Civil and Criminal Liability of Players

The liability of players in their particular sporting fields has increasingly become prevalent in the minds of government, sport administrators, the medical and legal professions and the parents and players themselves. This awareness has arisen for numerous reasons. Due to the enormous volume of sport to which the community is being exposed through the varied levels of the media together with our aspirations towards a healthier lifestyle and longevity, participation in sports has increased. Accordingly, sports injury litigation has increased. A number of other factors may be advanced to explain the increase. Sport has become big business all over the world. A talent for sport may bring the lucky player fame and fortune. It is not surprising therefore, where such ambitions are frustrated by deliberately or carelessly inflicted injury to the player, thought will be given to seeking compensation for that injury in the courts of law. Other factors are that litigation is on the increase as a means of dispute resolution and lawyers see sporting organisations better able to afford compensation to their players because they are more likely to carry insurance.

Rethinking cognition as the sole basis for determining Criminal Liability under the Manifest Illegality Principle

Olusanya, Olaoluwa, Rethinking cognition as the sole basis for determining Criminal Liability under the Manifest Illegality Principle, In: 'Rethinking International Criminal Law: The Substantive Part', Europa Law Publishing, pp.67-87, 2007. RAE2008

Criminal liability of canadian corporations for international crimes

Ce mémoire porte sur la responsabilité pénale des entreprises canadiennes pour des crimes internationaux commis en partie ou entièrement à l’étranger. Dans la première partie, nous montrons que les premiers développements sur la reconnaissance de la responsabilité criminelle d’entités collectives devant les tribunaux militaires établis après la deuxième guerre mondiale n’ont pas été retenus par les tribunaux ad hoc des Nations Unies et par la Cour pénale internationale. En effet, la compétence personnelle de ces tribunaux permet uniquement de contraindre des personnes physiques pour des crimes internationaux. Dans la deuxième partie, nous offrons des exemples concrets illustrant que des entreprises canadiennes ont joué dans le passé et peuvent jouer un rôle criminel de soutien lors de guerres civiles et de conflits armés au cours desquels se commettent des crimes internationaux. Nous montrons que le droit pénal canadien permet d’attribuer une responsabilité criminelle à une organisation (compagnie ou groupe non incorporé) pour des crimes de droit commun commis au Canada, comme auteur réel ou comme complice. Nous soutenons qu’il est également possible de poursuivre des entreprises canadiennes devant les tribunaux canadiens pour des crimes internationaux commis à l’extérieur du Canada, en vertu de la Loi canadienne sur les crimes contre l’humanité et les crimes de guerre, du principe de la compétence universelle et des règles de droit commun. Bref, le Canada est doté d’instruments juridiques et judiciaires pour poursuivre des entreprises soupçonnées de crimes internationaux commis à l’étranger et peut ainsi mettre un terme à leur état indésirable d’impunité.

Proceso penal de menores: especialidades derivadas del interés de los menores y opciones de política criminal

El presente trabajo se concibió con la vocación de devenir una aportación al estudio del proceso penal de menores. Por ello, originariamente, se planteó como un análisis de todas y cada una de las fases de dicho proceso. Sin embargo, rápidamente este objetivo se demostró inalcanzable por cuanto, de una primera aproximación a los preceptos de la norma, se aprecia que en la misma, se contiene «algo más» que algunas especialidades o especificidades con respecto a los procesos penales de adultos. Como premisa de partida, cabe considerar que el proceso diseñado por la L.O. 5/2000, al estar concebido exclusivamente para el enjuiciamiento de las conductas delictivas presuntamente cometidas por menores de edad, puede incardinarse en la categoría de los procesos especiales. Esta constatación, sin embargo, no era suficiente, a nuestro juicio, para justificar un proceso en el que aparecían figuras e instituciones procesales hasta el momento inéditas en el ordenamiento jurídico español. Por ello el planteamiento inicial al que se aludía fue sustancialmente modificado, sin que a la postre, ello haya supuesto una alteración sustancial del objetivo primigenio. El trabajo de investigación se inicia con un interrogante, que podría formularse como sigue: Aceptando que la edad es el elemento determinante de la existencia de una rama del derecho penal específicamente dedicada a los menores, ¿hasta qué punto dicho elemento condiciona la acción del legislador en el sentido de establecer un cuerpo normativo significativamente diferenciado del previsto para los adultos?

Criminal Laws : Materials and Commentary on Criminal Law and Process in NSW [Fifth Edition]

"The success of Criminal Laws lies both in its distinctive features and in its appeal to a range of readerships. As one review put it, it is simultaneously a "textbook, casebook, handbook and reference work". As such it is ideal for criminal law and criminal justice courses as a teaching text, combining as it does primary sources with extensive critical commentary and a contextual perspective. It is likewise indispensable to practitioners for its detailed coverage of substantive law and its extensive references and inter-disciplinary approach make it a first point of call for researchers from all disciplines. This fifth edition strengthens these distinctive features. All chapters have been systematically updated to incorporate the plethora of legislative, case law, statistical and research material which has emerged since the previous edition. The critical, thematic, contextual and interdisciplinary perspectives have been continued."--Publisher's website. Table of Contents: 1. Some themes -- 2. Criminalisation -- 3. The criminal process -- 4. Components of criminal offences -- 5. Homicide: murder and involuntary manslaughter -- 6. Defences -- 7. Assault and sexual assault -- 8. Public order offences -- 9. Drugs offences -- 10. Dishonest acquisition -- 11. Extending criminal liability: complicity, conspiracy and association -- 12. Sentencing and penality.

Sticks, Stones and Words: Emotional Harm and the English Criminal Law

This article discusses the rule that criminal liability does not normally attach for the causing of emotional harm or mental distress in the absence of proof of a 'recognised psychiatric injury'. It considers what is involved in the diagnosis of psychiatric injury, and to what extent the difference between such injury and 'ordinary' mental distress is one of degree rather than one of kind. It reviews the situations in which the law already criminalises the infliction of emotional harm without proof of psychiatric injury, and assesses the policy arguments for drawing the distinction in the normal case. The article concludes that the law can and should adopt a more flexible approach to cases of this sort.

Modos de intervención criminal punible en crímenes de atrocidad: un análisis jurídico-penal a partir de los aportes de la criminología

790 p.

TAKING ORGANIZATIONS SERIOUSLY: RESPONSIBLE AGENCY, ORGANIZATIONS AND THE CRIMINAL LAW

In the post-Enlightenment period, Anglo-American criminal law has been applied with increased force, and an ever expanding scope, to collective actors like corporations and other organizations. Recent scholarship has focused on developing “truly organizational” bases of liability that break with the conventional approach of imputing individual conduct to an organization and instead analyze culpable conduct and intent in a way that reflects the distinct and independent capacity of organizations to pursue their interests or goals collaboratively. In 2004, Canada enacted amendments inspired by these ideas in the hope they would lead to more effective criminal enforcement against organizations. Twelve years later, however, the promise of Bill C-45 is largely unfulfilled. In this thesis, I explore how much of this failure of law reform to deliver transformational change is attributable to an individualist bias that permeates how we think about what it means to be responsible and how this then shapes the responsibility ascription process. Using an analytical framework that combines criminal law theory with selected aspects of rational-structural theory and organization culture, I suggest that a promising way forward may lie in reframing the essential qualities required to be a subject of the criminal law in a way that captures the unique attributes that make organizations different from individuals. The resulting organizational concept of responsible agency allows for an integration of organizational reality into how we assess organizational culpability while keeping the ambit of criminal liability within the limits of what is practicable and fair. This better aligns with the spirit of Bill C-45: to impose criminal liability in a way that takes organizations – and their crimes – seriously.

Financial and Criminal Responsibility for Public Funds – Protection of the Constitutional Fundamental Social Law of Health

Abstract: The implementation of Fundamental Constitutional Health and Social Rights is necessary, appropriate and proportionate, following the demands of the population. Accountability and self-responsibility play a very important role. This requires the development of constitutional principles that protect public funds against corruption and offer a constitutional right to health protection. Financial and criminal liability might provide an incentive to improve the management of public funds and reinforce fundamental constitutional principles, particularly regarding the right to health. Constitutional, administrative and criminal issues, as well as public management and administration and the science of good governance, should be articulated in a single strategy also in the health sector. In Portugal and Brazil, as examples, the Federal Court / Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court / High Court of Justice or the Court of Auditors should be considered together.

Revising the scope of the copyright "Safe Harbour Scheme"

Submission to the Australian Government Attorney General’s Department consultation paper on Revising the Scope of the Copyright ‘Safe Harbour Scheme’