No description available.

South Africa is a country plagued by sexual abuse, and particularly sexual violence. In every local newspaper, everyday, there are numerous articles detailing the egregious humiliation suffered by victims of sexual violence at the hands of their attackers. Whilst the social causes of such ills remain an illusive hypothesis buried deep within the reams of academic literature, the unresponsive and patriarchal laws criminalising such conduct have not. On 16 December 2007, the President signed into law the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007. The Act sought to provide an enabling environment that reconciled the criminal justice system with the experiences of the victims by introducing a plethora of devices to prevent secondary victimisation and to acknowledge and appropriately criminalise various forms of sexual violence. Unfortunately the transition to this modernised sexual offences system has not proved to be a smooth one, with the Act having to overcome many an obstacle in achieving its aims and objects. The study undertaken focused on two particular aspects of import in the Act, namely whether the Act had abolished the formal nature of the offence of rape and the scope and application of the new statutory offence of compelled rape. The latter was particularly relevant in order to ascertain whether the legislature had provided a panacea for scenarios where the perpetrator procured an unwilling and innocent agent to commit the rape. In order to provide a palpable understanding of what the legislature envisaged through the enactment of these two independent offences the study mapped the development of the interests sought to be protected through the introduction of criminal sanctions for sexual offences. This mapping culminated in an understanding, from which the study of the statutory offences departs, that sexual offences must be balanced and weighed against the precepts of rights. Moreover that any interpretation of such statutory offences must promote and uphold the rights violated in order for the Act to meet its aims. The focus of the study was thereafter shifted to a deconstructive analysis of the statutory offence of rape and compelled rape. Through such focused analysis, the study sought to ascertain whether the formal nature of rape - which existed at common law - had been abolished by the legislature. It proposed that should such interpretation prove to be correct, that the offence of compelled rape had been inserted by the legislature either superfluously alternatively ex major cautela. The study thereafter turned to the offence of compelled rape, with particular attention being paid to whether the offence effectively criminalises the conduct identified throughout the study as the ‘innocent perpetrator’ to rape, and whether the offence effectively upholds the rights of the victims. Through such exercise the study concludes in constitutionally compliant interpretations which provide solutions for much of the intellectual discomfort that has plagued the creation of the two independent statutory offences. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Public Law / unrestricted

Discharge - resolving of insolvency of a debtor A discharge is, in addition to bankruptcy order and restructuring, one of the options for resolving of the insolvency or imminent bankruptcy of a debtor in insolvency proceedings. The discharge can be initiated only by proposal from debtor, but only certain person can this proposal write and submit (the lawyer, the notary, the executot, the insolvency administrator or the accredited person). If the debtor proves that his proposal has honest intent, and that he is able to pay at least 30 % of his claims to the creditors, then the court will grant the discharge from debts. The discharge can be done in three ways: the liquidation of the assets, the performance of the payment calendary for up to 5 years or a combination of these two methods. The debtor himself can show his preferred way in the proposal, but the final decision is on unsecured creditors. Only if the creditors do not agree on any of these ways, will the court decide. If the debtor performs his duties for the duration of the discharge, the court will decide on fulfillment of the discharge and exempts the debtor from paying the remaining parts of his claims. In the event of the performance of payment calendary, the debtor may be exempt from paying the remaining parts of his claims, even if he has not...

No description available.

There were two purposes to this study. First, the study was designed to determine which Virginia public school districts have articulated policies that govern random drug testing of students and if school districts' policies aligned with U.S. Supreme Court standards and Virginia statutes. The second purpose was to ascertain the patterns of practice in selected Virginia school districts that currently conduct random drug testing of students. This included identifying which student groups were being tested and for which drugs. It was also of interest to learn how school districts monitor the testing program and if drug testing practices were aligned with the policies that govern them. Data were gathered by examining student handbooks and district policies in order to determine which school districts had drug testing policies. These policies then were analyzed using a legal framework constructed from U.S. Supreme Court standards that have emerged from case law governing search and seizure in schools. Finally, data on patterns of practice were collected through in-depth interviewing and observation of those individuals responsible for implementing student drug testing in those districts that have such programs. The analyses revealed that the current policies and patterns of practice in random drug testing programs in Virginia public schools comply with Supreme Court standards and state statutes. Student groups subject to testing in Virginia public schools include student athletes and students in extracurricular activities in grades eight through twelve. Monitoring systems in the school districts implementing random drug testing were not consistent. There is evidence that the school districts implementing random drug testing programs have strong community support for the program. / Ed. D.

Land development restricts tree growth by damaging soil structure and removing organic matter. Mechanical loosening and organic amendment may improve soil physical properties and tree establishment and growth. Effects of typical post-construction practice and improved methods of soil restoration on tree growth and soil properties were evaluated over two years. Treatments included undisturbed soil (UN); minimum effort (ME) (10 cm topsoil); enhanced topsoil (ET) (ME + rototilling); and profile rebuilding (PR) (compost, subsoiling, topsoil and rototilling). Pretreatment included removing topsoil and compacting subsoil to 1.95 g/cm3 bulk density. Acer rubrum L. (red maple), Quercus bicolor Willd. (swamp white oak), Ulmus 'Morton' (Ulmus japonica (Rehd.) Sarg. x Ulmus wilsoniana Schneid.) (Accolade® elm), Prunus 'First Lady' (Prunus xincam x Prunus campanulata) L. and Quercus macrocarpa Michx. (bur oak) were planted in each plot. The PR treatment reduced soil bulk density at 15-20 cm depth and increased soil C/N ratio, pH, and CEC. Mean canopy projection and cross-sectional trunk area in PR plots ranged from 32% to 226% and 16% to 71% greater, respectively, than those in ME plots. PR treatment increased Q. bicolor photosynthesis rates. Greater root presence was observed in deeper soil layers of ET and PR treatments for A. rubrum and of UN and PR for Q. bicolor; root distribution was not measured for other species. Rehabilitation improved soil physical properties and tree growth after two years. Species variation in growth rate and environmental tolerance appeared to influence early growth treatment effects. Long-term data is needed to fully understand effects of soil rehabilitation. / Master of Science

Manure is a commonly used soil fertilizer, but there are concerns that this practice could affect the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) from farm to fork. A microcosm-scale study evaluated the effect of prior antibiotic use (manure-based soil amendments generated from dairy and beef cattle with or without antibiotic administration), composting, and soil type on the quantity of ARGs and the microbial community composition of dairy and beef manure applied soil. ARGs were analyzed through novel metagenomic techniques and quantitative polymerase chain reaction of sul1, tet(W), and 16S rRNA gene, while the microbial community composition was determined via 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. The results indicated that while prior antibiotic administration elevated the relative abundance of ARGs and changed the microbial community of raw manure applied soils, composting reduced this effect. However, compost applied soils still had a higher relative abundance of ARGs than the unamended soils and occasionally soil applied with raw manure of untreated cattle. Soil type may be a mediating factor as there were differences observed between the three soil types (sandy loam, silty clay loam, and silty loam) with sandy loam amended soils often having the least attenuation of ARGs. As the relative abundance of ARGs was still elevated and the microbial community composition still significantly different from the unamended soils after 120 days, these results suggest that 120 days is not a long enough waiting period between biological soil amendments and crop harvest for ARG dissipation. / Master of Science

An understanding of the development of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 from its beginnings in the Senate to its culmination in April necessitates a few brief statements concerning the condition of the nation and the relations between the President and Congress.

The recent mass shooting on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada has been marked in history as the worst mass shooting in the United States to this point. The details of the shooting beg the question, is it coincidence that it happened in Nevada, a state with some of the least restrictive gun control laws? Mass shootings have become an unfortunate part of reality in the United States, but these are fairly uncommon occurrences. While they are horrific and deserve attention, daily gun violence cannot be forgotten. In the face of such a multitude of gun violence, what can be done to prevent future violence from occurring? This paper compares Nevada and California, two states that are geographically similar, but could not be more different when it comes to gun control. The paper draws connections between state gun control laws and gun violence trends in an attempt to determine what the best course of action is for addressing the problem.

The relationship between privacy, technology, and law is complex. Thomas Jefferson’s prescient nineteenth century observation that laws and institutions must keep pace with the times offers a vision for change. Statutory law and court precedents help to define our right to privacy, however, the development of new technologies has complicated the application of old precedents and statutes. Third party organizations, such as Google, facilitate new methods of communication, and the government can often collect the information that third parties receive with a subpoena or court order, rather than a Fourth Amendment-mandated warrant. Privacy promotes fundamental democratic freedoms, however, under current law, the digital age has diminished the right to privacy in our electronic communications data. This work explores the statutory and constitutional law protecting our right to privacy, as well as the inadequacies that have developed with the digital revolution. With commonplace use of third parties to facilitate electronic communication, our courts and lawmakers must amend current laws and doctrines to protect the privacy of communications in the digital age. To provide clarity and appropriate data privacy protections, the following clarifications and amendments should be made to the third party doctrine and the Stored Communications Act (SCA): 1) third party doctrine should only apply to context data, 2) content data should be protected by the Fourth Amendment, 3) the SCA should eliminate the distinction between Remote Computing Services (RCS) data and Electronic Communication Services (ECS) data, and 4) the SCA should require warrants for all content data acquisition.