The thesis is on “Finance Leasing in International trade”. It considers the question “How well does English law recognise and encourage the use of finance leasing in equipment trade?” The discussion shows that, on the one hand, English law has recognised the financing nature of finance leasing. It sees the lessor in a finance leasing arrangement merely as a financier, who steps into a sale of equipment which might otherwise take place between the supplier and the lessee. In addition, English law recognises that there are two agreements between the parties: a sale between the supplier and the lessor and a finance lease between the lessor and the lessee. Although English law does not view the transaction as a triangular relationship, it entitles the lessee to a cause of action against the supplier in various circumstances. It also allows the lessor to exclude from liability for the quality of the asset and to secure his commercial interests in the transaction by retaining ownership of the asset. On the other hand, however, English law fails to provide solutions to some problems arising from the financing nature of the transaction. For example, it is difficult for the lessor to be completely free of responsibility for the condition of the asset, which is imposed by the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. His obligation to ensure the lessee’s quiet enjoyment of the lessee is also obscure. In addition, the lessee does not have a proprietary right over the asset at law and this has led to distortion of some of the legal principles regarding ownership and property. The discussion leads to the conclusion that the law pertaining to finance leasing is on the whole satisfactory to facilitate equipment trade but reform is called for in some areas. The following suggestions are proposed to improve the use of finance leasing in the trade of equipment, both domestically and internationally. Firstly, the law should define finance leasing by providing explicit pronouncement of its financial nature and the triangular relationship. Secondly, the obligations and rights of the parties should be more specific. For example, the lessor’s responsibility for the lessee’s quiet enjoyment under the 1982 Act should be clarified as follows: “the lessor ensures that he has the right to lease the asset so that the lessee may enjoy exclusive possession of it free from disturbance by a person whose title is paramount to the lessor’s, unless the disturbance stems from actions of the lessor”. But the lessor should be excluded from all the obligations as to the condition of the asset under the Supply of Goods and Service Act 1982. The supplier should be liable to the lessee for the condition of the asset and, at his default, the lessee should be able to resort to a cause of action against him, being a third party to the supply agreement under the Contract (Third Party Rights) Act 1999. In addition, the lessee should be responsible for the payment of the total rentals irrevocably and his right over the asset should be recognised as a legal proprietary right.

Debates in legal geography have highlighted that there is a need to develop a more creative approach in order to understand the intersections between law and geography. This paper proposes that this imbrication can be investigated by using a Sequent Legal Occupance (SLO) method of analysis in legal geography research. By modifying Whittlesey’s notion of sequent occupance, the study historically and chronologically investigates River Severn in relation to two activities, navigation and fishing, to understand the correlation between law and geography as a process of mutual constitution. It identifies the ways in which law has been present within the landscape in terms of ‘occupance’ and ‘impress’ to indicate the complex, multi layered and multi-dimensional ways in which law and geography are woven together in a particular setting. This sequence of events is presented as the ‘Severnscape’, a fusion of landscape and lawscape which illustrates the ways in which the relationships between space, place and law are constantly being negotiated, changing, reforming, and performing. I argue that such an approach can be used to better understand the correlation and co-constitution of law and geography.

The main aim of this research is two-fold; firstly, these chapters will seek to demonstrate the unreliability of theoretical or abstract approaches to legal reasoning in describing the law. Secondly, rather than merely providing a deconstruction of previous attempts to classify private law, the chapters attempt to construct an overlapping approach to classification. This represents a new way of classifying private law, which builds on the foundations of the lessons of legal realism and explains how classification can accommodate overlaps to assist in identifying the core elements of private law reasoning. Following the realist tradition, the thesis argues for narrower formulations of the concepts of property, contract and tort. It is then argued that within these narrower concepts, the law is made more predictable and clearer. Importantly, adopting the overlapping analysis, we can explain the areas that we have removed from property, contract and tort as overlaps with these core concepts. The purpose is to recognise that legal concepts can be best understood as links between facts and judicial decision making, and the best way to achieve this is to reject discrete categorisation and, instead, to recognise the overlapping of legal concepts.

This thesis is a contribution to the body of literature which aspires to solve the global problem of collective wrongdoing. This collective wrongdoing is committed by individuals, social groups and corporations which includes (to name a few) environmental damage, the violations of human rights, political rights, animal rights and the socio-economic rights of people. The discussion is focused on the solutions for the violations of the socio-economic rights of people who are affected by the business practice of outsourcing (i.e. stakeholders of businesses). It advances the argument that the imposition of legal, social and moral responsibility on those individuals, social groups and corporations which contribute to collective wrongdoing is not an effective method. It suggests departing from this method of holding these individuals, social groups and corporations accountable for their contributions to collective wrongdoing. It advances the argument that collective wrongdoing can be regulated and controlled by the participants who are engaged in a multilateral agreement to practice business sustainably. It suggests that collective obligations (as opposed to responsibility) are contained in multilateral agreements. It is therefore argued that the protection of the socio-economic rights of stakeholders by a theory of collective obligations is plausible and practicable.

Reforming the UK’s corporation tax code is becoming more of a widespread political concern than the preoccupation of specialists. This functionalist study offers an interpretation, and assesses the arguments. It views the corporation tax code as public law, energised by political values whose meaning and prioritisation are shaped by the prudential logic of effectiveness. The institutions that generate the code, and the challenges of globalisation to the nation state, have highlighted historic tensions between Crown and Parliament, and the latter’s scrutiny of the managerialist governance style that the code’s reform involves. This style is apparent in the ideology of the public interest that reform is designed to promote, a process that involves the skilful balancing of efficiency and fairness. Surprisingly, perhaps, there is little in the conduct of reform that violates the traditions of the UK’s representative democracy. The result is a code that, given its public law status, is a pre-eminent example of political jurisprudence. Its values, their prioritisation, and their change and complexity, are inevitably contentious, because they are the products of representative institutions. Criticism of the code generally understates these points. What are presented as impartial legal arguments are often simply rival views of the public interest.

This PhD dissertation investigates the construction of identities in the early Middle Ages, focusing on three key texts conventionally dated to the ninth and tenth centuries: Historia Brittonum, Asser's Life of King Alfred, and Armes Prydein Vawr. I examine the way these writers constructed ideas of Welsh identity in the wider context of their perception of peoples more broadly. Particular attention is paid to the texts that may have influenced the three sources, investigating, for example, Historia Brittonum's use of the works of writers such as Orosius, Jerome, and Prosper. This thesis also examines the possibility of wider trends through placing the Welsh material alongside evidence from across Europe. I compare, for example, the construction of a Trojan origin legend for the Britons in Historia Brittonum with similar accounts of the Trojan origins of the Franks. In Chapter 1 I investigate the names used for Wales and the Welsh, and suggest that, whilst these texts continued to view the Welsh as Britons, the rightful inhabitants of all Britain, there is nevertheless an indication of the construction of a specifically Welsh identity, focused on the geographical unit roughly equivalent to modern-day Wales. Chapter 2 discusses the relationship between language and identity, considering the use of Welsh place- and river-names in the Life of King Alfred, and the use of English loan-words in both Historia Brittonum and Armes Prydein Vawr. Contrary to the tendency in scholarship to downplay the role of language, I argue that it is a crucial component in the construction of identity. Chapter 3 focuses on the presentation of origin legends in Historia Brittonum and Armes Prydein Vawr. I compare the origins of the Saxons as presented in the two sources to illustrate the recycling and adaptation of material to suit varying agendas, and place Historia Brittonum's origin legend of the Britons in a wider context, examining both the sources used in its construction and its relationship with the origin legends of the Franks. Chapter 4 investigates the writing of history more broadly in Historia Brittonum and Asser's Life of King Alfred, examining the adaptation of material to create a past which suited the construction of a specific group identity. Particular attention is paid to Asser's depiction of the vikings as pagans, in contrast to the Christian Anglo-Saxons. These chapters combine into a coherent whole, offering significant new insights into the construction of identities in early medieval Wales.

This thesis examines the law applicable to unmarried couples on relationship breakdown through the lens of vulnerability theory, developing a framework of 'relational vulnerability' which argues that as a result of the state's expectation of and preference for economic self-sufficiency, the homemaker becomes vulnerable. Relational vulnerability is defined as the broad susceptibility to harm that arises as a result of an individual existing within an uneven or unequal relational framework. Firstly, I argue that relational vulnerability is primarily caused by the way that the state, through law, prioritises autonomy and rationality at the homemaker's expense. Her inability to live up to the economic ideal causes her harm on economic, emotional, and spatial levels. Secondly, I argue that legal understandings of homemaking (i.e. care and domestic work) are influenced by myths of altruism and domesticity, labelling it as gendered, sentimental, and privatised. As a result of this, the homemaker struggles to assert an interest in the family home on relationship breakdown. Thirdly, I argue that the state owes an obligation to redress relational vulnerability by promoting resilience. In the final chapter, I examine three hypothetical responses to vulnerability, evaluating the extent to which these are able to make the homemaker resilient.

This thesis brings together a series of work undertaken in partial fulfilment of the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Volume I – Research: Literature review; empirical paper; and public dissemination document providing an accessible summary of this volume. The literature review draws together the extant literature on what is known about what happens when the police detain people experiencing mental health crises. It offers a systematic search of relevant bibliographic databases, and findings are discussed within the context of the limitations of the review and the implications for future practice and research. In building on the work of this review, the empirical paper goes on to explore how police officers understand and experience the use of Section 136 of the Mental Health Act (1983/2007). This study employed interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore ten officers’ (from the English Midlands) experiences of this aspect of their work. Volume II – Clinical practice reports: Outlining work undertaken on placements from adult, older adult, learning disability, and physical health specialties. The reports consist of: a case study illustrating a dual formulation approach; a service evaluation; a single case experimental design study; a case study; and the abstract for an oral presentation of a case study.

This thesis critically analyses the English choice of law rules for testamentary trusts. After outlining the research context (Chapter 1), the key concepts and terms for testamentary trusts in cross-border estates are introduced (Chapter 2). The dual system of choice of law rules (one for testate succession and the other for the trust) are discussed with reference to reads 'rocket and rocket-launcher' illustration that has been favoured by legislators and commentators alike. Thus, the current choice of law rules for testate succession matters are analysed in Chapter 3 and the choice of law rules for trusts are examined in Chapter 4. This leads to Chapter 5 concluding that the choice of law rules for the creation of testamentary trusts (the rocket-launching aspects) are particularly problematic. The discussion thereafter focuses on how the choice of law rules for the rocket-launching aspects of testamentary trusts could be improved with reference to the international and European reform attempts to legislate on succession and trusts, including the Hague Succession Convention and the European Succession Regulation (Chapter 6). Moreover, the limited UK reform attempts relevant to the choice of law rules for testamentary trusts are discussed in Chapter 7. Chapter 8 proposes recommendations for reform.

How should the criminal justice system respond to women who conceal their pregnancies, resulting in the death of the foetus or baby? It is widely expected that a pregnant woman will act in the best interests of her unborn child, including submitting herself to medical examination. However, these expectations are not always met and this causes particular problems for vulnerable women who experience crisis pregnancies. In such situations women have hidden their pregnancies, given birth in secret, and are suspected of causing the death of the baby. Alternatively, their actions while pregnant, and during labour and delivery are deemed to have culminated in the stillbirth of the child. While there are no accurate statistics, every year approximately 7 babies/foetuses are known to die in such circumstances during the perinatal period. Through a detailed examination of transcripts from sentencing hearings of criminal cases heard 2010-2014, I explore how and why women involved in such cases have come to be dealt with through English criminal law. There appears to be a strong desire to criminalise women who are perceived to fail to put the foetus first. Criminal justice professionals use out-dated offences to capture these perceived criminal wrongs. I conclude that if the state wishes to punish women for harm caused to the foetus, then the enactment of foetal protection laws would be appropriate. However, as critical assessment of such law in the United States of America illustrates, such laws could have dramatic consequences on the rights of women. The cases analysed in this thesis provide a fascinating lens through which to examine a range of broader issues including, the expectation that women should put the needs of the foetus before their own, and the assumption that motherhood starts at conception and is natural and inherent.