Statutory Property: Is it a Thing?

Over the last several decades there has been a proliferation of property-type rights created by statute, particularly in the environmental management context. A key question has been how to approach these rights on a principled basis, particularly where Parliament has been silent about their precise nature. One response has been to put a gloss on these rights by classifying them as a new category of "statutory property". However, this article suggests that we should recognise that these types of rights are private property. This argument is based on the premise that private property serves a variety of social goals and not only individualistic ones. As a result, the institution of property is flexible enough to cater for the main concern driving this legislative vagueness, which flows from the risk that recognising rights as private property may serve to undermine the purpose for which property is being employed. This article develops this point with reference to legislation setting up individual transferable quota for fish and emissions units for greenhouse gases in New Zealand. It argues that the rights used by these schemes, although not explicitly articulated as private property, should be treated as such. It suggests that, providing the contours of the right have been structured carefully and the boundaries of the right clearly demarcated, it is desirable that the law of property fill in any resulting gaps not addressed by the legislation

Private sector provision of Internet access in rural India

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2002.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-46).In South India today, a number of ongoing projects seek to provide internet access to rural areas by combining computer, internet, and other telecommunications technologies in a profitable business model. Yet, in spite of growing interest in this work, few formal evaluations have been performed on specific projects and little progress has been made toward increasing discussion of the strengths and weakness of each. Though public, private, and non-profit funds have been in a number of different ways to stimulate rural projects of this sort, evaluations to date have tended to focus on efforts led by public and non-profit organizations. Little attention has been paid to the results of private sector investment. This analysis fills a portion of the existing information gap, examining the efforts of a major sugar cane processing plant in rural South India to provide internet access to villagers. The sugar cane plant's project is evaluated on viability of infrastructure; financial sustainability; and success in meeting the company's own social objectives. In the final analysis, the company seems poised to succeed in creating a functioning, profitable network of rural internet kiosks, however, its success at providing broad access to a diverse segment of communities is limited. Two important findings emerge from this study. First, though access to computers and the internet is still limited in absolute numbers, computer aware individuals and computer users are a demographically diverse group of individuals. An intense survey of rural households demonstrates that users of computers and the internet come from a broad range of backgrounds. Though only one-quarter of rural villagers in surveyed areas were computer aware and an even smaller seven percent actually use computers, the body of actual users was demographically diverse across variables such as gender, wealth, education, and age. Second, the private sector, while seemingly able to construct a viable infrastructure for providing computer and internet access in rural areas, only serves a limited range of individuals. The project examined here was used by only one-quarter of computer users in the local area, or less than 2% of village members in August 2001. Furthermore, while users in the region surveyed were, in general, from a broad range of backgrounds, usage at the rural private sector kiosks was decidedly unequal, serving mainly wealthy male farmers from higher castes. Potential does, however, exist for the expansion of the company's internet kiosk network in a way that will significantly broaden access, reducing the digital divide seen in this private sector initiative. The analysis therefore concludes with three recommendations for improving the project at the village (operator) level and three recommendations at the company (policy) level. At the village level, awareness and skill levels must be increased; information needs and existing use must be studied to facilitate content generation; and the kiosk model must be restructured to facilitate broader access. At the company level, a solid commitment should be made to explicit social objectives; an incentive program should be developed to encourage operators to reach out to a broader range of villagers; and strategic partnerships should be developed to increase demand and available content.by Ben H. Hudson.M.C.P

An All Inclusive Practical Approach to PBIS

Schools are faced with daily opportunities to create a schoolwide culture where students want to learn and teachers are able to teach. PBIS allows flexibility to create a program that best meets the needs of each individual school. Futral Road has excelled in creating a culture of recognizing positive growth, while consistently raising the bar for excellence in academics and behavior. Futral’s program focuses on proactive strategies that meet the needs of students, parents, and teachers. This presentation will help the participants to create an all inclusive sustainable program that will create real change. This presentation will also highlight the correlation between positive behavior and academic achievement, while accentuating processes to track core content data. Schools nationwide are faced with increased accountability. With increased accountability, there are tremendous opportunities to develop a schoolwide PBIS program that meets the needs of all stakeholders. PBIS is a proactive approach that creates a positive school culture that results in increased student achievement and accountability. It also provides parents and staff with proactive strategies that continuously use data to develop a sustainable program that meets the needs of all learners. This presentation will highlight the practical ways. Futral Road has created a positive sustainable culture . It has received recognitions as a National School of Excellence and a Blue Ribbon School. Its PBIS program has been recognized as an innovative program that has proven results. This session will provide practical ideas for administrators and a school’s PBIS team to take back and implement at their schools

"Property Purgatory"

Climate change will place increasing numbers of homeowners in ‘property purgatory’, a state of financial insecurity arising from the foreseeability of eventual damage and uncertainty about means to recover their losses. The impacts of climate change-induced sea level rise and storm events are now certain, and exposed properties will likely incur insurance, mortgage and value loss. These effects could occur prior to physical damage, and existing inequities will be magnified. Current legal and institutional arrangements offer no clear pathway for those affected to recover funds in order to relocate themselves. We position property purgatory as an immediate practical challenge for those affected seeking to recover their losses, and as a legal question regarding undefined responsibilities of central and local government

Migrant vulnerability and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR): Exposing the limits of the concept of vulnerability in the Mediterranean migration context

The ECtHR has in recent years been increasingly called upon to settle disputes pertaining to migration in the Mediterranean. This article examines the developments in the ECtHR’s pertinent case law through the lens of vulnerability, a concept that offers much potential for developing the Convention in response to new challenges such as those posed by the so-called ‘migration crisis’. By drawing upon literature from law, legal theory and (bio)ethics, this article will show that while the ECtHR is amenable to the recognition of vulnerability in its inherent, situational and pathogenic forms, the Court’s actual application of the concept both belies this sophistication and squanders its potential. Indeed, despite widespread condemnation of the conventional, categorical conceptualisation of vulnerability, the ECtHR continues to rely on this simplistic and arguably invidious approach. As such, while the ECtHR may have extended vulnerability’s reach within its case law, it has nevertheless failed to recognise and effectively respond to the lived vulnerability of all who undertake hazardous journeys across the Mediterranean Sea, irrespective of the reason or reasons for their migration

Editorial: Special Issue on the Future of Internal Displacement and Sustainable Development

It is now commonly accepted that internal displacement and other forms of forced migration are multifaceted issues involving intersecting humanitarian, human rights and development concerns. To examine the topic without being cognisant of these multiple facets would be to produce an incomplete picture of the issues posed. Traditionally, however, it has been the case that while the humanitarian and the human rights aspects of forced displacement have been of intense concern, development matters have been to some degree neglected. Now, as we mark over twenty years since the publication of the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, we see development concerns beginning to be given the equal attention they deserve

Time-domain simulations of marine operations and their application to the offshore renewable energy sector

In the coming decades, offshore renewable energy is expected to play a crucial role in the decarbonisation of global electricity supply essential for limiting anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions to an acceptable level. The cost of utilising expensive vessels to install and maintain these marine energy devices represents a significant proportion of their life-cycle cost and one of the major barriers to their continued development. It is vitally important to estimate accurately these costs and attempt to reduce them as much as possible. This thesis investigates the use of time-domain simulations of marine operations to estimate the likely duration and manage the inherent risks of an offshore project. The development and application of an original time-domain simulation software are described through a case study that supported construction of a Round 3 offshore wind farm. Analysis completed in advance of the project identified the most suitable installation strategy with a potential reduction in indicative cost of up to $6m. Simulations performed during the project enabled the early identification of significant deviations from initial estimates; such as the mean observed duration of a critical activity midway through the project being approximately 30% lower than initially specified, eventually leading to a 10.8% reduction in the estimated project duration. Detailed analysis of the operational data after project completion identified the importance of the learning phenomenon associated with repetitions of identical operations and the accurate representation of random delays and stoppages. Implementing the learning factor had the effect of reducing mean project duration by 10%, while accounting for technical downtime increased this estimate by 15%. The thesis shows that time-domain simulations are well-suited to the development of optimal strategies for the execution of marine operations and the subsequent minimisation of the duration and cost of offshore projects

Migration in the Mediterranean: Exposing the Limits of Vulnerability at the European Court of Human Rights

In recent years, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has been increasingly called upon to settle disputes pertaining to migration in the Mediterranean. This article examines the developments in the ECtHR’s pertinent case law through the lens of vulnerability, a concept that offers much potential for developing the Convention in response to new challenges such as those posed by the so-called ‘migration crisis’. By drawing upon literature from law, legal theory and (bio)ethics, this article will show that while the ECtHR is amenable to the recognition of vulnerability in its inherent, situational and pathogenic forms, the Court’s actual application of the concept both belies this sophistication and squanders its potential. Indeed, despite widespread condemnation of the traditional, categorical conceptualisation of vulnerability, the ECtHR continues to rely on this simplistic and arguably invidious approach. As such, while the ECtHR may have extended vulnerability’s reach within its case law, it has nevertheless failed to recognise and effectively respond to the lived vulnerability of all who undertake hazardous journeys across the Mediterranean Sea, irrespective of the reason or reasons for their migration

A Timely Reminder of the Importance of Land Law Principles

This article considers a recent New Zealand land law case of Jin v Knox Property Investment Ltd [2015] NZHC 2296, [2016] NZCA 565. The author notes that all of the numerous judges and counsel involved failed to consider the importance of the Land Transfer Act to the resolution of the dispute at the heart of the case. If this had been considered the case would have easily dismissed. The article observes that this is an example of a disturbing trend in New Zealand’s law and that, in light of the enactment of the Land Transfer Act 2017, it is timely to remember the importance of basic land law principles