A manual of psychological medicine and allied nervous diseases : containing the description, etiology, diagnosis, pathology and treatment of insanity, with especial reference to the clinical features of mental diseases and the allied neuroses and its medico-legal aspects with a carefully prepared digest of the lunacy laws in the various states relating to the care, custody and responsibility of the insane /

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Foodservice Industry's Social Responsibility Regarding the Obesity Epidemic, Part I: Parallels to Other Public Health Issues and Potential Legal Implications

The incidence of obesity among both children and adults in the United States (U.S.) has reached epidemic level. If not quickly curtailed, it represents significant long-term costs to all facets of the U.S. economy. The foodservice industry has contributed to this major public health issue. Parallels between the obesity epidemic and the public health issues of smoking and foodborne illnesses could influence the foodservice industry's response to obesity concerns. Of particular note are the parallels between the liability litigation and legislative actions related to smoking and the tobacco industry. This industry has a history of taking socially responsible actions regarding public health issues. There is potential for costs to the foodservice industry from similar anti-obesity litigation and legislation if the industry does not once again assume social responsibility relative to the current obesity crisis and is not proactive in efforts to combat obesity

The function of property in creating an effective legal regime for trade in environmental offsets

Market-based environmental regulation is becoming increasingly common within international and national frameworks. Environmental offset and trading regimes are part of the market-based instrument revolution. This paper proposes that environmental market mechanisms could be used to introduce an ethic of land holder responsibility. In order for market based regimes to attract sufficient levels of stakeholder engagement, participants within such scheme require an incentive to participate and furthermore need to feel a sense of security about investing in such processes. A sense of security is often associated with property based interests. This paper explores the property related issues connected with environmental offset and trading scheme initiatives. Relevant property-related considerations include land tenure considerations, public versus private management of land choices, characteristics and powers associated with property interests, theories defining property and the recognition of legal proprietal interests. The Biodiversity Banking Scheme in New South Wales is then examined as a case study followed by a critique on the role of environmental markets.

A collaborative model for learning and assessment of legal placements

This paper will report on the evaluation of a new undergraduate legal workplace unit, LWB421 Learning in Professional Practice. LWB421 was developed in response to the QUT’s strategic planning and a growing view that work experience is essential to developing the skills that law graduates need in order to be effective legal practitioners (Stuckey, 2007). Work integrated learning provides a context for students to develop their skills, to see the link between theory and practice and support students in making the transition from university to practice (Shirley, 2006). The literature in Australian legal education has given little consideration to the design of legal internship subjects (as distinct from legal clinic programs). Accordingly the design of placement subjects needs to be carefully considered to ensure alignment of learning objectives, learning tasks and assessment. Legal placements offer students the opportunity to develop their professional skills in practice, reflect on their own learning and job performance and take responsibility for their career development and planning. This paper will examine the literature relating to the design of placement subjects, particularly in a legal context. It will propose a collaborative model to facilitate learning and assessment of legal work placement subjects. The basis of the model is a negotiated learning contract between the student, workplace supervisor and academic supervisor. Finally the paper will evaluate the model in the context of LWB421. The evaluation will be based on data from surveys of students and supervisors and focus group sessions.

A quite unreasonable state of affairs : corporate social responsibility and the John Lewis Partnership

On the surface the subjects of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Critical Management Studies (CMS) seem to be closely related. Both are concerned with reflecting on the impact of management and organisation on employees, the wider community and the environment. Both suggest that there may be a need for organisations to take responsibility for and account of people other than shareholders and both have used the concept of accountability to suggest that organisations may need to do more than just comply with the legal framework.

Governing depression in law students and the shaping of legal personae

Since a recent Australian study found that university law students experience higher rates of depression than medical students and legal professionals (Kelk et al. 2009), the mental health of law students has increasingly become a target of government. To date, however, there has been no attempt to analyse these practices as an activity of government in advanced liberal societies. This paper addresses this imbalance by providing an initial analytics of the government of depression in law schools. It demonstrates how students are responsibilised to manage the risks and uncertainties of legal education by constructing resilient forms of personal and professional personae. It highlights that, in order to avoid depression, students are encouraged to shape not just their minds and bodies according to psychological and biomedical discourses, but are also to govern their ethical dispositions and become virtuous persons. This paper also argues that these forms of government are tied to advanced liberal forms of rule, as they position the law student as the locus of responsibility for depression, imply that depression is caused by an individual failing, and entrench students within responsibilising and entrepreneurial forms of subjectivity.

Entry into Valhalla : contextualising the learning of legal ethics through the use of Second Life machinima

An ability to recognise and resolve ethical dilemmas was identified by the Australian Law Reform Commission as one of the ten fundamental lawyering skills. While the ‘Priestley 11’ list of areas of law required to qualify for legal practice includes ethics and professional responsibility, the commitment to ethics learning in Australian law schools has been far from uniform. The obligation imposed by the Priestley 11 is frequently discharged by a traditional teaching and learning approach involving lectures and/or tutorials and focusing on the content of the formal rules of professional responsibility. However, the effectiveness of such an approach is open to question. Instead, a practical rather than a theoretical approach to the teaching of legal ethics is required. Effective final-year student learning of ethics may be achieved by an approach which engages students, enabling them to appreciate the relevance of what they are learning to the real world and facilitating their transition from study to their working lives. Entry into Valhalla comprises a suite of modules featuring ‘machinima’ (computer-generated imagery) created using the Second Life virtual environment to contextualise otherwise abstract concepts. It provides an engaging learning environment which enables students to obtain an appreciation of ethical responsibility in a real-world context and facilitates understanding and problem-solving ability.

Parental responsibility and Australian legislative attempts to curb truancy

Statistical and anecdotal evidence suggests that truancy is a significant problem for Australian schools. This paper considers the efficacy of legislative attempts to curb truancy, focussing in particular on the Queensland experience. Both Queensland legislation and the Commonwealth Improving School Enrolment and Attendance Through Welfare reform Measure (SEAM) pilot program are explained and evaluated. The paper considers in particular the utility of parental responsibility strategies as a response to truancy - under the Education (General Provisions) Act 12006 (Queensland) parents of persistent truants may be prosecuted and fined; under the SEAM initiative parents may have their social security payments suspended. Despite the availability of these seemingly draconian penalties, there is a reluctance, in practice, to hold parents accountable. The paper attempts to explain this reluctance and asks whether parental responsibility legislation can deliver a solution to truancy.

China and the "Responsibility to Protect" (R2P) : the implications of the Libyan intervention

The emerging principle of a “responsibility to protect” (R2P) presents a direct challenge to China's traditional emphasis on the twin principles of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other states and non-use of military force. This paper considers the evolution of China‟s relationship with R2P over the past ten years. In particular, it examines how China engaged with R2P during the recent Libyan crisis, and considers what impact this conflict may have first, on Chinese attitudes to R2P, and second, on the future development and implementation of the doctrine itself. This paper argues that China‟s decision to allow the passage of Security Council resolution 1973, authorising force in Libya, was shaped by an unusual set of pragmatic considerations, and should not be viewed as evidence of a dramatic shift in Chinese attitudes towards R2P. More broadly, controversy over the scope of NATO's military action in Libya has raised questions about R2P‟s legitimacy, which has contributed to a lack of timely international action in Syria and Yemen. In the short term at least, this post-Libya backlash against R2P is likely to constrain the Security Council‟s ability to respond decisively to other civilian protection situations.

Micro-business community responsibility in Australia : approaches, motivations and barriers

Micro and small businesses contribute the majority of business activity in most developed economies. They are typically embedded in local communities and therefore well placed to influence community wellbeing. While there has been considerable theoretical and empirical analysis of corporate citizenship and corporate social responsibility (CSR), the nature of micro-business community responsibility (mBCR) remains relatively under-explored. This article presents findings from an exploratory study of mBCR that examined the approaches, motivations and barriers of this phenomenon. Analysis of data from 36 semi structured interviews with micro-business owner-operators in the Australian city of Brisbane revealed three mBCR approaches, suggesting an observable mBCR typology. Each mBCR type was at least partly driven by enlightened self interest (ESI). In addition to a pure ESI approach, findings revealed ESI combined with philanthropic approaches and ESI combined with social entrepreneurial approaches. The combination of doing business and doing good found amongst participants in this study suggests that many micro-business owner-operators are supporters of their local communities, and therefore driven by more than profit. This study provides a fine-grained understanding of micro-business involvement in community wellbeing through a lens of responsible business behaviour.

Incorporating international environmental legal principles into future climate change instruments

The article explores the role of international environmental legal principles and their role in future climate change instruments. The five international environmental legal principles explored in this context are: inter and intergenerational equity, the precautionary principle, common but differentiated responsibility, the polluter pays and principle and the principles of responsibility and prevention. Principles are used within regulatory frameworks to guide the interpretation and implementation of the obligations specified within the instrument. It is found that these principles provide a useful basis for the development of international adaptation and mitigation measures that are equitable and ethical in nature. This article argues that these principles must be drafted more strategically into international climate change instruments allowing them to serve as a foundational basis upon which more stringent and equitable binding duties and rights can be derived from. This article makes some recommendations as to the type of obligations that these principles could be used to inform in future climate instruments.

Meta-regulation approach of law : a potential legal strategy to develop socially responsible business self-regulation in least developed common law countries

In the corporate regulation landscape, 'meta-regulation' is a comparatively new legal approach. The sketchy role of state promulgated authoritative laws in pluralized society and scepticism in corporate self-regulation's role have resulted in the development of this legal approach. It has opened up possibilities to synthesize corporate governance to add social values in corporate self-regulation. The core of this approach is the fusion of responsive and reflexive legal strategies to combine regulators and regulatees for reaching a particular goal. This paper argues that it is a potential strategy that can be successfully deployed to develop a socially responsible corporate culture for the business enterprises, so that they will be able to acquire social, environmental and ethical values in their self-regulation sustainably. Taking Bangladeshi corporate laws as an instance, this paper also evaluates the scope of incorporating this approach in laws of the least developed common law countries in general.

On the perspectives of the implementation of 'corporate social responsibility'

In the face of changes in corporate regulation scholarship, the percepts of corporate governance and legal policies have minimized the controversies over the potentials and limitations of corporate accountability mechanisms. In the contemporary scholarly works on the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR), there are evidences that support CSR principles to be implemented through legal regulation. Scholars and current practices, however, emphasize that this implementation should not be based on any single strategy. From this perspective, this article argues that the regulatory strategies for this implementation should be based on a fusion of legal sanction, market incentives and the demand of private ordering.

Raising corporate social responsibility - The 'legitimacy' approach

Discussing the normative arguments for the development of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is difficult but important. It is difficult/ as any argument for this development could be detrimental if it seems that it could narrow the scope of innovation in business and becomes a barrier to companies' usual business cases. It is important, as the civil society actors need the theoretical basis to further the instances of corporate irresponsibility to societies in an articulated way. Given this background, this article presents a detailed discussion on the 'legitimacy' argument as a normative basis for rising CSR. It is an analysis that runs counter to the functionalist economic arguments that mostly focus on the financial stakeholders and consider only the (allegedly free) 'market' outcomes.