This thesis defends a conception of equality of opportunity. It comes in two parts. The first part elaborates the conception. It begins by clarifying the concept of equality of opportunity, showing it to be made up of four basic elements: a distributive pattern, a set of subjects, an opportunity obstacle and a distributive object. The conception I build from these elements explains the value of the distributive pattern, equality, in terms of a concern for fairness, takes persons as its subject and takes well-being as its object. The conception presented is partial, rather than comprehensive, in that it does not include a detailed account of an opportunity obstacle. The conception of equality of opportunity that I present can also be characterised as a luck egalitarian principle. My aim in elaborating the conception is to show that it has intuitive appeal; it constitutes a pro tanto moral principle. The second part of the thesis examines the implications of luck egalitarianism in two contexts. It begins by examining the context of gifts, arguing that although luck egalitarianism is highly restrictive with respect to the freedom to give this only confirms that it is a merely pro tanto moral principle. It continues by examining the context of markets, arguing that luck egalitarianism makes intuitively correct judgments in several specified cases. My aim in applying luck egalitarianism is to show that its implications do not give us reason to reject its initial intuitive appeal. I examine luck egalitarianism generally, rather then the partial conception I elaborate, to allow for the possibility that my earlier arguments are wrong in some respect. Overall, I hope the arguments presented provide reasons to accept the conception presented as morally valuable.

The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA) was signed into law on February 18, 2005. Prior to CAFA, plaintiffs found it easier for class action lawsuits to be tried in their preferred venue—state courts. Changes introduced by CAFA practically removed the majority of class action jurisdiction from state to federal courts. Since law and regulation might serve as an external corporate governance mechanism, an interesting question is whether CAFA has strengthened or weakened corporate governance. If CAFA improves corporate governance, associated marginal benefits would outweigh marginal costs. The opposite would be true if CAFA weakens corporate governance. This issue was hotly debated in the US Congress. The proponents argued that CAFA would reduce costs for the affected firms, while opponents argued the opposite. The main purpose of this paper is to examine which side of the debate is reflected in market reactions to various events that either enhanced or reduced the chances of the passage of CAFA. We identify the firms that are most likely to be affected by CAFA and find that the overall market reaction for these firms is positive when the likelihood of CAFA passage increases, while the reaction has been negative when the chance of its passage diminishes. We also hypothesize that firms that are more likely to be exposed to product liability litigation would experience a significantly higher (positive or negative) abnormal return than firms that are more likely to be involved in contract liability law suits. The results support this hypothesis. We also examine potential factors that might explain cross-sectional variations in abnormal returns and find that duality of Chairmanship and CEO has negative impact, while the

South Africa implemented a simplified Turnover Tax system with effect from the commencement of years of assessment 1 March 2009 in order to help improve the culture of tax compliance. To date the number of applicants has not been significant and a potential reason for this is that it is not fair. Fairness and equality within a tax system is important in order to discourage evasion. The purpose of this research is to explore the perceived fairness of the current Turnover Tax system. Using the principles of a fair tax system as advanced by Adam Smith (1776) a correspondence survey was issued to identify whether the Turnover Tax principles enhance or undermine fairness. The criticisms and provisions of the Sixth Schedule to the Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962 were investigated to determine whether Adam Smith’s (1776) maxims are promoted or undermined and in turn whether they are perceived as being fair or not. Based on the responses and analysis of the survey, it was deduced that the Turnover Tax system is not being perceived as completely fair. As a result changes need to be implemented to in order to improve the overall compliance and effectiveness of the tax.

The modern role of the law of contract imposes a duty on the state to regulate the way individuals treat each other in the marketplace as part of fulfilling its social role. This thesis investigates the situation of contractual justice under Shariah and English law. It tests the extent to which contractual justice is protected under Shariah and English laws of contract. It indicates that the English law of contract is focused on the absolute sanctity of contract (in its classical form) and economic efficiency (in its modern form). On the other hand, the Shariah law of contract is governed by the general principle that gain comes only from labour and stresses the importance of the equivalence of counter-values. It reveals that while contractual justice under the English law of contract is procedurally oriented, it is substantively oriented under the Shariah law of contract. Additionally, the thesis also discusses the role of the law of consumer protection in pursuing contractual justice. While the consumer is protected under the English law by legislative control, the Shariah law of contract, which was the product of the seventh and eighth centuries, does not recognise the concept of the consumer. One would accordingly question the legitimacy of the action of protecting consumers in those states (take for example Saudi Arabia) that adopt Shariah as the law of the state. Most of the states, which adopt Shariah either alongside other normative systems or as the entire code, grant some kind of consumer protection measures within the law of contract. The thesis attempts to fill this gap by testing the viability of consumer protection derived from the Shariah law of contract. In doing so, attention is paid to the theoretical and practical aspects of the law. It is revealed that the Shariah law of contract is fit both from a theoretical and a practical perspective to serve the aims of consumer protection. The outcomes of the research should guide and enhance the legitimacy of consumer protection measures in Shariah-ruled countries.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of employee input in the development stage of a new performance appraisal system on their attitudes and work behaviors. A field quasi-experiment with pre-test and post-test measures was conducted in two plants of an organization. The results, consistent with the hypotheses, show that the employees in the experimental plant report higher proximal (satisfaction with the performance appraisal system, procedural justice of the performance appraisal system) and distal (organizational satisfaction, fairness of the organization and citizenship behaviors) outcomes. Also, the proximal outcomes were stronger than the distal ones. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Perception of fairness is a key construct affecting job performance, and perceptions of promotional processes are related to employees' sense of justice in private organizations. In police departments, negative perceptions of procedures can be detrimental to departmental effectiveness. The purpose of this quantitative quasiexperimental study was to compare Louisiana officers' perceptions of fairness of a seniority-based promotion system in relation to Louisiana deputies' perceptions of fairness of a merit-based promotion system. Organizational justice theory, including procedural justice, was the theoretical foundation. The research questions were designed to examine whether seniority, transparency, knowledge of the promotion systems, gender, and race predicted levels of perceived fairness. Data were analyzed using an independent samples t test, a MANOVA, and a multiple linear regression. Participants in the seniority-based system perceived it as being fairer than participants in the merit-based system viewed their merit-based system. There were significant differences in knowledge of promotion systems and perceived fairness for rank and system type, but not race and gender. Collectively, predictor variables correlated with perceived fairness. Type of promotion system was not significant when examined with other variables suggesting confounding of predictor variables. Human resources should make employees aware of promotion procedures. Hybrid systems might help address both employee fairness and the promotion of qualified individuals. Officers viewing promotion as fair could lead to positive social change by motivating officers and positively influencing how they serve the public.

This scenario study examined fairness perceptions of rule violations and punishment in an organizational team setting. Participants read one of 16 scenarios in which an integral team member violates an organizational rule and subsequently is punished. Participants then answered 12 items assessing perceptions of fairness for the punished employee and for the non-punished team members, and the likelihood the punishment will deter future misconduct for the punished employee and for the teammates. This study examined two levels of misconduct severity (moderate and severe), two levels of punishment severity (moderate and severe), two types of punishment distribution (consistent and conditional), and two types of situational urgency (urgent and non-urgent). The rule violations and punishments used in this study were chosen from those evaluated in a stimulus-rating study calibrating violations and punishments in an organizational team setting (Shoenfelt, 2015). Overall, consistently applying punishment had a highly significant effect on perceptions of fairness to the punished team member and teammates, and on the likelihood the punishment will deter future misconduct by the punished team member and teammates.

À première vue, l’équité apparaît comme un phénomène absent du droit pénal. Il faut dire que l’idée de l’équité a été victime d’une histoire mouvementée autorisant les plus grandes confusions à son égard, lesquelles se sont cristallisées sous la période révolutionnaire. L’absence de référence explicite à la notion et l’anathème dont elle fait l’objet, dans une matière qui ne tolère aucun facteur déstabilisant, ne sauraient pourtant signifier que l’équité ait été totalement évincée du droit pénal. En réalité, elle est un phénomène occulte, dont il faut révéler les manifestations latentes, pour finalement convenir d’une utilisation implicite de la notion par le juge et le législateur. La rigidité inspirée par la légalité criminelle n’étant qu’apparente, l’équité jouit en effet d’une importante marge d’expression. D’une part, flexible, l’équité permet de réaliser une égalité concrète. Elle se trouve en conséquence implicitement tolérée dans la matière pénale en tant qu’outil d’harmonisation du droit. L’équité joue alors un rôle de complément à la loi pénale, en assurant le passage du général – la loi – vers le cas particulier. D’autre part, l’équité peut être mobilisée par le juge pénal, sans qu’il en ait nécessairement conscience, lorsque, confronté à un cas particulier, il décide de contourner l’application de la loi pénale qui risquerait de produire des effets iniques. Au service d’un jugement individuel subjectif, en référence à des valeurs issues du fond culturel dont il procède, l’équité s’exprime hors du cadre de la loi pénale. Elle se place alors en élément perturbateur venant concurrencer l’échelle des valeurs fixées par le législateur. Qu’elle vienne compléter ou concurrencer la loi, l’équité constitue toujours un moyen d’interroger les objectifs de la matière pénale dans la mesure où elle est souvent à l’origine d’évolutions législatives. En définitive, l’étude démontre que l’équité, sans être un principe autonome, est au coeur du droit pénal. / The lack of clear reference to fairness and the fact that it’s rejected in criminal law which does not tolerate any destabilizing factor does not mean that fairness is totally excluded from it. Actually it is a hidden phenomenon. Judges and legislators use the notion tacitly. As the rigidity of the principle of legality seems to be only apparent, fairness has in fact quite some room to express itself in criminal law.On the one hand, the flexibility it allows, and the underlying goal to carry out concrete equality both explain it be tolerated in some respects as a tool to standardize law. The need for flexibility is inherent to each legal system. Fairness has a complementary role for criminal law. It enables to guarantee the transition from generality – that is law – to particular cases. On the other hand, fairness can beimplemented by judges in order to circumvent the application of criminal law when it induces iniquitous consequences. As the expression of subjective individual judgment which refers to judges’ values, fairness is expressed beyond law itself. Ultimately, our study shows that fairness, without being an independent principle, is at the heart of criminal law, because at last, expressed as a complement or as an adversary to criminal law, looking for fairness often leads to legislative evolutions.

The present study examined the effects of perceptions of fairness, prejudice and collective self-interest on the affirmative action attitudes of 85 White undergraduate students. Participants were classified as non-racists, modern racists or old-fashioned racists based on their scores on the Implicit Association Test and Attitudes Toward Blacks scale. In the first phase of the study, participants read affirmative action information preceded by either high or low attention instructions. In the second phase, fairness, status of position and race of the target of an affirmative action plan were manipulated using vignettes. No significant differences were found in the first phase of the study. In the second phase, it was found that when the plan was unfair and the target Black, participants preferred plans for low status positions to plans for high status positions. This finding was consistent with the idea that fairness, race and collective self-interest are related to affirmative action attitudes. However, contrary to the initial hypotheses, these effects did not interact with level of prejudice. Possible reasons for the null results regarding prejudice were discussed.

Magister Legum - LLM / Good faith is an open ended concept which refers to fair and honest dealings. The function of this concept is to give expression to the community’s sense of what is fair, just and reasonable. The concept of good faith has and continues to acquire a meaning wider than mere honesty or the absence of subjective bad faith. It is an objective concept that includes other abstract values such as justice, reasonableness, fairness and equity. There is competition between the two underlying values or cornerstones of the law of contract, namely that of sanctity of contract (pacta sunt servanda) and fairness.