The thesis is on “Finance Leasing in International trade”. It considers the question “How well does English law recognise and encourage the use of finance leasing in equipment trade?” The discussion shows that, on the one hand, English law has recognised the financing nature of finance leasing. It sees the lessor in a finance leasing arrangement merely as a financier, who steps into a sale of equipment which might otherwise take place between the supplier and the lessee. In addition, English law recognises that there are two agreements between the parties: a sale between the supplier and the lessor and a finance lease between the lessor and the lessee. Although English law does not view the transaction as a triangular relationship, it entitles the lessee to a cause of action against the supplier in various circumstances. It also allows the lessor to exclude from liability for the quality of the asset and to secure his commercial interests in the transaction by retaining ownership of the asset. On the other hand, however, English law fails to provide solutions to some problems arising from the financing nature of the transaction. For example, it is difficult for the lessor to be completely free of responsibility for the condition of the asset, which is imposed by the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. His obligation to ensure the lessee’s quiet enjoyment of the lessee is also obscure. In addition, the lessee does not have a proprietary right over the asset at law and this has led to distortion of some of the legal principles regarding ownership and property. The discussion leads to the conclusion that the law pertaining to finance leasing is on the whole satisfactory to facilitate equipment trade but reform is called for in some areas. The following suggestions are proposed to improve the use of finance leasing in the trade of equipment, both domestically and internationally. Firstly, the law should define finance leasing by providing explicit pronouncement of its financial nature and the triangular relationship. Secondly, the obligations and rights of the parties should be more specific. For example, the lessor’s responsibility for the lessee’s quiet enjoyment under the 1982 Act should be clarified as follows: “the lessor ensures that he has the right to lease the asset so that the lessee may enjoy exclusive possession of it free from disturbance by a person whose title is paramount to the lessor’s, unless the disturbance stems from actions of the lessor”. But the lessor should be excluded from all the obligations as to the condition of the asset under the Supply of Goods and Service Act 1982. The supplier should be liable to the lessee for the condition of the asset and, at his default, the lessee should be able to resort to a cause of action against him, being a third party to the supply agreement under the Contract (Third Party Rights) Act 1999. In addition, the lessee should be responsible for the payment of the total rentals irrevocably and his right over the asset should be recognised as a legal proprietary right.

This study proposes a restorative hermeneutic and uses it to assess and evaluate the ‘restorativity’ of the responses of five local Christian communities to crime and wrongdoing. Its central contention is that they can become more ‘restorative’ by critically reflecting on their responses to crime and wrongdoing using the hermeneutic. In chapters I to III, the hermeneutic is established through a mutual critical dialogue between restorative justice and contemporary atonement theology. It has three core principles: ‘radical participation’, ‘righting wrong in a morally serious way’ and ‘reintegration’. These principles are extrapolated from a definition of restorative justice and resonate with the key themes of contemporary atonement theology. In chapters IV and V the understanding, attitude and practical response of these local Christian communities to crime and wrongdoing are categorised and assessed. The findings are then systematically evaluated using the restorative hermeneutic. The final chapter articulates the main conclusion, that to achieve a more restorative response to crime and wrongdoing local Christian communities need to develop a sustained critical dialogue with secularisation theory, an even balance between addressing personal and structural types of crime and wrongdoing, and a critical understanding of the underlying causes of crime and wrongdoing.

The interest in embarking on this study is prompted by the predicament of refugee children under Malaysian jurisdiction and the dire need to improve their situation. This thesis is aimed at investigating the applicability of two rules relating to refugee protection: the principle of non-refoulement and the best interests of the child, which are believed to have become customary international law (CIL) which binds all states without their consent. The focus of this thesis is the prolonged problem of refugee children’s protection and the possibility of improving their conditions using international law while acknowledging that Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The thesis begins by discussing the international refugee protection regime and the position of the CIL mechanism; this will be followed by a discussion of the Malaysian legal framework to show the gap between international law and domestic law relating to refugees. The next focus of attention is the general condition of refugee children in Malaysia and the treatment accorded to them by the authorities. Their unpleasant condition explains the link between the absence of law and their protracted situation. The next task is to examine whether or not the two principles have attained CIL status; the thesis also considers the duties of the state under the two rules, the persistent objector rule, and the application of the principles and the obligation that accompanies them as CIL in the domestic courts. Lastly, the conclusion and recommendation are presented at the end of this thesis. Noting that local resources and literature on this subject are limited, this thesis will contribute to the existing body of knowledge on this matter and provide an interesting argument to advocate legal reform to improve refugee protection in the country.

The main aim of this research is two-fold; firstly, these chapters will seek to demonstrate the unreliability of theoretical or abstract approaches to legal reasoning in describing the law. Secondly, rather than merely providing a deconstruction of previous attempts to classify private law, the chapters attempt to construct an overlapping approach to classification. This represents a new way of classifying private law, which builds on the foundations of the lessons of legal realism and explains how classification can accommodate overlaps to assist in identifying the core elements of private law reasoning. Following the realist tradition, the thesis argues for narrower formulations of the concepts of property, contract and tort. It is then argued that within these narrower concepts, the law is made more predictable and clearer. Importantly, adopting the overlapping analysis, we can explain the areas that we have removed from property, contract and tort as overlaps with these core concepts. The purpose is to recognise that legal concepts can be best understood as links between facts and judicial decision making, and the best way to achieve this is to reject discrete categorisation and, instead, to recognise the overlapping of legal concepts.

The teaching of values to youth in contemporary societies is more problematic than ever before. Globalisation, technological change, the decline of belief systems, and the breakdown of the family have created an environment where people fear that character education may impart values to children which conflict with their own. Natural law holds the potential to identify basic values which almost all can embrace. Some believe Hume’s Guillotine has rendered natural law reasoning invalid. The perceived objections to ethical naturalism of Hume, Moore, and Mackie are herein shown to pose no significant obstacles to natural law thought. A contemporary form of ancient natural law reasoning is advanced here; it is then combined with a uniquely simple and practical approach to pedagogy. This pedagogy is shown to have exceptional motivational power. The ability of the form of natural law reasoning here set forth to deduce prescriptivity from the natural world is then demonstrated, using the area of reproductive and gestational health in order to give an instantiation of legitimate derivation of values from facts. This ethical reasoning and teaching strategy will likely be approved by those who would otherwise object to children being taught values while at school.

This thesis presents a multi-national empirical study of the relationship between financial development and economic growth from the legal protection perspective based on both micro firm-level data and macro country-level data. Our study comprehensively examines the investor legal protection in terms of legal statues, legal enforcement and legal origins. We first examine the mechanism through which the legal system affects firm investment behaviour. The study suggests that a well-functioning legal system will benefit financial development; consequently access to external finance in the financial sector will be easier, thus firms are less sensitive to internal financing. Secondly, we investigate this relationship by taking into account of the cost of capital. The empirical study provides evidence that stronger legal protection will lead to a decrease in the cost of debt and equity, since it promotes financial development and thus funds are more available. Finally, we construct four new indices to measure financial development from the qualitative aspect rather than the quantitative aspect. The indices measure the liquidity and volatility of financial market while assessing the efficiency of banking and non-banking sector. We find that economic growth is accelerated by financial development which is exogenously determined by the functioning of legal systems.

This thesis is a contribution to the body of literature which aspires to solve the global problem of collective wrongdoing. This collective wrongdoing is committed by individuals, social groups and corporations which includes (to name a few) environmental damage, the violations of human rights, political rights, animal rights and the socio-economic rights of people. The discussion is focused on the solutions for the violations of the socio-economic rights of people who are affected by the business practice of outsourcing (i.e. stakeholders of businesses). It advances the argument that the imposition of legal, social and moral responsibility on those individuals, social groups and corporations which contribute to collective wrongdoing is not an effective method. It suggests departing from this method of holding these individuals, social groups and corporations accountable for their contributions to collective wrongdoing. It advances the argument that collective wrongdoing can be regulated and controlled by the participants who are engaged in a multilateral agreement to practice business sustainably. It suggests that collective obligations (as opposed to responsibility) are contained in multilateral agreements. It is therefore argued that the protection of the socio-economic rights of stakeholders by a theory of collective obligations is plausible and practicable.

This thesis will look at the implications of multilateral, regional and bilateral trade agreements entered into by the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. The countries included in this study are those that are members of both the Arab League and the World Trade Organisation. The twelve countries looked at have joined the WTO as relatively recent members, and are also involved in a parallel effort to increase bilateral trade agreements. The outcome of this dual approach has been mixed. On the one hand, it has been permitted by Article XXIV of the GATT either as encouragement towards the fostering of regional trade which might in turn increase overall trade according to some authors, or as a more pragmatic measure aimed at minimising obstacles to potentially global membership of the WTO. This thesis will argue that increased trade links have been shown to increase trade volume as has been encouraged by Article XXIV of the GATT. On the basis of regime theory an increase in trade would be viewed as absolute gains, and Arab members of the WTO in order to reap the maximum benefit from their membership at the organisation in the form of absolute gains should increase their participation in the organisation, in conjunction with the pursuit of regional and bilateral trade agreements to the extent these do not conflict with each other and subsequently affect the positive benefits they might otherwise have presented. To date, only Egypt, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates have been active participants in a WTO dispute as respondents. Qatar is the only Arab member of the WTO to have been a claimant. The reasons behind this lack of participation are multiple and range from a lack of financial means to enable any meaningful presence or active representation in the WTO, a reticence to engage in what is seen as a costly and highly specialised legal setting, a cultural reticence towards legal confrontation as a means to resolve disputes, and political and economic considerations that might make the MENA members of the WTO hesitant to become embroiled in a trade dispute that might result in undesirable consequences with important trade partners. There is further nuance, however, to add to the general observation that Arab WTO members are not actively participating in the organisation. There is evidence of some increased form of activity, essentially on part of the Gulf countries, as third parties to disputes. This pattern of behaviour could be significant if it marks a conscious approach to increasing participation in the WTO through observation prior to active participation in a relatively low risk manner. The new levels of activity could alternatively mark a policy of forming trade alliances through coalitions and supporting trade partners in their own disputes. There is also, however, more recent evidence of the participation of the Gulf countries in dispute settlement, but against one another which could be viewed in a positive light as an overall increase in participation, or in a negative light considering this might potentially annul any positive moves observed recently in terms of concerted action should this affect regional trade and consequently, the level of absolute gains achieved. With regards to decision-making, there is evidence of Arab country membership to various working parties, some quite active and influential. It is difficult, however, to determine exact levels of participation of the Arab countries within these working parties in the absence of freely available records of meetings for all these working parties. With regards to bilateral trade agreements, these have given rise to legal difficulties for the Arab members of the WTO as their numbers increase, leading to an already existent risk of clashing legal obligations. In addition, the lack of a coherent global approach to the negotiations of these extra regional agreements have proven problematic in light of the generalised imbalance of negotiation power between the MENA signatory and its often economically more influential trade partner. Regional trade agreements have overall lead to little increase in trade, with the exception of the Gulf Cooperation Council which despite past success appears threatened by mounting regional tensions. Whether regional trade, and nascent cooperation between Arab countries will be able to survive both within the WTO and outside the organisation is yet uncertain. What remains evident, however, is that an alternative to the previously individualistic approach to trade in the MENA region is preferable if these countries are to improve the flow of trade both with their regional and global trade partners, and that a concerted and long-sighted policy is necessary if the Arab members of the WTO are to adopt overlapping trade obligations so as to reap the benefits of WTO membership, in conjunction with regional and bilateral trade in the pursuit of absolute rather than relative gains.

This thesis examines the law applicable to unmarried couples on relationship breakdown through the lens of vulnerability theory, developing a framework of 'relational vulnerability' which argues that as a result of the state's expectation of and preference for economic self-sufficiency, the homemaker becomes vulnerable. Relational vulnerability is defined as the broad susceptibility to harm that arises as a result of an individual existing within an uneven or unequal relational framework. Firstly, I argue that relational vulnerability is primarily caused by the way that the state, through law, prioritises autonomy and rationality at the homemaker's expense. Her inability to live up to the economic ideal causes her harm on economic, emotional, and spatial levels. Secondly, I argue that legal understandings of homemaking (i.e. care and domestic work) are influenced by myths of altruism and domesticity, labelling it as gendered, sentimental, and privatised. As a result of this, the homemaker struggles to assert an interest in the family home on relationship breakdown. Thirdly, I argue that the state owes an obligation to redress relational vulnerability by promoting resilience. In the final chapter, I examine three hypothetical responses to vulnerability, evaluating the extent to which these are able to make the homemaker resilient.

This thesis is a study of the legality of using force in a defensive way from the perspective of Islamic and International law regarding the Palestinian use of force in the Palestinian–Israeli conflict. This thesis is a doctrinal and applicable study of the jus ad bellum principle of the defensive use of force in Islamic and international law, applying it to the case of Palestine. That is to say, the first part of the thesis is an analysis of the defensive use of force in Islamic and international law from a doctrinal perspective; the second part is a discussion of how to apply these norms to the case of the Palestinian use of force. The objective of the research is to understand the doctrinal concept of the principle of the defensive use of force and the legal stance of the Palestinian defensive use of force in Islamic and international law. The study of both angles of law is significant because they both function together and are relied on at the present time by Palestinian fighters who are concerned with the legality of their resistance. The study concludes that the legal concept of the defensive use of force from the perspective of Islamic and international law is applied to Palestinians living inside Palestine today.