The principle of legality as clear statement rule: significance and problems

In Australia, the common law principle of legality has hardened into a strong clear statement rule that is applied when legislation engages common law rights and freedoms. It has transformed a loose collection of rebuttable interpretive presumptions into a quasi-constitutional common law bill of rights. However, these developments are not without controversy or issue. The analysis undertaken in this article suggests that the principle of legality as clear statement rule -- as mandated by the High Court in Coco v The Queen -- can only work legitimately if Parliament has clear and prior notice of the rights and freedoms that it operates to protect. But it is problematic if what a common law right, such as freedom of speech, requires or guarantees in any given legislative context is unclear and contested, and so must be judicially divined at the point of application. In these cases, the principle operates to enforce a (post-legislative) judicial approximation of what best protects and promotes an abstract legal value or principle. It amounts to the illegitimate judicial remaking of prior legislative decisions on rights. This undercuts the normative justifications for the principle of legality as it obscures from Parliament the common law (rights) backdrop against which its legislation is enacted and interpreted.

Visual perception of movement kinematics and the acquisition of "action prototypes"

Recognizing a class of movements as belonging to a "nominal" action category, such as walking, running, or throwing, is a fundamental human ability. Three experiments were undertaken to test the hypothesis that common ("prototypical") features of moving displays could be learned by observation. Participants viewed moving stick-figure displays resembling forearm flexion movements in the saggital plane. Four displays (presentation displays) were first presented in which one or more movement dimensions were combined with 2 respective cues: direction (up, down), speed (fast, slow), and extent (long, short). Eight test displays were then shown, and the observer indicated whether each test display was like or unlike those previously seen. The results showed that without corrective feedback, a single cue (e.g., up or down) could be correctly recognized, on average, with the proportion correct between .66 and .87. When two cues were manipulated (e.g., up and slow), recognition accuracy remained high, ranging between .72 and .89. Three-cue displays were also easily identified. These results provide the first empirical demonstration of action-prototype learning for categories of human action and show how apparently complex kinematic patterns can be categorized in terms of common features or cues. It was also shown that probability of correct recognition of kinematic properties was reduced when the set of 4 presentation displays were more variable with respect to their shared kinematic property, such as speed or amplitude. Finally, while not conclusive, the results (from 2 of the 3 experiments) did suggest that similarity (or "likeness") with respect to a common kinematic property (or properties) is more easily recognized than dissimilarity.

Exodus of 'mineral rights' from the South African Mineral Law

Transformation of the mineral law system as part of the new political  dispensation in South Africa has long been foreseen. Subsequent to a Green and White Paper, as policy documents, the Department of Minerals and Energy published a Mineral Development Draft 8il12000 for public comment. This eventually culminated in the acceptance by Parliament of the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002, which came into operation on 1 May 2004. The Act will transform thE! mineral law system and the mining industry in" general. In this article the phaSing-out by the Act of the historical notion of 'mineral right' is examined. It is argue..d that the Act will lead to an exodus of the notion of mineral rights and will replace It with less secure prospecting rights and mining rights which, albeit real in nature, will depend on compliance with provisions of the Act and the exercise of discre.Von by the Minister.

MicroRNA in human cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are the non-coding RNAs that act as post-translational regulators to their complimentary messenger RNAs (mRNA). Due to their specific gene silencing property, miRNAs have been implicated in a number of cellular and developmental processes. Also, it has been proposed that a particular set of miRNA spectrum is expressed only in a particular type of tissue. Many interesting findings related to the differential expression of miRNAs in various human diseases including several types of cancers, neurodegenerative diseases and metabolic diseases have been reported. Deregulation of miRNA expression in different types of human diseases and the roles various miRNAs play as tumour suppressors as well as oncogenes, suggest their contribution to cancer and/or in other disease development. These findings have possible implications in the development of diagnostics and/or therapeutics in human malignancies. In this review, we discuss various miRNAs that are differentially expressed in human chronic inflammatory diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and the further prospective development of miRNA based diagnostics and therapeutics.

Evolutionary psychology and the rehabilitation of offenders : constraints and consequences

The mainstream view in criminology and correctional psychology is that evolutionary perspectives have little to offer researchers or practitioners and may in fact lead to overly reductionist and crude responses to the complex issue of crime and its consequences. However, in our view all the major evolutionary approaches to the explanation of human behavior have something of value to contribute, with niche construction providing a particularly useful lens upon crime and its management. In this paper we analyze the concept of rehabilitation and describe the key features of effective rehabilitation. We argue that niche construction is responsive to the cognitive versatility and behavioral flexibility of human beings and can also accommodate the important role of social and cultural scaffolding in the rehabilitation process.

Human dignity and vulnerable agency : an ethical framework for forensic practice

In this paper, we present an integrated ethical framework that covers the different levels of ethical tasks inherent in forensic and correctional work. First, we briefly give an overview of the ethical framework and its component notion of human dignity. Second we analyze in depth the concept of dignity and its relationship to normative theories and ethical concepts that are particularly relevant for forensic practitioners. Third, we explore the capacity of the conceptions of human dignity and vulnerable agency to integrate principles typically contained in ethical codes and practice, such as beneficence, autonomy, and justice. Fourth, we discuss how conflict between ethical codes or duties of station adhered to by practitioners can be effectively addressed in light of the model of dignity and agency outlined earlier. Fifth, we explain how individuals' specific ethical judgments and actions should proceed in light of our framework model.

Explicit state duration HMM for abnormality detection in sequences of human activity

The importance of explicit duration modelling for classification of sequences of human activity and the reliable and timely detection of duration abnormality was highlighted. The normal classes of behavior were designed to highlight the importance of modelling duration given the limitations of the tracking system. It was found that HMM was the weakest model for classification of the unseen normal sequences with 81% accuracy. Long term abnormality was investigated by artificially varying the duration of primary activity in a randomly selected test sequence. The incorporation of duration in models of human behavior is an important consideration for systems seeking to provide cognitive support and to detect deviation in the behavorial patterns.

Georgics of the mind and the architecture of fortune: Francis Bacon's therapeutic ethics

This essay complements recent work by Soreana Corneanu situating Bacon’s epistemology in a larger lineage of literature concerning ‘cultura animi’ in early modern Europe, by focusing on Bacon’s conception of a therapeutic philosophical ‘Georgics of the mind’ in The Advancement of Learning, the Essays, and other texts. We aim to show firstly (in Part 2) how Bacon’s conception of human nature, and the importance of habit and custom, reflects the ancient pagan thinkers’ justifications of philosophical therapeutics. Attention will also be paid in this connection to Bacon’s sensitivity to another marker of ancient therapeutic philosophy as Pierre Hadot in particular has recently presented it: the proliferation of different rhetorical and literary forms aiming at different pedagogic, therapeutic, and psychogogic aims. Part 3 then will examine Bacon’s changes in practical or ‘magistral’ philosophy, carried out on the therapeutic ethical grounds which Part 2 has examined, but proposing a much more active ‘architecture of fortune’ to philosophical and political aspirants.

Individual, occupational, and workplace correlates of occupational health and safety vulnerability in a sample of Canadian workers

Objective: To describe OH&S vulnerability across a diverse sample of Canadian workers.
Methods: A survey was administered to 1,835 workers employed more than 15 hrs/week in workplaces with at least five employees. Adjusted logistic models were fitted for three specific and one overall measure of workplace vulnerability developed based on hazard exposure and access to protective OH&S policies and procedures, awareness of employment rights and responsibilities, and workplace empowerment.
Results: More than one third of the sample experienced some OH&S vulnerability. The type and magnitude of vulnerability varied by labor market sub-group. Younger workers and those in smaller workplaces experienced signficantly higher odds of multiple types of vulnerability. Temporary workers reported elevated odds of overall, awareness- and empowerment-related vulnerability, while respondents born outside of Canada had significantly higher odds of awareness vulnerability.
Conclusion: Knowing how labor market sub-groups experience different types of vulnerability can inform better-tailored primary prevention interventions.

Political development

This book fills a growing gap in the literature on international development by addressing the debates about good governance and institution building within the context of political development." "This accessible volume returns the key issues of human rights and democratization to the centre of the development debate and offers the reader an alternative to the conventional approach to, and definition of, the idea of "development." Discussing political development in its broadest context, it includes chapters on democracy, institutional-building, the state, state failure, nation, human rights and political violence." "Providing new insights into political development, this comprehensive text can be used on advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses in international development, comparative politics, political theory and international relations.

Is a 24 hour ban such a bad thing?

A key element in Australian policing in recent years is the growth of police-imposed discretionary summary justice. The rise and impact of on-the-spot fines, infringement notices, exclusion orders and move-on powers enable police-initiated resolutions and punishments to be imposed, often without legal or judicial intervention. These operational policing mechanisms reflect underlying pressures to reduce costs, ease the burden on the court system, and speed up the decision-making process, but when viewed from a human rights perspective the potential consequences are significant. Focusing on the legislative development of banning notices in Victoria, this article highlights the impact of such a police-imposed punishment upon individual due process procedural protections. Banning notices deny the recipient the right to conduct a defence, undermine the presumption of innocence, and conflate notions of pre-emption and punishment. The rhetoric upon which the banning notice legislation is predicated obviates meaningful scrutiny of the diminution of individual rights that are implicit in its enactment. A perceived ‘need’ to control disorder and ‘re-balance’ justice to prioritise community protection is used to legitimise any consequential impact upon the principles of criminal law, due process and human rights.