Thesis (D.Phil (Social Work))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Includes abstract in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

My master thesis is dedicated to proceedings in matrimonial cases - namely proceedings of marriage authorization and status matrimonial case proceedings. However, the main focus of my thesis is dedicated to divorce proceedings mainly because it is the most frequent proceeding from all in matrimonial cases and also because divorce represents a social phenomenon of current society. The whole thesis is composed of three main segments along with an introduction and conclusion. The first segment of my thesis classifies proceedings in matrimonial cases in accordance with legal taxonomy as a part of uncontested proceedings. Then further describes the reason of division of uncontested proceedings from the Code of Civil Procedure and also relation between the Code of Civil Proceedings and the Act of Special Court Proceedings. The following chapter engages in proceedings in matrimonial cases at first generally, then introduces the institute of marriage itself, follows enumeration on all types of matrimonial proceeding, analyses them and compares their differences and resemblances. Nevertheless divorce procedure is described in detail in the next segment of my thesis. A separate part is dedicated to the divorce of marriage which consists of several chapters including divorce from sociological point of view,...

This thesis focuses primarily on the field of European cross-border insolvency law, currently represented by the EU Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings (EC No 1346/2000). The EU Regulation considered theoretical conflict between advocates of universalism and territorialism, and is generally regarded as reflecting it in a way of modification, which is represented by distinction between main and ancillary insolvency proceedings. Determination of international jurisdiction in the main insolvency proceedings is inherently linked with the criteria of the centre of main interests (COMI), which serves as a specific connecting factor to constitute both the court with jurisdiction and applicable law, for the purpose of the whole insolvency process in accordance with the principle lex fori concursus. The COMI concept is the root of the jurisdiction trouble, thus this thesis aims at providing substantial information on the concept, since the EU Regulation neglects its proper introduction. One of many issues related to COMI conception is a phenomenon of forum shopping, term used to describe situations when debtors manipulate with facts relevant for establishing jurisdiction, in order to obtain more favourable position, usually at creditors' expense. The thesis also deals with another important initiative in...

The rule excluding evidence of opinion is traditionally stated in broad and general terms, subject to a more or less closed list of exemptions. Stephen says that a witness’s opinion is “deemed to be irrelevant”. A witness may depose to the facts which he has observed, but he may not ordinarily state any inferences which he has drawn from those facts, or opinions founded upon facts of which he has no personal knowledge. The general rule is that the evidence of opinion or belief of a witness is irrelevant because it is the function of a court to draw inferences and form its opinion from the facts; the witnesses give evidence as to the facts and the court forms its opinion from those facts. The opinion of an expert is admissible if it is relevant. It will be relevant if the witness’s skill, training or experience enables him materially to assist the court on matters in which the court itself does not usually have the necessary knowledge to decide. Where the topic is such that an ordinary judicial officer could be expected to be able, unassisted, to draw an inference, expert evidence is superfluous. In principle, there is no rule that a witness cannot give his opinion on an issue that the court has to decide ultimately. It is not experts alone who may give their opinions on ultimate issues but, in practice, there is a strong tendency to regard the evidence of lay persons on ultimate issues as constituting prima facie evidence only. If such lay testimony remains unchallenged, it may be of greater significance. It is generally true that relevant evidence is admissible and irrelevant evidence is inadmissible. At this stage the following question may be posed: is the opinion of any witness – whether from an expert or lay person – admissible evidence? Should an opinion be admitted for purposes of persuading the court to rely on it in deciding the issue at hand? The basic answer is that relevance remains the fundamental test for admissibility. Certain issues simply cannot be decided without expert guidance. Expert opinion evidence is therefore readily received on issues relating to ballistics, engineering, chemistry, medicine, accounting and psychiatry, to mention only a few examples. The problem which arises is this: what is the best way of cross-examining the expert witness? Although the concept of skilful cross-examination conjures up the image of the crossexaminer destroying the expert witness in the witness box, total annihilation of expert evidence in court occurs only rarely. In reality, lawyers who are expected to cross-examine experts are often at a disadvantage in that they do not possess sufficient in-depth knowledge of the specific field of expertise to enable them to cross-examine the witness. Despite the expert nature of the evidence, it is suggested that the true basis of crossexamination should not be abandoned when dealing with experts. The effectiveness of crossexamination is enhanced by keeping the number of questions to a minimum as well as opening and concluding with good strong points. At the outset it should be mentioned that there is a distinction between matters of scientific fact and matters of mere opinion. On matters of scientific fact experts seldom differ but within the province of opinion one encounters difficulties. Lengthy cross-examination concerning expert’s theoretical knowledge is usually inefficient and should rarely be attempted. Cross-examination should be directed at pure logic or scientific analysis. The cross-examiner should always have relevant authority with him in court so as to confront the expert with these. The whole effect of the testimony of an expert witness can also be destroyed by putting the witness to test at the trial as to his qualifications, his experience and his ability and discriminations as an expert. A failure to meet this test renders his evidence nugatory.

Misdemeanor proceedings Abstract This thesis deals with misdemeanor proceedings, as a part of administrative criminal law. In the beginning, the thesis distinguishes between substantive misdemeanor law and procedural misdemeanor law. Substantive misdemeanor law determines, what is misdemeanor and what administrative penalties can be imposed for misdemeanor. Procedural misdemeanor law determines the procedure of administrative authorities in deciding on a misdemeanor, rights and obligations of the parties to the proceedings and rights and obligations of other individuals involved in the proceedings. The thesis describes in detail legal sources of misdemeanor proceedings at national level and at international level. The work also describes development of legislation containing misdemeanor proceedings and relation of misdemeanor proceedings to the administrative proceedings. Next it contains enumeration and analysis of the leading principles of the misdemeanor proceedings, including the sources of the principles and application of the principles by administrative authorities. Individual parts of the thesis are including phases of misdemeanor proceedings and procedure before start of misdemeanor proceedings. The thesis analyses special legislation of legal authority's competence, deals with authoritative...

Getuienis voortgebring deur middel van 'n toestel of apparaat (soos byvoorbeeld 'n foto) kan 6f as reele getuienis 6f as dokumentere getuienis, 6f as albei aangebied word. Die doel waarvoor dit aangebied word, bepaal die toelaatbaarheidsvereiste(s). Oudio- en Videobande as getuienis word vir doeleindes van bespreking oor dieselfde kam geskeer aangesien daar prinsipieel nie 'n onderskeid is nie. '1 am unabk to see any difference, in principk, between the admissibility of an audio tape recording and a video tape recording" rull Milne rp in S v Ramgobin and Others 1986 (4) SA 117 (N) p 129 I. Huidiglik is daar in die Suid-Afrikaanse reg nie eenstemmigheid ten opsigte van die klassifikasie en/of toelaatbaarheidsvereistes van toestelle en apparate, soos byvoorbeeld videos, nie. In die bespreking wat volg sal gekyk word na die nodigheid van 'n klassifikasie en wat die omvang van toelaatbaarheidsvoorskrifte behoort te wees, in 'n akkusatoriese strafprosesstelsel soos die van Suid-Afrika en die Anglo-Amerikaanse regstelsels. / Criminal and Procedural Law / LLM

Yes / This article investigates the representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic staff in NHS disciplinary proceedings. The study involved an in-depth knowledge review and analysis of literature on the representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic staff in NHS disciplinary proceedings from 2008 to 2017, as well as semi-structured interviews with 15 key stakeholders. Participants were stakeholders from both primary and secondary care and included equality and diversity leads, human resource professionals, NHS service managers, representatives of trade unions and health professional regulatory council representatives. The knowledge review indicates that to date, black, Asian and minority ethnic staff are disproportionately represented in NHS disciplinary proceedings. Evidence gathered demonstrates the continuation of inappropriate individual disciplinary action and failure to address organisational shortcomings against black, Asian and minority ethnic members of staff. Overall, six factors were identified as underpinning the disproportionate representation of black minority ethnic staff in disciplinaries: closed culture and climate; subjective attitudes and behaviour; inconclusive disciplinary data; unfair decision making; poor disciplinary support; and disciplinary policy misapplication.

Résumé I chose the topic of evidence in civil legal proceedings as I regard the matter not only as very interesting, but also as very significant from the viewpoint of further specialist work. The production of evidence in civil procedural law includes not only activities by the parties when exercising their subjective rights, but also activities by a court, whose task is to ensure just protection of the rights and legitimate interests of the parties. As evidence in civil legal proceedings is a markedly wide-ranging issue, in this work I have limited myself to an explanation of the basic institutions of evidence in civil legal proceedings and have paid more attention to current questions concerning selected means of evidence, the question of imposing the duty to pay an advance on the costs of evidence in the form of an expert report and the question of the production of evidence through questioning of a minor. In chapter one I attempted an analysis of the term evidence and a specification of the subject of evidence from the viewpoint of its positive and negative definition, i.e., in brief what is and what is not the subject of evidence. I also briefly mentioned the issue of community law in connection with the Czech Republic's membership of the European Union. In this chapter it was also necessary to...

The title of my Master's degree thesis is "Proceedings relating to decedent's estate". I have chosen this topic because of many reasons. Although it is a traditional institute of civil procedure law, the topic is still very actual with regard to the new legislation in the Act No. 89/2012 Coll., The Civil Code, which was a significant extension of inheritance law, and the related procedural legislation in the Act No. 292/2013 Coll., on special judicial proceedings. Another reason is that I find this topic interesting, mainly because of its complexity and significant blending of procedural and substantive legislation. Since participation in inheritance proceeding is an inevitable issue in person's life, I wanted to extend my knowledge of the new legislation. Moreover I find this topic wrongfully overlooked in advocacy, to which I would like to head after graduation. The aim of the thesis is to describe the course of proceedings relating to decedent's estate and to show the different stages of the procedure and also include important substantive aspects and institutes which affect this procedure in the extent necessary. With regard to the adoption of new legislation I tried to highlight the most important changes and differences between the new legislation and legislation effective until 31. 12. 2013,...