Revisiting the fraud exception: a critique of United City Merchants v Royal Bank of Canada forty years on

Much has changed in the four decades since United City Merchants v Royal Bank of Canada, in which Lord Diplock established the fraud exception in transactions financed by documentary credit. In particular, the introduction of the UCP 600, case law on nullity documents and amendment to the American fraud exception justify a reconsideration of both the policy arguments underpinning Lord Diplock's rule and the fate of documents known to be forged or null at the time of presentation. Accordingly, two arguments are made in this paper. First, a consideration of the broader exception in the US should prompt a modern Supreme Court to re-examine his Lordship's insistence that a narrow exception was required to preserve the efficiency of the credit mechanism. In addition, it further argues that banks should be entitled to reject known nullities and forgeries as non-complying. This argument would reinstate the doctrine of strict compliance, which was overlooked in United City Merchants, and is based on the clarified definitions in the UCP 600, more recent judicial consideration of nullities and the existence of the ICC's International Maritime Bureau

Evaluation of the ACT Sexual Assault Reform Program (SARP)

In 2005 the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) produced a report, Responding to sexual assault: The challenge of change (DPP & AFP 2005), which made 105 recommendations for reforming the way sexual offence cases are handled by the ACT’s criminal justice system. The Sexual Assault Reform Program (SARP) is one key initiative developed in response to these recommendations. Managed by the ACT Justice and Community Safety Directorate (JACS), SARP’s main objective is to improve aspects of the criminal justice system relating to: processes and support for victims of sexual offences as they progress through the system; attrition in sexual offence matters in the criminal justice system; and coordination and collaboration among the agencies involved. In November 2007 the ACT Attorney-General announced $4 million of funding for several SARP reforms. This funding provided for additional victim support staff; a dedicated additional police officer, prosecutor and legal policy officer; and an upgrade of equipment for the Supreme Court and Magistrates Court, including improvements in technology to assist witnesses in giving evidence, and the establishment of an off-site facility to allow witnesses to give evidence from a location outside of the court. In addition, the reform agenda included a number of legislative amendments that changed how evidence can be given by victims of sexual and family violence offences, children and other vulnerable witnesses. The primary objectives of these legislative changes are to provide an unintimidating, safe environment for vulnerable witnesses (including sexual offence complainants) to give evidence and to obtain prompt statements from witnesses to improve the quality of evidence captured (DPP 2009: 13)

Strengthening Youth Leadership in a Metropolitan Region: Examining Lessons From a Multiyear Community Foundation Initiative

This article examines the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan’s launch of a broad-based, multilayered strategy to promote youth leadership in the region, and showcases what can be accomplished when foundations invest in such strategies. In partnership with the University of Michigan School of Social Work and the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University, the foundation helped develop comprehensive programs aimed at building the capacity of youth-serving organizations to engage youth as leaders, support a youth-driven research assessment and social-justice project, and provide funds for youth-run efforts aimed at strengthening the region’s schools and communities. As a result of the initiative, young people were empowered, organizations strengthened, networks developed, and the promise of youth leadership was demonstrated to the region. Although the full impact of the initiative may take longer to be understood, its success can be seen in the ways the region’s young people and organizations, and the foundation itself, now incorporate youth leadership

Strategies to Strengthen Youth Leadership and Youth Participation Opportunities in Central Appalachia

The purpose of this study was to assess opportunities for strengthening youth leadership and participation in the Central Appalachian region. In particular, authors Rebecca O’Doherty, Ada Smith, Ben Spangler, Elandria Williams, and Katie Richards-Schuster sought to understand and document the range of activities and strategies in the region as well as understand the nuances involved in promoting and sustaining youth leadership opportunities. Through interviews with key leaders in the region, they explored critical themes for strengthening youth leadership. To highlight the potential and opportunities for future development, they share a case study of an innovative approach to nurturing and sustaining youth leadership. They conclude with a set of recommendations for consideration by policy makers and stakeholders interested in developing sustainable youth leadership practices in Central Appalachia

Fraud unravels all? A critical examination of the fraud rules in marine insurance and documentary credit transactions

This thesis considers the extent to which ‘fraud unravels all’ explains the judicial response to fraudulent marine insurance claims and fraud in documentary credit transactions. The simplicity of the maxim suggests that fraud does not unduly trouble the courts and gives the impression of a uniform and deterrent approach to fraud within the civil law. The comparison made in this thesis demonstrates this impression to be misleading; the courts have conceived of fraud differently and have employed context-specific policy concerns to justify the shape of each fraud rule. The insurance discussions are dominated by deterrence with legal sanctions placed at the heart of the model. By contrast, the trade finance courts adopt a more laissez-faire attitude which prioritises the efficiency of the credit mechanism and considers deterrence an ex ante issue for the parties. Accordingly, this thesis examines the respective policy justifications and considers their continued validity in light of comparative and empirical evidence. In the insurance context, it is argued that the judicial understanding of deterrence is outdated which renders the resulting legal rule ineffective. An examination of approaches to fraud in other jurisdictions then demonstrates the possibility of constructing a more nuanced remedial framework which would balance the competing policy considerations of deterrence and proportionality. The documentary credit discussion contends that the narrow English approach to fraud is not an inevitable policy decision and moreover, has resulted in detrimental consequences for the credit mechanism. It employs empirical data to develop an explanation of deterrence for the duration of credit transactions. In both contexts, these arguments have important implications for the future development of the law. In summary, this research undermines the utility of ‘fraud unravels all’ and calls instead for courts and academics to resist instinctively attractive solutions in favour of a robust, empirically-informed approach to fraud