People living with HIV/AIDS have the right to be employed as long as they are physically fit to do the work. The unfortunate situation now is that in many South African workplaces employees who disclose their HIV/AIDS status or who are suspected of living with the disease face backlashes from fellow employees and sometimes even from employers. No one should be discriminated against or be prevented from being employed or dismissed from employment purely on the basis of having HIV or AIDS. Any form of discrimination against employees living with HIV/AIDS constitutes a violation of their constitutional rights to among others human dignity, equality and fair labour practices. Discrimination may take the form of pre-employment HIV testing or a dismissal due to HIV positive status. This research looks at the protection given to employees living with HIV/AIDS in the South African workplaces and whether the protection is adequate or not. / Mercantile Law / LL. M.

With the dawn of democracy, the South African social security system was in dire need of change. The right of access to social security was for the first time entrenched as a fundamental right in the 1995 Constitution. Since then, many changes have been effected to the present formal social security system, but these were mostly ad hoc and lacked a comprehensive approach. The past history of the country led to the exclusion of the majority of the population from formal social security protection. The excluded and marginalised had to rely on informal social security measures to provide social protection. This resulted in a system of co-existence between formal and informal social security. Although informal social security is increasingly recognised as part of the social security landscape, the role and importance of informal social security have largely been ignored in all reforms to improve the protective scope of the present social security system. The thesis aims to change this. Informal social security has been denied a rightful place in the South African social security landscape. The thesis recommends a model as to how the divide between formal and informal social security can be bridged. This model will, it is hoped, serve as a baseline for stimulating debate and generating new innovative ideas as to how to improve the present social security system in South Africa. / Jurisprudence / LLD

In present-day society more and more personal information is being collected. The nature of the collection has also changed: more sensitive and potentially prejudicial information is collected. The advent of computers and the development of new telecommunications technology, linking computers in networks (principally the Internet) and enabling the transfer of information between computer systems, have made information increasingly important, and boosted the collection and use of personal information. The risks inherent in the processing of personal information are that the data may be inaccurate, incomplete or irrelevant, accessed or disclosed without authorisation, used for a purpose other than that for which they were collected, or destroyed. The processing of personal information poses a threat to a person's right to privacy. The right to identity is also infringed when incorrect or misleading information relating to a person is processed. In response to the problem of the invasion of the right to privacy by the processing of personal information, many countries have adopted "data protection" laws. Since the common law in South Africa does not provide adequate protection for personal data, data protection legislation is also required. This study is undertaken from a private law perspective. However, since privacy is also protected as a fundamental right, the influence of constitutional law on data protection is also considered. After analysing different foreign data protection laws and legal instruments, a set of core data protection principles is identified. In addition, certain general legal principles that should form the basis of any statutory data protection legislation in South Africa are proposed. Following an analysis of the theoretical basis for data protection in South African private law, the current position as regards data protection in South-Africa is analysed and measured against the principles identified. The conclusion arrived at is that the current South African acts can all be considered to be steps in the right direction, but not complete solutions. Further legislation incorporating internationally accepted data protection principles is therefore necessary. The elements that should be incorporated in a data protection regime are discussed. / Jurisprudence / LL. D. (Jurisprudence)

In the first half of the 20th Century, the United Kingdom’s counter-terror laws were couched extremely broadly. Consequently, they bestowed upon the executive extraordinarily wide powers with which it could address perceived threats of terrorism. In that period of time, the internal affairs of any state were considered sacrosanct and beyond the reach of international law. Consequentially, international human rights law was not a feature of the first half of the 20th Century. Following the war, however, international human rights law grew steadily, largely through the propagation of international treaties. As the 20th Century progressed, the United Kingdom became increasingly involved in international human rights law, particularly by way of the ratification of a number of treaties. Prior to the year 2000, none of these treaties had been directly incorporated into the United Kingdom’s municipal law. The traditional Dualist understanding of the relationship between international treaty law and municipal law in the United Kingdom, would hold that these unincorporated human rights treaties would form no part of that state’s domestic law. This Dualist assumption is called into question, however, by a legislative trend which neatly coincides with the United Kingdom’s increased involvement with international human rights. This trend consists of two elements, firstly, the progressively plethoric and specific ways in which the United Kingdom began to define its anti-terror laws. The specificity in which this legislation was set out curtailed the executive’s powers. The second element is that, over time, the United Kingdom’s counter-terror laws increasingly began to include checks and balances on the executive. There is a clear correlation between these trends and the United Kingdom’s evolving relationship with international human rights law. That nation’s enmeshment with international human rights law from 1945 onwards is undeniably linked with the parallel evolution of its domestic counter-terror laws. v One of the grounds on which the status of international law is questioned is that it is ineffectual. This thesis calls such arguments into question, as it shows that international human rights treaties have meaningfully impacted on the United Kingdom’s evolving counter-terror laws and thereby successfully enforced the norms they advocate. / Public, Constitutional, and International / LL.D.

Money lenders frequently use sale and lease back agreements as an alternative to other more conventional forms of security. These agreements are popular because they are simple and inexpensive to put in place. Unfortunately, South African courts give legal effect to the true intention of contracting parties. Sale and lease back agreements are often held to be simulated contracts and as such they are enforced as disguised pledges. One of the few alternative security options available to money lenders, is a notarial bond registered in terms of the Security By Means of Movable Property Act 57 of 1993. This act has been criticised for creating an ineffective form of security that is costly and cumbersome to put in place. It is suggested that the current security options available to money lenders are supplemented with the creation of a more user friendly public register for the registration of security interests. / Private Law / LL.M.

Developing an adjudicative institutional framework for effective social security provisioning in South Africa entails the establishment of a system that gives effect to the rights (of access) to social security and to justice. These rights are protected in the Constitution and in various international law instruments. In the Constitution, the Bill of Rights guarantees everyone the right to have access to social security, including appropriate social assistance for persons who are unable to support themselves and their dependants. It further requires the State to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of the right to access to social security. Since a dispute resolution (adjudication) framework is an integral part of any comprehensive social security system, it is included in the constitutional obligation of the State. The establishment of a social security adjudication system is an intersection of the right of access to social security and the right of access to justice. The Constitution states that everyone has the right to have any dispute that can be resolved by the application of law decided in a fair public hearing before a court or, where appropriate, another independent and impartial tribunal or forum. In addition, other rights protected in the Constitution have a bearing on the realisation of the rights of access to social security and to justice. There is a close correlation between all the rights in the Bill of Rights, as they are interrelated, interdependent and mutually supporting. They must all be read together in the setting of the Constitution as a whole and their interconnectedness must be taken into account in interpreting rights; and in determining whether the State has met its obligations in terms of any one of them. These rights, which include the right to equality (section 9), the right to human dignity (section 10) and the right to just administrative action (section 33) must thus be considered in establishing a social security adjudication system. Also to be considered are other constitutional prerequisites for the establishment of a social security adjudication system, such as the limitation and enforcement of rights (sections 36 and 38 respectively); principles relating to courts and the administration of justice (Chapter 8) and basic values and principles governing public administration (Chapter 10). In establishing a social security adjudication system in South Africa, international law standards and developments in comparative systems must also be taken into account. The Constitution adopts an international law- and comparative law-friendly approach. It states that when interpreting fundamental rights, international law must be considered while foreign law may be considered (section 39). This thesis aims to develop an adjudicative and institutional framework for effective social security provisioning in South Africa that realises the rights of access to social security and to justice in the South African social security system. This is achieved by exploring the concept of access to justice, and its application in the social security adjudication system. The current social security adjudication system is evaluated against the concept of access to justice applicable in international and regional law instruments, comparable South African (non-social security) systems and comparative international jurisdictions. Principles and standards on the establishment of a social security adjudication system are distilled; and a reformed system for South Africa is proposed. / Mercantile Law / LL.D.

Continuous reforms of pension systems of countries of the world remain significant considering the fact that many countries, including South Africa, face challenges of how to adequately provide for their ageing populations. South Africa’s retirement system takes a formal three-pillar approach; comprising the state old-age pension, occupational funds, and private savings. Pension provision (occupational) takes the form of retirement funds which are mostly established by employers, administered by insurance companies, and regulated by the state through legislation. South Africa does not have a public fund and relies solely on the private retirement system. Many workers in South Africa retire with no income or with insufficient benefits and end up relying on the state for support. The reasons for this include a general lack of a culture of saving, the absence of a public fund, the voluntary nature of the system, leakages that exist within the system, a lack of mandatory preservation of benefits, risks with lump-sum cash payments, and the fact that the system focuses more on those in formal employment. This raises the question whether the system is in line with what is guaranteed by section 27 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 that everyone has a right to have access to social security. The right guarantees “everyone” access to some form of income (protection) during retirement, which makes retirement provision an important social security component. Thus, pensions play an important social security role as they protect the elderly from falling into poverty. Benefits received from retirement savings serve as income replacement in retirement and should therefore receive adequate protection, and they must be able to provide adequate protection to the beneficiaries – beyond mere survival. Over the years South Africa has embarked on many reform processes to find ways to improve its retirement system. This study determines the adequacy of South Africa’s occupational retirement system along social security objectives. It describes the nature of the system, considers proposals made for reform purposes, examines international law, (including systems in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom for a comparative study), identifies weaknesses in the system, and makes some proposals to improve coverage and protection of benefits. / Mercantile Law / LL. D.

Cette thèse porte sur la gestion du risque terroriste en France.En tant que droit fondamental, la sécurité publique est prise en charge par l’État qui a le devoir d’assurer la défense et la protection des personnes et des biens publiques. Afin de protéger le pays contre tout risque et toute menace terroriste, la France, un des pays du monde les plus ciblés par les terroristes, a dû s’adapter aux nouvelles formes de terrorisme qui sévissent. Pour ce faire, elle a mis en place un important dispositif d’outils et de moyens de prévention et de répression pour lutter contre le terrorisme, tels que les fichiers de police informatisés. Des outils dérogatoires de prévention du terrorisme ont ainsi été créés, d’autres ont été perfectionnés. Dans ce contexte de lutte contre le terrorisme, de nombreux acteurs interviennent, au niveau local, national, mais aussi européen et international, au sein des institutions.De leur côté, les législateurs, devant les diverses formes de terrorisme, mais également face à la fréquence de tels actes et à leur violence toujours plus grande, ont dû créer de nouvelles lois relatives à la répression et à la prévention des actions terroristes.Ils se sont aussi attachés à la répression du financement du terrorisme en incriminant les personnes qui seraient, directement ou indirectement liées à des réseaux criminels. Enfin, grâce à une collaboration efficace des acteurs sur les plans international, européen et national, ainsi qu’à des outils opérationnels et des moyens de plus en plus performants, la sécurité des personnes et des biens publics est assurée. / This thesis focuses on terrorist risk management in France.As a fundamental right, public safety is supported by the State, it has the duty to defend and protect people and public property. To protect the country against all risks and terrorist threat, France, one of the most targeted countries of the world by the terrorists, had to adapt to new forms of terrorism. To do this, it has established an important tool device and means of prevention and enforcement to fight against terrorism, such as computerized police files. Derogatory tools to prevent terrorism have also been created, others have been improved. In this context of fight against terrorism, many actors involved, at local, national as well as European and international, within the institutions.For their part, legislators, facing the frequency of such acts and their ever-increasing violence, had to create new laws for the repression and prevention of terrorism.They also committed to the suppression of terrorist financing by criminalizing those who would be directly or indirectly linked to criminal networks. Finally, through effective collaboration of actors on the international, European and national, as well as operational tools and means of increasingly effective, the safety of persons and public goods is assured.

La mutation des économies a transformé les richesses en profondeur en les désincarnant. Ce phénomène s’est traduit par l’accroissement de valeurs sans matière au sein des entreprises et, incidemment, lorsqu’elles éprouvent des difficultés. La notion d’actifs incorporels place la valeur au centre des préoccupations et renvoie à une réalité tant juridique qu’économique. Cette approche révèle leur singularité dans un contexte de défaillance à travers l’observation des opérations d’évaluation et de réalisation. D’une part, l’évaluation des actifs incorporels se montre défectueuse, révélant les carences de la comptabilité française, qui peine à retranscrire la valeur de ces actifs, et plus largement, mettant en exergue les limites des méthodes d’évaluation de ces actifs dans un contexte de difficulté. D’autre part, la réalisation des actifs incorporels est complexifiée par les modes de cession ou des garanties constituées. Ainsi, la singularité des actifs incorporels rend difficile leur maîtrise. Partant, des solutions peuvent être trouvées dans le cadre du droit des entreprises en difficulté. Une grille de lecture des actifs incorporels peut d’ores et déjà s’articuler autour de la valeur et de son interaction avec l’exploitation. Certains actifs incorporels, tels qu’un logiciel ou un fichier-client, sont directement corrélés à l’activité de l’entreprise et ont tendance à se dévaloriser au fur et à mesure des difficultés de celle-ci. D’autres actifs incorporels, tels les créances et les droits sociaux, reposant sur des éléments extérieurs à l’entreprise, ne perdent pas automatiquement leur valeur en présence de difficultés. La division des actifs incorporels peut donc s’opérer entre les actifs incorporels dont la valeur s’établit à l’aune de l’exploitation, et ceux dont la valeur ne lui est pas directement liée. Ces actifs incorporels suscitent par ailleurs une évolution du droit des entreprises en difficulté au niveau des opérations d’évaluation et de réalisation afin d’être mieux appréhendés. La prise en compte de ces évolutions est indispensable. L’importance grandissante des actifs incorporels au sein des entreprises en difficulté, ne doit pas être ignorée au risque sinon de les affaiblir davantage, de décrédibiliser le cadre judiciaire du traitement des entreprises en difficulté. / The mutation of the economy has fundamentally transformed wealth by disembodying it. This has led to the increase in intangible wealth within companies and, incidentally, when they experience difficulties. The concept of intangible assets places centers on value and refers to both a legal and economic reality. This approach reveals their exceptional character in a context of default by observing operations related to valuation and transfer. On the one hand, the valuation of intangible assets is defective, revealing the shortcomings of French accounting, which struggles to translate the value of these assets, and more broadly, highlights the limits of the methods used to value these assets in a difficult context. On the other hand, the transfer of intangible assets is made more complex by the methods of sale or guarantees provided. Thus, the exceptional nature of intangible assets makes them difficult to master. However, solutions can be found in law governing companies in financial difficulty. An index for measuring intangible assets can already be based on value and its interaction with business operations. Some intangible assets, such as software or client files, are directly correlated to the company's activity and tend to devalue as the company's difficulties arise. Other intangible assets, such as receivables and social rights, based on elements external to the company, do not automatically lose their value in the event of difficulties. The division of intangible assets can therefore be made between those intangible assets whose value is established based on exploitation, and those whose value is not directly related to it. Consideration of valuation and transfer operations in relation to intangible assets has led to changes in the law governing companies in difficulty. It is essential to take these developments into account. The growing importance of intangible assets within companies in difficulty must not be ignored at the risk of weakening them further and undermining the judicial framework for such companies.

Le secteur des assurances est protéiforme : il comprend plusieurs opérateurs dont l’intégration dans le paysage économique et juridique s’est accentuée ces dernières années et ne cesse de s’imposer. Les compagnies d'assurance déploient elles-mêmes des activités d’assurance multiples. Depuis les années cinquante les différents régimes d’assurances maladie, vieillesse, chômage – obligatoires, complémentaires – sont exploités par certains organismes assureurs (mutuelles et institutions de prévoyance). Ces organismes développent leurs activités sur des marchés dont le caractère économique n’est pas toujours évident. Si les assurances vie par exemple, ne soulèvent guère de difficulté d’insertion sur un marché concurrentiel, peut-on en revanche considérer que les régimes complémentaires et légaux d’assurance maladie opèrent sur un marché économique ? Cette question conduit à s’interroger sur la soumission du secteur des assurances au droit de la concurrence et son éventuelle unicité de régime. Deux points sont étudiés, en premier lieu, il s’agit de confronter le secteur des assurances à la vision extensive des autorités européenne et nationale sur les critères d’applicabilité du droit de la concurrence. Cette approche est vérifiée auprès de tous les opérateurs proposant des produits et services qualifiés d'assurance. En second lieu, sont examinées l'application du droit de la concurrence au secteur des assurances et leurs exemptions spécifiques. Cette étude prend en compte l’ensemble du droit de la concurrence : pratiques anticoncurrentielles, droit des concentrations économiques et aides d’État. Elle s’appuie essentiellement sur le droit européen et français de la concurrence. / The insurance industry is protean : it includes several operators whose integration into the economic and legal landscape has intensified in recent years and continues to impose itself. Insurance companies themselves deploy multiple insurance activities. Since the 1950s, some insurers have exploited differents insurance schemes such as, health, old age, unemployment (whether compulsory or complementary). These organizations develop their activities in markets whose economic character is not always the most obvious. If life insurance, for example, does not present any difficulty in entering a competitive market, can we also consider that the supplementary and statutory health insurance schemes operate similarly in an economic market ? This question leads up to wonder about the submission of the insurance sector to competition law and its possible uniqueness of regime. Two points are studied, firstly, the question of confronting the insurance sector with the extensive vision of the European and national authorities. Secondly, an examination of the application of competition law to the insurance sector and the justification for different treatment. This study takes into account the whole of competition law : antitrust practices, economic concentrations and state aids. It is essentially based on European and French competition law.