An agreement to negotiate a contract in good faith: No legal content and too uncertain for enforcement

The decision of Baldwin v Icon Energy Ltd [2015] QSC 12 is generally instructive upon the issue of the minimum required to enforce an agreement to negotiate .The language of these agreements is always couched in terms which include the expressions “good faith” and “reasonable endeavours” as descriptive of the yardstick of behaviour of each party in the intended negotiation to follow such an agreement. However, the mere statement of these intended characteristics of negotiation may not be sufficient to ensure that the agreement to negotiate is enforceable.

The ACA effect: Examining how current affairs programs shape victim understandings and responses to online fraud

In recent years, numerous current affairs stories on online fraud victimisation have been broadcast on Australian television. These stories typically feature highly organised, international ‘sting’ operations, in which alleged offenders are arrested and investigated by law enforcement. These portrayals of police responses influence the expectations that some online fraud victims have about how their individual cases will be handled by law enforcement. Based on interviews with 80 online fraud victims, this article argues that a narrow media portrayal of online fraud by television current affairs programs — termed the ‘ACA effect’ — informs victims’ understandings of online fraud and their responses to it. In particular, current affairs programs influence what victims of online fraud expect from police. The article further demonstrates that current affairs programs present themselves as de facto law enforcement agencies, to which victims who receive an unsatisfactory response from police might turn. Overall, the article highlights the importance of current affairs programs portraying a more realistic image of official responses to online fraud.

Effect of catchment characteristics on the relationship between past discharge and the power law recession coefficient

This study concerns the relationship between the power law recession coefficient k (in - dQ/dt = kQ(alpha), Q being discharge at the basin outlet) and past average discharge Q(N) (where N is the temporal distance from the center of the selected time span in the past to the recession peak), which serves as a proxy for past storage state of the basin. The strength of the k-Q(N) relationship is characterized by the coefficient of determination R-N(2), which is expected to indicate the basin's ability to hold water for N days. The main objective of this study is to examine how R-N(2) value of a basin is related with its physical characteristics. For this purpose, we use streamflow data from 358 basins in the United States and selected 18 physical parameters for each basin. First, we transform the physical parameters into mutually independent principal components. Then we employ multiple linear regression method to construct a model of R-N(2) in terms of the principal components. Furthermore, we employ step-wise multiple linear regression method to identify the dominant catchment characteristics that influence R-N(2) and their directions of influence. Our results indicate that R-N(2) is appreciably related to catchment characteristics. Particularly, it is noteworthy that the coefficient of determination of the relationship between R-N(2) and the catchment characteristics is 0.643 for N = 45. We found that topographical characteristics of a basin are the most dominant factors in controlling the value of R-N(2). Our results may be suggesting that it is possible to tell about the water holding capacity of a basin by just knowing about a few of its physical characteristics. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Inter-Agency Evidence Sharing in Competition Law Enforcement

While transnational antitrust enforcement is becoming only more common, the access to foreign-based evidence remains a considerable practical challenge. This article appraises considerations and concerns surrounding confidentiality, and looks into ways of their possible accommodation. It further identifies and critically evaluates the existing mechanisms allowing for inter-agency confidential information/ evidence sharing in competition law enforcement. The article outlines the shortcomings of the current framework and points to novel unilateral approaches. In the latter regard the focus is devoted to Australia, where the competition agency is empowered to share confidential information with foreign counterparts, also without any underlying bilateral agreement and on a non-reciprocal basis. This solution shows that a pragmatic and workable approach to inter-agency evidence sharing can be achieved.

La diffamation sur Internet : actualiser la responsabilité en droit civil et en common law au Canada

En cette ère que plusieurs surnomment le « Web 2.0 », les usagers se sont emparés avec enthousiasme des fonctions liées aux communications et au partage sur Internet, ce médium devenant ainsi une nouvelle plate-forme pour les enjeux liés à la vie privée et à la réputation. La diffamation constitue justement un des problèmes prédominants constatés en lien avec ce contenu électronique, plus particulièrement lorsqu’il est question de contenu généré par les utilisateurs. Face à cet outil permettant une diffusion et une intéractivité sans précédent, comment devons-nous aborder Internet au regard des règles de droit applicables au Canada en matière de diffamation? L’analyse juridique traditionnelle sied-elle aux nouvelles réalités introduites par ce médium? Le bijuridisme canadien nous impose d’étudier parallèlement les régimes de droit civil et de common law et ce, dans une optique comparative afin de comprendre les concepts et le fonctionnement propres à chacune des approches juridiques cohabitant au pays. Cette analyse nous permettra de mettre en lumière les particularités du médium électronique qui se révèlent pertinentes lorsqu’il est question de diffamation et qui font la spécificité des situations et des acteurs en ligne, distinguant ainsi Internet des modes de communications traditionnels que le droit connaît. Cette approche comparative permet de poser un regard critique sur chacun des régimes de droit en vigueur au Canada, considérant la réalité propre à Internet et au contenu généré par les utilisateurs, mais surtout, vise à promouvoir le développement de méthodes d’analyse véritablement ancrées dans le fonctionnement du médium en cause et susceptibles d’évoluer avec celui-ci.

Mental Abnormality And Criminal Responsibility

This is a study in criminal law. The problem probed is the relationship between mental abnormality and criminal responsibility. The subject is yet an unsolved area in criminal jurisprudence. It is of great interest to many jurists lawyers philosophers and psychiatrists. The study lays special emphasis on the Indian law .Comparative assessment wherever found necessary,especially of positions in England ,United states and Germany is made. The thesis is in six parts and sixteen chapters.

Preventative detention and the right of personal liberty and security under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966

Preventive detention enables a person to be deprived of liberty, by executive determination, for the purposes of safeguarding national security or public order without that person being charged or brought to trial. This paper examines Article 9(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 to assess whether preventive detention is prohibited by the phrase 'arbitrary arrest and detention '. To analyse this Article, this paper uses a textual and structural analysis of the Article, as well as reference to the travaux preparatoires and case law of the Human Rights Committee. This paper argues that preventive detention is not explicitly prohibited by Article 9(1) ofthe International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966. If preventive detention is 'arbitrary', within the wide interpretation of that term as argued in this paper, it will be a permissible deprivation of personal liberty under Article 9(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966. Preventive detention will, however, always be considered 'arbitrary' if sajeguards for those arrested and detained are not complied with, in particular the right to judicial review of the lawfulness of detention.