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No description available.

Thesis (LLM)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: On the basis of a comparative analysis of the case law in Germany, England and South Africa dealing with fundamental change of circumstances, it is submitted that the underlying principle of this problem area is the idea of frustration of the contractual purpose (causa finalis). The problem of fundamental change of circumstances is directly connected with basic issues of legal theory such as the dichotomy between legal certainty and substantive justice, the role and limits of interpretation, the concretisation of principles, the adjudication of interests and the problem of value-judgements in the law which are of immediate influence on the understanding of the problem by judges and legal commentators. A broad perspective on the topic is necessarily indicated hereby. The thesis therefore starts off with an account of the role of purpose (causa finalis) in the history of legal philosophy, with a focus on developments in Germany. The continuing relevance of Aristotelian-Thomistic legal thinking is emphasized. The German and English case law dealing with fundamental change of circumstances is analyzed in an analogous manner. An account of the history and development of the doctrines dealing specifically with fundamental change of circumstances is given: the clausuIa rebus sic stantibus of the ius commune, the doctrine of WegJall der Geschaftsgrundlage in Germany and the doctrine of frustration of contract and common mistake in England. The crucial elements of the approach of the courts are restated. The positions of the two most influential German legal authors involved on opposite sides of the debate concerning the doctrine of WegJall der Geschaftsgrundlage are discussed. At the end of the discussion of English case law, the approach of the English courts is compared with that of their German counterparts, providing a basis for the development of the author's understanding of the concept causafinalis. Notwithstanding the fact that South African law does not recognize a doctrine dealing specifically with fundamental change of circumstances, and in spite of dicta to the effect that the English doctrine of frustration of contract is not part of South African law, it is submitted that the doctrine of frustration of contract has nevertheless strongly influenced the South African law of supervening impossibility and supposition, and has arguably become part and parcel of it. Likewise, cases of frustration of the contractual purpose due to a fundamental change of circumstances have been dealt with by means of other doctrinal devices such as common mistake. It is submitted, finally, that the famous and controversial issue of the role of causa in South African law should be reconsidered, since it may contribute to the understanding of the notion of contract, and assist in overcoming the current doctrinal crisis of the theory of contract. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Aan die hand van 'n vergelykende analise van die regspraak in Duitsland, Engeland en Suid- Afrika betreffende fundamentele verandering van omstandighede, word ter oorweging gegee dat die beginselonderliggend aan hierdie probleemgebied te vind is in die gedagte van verydeling van die kontraksoogmerk. Die probleem van fundamentele verandering van omstandighede staan in onmiddellike verband met basiese vrae van die regsteorie, onder andere die teenstelling tussen regsekerheid en substantiewe geregtigheid, die rol en perke van uitleg, die konkretisering van beginsels, die opweging van belange en die probleem van waarde-oordele in juridiese verband wat almal inspeel op die hantering van die probleem deur regters en kommentatore. Met die oog hierop is 'n breë invalshoek op die ondersoekveld gebiedend. Die ondersoek neem derhalwe as vertrekpunt 'n oorsig oor die rol van oogmerk (causa finalis) in die geskiedenis van die regsfilosofie met 'n besondere klem op ontwikkelinge in Duitsland. Die deurlopende belang van Aristoteliaans- Thomistiese denkwyses word beklemtoon. Die Duitse en Engelse regspraak betreffende fundamentele verandering van omstandighede word op 'n eenvormige grondslag ontleed. 'n Oorsig van die geskiedenis van leerstukke wat spesifiek verband hou met fundamentele verandering van omstandighede word aangepak, te wete die sg clausuia rebus sic stantibus van die ius commune en die leerstuk van Wegfall der Geschafstgrundlage in Duitsland en die leerstuk van frustration of contract en common mistake in Engeland. Die kemaspek van die benadering van die howe word uitgespel. Die botsende standpunte van twee van die mees invloedryke Duitse denkers in die teoretiese debat bied 'n breë konseptueie raamwerk vir die uiteindelike vergelyking van die Engelse regspraak met die van die Duitse howe en die ontwikkeling van 'n eie standpunt aangaande die begrip causafinalis. Die Suid-Afrikaanse reg erken nie 10 soveel woorde dat veranderende omstandighede as sodanig die bestaan van 'n kontrak raak nie, en in die besonder word die Engelsregtelike leerstuk van frustration of contract in vele regterlike dicta verwerp. Die ondersoek na die Suid-Afrikaanse respraak lei egter tot die gevolgtrekking dat die Suid-Afrikaanse reg aangaande onmoontlikwording van prestasie en die veronderstelling inderdaad in wesenlike opsigte deur die leerstuk van frustration beïnvloed is. Verydeling van die kontraksoogmerk ten gevolge van veranderende omstandighede geniet ook juridiese erkenning deur middel van . ander juridiese meganismes soos die leerstuk van gemeenskaplike dwaling. Die slotsom van die behandeling van die Suid-Afrikaanse reg is dat die berugte en omstrede rol van causa in die Suid-Afrikaanse Kontraktereg herwaardering verg.

This thesis is about the legal and moral status of abortion. It is primarily concerned with the metaphysical status of the foetus, with particular attention to the question whether the foetus is properly characterised as a person in the philosophical sense. The argument of the thesis proceeds in two parts. The first part surveys certain lines of argument to the effect that the question of prenatal personhood is immaterial to the moral and legal permissibility of abortion. Against these claims, it argues that the personhood status of the foetus is indeed central to the moral and legal appraisal of abortion practice. The second part focuses on the metaphysical question in its own right. The thesis proposes a theoretical underpinning for the ‘gradualist’ view of human life before birth, according to which the human foetus is a fuller instantiation of a person the more biologically developed it is. It sets out to defend the kernel of the gradualist thesis against a cluster of criticisms, commonly advanced by those who endorse the belief that the personhood of human beings begins at conception. One notable challenge of this sort, which the thesis aims to address, asserts that any graduated account of personhood before birth is logically inconsistent with basic human equality. Finally, the thesis considers a few practical implications for the legal regulation of abortion stemming from the gradualist thesis, and the rule of law standards by which a regulatory framework must abide.

published_or_final_version / Philosophy / Master / Master of Philosophy

This dissertation examines the moral character of civil disobedience. The discussion begins with a conceptual analysis of civil disobedience which eschews standard definitions in favour of a paradigm case approach, highlighting a parallel between the communicative aspects of civil disobedience and the communicative aspects of lawful punishment by the state. Foundations for a moral evaluation of civil disobedience are then laid down through, first, an examination of the nature of wrongdoing and justification, and second, a critique of contemporary defences of political obligation. The absence of political obligation, it is argued, does not immediately justify civil disobedience even in reprehensible regimes because, in all contexts, adherence to the law and disobedience of the law must be judged on the basis of their character and consequences. Various considerations relevant to the justifiability of civil disobedience are then examined before the discussion turns to the three principal claims defended in this thesis. The first is that people have a moral right to engage in civil disobedience irrespective of both the political regime and the merits of their cause. The second is that the reasons for which people engage in civil disobedience may be understood in terms of a pursuit of ideals. When motivated by a deep commitment to the genuine ideals of their society, disobedients may be said to demonstrate responsible citizenship. The third claim is that the law should treat disobedients differently from other offenders. When civil disobedience is morally justified, and sometimes when it is not, the law has reason to be lenient to its practitioners. In defending these claims, this discussion critiques not only the 'classical' narrow conception of civil disobedience as a public, non-violent, conscientious breach of law for which disobedients are willing to be punished, but also broader conceptions of civil disobedience which take a modest view of its justifiability and accord it limited status as a moral right.

Vivemos, atualmente, uma grande crise econômico-financeira que afeta alguns países do mundo ocidental. Zygmunt Bauman escreveu A ética pós-moderna há mais de duas décadas, denunciando a crise ética que já existia naquela época. Aliás, a própria noção de crise, segundo Bauman, havia mudado de referência semântica, de algo relativo a critério para algo que não vai bem. Tal mudança data da Revolução Francesa acompanhando o desenvolvimento do capitalismo. A expressão pós-modernidade e, depois, modernidade líquida, de que Bauman se utiliza decorre das transformações sociais resultantes do grande progresso tecnológico mundial e, que, nos últimos anos, faz com que tenhamos de viver sempre nos adaptando a transformações de formas de vida cada vez mais efêmeras. Essa denúncia de Bauman coincide com dois aspectos importantes do marxismo: de um lado, uma irracionalidade excludente do modo de produção capitalista, inclusive com a imagem da cobra devorando seu próprio rabo. De outro, a denúncia da Escola de Frankfurt, quanto à razão instrumental. Contrariamente à Escola de Frankfurt, que admitiu entre seus membros considerações psicanalíticas, como as contribuições de Eric Fromm, Wilhelm Reich e Herbert Marcuse, Bauman não mencionou a psicanálise entre suas considerações. Tal fato é estranho em razão de conceituação da moral, como decorrente de uma pulsão interna do indivíduo, resultante do face a face com outra pessoa. Outro aspecto não contemplado por Bauman foi a não referência à filosofia da práxis, própria do marxismo. Ao criticar os filósofos e os juristas, por tentarem aprisionar a realidade cambiante em fórmulas fixas, Bauman perde a referência. Afinal, para ele os seres humanos são ambivalentes (bons e maus); os fenômenos morais são irracionais; a moralidade é aporética. Tese que defende. Por outro lado, faltaram considerações, como as de que o homem, ao modificar o mundo, modifica a si próprio, assim a práxis cria uma nova realidade e uma nova moral. / This research thesis aimed to: Nowadays, we are passing throught a huge economics and finantial crisis that affects some countries from the called Ocidental World. Zygmunt Bauman has written Postmodern ethics more than twodecades ago denunciating ethical crisis that already existed at that time. More, the concept of crisis itself, according to this author, had changed from a semantic reference of something related to judgment to something the meaning became to something that is wrong, is not right. This inversion came along the French Revolution and followsthe development of capitalism. The expression post-modernity and latter liquid modernity, that the polish writteruses, are decurrent from the social changes caused by the great technical development. It forces us to live in constant changes to new ways of life, each time more ephemeral. Thus denunciation coincides with two important aspects of Marxism: the unreasonable productive way of capitalism shown by the picture of the snake eating its own tail. On the other hand, it denounces the School of Frankfurt regarding to the instrumental reason. School of Frankfurt, that admitted psychanalitic contributions, as the ones from Eric Fromm, Wilhelm Reich and Herbert Marcuse, in opposition to that, Bauman didnt brought up psichanalisys. This is weird because of his concept of morals as resulting from the internal drive from the person when dealing to each other. Another aspect not mencioned by him was the praxis philosophy from Marxism. Bauman got lost when criticizing philosophers and jurists for trying to aprisionate the dynamic reality intosthatic formulas. If the human beings arebad or good. The moral phenomenon are irrational, and morality is contradictory. According to him, on the other hand, thers not enough considerations as that the man when changing the world, at same time changes themselves, this the praxis creates a new reality and a new moral. Bauman criticizes philosophers and jurists for trying to consider reallity in a prestablish model but not give anything back. For him human beings are good and evil; the moral phenomenon are irrational; moral is contradictory. When changing the world men change themselves. The praxis creates a new morality and a new world.

Vivemos, atualmente, uma grande crise econômico-financeira que afeta alguns países do mundo ocidental. Zygmunt Bauman escreveu A ética pós-moderna há mais de duas décadas, denunciando a crise ética que já existia naquela época. Aliás, a própria noção de crise, segundo Bauman, havia mudado de referência semântica, de algo relativo a critério para algo que não vai bem. Tal mudança data da Revolução Francesa acompanhando o desenvolvimento do capitalismo. A expressão pós-modernidade e, depois, modernidade líquida, de que Bauman se utiliza decorre das transformações sociais resultantes do grande progresso tecnológico mundial e, que, nos últimos anos, faz com que tenhamos de viver sempre nos adaptando a transformações de formas de vida cada vez mais efêmeras. Essa denúncia de Bauman coincide com dois aspectos importantes do marxismo: de um lado, uma irracionalidade excludente do modo de produção capitalista, inclusive com a imagem da cobra devorando seu próprio rabo. De outro, a denúncia da Escola de Frankfurt, quanto à razão instrumental. Contrariamente à Escola de Frankfurt, que admitiu entre seus membros considerações psicanalíticas, como as contribuições de Eric Fromm, Wilhelm Reich e Herbert Marcuse, Bauman não mencionou a psicanálise entre suas considerações. Tal fato é estranho em razão de conceituação da moral, como decorrente de uma pulsão interna do indivíduo, resultante do face a face com outra pessoa. Outro aspecto não contemplado por Bauman foi a não referência à filosofia da práxis, própria do marxismo. Ao criticar os filósofos e os juristas, por tentarem aprisionar a realidade cambiante em fórmulas fixas, Bauman perde a referência. Afinal, para ele os seres humanos são ambivalentes (bons e maus); os fenômenos morais são irracionais; a moralidade é aporética. Tese que defende. Por outro lado, faltaram considerações, como as de que o homem, ao modificar o mundo, modifica a si próprio, assim a práxis cria uma nova realidade e uma nova moral. / This research thesis aimed to: Nowadays, we are passing throught a huge economics and finantial crisis that affects some countries from the called Ocidental World. Zygmunt Bauman has written Postmodern ethics more than twodecades ago denunciating ethical crisis that already existed at that time. More, the concept of crisis itself, according to this author, had changed from a semantic reference of something related to judgment to something the meaning became to something that is wrong, is not right. This inversion came along the French Revolution and followsthe development of capitalism. The expression post-modernity and latter liquid modernity, that the polish writteruses, are decurrent from the social changes caused by the great technical development. It forces us to live in constant changes to new ways of life, each time more ephemeral. Thus denunciation coincides with two important aspects of Marxism: the unreasonable productive way of capitalism shown by the picture of the snake eating its own tail. On the other hand, it denounces the School of Frankfurt regarding to the instrumental reason. School of Frankfurt, that admitted psychanalitic contributions, as the ones from Eric Fromm, Wilhelm Reich and Herbert Marcuse, in opposition to that, Bauman didnt brought up psichanalisys. This is weird because of his concept of morals as resulting from the internal drive from the person when dealing to each other. Another aspect not mencioned by him was the praxis philosophy from Marxism. Bauman got lost when criticizing philosophers and jurists for trying to aprisionate the dynamic reality intosthatic formulas. If the human beings arebad or good. The moral phenomenon are irrational, and morality is contradictory. According to him, on the other hand, thers not enough considerations as that the man when changing the world, at same time changes themselves, this the praxis creates a new reality and a new moral. Bauman criticizes philosophers and jurists for trying to consider reallity in a prestablish model but not give anything back. For him human beings are good and evil; the moral phenomenon are irrational; moral is contradictory. When changing the world men change themselves. The praxis creates a new morality and a new world.

No description available.

Due to its pervasive affinity for conceptual abstractions, German criminal law has been said to suffer from a rationalist hubris that leads to the formulation of artificial rules and lacks respect for the realities of life. The following study will examine this hypothesis with respect to one area of German criminal law that is particularly characterized by an abstract, conceptual way of thinking: the area of what in Germany is called "offences against personal freedom". A case where a store detective suggested to a 16 year old female shoplifter that he would abstain from making a larceny report to the police if she engaged in sexual intercourse with him has caused a lot of debate in German criminal law as to the question of whether the detective infringed the shoplifter's "personal freedom" in a way prohibited by criminal law. This debate will be presented and contrasted with the approach Canadian criminal law would be likely to adopt had the case occurred in Canada. The thesis adopts a comparative, analytical approach that focuses on law reform: • comparative, because the question of whether German criminal law does lack respect for the realities of life will be examined by comparing German legal reasoning with Anglo-Canadian legal reasoning. • analytical, because when exploring what German and Canadian law regarding "offences against personal freedom" is, the focus will be on familiar, formal techniques of legal reasoning, such as those which draw on legislative texts, legislative history, underlying principles, academic commentary, fundamental values in the constitution, and theoretical concerns. • law reform, because the question is explored of whether German criminal law can learn from Canadian criminal law how to be more open to taking varying social locations of people affected by criminal law into account. In particular it is asked whether one can reconcile the traditional German conceptual approach that promises certainty of the law and the Canadian contextual approach that is better able to be attentive to equality as a fundamental right. It will be argued that such a reconciliation of approaches is possible and consists in a method that might be called egalitarian conceptualism. This approach unites the advantages of conceptual, abstract legal reasoning with the advantages of contextual thinking by merging equality as a fundamental concept with the existing conceptual framework of criminal liability. The principle "in dubio pro aequalitate" will be added to the principle "in dubio pro libertate".