Este tese tem por objetivo analisar o papel da legislação enquanto prática institucional de estruturação das políticas públicas. Pretende-se oferecer uma estrutura conceitual que auxilie na compreensão do modo como leis são desenhadas, da forma como administradores comportam-se diante destes arranjos legislativos, da capacidade de tais atos normativos de influenciar a atividade de implementação de programas governamentais, bem como a relação existente entre determinadas estratégias legislativas e os resultados das políticas públicas. Para tanto, esta tese se baseará nos pressupostos e fundamentos de uma teoria da legislação capaz de fornecer as ferramentas analíticas necessárias para a identificação das potencialidades e limitações de diversos instrumentos de engenharia legislativa para promover o controle político da administração e a efetividade das políticas públicas. Ver-se-á que a formulação de uma lei envolve escolhas não só sobre o conteúdo das políticas públicas, mas também sobre aspectos formais das normas jurídicas e dos procedimentos de tomada de decisão administrativa que constarão do texto legislativo. Cabe, portanto, à teoria da legislação fornecer subsídios para a escolha das normas substantivas e procedimentais mais adequadas à realização dos objetivos de uma política pública. Após serem discutidas, à luz das ferramentas analíticas fornecidas pela teoria da legislação, as vantagens e desvantagens, abstratamente consideradas, dos instrumentos de engenharia legislativa mais usuais, esta tese empreenderá um estudo de caso sobre a lei que disciplina a Política Nacional do Meio Ambiente. Este trabalho discutirá as principais falhas do desenho institucional desta lei, que argumenta-se não dispor de instrumentos adequados para condicionar a Administração Pública a agir de modo a formular e implementar a Política Nacional do Meio Ambiente de modo efetivo e eficiente. Contrariando um discurso dominante, que atribui exclusivamente a fatores não-legislativos a inefetividade da Política Nacional do Meio Ambiente, este trabalho procura demonstrar que falhas no desenho institucional da legislação vigente também possuem responsabilidade pelo fracasso das políticas ambientais. / The objective of this dissertation is to analyze the role of legislation in structuring public policy. This work aims to provide a conceptual framework which will help to increase the understanding of how laws are designed, how administrators respond to legislative arrangements, how effective legislation is in influencing the implementation process of governmental programs, as well as how specific legislative strategies affect the results of public policy. In order to do that, this dissertation will rely on the elements and norms of a theory of legislation which provides the analytical tools necessary to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the various instruments of legislative engineering used to promote political control of the administration, as well as public policy effectiveness. It will be seen that the drafting of a statute requires choices not only about substantial issues of public policy, but also about formal aspects of the legal rules and decision-making procedures which are to be set in legislation. In this regard, the theory of legislation on which this dissertation relies provides the analytical tools for the choice of the rules and procedures most suitable for the realization of public policy objectives. After discussing, in abstract, the advantages and disadvantages of specific instruments of legislative engineering, this dissertation will carry out a case study involving the National Environmental Policy Act. It will also discuss the main failures of the institutional design of this statute, which, it is claimed in this work, are not adequate to force the Public Administration to behave effectively and efficiently in the formulation and implementation of the National Environmental Policy. This work runs in the opposite direction to a leading academic discourse which considers only non-legislative factors as the causes for the ineffectiveness of the National Environmental Policy. Instead, this work will demonstrate that failures in the institutional design of legislation may also help to explain why environmental policies do not work.

Este tese tem por objetivo analisar o papel da legislação enquanto prática institucional de estruturação das políticas públicas. Pretende-se oferecer uma estrutura conceitual que auxilie na compreensão do modo como leis são desenhadas, da forma como administradores comportam-se diante destes arranjos legislativos, da capacidade de tais atos normativos de influenciar a atividade de implementação de programas governamentais, bem como a relação existente entre determinadas estratégias legislativas e os resultados das políticas públicas. Para tanto, esta tese se baseará nos pressupostos e fundamentos de uma teoria da legislação capaz de fornecer as ferramentas analíticas necessárias para a identificação das potencialidades e limitações de diversos instrumentos de engenharia legislativa para promover o controle político da administração e a efetividade das políticas públicas. Ver-se-á que a formulação de uma lei envolve escolhas não só sobre o conteúdo das políticas públicas, mas também sobre aspectos formais das normas jurídicas e dos procedimentos de tomada de decisão administrativa que constarão do texto legislativo. Cabe, portanto, à teoria da legislação fornecer subsídios para a escolha das normas substantivas e procedimentais mais adequadas à realização dos objetivos de uma política pública. Após serem discutidas, à luz das ferramentas analíticas fornecidas pela teoria da legislação, as vantagens e desvantagens, abstratamente consideradas, dos instrumentos de engenharia legislativa mais usuais, esta tese empreenderá um estudo de caso sobre a lei que disciplina a Política Nacional do Meio Ambiente. Este trabalho discutirá as principais falhas do desenho institucional desta lei, que argumenta-se não dispor de instrumentos adequados para condicionar a Administração Pública a agir de modo a formular e implementar a Política Nacional do Meio Ambiente de modo efetivo e eficiente. Contrariando um discurso dominante, que atribui exclusivamente a fatores não-legislativos a inefetividade da Política Nacional do Meio Ambiente, este trabalho procura demonstrar que falhas no desenho institucional da legislação vigente também possuem responsabilidade pelo fracasso das políticas ambientais. / The objective of this dissertation is to analyze the role of legislation in structuring public policy. This work aims to provide a conceptual framework which will help to increase the understanding of how laws are designed, how administrators respond to legislative arrangements, how effective legislation is in influencing the implementation process of governmental programs, as well as how specific legislative strategies affect the results of public policy. In order to do that, this dissertation will rely on the elements and norms of a theory of legislation which provides the analytical tools necessary to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the various instruments of legislative engineering used to promote political control of the administration, as well as public policy effectiveness. It will be seen that the drafting of a statute requires choices not only about substantial issues of public policy, but also about formal aspects of the legal rules and decision-making procedures which are to be set in legislation. In this regard, the theory of legislation on which this dissertation relies provides the analytical tools for the choice of the rules and procedures most suitable for the realization of public policy objectives. After discussing, in abstract, the advantages and disadvantages of specific instruments of legislative engineering, this dissertation will carry out a case study involving the National Environmental Policy Act. It will also discuss the main failures of the institutional design of this statute, which, it is claimed in this work, are not adequate to force the Public Administration to behave effectively and efficiently in the formulation and implementation of the National Environmental Policy. This work runs in the opposite direction to a leading academic discourse which considers only non-legislative factors as the causes for the ineffectiveness of the National Environmental Policy. Instead, this work will demonstrate that failures in the institutional design of legislation may also help to explain why environmental policies do not work.

Lagen (1988:870) om vård av missbrukare i vissa fall (LVM) är en tvångsvårdslag och är den enda lagen som avviker från frivillighetsprincipen i socialtjänstlagen, vilket ger socialsekreterarna möjligheten att gå emot individens fria vilja. Studien syftar till att belysa de faktorer som kan bidra till vilka svårigheter socialsekreterare kan ställas inför i relation till LVM-lagstiftningen, individens rättssäkerhet och självbestämmanderätt. Syftet är också att problematisera socialsekreterarnas tillvägagångssätt gällande tillämpningen av LVM-lagstiftningen och om mål och syfte uppfylls. De teoretiska utgångspunkter som används för att kunna analysera det empiriska materialet är teorier om socialsekreterarnas handlingsutrymme och etiska dilemman som kan uppstå i relation till klienten samt teorier om makt och motivation. För att samla in det empiriska materialet användes semistrukturerade intervjuer med olika socialsekreterare, därmed fångades socialsekreterarnas egna erfarenheter upp kring arbetet med LVM i praktiken. Resultatet av studien har visat att det förekommer motsättningar i LVM- lagen eftersom det är en tvångsvårdslag där socialsekreterarna har makten att ta ifrån klienten deras fria vilja, samtidigt som hänsyn skall tas till klientens självbestämmanderätt och integritet. Socialsekreterarna i sin tur är styrda av den högre ledningens makt genom ledningens riktlinjer och direktiv, vilket både påverkar socialsekreterarna och klienten på ett negativt sätt. Motivationsarbetet med klienten handlar om att få klienten motiverad till att gå med på behandling vare sig denne vill det eller inte och förekommer i form av dold makt och hot, där klientens fria vilja inte beaktas. Tillämpningen av mål och syfte i LVM- lagen har visat sig skilja markant åt inom olika kommuner i Stockholms län, beroende på att det förekommer ett brett handlingsutrymme och en tolkningsbarhet i lagen samt att ingen standardmodell finns att följa. / The law (1988:870) concerning care of addicts in some cases (LVM) is a compulsory care law and is the only law that deviates from the voluntariness principle in the social care law, which gives social workers the ability to go against individual’s free will. This study aims to elucidate the factors that may contribute to the difficulties social workers may face in relation to LVM- law, individual's legal certainty and self- determination of the individual. The purpose is also to problematize the social worker's approach concerning application of the LVM- law and if its purpose and goal is fulfilled. The theoretical starting points that are used to analyze the empirical material are theories about the social worker's discretion and the ethical dilemmas that may arise in relation to the client, also included here are theories about power and motivation. The empirical material was gathered through semi-structured interviews with different social workers, thus the social workers own experiences was captured of the work with the LVM- law in practice. The result of the study has shown that there are certain contradictions in the LVM- law since it is a compulsory care law where social workers have the power to take away their free will of the client, while taking account the right of self-determination and integrity. In turn, the social workers are controlled by higher management’s power by management policies and directives, which have a negative effect on the social workers and clients. Motivation work with the client involves getting the client motivated to agree to treatment irrespective of whether he wants it or not and occurs in the form of hidden power and threats, where the client's free will, not will be considered. The application of goal and purpose of the LVM- law have shown to differ significantly in different municipalities in Stockholm county since there is a wide range of discretion, dependent on the existence of a wide discretion and interpretability of the law and that no standard model is to follow.

Public health insurance is an important part of the Czech health system. In the Czech Republic the model of national health insurance is administered using system of several insurance companies. The main target of these companies is to collect insurance rate from the payers and to cover health care provided to the insuree. The aim of this work is to map and assess professional and non - professional public knowledge of the system of the public health insurance. Three goals were set within the work. The first one was to find out the level of the professional public knowledge of the public health insurance. The second one was to find out the level of the non - professional public knowledge of the public health insurance. The third one was to compare both groups knowledge of the public health insurance. To realize the above mentioned aims three hypotheses were set. Hypothesis No.1: Most of the professional public is informed about the valid legal arrangement of the public health insurance. Hypothesis No. 2: Most of the non -professional public is informed about the valid legal arrangement of the public health insurance. Hypothesis No. 3: There is no difference between the professional and non - professional public knowledge of the valid legal arrangement of the public health insurance. To prove the set hypotheses the form of quantitative research was used. The technique of questionnaire was used for data collecting. For practical part the identical questionnaire for both professional and non - professional public was used. The research group of the questionnaire investigation was formed by respondents living and working in České Budějovice. The professional public within the research work was formed by people who work or worked in the health or social sphere. The final research group was formed by 200 respondents of professional and 200 respondents of non - professional public. The target of the thesis and partial aims were accomplished. The first two hypotheses were proved. The third one was not proved by the research work. It has been investigated what areas is professional and non - professional public most or less informed in. The results of the research work may be used for publication in the professional journals.

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the application of the common law rule prohibiting unilateral price determination in contracts of sale governed by the Consumer Protection Act. The unilateral determination of price has been a controversial issue for an extended period of time. This controversy is traced back to Roman law where different translations and interpretations are given to the texts dealing with the unilateral determination of price in a contract of sale. The majority of the Roman-Dutch writers preferred the view that regarded a contract granting a discretion to one of the parties to determine the price as void. Subsequently, this view was incorporated into South African law. During the 1990s the Supreme Court of Appeal questioned whether the rule should still form part of South African law. An overview of the case law indicates that the courts have been prepared to allow contractual price discretions provided such discretions refer to an objective external standard or reasonableness. There are also indications that the courts would imply that the discretion should be exercised reasonably, except in the case of clearly unfettered discretions. Recently, the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 ("the CPA") has made substantial amendments to the law of sale in respect of contracts governed by the CPA. The dissertation investigates the influence of the CPA on the rule governing unilateral price determinations in such sales. It also investigates the consumer's fundamental rights to disclosure of information and fair, just and reasonable terms and conditions. Legal uncertainties and issues arising from the provisions of the CPA are identified. Finally, a comparative study with English law is undertaken which provides a comparative basis from which possible solutions are extracted and proposals made to address the uncertainties and issues emanating from the CPA. Copyright / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Mercantile Law / unrestricted