bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
SCALIA, HAMDAN AND THE PRINCIPLES OF SUBJECT MATTER RECUSAL
Authors: Flanagan Brian
Published: August 2020

The point of judicial recusal is at once obvious and elusive.  The idea of a partial judge immediately grates on our sense of fairness.  Almost invariably, the normative basis of judicial impartiality is traced to what is described as ‘natural justice’;1 specifically the celebrated maxims of nemo iudex in causa sua2 and audi alteram partem.3  But the relationship of this moral bedrock to the exigencies and settled practices of constitutional adjudication is far from straightforward.  This article will focus on the implications of the latter principle – perhaps best translated as a standard of judicial open-mindedness regarding the subject matter of a dispute.  Despite its moral immediacy, there are serious theoretical objections, best described as ‘realist,’ to an expansive conception of judicial open-mindedness.  Likewise, at a practical level, the institution of the dissenting opinion can be seen as diluting the duty to keep an open mind, at least in jurisdictions such as the US where judges are expected to exhibit relatively little deference towards previous decisions in which they were outvoted.
Fornah v Secretary of State for the Home Department, House of Lords [2006] UKHL 46, [2006] 3 FCR 381, [2007] 1 All ER 671
Authors: Edwards Susan
Published: August 2020

FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION – VIOLENCE AGAINST GIRLS AND WOMEN  AS A  PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPZainab Esther Fornah was fifteen years old when on 15th March 2003, as an unaccompanied minor, she arrived at UK’s Gatwick airport claiming asylum. As she was a child she was taken into the care of West Sussex Social Services Child Asylum Team. She had fled Sierra Leone where she had been captured by rebels, who had killed her family, and was repeatedly raped.  She did not want to return to her uncle’s village fearing that she would be forcibly genitally mutilated, as was customary practice. Whilst her father was alive he was able to protect her from this practice. Female genital mutilation, has variously been described as female circumcision and as clitoridectomy, as if to render benign this very specific inhumane habituated practice against females. It involves cutting away the clitoris, labia minora, labia majora and vulva of a female. The area remaining is then sewn together leaving a small aperture to allow for menstruation and urination. This maiming is often perpetrated without anaesthetic and some children do not survive. The World Health Organisation defines this particular form of torture, somewhat blandly, as “the partial or complete removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural or any other non-therapeutic reason.
Editorial
Authors: P P H
Published: August 2020

Editorial
Valedictory speeches upon the impending retirement of the Master of the Rolls
Authors: P P H
Published: August 2020

Valedictory speeches upon the impending retirement of the Master of the Rolls
Early Jewish Law and University Education
Authors: Booth Roger P
Published: August 2020

Early Jewish Law and University Education
Early Jewish Law and University Education
Authors: Edmund-Davies E
Published: August 2020

Early Jewish Law and University Education
Jacob v Shultz-Jacob, 923 A 2d 473, 2007 Pa Super Lexis 957 (Pa Super 2007)
Authors: Rains Robert E
Published: August 2020

THREE PARENTS?United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia once famously opined that, “. . . law, like nature itself, makes no provision for dual fatherhood.”  Of course, we know that many children today are being raised in households where their primary paternal figure is a stepfather, and their natural father, who is their legal father, may or may not exercise some quantum of visitation/access.2  Moreover, many American jurisdictions today allow same-sex couples to adopt, so that a child has either two mothers or two fathers.3  But the situation which Justice Scalia was addressing involved a child whose mother was married at the time of conception, who apparently was the product of her mother’s affair with another man, and where the mother’s husband had forgiven all and accepted the child as his own.4  Justice Scalia could not imagine that the law, or nature, would permit a child to have three parents, in that case a mother and two fathers.  Indeed, in the typical same-sex adoption case, either there is no known father because one of the lesbian partners was inseminated by an anonymous donor,5 or a known donor has agreed to terminate his parental rights.6  In either of those scenarios, a child ends up with the normal number of parents:  two.
FORCED MARRIAGE: BIFURCATED VALUES IN THE UK
Authors: Welstead Mary
Published: August 2020

I begin with a story because, in reality, most law, and particularly family law, is about stories, stories of human encounters. My story is about a 16-year-old Muslim girl, let me call her Jamila (not, of course, her real name) who was born in England, and lived with her parents who originated from a small village in Asia. The family lived a very traditional life in England, alongside other families from a similar cultural background. Jamila’s parents did not wish her to be contaminated by English values which seemed so far removed from their own.  Jamila’s father was concerned that his daughter had suddenly started to wet the bed at night. He took her to see an English male doctor whose surgery was close to their home in Birmingham. Jamila arrived for her appointment, beautifully dressed in a traditional salwaar kameez made of silk and chiffon. Her father wished to remain with his daughter during the consultation with the doctor.  However, the doctor insisted that he respect the confidentiality between doctor and patient, an accepted essential in England, and told the father that Jamila must be allowed to speak to him on her own. The father reluctantly capitulated.
THE EVIDENCE OF ANONYMOUS WITNESSES IN CRIMINAL COURTS: NOW AND INTO THE FUTURE
Authors: Ward Alan George
Published: August 2020

Anonymous witness evidence, the use of which had quietly expanded in the early part of the twenty-first century in criminal courts in England and Wales, was significantly curtailed by the House of Lords in the case of R v Davis. Little over a month later the government had enacted legislation to minimise the impact of their Lordships’ ruling, yet the long-term future of this area of the criminal law of evidence remains undetermined. This article seeks to assess what impact the Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Act 2008 has had on the right to a fair trial in England and Wales and, subsequently, to weigh up the options for long-term reform in this area of the law. It will be submitted that the stated policy aim of the government, the protection of witnesses, can be achieved for the long-term without impeding or undermining the absolute right of the defendant to a fair trial.
THE CHANGING FACE OF THE CITY
Authors: Halpern Ann
Published: August 2020

Today, I want to focus on what was until recently called a credit crunch which has now turned into a credit crisis and, in the City, become something of a disaster with jobs and markets disappearing. I am going to look at the origins of the current economic situation and the implications of this for legal work in the City.   If I have time I will also mention some recent research about the differences between men and women when it comes to appetite for risk taking and the implications of this for the banking sector in particular.
Smith v Chief Constable of Sussex Police; [2008] UKHL; 50
Authors: Brennan Carol
Published: August 2020

WHO HAS FIRST CLAIM ON “THE LOYALTY OF THE LAW”?Smith v Chief Constable of the Sussex Police (hereafter Smith) was heard by the House of Lords at the same time as Chief Constable of the Hertfordshire Police v Van Colle and another because they had two uniting factors. First, they both concerned the recurring question of the ambit of police liability in the situation described by Lord Bingham thus: “…if the police are alerted to a threat that D may kill or inflict violence on V, and the police take no action to prevent that occurrence, and D does kill or inflict violence on V, may V or his relatives obtain civil redress against the police, and if so, how and in what circumstances?”2  Secondly, considering the cases together highlighted the wider issue of the relationship between decisions under the Human Rights Act 1998 (hereafter the HRA) and the development of the common law. The Law Lords embarked on a more extensive examination of these issues in Smith and thus that case will be the exclusive focus of this note.  In addition, the study of Smith raises questions regarding proposals for law reform as well as about judicial perceptions of policy priorities.
CONSTRUCTIVE TRUSTS AND THE HOMEMAKER
Authors: Greer Sarah , Pawlowski Mark
Published: August 2020

To what extent, following the decisions in Stack v Dowden and Abbott v Abbott, may a claimant acquire beneficial ownership in the family home under a constructive trust relying purely on domestic contributions as homemaker?  The writers examine this question against the background of single and joint ownership cases and suggest that, in the light of recent judicial pronouncements, the criteria for establishing a common intention constructive trust enunciated by Lord Bridge in Lloyds Bank plc v Rosset may have been eroded so as to allow for a much broader inquiry of the claimant’s contributions to support a constructive trust.  In particular, it is submitted that this may allow the English courts to consider the same factors for both establishing and quantifying the claimant’s interest in the property which, in turn, may pave the way for a closer assimilation between single and joint ownership cases in this field.
Thorner v Major and others [2009] 1 WLR 776
Authors: Bray Judith
Published: August 2020

PROPRIETARY ESTOPPEL: A NEW CHAPTER DAWNS?The decision of the Court of Appeal in Thorner v Major1 briefly constructed an almost impossible strait-jacket around potential claimants under proprietary estoppel, reminiscent of the way the strict requirements under the Willmot v Barber2 probanda had earlier limited such claims3. The Court of Appeal held in Thorner v Major4 that an assurance of rights had to be clear and unequivocal in order to give rise to property rights and on the facts of this case the assurances had been too vague to give rise to such rights. In an area of law based on informality and often vague promises it appeared that the law was now in retrenchment and was reasserting the need for very strict limitations on the circumstances in which property claims under proprietary estoppel could arise.
ONCE UPON A COUNTRY. A PALESTINIAN LIFE
Authors: Gearty Conor
Published: August 2020

Sari Nusseibeh (with Anthony David) (London: Halban, 2009 (2nd edn) 534 pp ISBN 9781905559145This is the autobiography of an academic whose enthralling story is about far more than merely himself. Sari Nusseibeh is a philosopher who is President of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem.  His family have been in that city for well over a thousand years – there are stories here about the (female) ancestor who was a first follower of the Prophet and the 7th century relative who was installed by Caliph Omar as the first Moslem high judge of Jerusalem and given custody of the key to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This key has mattered a lot to the Nusseibehs; give or take the occasional Crusade, they have held it through the centuries, the Moslem doorkeeper to the fighting Christians on the site of Christ’s crucifixion.   Nusseibeh is hilarious on this as he is on so much else in the first half of the book.  Dominating these early pages is his extraordinary father: lawyer; tennis player of renown; Cambridge graduate; fighter for the Palestinians (he was shot in the 1948 war and lost a leg); and then (during the Jordanian hegemony that followed that national catastrophe) governor of Jerusalem, Jordan’s Ministry of Defence and her Ambassador to the United Kingdom. His funeral in 1986 ‘turned into the largest political demonstration in Jerusalem since the occupation’ – the ‘crowd like water from a fire hose aimed into a maze’.
“THE RULE OF LAW”
Authors: Stevens Irving
Published: August 2020

Tom Bingham (Allen Lane, London 2010) 224 pp ISBN 978-1846140907Writing this piece, in the aftermath of the worst civil unrest to have afflicted our major cities in a generation, I am struck by how infrequently “the rule of law” has been invoked by those who have spoken out in condemnation of the violence. In that respect, the riots of 2011 stand in marked contrast to those of 1985 and 1990, following the miners’ strike and the introduction of the controversial “poll tax” respectively, when politicians (for whom, evidently, the term was little more than a synonym for “law and order”) seemed to be falling over each other to assert that “the rule of law must prevail”.
THE GRADUAL CURTAILMENT OF THE ROYAL PREROGATIVE
Authors: Cox Noel
Published: August 2020

In the United Kingdom and those countries that recognise Elizabeth II as their Queen,1 there are to be found certain fundamental constitutional principles. One of these is that much of the legal basis of executive power derives from the Crown,2 though this has, in the past, often been downplayed for political and other reasons. Indeed, in the Commonwealth as a whole, political independence has often been equated with the reduction of the role of the Crown to a position of subservience to the political executive.3 What remains important is the position of the Crown as an organising principle of government (the framework upon which the structure of government is built4), as a source of legitimacy, and as a symbol for permanent government. Executive power, therefore, remains based on the royal prerogative, and the „third source‟ of authority (the legal powers of the legal natural person, as the Crown is a corporation aggregate), as well as upon statute law.
LORD DENNING AND MARGARET THATCHER, LAW AND SOCIETY
Authors: Lee Simon
Published: August 2020

“Lord Denning is the best-known and best-loved judge in the whole of our history.” That was the opening of Lord Bingham’s address at the service of thanksgiving for the life of Lord Denning, the former Master of the Rolls, in Westminster Abbey in 1999. Lord Bingham was well-placed to judge. He himself held the offices of Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice and Senior Law Lord. He is an accomplished historian. He ascribed Lord Denning’s renown and reputation to his unique warmth, his popular touch and his longevity. Tom Denning was born in the Victorian era, in 1899, and lived a few weeks beyond his 100th birthday in 1999. He only retired at the age of 82 and then reluctantly.
PIERCING THE VEIL – A DODO OF A DOCTRINE?
Authors: Alcock Alistair
Published: August 2020

In the course of the 2012/13 legal year, the Supreme Court has had to consider the doctrine of piercing the corporate veil twice, in VTB Capital plc v Nutritek International Corpn (VTB),  and more recently in Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd (Prest). On both occasions, the Court was in effect asked to remove the whole doctrine from English Law, but narrowly failed to do so, begging the question, does the doctrine really serve any purpose now? Let me start with Prest.
THE EFFECT OF ‘FAIRNESS’ ON PRE-NUPTIAL AGREEMENTS
Authors: Bray Judith
Published: August 2020

Until the seminal judgment of Radmacher v Granatino pre-nuptial or pre-marital agreements were given limited weight in English law. Prior to this decision there had been considerable debate about the status in law of all nuptial settlements both pre and post marriage. The key question for Radmacher was whether pre-nuptial settlements should attract equal weight as agreements drawn up during the course of a marriage. In MacLeod v MacLeod the Privy Council finally resolved the issue with regard to post-nuptial settlements holding that agreements drawn up post marriage would carry weight when the court decides a claim for financial relief under s.25 Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. The English courts, unlike other jurisdictions, have always been reluctant to uphold agreements, which purport to deprive the court of its jurisdiction in deciding financial provision. There was also an underlying presumption that parties to a marriage did not intend their agreements to form legally binding contracts and finding adequate consideration within such agreements was often difficult unless the agreement is incorporated in a deed. The effect of the Supreme Court’s decision in Radmacher was not to reverse this approach. Pre-nuptial agreements were not made binding on the court but rather the court is invited to give weight to all nuptial agreements subject to certain safeguards. The subsequent decision in Luckwell v Limatagives guidance as to when the court will be prepared to deviate from pre-marital agreements even when the parties have been given independent legal advice and both parties are fully aware of the possible effect of such an agreement.
EQUITY’S JURISDICTION TO RELIEVE AGAINST FORFEITURE OF LEASES – AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Authors: Pawlowski Mark
Published: August 2020

This article seeks to trace the evolution of equity’s jurisdiction to relieve against the forfeiture of leases from the early 17th century cases through to the present day. Although the celebrated case of Sanders v Pope, decided in 1806, marked a trend towards a more flexible (discretionary) approach to equitable relief, this was to be short lived following Lord Eldon’s judgment in Hill v Barclay in 1811 declining to grant relief against forfeiture of a lease for a wilful breach of covenant not involving the failure to pay rent even where the same was capable of adequate compensation. This remained the position until 1973, when the House of Lords in Shiloh Spinners Ltd v Harding took the opportunity to review the whole question of the scope of equity’s jurisdiction to relieve against forfeiture. What emerged was a principled approach to the grant of equitable relief which was not limited to the two orthodox heads of relief: (a) where the right to forfeit was inserted by way of security for the payment of rent nd (b) where the breach had been occasioned by fraud, accident, mistake or surprise. The Shiloh ruling paved the way for the granting of relief for breaches of other covenants in the same way as that in the case of rent, namely, to prevent a forfeiture where the landlord may be adequately compensated and receive proper undertakings as to future performance, so that the forfeiture clause is merely security to achieve these results.
MORAL CRUSADES IN AN AGE OF MISTRUST: THE JIMMY SAVILE SCANDAL
Authors: Brennan Carol
Published: August 2020

Frank Furedi’s exposition of the Jimmy Savile scandal is a self-styled offer of a “sociologically informed explanation” of the drama, as it unfolded. Its publication date of 2013 is significant, because even a year is a long time in the dismal saga of child abuse revelations in 21st century Britain.
THE PROBLEM OF THE NON-JUSTICIABILITY OF RELIGIOUS DEFAMATIONS
Authors: Smith Peter
Published: August 2020

English law has long held the principle that religions should be free from interference by the state in certain matters. The original 1215 edition of the Magna Carta proclaimed, as its first article, ‘THAT WE HAVE GRANTED TO GOD, and by this present charter have confirmed for us and our heirs in perpetuity, that the English Church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired.’This article was intended to protect the established Catholic Church from the powers of the state, specifically from interference in church elections by the executive in the form of the person of the monarch. The notion that religions were institutions with practices and beliefs that were outside the control of the state in certain respects was adopted by the common law and is found in modern times in the principle of non-justiciability on the matter of religion in certain types of civil case.
MAGNA CARTA AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN FAMILY PROCEEDINGS
Authors: Mostyn Nicholas
Published: August 2020

We had a surprise in January 2012 when a practising QC was parachuted straight into the Supreme Court (as the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords became in 2009). But if there were expressions of discontent they were definitely sub rosa since the man in question, Jonathan Sumption QC, was then, and has since proved himself to be, pre-eminently qualified for the position. He is one of our foremost medieval historians, a Fellow of Magdalen College who taught History, before leaving to pursue a career at the Bar, where he rose to dizzy heights. His as yet uncompleted history of the Hundred Years’ War has received the highest praise. So it perhaps was not surprising that in this octocentenial year he should have been asked by the Friends of the British Library (an audience I warrant as challenging as this) to speak to them about Magna Carta on 9 March 2015. If I may say so, his address ‘Magna Carta then and now’ is a masterpiece. It completes the destruction of the hermeneutical myth originated by Sir Edward Coke which had been commenced by William McKechnie in his landmark essay published in 1905.
HUMAN DIGNITY AND FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS IN SOUTH AFRICA AND IRELAND AND RULE OF LAW REFORM AND DEVELOPMENT – CHARTING THE FRAGILE PATH OF PROGRESS
Authors: Scutt Jocelynne
Published: August 2020

These two scholarly and accessible works stand in their own right, whilst being complementary. Each affirms and expands on what Magna Carta is believed to embody. They engage with the struggle to ensure that law is a living branch of learning and praxis, advancing not only notions of rights but fixing them firmly into the interstices not only of legal decision–making, but throughout the legal systems they address and the societies thereby regulated. Rule of Law is the more straightforward of the two. Human dignity and fundamental rights is more complex. Yet both acknowledge the vital importance of law and justice as the basis of a good, decent and just society. Each questions how best this can be achieved.
EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION
Authors: Edwards Susan
Published: August 2020

I am delighted to announce the publication of our Magna Carta 2015 Special Edition of the Denning Law Journal. Each of our contributors has explored the impact the foundation stone of Magna Carta has had on the development of human rights principles cast in pillars of eternity and owing in no small part to the Magna Carta and the movement for reform. Magna Carta has etched its legacy into the contemporary living instruments of our law as indeed has the judgments of our patron Lord Denning himself.
AFRICAN ‘SOCIAL ORDERING’ GRUNDNORMS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN AFRICAN LEX PETROLEA?
Authors: Egede Hephzibah
Published: August 2020

This article interrogates the constitutional relevance of African social ordering rules in petroleum governance in Sub-Saharan African petroleum producing states. At the apex of the hierarchized African legal system is the national constitution which contains the basic norm or grundnorm derived from Western received law. Yet some African scholars have described African social ordering norms as grundnorms. This goes contrary to the conventional positivist position that “a legal system cannot be founded on two conflicting grundnorms.” This article will consider whether African social ordering norms have attained the level of a grundnorm as expounded in Kelsen’s pure theory. Utilising the Ekeh’s “two publics” model, it investigates how the basic norm for African social ordering grundnorms is presupposed.The article considers whether there is a conflict between the domanial system of state ownership as approved by African national constitutions and indigenous African social ordering norms premised on communitarianism. The article presents for analysis the recent study undertaken by African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA). This study considers whether it is possible to standardise the rules of petroleum contractual governance in Africa. This has led to some discussion on whether the standardisation of these rules could lead to the development of an African Lex Petrolea. This article explores the role that African social ordering norms can play in the development of a continent-wide Lex Petrolea.
DECOMMISSIONING IN THE UNITED KINGDOM CONTINENTAL SHELF: DECOMMISSIONING SECURITY DISPUTES
Authors: Holland Ben
Published: August 2020

This article focuses on whether the decrease in the oil price will result in insufficient security to cover escalating offshore decommissioning liabilities. The annual decommissioning security process requires the calculation of an amount of security in anticipation of decommissioning. This process takes place under decommissioning security agreements, whose aim is to provide mutual protection in case one party falls into financial difficulty. The funds are held in a trust until the decommissioning is completed. This article notes that disputes have begun to arise as to whether sufficient security has already been - or ought to now be - placed in trust. This article also considers the preferred dispute resolution mechanism for such disputes, namely expert determination.
COMBATING THE BRIBERY OF FOREIGN PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND THE “ART OF PERSUASION”: THE CASE OF ALSTOM AND THE ENERGY SECTOR
Authors: Hatchard John
Published: August 2020

This article explores some of the developing strategies designed to tackle the supply side of transnational corruption through the “Art of Persuasion” i.e. how to “persuade” commercial organisations, no matter how powerful, to commit to good governance and integrity in their business. In doing so, it uses Alstom SA (hereinafter Alstom) as a case study. The article is divided into three parts. Part 1 explores some of “persuasive” techniques designed to combat the bribery of foreign public officials and to enhance corporate good governance and integrity. Part 2 explores some of the lessons and challenges from the Alstom case whilst Part 3 contains a Conclusion which re-visits the “Art of Persuasion”.
Assumption of Responsibility by Public Authorities
Authors: Cornford Tom
Published: August 2020

Since the House of Lords’ decision in the Gorringe case, there can be no reason for imposing a duty of care in negligence on a public authority that would not also count as a reason for imposing a duty of care on a private person. In this context assumption of responsibility, as the primary concept used to explain the imposition of a duty of care in novel situations, acquires great importance. This article explores whether the concept’s application to public authorities produces satisfactory results and, finding that it does not, concludes that this underlines the folly of insisting that public authorities must be treated in the same way as private persons.
COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DISPUTES
Authors: Mawrey Richard B
Published: August 2020

As late as the 1960s there was an old gentleman in once smart, but now shabby, clothes who paraded outside the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, carrying a placard which read ‘ARBITRATE DON’T LITIGATE’. He was a famous character who had been around since the 1930s and he endeared himself to the judges who referred to him in several judgments. It is fair to say, however, that the old gentleman was usually referred to in order to make the point that, in the case before the court, his advice had been misleading because the arbitration had proved far more difficult and costly than proceeding by way of litigation in the courts.
Editorial Introduction
Authors: Sargent Sarah
Published: August 2020

Editorial Introduction
THE AUSTRALIAN AND INDIAN CONSTITUTIONS, SIMILARITIES, DIFFERENCES AND THE CHALLENGE OF CONSTITUTIONAL CHOICE
Authors: Kirby CMG Michael J
Published: August 2020

In this article, based on an address to the India Law Institute in New Delhi, the author, a former Justice of the High Court of Australia lists ten features of the constitutions of Australia and India that exhibit similarities; ten features where there are sometimes marked differences; and two areas of operation that illustrate the fact that in constitutional adjudication, especially, judicial decision-makers face what Julius Stone described as “leeways for choice”.  By reference to decisions in Australia and India on issues of race, aboriginality and human sexuality, the article identifies the inescapable challenge of choice and suggests useful guideposts.
THE ROLE, INDEPENDENCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL: A COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS
Authors: Hatchard John
Published: August 2020

The Auditor General plays a key role in the constitutional framework that is designed to support good governance. This article critically reviews the constitutional position of the Auditor General. It assesses the extent to which, in practice, office-holders enjoy the necessary individual and institutional independence and security of tenure to enable them to carry out their constitutional mandate, especially in the face of efforts by some political leaders and senior public officials (‘politically exposed persons’ (PEPs)) to abuse their position through acts of corruption and misuse of public office. It also explores the effectiveness of the support and accountability mechanisms for Auditors General.  In doing so, the article reviews the position of the Auditor General in the constitutions of a number of Anglophone African states.
The US Constitution – A Very Short Introduction
Authors: Scutt Jocelynne A.
Published: August 2020

The Oxford University Press began its very short introduction series in 1995 and now, two decades into the 2000s, comprises some 500 volumes translated into more than forty-five different languages, covering ‘everything from Psychology and Philosophy of Science to American History and Relativity’. The aim of the series, says Oxford University Press, is to provide ‘a stimulating and accessible way into a new subject’ for readers unfamiliar with the topic. David Bodenhamer’s The US Constitution – A Very Short Introduction fulfils this aim, yet does far more than this and its title may imply.
The Public Law of Gender: From the Local to the Global
Authors: Sifris Ronli
Published: August 2020

This book is part of a series aimed at connecting international law with public law. The series discusses the important issues of health, environment, movement of people and security through the lens of connecting international law with public law. This final volume in the series concentrates on the gendered dimensions of international and public law from an interdisciplinary perspective, thereby acknowledging that law alone is too blunt a tool to address adequately the issues of gender that arise in the context of these legal spheres.
Lord Denning and EEC Law
Authors: Campbell A I L
Published: August 2020

Lord Denning and EEC Law
Co-ownership Trusts in the United Kingdom - The Denning Legacy
Authors: Dixon M J
Published: August 2020

Co-ownership Trusts in the United Kingdom - The Denning Legacy
Environmental Law as an Academic Subject
Authors: Garner J F
Published: August 2020

Environmental Law as an Academic Subject
Privatizing the Family: The Reform of Child Law
Authors: Cretney Stephen
Published: August 2020

Privatizing the Family: The Reform of Child Law
The Challenges Facing the Law Commission in the 1990s
Authors: Beldam The Rt Hon Lord Justice
Published: August 2020

The Challenges Facing the Law Commission in the 1990s
The Crown and Statutes
Authors: Jackson P
Published: August 2020

The Crown and Statutes
Drastic Solutions: A Comparative Study of Emergency Powers in the Commonwealth
Authors: Philips Edward
Published: August 2020

Drastic Solutions: A Comparative Study of Emergency Powers in the Commonwealth
Benjamin Franklin in Scotland
Authors: Mackenzie-Stuart The Hon Lord
Published: August 2020

Benjamin Franklin in Scotland
Viscount Stair
Authors: Walker D M
Published: August 2020

Viscount Stair
A Fresh Approach to the Ex Turpi Causa and 'Clean Hands' Maxims
Authors: Kodilinye Gilbert
Published: August 2020

A Fresh Approach to the Ex Turpi Causa and 'Clean Hands' Maxims
A Legal Conundrum: The Law's Treatment of Women
Authors: Nott Susan
Published: August 2020

A Legal Conundrum: The Law's Treatment of Women
Pardoning and Mercy
Authors: Burnside Jonathan
Published: August 2020

Pardoning and Mercy
Good Faith: The Law and Morality
Authors: Colombo Sylviane
Published: August 2020

Good Faith: The Law and Morality
Land Development and Community Benefits
Authors: Moore Victor
Published: August 2020

Land Development and Community Benefits
The Reviewability of the Parliamentary Commissioner
Authors: McMurtrie Sheena
Published: August 2020

The Reviewability of the Parliamentary Commissioner
Trading Strategies and Market Microstructure: Evidence from a Prediction Market
Authors: Rothschild David , Sethi Rajiv
Published: August 2020

We examine transaction-level data from Intrade's 2012 presidential winner market for the entire two-year period for which trading occurred. The data allow us to compute key statistics, including volume, transactions, aggression, directional exposure, holding duration, margin, and profit for each of 6,300 unique trader accounts. We identify a diverse set of trading strategies that constitute a rich market ecology. These range from arbitrage-based strategies with low and fleeting directional exposure to strategies involving large accumulated positions in one of the two major party candidates. Most traders who make directional bets do so consistently in a single direction, unlike the information traders in some canonical models of market microstructure. We present evidence suggestive of manipulation by a single large trader, and consider the possible motives for such behavior. Broader implications for the interpretation of prices in financial markets and the theory of market microstructure are drawn.
Evidencing the Forecasting Performance of Predication Markets: An Empirical Comparative Study
Authors: Buckley Patrick
Published: August 2020

Accurately forecasting uncertain outcomes to inform planning processes and aid decision making is a perennial organisational challenge, and the focus of a substantial body of research in management science, information systems and related disciplines. Academic research suggests that prediction markets may be of significant benefit to organisations in meeting this challenge. However most of the empirical studies assessing prediction market performance are laboratory based and suffer from limits to their generalizability. Recent literature has called for research which analyses the performance of prediction markets in ecologically valid settings in order to evidence their effectiveness to potential organisational users. This paper answers these calls by designing a prediction market to forecast an uncertain real world event. The study then compares the forecasting performance of the prediction market with a number of more traditional forecasting approaches regularly used by organisations. The study is contextually situated in a low information heterogeneity problem space, where relevant information is freely available. The results suggest that in this context prediction markets outperform the other forecasting methods studied.
Integrating prediction markets into the due process of international accounting standard setting: A possible path to achieving legitimate accounting standards?
Authors: Eisenschmidt Karsten , Schmidt Matthias
Published: August 2020

The authors present the idea of integrating prediction markets into the IASB’s due process of accounting standards development in order to assure the legitimacy of IFRS. They refer to the constitutional economics concept of hypothetical consent and further substantiate literature claims that the legitimacy of any regulation with a lack of governmental control should be linked to adequate processes of rule development. The authors argue that standard-setting procedures which integrate market solutions into the search process for legitimate standards outperform pure discourse solutions that dominate contemporary accounting regulation. The prediction market approach is of particular interest because it addresses the identified major legitimacy concerns regarding the IASB’s current due process. Compared to other market solutions, prediction markets could be integrated relatively easily into the current institutional setting of global accounting regulation. The authors therefore suggest a basic design of a due process for the IASB that utilises a prediction market. The main contributions of the article are as follows: (1) it expands literature on the legitimacy of global standard setting in accounting; (2) it offers a new market approach to international accounting regulation and (3) it generally furthers the theoretical foundation for proposing prediction markets for regulatory purposes. The authors finally provide arguments as to how a prediction market approach could (re-)align standard setting and academic accounting research.
A conceptual alternative forecasting model for alternative investments
Authors: Stafylas Dimitrios , Mari Konstantina
Published: August 2020

In this article we present a conceptual model for forecasting purposes that can be used from fund managers or investors. Our conceptual model is a hybrid model and borrows concepts from machine learning; more specifically, from artificial neural networks (ANN) and fuzzy logic (FL). We propose the use of the nonlinear autoregressive network with exogenous inputs (NARX) which is a recurrent dynamic network, with feedback connections enclosing several layers of the network. This ANN is combined with a FL component to deal with uncertainties when considering various market conditions. The proposed conceptual forecasting model has an open architecture design so as to be extended and optimized based on investors’ needs.
Prediction of Gold and Silver Prices in an Emerging Economy: Comparative Analysis of Linear, Nonlinear, Hybrid, and Ensemble Models
Authors: Kumar Saurabh
Published: August 2020

This study compares the accuracy of different forecasting techniques for gold and silver returns in a leading emerging economy. The study employs four forecasting models: autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), artificial neural network (ANN), hybrid, and ensemble models. The study takes data of more than 7 years and forecasting is carried out for different forecast horizons varying from 1- to 20-steps ahead. The results reveal that ARIMA model is the best model to predict the gold returns, whereas, the ANN model along with the ensemble model are the best to predict the silver returns. The results also indicate that there exists nonlinear patterns in the time-series data of gold and silver returns. The study has significant implications for investors, academia, and policymakers.
COMPARING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ONE- AND TWO-STEP CONDITIONAL LOGIT MODELS FOR PREDICTING OUTCOMES IN A SPECULATIVE MARKET
Authors: Sung M , Johnson J E V
Published: August 2020

This paper compares two approaches to predicting outcomes in a speculative market, the horse race betting market. In particular, the nature of one-and two-step conditional logit procedures involving a process for exploding the choices et are outlined, their strengths and weaknesses are compared and the irrelative effectiveness is  evaluated by predicting winning probabilities for horse races at a UK racetrack. The models incorporate variables which are widely recognised as having predictive power and which should therefore be effectively discounted in market odds. Despite this handicap, both approaches produce probability estimates which can be used to earn positive returns, but the two-step approach yields substantially higher profits.
AN EXAMINATION OF IN-PLAY SPORTS BETTING USING ONE-DAY CRICKET MATCHES
Authors: Easton Steve , Uylangco Katherine
Published: August 2020

There is a wide literature on sports betting markets, a literature that examines the informational efficiency of these markets and uses them as laboratories to test for possible impacts of psychological factors on financial markets. The innovation of this study is the examination of price behaviour in an in-play betting market – namely that for one-day cricket. Cricket provides an ideal construct in which to examine in-play market behaviour, as it is a sport where outcomes can be calibrated as good news or bad news on a play-by-play basis. The results from an examination of over 8000 balls corresponding to over 8000 “news events” shows that the in-play betting market is one in which news is impounded rapidly into betting odds. There is also evidence that odds have a level of predictive ability with respect to outcomes from balls before they are bowled. Further, there is evidence of a drift in odds subsequent to the outcome of balls being known.
FINANCIAL BINARY BETTING, STYLES, VALUATIONS AND DEDUCTIONS FROM DATA
Authors: Oliver Peter
Published: August 2020

A relatively new form of financial spread betting, the binary bet, has become popular.  Part of the popularity of this style of bet, from the gambler’s point of view, is undoubtedly due to the simplicity and transparency of the contracts.  The fact that these bets are free at the time they are taken is an added inducement.  For the bet provider, as long as the correct buy and sell levels are maintained during the betting period and the betting frequency on any contract is high, it is again relatively simple to ensure a known income from the operation.Binary spread bets are examples of financial derivatives and the standard methods used in that field can be used to deduce the parameters that should apply.  This gives useful information to the gamblers in telling them how much they are paying for the bet.  Watching how the quotes are moving in time can also inform how the gambling community is behaving and what the average view of the outcome is.A variety of types of binary bets are valued and in many cases it is possible to derive analytic formulas.  These can be applied to time series data that are acquired from quotes and used to deduce information about the bets held by a provider and the market expectations of the community.
SHORTING THE BEAR: A TEST OF ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE OF INSIDER TRADING IN EARLY STAGES OF THE SUB-PRIME MARKET CRISIS
Authors: Coleman Les , Adi Schnytzer Adi Schnytzer
Published: August 2020

This article uses trading data in the options market for shares in The Bear Sterns Companies (BSC) during the first half of 2007 during early stages of the US sub-prime crisis as a laboratory to examine the incidence of insider trading. The principle research objective is to enhance our understanding of the extent of strong form inefficiency in equity derivative markets. The presence of illegal insiders is particularly important to predictive markets as they raise transaction costs and deter participation by outsiders, which reduce the accuracy of price signals and markets’ forecasting ability. We take the perspective of a regulator making use of hindsight to identify the most propitious periods for insider trades and to identify market activity that is indicative of insiders. Half the value of BSC options traded during the first half of 2007 were on 19 percent of the days, mostly in contracts in or close-to the money and near to expiry. We find persuasive evidence that insiders could have been active in trading Bear Sterns stock during this period.
THE CHALLENGE OF INCENTIVE ALIGNMENT IN THE APPLICATION OF INFORMATION MARKETS WITHIN AN ORGANIZATION
Authors: Hall Art
Published: August 2020

Prediction markets have captured the imagination of business thinkers—much like chaos theory captured it a decade ago.  The urge is to apply prediction markets to a host of business challenges just like the urge was to apply insights of chaos theory to business challenges.  However, the intelligent application of prediction markets within organizations may be no easier than the intelligent application of chaos theory to business strategy.I have chosen the comparison to chaos theory for two reasons.  First, the excitement about prediction markets seems to me to have the same type of buzz that chaos theory carried in the late 1990s.  Second, and more to the point, Jim Lavoie’s reference to the business potential of Web 2.0 tools arguably offers a platform for capturing some of the more realistic goals of those who once urged businesses to operate “on the edge of chaos”—as captured by the title of this popular-audience book: Surfing the Edge of Chaos: The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business.
INFLUENCES ON THE TRUST IN PREDICTION MARKETS
Authors: Seemann Thomas , Enders Albrecht , Hungenberg Harald
Published: August 2020

Prediction markets are an innovative forecasting method that has proven high prediction accuracy in many areas. The method is, however, far from being established since many organizations are still reluctant to use the method. In particular the trust in the forecast results is a key challenge that negatively impacts the adoption of the method. To get a better understanding of what drives trust in prediction markets we analyzed the perceptions of prediction market users. We identify factors that influence the trust and quantified them in an empirical study. The study is based on user surveys in six experimental prediction markets. The influencing factors were evaluated using a structural equation model. The results demonstrate that participants who are highly engaged and perceive trading in prediction market as exciting and entertaining also put a higher trust in the market results.
AN EXAMINATION OF PREDICTION MARKET EFFICIENCY: NBA CONTRACTS ON TRADESPORTS
Authors: Borghesi Richard
Published: August 2020

In this paper I examine the absolute and relative price efficiency of NBA options listed on Tradesports.com.  I find that contracts within specific price bands are misvalued, but also demonstrate that this market is more efficient than is the market for NFL options.  Specifically, I show that contracts priced around $25 win (expire at $100) at a rate less than expected, while those priced around $75 win at a rate greater than expected.  The magnitudes of these deviations between prices and fundamental values are less than those in the NFL market.  Also, while prior theoretical work predicts that low-priced contracts should be overpriced, I instead find that NBA contracts priced near $2.50 win more frequently than expected.I thank Rob Dougherty and Brijesh Patel for assistance with the NBA event data, and Leighton Vaughan Williams for meaningful suggestions throughout.  Any errors are strictly my own.
THE EFFECT OF CONTRACT STRUCTURE ON PREDICTION MARKET PRICE BIASES
Authors: Borghesi Richard
Published: August 2020

Prediction markets add value when they produce unbiased forecasts.  However, several prior studies find persistent biases when examining prediction market sides contracts.  Sides contracts represent bets on whether the score differential between two teams in a contest will be greater or less than a stated value.  We propose that inferences generated from examining Tradesports’ sides contracts may be problematic because they are framed exclusively with respect to favorites.  If a favorite-longshot (or reverse favorite-longshot) bias causes these deviations from rationality, it may be that non-sports-related (e.g., internal corporate) prediction markets assets do not suffer from the same shortcomings.  To evaluate the generalizability of prior findings, we contrast the price efficiency of Tradesports’ sides and totals contracts.  In totals wagers, traders take a position on whether the combine score of both teams in a game will be above or below a stated value.  We find that the fundamental structural differences between totals contracts and sides contracts partly determine differences in price efficiencies.  Relative to those in the sides market, some price biases in the totals market are significantly smaller in magnitude, and others are absent altogether.  Results indicate that contract structure plays a significant role in the ability of prediction markets to produce unbiased estimates.