The Right to Strike and the "Deadweight" of the Common Law

The hostility of the common law in respect of collective action by workers in the form of strikes is notorious. To provide workers with a right to strike, legislative intervention is necessary. In New Zealand and Australia, legislative enactment of the right to strike has taken the form of the "immunity approach" whereby strike action which meets the prerequisites for protection under the relevant statute receives immunity from common law action, while that which does not remains subject to potential liability at common law.This article analyses the adoption of the immunity approach in Australia under the relevant federal industrial relations statutes that have operated since 1993. Commencing with discussion of the hostility of the common law to collective action and the principle of legality, a presumption of statutory interpretation that presumes Parliament would not have abrogated common law rights without an express intention to do so, this article examines how the scope of protected industrial action in Australia has been consistently narrowed through hostile judicial interpretation. Such interpretation has been grounded in an approach which narrows the extent that common law rights are restricted by the statute and construes the statutory enactment of a right to strike as conferring a "privilege" on those industrial actors who remain "worthy" enough to access it.Considering the progressively negative impact on the right to strike of this approach, the argument in this article echoes calls made by Gordon Anderson in 1987 to reject the continued role of the common law in the regulation of industrial action. It is argued that the law of strikes in Australia should be codified. Such an approach should assist in downplaying judicial tendencies to interpret the right to strike as a privilege rather than as a necessary component of a functioning system of voluntary collective bargaining

Dispersal of Economic Activity and Industrial Development.

A RJE conference paper on economic activity and industrial development in the then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Paper Presented at Symposium for Industry In Rhodesia, June 11th-12th, 1969.Ever since Lord Keynes propounded his “General Theory”, it has increasingly come to be held that man is not merely a cork on the economic ocean, being flung this way and that by blind economic forces, but that he can determine his economic condition. It is this newer view, that we are no longer entirely creatures of our economic circumstance, but are indeed in a position to “create” our own future to some extent, that underlies the thinking on dispersal of economic activity. We feel capable of guiding economic forces into directions which will build an economy more closely resembling that which we want rather than being prepared to accept the economy which free market forces build for us. Not only do we want to “create” our own future insofar as this is possible ; we also want, each one of us, to feel that we have a “place in the sun”— that we count for something in the general scheme of things. However, with the increasing sizes of cities and the concomitant massing together of vast hordes of humanity, it is suggested that many people may experience a disquieting awareness of some loss of their worth as individuals. Indeed, the struggle to find that place in the sun seems to increase in difficulty the more people there are who have to be pushed out of the way in the process

QUASI-CONTRACTS - RECOVERY BY DONOR OF CHARITABLE RELIEF FROM PAUPERS AND THEIR ESTATES

The question whether or not a pauper or his estate assumes an obligation to reimburse the donor of charitable relief has been subject to many varied and inconsistent answers. Most of the cases in this field are not distinguishable on their facts, and hence the inability to reconcile them must be laid to the differences in the reasoning of the courts in their attempts to handle these cases more from a sociological approach than from a legal point of view. In discussing this problem it is desirable to place these cases in three principal classes: (1) where relief is given to one who in fact is unable to support himself; (2) where relief is given to a person who in fact is able to support himself but who is guilty of no fraud or misrepresentation in applying for and receiving the assistance; (3) where relief is given under statutory authorization and conditions

TRUSTS - ACCUMULATION OF INCOME

Testator left his estate in trust until twenty-one years after the death of two nieces, the trust income to be used first to pay several annuities and the remainder to be re-invested by the trustee for the increase and benefit of this trust fund. At the expiration of twenty-one years after the death of both nieces the trust was to terminate and the estate to be distributed. The lower court held that, while the trust did not violate the rule against perpetuities nor the District of Columbia statute as to the suspension of the power of alienation, the trust income could not be accumulated for so long a period. Held, reversed. Under common law of the United States and the District of Columbia a provision for the accumulation of income of a trust is permitted for a period of twenty-one years after lives in being; any change in this rule is for the legislature, not the courts. Gertman v. Burdick, (App. D.C. 1941) 123 F. (2d) 924

Dynamic network range-adjusted measure vs. dynamic network slacks-based measure

Workshop 2013 on Dynamic and Network DEA (January 29-30, 2013)We formulate weighted, dynamic network range-adjusted measure (D-NRAM) and dynamic network slacksbased measure (D-NSBM), run robustness tests and compare results. To the best of our knowledge, the current paper is the first to compare two weighted dynamic network DEA models and it also represents the first attempt at formulating D-NRAM. We illustrate our models using simulated data on residential aged care. Insight gained by running D-NRAM in parallel with D-NSBM includes (a) identical benchmark groups, (b) a substantially wider range of efficiency estimates under D-NRAM, and (c) evidence of inefficient DMU size bias. D-NRAM is also shown to have the additional desirable technical efficiency properties of translation-invariance and acceptance of data. Managerial implications are also briefly discussed.This workshop is supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 22310095 under the title “Theory and Applications of Dynamic DEA with Network Structure.

Drug use amongst 12- and 13-year-olds attending emotional and behavioural difficulty units in Belfast.

This article reports on the findings from a survey of 12- and 13-year-old young people with statements of special educational needs who are attending emotional and behavioural difficulty units in Belfast. The existing literature in the area of special education suggests that a gap in contemporary empirical evidence for drug use behaviours of adolescents attending EBD units and other special educational facilities exists at present. In attempting to redress this knowledge gap, the findings from the present study support the opinions of commentators in the field that young people attending EBD units are at a high risk of illicit drug use in comparison with their contemporaries in mainstream school

DYNAMIC NETWORK RANGE-ADJUSTED MEASURE VS. DYNAMIC NETWORK SLACKS-BASED MEASURE

We dedicate this paper to the memory of Professor William W. Cooper, 1914–2012, whose generous demeanor touched and inspired at least three generations of DEA researchers. It is up to the DEA community to make sure that his vision and legacy live on. Abstract We formulate weighted, dynamic network range-adjusted measure (DN-RAM) and dynamic network slacks-based measure (DN-SBM), run robustness tests and compare results. To the best of our knowledge, the current paper is the first to compare two weighted dynamic network DEA models and it also represents the first attempt at formulating DN-RAM. We illustrate our models using simulated data on residential aged care. Insight gained by running DN-RAM in parallel with DN-SBM includes (a) identical benchmark groups, (b) a substantially wider range of efficiency estimates under DN-RAM, and (c) evidence of inefficient size bias. DN-RAM is also shown to have the additional desirable technical efficiency properties of translation-invariance and acceptance of free data. Managerial implications are also briefly discussed

Secular trends in substance use: the conflict and young people in Northern Ireland.

The resolution of political conflict has led some to suggest that Northern Ireland will now face a range of social problems that have been ignored or suppressed by the Troubles. One such area is adolescent drug use. In this article, a review of a range of data sources shows that drug use, with few exceptions, has increased since the emergence of the ongoing peace process. Social and political changes and enhanced paramilitary involvement in the drugs trade appear to have somehow created an environment where drug use has flourished. In reviewing current drug policy and practice, the article highlights the lack of prevention, treatment, and harm reduction services established in Northern Ireland as a cause for concern