Administration of Justice

This Chapter, an excerpt from the book entitled, ‘Water is Life: Women’s human rights in national and local water governance in Southern and Eastern Africa,’ explores how different women farm workers and their households on three resettlement farms are accessing water for multiple uses and participating in water governance on the basis of a plurality of norms and institutions ranging from community-based customary water governance systems to local government institutions post Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Programme. The three case studies clearly show how intersectional discrimination shapes access to water as well as environmental concerns. The violent invasion of white-owned large-scale commercial farms resulted in a dramatic change of circumstances for farm workers who lost their jobs and homes and free access to sanitation and water for domestic and livelihood use as provided by the white farmers. The Chapter whose focus was on farm worker households on A1 resettlement farms in Mazowe Catchment reveals how displaced farm worker women’s urgent need for clean water and sanitation was neglected by national, local and international humanitarian actors in the aftermath of the cholera outbreaks in 2008. Viewing the farm workers as aliens, the new settlers, who had taken over the formerly white-owned farms, did not see themselves as having an obligation to share available sources of clean drinking water with them; clear evidence of the limit of community based customary norms that establish a duty to share clean drinking water. In some instances however, local traditional leaders, in deference to the customary norms guaranteeing everybody water and food, gave displaced farm worker women permission to access garden land close to the rivers in the area. Despite this noble gesture seeking to respect, protect and fulfil the customary right to livelihood, this conflicted with the traditional leaders’ duty to protect riparian land in conjunction with the Environmental Management Agency (EMA). This apparent conflict of laws raised several key questions which needed answers as drawn from the empirical research in Mazowe catchment, namely; the extent to which these community-based water norms and institutions, constituting the lifeline for poor rural farm worker households, were recognized and protected in national water laws and policies? Further to that, to what extent was women farm workers’ right to participation in water governance recognized within this multiplicity of coexisting water governance structures?

As a preliminary matter, the article considers different legal regimes pertaining to the power of the international criminal tribunals to punish conduct that tends to impede or frustrate the good administration of justice, from Nuremberg to the UN Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals. It further examines the actus reus and mens rea of the offence of giving false testimony under solemn declaration, pursuant to article 70(1)(a) of the Rome Statute. It separately evaluates whether materiality of the false testimony is a requisite legal element of this offence. In conclusion, the article observes that few offences are carried off with greater impunity in the international criminal proceedings, and cautions against establishing false testimony as norm through a deliberate non-enforcement of its prohibition.

En este artículo presentamos la imagen del rex iustus, directamente vinculada con la que se consideraba la principal función real: la administración de la justicia. En primer lugar, se analiza el pensamiento corporativo alfonsí a partir de las definiciones de los elementos que constituyen el cuerpo político proporcionadas por las Siete Partidas. La tarea de los reyes de mantener a su pueblo en justicia se refleja primordialmente en el ejercicio de la función de juez (rex iudex), que Alfonso X buscó centralizar bajo la autoridad real. En segundo lugar, la noción de soberanía, en estado germinativo en la obra alfonsina, permite comprender como fue posible que un rey castellano del siglo XIII ejerciera también la función legislativa (rex legislator). Finalmente, se analizan algunos de los principios jurídicos derivados del derecho romano más influyentes del periodo, reflejando tanto la justificación teórica alfonsina para el proceso de centralización, como los mismos factores de limitación de los poderes del rey.

This paper presents the image of the rex iustus, which is directly connected to what was considered the main role of the king: the administration of justice. In the first place, we analyse the Alfonsine corporate thought based on definitions of the elements that formed the political body provided by the Siete Partidas. The king’s duty of keeping their people in justice reflects primarily on his role as a judge (rex iudex), which Alfonso X sought to centralize under his authority. In the second place, the notion of sovereignty, which is found in germination in the Alfonsine works, allows us to understand how it was possible for a thirteenth-century Castilian king to also exercise a legislative function (rex legislator). Finally, we analyse some of the most influential Roman law principles of the period, which reflect not only the theoretical justification for Alfonso X’s centralization process but also, at the same time, the very factors that limited the king’s powers.

*P.L. 254 The Contracting Parties to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR or Convention) do not always peacefully collaborate for their mutual benefit. Their relations can deteriorate to the point of military confrontation. The drafters of the ECHR thought that the creation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or Court) and the Contracting Parties' adherence to human rights would be sufficient to prevent military conflicts in Europe. However, the mere fact that some states ratified the Convention has not stopped them from resorting to the use of force. This paper examines whether the ECtHR is capable of preventing or deescalating armed conflicts between the Contracting Parties to the Convention and assesses what tools can assist in its attempts to do so. It is argued here that the Court's involvement into ongoing armed conflicts by means of interim measures can threaten the Court's legitimacy. The impact of the ECtHR on ongoing violations of human rights is limited. The Court sometimes can express its opinion in relation to a continuing violation. For instance, if the applicant has been arrested illegally and continues to be held when the ECtHR judgment finding a violation of the Convention in this situation is delivered, the Court can suggest that release is the only way to remedy such a violation. 1 Having said that, in the vast majority of cases judicial review is a predominantly post factum exercise dealing with the consequences of violations of the Convention and offering some remedial redress to breaches that have already happened. The Court can impact the ongoing situation by issuing interim measures that would prevent the state from breaching the rights of the applicant. Interim measures are the key for effective adjudication of human rights complaints. They make sure that the Court's judgments are practical and executable. 2 In the majority of cases the Court issues interim measures where the applicants are in imminent danger of serious and irreversible harm. 3 The most common example of interim measures indicated by the Court is when such measures *P.L. 255 prevent a Contracting Party from forceful removal of an applicant to a state where he or she could be ill-treated. 4 The Convention itself does not empower the Court to adopt legally binding interim measures. It is not an accidental omission. This issue was discussed in the late 1940s when the original Convention was drafted and the drafters did not include a provision that would give the power to issue precautionary measures to the Court and/or the Commission. 5 This issue was again discussed in the 1970s but was again rejected by the Committee of Ministers. The reason was that such measures enjoy high compliance rate even without being properly acknowledged by the Convention. 6 The Contracting Parties also had a chance to include relevant provisions into the Convention in the late 1990s when the Court system was reformed, but interim measures were not formally included in the text of the Convention. 7 The most recent Protocols, 14 and 15, which amend some elements of the procedure under the Convention also do not add provisions describing interim measures into the text of the ECHR.

– This paper proposes to study the early-modern Portuguese magistracy to demonstrate a specific character of the Portuguese imperial experience which resided in an intense circulation of its agents, either between different colonial territories, either between the colonies and mainland Portugal. It underlines the precociousness of its bureaucratization, which derives from the notion of royal service and its non-transactional nature, since the early 16 th century. The paper elaborates on the role played by magistrates and their circulation in the construction of a common juridical space that is built by the Portuguese crown throughout the early-modern period in its overseas territories. It ends up proposing some exploratory methodologies to map and measure the construction and extension of this bureaucratic network, making use of both prosopographical data and network analysis methods. Introdução Este texto parte da ideia de circulação intensa de agentes da coroa por-tuguesa dentro do espaço colonial e entre o espaço colonial e Portugal. Por trás desta proposta, está a hipótese de que, na transição da época medieval para a época moderna, se verifica uma burocratização precoce do aparelho judicial português que estimula e facilita essa circulação. Um passo se-guinte, para o qual serão dadas breves indicações, uma vez que se trata de trabalho a fazer nos próximos tempos, seria o de propôr uma cartografia da rede burocrática ao longo da época moderna – as suas ligações, a frequência da circulação e a sua intensidade. O espaço colonial sob jurisdição directa da coroa portuguesa é um espaço real, que vai sendo implementado no terreno, num processo longo de estabelecimento e extensão, que se prolonga desde meados do séc. XVII Unauthenticated Download Date | 6/7/16 10:36 AM

Resumen:
Este artículo analiza la administración y el funcionamiento de la justicia a través de tres casos ocurridos en el mundo rural de las provincias de Santa Marta, Cartagena y Antioquia, que involucraron diversas instituciones y autoridades que también administraban justicia. Se concluye que la administración de justicia en las sociedades rurales neogranadinas recreaba un mundo politizado por el mismo carácter de la justicia
impartida: jurisdiccional, variada, con diversos elementos tomados de la costumbre. También proporciona otros matices como el de la existencia de unas instituciones y autoridades en comunicación permanente con los centros de poder virreinal.

*
Abstract:
This ar ticle analyzes the administration and operation of the justice system through three cases occurred in the rural regions of the provinces of Santa Marta, Cartagena and Antioquia. These cases involved various institutions and authorities that also administered justice. We conclude
that the administration of justice in rural neo-Grenadian societies recreated a world politicized by the same characteristics of the justice being dispensed: jurisdiction-based, diverse, and with various elements taken from custom. The article also shows other nuances such as the existence
of institutions and authorities in constant communication with the centers of viceroyal power.

Este artículo trata de la cuestión del trato judicial de las llamadas personae miserabiles, es decir, personas desamparadas (sobre todo, en este caso, los indios americanos), según la doctrina de los juristas españoles de los siglos XVI y XVII. Una de las principales consecuencias de formar parte de esta categoría era la de la atenuación de la pena en casos de delitos penales cometidos por tales individuos, lo que dio lugar a diversos problemas en la práctica jurídica de la época.

This paper proposes an organizational design solution for the issue of staffing gap in federal district courts in the 5th Circuit of Federal Justice in Brazil. The research project applies design thinking as an innovative tool to address the issue. Empirical research was carried out through focus group discussion and interviews involving administrative directors of federal district courts in the 5th Circuit of Federal Justice and occupants of management positions in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeal, as well as federal judges of the 3rd and 4th Circuits of Federal Justice in Brazil previously involved in organizational redesign initiatives carried out in those jurisdictions. The research findings led to the formulation of a menu of possible solutions for the problem analyzed: forming of a single structure for the administrative support of several federal district courts; structuring of flexible teams to meet localized and transient workload needs; centralization of specific tasks in a structure external to the federal district courts; or broad redefinition of the jurisdiction of the federal district courts based on the principles of specialization, regionalization and equalization of workload.

Este artículo recoge los resultados parciales de la investigación doctoral titulada Acción política performativa: relacionalidad y agenciamiento en las actuales formas de reclamación. Dicha investigación se preguntó por la naturaleza performativa en algunas formas de reclamación social actuales, específicamente, en aquellas en las que se recurre a repertorios o mediaciones de carácter estético o artístico. En este sentido se recogen acá algunos de los elementos teóricos de los estudios de la performance y de la comprensión de la performatividad. Junto con ello, se alude a la etnografía performativa analizando tres mediaciones: el grafiti “¿Quién dio la orden?”, el reportaje “Nunca más” del portal digital Pacifistas y la muestra fotográfica Madres terra, para poner en la escena pública el caso de los falsos positivos. Los hallazgos revelan cuatro funciones de la performatividad que dan algunas luces sobre la variabilidad en los lenguajes, las expresividades y los efectos que se generan en estas formas de reclamación. La primera función se refiere a las acciones políticas como convergencia y materialización de la reclamación a través de grafitis, performances, tatuajes, fotografías, etc. La segunda función habla de cómo las mediaciones son expresiones de una ritualidad que se encarga de actualizar y renovar símbolos. La tercera función propone que tales expresiones son utilizadas, sobre todo, por las víctimas como una manera de corporalizar la denuncia. Y la cuarta establece cómo, a través de las mediaciones, es posible movilizar los sentidos convencionales respecto a la reclamación y la denuncia.

Nigeria as a country is largely conflict ridden. Beginning from militancy in the oil rich Niger Delta Region of the Country to the religious conflicts in the North and more recently the Farmers and herders clash in the middle belt region. These conflicts are most times not unconnected to disputants’ frustrations of not getting justice in good time should they approach the Court. When they approach the Courts, the overburdened Court dockets lead to prolonged litigations with no justice in sight. These experiences have resulted in the lack of confidence in the judicial system and can be explained as why disputants take matters into their hands.

Following the above, many have anchored the advocacy of adopting other means of dispute resolution as against litigation. These clamors have birthed various Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) initiatives including the Multi-Door CourtHouse (MDCH) system which is currently operating in a number of States in Nigeria with the earliest established in 2002 in Lagos State.

Notwithstanding the move towards substantially adopting ADR as a preferred means of dispute resolution in Nigeria, majority of the populace remain skeptical of its effectiveness. Consequently, litigation still holds sway as the first option for most disputants in Nigeria with people beginning their dispute journey with the phrase; “let’s go to Court!”

Against this backdrop, this paper aims at emphasizing the gains of and continuing need for a paradigm shift from litigation. The drawbacks of the Court system in Nigeria are therefore addressed in clear statistical terms and the achievements of the ADR initiatives within the short period of its adoption will be highlighted.

This article analyzed 32 empirical studies on the impact of the lawyer's performance on the outcome of the judicial decision. The findings were: the concentration of research in the United States (81.25 percent), civil jurisdiction (62.5 percent), the year of publication in general in the 2010 decade (56.25 percent) and the predominant use of the observational method (75 percent). The great methodological difficulty of these researches is to identify with precision if the impact in the judicial decision stems from the lawyer's performance or if it is only a consequence of the characteristics of the processes that are being judged, which can be achieved through experiments with research design with distribution cases to balance hidden variables.

La monografia intende accompagnare il lettore in un viaggio all’interno della giustizia civile italiana, affrontando molte delle questioni attualmente oggetto di discussione sia in ambito accademico sia nel dibattito pubblico. Il libro presenta i risultati di diversi periodi di ricerca all’interno di alcuni uffici giudiziari e studi legali italiani. Il filo rosso che collega tali esperienze è l’idea secondo cui, per comprendere l’attività dei professionisti del diritto, sia necessario esaminare i processi di istituzionalizzazione del sapere esperto che queste figure incarnano. Il volume propone un modello teorico innovativo, che si basa su tre dimensioni d’analisi: pratica, prassi e norma. Il saggio intende essere, da un lato, uno specchio, attraverso il quale gli operatori giuridici possano riconoscersi e ripensare alle loro attività e, dall’altro, uno strumento di conoscenza, per superare le barriere professionali che condizionano il funzionamento della giustizia italiana.

RESUMO:
O ofício de chanceler da Casa da Suplicação – o supremo tribunal português – foi criado em 1534, como resultado do desmembramento de competências do chanceler mor. O controlo dos actos dos juízes superiores no séc. XVI é exercido por meio de um conjunto de mecanismos institucionais, desempenhando o chanceler um papel de relevo no tribunal, designadamente, por via da verificação da legalidade no momento de validação das sentenças.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Idade Moderna; tribunais superiores; chanceler; mecanismos de controlo judicial.

RESUMEN:
El oficio de canciller de la Casa de Suplicação – el tribunal supremo portugués – se estableció en 1534, como resultado de la desmembración de competencias del canciller mayor.  El control de los actos de los jueces superiores en el siglo XVI se ejerce por medio de un conjunto de arreglos institucionales, desempeñando el canciller un papel importante en el tribunal, en particular, por via del control de legalidad en el momento de la validación de las sentencias.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Edad Moderna; tribunales superiores; canciller; mecanismos de control judicial.

ABSTRACT:
The office of chancellor of the Casa de Suplicação – the Portuguese high court – was created in 1534, as a result of the detachment of powers of the Lord Chancellor. The control of the acts of the high judges in the 16th century is exercised through a set of institutional mechanisms, with the chancellor playing a prominent role in the court namely by verifying legality during the process of validation of court decisions.
KEYWORDS: Early Modern Age; high courts; chancellor; judicial control mechanisms

This paper discusses two aspects of the migration and crime. First, it
explores the crimes associated with internal and external migrants.
The analysis shows that foreigners in Russia are more often charged
with low gravity crimes such as “forgery of documents” and “illegal
crossing of the border.” With regard to other types of crimes there
are almost no difference between Russian citizens and foreigners.
Second, the paper discusses the inequality between Russians and
foreigners before criminal court which could be found from the
analysis of the judicial statistics. Russian judges do indeed convict
foreigners more often than citizens of Russian Federation. They also
more often sentence foreigners to real imprisonment and more rarely
choose suspended sentence. However, when it comes to the length of
incarceration term, Russian judges tend to be more lenient to
migrants than to Russians and systematically give them shorter
prison terms than to Russian citizens. The study is based on the dataset of 1,5 million individual cases considered by Russian Courts
in 2009-first half of 2010

Resumen:
En este artículo se examinan las características del abigeato en La Pampa en las primeras décadas del siglo xx. El objetivo principal de esta investigación es reconocer la difusión de valores sociales sobre el robo de ganado en el ámbito de la justicia y la prensa. Se analizan los mecanismos estatales para su control y los actores sociales involucrados en el robo, la comercialización y el transporte de ganado, para complejizar las interpretaciones que asocian este delito únicamente a los sectores subordinados de la sociedad pampeana.

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This article examines the characteristics of cattle raiding in La Pampa during the first decades of the 20th century. The main objective of this research was to recognize the spread of social values regarding cattle theft in the fields of justice and press. We analyze the mechanisms of the state to control cattle theft and the social actors involved in stealing, commercializing, and transporting cattle, to make more complex the interpretations that only associate this crime to subordinate sectors of the society of La Pampa.

RESUMEN: Esta contribución parte de la perplejidad de que, en la España de la I República, se prohíba a los naturales de las provincias ultramarinas entrar a formar parte de la judicatura, a pesar de que el Decreto orgánico de 25 de octubre de 1870, que organizaba la carrera judicial en Ultramar, lo había permitido. A propósito de este episodio, el trabajo trata de reflexionar acerca de la recuperación de un veto y de unos argumentos de Derecho indiano justamente en un momento revolucionario y liberal.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Administración de justicia colonial, naturales, oposiciones a la judicatura, Decreto orgánico de 25 de octubre de 1870, Cuba, Puerto Rico
ABSTRACT: This contribution is due to the perplexity of banning the natives of the overseas provinces become part of the judiciary during the 1st Republic, although the Organic Decree of 25th October, 1870 organizing the judiciary overseas had allowed it. On the score of this episode, this work tries to reflect on the sense of the recovery of these veto and arguments of Indian Law for the colonies precisely during a revolutionary and liberal context in the metropolis.   
KEY WORDS: Colonial judiciary, natives, competitions for judges, Organic Decree of 25th, October 1870, Cuba, Puerto Rico

En este artículo se busca indagar sobre las condiciones que propiciaron a finales del siglo XVIII la aparición del madresolterismo en la provincia antioqueña. Consideraciones sobre la etnia, el matrimonio, el honor, la concepción de la mujer y la posición de las autoridades, nos permiten construir sus posibles respuestas. Por otro lado, se pretende discernir las características demográficas y sociológicas que determinaron la vida cotidiana en esta tipología familiar: ¿cuál fue su situación económica y sus estrategias de vida? ¿Cómo se relacionaron estas madres con sus hijos? Tal aproximación a la cotidianidad y a los momentos de crisis abren una ventana para la comprensión del lugar que ocuparon los niños y jóvenes ilegítimos en una sociedad que por un lado tendió a la exclusión, pero que por otro se vio abocada a convivir con aquello que precisamente quiso excluir: mestizaje e ilegitimidad.

Interpretation of Statutes is the subject of the domain of Judiciary. In a democratic set up
where there is separation of powers the three organs of the State, namely, the Legislature,
the Executive and the Judiciary are to remain independent of each other each performing
its constitutional role independently. By observance of this principle the grace and glory
of the rule of law brings confidence and transparency in the working of the said organs
with the result that the entire system works well for the welfare of the people.

The paper tells the object and purpose of the Code of Criminal Procedure to facilitate administration of criminal justice and not to thwart it. It is to safeguard the life and liberty of every citizen, even the accused unless it is proved beyond reasonable doubt after full and fair trial by a competent court of law. It is not to deprive the complainant of their lawful right.