The establishment of the Judicial Appointments Commission in Malaysia to improve the constitutional method of appointing the judges of the superior courts : a critical study

The Judicial Appointments Commission was established in Malaysia in 2009 to ensure unbiased selection of judicial candidates for the consideration of the Prime Minister, who has the final say regarding the appointment of judges to the superior courts. But the provisions concerning Prime Minister’s power to appoint the majority of the members of the Commission and his unfettered power of removing four of the five appointed members without assigning any reason, have calculatedly been devised for ensuring the selection of judicial candidates having right political patronage in accordance with the covert wishes of the Prime Minister. Furthermore, the Prime Minister’s power of rejecting the Commission’s recommendations of multiple candidates renders the undertaking of a lengthy process of selection unproductive and useless. Thus the Judicial Appointments Commission has become a superfluous body with an ineffective modus operandi to attain the stipulated objectives of improving and complementing the constitutional method of appointing judges to the superior courts. Since the Federal Constitution of Malaysia has not empowered the Parliament to enact a law providing for the establishment of a Judicial Appointments Commission, it also appears that the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2009 is an invalid piece of legislation.

Family recovery from youth substance use related problems : a pilot study of the BEST plus program

Youth substance use related problems are increasingly common, and families experience considerable stress in attempting to cope with these problems. A pilot study of 34 Australian parents from 21 families (38% sole parent families) participating in an 8-week group program, designed to assist families recover from youth substance use related problems, provided the context to explore family change processes. Participants reported a number of significant improvements over the course of the four groups that ran from late 2003 and through 2004. Regression analyses found general support for the program logic model in identifying significant associations between program-targeted parent changes and post-program improvements in stress symptoms and cohesive family behaviors. The study's limitations are noted.

Beyond the separation of powers : judicial review and the regulatory proscription of terrorist organisations

Administrative law remains the key defence against an over-zealous executive arm of government, but administrative law needs to be understood in an international context. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in relation to legislation designed to counter terrorist activities. The co-ordination of terrorist activities knows no borders, and state-centered executive action designed to address the threat of terrorism necessarily operates in a broader global environment. An important but controversial part of Australia's counter-terrorism legislation suite is the power to proscribe terrorist organisations. The authors contend that the scope of judicial review available in relation to decisions of the Commonwealth executive to proscribe terrorist organisations is inadequate and may jeapordise Australia's compliance with international standards, such as those provided in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Now is an opportune time to reassess the structure and operation of the power to proscribe organisations in Australia.

Earliest Wuchiapingian (Lopingian, Late Permian) brachiopods in southern Hunan, South China : implications for the Pre-Lopingian crisis and onset of Lopingian recovery / radiation

The uppermost 5-15 m of the Douling Formation in the southern Hunan area. South China, yields a diverse fauna comprised of ammonoids, bivalves, and brachiopods. The brachiopods reported in this paper consist of 51 species in 34 genera and are dominated by the Lopingian (Late Permian) species associated with a few species persisting from the underlying Maokouan (Late Guadalupian). This fauna is of earliest Wuchiapingian in age as precisely constrained by the associated conodont Clarkina postbitteri postbitteri and the Guadalupian-type ammonoid fauna of the Roadoceras-Doulingoceras Zone in the brachiopod horizon. The discovery of the Lopingian species-dominated brachiopod fauna in the earliest Wuchiapingian in southern Hunan suggests a much less pronounced effect of the pre-Lopingian crisis (end-Guadalupian mass extinction) than the end-Changhsingian mass extinction in terms of brachiopods, a contemporaneous onset of the Lopingian recovery/radiation during the pre-Lopingian crisis period, and taxonomic selectivity of the pre-Lopingian crisis in terms of different fossil groups. New taxa are Echinauris doulingensis n. sp., Pararigbyella quadrilobata n. gen. and n. sp. and P. doulingensis n. gen. and n. sp.

Nanofiltration for the possible reuse of water and recovery of sodium chloride salt from textile effluent

During the reactive dyeing of cotton, salts such as sodium chloride (NaCI) are placed in a dyebath to aid the exhaustion of various dyes onto the fabric while bases are added to raise the pH from around neutral to pH 11 to achieve fixation. Afterwards, the used dyebath solution, called dyebath spent liquor, is discharged with almost all the salts and bases added as well as unfixed dyes. Consequently, many raw materials are lost in the waste stream ending up in the environment as pollutants. In this study possibilities of reusing the water and salts of dyebaths were investigated using a nanofiltration membrane. When the NaCI concentration in the spent liquor was increased from 10 to 80 g/L, the NaC1 rejection by the membrane was found to decrease initially; however, the NaC1 rejection increased over time, which was not expected. The aggregation of dye was also studied and found to decrease in the concentrate when the salt concentration was increased. This information is useful for the textile industry in evaluating the treated water quality for the purpose of reuse.

Judicial valuation of the social costs of crime

The true economic functions of the criminal courts are, first, to deter potential prospective offenders from committing offences, and in so doing reduce the total social costs of crime in the future; and secondly, to force the convicted offender to bear some of the costs, which the crime has externalised onto the victim(s) and wider society through retributive justice. These objectives are achieved through the sentencing function. Critics have lamented that too many extraneous factors are taken into account when setting penalties but the authors argue in this article that nevertheless these sentences are optimal because of the judges' comparative advantage. What is of great interest, and the focus of this article, are the implicit valuations of the social costs of crime that these sentences imply. Using the South Australia higher criminal courts as a case study, the authors estimate and utilise these judicial valuations to suggest a methodology for measuring the true economic value of the criminal courts. The analysis helps put into perspective the courts' very valuable contribution to social welfare.

The natural death of the Supreme Judicial Commission of Bangladesh and the consequent patronage appointments to the Bench: advocating the establishment of an Independent Judicial Commission

In order to strengthen the constitutional process of appointment of judges in Superior Courts, Bangladesh established a Supreme Judicial Commission in 2008 by promulgating an Ordinance. This Ordinance was neither promulgated in pursuance of any provisions of the Constitution nor by introducing any amendment to the provisions of the Constitution. The recommendations of the Commission were not given binding force on the executive. The power of the executive to accept or reject the candidates recommended by the Supreme Judicial Commission at his pleasure defeated the very objective of establishing the Commission for appointing the most competent and suitable persons as judges of the superior courts in Bangladesh. However, following the general elections held on 29 December 2008, the newly elected Government of Bangladesh Awami League dispensed with the Supreme Judicial Commission by not placing the Supreme Judicial Commission Ordinance before the parliament for its approval. This resulted in restoring the previous system of appointing judges on the satisfaction of the executive, which has resulted in patronage appointments. Thus, the establishment of an independent judicial commission in Bangladesh is an imperative necessity for strengthening the independence and impartiality of the judiciary.

A landscape-scale, applied fire management experiment promotes recovery of a population of the threatened Gouldian Finch, Erythrura gouldiae, in Australia's tropical savannas

Fire is an integral part of savanna ecology and changes in fire patterns are linked to biodiversity loss in savannas worldwide. In Australia, changed fire regimes are implicated in the contemporary declines of small mammals, riparian species, obligate-seeding plants and grass seed-eating birds. Translating this knowledge into management to recover threatened species has proved elusive. We report here on a landscape-scale experiment carried out by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) on Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary in northwest Australia. The experiment was designed to understand the response of a key savanna bird guild to fire, and to use that information to manage fire with the aim of recovering a threatened species population. We compared condition indices among three seed-eating bird species-one endangered (Gouldian finch) and two non-threatened (long-tailed finch and double-barred finch)-from two large areas (> 2,830 km2) with initial contrasting fire regimes ('extreme': frequent, extensive, intense fire; versus 'benign': less frequent, smaller, lower intensity fires). Populations of all three species living with the extreme fire regime had condition indices that differed from their counterparts living with the benign fire regime, including higher haematocrit levels in some seasons (suggesting higher levels of activity required to find food), different seasonal haematocrit profiles, higher fat scores in the early wet season (suggesting greater food uncertainty), and then lower muscle scores later in the wet season (suggesting prolonged food deprivation). Gouldian finches also showed seasonally increasing stress hormone concentrations with the extreme fire regime. Cumulatively, these patterns indicated greater nutritional stress over many months for seed-eating birds exposed to extreme fire regimes. We tested these relationships by monitoring finch condition over the following years, as AWC implemented fire management to produce the 'benign' fire regime throughout the property. The condition indices of finch populations originally living with the extreme fire regime shifted to resemble those of their counterparts living with the benign fire regime. This research supports the hypothesis that fire regimes affect food resources for savanna seed-eating birds, with this impact mediated through a range of grass species utilised by the birds over different seasons, and that fire management can effectively moderate that impact. This work provides a rare example of applied research supporting the recovery of a population of a threatened species.

Sedimentology and ichnology of two lower Triassic sections in South China: implications for the biotic recovery following the end-Permian mass extinction

Biotic recovery following the end-Permian mass extinction was investigated using trace fossil and facies analysis of two Lower–Middle Triassic sections in South China. The Susong section (Lower Yangtze Sedimentary Province) comprises a range of carbonate and mudstone facies that record overall shallowing from offshore to intertidal settings. The Tianshengqiao section (Upper Yangtze Sedimentary Province) consists of mixed carbonate and siliciclastic facies deposited in shallow marine to offshore settings. Griesbachian to Dienerian ichnological records in both sections are characterized by low ichnodiversity, low ichnofabric indices (1–2) and low bedding plane bioturbation indices (1–2). Higher ichnofabric indices (3 and 4), corresponding to a dense population of diminutive ichnotaxon, in the Tianshengqiao section suggest opportunistic infaunal biotic activity during the earliest Triassic. Ichnological data from the Susong section show an increase in ichnodiversity during the late Smithian with 11 ichnogenera identified and increased ichnofabric indices of 4–5 and bedding plane bioturbation indices of 3–5. Although complex traces such as Rhizocorallium are present in Spathian-aged strata in this section, low ichnodiversity and ichnofabric indices and diminutive Planolites suggest a decline in recovery. In the Tianshengqiao section, ichnofabric indices are moderate to high (3–5) although only six ichnogenera are present and Planolites burrows are consistently small in Smithian and Spathian strata. Complex traces, such as large Rhizocorallium and Thalassinoides, and large Planolites, did not appear until the Anisian. Ichnological results from both sections record the response of organisms to unfavourable environmental conditions although the Susong section shows earlier recovery during the Smithian prior to latest Smithian–Spathian decline. This decline may have resulted from a resurgence of euxinic to anoxic marine environment in various regions of South China. Ichnological data from the Tianshengqiao section indicate protracted recovery throughout the Early Triassic as previously found elsewhere in South China. Comparison of the South China trace fossil records with global ichnological data show a diachronous pattern of recovery of trace makers and highlights the heterogeneous development of oxic facies on the marked variation in recovery rate.

The impact of the conquered/settled distinction regarding the acqisition of sovereignty in Australia

Re-examination of the author's 1988 article on the significance of the classification of a colonial acquisition as being through conquest, cession or settlement - discussion of Australian judicial pronouncements on various issues - whether Australia was 'terra nullius' - whether the Aboriginal peoples were sovereign nations - whether sovereignty was acquired through settlement or conquest - the laws of England flowed into and provided the legal foundations of the colony - whether those laws recognised the pre-existing Aboriginal title - significance of the classification of a colonial acquisition - Mabo decision - issues relevant to Aboriginal sovereignty.

Holding the purse strings : the continuing evolution of human rights law and the potential liability of the finance industry for human rights abuses

While the responsibility of States and, in more recent times, corporations, has been thoroughly discussed in relation to human right~, a new stage of evolution may be emerging in relation to the liability of the financial backers of an enterprise that is accused of human rights abuses. This article considers the basis in international law for such emerging liability and examines some of the legal avenues used in recent domestic litigation against financial institutions. The article concludes by examining some of the relevant instruments of 'soft' international law and notes that although there is little in the way of concrete legislation or judicial precedent that would hold financial institutions responsible for the actions of those they invest in, the potential for the law to evolve in that direction is clear.