STU Scholarly Works (St. Thomas University)
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1001 research outputs found
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Aereo’s Errors
No full textThis article scrutinizes the United States Supreme Court’s decision in American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. Aereo’s streaming television service allowed subscribers to watch broadcast television on a computer, tablet, or smartphone without requiring them to be directly connected to cable, satellite, or a local antenna. Aereo’s system was designed to comply with existing copyright law by using thousands of antennas, each of which was designated for only one subscriber at a time. Aereo was sued for copyright infringement by a number of leading television broadcasters. The United States Supreme Court, over a heated Scalia dissent, concluded that Aereo was ‘highly similar’ to a cable company, and that it therefore made ‘public performances’ falling within the plaintiffs’ exclusive rights. Because the Aereo decision was unnecessary, unsound, and unwise, this article proposes steps that should be taken in order to avoid frustrating the development of beneficial ‘cloud’ computing services
Trafficking in Persons and Transnational Organized Crime: A Policy-Oriented Perspective
No full textBook: Handbook on Human Trafficking, Public Health and the Law
This booklet is the result of the Spring School on Public Health, Human Trafficking and the Law funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) as an ERASMUS INTENSIVE PROGRAMME, held in March, 2013 in Siena, Italy. The aim of the intensive program was to present and analyze the problem of human trafficking in line with the perspective of the New Haven School in order to recommend concrete solutions. For this purpose, the trafficking of humans has been explored in relation to public health and the European law, in close cooperation with participating students and experts in medicine, social sciences, and law.
An award-winning international medical and scientific publisher, Thieme has demonstrated its commitment to the highest standard of quality in the state-of-the-art content and presentation of all of its products. Thieme\u27s trademark blue and silver covers have become synonymous with excellence in publishing.https://scholarship.stu.edu/faculty_book_chapters/1002/thumbnail.jp
Doctors of the Social Order: Introduction to the New Haven Methodology
No full textBook: Handbook on Human Trafficking, Public Health and the Law
This booklet is the result of the Spring School on Public Health, Human Trafficking and the Law funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) as an ERASMUS INTENSIVE PROGRAMME, held in March, 2013 in Siena, Italy. The aim of the intensive program was to present and analyze the problem of human trafficking in line with the perspective of the New Haven School in order to recommend concrete solutions. For this purpose, the trafficking of humans has been explored in relation to public health and the European law, in close cooperation with participating students and experts in medicine, social sciences, and law.
An award-winning international medical and scientific publisher, Thieme has demonstrated its commitment to the highest standard of quality in the state-of-the-art content and presentation of all of its products. Thieme\u27s trademark blue and silver covers have become synonymous with excellence in publishing.https://scholarship.stu.edu/faculty_book_chapters/1019/thumbnail.jp
The Contract: Between Contract Law and Criminal Jurisprudence
No full textThe structure of the essay is as follows: Part I presents the general legal premise that enables the conviction of one who has caused harm by an omission in cases where the duty to act originates in a contractual obligation and highlights U.S. case law on this topic. Part II distinguishes between the duty to act that originates in a contract and a similar duty that is mentioned in case law and literature: the actual assumption of responsibility for a potential victim. Part III introduces various scenarios to assist in examining which contracts can serve as a source of a duty to act in criminal jurisprudence. Part IV analyzes these scenarios in terms of the liberty and causation rationales and concludes that it is possible to look at the entire issue from two different perspectives-the contract law perspective and the criminal law perspective
Front Matter
No full textFront Matter includes Masthead, advisors, Table of Contents and Preface for St. Thomas Law Review Volume 26, Issue 3, Spring 2014
Building a Better Solar Energy Framework
No full textThis article will focus on the existing solar PV policies and frameworks of the United States and certain countries within Europe. Solar PV systems employ panels made of solar cells that capture sunlight and convert it into electricity. Solar PV panels, otherwise known as solar PV modules, are typically made from solar cells combined into modules that hold about 40 cells and can be combined together to form a solar array, which can be further interconnected to form large utility-scale PV systems. These systems easily represent the largest solar energy market in the world and can be installed across all market segments: residential, non-residential (commercial, non-profit, and government), and utility-scale. Continued growth of solar PV technologies in the United States and Europe is dependent upon the regulatory, policy, and incentive frameworks present in states, communities, and municipalities. Similar to countries in the Europe, the United States encounters barriers such as complex solar installation permitting procedures [and] a lack of financing mechanisms for solar projects . . . , but additionally suffers from restrictions on solar access, inadequate interconnection standards and net metering policies, shortage of a trained workforce, and a lack of support mechanisms for utility-scale projects. While the federal government has enacted several policies and incentives to support the growth of solar technologies, it lacks the ability to sufficiently combat some of these issues. Energy law in the United States is also primarily regulated at the state level or lower, which effectively makes each state a separate solar market and affords state and local levels of government the responsibility of instituting policies and incentives that help eliminate barriers. State and local governments can provide further incentive mechanisms than those already offered by the federal government in the form of tax rebates and feed-in tariffs, among others. Advancement of solar technology can also be encouraged through solar access and solar rights laws, which ensure the availability of solar energy resources to individuals and companies and are important issues for state and local governments, where many different mechanisms are used to address solar access such as solar easements, ordinances, land use restrictions, homeowners\u27 association rules, and permit requirements. Additionally, solar PV technology can be encouraged at the state and local level through the comprehensive enactment of renewable portfolio standards ( RPSs ), interconnection standards, and net metering policies. RPSs generally require utility companies to produce a certain amount of their electricity from renewable energy sources, interconnection standards specify requirements for connecting solar technology systems to the grid, and net metering allows individuals and companies to send extra electricity generated by solar technologies back to the utility network and receive credit for doing so. State and local governments can also encourage solar technologies by streamlining the permitting process for the installation of solar technologies and doing more to support utility-scale projects. In Part II, this article introduces the nature of solar energy production with an emphasis on the policy framework and infrastructure needed for solar production in the United States and Europe. Part III discusses the viability of solar energy in the renewable energy sector and as a source of electricity. Part IV examines foreign strategies, particularly those used in Germany and other countries within Europe that boast successful solar markets, to support the production of solar technology within the country. This examination will include suggestions as to why Germany and other European markets have decreased certain solar incentives and how we can learn from their experience. Part V will address the United States solar framework. Presented within this section will be examples of towns and municipalities with model solar access laws and other forms of support and recommendations for federal, state and local governments derived from our own experience and the experience of European countries. The author argues that solar energy can be the most viable future source of renewable energy in the United States, Europe, and even abroad if other countries try to emulate these recommended practices. However, in the United States, this is dependent upon state and local governments being more proactive in enacting policies and incentives that increase the availability of solar technologies to residents and businesses. Doing so would eliminate various barriers to the continued growth of solar PV energy production. If these commitments are made, the United States can make a more concerted effort towards replacing fuel and coal with solar and other renewables as main sources of electricity, which will be a necessary step toward a climate change solution
Plugging the Gap: A Reconsideration of the U.N. Charter\u27s Approach to Low-Gravity Warfare
No full textThere is a little discussed but critically important gap in the U.N. Charter\u27s law of force regime. While Article 2(4) prohibits all threats and uses of force by a state or non-state actor, Article 51 only authorizes self-defense when an armed attack or most grave use of force has occurred-leaving a considerable spectrum of low-gravity coercion below that threshold, where a victim state may be violently assaulted, but have no lawful recourse to protect itself with military action. This Paper explores the loophole in the Charter\u27s regulatory architecture, and finds that it provides a safe harbor, protected from military counter-strikes, for those contemplating aggression. Designed to contain escalation in the aftermath of World War II, the \u27force gap\u27 reflects an intentional choice by the Charter\u27s drafters to prioritize the interests of peace over justice; perpetuated by the Security Council\u27s failure to fulfill its intended enforcement role in policing low-intensity conflict and the courts\u27 consistently strict interpretation Article 51. The Charter\u27s regime makes less sense today, when isolated strikes by non-state actors and low-intensity coercion like targeted killing, terrorism, and cyber-warfare have replaced large-scale military invasions as the primary threats to geopolitical stability. For practical, legal, and normative reasons, therefore, the force gap requires repair. To provide a flexibility of responsive deterrent that is both appropriate and effective for addressing low-gravity warfare in the modem world, this Paper proposes that the international community do what many states, and, at times, the Security Council, appear to have quietly acknowledged as a necessary adjustment and reform the law of countermeasures to permit force
Examining Committee Reports as a Basis to Dismiss Petitions to Determine Incapacity: A Question of Admissibility and Evidentiary Relevancy
No full textThis article will focus on answering two issues that play an important role in the determination of the need of establishing a guardianship for an AIP. Specifically, (1) whether the requirement that a petition to determine incapacity be dismissed if two examining committee members opine there is no incapacity, in violation of Florida\u27s Evidence Code as well as Chapter 744\u27s requirements; and (2) whether examining committee reports, without testimony, are hearsay under Florida\u27s Evidence Code, section 90.803 of the Florida Statutes, and usurp judicial discretion under section 90.703. Part I will delineate the problem associated with section 744.331(4) of the Florida Statutes and hearsay objections to the examining committee reports. Part II will discuss the conflicting claims that can be raised by the petitioner, the attorney for the AIP, and the Florida Legislature. Part III will detail the past trends and decisions with regard to the requirement that a Petition to Determine Incapacity be dismissed if two examining committee members opine there is no incapacity. Part III will also outline possible violations of Florida\u27s Evidence Code, violations of the requirements of Chapter 744, as well as the conditioning factors behind examining committee reports qualifying as hearsay under Florida\u27s Evidence Code, section 90.803. Part IV will set its sights on projections for future decisions in light of changed and changing conditioning factors. Part V will pose potential recommendations for amending the current statutes in order to solve the guardianship issues addressed in this article
Super-Intermediaries, Code, Human Rights
No full textWe live in an age of intermediated network communications. Although the internet includes many intermediaries, some stand heads and shoulders above the rest. This article examines some of the responsibilities of Super-Intermediaries such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, intermediaries that have tremendous power over their users\u27 human rights. After considering the controversy arising from the incendiary YouTube video Innocence of Muslims, the article suggests that Super-Intermediaries face a difficult and likely impossible mission of fully servicing the broad tapestry of human rights contained in the International Bill of Human Rights. The article further considers how intermediary content-control procedures focus too heavily on intellectual property, and are poorly suited to balancing the broader and often-conflicting set of values embodied in human rights law. Finally, the article examines a number of steps that Super-Intermediaries might take to resolve difficult content problems and ultimately suggests that intermediaries subscribe to a set of process-based guiding principles-a form of Digital Due Process-so that intermediaries can better foster human dignity
Media Witness: Human Rights in an Age of Digital Media
No full textThis article examines the impact of media witnesses in the field of human rights, looking especially at the rise of citizen media and the use of the Internet and social media by activists and international organizations. Despite the need to interrogate the technological determinism underlying many claims for digital media technologies, the development of \u27citizen media\u27 is a promising avenue for international law. New technologies can help actors connect with each other, engage new audiences, and potentially also assist with documentation, evidence gathering and compliance. But such possibilities bring dangers and difficulties which will not easily be resolved. This article examines the methodology of \u27witnessing,\u27 its significance for the media and for human rights, and their fusion in the context of digital media forms. These developments occur against a backdrop of the increasing significance given to the role of publicity in the international system. I argue that these processes are emblematic of broader moves towards mediated advocacy in the human rights sector, a phenomenon I term the \u27mediatization\u27 of international law