The purpose of this thesis is to study the role of corporate social responsibility (hereinafter ‘CSR’) in corporate governance in the context of employment. This is done through a comparative study of the United Kingdom (hereinafter ‘UK’) and China in which it is determined whether Chinese companies can adopt UK companies’ CSR practices in employment. The thesis begins with an overview of the theory of corporate governance and the necessity of CSR in corporate governance. The different models and principles of corporate governance and CSR, and how the main corporate organs operate in corporate governance and apply CSR in decision-making to meet stakeholders’ needs are introduced. The study then demonstrates the rationale behind the emergence of CSR, the legal impact of CSR on stakeholders and the global application of CSR initiatives, especially the techniques and mechanisms adopted in the UK and China. The research specifically presents CSR practices in employment in the UK and China against a theoretical background. This comparative study is mainly dependent on companies’ information disclosure, since all data were collected from their official CSR reports. The quality of the information disclosure is assured through effective monitoring as stated in the various reports. The implication of the comparative research on the information disclosure collected demonstrates the difference in CSR implementation in employment between UK and Chinese companies. The thesis analyses the possibility of adopting UK CSR practice in employment in Chinese companies in terms of the economic, social and political barriers to, and current situation of, CSR in China. As China has opened up the global market, overseas companies have invested in the Chinese market. This comparative study of CSR implementation in the context of employment in the UK and China, and the analysis of the current status of Chinese CSR practices also provide foreign enterprises experience to relate their CSR policies in corporate governance to Chinese context.

This thesis is concerned with REACH, the EU Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals, and its regulator, the European Chemicals Agency (‘ECHA’). It has two overriding objectives. The first is to provide an exposition of REACH. The Regulation is vast and has been called, "possibly the most controversial and complex piece of legislation in European history", by one of the EU Commissioners who oversaw its genesis. Despite (or possibly because of) this, there is comparatively little substantive writing on REACH. The second aim of this thesis is to explore REACH using new governance literature and, in particular, writing which looks at post legislative norm elaboration via the use of guidance. The text of the Regulation stands at more than 130,000 words. The most recent consolidated version of REACH is 516 pages long. The Regulation is complex and dense and lengthy. Accompanying this complex legislation are more than one million words of official guidance produced by ECHA. To date, there have been a small handful of case studies which use particular legislative regimes to explore the challenges posed by post legislative norm elaboration via guidance. The yoking of post legislative soft norms to REACH has seen a complex transformation; one which was only partially foreseen in the Regulation (and likely also only partly foreseen in the minds of the legislature). As such, REACH is a good example of an evolving system of EU governance that is both associated with the Community Method and is also differentiated, new, complex and nuanced. However, REACH also acts as a challenge to a number of assumptions in the new governance literature, including: that new governance is non-hierarchical; that yoked soft norms are complementary and come only from the state; and that soft law elaborates solely on framework norms.

Elderly care is one of the more high profile contemporary issues that confronts care professionals, the Government and its citizens. Central to these are concern how care is best regulated and the cost effectiveness of decisions to cut care delivery across the public and private sectors. Defining what constitutes good care delivery is a continuing challenge to health care managers and staff, as the benchmark is in constant flux due to advances in modern medicine and the progression of new and dangerous ill-health conditions. Culture, personal values and expectation changes from generation to generation also blur the definition of what constitutes good care. This thesis offers a contemporary analysis of care and examines how regulatory systems have been too ad hoc and often retrospective; leading to deficiencies in the pro-activity and holistic response elderly care requires to tackle its issues. This is one of the most rapidly evolving areas of regulation in a period of intense media attention and public concern over elderly care. A considerable degree of permanence can be identified towards the action plan of the Government in engaging a variety of reactionary regulatory strategies. In the later analysis in the thesis, it is suggested that additional specialist and dedicated regulation may still prove to be necessary to secure care quality and undertake preventative measures against the abuse of this vulnerable section of the community. Public concern and medical interest continues to reveal cases of severe neglect of the elderly in many private care homes. The Care Quality Commission, the main regulator since 2009, undertakes inspections and reports on care quality, but doubts remain as to how effective the measures in place guard the quality of care in practice. The second Francis Report on the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation (5th February 2013) highlighted many failings in the National Health Service and showed how the most vulnerable and elderly to be particularly at risk. Reports of poor care of the elderly continue to confirm that stricter monitoring and inspections are needed. The aims and objectives of this thesis, are to understand how elderly care regulation has addressed systemic regulatory failures and provides a case study of lessons learnt from past omissions and mistakes. At the time of writing, the Care Quality Commission has undertaken tougher inspection regimes by currently adopting a system of special measures, and new regulations are being considered. Over its approximately six years of activity since it ‘plugged a regulatory hole’ it’s now progressively much improved inspectorate function has even just embraced ‘whistle-blowing’ as part of its ‘work in progress’ profile. There is continued pressure on the regulator to meet expectations of ensuring high quality care, and it is also a response to the changing role of care homes; reflecting the diverse range of care and the ageing population. This thesis provides an analysis of how elderly care has evolved over many centuries and varied in its standards of delivery. Defining appropriate levels for care standards is one approach, adopting a holistic approach is another, but the culture of care is one that needs to be fostered through family members who are often engaged in the delivery of elderly care, as well as the community at large. Developing care through purely legal mechanisms, such as the setting of care standards has its limitations, but will undoubtedly also feature as part of any perceived solution. There are signs that the changing culture in care homes and those that provide care, is a recent and most welcome shift in regulatory goals and objectives. It is argued that this change reflects positively on the current care system which has been driven by some better education of care workers and greater empathy with the elderly; an empathy which is driven by the growing reality with every new generation that most of us will live well into our elderly years due to the advancement of modern medicine. Reflected also is increased lack of trust in people, where in the past assumptions about care delivery standards by individuals were relied upon instead, and how to engage with the continuous re-design of oversight regulatory structures issues of legitimacy and increasing public trust. The Care Quality Commission is developing its own identity and offers a form of social regulation that is set apart from the main economic regulators. There are many lessons which can be learnt when working from within the National Health Service through the use of internal networks, access to current government policy and funding arrangements. Despite strong ministerial engagement in this area, the Care Quality Commission has been able to maintain its own voice and, in recent months, has developed its expertise to address public concerns about elderly care. Despite this, the statistics show that at least one third of care homes are regarded as less than satisfactory, suggesting that much work remains to be undertaken. Co-ordinating clinical and social care of the elderly is part of patient safety. It also connects with regulating the professional standards of health and social care professionals.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the effect of the changing constitutional relationship between Scotland and England on the Scottish approach to conflicts of law with an English element (i.e., competitions of jurisdiction between Scots and English courts; cases in which both Scots and English law have a claim to application; and recognition and enforcement of English court orders in Scotland). A historical perspective is obtained by brief study of the period prior to parliamentary union. Once united in one political state, the constitutionalising of conflicts, the internalising of conflicts, and the use of international private law rules, are three ways in which conflicts of law within that state might be handled. The extent to which each of these methods has influenced the Scottish approach to intra-UK conflicts, and the effect of devolution on each, is examined. The availability to Scots courts of public policy objections in respect of English law is also investigated. The context of the Anglo-Scottish relationship changed with UK entry into the (now) European Union, and the effect of that on intra-UK conflict rules is considered. The conclusion is that the nature of the constitutional relationship between Scotland and England impacts upon the handling in Scotland of conflicts of law with an English element. The parliamentary union may not have resulted in wide-spread constitutionalisation of conflicts, but there has been a degree of internalisation of conflicts. In general, however, the interaction of the constitutional relationship between Scotland and England and its private law consequences has permitted, indeed sometimes necessitated, the use (in certain areas) of Scottish international private law rules without differentiation between intra-UK, and international, conflicts.

This thesis offers a sociological analysis of authorship and copyright. It analyses how a specific model of authorship (characterised as 'Romantic') has come to form the foundation for understanding copyright even though such an understanding does not have any basis in the original purposes of copyright. This argument is then illustrated with a case study of an area of popular music known as 'bootlegging'. The thesis begins with a discussion of the early history of copyright law. It is argued that, rather than being for the benefit of authors, copyright was initially intended as a means of securing public education. On the basis of this discussion it is argued that copyright is a relationship between three interests - authors, public and publisher - but that the rhetorical uses of authorship prove especially critical for understanding copyright as a social phenomenon. The thesis goes on to investigate why Romanticism and copyright should be so intimately linked, relating copyright to notions of individually and immortality, and what problems this understanding of authorship causes. In particular, it is argued that the public interest, the intended beneficiary of copyright law, has been diminished because of the dominance of Romantic authorship. The thesis then offers some alternative conceptualisations of both creativity and copyright. This argument is then illustrated by a case study of the popular music industry. This section of the thesis begins by examining the dominance of Romantic ideals within rock music ideology and discusses the 'functions' of Romanticism for both the music industry and copyright industries more generally. The case study looks at the phenomenon of bootlegging (the commercial release of live performances and outtakes by individuals other than the rights holders) as an exemplar of the trends under discussion. The case study is structured around the question of why bootlegging is viewed as a problem by the legitimate record industry when it is of minimal economic impact. It is suggested that the answer to this puzzle is that bootlegging poses an explicit challenge to Romantic authorship. However, the thesis concludes that bootlegging not only contests but in its own way also reproduces the Romantic idea of authorship.

This thesis deals with the emergence of the modern criminal process in England between 1780 and 1910 . It seeks to investigate this period from a standpoint which regards this development of the criminal process as intimately related to its internal structure and self-understanding. This is understood to occur through transformations in institutional structures produced by both the practices of the elements within it, and changes in the theoretical conceptualisation of the structure of the criminal process. The character of these developments, and the tendencies which they evince, are seen to be generally negative from the perspective of a theory of society which is intimately connected with an interest in emancipation. The relation between law, state and democracy is seen to be an essentially problematic one which does not conform to the ideas of progress, equality or liberty but to the maintenance of the survival of a social system which is seen as constantly at risk from a threatening environment of individuals whose obedience to the structure of the social order must be obtained continuously. The thesis is the result of original research which draws upon both original and secondary sources. The methodology used in writing the thesis is a combination of historical analysis and theoretical perspectives. There is a focus upon modern developments and it is hoped that the thesis will inform current debate on the future of the criminal process. The thesis is divided into four main chapters which concentrate upon particular parts of the criminal process in both their specificity and in their relation to the system and society as a whole. The first deals with the development of the institutional autonomy of the "New Police", during the nineteenth century, setting it in the context of the system of local governance. The second examines the system of prosecution describing the failure to institute a system of public prosecution and the predominance of the "New Police" as prosecutors in a system which remained private merely in form. The third deals with the position of the defendant during this process of transformation in the criminal process and presents its evolution as one which accorded with internal systemic considerations of the criminal process, and not as one which could be seen as the unfolding of the concept of freedom, equality or universality. The fourth deals with the creation of the Court of Appeal in 1907 which is seen, not as the institutional embodiment of justice, but as the product of the internal concerns of the Home Office Criminal Department with the systemic coherence and legitimacy of the criminal process.

This thesis is concerned with the special protection afforded religion in United Kingdom (UK) anti-discrimination law. Initial discussions centre on the historical and normative bases for religious liberty in the UK. These debates assess the evolution of domestic legal protection of religion and critique prevailing principles (in particular, the idea of human dignity) underpinning the variety of that protection. Attention is then focused on religious exceptions in UK anti-discrimination law and the practical extent to which they assist religious interests. It is clear that such special measures are aimed at religion as a collective; they do not enhance protection at the individual level. This deficit becomes more acute when considering the limiting effects of recent UK jurisprudence, specifically claims involving religion and discrimination across employment and the provision of goods and services. A particularly problematic trend exhibited in the case law is the courts’ approach to determining justification and proportionality in indirect discrimination. Accordingly, an argument is made for additional special protection. A duty of reasonable accommodation is proposed as a separate claim route in UK anti-discrimination law for religious individuals wishing to be excused from a rule. This is advocated in the field employment, it being noted that the field of goods and services poses challenges for the introduction of such a duty. Comparative analyses with Canada and the United States (US) expose two different models of reasonable accommodation. These are applied to high-profile UK cases featuring religion and indirect discrimination in employment, revealing how reasonable accommodation might have assessed those claims differently. It is submitted that the Canadian model provides a more sophisticated proportionality analysis than its US counterpart. This approach affords a more factually nuanced analysis in balancing the religious claim with a competing legitimate aim. It is contended that such a duty also coheres with both the theory of human dignity and the notion of equality as it features in the conceptual framework of anti-discrimination law.

The most recent international legal definition of „trafficking in humans‟ is provided within Article 3 of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, and is reproduced verbatim in Article 4 of the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings, and almost verbatim in Article 2 of the recent Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, 2011. This definition has taken significant and at times controversial steps in clarifying what human trafficking is in a legal sense. The definition is comprised of three elements – the „action‟, „means‟ and „purpose‟, all of which must be present in order for the activity in question to constitute human trafficking. The definition goes on to state that consent is irrelevant where any of the listed „means‟ such as force or coercion have been employed by the trafficker(s). The „lack of consent‟ element has the potential to be problematic, due to the elasticity of the notion of consent. If it is to be accepted that consent (or lack thereof) is relevant in the context of human trafficking – and therefore sexual exploitation – then this renders it difficult to determine who are, and who are not, victims of human trafficking, and leaves those who have „consented‟ in a state of limbo – they have been less than trafficked, but more than smuggled. This thesis aims to explore the nature and role of consent in the transnational trade in women for sexual exploitation, and what the ramifications of inclusion of this controversial element are for the putative victims.

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.

Debates in legal geography have highlighted that there is a need to develop a more creative approach in order to understand the intersections between law and geography. This paper proposes that this imbrication can be investigated by using a Sequent Legal Occupance (SLO) method of analysis in legal geography research. By modifying Whittlesey’s notion of sequent occupance, the study historically and chronologically investigates River Severn in relation to two activities, navigation and fishing, to understand the correlation between law and geography as a process of mutual constitution. It identifies the ways in which law has been present within the landscape in terms of ‘occupance’ and ‘impress’ to indicate the complex, multi layered and multi-dimensional ways in which law and geography are woven together in a particular setting. This sequence of events is presented as the ‘Severnscape’, a fusion of landscape and lawscape which illustrates the ways in which the relationships between space, place and law are constantly being negotiated, changing, reforming, and performing. I argue that such an approach can be used to better understand the correlation and co-constitution of law and geography.