The scholarly consensus on the political foundations of independent constitutional review – that it invariably stems from electoral and inter-branch competition – has been weakened by recent empirical discoveries which demonstrated that constitutional courts in a number of authoritarian states are actually more activist than previously assumed. This dissertation examines this phenomenon using the case of Hong Kong, an authoritarian polity first under the sovereignty of Britain and then of China. It is widely believed that the competence of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal – a cosmopolitan common law final appellate court – to strike down legislative and executive acts, and its ability to induce the regime’s compliance with its rulings, is intrinsic to the Basic Law, just as it is in liberal democracies. Nevertheless, two interrelated anomalous phenomena – the Court’s repeated issuance of activist rulings with near-complete impunity, and the continuing forbearance of China’s foremost constitutional authority, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), faced with the Court’s aggressive assertions – necessitates careful explanation. This dissertation proposes an explanatory Constitutional Investment Theory, which highlights the similarities between “investment” in constitutional review and investment in financial assets, to explain the activation, consolidation, and ascendancy of independent constitutional review in authoritarian settings. It shows how strong incentives to signal its ideological commitment to the “One Country, Two Systems” scheme, both internationally and domestically, first drove the NPCSC to acquiesce in the Court’s self-aggrandisement; how internal divisions within and external opposition to the Hong Kong regime have rendered retaliation a costly option; and how the Court’s strategic resolution of the Basic Law’s ambiguities has encouraged continuous political investment in its jurisdiction and autonomy. Altogether, these have contributed to the formation of a dynamic equilibrium of constitution control, under which the Court and the NPCSC dynamically developed their own jurisprudence within their respective bailiwicks.

This thesis examines the regulatory landscape relating to private orphanages, both foreign and domestically run, in China, and the formal and informal relationships between such homes and government which structure this space of order. Part A introduces the contextual factors shaping the gradual socialisation and privatisation of charitable activity generally, and the child welfare-specific social, economic and cultural dynamics influencing the emergence of private orphanages. Parts B and C set out the ethnographic findings of field-work examining the practical operations of private orphanages, and a theoretical analysis of the various interactions occurring with government orphanages, and local and central officials. It is shown that the ostensible government monopoly on institutional care of orphans, established in law and policy and consistent with the objective of maintaining tight control over civic organisations and religious-based and foreign-led activities, is belied by a proliferation of private orphanages emerging to address gaps in state welfare provision. This has led to the emergence of a delicate balance between top-down official discourse, rhetoric and law, and bottom-up pragmatic considerations. Further, the prima facie 'missing role' of the state in law, regulation and policy-making is contradicted in practice by evidence of a complexity of highly paternalistic state-orphanage relationships occurring beyond the normative framework of official laws and policies. Such extra-legal state-society interaction is characterised by informal, flexible and paternalistic negotiations with local officials, and mediated by structures of power and capacity. 'Law beyond government' and 'government beyond law' are central features of the multidimensional maintenance of this space of order, and point to several defining points of distinction of law as a cultural notion in the Chinese context, including a marked preoccupation with legitimacy over legality and paternalistic discipline and discretion over impartial adjudication.

The central argument of this work is that the level of aggression of judges sitting in vulnerable courts is a function of their attempt to protect the institutional security of such courts. I argue that in contexts characterised by a lack of a culture of judicial independence, by high levels of judicial delegitimisation, and a high level of public visibility of judicial affairs, judges will attempt to simultaneously construct public support and avoid political conflicts with the Government. As a result, judicial decisions are driven by judges’ calculations of both the public’s reaction and the Government’s reaction to their rulings. I claim the level of aggression of judges’ interventions will increase when the Government's tolerance to decisions against its preferences was is higher and the public appears to be more supportive. I empirically test this theory using the case of Argentine Supreme Court Justices between July 2004 and September 2010. The findings confirm the theoretical expectations according to which judges are simultaneously concerned with the construction of public support and the avoidance of conflicts with the Government. In addition, my study shows three relevant patterns in terms of judicial behaviour. First, the Justices increased their level of aggression by using different modes of involvement when the public appeared to be more supportive and the Government’s tolerance higher during the period under study. Second, the decreased level of aggression occurred by altering the features of the same remedy in response to the political conditions in which decisions were issued. Third, existing legal constraints prevented Justices from being more aggressive.

This thesis focuses on subnational corruption law enforcement in a new democracy: Indonesia. It seeks to understand temporal and spatial variation in corruption prosecutions in the post-Suharto era, and answer three core research questions: Why has the number of corruption cases steadily increased over the past twenty years? Why is there significant subnational variation in the investigation and prosecution of corruption? And why are some cases of local corruption investigated and prosecuted while others are ignored? The argument developed in the thesis consists of three inter-linked components: that corruption generates complex collective action problems for law enforcement; that ostensibly public law enforcement regimes in Indonesia are informally privatised public law enforcement regimes; and that, in the context of these hybrid regimes, the availability of resources and the formation of coalitions is critical to understanding when individuals and groups mobilise corruption laws at the subnational level. The project uses a mixed methods research strategy—combining qualitative case studies, formal game theoretic modelling, and quantitative regression analysis—to develop and provide evidence for the argument. The research strategy required twelve months of fieldwork in Indonesia. In total over one hundred interviews in Jakarta and Central Java were conducted, and a unique dataset of local corruption cases was coded for two additional provinces. The thesis's argument and methodological approach has implications for literature that spans the field of law and politics: the political economy of prosecution, theories of legal mobilisation, socio-legal studies, and studies of politics and power in contemporary Indonesia.

The purpose of this investigation was to make a study of education in Kentucky, as interpreted by decisions handed down by the Court of Appeals, and to show how these decisions have helped to form our educational policies, and to trace these trends from the first decision of our wise old men to the present. The decisions of the Court of Appeals have helped legislators to formulate the school laws that have been passed and that will be passed in the future. There are too many decisions on education to be discussed at length. Therefore this investigation deals only with decisions concerning the school superintendents, school boards and school districts.

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This study provides, via personal interviews, a qualitative examination of police, district attorneys, public defenders and private attorneys who were involved in traffic accident investigation and criminal court adjudication in Chattanooga, Tennessee. These data were compiled to develop a profile of the actors and their involvement in the process of a criminal charge stemming from a traffic accident. The literature suggests that the actors work as a team to process a case from investigation to adjudication; however, the actors in Chattanooga, Tennessee were fragmented in their handling of a case. This study collectively examines police and attorneys in relation to traffic issues.

Parental attachment style is an important element when delinquent behavior seems to be an issue for a child. In the past, a number of parents have found it difficult to effectively bond with their children because most had to work long hours to provide their child with necessities. Bonding with their children was not a high priority when lower income was a factor. Some parents began to realize that bonding is an important aspect in a child's life and must be nurtured to assure that antisocial tendencies do not erupt. Many theorists have linked criminal behavior to ineffective parenting styles. These styles usually left the child insecurely attached, with no one to talk to when stress and anxiety were felt. In turn, these feelings of stress and anxiety can surface and cause the child to display deviant behaviors toward others. The Cambridge Delinquent Data were used to measure the relationship between parental attachment variables and convictions in adolescence and adulthood. Chi-square analyses were used to measure the variables. The results of the analysis revealed a significant relationship between seven of the nine parental attachment variables and convictions.

The purpose of this study was to analyze those factors that affect the commitment rate of juveniles and how outside variables such as gender, race, parents, and school attendance affect the commitment rate of crime and delinquency. The variables used for this study came from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) data collected by Esbensen and Osgood (1999). The analysis revealed that females are more likely to have a higher commit rate than males, that Whites have a higher commit rate than other races, that those juveniles living with their father have a lower commit rate than those living with others, and those juveniles who do not attend school often are less likely to commit crimes and delinquent actions than those who attend more often.

This dissertation surveys the legal and ethical implications of the journey of artworks from Africa to Europe and the United States, beginning with events of the nineteenth century and continuing to the present. It addresses the laws regarding works of art from undeveloped countries, with focus on sub-Saharan Africa. The laws offer insight into what cultural value has been assigned to African art, and the changing laws and ethical norms reflect how African art has been perceived at different times. This work also discusses to what extent the unique aspects of African art should affect laws protecting the cultural property of sub-Saharan African countries. The dissertation focuses especially on Nigeria, the home of the Kingdom of Benin. It also addresses the legal issues of art from Mali, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It shows when, where, and how the legal issues for sub-Saharan art are similar to, or different from, the legal issues for other regions. Three spheres of academic endeavor were pursued in producing this work: African art history, ethics, and legal studies. From the combination of these areas emerges a narrative with a broad variety of events and people. Although the story is told chronologically, it is based on a set of legal and ethical issues. The common issues fall into four categories: plunder and illegal import/export; ethical collection and display; authenticity and forgery; and ownership and copyright. African artworks found their way to the West in the nineteenth century. There they were considered "savage fetishes" and put in ethnographic museums. In the twentieth century, Western artists such as Picasso were inspired by the aesthetics of African art, and private collectors began acquiring it. Now the world's major art museums display African art. Since World War II, important international conferences have established an increasing level of protection for cultural property, and thus for African art. International conventions have not prevented illicit art traffic, however. The story of the Afo-A-Kom's return to Cameroon in 1975 illustrates the diverging interests of collectors, museums, the public, and the source country. Forgery has been an increasing problem for African art throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century, fed by the high prices that authentic works receive in auction and at galleries. In 1991, for example, Sotheby's sold a forged terra-cotta ram from Mali for more than a quarter of a million dollars. Today's attitudes and laws concerning African art reflect a complex interplay of historical events and legal changes over time. From the nineteenth century to current times, some progress has been made. Key issues remain from colonial times, however. Despite a growing body of international and national legislation to protect cultural property, African art is still seen by some as a commodity that can be stolen, illegally exported and imported, forged, destroyed or censored.