Discourse ethics relates to an argumentative discussion about our moral norms and their foundations. The purpose of my research is to describe and evaluate the functioning of several institutions of discourse ethics as sources of normativity for the regulation of new medical technologies and to propose some possible interactions between law and these institutions. / The institutions of discourse ethics I will look at are: national commissions of experts, national ethics committees, technology assessment committees and consensus conferences. Used in these institutions, argumentative discussion has the capacity to influence the meaning we give to our moral norms as well as the context and the conditions for their application. These discussions generate a special kind of normativity, which ought to be recognised by our legal system. Law itself would benefit from an interaction with such normativity.

There is a prima facie incompatibility between a law conception of ethics, in which law concepts (e.g. ought, rule, action) are basic, and a virtue conception of ethics, in which virtue concepts (e.g. character trait, ideal, agent) are basic. However, both conceptions contain elements that are needed for an adequate ethical account. Aquinas's conception of ethics is of interest, because it combines virtue and law components within a broadly Aristotelian account. I argue that Aquinas's virtue-and-law ethical conception is not ad hoc, but emerges from, expresses, and is grounded normatively, rationally, and motivationally in his general conception of practical thought. My first objective in the thesis is to explicate and defend an interpretation of Aquinas's understanding of practical thought as the rational determination of general good into particular action. I argue, first, that this interpretation expresses Aquinas's conception of the nature of practical thought, as reflected in Aquinas's central practical concepts of order, nature, good, and reason. Second, I argue that this interpretation is expressed in Aquinas's conception of the structure of practical thought, as reflected in general, specific, and particular conceptual levels of practical thinking, reasons, and forms of reasoning. My second objective in the thesis is to show that Aquinas's virtue-and-law account presupposes and develops this conception of practical thought, and briefly to indicate how insights from Aquinas's account elucidate relationships between virtue and law ethical conceptions.

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Ethics in the international relations is usually based on the assumption that states represents an ethically relevant subject. The thesis challenges the assuption, that existing states could be legitimized on the general principles of universal ethics in any other way than as a "realm of necessity" and inquires the conseqeuncesof the lack of domestic legitimity on the ethical assertion of the state's conduct abroad.

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This thesis is aimed on the social phenomenon of conscientious objection, its theoretical perception as a legal concept and application in the real world, in particular by the supranational protection of human rights in the European area. Priority concern will be given to the transposition of the general assessments to the special "habitat" of EU law. The basis of the study is built on an analysis of definitions and categories refined by the doctrine and reinforced by the roots of natural law, both of which also serve to determine the methodology and legal perception of conscientious objection. A short study of the Czech law then follows to "pump the theory in legal veins". Large part of the thesis addresses the case law adopted by the European Court of Human Rights which serves as an inspiration and authority for the Union and its Member States. Abstracting the main trends in ECtHR reasoning the thesis draws basic limits laid down by the international protection. It also concludes that the Convention (ECHR) does not preclude developing its own pro or contra- objection approach by the EU institutions. It is, however, supposed to have a great impact on the Unions' legal "technique" in the field of the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. In the context of EU law the special nature of the...

Orientador: José Carlos Garcia de Freitas / Banca: Euclides Celso Berardo / Banca: Maria Amália de Figueiredo Pereira Alvarenga / Resumo: Com efeito, os temas pertinentes ao Meio Ambiente são inesgotáveis e de impressionante atualidade, posto que o desequilíbrio ambiental acentua-se a cada dia que passa em um cenário complexo típico de uma sociedade tecnológica e científica em construção, ameaçando sobremaneira a qualidade de vida humana, senão a sua própria sobrevivência. Nesse modo de ver, a questão preliminar, ao abordar o tema proposto, refere-se à necessidade da sociedade global proteger juridicamente o Meio Ambiente em sua totalidade. Como conseqüência, constata-se que o campo de estudo do Direito Ambiental vem crescendo e se sofisticando com novos princípios e institutos, cedendo espaço para todos os elementos integrantes dos sistemas ecológicos, inclusive o humano. Aliás, possivelmente, a mais importante característica do Direito Ambiental é a de que seus princípios e normas possuem nítido caráter humanista do imperativo ético da dignidade da pessoa humana. A esse respeito, visando-se a promover um novo olhar sobre o Meio Ambiente é que caminha a presente dissertação de mestrado, ordenando reflexões dedutivas e históricas sobre o tema em sua inerente amplitude, integrando-se os conhecimentos da Ciência Ecológica, do Direito Ambiental e da Ética em torno de um conjunto de problemas e limitações humanas para que o maior bem estar possam vir a ser atingido por todos. De outra parte, torna-se igualmente importante à proteção do Meio Ambiente através do processo educativo. A Educação Ambiental deve ser promovida em todos os níveis de ensino, fato este disposto no artigo 225, parágrafo 1º, inciso VI da Constituição Federal, porquanto é necessário educar e conscientizar a coletividade quanto à efetiva gravidade da degradação ambiental mundial. Aliás, a oportunidade trazida pela Educação Ambiental e seu conseqüente...(Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Indeed, issues related to the Environment are endless and incredibly up to date, regarding the fact that environmental imbalance gets bigger day after day in a complex scene which is typical of a technological and scientific society that is being formed, threatening the quality of human life, not to mention its own survival. From that viewpoint, the preliminary issue, when approaching the proposed topic, refers to global society’s need to juridically protect the Environment as a whole. As a consequence, it’s been noticed that the field of study of Environmental Law has been growing and becoming more and more sophisticated with new principles and institutes; making room for every component of ecological systems, including the human one. Possibly, Environmental Law’s most important characteristic is that its principles and rules have a sharp humanistic character of the ethic imperative of human dignity. With that respect, aiming at promoting a different look over the environment is the objective of this very master’s degree essay, with deductive and historic reflection on the theme in its inherent amplitude, integrating knowledge of Ecological Science, Environmental Law, and Ethics related to a group of human problems and limitations so that all people are able to achieve major well being. Besides, it’s equally important to protect the Environment through educational processes. Environmental Education must be implemented in each and every level of education, as stated on the Federal Constitution 225(1)(6), for it’s necessary to teach and make people fully aware of the effective seriousness of worlwide environmental degradation. By the way, the opportunity brought about by Environmental Education and its subsequent ethic awakening may indicate the beginning of a new era of cooperation among nations and peoples, looking forward to new inspirations that contact with Nature and with humanistic idea...(Complete abstract click access below) / Mestre

劉傑雄. / 手稿本及手稿本複印本. / Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學, 1988. / Shou gao ben ji shou gao ben fu yin ben. / Includes bibliographical references: leaves [13]-[16] / Liu Jiexiong. / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 1988. / 引言 --- p.1 / Chapter 第一部份 --- 哈特對法律道德關係的看法 --- p.14 / Chapter （甲） --- 社會律則的一般分析 --- p.14 / Chapter （一） --- 社會律則的意義 --- p.14 / Chapter （二） --- 社會律則兩方面的陳述 --- p.16 / Chapter （三） --- 義務 --- p.18 / Chapter （乙） --- 道德 --- p.21 / Chapter （一） --- 道德的意義 --- p.21 / Chapter （二） --- 道德的基本成份 --- p.22 / Chapter （三） --- 道德的特質　 --- p.30 / Chapter （丙） --- 法律 --- p.36 / Chapter （一） --- 基始律則──義務律 --- p.36 / Chapter （二） --- 從屬律則──轉變律、審裁律和認可律 --- p.37 / Chapter （三） --- 法律的成份 --- p.47 / Chapter （丁） --- 法律與道德的關係 --- p.48 / Chapter 第二部份 --- 狄奧堅對哈特的批評 --- p.61 / Chapter （甲） --- 一個基本的概念──原則 --- p.62 / Chapter （一） --- 原則的意思 --- p.62 / Chapter （二） --- 原則和律則 --- p.67 / Chapter （三） --- 原則的來源 --- p.70 / Chapter （乙） --- 對哈特法律理論的批評 --- p.72 / Chapter （一） --- 哈特的兩個選擇 --- p.73 / Chapter （二） --- 第一個選擇──至少有些原則具有法律的約束力 --- p.76 / Chapter （三） --- 第三個選擇──任何原則不具有法律的約束力 --- p.76 / Chapter （四） --- 哈特法律理論的兩難 --- p.88 / Chapter （五） --- 認可律的漏洞 --- p.90 / Chapter （丙） --- 法律與道德的關係 --- p.100 / Chapter 第三部份 --- 哈特與狄奧堅爭辯之評估 --- p.103 / Chapter （一） --- 哈特與狄奧堅爭辯之論題 --- p.103 / Chapter （二） --- 爭辯的爭論點 --- p.103 / Chapter （三） --- 第一個爭論點 --- p.106 / Chapter （四） --- 第二個爭論點　 --- p.116 / Chapter （五） --- 狄奧堅理論的毛病 --- p.124 / 結語 --- p.131

At the outset the International Criminal Court (ICC) was heralded as a revolution within international society, but it has since found itself at the centre of much controversy and debate. According to the Rome Statute’s Preamble, a broad aim of the ICC is: “to guarantee lasting respect for and the enforcement of international justice”. However, a review of the critical literature surrounding the ICC uncovered a noticeable lack of discussions applying theoretical understandings of justice to neither the Court’s design nor operations; a gap in the literature that the thesis aims to address. Moreover, the review identified that the primary concerns regarding the ICC’s performance all focussed on stakeholder practices. Combining these two observations, the thesis hypothesised that the controversies and issues facing the ICC emerged because the practice of the Court’s primary stakeholders has been incompatible with the demands of justice. In order to test this hypothesis, the thesis analyses the compatibility of the ICC with what the thesis identifies as the core theoretical demands of justice across three areas: purpose, procedure, and stakeholder practice. It does this by building a theoretical framework from the justice literature which is then used to analyse and critique data relating to the ICC’s purposes, procedures and stakeholder practices gathered from empirical observations, interviews, official documents and speeches. The thesis concludes that, for the most part, it is the practice of ICC stakeholders that have been incompatible with the demands of justice, not the Court’s purposes or procedures.

This dissertation is a comparative study of the law of criminal complicity in Jordan (a civil law jurisdiction), and in New South Wales (NSW) (a common law jurisdiction). It addresses the basis of criminal culpability of individuals, and explores the extent to which the basis of such culpability rests on the autonomy and autonomous actions (or inactions) of individuals. Ideas of such autonomy have been integral to western ethical, political and legal thinking since the seventeenth century. The analysis in this dissertation raises issues where the criminal law does not adequately take into account the limits on individual autonomy in relation to liberty of action, freedom of choice and effective deliberation. These issues highlight that a more serious and deeper understanding of individual autonomy as a ground of culpability must be taken into account by law-makers, to ensure that the grounds of criminal culpability more adequately reflect the limits on people’s individual autonomy in modern society today. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)