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A Critique of the Nigerian Proceeds of Crime (Recovery & Management) Act 2022
Get PDFOrganized crime is a hazard to national security and the realization of institutional principles. Any society plagued by this menace must stir itself up to leave no safe space for any individual or entity seeking to surreptitiously transfer, conceal or utilize the proceeds of crime and corruption or to evade sanctions. In past decades, Nigeria’s effort expended on the anti-corruption war, although commendable, has not been met with commensurate outcome. This article examines Nigeria’s anti-corruption legislation in respect of the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2022 by providing legal analysis of this legislation in comparison with international best practices in the acquisition and disposal of these assets of crime. With the enactment of the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2022, the recovery of assets from the proceeds of crime remains the first priority of this legislation to meet the Government’s ambition to steadily increase the value of assets denied to and recovered from criminals. It does appear that the jurisprudential basis for the enactment of the Act is for the recovery of these assets through civil proceedings.
Keywords: criminal liability; forfeiture; Nigerian legislation; non-conviction-based recovery; proceeds of crime; right to property; stay of proceedings
E-commerce and Online Dispute Resolution in Hong Kong: The Case of eBRAM
Get PDFThis article critically examines the development of online dispute resolution (ODR) in Hong Kong, focusing on the Electronic Business Related Arbitration and Mediation System International Online Dispute Resolution Centre Limited (eBRAM). As an independent, not-for-profit organization, eBRAM offers a platform for resolving disputes among micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The article explores eBRAM’s potential impact on local MSMEs and legal professionals, Hong Kong’s position as an international business hub, and its complementarity with existing dispute resolution providers.
Keywords: ODR; eBram; LawTech; Hong Kong
Tikanga as the First Law of New Zealand: An Important Cognitive Shift
Get PDFThis article provides an overview of the history of the Māori Land Court, as well as present day developments of the Court. It considers the role that tikanga (Māori customary values and practices) plays in the Māori Land Court, and how the Court has applied tikanga in a number of contemporary judgments. It then considers the Waitangi Tribunal (a Commission of Inquiry which examines Crown breaches of its obligations to Māori), and how tikanga can be demonstrated in the process and the findings of the Tribunal. It discusses how both judicial bodies have approached the challenge of competing tikanga claims. Finally, the article poses ideas of how tikanga can be applied going forward.
Keywords: tikanga; Māori Land Court; Native Land Court; Waitangi Tribunal; indigenous law; cultural considerations
Copyright Protection for AI-Generated Works: Solutions to Further Challenges from Generative AI
Get PDFSince the 2010s, artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly grown from another subset of machine learning (ie deep learning) in particular with recent advances in generative AI, such as ChatGPT. The use of generative AI has gone beyond leisure purposes. It has now been widely used to generate music, news articles and image-based art works. This prompts a regulatory interpretation as to how AI-generated works should be appropriately used to eliminate their potential harm to society, but at the same time how it should be protected to foster human creativity and promote a well-functioning market.
This article is an update from the author’s evidential report and speech on “AI and Intellectual Property Rights: IPR Protection for AI-Created Work” for the evidence meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence on 24 January 2022. It considers whether AI technologies should be granted status as copyright or patent owners by looking into existing regulations in the United Kingdom, European Union, United States and China. It further considers how generative AI copyright protection should be managed in the digital society to protect users and strike a fair balance among rightsholders. It argues that it would be beneficial to a well-functioning market if AI-generated works could be subject to collective management of copyright via copyright management organizations within countries. In addition, the article provides mapping of existing legislations in a comparative study and their interpretation for the application of AI-generated works protection and aims to bring together global policymakers and stakeholders to initiate joint efforts to promote international harmonization on intellectual property rights (IPR) protection for AI-generated works.
Keywords: artificial intelligence; generative AI; AI-generated works; collective copyright management; computer-generated work; copyright protection
Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in Mediation for Family Relations
Get PDFIn this article, I discuss how diversity shapes mediation when the latter is adopted for the purpose of resolving quarrels between family members, and I explore how mediation can become more inclusive to accommodate diversity and enhance equality. Diversity permeates how families are created, their structures and the relations within them. Similarly, diversity involves the roles that family members play within the family unit. There is also the diversity brought by the various social identities of the family members who are in dispute, and those identities in turn intersect with the family members’ identity as disputants. All these manifestations of diversity have an impact on the nature of family disputes and their resolution. However, the current institutional and professional approaches to mediation practice seem to oversimplify the nature of family, family relations, family disputes and family disputants, especially in terms of diversity. Thus, research and improvements in understanding and practice are needed to ensure that resolutions are reached respecting diversity and enhancing equality and inclusion. Here, I propose a contextualized and integrated approach that shapes mediation interventions in accordance with family diversity. Reflecting on diversity as it manifests in family relations and mediation will foster a renewed understanding of access to justice that builds upon kinship studies and intersectionality, whereby diversity, in all its manifestations, is a value.
Keywords: family relations; diversity; inclusion; mediation
An analysis of the judicial and legislative attitude to hearsay electronic data in South Africa
Get PDFThis article analyses the judicial and legislative attitude in relation to electronically stored information presented as evidence in South Africa. The article also evaluates the adequacy of the regulation of admissibility and weight ascription to electronic information particularly the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECTA) 2002. The paper suggests that electronically stored information might not sufficiently be analysed and assessed using the rules of documentary evidence and recommends some amendments including clearer definitions of electronic information which are statements, electronic information that is contained in documents, and electronic information that are created wholly by electronic algorithms and software.
Index words: South Africa; electronically stored information; admissibility; hearsay; Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 2002
