STU Scholarly Works (St. Thomas University)
Not a member yet
1001 research outputs found
Sort by
Human Rights in China: Examining the Human Rights Values in Chinese Confucian Ethics and Roman Catholic Social Teachings
No full textIn this paper, I will first examine social values in Chinese Confucian ethics and investigate if these values seek to protect what could be termed basic rights and freedoms of people. Such an inquiry is essential given the background of the lack of freedom of expression and conscience in contemporary China. I shall focus on examining those ideas in Confucian ethics that may contribute to upholding such freedom. Secondly, as a Roman Catholic, I will borrow from the example of Catholic social teachings, another ethical tradition, to show briefly the gradual development and acceptance of human rights discourse within the Roman Catholic tradition and the impact afterwards. I will also identify its distinctive features that differ from the Western liberal tradition. These differences can shed light on Confucian ethics when examining its implicit human rights values and show some commonalities between it and the Roman Catholic tradition relating to human rights concepts
Front Matter
No full textFront Matter includes Masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for St. Thomas Law Review Volume 26, Issue 1, Fall 2013
Privacy-Invading Technologies and Recommendations for Designing a Better Future for Privacy Rights
No full textThe concept of privacy has been discussed for centuries by philosophers, anthropologists, sociologists, and legal scholars. The importance that individuals place on privacy is beyond question and transcends geographical, cultural and racial boundaries. Individuals\u27 need for secrecy and private space is so fundamental to forging relationships with others, and to preserving our sense of self, that a society with a complete lack of individual privacy would be unimaginable. A right to privacy protects individuals from having the contents of certain private information made public and regulates the means and manner by which that information is obtained. However, new technologies often make us wonder what level of protection for our right to privacy is possible in our world where personal information about us can easily be accessed without the need to infringe into our physical space, but by invisible hands that can get to know our most private secrets with a keystroke and looking at a screen. As technology becomes increasingly able to facilitate breaches in our privacy, it becomes most important to establish protections. In the last thirty years, extraordinary events have made us reconsider the concept of privacy. Globalization and the digital age have affected humanity and continue to advance at such a rapid rate that what the future will bring is difficult to imagine. Today, fastpaced innovation and perpetual change is the only constant, and it can be said that the digital age with all of its technological developments has changed the world. The Internet, social networks, large storing systems, as well as sophisticated electronic sharing and communication devices, allow for the fast transfer of information and smooth the progress of communication between people around the world. In addition to the advancements in the communication field, surveillance technologies have also become highly developed, are now less expensive, easier to obtain and less noticeable. Today, not only governments, but also private individuals have access to surveillance systems that were previously reserved to books of science fiction. Concern for privacy has become an issue in the most innocuous of transactions, such as standing in a public place where Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras might be installed, doing a search on Google, making travel reservations, paying bills through online banking, or even checking out a library book. Technology has removed all geographical restrictions for these once private acts, which are now accessible by private parties, the public and the government - all from the most remote of locations. At this time, it is essential to consider the effect of these new technologies on privacy and to deem it vital that legislators, politicians, designers and manufacturers take an active role in protecting privacy rights. There are initiatives that can be undertaken to design a future digital landscape for the world that makes the most of the positive effects of technology while taking into account privacy concerns. A good starting point is to appreciate that the laws need to catch up with the technology in order to adequately protect individuals\u27 privacy. Legislators need to be advised by experts knowledgeable about the technology they are attempting to legislate in order for the laws to be effective. We can also rely on the designers and manufacturers of technology to consider the ethical implications of the technology they create. The technology and the ease of communications in today\u27s world have helped individuals recognize that the concept of privacy is more than an abstract notion, and that we must actively seek its protection in order to enjoy the type of freedom that society strives to reach. Value Sensitive Design, Privacy by Design, and Privacy-Enhancing Technologies, are all the result of concern about the effect of new technologies on privacy, and are all positive signs that reflect on humans\u27 value of privacy and other fundamental rights
Long-Term Care Insurance: A Life Raft for Baby Boomers
No full textThis article begins in Part I by giving a brief introduction to the historical development of long-term care. Part II focuses on what long-term care entails and describes the types of individuals who are in need of it. Part III investigates the various costs of long-term care and the sources responsible for paying those costs. Part IV provides a general overview of long-term care insurance. Part V argues that other alternatives to long-term care insurance are not viable options to pay for long-term care. Part VI discusses the implications of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. And finally, Part VII explains who should purchase long-term care insurance and when they should purchase it
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
The Categorical Imperative to End Modern-Day Slavery: Subsidiarity, Privatization, and the State’s Duty to Protect
No full textBook: Der Staat im Recht.: Festschrift für Eckart Klein zum 70. Geburtstag.
The state in law – supported by and bound by the law, oriented towards the common good and individual rights in equal measure – is the object and goal of Eckart Klein\u27s scientific work. Eckart Klein, whose 70th birthday is the occasion for this commemorative publication, has devoted himself as a legal scholar to public law in its entire range, whereby his work at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg and his time as a research assistant at the Federal Constitutional Court have had a lasting impact on his interests and focused. Accordingly, important topics of his publication activity throughout his academic career are constitutional procedural law, general international law, the law of international organizations and the international protection of human rights. After a stint at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, he moved to the University of Potsdam. Here he also founded the Human Rights Center of the University of Potsdam, of which he was director. The lawyer supplemented his work as a university lecturer by holding judicial offices at the Higher Administrative Courts in Koblenz and Frankfurt (Oder) as well as at the State Court in Bremen. He was also a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee and participated several times as a German ad hoc judge in proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights. The fact that academic teaching was not neglected in all of this was Eckart Klein\u27s top priority. In this commemorative publication, students and companions have brought together contributions from the fields of international law, European law and national law in order to explore the position of the state in law from different perspectives, to mark the limits of state action and to ask for standards for sovereign decisions.https://scholarship.stu.edu/faculty_book_chapters/1003/thumbnail.jp
Tort Law and Practice, 5th (Vols. 16 and 16A, Washington Practice Series)
No full textTort Law and Practice describes the basic principles of Washington tort law and unifies the often-fragmented world of tort law to provide you with real-world guidance. Combining a scholarly perspective on Washington tort law with practical assistance, this publication covers such topics as: Statutes of limitations Measures of damages Joint and several liability Professional negligence Civil rights violations under section 1983 Joint tortfeasors Malicious prosecution Libel Tortious interference with contract
Key case citations, suggested jury instructions, and sample forms taken from actual litigation are included.https://scholarship.stu.edu/faculty_books/1031/thumbnail.jp
A Holistic Approach to Planning for the Aging Same-Sex Couple: Special Considerations in Light of the U.S. v. Windsor Decision
No full textOn June 26, 2013, the US Supreme Court found Section 3 of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act\u27 ( DOMA ) unconstitutional. DOMA was signed into law in 1996 by President Clinton. DOMA came into existence as fears arose that the state of Hawaii would start a trend as the first state to recognize same-sex marriage. DOMA was created to avert an assault against traditional heterosexual marriage laws. Now that this section has been struck down, married members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered ( LGBT ) community will be privy to the same federal benefits that their heterosexual colleagues have historically enjoyed depending on the state they live in. These benefits could provide some additional monies and protections during the golden years
Filial Responsibility: Breaking the Backbone of Today\u27s Modern Long Term Care System
No full textThis article will briefly discuss the development of filial responsibility in the United States, the government programs that have displaced it, and its modem day application, including the ambiguity that creates problems for indigent elders\u27 family members and care providers. This article will outline the current long term care system, including its costs and the government and private programs that primarily assist consumers with these costs. It will end by arguing that enforcement of filial responsibility unfairly targets the informal caregiving structure that is the backbone of today\u27s modem long-term care system, which is why filial responsibility is unsustainable today. Because the growing costs of long-term care have created, as some describe, a national crisis \u27 in need of a solution, this article will end by proposing some solutions that support the informal caregiving system to create a more sustainable modem long-term care system