Originally presented as Thesis (master's)--Université Paris II, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [549]-595) and indexes.

The diploma thesis deals with the right to a favorable environment in case-law of the Czech courts. The main aim of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive overview of its progression in the case-law on the right to a favorable environment for legal entities, especially societies (environmental non-governmental organizations). At first it follows up definition of key concepts and sources of law related to the right to a favorable environment. The thesis discusses the environmental protection processes (such as the land-use planning, the environmental impact assessment procedure and integrated permitting), the Aarhus Convention, legal protection and locus standi as the most important topics. The main part of the thesis analyzes the relevant case law of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic and the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic. The conclusion of the thesis is a summary and evaluation of its progression in the case-law on the right to a favorable environment for legal entities.

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Despite well documented evidence that both the level and diversity of amicus participation in state high courts have been growing, we know little about whether or under what conditions amicus briefs have an impact on court outcomes. This dissertation investigates how interest groups attempt to influence state supreme courts through their participation as amicus curiae. Using an original dataset assembled from content analysis of more than 2300 state supreme court decisions handed down between 1995 and 2010 and spanning three distinct areas of law - products liability, environmental law, and free speech/expression - I find that amicus briefs submitted by interest groups have the most influence over judicial outcomes in areas of law where interest groups routinely make large-scale donations to judicial campaigns. These results raise serious concerns about the influence of big money in judicial elections. The second part of this dissertation tests two competing theories of amicus influence to determine how state high court judges utilize amicus brief information in judicial decision making. The informational theory assumes the influence of amicus brief information to be evenly distributed across judges. However, theories of confirmation bias and motivated reasoning suggest that the information in amicus briefs may be received and evaluated differently depending upon the ideological predispositions of individual judges. Using multi-level modeling, I analyze the votes of more than 12,000 individual state high court judges to determine whether judge ideology conditions the influence of amicus briefs such that judges are more receptive to pro-attitudinal information contained in briefs from interest groups that share their predispositions. Results suggest that method of judicial retention and area of case law structures the mechanism of amicus brief influence. Amicus briefs appear to play an informational role in complex areas of case law but the presence of competitive judicial elections appear to alter the mechanism of amicus brief influence such that judicial responsiveness to amicus briefs is more closely tied to the reelection and campaign fundraising considerations of individual judges. The final portion of this dissertation investigates the case-level and court-level factors that attract interest group participation as amicus curiae in state high courts in order to better our understanding of interest group strategies when engaging state judiciaries. This paper tests the hypothesis that groups strategically target cases that will best serve the policy and institutional interests of the group, while focusing group resources on cases and courts where they are most likely to be successful. Results indicate that both liberal and conservative groups target state high courts that are elected through competitive and retention election processes rather than those that are appointed, suggesting that interest groups believe their influence will be greater with judges who are accountable to the public. Results also show that both liberal and conservative groups target courts from states that are ideologically sympathetic, but not necessarily from courts that are ideologically similar. / Political Science

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) established by the UN Security Council in the early 1993 and 1994 respectively in the wake of mass atrocities commented in the Balkans and in Rwanda are arguably the first truly international criminal tribunals (ICTs). While the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals set up by the Allies to prosecute the Germans and Japanese responsible for atrocities committed during World War II provided some precedent, much of the ICTs’ substantive law had never been litigated. In addition, differences in the circumstances surrounding the two sets of prosecutions meant that the ICTs’ procedural system was effectively brand new. In this context, the role of the ICTs’ judges in progressively developing international criminal law and the international criminal justice system assumes great importance. Since the establishment of the ICTs, a permanent international criminal court and several ‘hybrid’ international courts have been created. Each of these has drawn heavily on the jurisprudence and procedural law, practices and norms of the ICTs. This further underscores the importance of understanding the development of international criminal law by ICT judges. / Studies of factors influencing the behaviour of judges have generally focused either on micro-level factors, primarily the policy position of judges, or macro-level factors, primarily the relationship between States and international courts. This thesis argues that the exploration of factors influencing judicial behaviour on both levels is important. This thesis uses a broad institutional perspective to identify the types of factors likely to be salient influences on judicial behaviour and the way in which those factors operate, in particular the way in which the ICTs as organisations operate to mediate exogenous influences. / The thesis uses a range of data sources, including interviews with judges and defence counsel to empirically explore two micro level and three macro level influences. The micro-level influences explored are judges’ national system and professional backgrounds. The macro-level influences explored are the reliance of the ICTs on States, the need for the ICTs to establish and maintain legitimacy and the broader expectations directed towards war crimes tribunals. / The thesis findings show that exploring both the micro and macro-levels provide important insights into judicial behaviour at the ICTs. The findings on the influence of the micro-level factors explored in the thesis reveal that both national system background and professional background do influence some aspects of judicial behaviour. The findings also suggest the importance of understanding the process of institutionalisation when exploring judicial behaviour and the organisational factors that facilitate or impede this. The findings on the influence of the macro-level factors explored in the thesis suggest that each of these factors do influence judicial behaviour at the ICTs in certain ways, but that the level to which the factors influence behaviour is context-contingent.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Universität, Frankfurt am Main, 2006. / Material type: Dissertations. Includes bibliographical references (p. 283-317).