本研究主要探討臺灣地方法院民事訴訟案件，透過會計鑑定之輔助，是否可以提升訴訟之經濟性。本研究將訴訟之經濟性分別以上訴與否、維持原判決與否、和解與否三項變數來加以衡量，採行法律實證分析。實證結果顯示執行會計鑑定不能夠降低兩造當事人上訴之比例，且達統計顯著水準、不能增加上級審法官維持下級審法官判決之比例，但未達統計顯著水準、不能增加兩造當事人和解之比例，但未達統計顯著水準。推論原因為有執行會計鑑定之案件其案件本身較為複雜且困難，而複雜案件本身上訴率即較高、維持原判決率即較低及和解率即較低。 / The purpose of this study is to investigate whether using forensic accounting litigation support service to assist civil litigation cases proceeded in Taiwan District Court enhances the economics of litigation. The study adopts empirical legal research approach to examine the impacts of forensic accounting litigation support on the the outcome of civil action. The study uses three indexes to measure. The indexes are appealing or not, affirming appeals or not and reaching a settlement or not. The results indicate that (1)if court used forensic accounting litigation support, the appeal rate will not be lower and it reach statistical significant level；(2) if court used forensic accounting litigation support, affirmed appeals rate will not be higher but it didn’t reach statistical significant level；(3) if court used forensic accounting litigation support, settlement rate will not be higher but it didn’t reach statistical significant level. According the analysis, the potential cause includes the civil action cases which use forensic accounting litigation support are more complicated than the civil action cases don’t use. There are the more complicated civil action cases having higher appeal rate, lower affirmed appeals rate and lower settlement rate.

Since the competence provided in the CFSP and the AFSJ areas in certain situation can overlap, issues have arisen in the recent case law and literature concerning the choice of legal basis. The provisions of the two policy areas concern important international areas and the institutional balance, which is based on what legal basis is chosen, leads to a number of institutional consequences such as division of power between the Member states and the Union’s institutions. The idea behind this paper is to display an ample and just picture of a complicated situation in order to highlight the issues at hand that have arisen due to the complexness of the legal framework. If one of the policy areas are chosen as the correct legal basis, different rules in the treaty applies, which leads to different distribution of power since different institutions in EU play different roles depending on legal basis. The purpose of this work is therefore to analyse the external dimension of the AFSJ and the CFSP rules and examine how the correct legal basis can be determined by the legislator at the same time as the Member States and the EU’s ability to fulfil their objectives and goals is not undermined.

This paper examines the determinants of firms’ non-reliance judgment and the effect of restatements disclosure venue choice on future litigation risk. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires firms to disclose any error that will undermine investors’ reliance on previously issued financial statements in Item 4.02 of Form 8-K starting on August 23, 2004. The requirements for non-reliance judgments lack clear guidelines; raising concerns that firms are cloaking errors and mistakes through opaque disclosure venues instead of the more prominent Form 8-K. This paper is the first to investigate the quantitative and qualitative criteria that firms use for non-reliance judgments and estimate the likelihood of specific disclosure venue choice. Applying this estimation into securities class-action litigation setting with controls for restatement characteristics and potential self-selection biases, I find that a more prominent restatement disclosure venue is associated with higher future litigation risk. This finding provides a plausible explanation for the current popularity of so-called ‘stealth restatements.’ These findings are robust to the exclusion of a transition period of the new regulation, firms with multiple restatements, and dismissed lawsuits.

This thesis examines the appointment of the Commissaries of Edinburgh, the court over which they presided, and their consistorial jurisdiction during the era of the Scottish Reformation. It is argued that the Commissaries of Edinburgh were appointed by Mary, Queen of Scots, in February 1563/4 as a temporary measure following the suppression of the courts of the Catholic Church in Scotland during the Wars of the Congregation. The Commissaries’ jurisdiction was substantially that of the pre-Reformation Officials centralized into a national jurisdiction administered from Edinburgh. The Commissaries of Edinburgh’s jurisdictional relations with the inferior Commissaries, the Lords of Council and Session, the suppressed courts of the Catholic Church and the Lords Interpreters of the Law of Oblivion are examined, whilst their relations with the tribunals of the Protestant Kirk are given particular attention. The thesis argues that despite the complex constitutional, legal and religious legacy of the spiritual jurisdiction in Scotland, the Commissaries and Kirk achieved a high degree of jurisdictional harmony, despite occasional conflicts. The Commissaries continued to administer the Canon law of the medieval Church in consistorial matters, with the prominent exception of the innovation introduced into Scotland by the Protestant Kirk from 1559 concerning divorce and remarriage on the grounds of adultery. Through an analysis of sentences and decreets pronounced by pre-Reformation Officials, the Commissaries of Edinburgh, and the tribunals of the Protestant Kirk, it is argued that this reform was essentially a reform of divorce a mensa et thoro using concepts and formulas borrowed from pre- Reformation sentences of annulment. The result was a type of divorce unique to Scotland, where the innocent party was immediately freed to remarry, whilst the guilty party remained bound to the failed marriage until freed to remarry by the death of their innocent spouse. An analysis of consistorial litigation before the Commissaries of Edinburgh is used to explain and illustrate the Romano-canonical procedure used in their court and the documentation generated during litigation. Litigants’ gender, domicile and social status are also analysed, together with their use of procurators and the expenses incurred during litigation.

This paper looks at the relationship between software patent hoarding and firm litigation involvement. Software patents are relatively new, as the first software patent was granted in 1995. Since that first patent was granted, firms throughout the industry have engaged in a patent ‘arms race’ of sorts. Using data from Lex Machina IP litigation database and the USPTO, this study examines whether patent stock size impacts the incentives for firms to litigate by assessing the total number of law suits software firms are involved in and their litigation involvement broken down by party role. The results indicate that a larger patent portfolio will marginally increase the number of suits a firm files as a plaintiff. The results are inconclusive on the potential deterrence effect a firm can create by hoarding patents to discourage competitor firms from suing them.

Firms operating in the United States face important litigation risk, yet little is known on how this risk affects financial decisions. I use a natural experiment to explore the effect of litigation risk on firms' hedging behavior. I find that firms are more likely to use financial derivatives following an exogenous increase in litigation risk. This finding is stronger in the subset of firms with higher distress costs, lower credit ratings, and higher legal concerns. My results imply that litigation risk can at least partially explain the use of financial derivatives.

As the environmental justice movement has spread and become more mainstream since its start in the 1980s, its framework and body of knowledge has expanded, and environmental justice activists, organizers, and scholars have developed and critiqued different methods through which environmental justice can be pursued. Among its relatively new concepts is the idea of slow violence, or the long-term and continuous impacts of environmental injustices on an afflicted community; and among the methods examined by scholars is environmental justice litigation, where legal action is taken, often with members of an affected community as plaintiffs, to remedy environmental injustices within that area. This thesis aims to analyze the efficacy of environmental justice litigation in its ability to address slow violence through two case studies, Hinkley Groundwater Contamination and Kettleman Hills Waste Facility, which both took place in the 1990s in California, a state now known for its progressive legislation and consideration of environmental justice. It concludes that, while the short-term nature of litigation is not necessarily compatible with the long-term nature of slow violence, successful litigation coupled with the empowerment and engagement of the local community increase the likelihood of litigation partially addressing and mitigating the effects of slow violence in the present and future.

A COMPARISON OF LEGAL LITERACY AMONG TEACHER SUBGROUPS By Candace Partridge Mirabile, Ph. D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2013 Charol Shakeshaft, Ph.D., Professor, Educational Leadership, School of Education This study determined the level of legal literacy among classroom teachers in a suburban metropolitan division in Virginia. I have focused on aspects of the law that relate to student safety and student rights, and my operational definition of legal literacy is the understanding of these laws. The results from 239 respondents indicated that teachers in this division are not knowledgeable of essential legal content specific to student/teacher interactions. The mean percent of correct answers hovered at the 50% mark on a survey of 20 true/false questions related to landmark cases, important legislation, and Virginia law. I was unable to trace legal literacy to a particular demographic, and I concluded that more than half of the respondents had received no training in legal issues. I propose that Virginia’s licensure requirements be upgraded to include competence in legal literacy because knowledge of law is among the standards of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE, 2008). Based on comments from respondents to my survey, teachers are interested in learning more about education law.

Magister Legum - LLM / Access to adequate housing is an important socio-economic right and is of central importance for the enjoyment of all rights. The right to access adequate housing is viewed as a fundamental human right and has been described in both International Law and by the South African courts as being essential to the dignity of human beings. Access to adequate housing thus plays an important part in ensuring human dignity for all persons. It is also one of the key elements needed to ensure that all persons have access to an adequate standard of living. Access to adequate housing further plays a vital role in maintaining and improving the lives of all people as it provides both security and shelter. In modern day South Africa, access to adequate housing is held in very high regard. This is evident in the recognition it has received in the National Development Plan as two of the fourteen outcomes of the plan are to ensure that “all people are and feel safe” and “sustainable human settlements and improved quality of household life.” The drafters of the South African Constitution recognised the importance of access to adequate housing as provision was made for the right to access adequate housing in the Final Constitution in section 26. In considering the report submitted by South Africa, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights indicated (hereinafter referred to as the “Committee on ESCR”) the housing landscape in South Africa continues to be divided as a result of the past and that the apartheid spatial divide continues to dominate the landscape. Viljoen notes that despite numerous attempts to transform the housing regime from one which was grossly discriminatory to a welfare-orientated legal system that functions under the auspices of the rights and values entrenched in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa the poorest households in South Africa remain subject to not only a lack of access to housing but also intolerable housing conditions. He writes further that the judicial enforcement of the right to access adequate housing is a difficult, complex and multi-layered issue with which the courts have been grappling for some time. An examination of the housing rights jurisprudence reveals that housing rights and access to adequate housing has been one of the most fiercely contested and frequently litigated topics in the country. The jurisprudence also shows that housing is an area where much legislative, policy and infrastructure progress has been made.

Magister Legum - LLM / Alternative dispute resolution refers to forms of dispute resolution, other than traditional and formal court based litigation. A notable benefit of alternative dispute resolution is that different processes are available for resolving a particular dispute in the most effective and efficient manner possible. Alternative dispute resolution includes but is not limited to arbitration, mediation, negotiation, conciliation and facilitation. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, lists human dignity, equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms as the founding values of the Republic of South Africa. In terms of section 9(1) of the Constitution everyone is regarded as equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law in South Africa. Often it is however argued that traditional court based litigation hinders the full enjoyment of these rights by individuals. Consequently, alternative dispute resolution is attractive as an alternative to court based litigation as it is regarded as less expensive, more time effective and results in less conflict when it comes to resolving disputes in the most accessible, effective and efficient manner possible, in both developed and developing countries. The study will first focus on the pitfalls to traditional court based litigation in South Africa. The relevant legislation and processes which provide for alternative dispute resolution processes in South Africa, with specific focus on alternative dispute resolution in labour disputes, will be considered. Consideration will be given to the provision of alternative dispute resolution as contained in the Constitution, the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995, the Rules for the Conduct of Proceedings before the CCMA of 2003 and the Arbitration Act 42 of 1965. The study will thereafter proceed to consider the use of alternative dispute resolution in labour disputes in Brazil, Russia, India and China, who, together with South Africa, are collectively referred to as BRICS. These five nations are considered the world’s leading emerging economies, with similar economic capabilities and demographics.