Year: 2016

The German constitution declares in its first Amendment that human dignity is inviolable and declares its protection a duty of the state. The following text explores the concept of human dignity as “a right to have rights” that can be derived from this constitutional passage. References to different decisions of the German Federal Constitutional Court reveal the importance and complexity of this concept and its meaning for the understanding and interpretation of the German Constitution as such.

This paper analyses the Naz Foundation judgment and the reaction of the Indian society to it from a sociological angle.The initial parts of the paper traces the evolution of gay rights movement as a social movement and the past attempts by this movement to use the institution of law and courts of law as an agent of the social change it sought to bring about. Thereafter,the paper concerns itself with the analysis of responses to the decision by English language media in India, which, the author admits, is a reflection of the view points only of the urban elite section of the Indian population. The paper also discusses the heteronormativity of the Indian society that criminalises and suppresses alternate sexualities and the factors shaping the same.

This paper explores the boundaries of international cooperation in criminal matters with respect to the German Constitution. The paper argues that a critical observation of developments in international cooperation in criminal matters is advisable. Cooperation in itself is not a guarantee for the protection of human rights. The guaranteed standard in the involved legal orders should be carefully studied and compared, before competences are “outsourced” to other international legal bodies. With respect to the German legal order, it is especially the guilt principle that raises concerns vis-à-vis other international legal orders.

The principle of inter-generational equity, a recognised legal norm, is being threatened in the current global scene of rapid climate when those human resources which are common property are being destroyed at a very fast rate. At present, countries with more resources and technical knowhow are able to exploit the existing natural resources, thus depriving present as well as future generations of the same. This paper proposes a system of compensation to be paid by those countries which appropriate the earth’s natural resources in the present to compensate those who do not acquire their benefits till a later stage, or at all. This paper shall also demonstrate how this compensation regime is economically sound and promotes sustainable development.

Domestic laws of different countries adopt varying approaches
on how much power of adjudication can be vested in tribunals
which function outside the States’ monopoly in administering
justice. This is reflected in varying positions adopted in
different jurisdictions on the permissibility and scope of
intervention by domestic judiciary in international commercial
arbitrations. Indian judiciary has taken an expansionary
stance in respect of its power of intervention. This article
analyses this expansionary outlook of the Indian judiciary in
the context of interim measures and argues that the same poses
a hindrance to the growth of the institution of international
commercial arbitration in India.

The ever increasing presence of multi national enterprises (hereinafter MNEs) in India coupled with the status of software as a focal area for increase of India’s exports, makes the Morgan Stanley decision by the Supreme Court extremely significant. The decision holds far reaching tax implications for outsourcing activities of foreign companies as they are no more required to pay tax on their global income earned from business related to their outsourcing arms/units if these are done at existing market prices. Overall it is a very positive ruling for the business process outsourcing (hereinafter BPO) sector. But application of the arms length standard to negate further attribution of profits to a permanent establishment of a foreign enterprise extends the already complex and difficult transfer- pricing rules to the legally and factually distinct situation of the branch, or even to a dependent agent permanent establishment (hereinafter PE).

A close look at tax systems demonstrates how fiscal policies affect pat- terns of marriage, childbearing, work and education. Coupled with social norms and biases, the fiscal system can be seen to exercise coercive force, entrenching social life patterns in an endless feedback loop. The liberal feminist perspective throws light on how, amongst other factors, a regressive taxation system, many of the special tax deductions, and even tax benefits for savings, benefit women less than men. We examine how the seemingly gender-neutral provisions of Indian taxation law fulfil the aims of substantive equality, and to what extent they further the existing stereotypes favouring one-breadwinner families.

Matrimonial jurisprudence, being the main theme of the volumes, has been well explored…

In the contemporary world human rights has emerged as one of the most significant and powerful discourses. Notwithstanding the fact that human rights violations are not uncommon, states are compelled than ever before to adhere to international human rights standards. While human rights are primarily designed to give protection against the state, in today’s globalised world, it is important to develop human rights norms and standards to protect individuals against powerful non-state actors as well. It is in this context that Human Rights and the Private Sphere: A Comparative Analysis edited by Dawn Oliver and Jorg Fedtke is an important addition to the newly emergent literature on the applicability of human rights norms for non-state actors or the private sphere. Analysing the interplay between constitutional protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms and the private law, the book examines fifteen jurisdictions around the world that protect civil and political rights against private bodies…

While there has been a spate of public outcry against rampant privacy violations on social networking sites in the recent past, the current law of privacy appears to be ill-equipped to reinvent itself in the internet age and rise to the emerging challenge of affording adequate protection to personal information online. This article seeks to identify the various in- stances of privacy abuse that have become common on social networks and explores various social and legal solutions available for redressing the same through users’ protest, industry self-regulation and actions based in the law of tort, contract and data protection. In light of the limited nature of protection afforded by these alternatives, it stresses on the need to broaden and redefine the theoretical paradigm within which the right to privacy has traditionally been viewed in order to adapt it to the new avatar of social communication.