With the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty, EU law now contains explicit references to minority rights in Article 2 TEU and Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Combined with other EU norms on non-discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic origin, and policies on culture and education, these references may be regarded as providing the preconditions for an EU regime of minority protection. This thesis investigates whether the EU should take these developments any further, and play more prominent role in protecting minorities in its Member States. This research question is addressed through four case studies on various aspects of minority protection, i.e., (1) the right to political participation, (2) the freedom to manifest religion, (3) the right to mother-tongue education, and (4) the right to autonomy. The case studies, based on examples from EU Member States (namely Latvia, Belgium and the United Kingdom), highlight that the EU could undoubtedly play a greater role in minority protection. However, instead of enacting its own rules on their protection, a more practical way forward could be for the EU to support implementation of the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities by Member States.

The thesis examines the law of mortgages in Tanzania following the enactment of new land laws, in particular the Land Act 1999. In the study, we examine the statutory regime introduced by the Land Act. We focus on, among others, what the Act sought to address by conducting an analysis of the state of the law before its enactment, its weakness and achievement. We then comment on the way forward.

This dissertation examines the case for harmonising some national rules, relating to the law of damages and civil procedure, which are applied to national proceedings for compensation of losses resulting from breach of Articles 101 and/or 102 TFEU. Before answering whether such rules should be harmonised, the dissertation examines the broad policy rationale behind private enforcement of competition law, its goals and limits. The findings are that private enforcement plays a positive role both to compensate antitrust victims and deter undertakings from breaching competition law. This provides a sound policy for harmonisation of private enforcement rules. Subsequently, the dissertation examines the main arguments against and for harmonisation. It is argued that the case for harmonisation is more convincing than the case against. Then, the arguments for harmonisation are tested in respect of some national rules that play a pivotal role in national competition law proceedings. Although few antitrust actions are brought, it is suggested that some national rules might not comply with the EU principle of effectiveness. In addition, even if such national rules did comply with this principle, the risk of forum shopping and the problem of excessive disparity of the level playing field are likely to materialise. Thus,harmonisation of private enforcement rules is desirable.

The common law partial defence of provocation for murder was abolished and replaced by a new defence, loss of control, in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. The thesis evaluates the reform with an analytical approach by looking at its success in resolving the problems identified with the pre-2009 law, in particular the defence being used as a platform for male violence against women and victims of domestic violence and abuse struggling to rely on the defence, and, also, looking at how the key areas of the defence are dealt with and how they ought to be framed: rationale, definition of provocation, objective element and subjective element. Through evaluating the reform many aspects are found to be deficient, including the retention of the loss of self-control concept and the sexual infidelity exclusion, and a proposal is set out which is seeks to address the main problems and make the defence effective. Specifically, two measures are advanced which tackle key concerns: a reliance on contextual evidence to support the defence in cases where the defendant was the victim of domestic violence and the use of presumptions against provoked killers in order to restrict the defence.

The thesis focuses on the scope, content, sources and applicability of the obligation aut dedere aut judicare pertaining to certain international crimes such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, the prohibition of torture, drug trafficking, hijacking of civil aviation and terrorist bombing and financing of terrorism in international law. The general framework of the thesis focuses on the legal base of the obligation aut dedere aut judicare, the scope and content of the obligation, the triggering mechanisms of the duty, and state responsibility for preaches of the obligation. The relevant core crimes and transnational crimes are examined in relation to the obligation, based on and formulated in various multilateral, widely-ratified conventions and state practice. State practice and opinio juris indicate that a customary aut dedere aut judicare duty has formed or crystallized for certain international crimes such as the prohibition of torture, genocide, grave breaches of international humanitarian law, including war crimes, and crimes against humanity. As regards the offences against the safety of civil aviation and hijacking, terrorism-related crimes, international drug trafficking, and crimes against UN personnel, the evidence is mixed and it is more appropriate to conclude that an emerging custom of the obligation 'extradite-or-prosecute' for these crimes is forming.

This thesis' core aim is to develop a coherent conceptual framework for non-pecuniary loss damages in the tort of negligence. This requires an analysis of existing theoretical frameworks, a redevelopment of the 'nonpecuniary loss' concept, and the development of a new basis for the assessment of damages awards. The thesis argues that it is a mistake to preconceive of damages awards as compensatory and analogise to pecuniary losses; the different nature of non-pecuniary losses gives rises to conceptual problems and tensions with practice where this is attempted. This thesis instead separates the identification of non-pecuniary losses from the aims and assessment of damages awards, arguing that the former must be analysed first and independently. A replacement 'personal loss' concept is developed, free from the deficiencies identified and centred on binary events which raise, for a notional observer, detrimental implications about the victim's personal interests. The thesis proposes that a damages assessment based on vindication, whereby awards serve as counterstatements to those detrimental implications, can then coherently engage that personal loss concept to produce damages awards. The resulting theory is uniquely capable of justifying and providing a defensible theoretical framework for recovery for non-financial losses.

As the Straits is one of the busiest straits in the world and of great significance for global seaborne trade, piracy and armed robbery in the Straits have a devastating impact on the world economy. While customary international law, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 Convention) and other international and regional instruments have established principles and guidelines governing piracy, they are argued to be inadequate and insufficient to deal with contemporary piracy. Since the legal status of the Straits, determined in the early chapter, is that of ‘straits used for international navigation’, which comes under part III of the 1982 Convention, it is the primary responsibility of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore (the littoral States) to ensure the continuous safety and security of ships transiting the Straits. In view of the fact that the issue of piracy in the Straits gained global attention, the efforts to suppress piracy are discussed at each level, namely international, regional and national levels. A general discussion on the historical development of the International Law of the Sea and the definitional and jurisdictional issues of piracy is also undertaken. Then, the thesis examines regional responses to the problem of piracy. Since an individual state is an important nucleus in international law, the Malaysian policy and legal framework are highlighted at the end of the thesis to determine the extent of the efforts undertaken by Malaysia especially the MMEA, and to examine whether the existing Malaysian law is adequate to suppress and prosecute piracy and armed robbery against ships. The thesis ends with a conclusion and recommendations for overcoming the problems.

This thesis is dedicated to the analysis of state responsibility, United Nations’ responsibility and individual criminal responsibility of peacekeepers for the crimes committed during Peace Support Operations (“PSOs”). It looks into the way public international law, international criminal, humanitarian and human rights law applies in the context of PSOs. The purpose of the thesis is to show that the UN, troop-contributing states and individual peacekeepers share international responsibility for the violations of international law committed during PSOs. This thesis proves that the conduct of peacekeepers is attributed not only to the UN, but also to troop-contributing states and depends on effective control exercised in fact by the UN Force Commander and national contingent commanders over particular conduct. Both international humanitarian law and human rights law are applicable to PSOs and can be breached by the UN and render it international responsible. Despite immunities and exclusion of the host state jurisdiction, peacekeepers cannot avoid international criminal responsibility in domestic courts and International Criminal Court. Applying the system of international responsibility to the case-studies, the thesis concludes that the UN, states and individuals cannot escape international responsibility by relying on international status and mandate of PSOs.

This thesis contends that the traditional legal and ethical approach to healthcare decision-making for children in mid-childhood is insufficient to meet the needs of those children, their families and the professionals that care for them. To address this failing I present a normative framework based on the Ethics of Care to aid in decision-making. My unique contribution to knowledge is first, to focus on children in mid-childhood (age 8 -14 years old); a neglected group in the jurisprudence, and contend that the current interpretation of Gillick competence and best interests fail to fully appreciate the child’s capabilities or accommodate the families views. Secondly, I assert that the Ethics of Care is well placed to address the needs of children in this age group, whilst fostering child participation. To this end I develop a novel Ethic of Care framework, based upon the work of Jo Bridgeman. Thirdly, I undertake a systematic review of the case law, spanning a 26-year period, and chart patterns and trends in judicial thinking. Finally, I test the utility of the framework by applying it to three areas on the legal fringes: end of life care, living organ donation and treatment for gender dysphoria.

This thesis focusses on the assessing the legality of the responses of the IAEA, the UN Security Council and certain member states to the Iranian nuclear crisis from 2006 to 2015. The purpose of this thesis is to highlight the fact that the Iranian situation was primarily a legal dispute, encompassing various complex legal questions which were largely side-stepped in the handling of the crisis. This thesis examines the mandates of the IAEA and Council to make the case that in numerous instances both engaged in ultra vires actions in their handling of the Iranian issue. This thesis examines the referral of the case by the IAEA to the Council and the resulting enforcement measures, their compatibility with the strictures of the Charter and the Council’s powers. Unilateral sanctions imposed by the US and EU are analysed as countermeasures and their legality as such is assessed, as are the legal issues associated with forcible counter-proliferation measures of surgical strike and cyber-attack. Reflecting on the 2016 outcome, this thesis concludes that Iranian nuclear crisis was prolonged and exacerbated by the failure to treat the situation as a legal, rather than purely political issue.