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The United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC) (UN, 1989) and Article 12 in particular, grants every child the right to express their views on all matters affecting them and have those views listened to and given due weight. School governors have a duty to ensure the student's participation rights are implemented and as holders of power are in a unique position to facilitate this. However, there is a lack of research on governor's perspectives on students' participation rights. The study explored governors' perspectives on students' participation rights and how they understand their duties in relation to Article 12, using the theoretical framework of participatory governance. Fourteen school governors across nine post-primary schools were interviewed. The findings indicate that most of the governors did not have a detailed knowledge of students' participation rights and did not understand fully their obligations as duty bearers for the CRC. A strong argument is made for the importance of school governors facilitating the participation rights of students in their schools. All of the governors believed that students' involvement in decision-making would result in benefits for students and governors but argued that factors such as wide-ranging responsibilities and limited time were barriers. The research indicates that the Department of Education needs to embrace a rights-based approach to policy and practice and provide more information and support for school governors. The findings also suggest that governors need to take a more proactive role in the engaging directly with students and in monitoring the school's participation work. Participatory governance theory, which emphasises deliberative, authentic dialogue; effective intermediary structures; and, the empowerment of those who are marginalised, facilitated reflection on research findings. Drawings on Lovan et al.'s (2004) seven interlocking characteristics of participatory governance and applying the broader literature on the theory enabled the creation of new 'principles for participatory practice in school governance' which has the potential to inform school governors seeking to implement student's participation rights in their own schools.

The work presented for the Phd by publication is located within the law and religion sub-discipline and is committed to enhancing religious freedom. It focuses on manifestation of belief and is dedicated to the legal protection of religious minorities. It highlights the difficulties of adjudicating conflicts related to religious symbols in modern liberal states and aims to deepen the understanding of manifestation of belief. It shows that religious symbols contribute to the making of contemporary individual and collective identities. The thesis advocates a more contextual approach to manifestation of belief which views religion as an element of identity rather than an elective characteristic of the individual. It therefore promotes collaborations with other disciplines within the social sciences such as history, sociology, and anthropology in order to enhance the legal approach and move the field in new directions.

A global urban housing crisis marked by gross unaffordability, economic, social, cultural, and political displacements, increasing homelessness, and socio-spatial segregation and exclusion has taken hold. Deprivations are occurring in states across the development spectrum, and urban housing tensions are becoming topics of daily conversation if not outright protest. Much of the difficulty can be attributed to the financialization of housing and the global competitive pressures with which cities increasingly contend. An ‘urban turn’ has even become evident in the global discourse and practice, and this is apparent in the adoption of an urban specific UN Sustainable Development Goal in 2015, Goal 11, which commits to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable, with ambitious targets to be achieved by 2030. Local governments have become more assertive with respect to implementing international norms and forming transnational networks of cooperation. In these respects, a few notable scholars have begun to examine the role of cities in international law, and this body of literature is now steadily growing. This PhD thesis aims to make a significant contribution by focusing specifically on the question of housing in cities and by emphasizing the social dimensions of sustainable development. Its central argument is for a human right to housing in the city with a duty to act collectively to ensure this right. Analysis of the scope and content of the right to housing finds its present interpretation narrow and wanting in the face of contemporary urban challenges. There is an urgent need to reorient the right to housing in order to ensure access to urban space and to address the dispossessions taking place in cities.

This practice research study explores the law as a medium of art and performance-making in order to gain insights into how aesthetics is part of, or characterises aspects of, law. The research was conducted through creating a series of performative artworks culminating in two major projects. Karaoke Court was a performance work where people agreed under arbitration contracts to resolve their disputes through a karaoke sing-off hearing, which was a celebratory event where an audience-jury decided who would win each case. Voices from the Courts was a residency at the Singapore Courts where I created graphic scores, as one among a set of diverse outcomes, through listening to the physical and emotive soundscape of the Courts. Through the creation of performance artworks, I aimed to discover aesthetic insight and to illuminate how the law can be a vessel for creativity and a site of social potentiality. Employing a wide range of artistic strategies, such as listening, drawing, performance-making, exhibitions making and collaborating, these projects responded to central concerns in my practice about the relationship between representation and presentation; the importance of legal imagination as a space for redefining legal aesthetics and thereby fairness and politics; and why performance and performativity are primary aesthetic modes through which law and justice are realised. The study presents ways in which law comes into being or into poiesis through its potential to be reimagined.

This thesis argues that the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (CPUCH) does not adopt a pragmatic approach to fight against commercial treasure hunters, nor does it convincingly strive to ensure the jurisdictional balance established by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). UCH can be best preserved in situ (remain on the seabed), and commercial treasure hunters pose a direct threat to the achievement of this aim. Since commercial treasure hunters seek profits, there would be no better way to stop their profit-driven activities than reducing their economic incentives to perform such activities. While the CPUCH inclines towards the deployment of different jurisdictional tools, which may deter a few amateur drivers from disturbing UCH sites, the legal concept of restitution is an ideal tool to increase the costs incurred by commercial shipwreck recovery companies. If all seized UCH can be, or at least are considered to be, returned to the holder of a particular legal right, commercial shipwreck recovery companies will face the risk of losing UCH. In this new approach, jurisdictional tools are no longer the main 'weapon' to fight against commercial treasure hunters. Although jurisdictional tools are still important for managing discovered UCH sites, they ought to be adjusted to be more compatible with UNCLOS. This thesis proposes a new twofold strategy to combat the UCH crisis: reduce the incentive of the commercial shipwreck recovery companies, on the one hand, and construct a jurisdictional regime, based on UNCLOS, for the management of UCH on the seabed, on the other.

As part of affirmative actions targeting racial inequality, Brazil introduced educational Laws 10.639 in 2003 and 11.645 in 2008, which oblige every school in the country to teach African, Afro-Brazilian and indigenous history and culture. The black movement regards the reform as an important step towards the deconstruction of the 'racial democracy'-myth and the reparation of injustices caused by the country's colonial history, slavery and its branqueamento (whitening) immigration policies. By exploring the scope and limitations of different approaches to the implementation of Law 11.645/08, this thesis adds a new angle to the discussion about the effectiveness of multicultural education and its relevance in the creation of a person's attitude towards racism and cultural difference. For my fieldwork I spent a year in the city of Rio de Janeiro and its Northern metropolitan area Baixada Fluminense, locating spaces in which institutions, groups and individuals work on the implementation of the law: I carried out research in two socially very distinct public high schools, two teacher education courses offered by public institutions and with various social activists, students and education professionals. Exploring the trajectories not only of individuals who are active in the implementation process but the profiles of two very distinct school districts, offers an analysis of Brazilian race relations through the lens of the socio-educational context. Different approaches to the law's implementation from various positions of economic, symbolic, cultural or political capital all have a different effect on those involved in the implementation process and open up different conceptual and strategic questions. Such insights contribute to our understanding of how social policies, as well as ethnic-racial education, can be applied in a meaningful way to various educational contexts and to the design of further affirmative action policies, particularly those categorising and targeting certain ethnic-racial groups.

This thesis explores the potential of English undergraduate liberal legal education to increase legal consciousness about the rights of people with disabilities in response to low levels of awareness of these rights throughout society. Including disability discussions throughout the curriculum rather than in separate courses, using a critical perspective and including critical pedagogy, will equip students with the skill to critique the existing framework and to call for change where necessary. Including disability in this context aims to reaffirm the relationship between rights and education, to overcome the shortcomings of previous approaches and to help fulfil the educative aim of the human rights framework concerning disability at all levels. This discussion extends recent work concerning the integration of disability specific courses within vocational legal education, as has been explored in both British and American literature. It shifts the focus of previous work from incorporating disability perspective and awareness from vocational to liberal legal education. An increased focus at the academic stage of legal education could lead to wider dissemination and understanding which may lessen the need for legal intervention in the future. In doing so, it will argue that the concept of reasonable adjustment should be challenged to shift focus to the concept of 'Assurance of Rightful Access'.

Sponsorship is a form of promotional communication with the basic goal to persuade. Researchers have offered a series of benefits for the sponsor that can be achieved through selecting the ideal property, including, obtaining brand exposure, achieving brand recall, enhancing brand image, and communicating a brand theme in the hope of obtaining sales. However, differentiating the brand from competitors is a distinctive tactic essential for realising a competitive advantage. To assist with brand differentiating, corporate sponsors negotiate for exclusivity within a product or service category. Product category exclusivity acts to eliminate corporations within a sponsor's product or service category from the sponsored subject. Therefore, sponsors pay a premium price to achieve such a restricted promotional position. However, instances of competing sponsorship interests within a football event or league have become common as broadcasters, footballers and stadiums owners all pursue corporate support. Where these separate actors in the same sports marketplace have not collaborate effectively to limit sponsor category conflicts, a sponsoring brand may find it difficult to establish unique image association within the football domain apart from category competitors. This questions the level of exclusivity football associations and related enterprises grant to their official sponsors. The purpose of the research is to raise the issue and debate the practice of selling multiple sponsorship rights within a particular product or service category in football competitions. Ambush marketing has emerged as an effective weapon in the arsenal of marketing department seeking to associate their brands with sporting events. The research analyses the most effective and common strategies of ambush marketing in English football, and examines the legal mechanisms available in the United Kingdom to prevent the likelihood of suffering damage to official sponsors by third party ambush tactics. The research concludes with the extent to which the legal system in the United Kingdom could help to protect the exclusive rights of the sponsor in English Football.

Law and art are oftentimes perceived as standing in opposition, and even seen in conflicting terms. The first is dismissed as provincial, rigid, and bureaucratic, while the latter is repeatedly characterized as global, flexible, and dynamic. Yet, closer observation and analysis reveal hidden links and layers, and substantial preoccupation by both legal and art practitioners in the visual and in the judicial. It is through the unraveling of spaces, gaps, and lacunae in which both fields of practice and knowledge intersect that this publication sets in motion an exploration of influences and interactions between law and art. Offering a new critical approach and methodology to deal with existing and imagined relations between law and art, this publication analyzes curatorial and artistic projects by revealing overlooked legal dimensions embedded within them. It introduces legal theory and scholarship in relation to visual artworks in order to expand and foster new paths for both judicial and visual activism. Based on the reassessment of artistic and curatorial capabilities and encounters in a time of globalization, it is concerned with broadening our perception of the role of art and legal practitioners with regard to justice. Following an introduction of Nancy Fraser's three-dimensional concept of justice, and Saskia Sassen's notion of capabilities in a world shaped by the dual existence of the nation-state and globalization, Chapter One focuses on the 7th Berlin Biennale as a curatorial case study for political and artistic activism, and on “Artist Organisations International” (AOI) as an example of artist-created institutions concerned with political activism. Two artistic projects that premiered during the 7th Berlin Biennale are then critically examined in Chapters Two and Three. An in-depth exploration of Yael Bartana's First Congress of The Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland (JRMiP) as a space prompting global justice is the focus of Chapter Two. The building of a Parliament in Rojava by Jonas Staal's New World Summit (NWS) as an artistic reinvention of the Right of Intervention is the concern of Chapter Three. Judicial-visual activism is further developed in Chapter Four through an inquiry into the theory of the emergence of disputes, and the Right of the Encounter in relation to artistic actions taking place in state institutions. Chapter Five contains a reflection on my own recent curatorial projects dedicated to encounters that I facilitated between legal and art practitioners. The result of these encounters led to the exhibition Motions for the Agenda structured around five motions/projects developed in a collaboration between the participants dealing with legal texts and documents, just as with the place of law, its language, and its archive.

There has recently been a proliferation of cultural property rules and standards at both international and national levels. This thesis examines the relevance, significance, and influence of these norms on the ground. I study them from a 'law in action' perspective by focusing on a rarely-seen aspect of museum practice: curators engaging with cultural property law and ethics. What is the application of legal and ethical rules in curatorial practice? What significance do they have in museum work beyond their practical application? How have they shaped different aspects of curatorial practice? To address these questions, the thesis uses three Parisian museums as case studies and field sites: Musée du Quai Branly, Musée du Louvre, and Muséum National de l'Histoire Naturelle. It takes an empirical and informant-driven approach, and describes how French curators refer to and follow various legal and ethical norms relating to the protection and administration of museum collections. The thesis shows that the way in which cultural property norms and standards are applied in museum practice is not homogenous. Rather, there is variation in how the actors involved in using them on a daily basis - in this case, curators - understand and appeal to them in their practice. Certain norms acquire a status akin to moral principles, whilst others prescribe the correct or accepted way of conducting different museum tasks. The thesis also shows that the use and interpretation of cultural property is influenced by factors that do not directly relate to these norms. In the French case, the most important such factor relates to the close relationship that exists between museums and the state.

Affirmative action in college admissions is a contentious topic which has inspired a significant amount of legislation affecting its use. This legislation exists independently at the state and federal levels, but when viewed together within the entire legislative framework, individual pieces of legislation contradict each other, providing confusing and conflicting legal guidance for higher education admissions counselors. Admissions counselors’ daily activities are governed by this legislation, but without a high level of knowledge or awareness, admissions counselors could unknowingly engage in recruiting activities that violate one or more aspects of the related legislation. This study investigated the current level of knowledge in higher education admissions counselors at two public universities in the state of California regarding the conflicting legislation affecting the use of race-conscious admissions practices. This is important because the use of race-conscious admissions practices is the most divisive issue currently facing the American higher education system, and can have significant legal ramifications for institutions of higher education. While previous research has identified the effects of race-conscious admissions practices, it did not sufficiently identify the current legislation affecting the use of race-conscious admissions practices, the conflicting nature of the legislation, or the perception or awareness of the admissions counselors of the conflicting nature of the current legislation. This study, therefore, aims to determine the perspective of the higher education admissions counselor, the overall level of awareness and knowledge regarding the multiple pieces and layers of legislation, and the level of awareness for the conflicting legal guidance created when the legislation is viewed as a whole. This research has the objective to better understand the individual pieces of legislation, their individual affects, and when combined, the nature of their conflicting guidance. To achieve this, in-depth, individual interviews were conducted with higher education admissions counselors at two public institutions located within the state of California. Conventional content analysis was used to analyze the multiple perspectives found within the primary data and illustrate the overarching themes expressed within the data. The findings indicate that admissions counselors claim to have a low level of awareness and knowledge concerning the legislation affecting race-conscious admissions practices. Once they were provided a basic overview of the legislation, though, interviewees were able to discern that the legislation provided conflicting guidance. Additional findings suggest that admissions counselors do not fundamentally agree with the admissions practices that they follow, but are still adhering to the practices in spite of this. The research concludes by recommending areas for further research, and suggesting specific actions that can be pursued as a means of implementing the knowledge created through this research.

This thesis adds to the sparse body of knowledge concerning how to increase early grade literacy levels in the Global South through evaluating how, if at all, a rights-based intervention has helped to do so in Cross River State, Nigeria. It presents a critical realist case study, containing a broad range of both quantitative and qualitative data, including insider-participant observations. Overall, it was found that this particular rights-based intervention produced significant and often large increases in pupils’ literacy skills, but that the extent of the impact varied according to the contextual conditions, again showing that context mattered. The key finding presented is that teachers have been fundamental to determining the impact, mainly because of how frequently they have been choosing to implement the intervention teaching method. The thesis postulates that the frequency of teachers’ implementation was determined by incentive mechanisms, a social reciprocity mechanism and an informal social control mechanism. Through identifying these social mechanisms, and through the mixed methods, insider-researcher methodology, the thesis is able to provide a deep understanding of incentives, motivations and relationships, and so how and why context mattered, adding to discussions on providing a “good-fit”. In doing so, the thesis highlights how the specific rights-based approach needs to now provide a greater merging of an outcomes and a processes approach. The thesis also contributes to scholarly debates concerning whether rights-based actors should be more processes or outcomes focused, whether they should be pushing for systematic reforms or working within systems and also whether a principal-agent approach will provide a good fit. It also makes important contributions to knowledge concerning the benefits and challenges associated with insider research, as well as how critical realist philosophical assumptions can help to generate the depth that is needed to truly understand how interventions are and are not effective.

This thesis is concerned with the legal theory behind environmental rights. There are a number of different approaches that deploy rights as a mechanism to bring about environmental protection within international law, all of which can be termed ‘environmental rights’. These include a human right to a healthy environment and procedural environmental rights. But there are also theories that support a more innovative or extensive use of legal rights for protecting the natural world. Notably, many of these theories concern the introduction of nonhuman rights (animal rights or rights of nature). This thesis investigates the theory behind and the practical structure of these various approaches, as well as analysing the very concept of ‘rights’. The original contribution to knowledge is threefold. I present a case for a human right to a healthy environment to be defined broadly: measured according to human and ecosystem health, and conceived as a right of both individuals and peoples; I rigorously apply both Interest Theory and Hohfeld’s analysis of rights to human rights and thus construct a clear model for the structure of the sort of rights found in human rights (termed ‘vital rights’); and I extend the philosophical theory behind human rights (and in particular the concept of dignity) towards the growing field of rights of nature. Considered holistically, the thesis presents and suggests modes of thinking that seek to soften the divide between humanity and nature. This is done through a consideration of lived experience as always already ecologically embedded. As a result, the subject of vital rights (human rights included) should be understood as ecologically embedded living beings, opening the door to both nonhuman rights and new fields for human rights.

This study examines the criminal liability that may be incurred by participants in contact sports for violence that results in injury to a fellow participant. For these purposes, I concentrate on boxing, rugby and soccer; sports that involve a level of physicality that risks, and regularly causes, injury. The violence that is intrinsic to their practice is in some senses archetypically criminal, and yet, that self-same violence is also constitutive of sports that are perceived to have enormous personal, social and cultural value, and which have been declared by the House of Lords to amount to ‘lawful activities’. A formal account of the criminal law of sports violence posits the consent of the participants as the primary determinant of the imposition of liability for acts of violence committed during the course of contact sports. In this thesis, I examine this formal account and propose that the substance of the lawfulness of sports violence needs to be understood in terms of its socio-historical development, and the sophisticated rule-systems and pluralistic regulatory backdrop against which modern sports operate. This thesis contributes a new understanding of the offences that pertain to sports violence, and the normative role and doctrinal function of the participants’ consent, in order to understand the way in which the criminal law accommodates violent sports practices. The thesis also suggests new ideas in relation to the ‘playing culture’ of sport and its relationship to the criminal law, and the role of prosecutorial discretion in effectively shaping the lawfulness of ‘legitimate sport’.

This thesis explores the meaning and content of s. 41 of the Official Languages Act of Canada, which imposes certain duties on all federal institutions towards French- and English-language minority communities. While vitally important as a component of Canada's language rights archictecture, the nature and content of s. 41 as a legal norm remain woefully unclear. The immediate aim is to determine: (1) whether s. 41 confers a right to specific measures in particular cases; (2) whether such rights are individual or collective; and (3) if collective, what sort of interests are protected. Section 41 presents a number of interpretive challenges. First, it uses terminology which is undefined in the Act and yet has no self-evident meaning. Thus, the nature of the primary legal subject, 'linguistic minority communities' (LMCs), is unclear, as are the nature of the protected interests, 'vitality' and 'development'. Second, the interpretive principles developed by the case-law for official language rights rely on a conceptual framework that is vague and under-theorized. Key components of that framework, like the concept of a necessary link between language and culture, have yet to be fully explored, either in the case-law or in legal scholarship. This presents an acute problem in the case of s. 41, where the content of these concepts will likely prove dispositive. In order to grapple with these challenges, this thesis develops an account of language rights as collective rights. Drawing on the philosophical literature and existing case-law, I argue that LMCs should be conceived of as collectivities rather than mere aggregates of individuals, and that a number of language rights, such as s. 41 of the OLA, and ss. 16.1 and 23 of the Charter, aim to protect the collective interests of these collectivities. I then define some of these interests from both an empirical and a normative perspective. I conclude by arguing that s. 41 of the OLA protects an 'autonomy interest', which both prohibits federal institutions from interfering with existing LMC autonomy, and provides a basis for claiming enhancements to that autonomy, within the confines of the statutory mandate of the institution in question.

One of the most dynamic relationships historically has been that of the state with religion. Having been blamed for many wars and rebellions it comes as no surprise that those states continuing to model close relationships with an individual religion come under high scrutiny, especially now religious freedom plays such an important part in today's society. Furthermore, sociological theories have developed beyond metaphysical explanations of state authority and no longer depend on spiritual or religious explanations. The UK, with two established churches, is one such state with its relationship with the Church of England especially being subjected to criticism from a number of different groups. Whether this constant criticism is justified is another story and one of the aims of this thesis is to try to unpick some of the debates that flow around the subject in order to put them into a practical context. Often, when such discussions are undertaken there are lots of arguments made as to why the Church of England should, or should not, be disestablished. Discussions on whether they retain an important place in society are made but ultimately very little said about how disestablishment may occur if this was chosen as the way forward. This thesis will aim to tackle some of these questions and will delve into the constitutional complexities in order to discover how such a procedure can be initiated, and the effect this would have on both the state and the Church of England. Future relations will also be discussed and an important consideration will be the views and effect this might have on other religions who have come to benefit from the pleural approach of the established church. Ultimately, the result will be the uncovering of the complexities of disestablishment and who, if anyone, will benefit from the process.

This summary explores a large body of published work that has sought to develop both teaching and research in what has been termed film and the law or perhaps more accurately ‘cinematic justice’. The first section outlines the diversity of methodological approaches that have been used in the area generally but also within the submitted pieces that form the main body of the work. The second part outlines the problems in identifying the core material that now forms the basis of the subject. It charts the attempts to expand the base beyond courtroom drama and explores the engagement with areas of film theory. A thread that runs through the published work from start to finish has been identifying what a legal film is or might be. At the start this was not explicitly recognized as a question of genre, there was no established framework to apply. A large part of the scholarship has involved analyzing films and searching out common elements and ideas in order to invigorate the process. The third section addresses the synthesis of teaching and research that has always been a central feature of the enterprise. Developing a new ‘pedagogy’ for legal teaching seemed important - then became outdated - but now, it is argued, has the potential for a rebirth. This section makes the case for new thinking about using television material to explore the ideology within legal portrayals. The summary also reflects the author’s highly significant role in the contribution to the development of the area more generally.

Granting family residence rights to third country national EU family members is a controversial issue that has been the object of a lively debate, especially in recent years. The debate has been particularly focused on the role played by the Court of Justice of the European Union in deciding cases involving EU citizens and their third country national family members. The Court has been criticized for inconsistent judgments and providing a lack of legal certainty. The object of this thesis is to analyse the intricate jurisprudential scenario of family reunifications between EU citizens and third country nationals. In order to do so I will place the Court’s case law in its broader historical context. Through my analysis, I will show how the phenomenon of family reunification between EU citizens and third country nationals is the fruit of a development that, starting from the legislation of the first post World War II era reached its climax in the more recent judgments of the CJEU. Using a historical prospective, I will outline that the original meaning of the first family reunification legislative provisions, their more recent CJEU interpretation and the new application of the concept of EU citizenship find their ground on specific trends that have characterized the process of European integration for years. I will look in particular at the development of the Common Market project, focused on eliminating obstacles that would hinder the right of free movement of workers and at the strengthening of the rights deriving from the EU citizenship status. I will also show how since the oil economic crises these two currents begun to clash with the stricter immigration policies adopted by some Member States. I will argue that the approach of the Court can be better appreciated when placed at the interplay of this clash.

In this thesis I have attempted to analyse the effectiveness of the legislative and policy framework in relation to the museums operated by local authorities in England. In particular, I have focused on whether this framework is suitable or sustainable for the long term provision of such museums. Particular regard is given to acquisition and disposal of property from these museums, including the areas of object mobility and repatriation of artefacts. Chapter one sets out the working assumptions that this thesis rests upon. The second chapter appraises the modern context within which local authority museums operate. Chapter three assesses the historical development of museums and how this has affected the legal framework. In the fourth chapter, the focus is upon the problems of permanent acquisition of artefacts. Chapter five re-examines the controversial area of disposal of objects from museums and the repatriation of spoliated artefacts and human remains. The sixth chapter reviews how developments in art mobility have benefited local authority museums. The final chapter draws together the findings and assesses whether council museums are variable in the future under the current legislative and policy framework. The thesis concludes that while improvements could be made to the legislation, it is unlikely to happen. It would be more effective to make such changes through the policy issued by the Arts Council and the Museums Association. Such changes also could bridge the divergence between law, policy and practice. A variety of primary and secondary sources were used throughout this thesis. Due to the fact that this is a specialized and globalized area many of the sources can be found on the internet and in international journals. However, the core of this dissertation rests upon statutes, case law, government commissioned reports, local authority committee reports, national and local policy documents, and books.

The following research aims to examine the interaction of law, either hard law (legislation) or soft law (governing body regulation), on achieving a balance between racial equality and success in sport. Nearly all national jurisdictions have legislated to some degree in an attempt to affect equality or equality of opportunity for its citizens. This might be based on achieving equality of opportunity or by means of affirmative action. The research aim is to ascertain how far racial discrimination laws have positive or negative impacts on the success of sports in different countries. The research also has a series of supplementary objectives: to ascertain and consider critically the extent to which the law in various jurisdictions (Malaysia, South Africa, England and the United States) has been used to promote equality; to develop a sequential model to describe general trends to predict the influence of affirmative action and equal opportunity legislation upon the potential success of countries’ sporting achievements; to review tensions inherent in reconciling the equality of citizens at a national level and their impacts upon the international sporting success of that nation; to establish a correlative relationship between the types of anti-discrimination law within nations and the impact of these upon the degree of international sporting success of those nations. The research conducted concentrates primarily on qualitative methods by first adopting a doctrinal approach in a comparative legal study of four jurisdictions (Malaysia, South Africa, England and the United States). A non-doctrinal approach is then adopted and a qualitative intrinsic case study completed, including interviews concerning the subject area. Thus, the research has used multi-method qualitative approaches. The research indicated different anti-discrimination approaches taken in achieving equality. This can be typified by countries such as the United States or England based primarily on meritocracy and countries such as South Africa and Malaysia based primarily on preferential treatment. There is evidence to suggest that these approaches do have a certain correlation, albeit not similar in the outcome of achieving equality for selection. From the evidence presented, the overall study illustrates that racial discrimination laws in the four jurisdictions produced a mixed outcome in relation to the success of professional team sports. Specifically, England and the United States witnessed a positive impact in terms of achieving international success in sports even though there are inherent difficulties in reconciling the equality of citizens at a national level. For Malaysia and South Africa, the result tends to be positive in general at this stage although it is equally recognised that this approach might result in some negative impacts in the long run. The research however is subject to certain limitations which are outside the scope of this thesis, but it is recognised that these might affect the overall success of professional team sports within those countries.

Food insecurity is an important global problem severely affecting developing countries, particularly those in Asia and Africa. Agricultural research in developing countries is characterised by the following tension: the private sector has plenty of applied research skills and experience but these are primarily used for commercial gain; the public sector has excellent research but the research is often not applied. Agricultural public private partnerships are currently acclaimed as a means of redressing this tension through optimising the complementary synergies between the two sectors in order to address food security. Private sector involvement in agriculture, including public private partnerships (PPPs) has increased in the past two decades as has the use of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in agriculture research. The two sectors have differing and sometimes conflicting perspectives on IP as a concept and in the strategies used to manage intellectual property. IPRs have the potential to enhance or hinder the achievement of a partnership’s objectives. This thesis investigates whether, to what extent and in what ways IP is relevant to food security oriented PPPs. It uses two case studies in India and Kenya involving two centres in the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) to locate the role that IP plays in the formation and execution of food security oriented PPPs in the context of development. It argues for a bespoke analysis of PPPs as the preferred means through which the impact and effect of factors such as IPRs can be meaningfully examined. It finds that the relevance of IP to food security oriented PPPs in developing countries is determined by two factors: the nature of the technology used in the partnership and the stage of the partnership.

This thesis is an investigation into teachers' status in Kuwait, what it is and the reasons for it. The question was posed and systematically investigated as to the standing of teachers, an issue of great significance for Kuwait and its education system. The thesis also explores the connections between teacher status and teacher education and the possibility of using improvements in teacher education to raise the status of teachers. The study is heavily based on empirical work, specifically: three substantial surveys and a case study that includes a fourth smaller survey. The collection of data is predominantly, though not exclusively, quantitative. A short questionnaire on teachers' status was administered to, 5200 citizens, 0.65% of the popUlation, using a network or 'snowball' technique. A longer questionnaire was administered to 320 final-year students in a cross-section of Kuwaiti secondary schools. A third questionnaire was administered to 1200 teachers (4% of the teacher population). The response rates for all three surveys exceeded 95%. The hypothetically significant variables considered in these surveys variously included gender, socio-cultural group, age, family status, academic ability, professional experience, subject specialism and nationality. In addition, an extended case study was carried out in the College of Basic Education, the training institution for primary teachers in Kuwait. The findings of these surveys and of the case-study are compared with each other and, to a lesser extent, with previous research that has been conducted in regard to teacher status in other educational systems. At an early stage of the analysis, some findings were presented to two members of the 'educational elite' in Kuwait for their interpretation and comment. The following are some examples of the findings of the study. Kuwaiti society sees the relative status of teachers as middle-order. The public have higher views of teachers than either teachers or trainee teachers have of themselves. The standing of the College of Basic Education is perceived as low by all sectors, including trainees at the college. Up to 28% of school-Ieavers were conSidering teaching as a career option, but almost none of these are academically able students. Kuwaitis choose teaching very much more for pragmatic than for 'vocational' reasons. Sociocultural group is the variable with the widest influence on the matters investigated. Gender is less significant than expected in some areas.

The principal question addressed in this thesis is: how do the vulnerable homeless people in London fare when they experience problems with their homeless applications? Legal and other discourses on alternative dispute resolution have hitherto given very little attention to the issue of access to justice for homeless people. In addition, the idea of 'appropriate' dispute processing in relation to homeless applicants is a neglected area in the literature and in practice. The present study shows that in London homeless applicants do not fare well when they attempt to claim their potential emergency housing entitlement through the civil justice system for three main reasons. First, the homeless application process itself is complex, and often difficult for people to cope without advice, guidance and sometimes representation. Secondly, the first stage appeal internal review is not an appropriate dispute process for homeless applicants with an unsatisfactory homelessness decision. Thirdly, the use of homelessness mediation by local authorities is potentially a homeless application containment device. The methodology adopted for this study includes the collection and analysis of case studies, the carrying out and assessment of in-depth interviews, an examination of relevant strands of literature, as well as corpus of laws. Not all problems transform into a dispute between homeless applicants and housing authorities. There are several reasons for this, including various problems that accompany homelessness. It would be helpful if the homelessness legislation were to be simplified. Housing law practitioners are only one type of professional from whom homeless applicants seek help. With the deplorable state of legal aid, applicants would be in a better position if they were able to seek redress with minimum advice and guidance and without the help of a representative. Homelessness mediation might enable homeless people to gain greater access to justice provided mediation is made available to all potentially homeless people. However, the core processes of facilitative mediation, as well as the principles of mediation (confidentiality, voluntary participation, fair process, impartiality) would need to be respected in a manner in which they are not at present. This study argues, however, that the interrogatory approach of the ombudsperson in an enhanced scheme as an external reviewer to replace the internal review is the most appropriate match for applicants wishing to review unsatisfactory homelessness decisions.

There is general agreement amongst legal scholars and authorities that the law should be obeyed and should apply equally to all those subject to it without favour or discrimination. However, it is possible to see that in any legal system there will be situations when strict application of the law will produce undesirable results, such as injustice or other consequences not intended by the law as framed. In such circumstances the law may be changed but there may be broad policy reasons not to do so. The allied concepts of dispensation and economy grew up in the western and eastern traditions of the Christian church as mechanisms whereby an individual or a class could, by authority, be excused from obligations under a particular law in particular circumstances. These and similar methods, operating within a general assumption of obedience to the law, allow the strictness of the law to be tempered and obligations remitted with impunity. Besides the specific canonical concepts of dispensation and economy, discretion, custom, desuetude and deliberate inaction by enforcers can all function in the same way. Thus, whilst certainty and equality before the law are rarely if ever held not to be good, those in authority frequently have recourse to action akin to dispensation or economy for the prudent and just management of church and society. This thesis argues that dispensing power and authority exist within the Church of England as well as in other fields of contemporary law. The thesis is developed by examining the history of the concepts of dispensation and economy and by a series of case studies showing the development of these and other allied concepts.

The development of legal protection for underwater cultural heritage in Malaysia has been painfully slow. Although the realisation of the need to protect this endangered heritage from human interferences went as far back as the 1980s, it is the legal debates at UNESCO (1996- 2001), which have had a profound effect on the status of maritime archaeology in Malaysia as seen today. The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage 2001 (2001 UNESCO Convention) was adopted to amplify the basic legal regime provided by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (1982 UNCLOS). Although many of the problems have been addressed with the adoption of the 2001 UNESCO Convention, certain issues remain unclear, compounded by the lack of support by certain major maritime States. The objective of this thesis is two -fold. First, it seeks to examine the main features and substantive aspects of the 2001 UNESCO Convention and to make recommendations concerning Malaysia's ratification of the Convention. Secondly, this thesis will examine the present domestic legal framework protecting the underwater cultural heritage in Malaysia. Various international treaties, draft convention reports, legislation, cases, legal commentaries and other documents were studied for this purpose. This thesis also surveys the views of certain key government officials, archaeologists and private salvage companies in Malaysia. The writing of this thesis is divided into six main chapters. Chapter I gives an account of the socio- economic and the legal antecedents leading to the adoption of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on 2nd November 2001. Chapter II explores the core issues underpinning the Convention from a Malaysian perspective, a country rich with potential for discovery of the underwater cultural heritage but still at its infancy in underwater maritime archaeology. This chapter is then followed by Chapter III, which looks at the organisational aspects of heritage management in Malaysia. Chapters IV and V examine the present legal framework in Malaysia affecting the protection of its underwater cultural heritage. Chapter VI concludes the thesis with findings and recommendations.

From observational approaches to housing in Kuwait, it has been found that the people there are experiencing a housing crisis, specifically in interior architecture, as they are building and living in houses that do not fulfil their needs. This is evidenced by the fact that in a single year, almost every house owner in both private and governmental houses in Kuwait city has done two or three alterations, either adding a room or bathroom, enlarging a living room, or adding walls for privacy. For the above reasons, the aim of this study is to build a body of knowledge based on several theories, in order to enrich and improve the current Kuwaiti housing legislation with emphasis on interior architecture. By having access to authorized information, in theory Kuwaitis could improve their homes. This study therefore investigates theories such as Maslow's Motivation Theory that highlights the hierarchy of human needs, Adaptation theory to explore the cultural, social, and environmental adaptation processes humans experience within their houses, Space Syntax to provide a systematic approach to segregation and space integration within the house, and sustainability to provide guidelines for building houses that maintain the people's cultural values and house design traditions in a way that enriches their lives and well -being. In addition, this study focuses on planning and building legislation and the impact of neighbouring on the house design that in turn affects people's daily lives. This study begins by giving the reader a brief history of Kuwait and its urban development, along with the influence that the discovery of oil had on people's houses and their house design. This is followed by two parts: the first is the deductive part, which explores the theories outlined above, while the second is the inductive part and describes the author's empirical work in which extended interviews with open -ended questions were used to acquire data regarding people's feelings, problems and needs within their houses. The findings and conclusions from that work are presented together with recommendations for future housing design. The research findings and the deductive part of this study are then considered together to produce a framework which legislators and designers in Kuwait Municipality and the PAHC (Public Authority for Housing Care) could use to improve the current Kuwaiti housing legislation comprehensively, with emphasis on the interior architecture. In the conclusion a review of the main findings of the thesis is presented, together with a set of fundamental recommendations derived from the synthesis of the deductive and inductive parts of this research. The thesis concludes with a final message about the importance of interior architecture in the quality of people's lives.

This thesis aims to highlight the dilemmas within education provision for disabled pupils. This is the product of competing frameworks, coming from different historical and philosophical contexts. The Warnock Report (1978) only managed a partial transition within education for disabled pupils from segregation to inclusion. This midway stage of integration continued the bureaucratic and professional dominance over access to additional support and continued to segregate the most affected pupils despite using humanitarian and equality rhetoric to defend its position. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s this tension led to wide variation in policy interpretation throughout the UK, yet the SEN policy framework went largely unchallenged until the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA, 1995) launched the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act, also known as Part 4 in 2001 (DDA, 2001). The DDA attempted to impose a rights-based model of equality on education. The survey data and qualitative in-depth interviews generated by this thesis show that the existing tension fuelled a resistance that has challenged a thorough engagement with the DDA. Further the surveys sent to schools and local authorities suggest that insufficient time was afforded the DDA Part 4 to impact on Scottish schools before new legislation was introduced and ratified in Scottish law (Additional Support for Learning Act, 2004). In-depth interviews exploring the system of complaint under the DDA Part 4 revealed a further tension between impairment effects and social expectations of discipline in schools related specifically to a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or allied conditions. In following the ethos of the social model, this thesis concludes that the DDA Part 4 failed to account for the differentiation of experience within the disabled community, and so offered little support for those most challenged by the pedagogical structures in schools. Based on the findings of this thesis, the DDA Part 4 has had little impact on Scottish schools, due in part to the tension within the competing SEN framework and timing of other policies. In addition inherent flaws within the terms of the DDA Part 4, including the omission of auxiliary aids and services from the remit of discrimination, contributed to its failure to impact on Scottish schools.

Public policy is considered one of the landmarks of private international law. It has been a rich source of attraction to many scholars across the globe. While it is generally considered an expression of the prevailing major value-system norms and fundamental notions of justice in the forum, its variability has made it extremely difficult for all those who attempt to research the concept to ascribe a workable all-embracing definition and criterion for this dark tunnel of private international law. Similarly, globalisation as one of the most powerful forces shaping our modem world represents a perplexing complex notion that has intensified economic, political, legal, social, and cultural cross-border relations. Thus, it has impacted on and transformed traditional legal and cultural institutions. It is exactly in this context that the present thesis aims to analyse the concept of public policy in English, French and Egyptian legal systems, evaluate the phenomenon of globalisation and assess its impact, especially with respect to trends of cultural interaction on the evolutionary path of public policy, and provide a specific examination of the applications of public policy in relation to globalisation in family law and international commercial arbitration. The importance of this study not only stems from the analytical and comparative approaches utilised, the diversity of issues covered and their theoretical and practical aspects, but also from the fact that it represents the first study on the relation between public policy in conflict of laws and globalisation and amongst the relatively few that address the interrelation between globalisation and law.

This thesis examines the legal aspects of environmental and equity issues relating to oil operations in Nigeria's Niger Delta. Oil is Nigeria's chief foreign exchange earner since the early 1970s, accounting for over 90 per cent of her yearly revenue. This natural resource is presently found only in the Niger Delta region of the country, inhabited by indigenous people. The exploitation of this resource is carried on by the Nigerian State in collaboration with oil multi-national companies (MNCs), both of which reap huge revenue and profits, respectively, from the business. On the other hand, oil operations have their negative aspects: adverse environmental and social impacts, and these affect the region (and its biodiversity) and the local inhabitants. Over the last few years, the Niger Delta people have been embarking on frequent protests against oil operations in their region, and are demanding equity. Although previous studies have examined this situation, there has been no systematic study of the environmental and equity issues of the operations, particularly from the perspective of the collective rights of the Niger Delta indigenous people. This thesis is an attempt to fill this gap. Hence, the central question of this thesis is: What is the cause (s) of the present oil-related protests in the Niger Delta? Other research questions include: What is the legal status of the inhabitants of the Niger Delta region? What are the environmental impacts of oil operations in the Niger Delta? And how beneficial have oil operations been to the region and its inhabitants? These will be considered from the perspective of international law relating to indigenous and other collective rights as well as from a socio-legal perspective. Essentially, the thesis argues that contrary to previous studies oil-related environment protection statutes in Nigeria are defective in some respects. However, the major reason for the persistence of oil-related adverse environmental and social impacts is the non-enforcement of relevant laws. Further, it is argued that the operations are inequitable to the Niger Delta people and contrary to their indigenous and other group rights. Lastly, it is argued that the solution to the demands of the people does not lie in token responses, such as the recent establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission, but in addressing their demands substantively and consistent with fairness and justice, right to development and the recognized and emerging rights of the indigenous people under international law.

This project considers whether it is possible to define some works of literary or visual art as high art solely by virtue of their inherent qualities, or whether there are factors external to the work which are significant to this process of categorisation. Thereafter the project considers whether it is appropriate to argue that high art as a discrete category should be accorded a value of its own to be defended by the legal system alongside or in preference to other values (particularly freedom of speech), focusing initially upon non-legal arguments which have been put forward in this regard. Thereafter, the project critically analyses the way in which the English legal system has dealt with such issues during the period 1780 to date firstly by analysing the approach of the legislature towards the notion of high art and its protection and secondly, by analysing the approach of the courts in this area. Both the courts' role in enforcing statute law and administering the common law are assessed and the extent to which the courts have acknowledged the free speech principle in relation to artistic and non-artistic matter is given particular consideration. Finally, the project considers those international obligations which influence English law in this area, with particular reference to the European Convention on Human Rights and to the recent inclusion of Article 10, the right to freedom of expression, in the Human Rights Act 1998. The extent to which high art might be afforded greater protection under this new Act is considered, and conclusions are drawn as to whether greater protection should be sought for high art under English law and if so, upon what basis.

This thesis compares the availability and use of information about cannabis by members of two distinguished legislatures. It reviews the historical, social, legal, and moral contexts of cannabis use in Britain and the United states. It compares contemporary legislative politics in the two countries, with special reference to the relationship between the legislature and the executive, the roles ot Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members or Congress (MCs) in their respective houses and societies, and the usual sources and channels of information available to Members. It compares and contrasts the preparation and passage of the U.S. "Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970" and the U.K. "Misuse of Drugs Act 1971", giving particular attention to the way that Members became informed about cannabis, and how they were able (or unable) to use their information in the creation of the two laws. Particular emphasis is given to differences be tween the two systems. These differences are especially striking when the passage of legislation is viewed from the point of view of the participant. From the comparisons and contrasts made in this study several conclusions have emerged, chief among them that: 1) MC's had significantly more power in determining the policies and details of legislation than did MPs; 2) Source and uses of information were significantly greater in Washington than in Westminster; 3) The most important stage in both houses for Members to influence legislation was the committee stage; 4) Information was a valuable resource for MCs, but, at least in this instance, was of little uses to MPs; 5) Simply increasing sources of information will not improve the quality of legislation unless more opportunities for Members to use that information are also provided; 6) With regard to the problems now facing both countries, the availability and use of information by legislators is likely to play a critical part in future social-policy formation, and correspondingly; 7) A lack of opportunities for Members to obtain and use information is likely to impair not only the legislative process, but the future of the two societies as well.