Three experiments examined how a transgressor’s response, once accused of a wrongdoing, alters other’s perceptions of transgressor. Study 1 investigated how a baseball player’s response to steroid usage accusations affected fans’ perceptions of him. Participants thought of the athlete more positively when he apologized for his drug usage as compared to when he denied it or provided no comment. Study 2 examined if the effects of a transgressor’s response are moderated by the transgressor’s reputation. Participants were predicted to prefer apologies over denials if they had a pre-existing positive view of the transgressor (i.e., the person was a friend and not a stranger or someone known for being lazy). Results showed that, similar to Study 1, participants respected the transgressor and thought he handled the situation better when he apologized instead of denied the transgression, but contrary to predictions, the transgressor’s reputation did not have an effect on participants’ reactions to a transgressor’s responses. Study 3 examined whether feelings of schadenfreude (i.e., positive affect resulting from another’s misfortune) mitigated negative feelings toward a transgressor who denied the transgression. After participants witnessed a transgression, they then had to work with the transgressor on a task. When the transgressor performed the task incompetently, participants were predicted to feel schadenfreude and therefore not feel it was as important to hear the transgressor admit to his wrongdoing. Results indicated that participants felt more negatively toward an incompetent transgressor than one who contributed equally to the task, regardless of whether he denied or apologized for the transgression. Furthermore, contrary to the results of Studies 1 and 2, participants did not have increased positive feelings toward transgressors who apologized. Overall, these studies provide evidence that apologizing and expressing ownership for a transgression is the best method to respond with to facilitate relationship repair within multiple situations.

A serious problem confronts the psychologist whose patient threatens, within the privacy of a therapy session, to inflict violent harm upon some third person. Therapists in Texas face a risk of unjust legal liability because of a lack of widely accepted, clearly and fully articulated standards. A questionnaire was submitted to Texas psychologists and Texas judges of mental illness courts. It involved a hypothetical case of a patient who threatened to kill his girlfriend. The hypothesis that no consensus exists at present among psychologists or judges appears to be supported by the data. Comparisons are made of the attitudes of psychologists and judges. Correlations between psychologist attitudes and certain demographic and practice variables are reported. The need for new legislation in Texas concerning legal liability of therapists for the violent behavior of patients is discussed. Proposed legislation for Texas is set out. Among its important features are (1) recognition that continued therapy is itself a protective strategy and (2) establishment of good faith as the standard by which the behavior of the therapist is to be judged.

While there are many examples to turn to regarding the thriving phenomenon of private persons being exploited to launch cyber attacks on behalf of states, this thesis will direct it’s attention onto two special cases. Russia has been accused of being the state actor behind the cyber attacks on Estonia in 2007 and Georgia in 2008. The cases are chosen as Estonia have been recognised as the first coordinated cyber attack on a foreign country, and Georgia being the first case were cyber attacks have been utilised in synchronisation with military action. The purpose of the thesis is to analyse the facts of each case in relation to the International Law Commission’s Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (DARSIWA). The analysis will work through article 4, article 5, article 8 and article 11. The main question is how Russia may be hold as legally responsible under international law for the private conduct of ’patriotic’ hackers, the Nashi Youth Group and the Russian Business Network. The thesis concludes that while the circumstances of each case highly indicate state-involvement, this cannot be proven under the respective criterias of the articles and Russia does therefore not bear legal responsibility.

This qualitative multiple-case study sought to provide an in-depth understanding of how children living in broken families-due to the wrongful conviction of parent(s)-developed psychosocial issues. The theoretical frameworks applied to this study were the social learning theory, the social control theory, the role-modeling theory, and the general theory of crime. A purposeful sample of 13 adults who were children at the time of their parents’ wrongful incarceration were drawn for phone and in-person interviews. The data were transcribed and analyzed to code, sort, and organize; to analyze connections in the information, and to compare and contrast cases. The multiple-case study data were analyzed using 1st and 2nd cycle coding. Among the 10 themes identified in this study were these 5: family structure and activities, behavioral issues associated with the wrongful conviction of their parents, wrongful conviction effects on education, mental health impacts of a parental wrongful conviction on left-behind children and bullying in school and at home. This implications for positive social change are that the findings raise awareness of the psychosocial issues experienced by children whose parent(s) were wrongfully imprisoned for government officials, community leaders, policymakers, and justice reform advocates who can use them to implement programs to provide psychosocial assistance to all children of incarcerated parents.

La tesi si propone l’obbiettivo di analizzare la disciplina degli accordi di ristrutturazione dei debiti dell’impresa articolata in un gruppo, come prevista nel nuovo codice della crisi d’impresa e dell’insolvenza. Il lavoro è strutturato in quattro capitoli, il primo dei quali ha la funzione di breve introduzione all’argomento. Più precisamente, nell’ambito del primo capitolo si è voluto dare conto dello stato dell’arte nel contesto ante riforma e dei principi che hanno ispirato la riforma. Esaurita la parte introduttiva, il secondo capitolo è stato dedicato, invece, ad esporre i rilievi preliminari sui termini del problema, anche al fine di individuare le modalità interpretative per una ricostruzione dottrinale della disciplina, la quale appare, prima facie, piuttosto lacunosa. La seconda parte del capitolo è stata dedicata, invece, ad esaminare la nozione di gruppo, al fine di definire l’ambito applicativo della nuova disciplina. Nell’ambito del terzo capitolo si è proceduto, invece, a dare conto del ruolo riferibile alla holding nella gestione della crisi di gruppo. Si è, poi, dato luogo all’analisi della fattispecie normativa degli accordi di ristrutturazione dell’impresa articolata in un gruppo, trattando in modo più approfondito dei problemi applicativi che l’istituto pone. Il quarto capitolo, infine, è stato dedicato ad una disamina dei profili procedimentali, ovvero delle problematiche che vengono in considerazione nella fase processuale cui gli accordi di ristrutturazione sono soggetti al fine della loro omologazione. / The thesis aims to analyze the discipline of debt restructuring agreements of the corporate group enterprise, as provided for in the new code of business crisis and insolvency. The work is structured into four chapters, the first of which serves as a brief introduction to the topic. More precisely, in the context of the first chapter it is showed the state of the art in the pre-reform context and of the principles that inspired the reform. The second chapter is dedicated, instead, to exposing the preliminary remarks on the terms of the problem, also in order to identify the interpretative methods for a doctrinal reconstruction of the discipline which appears, prima facie, rather incomplete. The second part of the chapter is dedicated to examining the notion of group, in order to define the application scope of the new discipline. In the context of the third chapter, instead, it was considered the role attributable to the holding in managing the group crisis. Then there were analyzed the application problems of the discipline debt restructuring agreements of the group enterprise. The fourth chapter is dedicated to an examination of the procedural profiles, i.e. the problems that are taken into consideration with regard to the procedural phase to which the restructuring agreements are subject in order to be approved.

If the expectancy that someone was to act according to what we deem to be his or her “duty” was that straightforward, there would be no need to address the issues of liability of the employee for the wrongful acts of the employer. The recent - and some say alarming - trend in South Africa to hold employers (particularly the government) liable for wrongful, culpable acts committed by their employees, gives rise to difficulties and any inquiry into the possible vicarious liability of the employer should necessarily always start by asking whether there was in fact a wrongful, culpable act committed by the employee. If not, there can neither be direct liability of the employee nor vicarious liability by the employer. Where the employee did indeed commit a delict, the relationship between the wrongdoer and his or her employer at the time of the wrongdoing becomes important. It is then often, in determining whether the employee was acting in the scope of his or her employment that normative issues come to the fore. Over the years South African courts have devised tests to determine whether an employee was in fact acting in the scope of his employment. / Jurisprudence / LLM

Within the context of recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments the recognition and enforcement of foreign custody orders is unique. By reason of the fact that custody orders are always modifiable "in the best interests of the child" they cannot be regarded as final orders and are thus not capable of recognition and enforcement on the same basis as final orders. The failure of courts to afford foreign custody orders recognition and enforcement in the normal course has created the potential for a person deprived of the custody of a child to remove the child from the jurisdiction of a court rendering a custody order to another jurisdiction within which he or she may seek a new, more favourable order. This potential for behaviour in contempt of an existing order has been exploited by numerous parents who feel aggrieved by custody orders. The problem of parental child snatching has escalated to such a degree that the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction was drawn up to introduce uniform measures amongst member states to address this problem. Despite being a meaningful step in the fight against international child abduction the Hague Convention does not fully resolve the problem. For this reason other measures have been suggested to supplement the Convention. The different approaches taken in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States of America to recognition and enforcement of foreign custody orders and the measures to overcome the problem of international child abduction are examined and a comparative methodology applied to the design of a model approach for South Africa. The object of this model is to permit the South African courts to address the international child abduction problem without falling prey to any of the pitfalls experienced elsewhere in the legal systems examined. / Law / LL.D.

Avec la croissance des familles binationales, les divorces et séparations des époux donnent souvent lieu aux problèmes d’enlèvement parental d’enfant : l'un d’eux décide de déplacer l'enfant à l'étranger sans le consentement de l'autre afin de se faire accorder le droit de garde par un juge étranger plus clément. Des instruments juridiques internationaux tendent à résoudre ce problème d’enlèvement international d’enfants par le mécanisme de retour immédiat. La Convention de La Haye du 25 octobre 1980 sur les aspects civils de l'enlèvement international d'enfants est l'instrument principal qui est ratifié par un grand nombre d'États. Son effectivité dépend de la conformité de l'application par les États. Autrement dit, il est important d'interpréter des termes principaux et des exceptions de la Convention de manière conforme, voire similaire. Pour ce faire, le principe est l'interprétation autonome des notions de la Convention. Outre que la question d'interprétation de la Convention, l'attention est aussi portée sur l'exécution de l'ordonnance de retour. Cette exécution est en effet encadrée par l'obligation de célérité et elle requiert en même temps une forte coopération entre les autorités judiciaires et administratives entre les deux États concernés. Les États sont donc invités à donner effet aux ordonnances de retour à travers les différentes mesures, y compris les mesures coercitives. Cependant, la remise volontaire de l'enfant reste la meilleure solution qui doit être favorisée, notamment à travers le recours à une procédure amiable telle que la médiation familiale internationale. / With the increase of binational families, the divorces and separations between the married couple always give rise to problems of parental child kidnapping: one of them decides to remove the couple's child abroad, without consent of the other, with a view to having the child custody awarded by more clement foreign judges. International legal instruments tend to solve this problem of international child abduction through the summary return mechanism. The Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, as the main instrument, is now ratified by a great number of States. Its effectiveness depends on the compliance of the application of the Convention by member States. In other words, it is important for member States to interpret the Convention terms in the way to comply with the other. In doing so, the proposed principle must be the autonomous interpretation of the Convention terms. In addition to the issue of interpretation, attention must also be placed on the enforcement of return orders. This enforcement must be guided by the celerity obligation. At the same time, the enforcement of return orders requires a strong cooperation between judicial and administrative authorities of the States involved in each abduction case. The States are, thus, invited to give effect to return orders by taking different measures, including coercive ones. However, voluntary return of the abducted child is always the best solution that must be favored, especially through the use of amicable settlement between the parties, such as the international family mediation.

The available sources on the dependency action in South Africa do not mention the presence or absence of traditional values. This study was prompted by a simple curiosity to discover the traditional legal values of the dependency action for loss of support. Accordingly, the study critically examines the action of dependants for loss of support and other related losses in South Africa, Botswana and Lesotho from an African perspective. It then compares this to its application in Australia, a country that is known for its recognition and inclusion of indigenous Australian customary law. The study recommends that traditional values should be preserved in the records of the legal system, as it might stimulate a discussion, which could lead to the culmination of a single dependency action tailored to fit the whole nation and all its different cultures and religions. / Private Law

If the expectancy that someone was to act according to what we deem to be his or her “duty” was that straightforward, there would be no need to address the issues of liability of the employee for the wrongful acts of the employer. The recent - and some say alarming - trend in South Africa to hold employers (particularly the government) liable for wrongful, culpable acts committed by their employees, gives rise to difficulties and any inquiry into the possible vicarious liability of the employer should necessarily always start by asking whether there was in fact a wrongful, culpable act committed by the employee. If not, there can neither be direct liability of the employee nor vicarious liability by the employer. Where the employee did indeed commit a delict, the relationship between the wrongdoer and his or her employer at the time of the wrongdoing becomes important. It is then often, in determining whether the employee was acting in the scope of his or her employment that normative issues come to the fore. Over the years South African courts have devised tests to determine whether an employee was in fact acting in the scope of his employment. / Jurisprudence / LL. M.