Land reform, inheritance rights and unintended consequences

No abstract available

Fraud in Scots law

This thesis seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the Scots law of fraud. Adopting a method that is both historical and doctrinal, it provides a critical analysis of the current understanding of fraud and argues for an approach that is more consistent with Scotland’s legal history which, in turn, was profoundly influenced by a much older tradition of European legal thought. It begins by exploring the historical scope of fraud in both a criminal and civil context with specific focus on questions of definition and the extent to which “fraud” was used in the broader sense of activities not involving deceit. A detailed analysis is given of the widespread concept of presumptive fraud by means of which Scots law was able to provide a remedy for unfair or unwarrantable behaviour without any requirement for a deceitful intention and for misstatements made unintentionally. The argument is made that presumptive fraud was a mechanism for delivering substantive justice and that its conceptual roots lie in an Aristotelian understanding of justice as equality. A comparison is made between the scholastic doctrine of restitution, which was developed by Thomas Aquinas as the outworking of the Aristotelian virtue of justice, and the scheme of Scots law created in the Institutions of the Law of Scotland by Viscount Stair (1619-1695), who is said to be the founding father of Scots law. It is suggested that the religious and philosophical conditions which existed in seventeenth century Scotland were particularly fertile soil for scholastic legal ideas which conceptualised law within a moral and religious framework. The second half of the thesis undertakes a doctrinal analysis of fraud in three parts. First, the complex relationship between fraud, error and misrepresentation is examined and the case is made that misrepresentation, whether intentional or unintentional, sits more comfortably in the law of fraud than in the law of error. Secondly, modern legal literature is critically assessed and the dominant modern narrative – that error induced by misrepresentation is a native concept in Scots law – is questioned. Thirdly, a new taxonomy of fraud is proposed which distinguishes between primary and secondary fraud. The operation of secondary fraud (which amounts to “participation” in the primary fraud of another and therefore involves three-party situations) is explored through the application of two familiar legal maxims: the “fraud” principle (that no one should be enriched through the fraud of another) and the good faith purchaser for value. In the context of secondary fraud, it is argued that the criteria for its operation - mala fides and a gratuitous transaction - are both core components of the older concept of presumptive fraud. The thesis comes full circle as it is suggested that while the broader equitable definition of fraud, rooted in equality, may have disappeared in the context of primary fraud, secondary fraud retains it

Energy absorption in lattice structures in dynamics: Experiments

Lattice structures offer the potential to relatively easily engineer specific (meso-scale properties (cell level)), to produce desirable macro-scale material properties for a wide variety of engineering applications including wave filters, blast and impact protection systems, thermal insulation, structural aircraft and vehicle components, and body implants. The work presented here focuses on characterising the quasi-static and, in particular, the dynamic load-deformation behaviour of lattice samples. First, cubic, diamond and re-entrant cube lattice structures were tested under quasi-static conditions to investigate failure process and stress–strain response of such materials. Following the quasi-static tests, Hopkinson pressure bar (HPB) tests were carried out to evaluate the impact response of these materials under high deformation rates. The HPB tests show that the lattice structures are able to spread impact loading in time and to reduce the peak impact stress. A significant rate dependency of load-deformation characteristics was identified. This is believed to be the first published results of experimental load-deformation studies of additively manufactured lattice structures. The cubic and diamond lattices are, by a small margin, the most effective of those lattices investigated to achieve this

Why is it so difficult to reform the law of intestate succession?

No abstract available

General principles of contract law

No abstract available

Fraud or error: a thought experiment?

No abstract available

General Principles of Contract Law

No abstract available

Speech and language therapy caseloads in seven districts in the UK

This paper provides managers and clinicians with an analysis of routine data collected by seven speech and language therapy services in the UK. Managers in seven districts in the UK of varying size and location were asked to provide information on referrals, waiting times and attendances during the six month period, and to give a breakdown of the types of intervention offered and type of clients seen. These data were aggregated and comparisons were made with existing data on speech and language therapy services. The results revealed considerable variations in prevalence, staffing ratios and client management practices. The implications for service planning are discussed