar, pergunta-se se a assimetria de estruturas, competências e funções dos entes federados implicaria em uma diferença de conteúdo na imunidade material parlamentar. Para esta investigação mostra-se essencial a análise da jurisprudência do Supremo Tribunal Federal tendo em vista a natureza jurisprudencial do princípio da simetria, norteador da organização dos entes estatais a partir de uma interpretação da aplicabilidade do modelo federal aos demais entes federativos. Sustentaremos que a imunidade material do vereador é simétrica no federalismo brasileiro, ainda que o texto constitucional aparentemente aponte uma diferenciação, propondo ao final um método de identificação do discurso parlamentar imune

At the outset, it has to be noticed that crimes against international law are committed by men, not by abstract entities, and international law will achieve its goals only if those responsible for crimes will be brought to justice. The principle of individual criminal responsibility of Heads’ of State for crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and torture (elaborated in the Nuremberg Charter) is part of customary international law. The principle is embodied in the resolutions of the UN General Assembly – Principles of Law Recognized in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal and the Judgment of the Tribunal (1950); international treaties – Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), Geneva Conventions (1949), Convention against Torture and Other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (1984), Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998); other international instruments – UN Draft Code of Crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind (1996), Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (1993) (also clarified in the proceedings brought before the former Yugoslavian leader S. Milosevic) and Rwanda (1994); decisions of national courts – the UK House of Lords decisions in the Pinochet case (1998 -1999); extradition requests sent and honoured by executive officials – Belgium international arrest warrant for H. Habre (2005) and African Union requests; state proposals for international... [to full text]

This thesis deals with the diplomatic and consular privileges and immunities - first theoretically and then with the application by the International Court of Justice in the "Case concerning diplomatic and consular stuff in Tehran." The thesis emphasises the importance of an observation of these privileges and immunities by the international community and its relevance within the public international law. The thesis is divided into the introduction, 5 main chapters and the conclusion. First chapter is focused on the diplomatic and consular privileges and immunities in general. It deals with basic concepts as well as with a list of diplomatic and consular privileges. The Part about immunities according to Vienna convention on Diplomatic and Consular relations is included here too. This chapter also focuses on obligations of the diplomatic and consular stuff in relation to the receiving state. Second chapter states obligations of the receiving state in relation to the diplomatic mission, consular post and their stuff and also certain rights that the receiving state is authorized to demand. Third chapter is divided into 2 main parts - a historical one, which describes modern history of Iran since the beginning of 20th century and focuses on the development of Iran - USA relations. Second part of the...

Privilege is an evidential principle which, on the grounds of public policy, excludes evidence relevant and otherwise admissible. This thesis aims to discover whether privilege should be applied to the psychotherapeutic profession in South Africa. At present, the only profession in South Africa afforded privilege is the legal profession. There are two main theoretical justifications for privilege: the utilitarian and the individual/human rights approach. This thesis considers whether the psychotherapeutic profession wan-ants privilege under either theory, and recommends that the law of privilege integrate both theories rather than adopt one or the other. The impact of the Constitution and the right to privacy receive particular attention. Very little literature or case law on the question of psychotherapeutic privilege was found in South Africa. Consequently, extensive comparative research into the common-law systems of England, Canada and United States of America was done. This research yielded some interesting findings. The first is that case-by-case development of the law of privilege is uncel1ain and fragmented. The next is that psychotherapeutic privilege exists in almost absolute form in the United States of America, but is littered with lacunae causing as much uncertainty as the case-by-case approach to privilege law. The most helpful method of dealing with the problem was found in Canada, where a two-stage approach to protecting personal information, including psychotherapeutic records, has been developed. In light of this research, this thesis reassesses the original viability of psychotherapeutic privilege in South Africa. Privilege, it was found, is not the best solution to protecting psychotherapeutic communications. This thesis recommends legislative adoption of an amended two-stage approach based on the Canadian model for sexual offence trials as the best method of protecting psychotherapeutic communications in both civil and criminal proceedings. The thesis ends by suggesting draft legislative provisions.

Diplomatic privileges and immunities of bodies and workers of the EU institutions Le sujet de ce travail est de présenter des privilèges et immunités concernant l'Union européenne en tant qu'organisation internationale, ses fonctionnaires, agents et autres personnes susceptibles d'agir dans son intérêt. À la différence des immunités des États, accordées à ces derniers au nom de leur égalité souveraine, les immunités des organisation internationales se justifient exclusivement par leur caractère fonctionnel. Elles visent en effet à assurer à l'organisation une certaine autonomie et une indépendance indispensables à l'efficacité de son action. L'Union alors jouit des privilèges et immunités nécessaires à l'accomplissement de sa mission. Le document servant de base juridique, dans lequel les privilèges et immunités de l'UE sont définie , est le Protocole du 8 avril 1965 sur les privilèges et immunités des Communautés européennes. Ce dernier a été révisé au 1er décembre 2009 par le traité de Lisbonne. L'UE remlace ainsi, par ce traité, la Communauté européenne, ainsi duquele Protocole sur les privilèges et immunités des Communautés européennes, qui devient le Protocole sur les privilèges et immunités de l'Union européenne. Ce Protocole concerne l'UE, ses organes, les représentants des États...

L’alinéa 1er de l’article 2 de l’AUA consacre l’aptitude des personnes morales de droit public à compromettre. À ce titre, elles peuvent être parties à l’arbitrage au même titre que les personnes privées. Aussi, l’alinéa 2 du même article exclut le recours au droit interne pour contester la validité de la convention d’arbitrage ou la capacité de compromettre. À partir d’une analyse téléologique de cet alinéa, il apparaît que le législateur OHADA exclut de l’arbitrage impliquant les personnes publiques l’exercice des prérogatives étatiques. Mais il apparaît que les personnes publiques continuent d’exercer de jure ou de facto certaines prérogatives dérogeant au Droit commun de l’arbitrage. Cela amène à penser que le législateur n’a pas réussi à concilier l’arbitrage avec les prérogatives exorbitantes des parties publiques. Il se pose alors la question de la conciliation de l’arbitrage avec le statut exorbitant des personnes publiques. Il résulte de l’analyse que les privilèges des personnes publiques sont manifestement irréconciliables avec les exigences de l’arbitrage. Les contradictions sont générées par l’insuffisance du cadre juridique avec des effets mettant à mal l’arbitrage. Mais il est possible de les concilier par une réduction encadrée des privilèges exorbitants des parties publiques. Il est question de l’aménagement d’un régime spécifique à l’arbitrage impliquant les personnes publiques fondé sur l’équilibre des pouvoirs des parties à l’arbitrage. À cette fin, il faut réorienter le fondement de l’arbitrage vers les valeurs du procès équitable. De fait, les personnes publiques peuvent contractuellement renoncer à leurs privilèges ou affecter un bien en garantie à l’exécution de la sentence arbitrale. / Paragraph 1 of Article 2 of the AAU enshrines the capacity of legal persons governed by public law to compromise. As such, they may be parties to arbitration on the same basis as private persons. Paragraph 2 of the same article thus excludes recourse to domestic law to challenge the validity of the arbitration agreement or the capacity to compromise. On the basis of a teleological analysis of this paragraph, it appears that the OHBLA legislator excludes from the arbitration involving public entities the exercise of State prerogatives. Two arguments support this interpretation. On the one hand, the objectives of legal and judicial security are incompatible with any derogation from the requirements of arbitration. On the other hand, the prerogatives of national public authorities are defined by national laws. By prohibiting recourse to domestic law, the legislature implicitly prohibits the opposition of derogatory privileges to the common law of arbitration.But it appears that public persons continue to exercise de jure or de facto certain prerogatives derogating from common arbitration. This suggests that the legislature has failed to reconcile arbitration with the exorbitant prerogatives of the public parties. The question then arises of the conciliation of arbitration with the status of parties to exorbitants under common law.It follows from the analysis that the legislature has ensured access to arbitration to public entities. But his indifference to the privileges they enjoyed made the system of public participation in arbitration an unfinished business. This regime is manifestly characterized by various contradictions. These are generated by the inadequate legal framework of subjective arbitrability of public persons. Thus, the effects of these contradictions make it possible to measure the extent of the inadequacy of privileges to the standards of arbitration. But it is possible to reconcile the requirements of arbitration with the specifics of public parts. The balance between the two institutions will have to be realized by a framed reduction of the exorbitant privileges of the public parts. To this end, the basis of arbitration must be revised: moving from the autonomy of the will to the values of a fair trial. Consequently, the privatization of these prerogatives can be envisaged by different contractual mechanisms.

This thesis investigates three exemplars of uxorial substantive privileges in the criminal law: the marital coercion doctrine, the intraspousal conspiracy exemption, and the uxorial post-offence accessorial immunity. Their history, choreography and variations are comparatively investigated across the common law jurisdictions including the impact of statutory interventions. The principal argument is that the judicial and legislative treatment of these uxorial privileges has been inconsistent or erratic so that they are not the products of any systematic, modern development in the criminal law. This thesis proposes that there is no justification for their continued retention in common law legal systems. Archival, Parliamentary, and other sources have been used to identify the factors impinging upon the creation of specific statutory uxorial privileges. The diaspora of these laws throughout the other common law jurisdictions is investigated. The discussion is illustrated by examination of the particular issues raised by polygamy, customary law concubinage as well as by gender-reassignment. This thesis examines whether both gender-specific and marriage-specific criteria are valid constituents within the parameters of substantive criminal law. It traces the genesis of these special defences within the criminal law available exclusively to women, from the time of King Ine of the West Saxons c712, to examine the current status of such laws throughout common law jurisdictions. The investigation explores factors shaping the creation of a statutory defence of marital coercion by the British Parliament in 1925 and outlines the challenges generated by that law and its extraordinary resilience. This thesis demonstrates the failure of the criminal law to provide an overarching construct to implement emergent gender equality.