The legal framework for energy provisions in the European Union – With special regard to providing of energy provisions within the scope of Article 194(2) TFEU

The thesis interprets the caveat of Article 194(2) TFEU in order to assess the use of the Article as a legal basis for energy provisions provided by the European Union. The research subject is the Energy Title in the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union and the possibilities of the application of the legal basis provided therein. The purpose is analysis of the possibilities for providing of provisions within the scope of the caveat found in Article 194(2) TFEU with special regard to the possibilities of providing renewable energy legislation. The purpose of the thesis is on one hand to provide an overview of the premises for providing of energy provisions in the EU, and on the other hand to analyse the Treaty text in order to determine the legal basis for energy provisions. The ultimate objective is to determine the correct legal basis for renewable energy provisions, aimed at the mitigation of climate change. According to Article 194(2) TFEU, the practice of the shared legislative powers in the field of energy are restricted by the retention of certain energy matters within the power of the Member States. The wording of the caveat containing the restrictions is open to interpretation and has been a subject of extensive discussion. Many scholars have argued that the caveat in Article 194(2) TFEU might obstruct decision-making in energy matters. This argument is contested, and the factual impact of the codification of the energy competences is analysed. The correct legal basis for energy provisions depends on the final interpretation of the text of the caveat and the level of significance of the effect of the measure. The use of Article 194(2) TFEU as a legal basis might not be the only option. There is a possibility that the legal bases within the Environmental Title might be used as legal bases for energy provisions in addition to Article 194(2) TFEU.

Legal education in crisis: healing and humanizing Canadian law schools /

Western law schools are suffering from an identity and moral crisis. Many of the legal profession's problems can be traced to the law school environment, where students are taught to reason and practice in ways that are often at odds with their own personalities and values and even with generally accepted psychologically healthy practices. The idealism, ethic of care, and personal moral compasses of many students become eroded and even lost in the present legal education system. Formalism, rationalism, elitism, and big business values have become paramount. In such a moment of historical crisis, there exists the opportunity to create a new legal education story. This paper is a conceptual study of both my own Canadian legal education and the general legal education experience. It examines core problems and critiques of the existing Western legal education organizational and pedagogical paradigm to which Canadian law schools adhere. New approaches with the potential to enrich, humanize, and heal the Canadian law school experience are explored. Ultimately, the paper proposes a legal education system that is more interdisciplinary, theoretically and practically integrated, emotionally intelligent, technologically connected, morally accountable, spiritual, and humane. Specific pedagogical and curricular strategies are suggested, and recommendations for the future are offered. The dehumanizing aspects of the law school experience in Canada have rarely been studied. It is hoped that this thesis will fill a gap in the research and provide some insight into an issue that is of both academic and public importance, since the well-being of law students and lawyers affects the interests of their clients, the general public, and the integrity and future of the entire legal system.

Continuing education learning preferences and styles of legal clinic lawyers /

The purpose of this qualitative research was to study the learning preferences and styles of management lawyers who work in Ontario's legal aid clinics. Data were gathered from two sources and analyzed using the constant comparison method. A preand postconference survey provided the principal data on clinic lawyers' learning preferences. Follow-up interviews were then conducted with 3 purposefully selected survey participants to explore their personal learning styles. Kolb's experiential learning theory provided the theoretical framework for discussing personal learning styles. The findings showed a general consistency among the lawyers to learn by listening to lectures and experts. This preference may suggest a lingering influence from law school training. The lawyers' more informal learning associated with daily practice, however, appeared to be guided by various learning styles. The learning style discussions provided some support for Kolb's model but also confirmed some shortcomings noted by other authors. Educators who design continuing education programs for lawyers may benefit from some insights gained from this exploratory research. This study adds to a limited but growing body of work on the learning preferences and styles of lawyers and suggests new questions for future research.

Unaccompanied minors in Canada: How social and legal services affect their lives in Ontario

This qualitative research examines how service provisions affect lives of unaccompanied minors in Canada. In this study I utilized a semi-structured individual interview method. Among thirteen participants in my study, five came to Canada as unaccompanied minors and eight are professionals involved with service providing organizations in the Niagara region. The unaccompanied children that I interviewed had mixed experiences. Social and legal supports were made available to some of them while one was deported. This paper employs Bhabha’s postcolonial perspective and Foucault’s governmentality to illustrate unaccompanied minors’ post-arrival situation in Canada. This paper also attempts to look at children’s rights from Hanson and Nieuwenhuys’s (2013) perspective of living rights, social justice and translations. This paper explores how the change in recent immigration law affects the lives of unaccompanied minors. Findings of this study suggest that it is important to have a consensus on the definition of an unaccompanied minor; improved data collection and record-keeping on the number of unaccompanied minors; and, having a government-approved follow up mechanism. The study recommends policy makers, service providers and scholars pay increased attention to the experiences of unaccompanied minors to ensure that adequate social and legal services are offered to an unaccompanied minor in Canada.

Consent in Pharmacogenomic research

This article analyzes the emerging ethical and legal requirements for informed consent in pharmacogenomic research. It reviews how policies at the international, regional and national levels have responded to the ethical challenges raised by this new research area. It concludes that the pharmacogenomic policy framework is still in its infancy and needs to be further developed to answer the challenges raised by this important discipline.

Whither Pediatric Research and Predisposition Genetic Testing?

Research in which children undergo genetic testing for predisposition to adult-onset diseases or disorders can lead to a better understanding of these conditions. It can possibly also help encourage early detection and the development of clinical and preventive interventions for those found to be at increased hereditary risk. Increasingly, predisposition testing is becoming part of pediatric genetic research. However, the paucity of normative texts about the conduct of pediatric research using predisposition genetic testing generates complex legal and ethical issues. Drawing on the current texts that govern predisposition genetic testing in research and the norms of pediatric research, we outline points of consensus and divergence as well as recommendations regarding predisposition genetic testing in pediatric research.

The Legal Framing of Computerized Processing of Health Data : A European and Canadian Perspective

The use of information and communication technologies in the health and social service sectors, and the development of multi-centred and international research networks present many benefits for society: for example, better follow-up on an individual’s states of health, better quality of care, better control of expenses, and better communication between healthcare professionals. However, this approach raises issues relative to the protection of privacy: more specifically, to the processing of individual health information.

Legal aspects of animal-human combinations in Canada

This article examines the current legal regime applicable to animal-human combinations under the Assisted Human Reproduction Act (Canada). The Act prohibits as criminal offences the use of non-human reproductive material in humans, the use in humans of human reproductive material previously transplanted into a non-human life form, the creation of chimeras made from human embryos, and the creation for reproductive purposes of human/non-human hybrids. Additional animal-human combinations, such as transgenic life forms, may be regulated pursuant to section 11 of the Act in the future. The underlying concerns of the Act in establishing this regime appear to be the protection of human health and safety, human dignity and individuality, and the human genome. The Act seems calibrated to prohibit the creation of animal-human combinations that are currently unsafe and scientifically and ethically problematic, while leaving open the possibility of regulating other such combinations with more immediate scientific potential, although these also raise ethical questions. Currently, certain differences subsist in Canada between what is permissible for researchers and institutions funded by federal agencies and those in privately funded research. The development of the regulatory framework under the Act will reveal how freedom of research will be balanced against the need for scientifically valid and ethically justifiable research, and whether these differences will continue to apply.

Explaining legal norm transmission using an epidemiological model : the case of employment drug testing

Dans cette thèse, nous construisons un modèle épidémiologique de la dissémina- tion de normes juridiques. L’objectif est d’expliquer la transmission de normes juridiques américaines régissant les tests de dépistages pour drogues au travail vers le Canada ainsi que la propagation subséquente de ces normes à travers la jurisprudence canadienne. La propagation des normes régissant les tests de dépistages pour drogues au travail sert donc à la fois de point de départ pour une réflexion théorique sur la transmission de normes juridiques et pour une étude de cas empirique. Nous partons de la prémisse que les explications du changement juridique, telles celle de la transplantation et celle de l’harmonisation, sont essentiellement métaphoriques. Ces métaphores explicatives fonctionnent en invitant des comparaisons entre les domaines connus et inconnus. Quand ce processus de comparaison est systématisé, la métaphore devient un modèle. Dans la thèse, nous appliquons cette procédure de systématisation afin de transformer la métaphore de la propagation virale en modèle épidémiologique. Après une revue de la littérature sur les épidémies sociales, nous décrivons les éléments pertinents de la théorie épidémiologique pour, ensuite, les transposer au domaine juridique. Le modèle est alors opérationnalisé en l’appliquant à une base de données composée de la jurisprudence pertinente (n=187). Les résultats soutiennent les hypothèses du modèle. 90 % des décisions qui citent les sources américaines sont infectées selon les critères du modèle, alors que seulement 64 % des décisions qui ne citent pas de sources américaines sont infectées. Cela soutient l’hypothèse d’une épidémie dite de « réservoir commun ». Nous avons également démontré une corrélation positive entre la référence à ces décisions et l’état d’infection! : 87 % des décisions qui citent des décisions qui réfèrent aux sources américaines sont infectées, alors que le taux d’infection parmi la population restante est de seulement 53 %. Les résultats semblables ont été obtenus pour les décisions de troisième génération. Cela soutient l’hypothèse selon laquelle il y a eu propagation à travers la jurisprudence suite aux contacts initiaux avec le réservoir commun. Des corrélations positives ont aussi été démontrées entre l’état d’infection et l’appartenance à l’une ou l’autre de sous-populations particulières qui seraient, par hypothèse, des points d’infection. En conclusion de la thèse, nous avançons que c’est seulement après avoir construit un modèle et d’avoir constaté ses limites que nous pouvons vraiment comprendre le rôle des métaphores et des modèles dans l’explication de phénomènes juridiques.

A Summary of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Jurisdiction in Cyberspace Project: “Achieving Legal and Business Order in Cyberspace: A Report on Global Jurisdiction Issues Created by the Internet”

"Suite à plus de deux années de recherches, le projet de l’American Bar Association (ABA) concernant la juridiction du cyberespace, « Achieving Legal and Business Order in Cyberspace: A Report on Global Jurisdiction Issues Created by the Internet », a été publié dans l’édition du mois d’août 2000 de la revue juridique The Business Lawyer. Ce rapport poursuivait deux objectifs distincts : Tout d’abord, effectuer une analyse globale des complexités potentielles entourant les conflits juridictionnels découlant du commerce en ligne. Ensuite, élaborer une liste exhaustive des solutions pouvant être utilisées pour résoudre de tels conflits. Le présent article se veut un résumé concis et accessible des trois grandes sections du « Cyberspace Jurisdiction Report » : (1) les solutions proposées aux problèmes juridictionnels découlant des conflits résultant du commerce électronique ; (2) afin d’appuyer les solutions proposées : l’utilisation d’exemples d’occasions où la technologie a déjà, par le passé, causé la métamorphose de certains paradigmes juridictionnels; et (3) afin d’appuyer les solutions proposées : l’utilisation d’un contexte doctrinal."

Accessing Education: Legal Perspectives

Access to education becomes an issue of equity with diverse claims from stakeholders justifying their rights based on perceptions of equity — both social and individual. In-spite of the phenomenal increase since independence in the number of institutions imparting education and the number of beneficiaries, India being the second largest nation in terms of population of the young finds its resources spread thin in meeting the demand for education. Quality education comes at a premium in India whether it is provided in the private or in the public sector. Education seemingly enables the individuals, singly and collectively. to overcome the social barriers perpetuated by the caste system. Taken together, these unleash grave demands on formulating equitable standards. It is in this context that identifying the deserving for favourable consideration becomes all the more important. In this sea of claims and counter-claims, this thesis tries to identify the issues involved on the question of equitable access to education on the basis of the factual position in the field of education. Identifying the issues correctly provides the necessary impetus for framing the questions that provide meaningful answers. The objective of this research is to help formulate the policy guidelines governing the principles of equity that is needed to ensure universal access to education in India.

Fair trade and European public procurement: legal principles and governance dynamics

Purpose The article examines principles of Fair Trade in public procurement in Europe, focusing on legal dimensions related to the European Public Procurement Directives. Design/methodology/approach The article situates public procurement of Fair Trade products in relation to the rise of non-state regulatory initiatives, highlighting how they have entered into new governance dynamics in the public sector and play a part in changing practices in sustainable procurement. A review of legal position on Fair Trade in procurement law is informed by academic research and campaigning experience from the Fair Trade Advocacy Office. Findings Key findings are that the introduction of Fair Trade products into European public procurement has been marked by legal ambiguity, having developed outside comprehensive policy or legal guidelines. Following a 2012 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is suggested that the legal position for Fair Trade in procurement has become clearer, and that forthcoming change to the Public Procurement Directives may facilitate the uptake of fair trade products by public authorities. However potential for future expansion of the public sector ‘market’ for Fair Trade is approached with caution: purchasing Fair Trade products as a marker of sustainability, which started to be embedded within procurement practice in the 2000s, is challenged by current European public austerity measures. Research limitations/implications Suggestions for future research include the need for systematic cross-institutional and multi-country comparison of the legal and governance dimensions of procurement practice with regard to Fair Trade. Practical implications A clarification of current state-of-play with regard to legal aspects of fair trade in public procurement of utility for policy and advocacy discussion. Originality/value The article provides needed elaboration on an under researched topic area of value to academia and policy makers.

Recovering lost lives: researching women in legal history

Drawing on the research I undertook into the life of Gwyneth Bebb, who in 1913 challenged the Law Society of England and Wales for their refusal to admit women to the solicitors’ profession, this article focuses on the range of sources one might use to explore the lives of women in law, about whom there might be a few public records but little else, and on the ways in which sources, even official ones, might be imaginatively used. It traces the research process from the case that inspired the research (Bebb v The Law Society [1914] 1 Ch 286) through to the creation of an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and what this means for women’s history, emphasising the importance of asking the ‘woman question’ and seeking out the broader significance of a woman’s life in the context of her times.