The issue of prisoners’ right to vote has been a bone of contention between the UK and the European Court of Human Rights ever since the 2005 Hirst decision when the Court decided that the blanket ban on prisoners voting was a violation of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The European origin of the decision was especially grating for many British politicians, and very quickly a bipartisan rejection of it arose in the UK Parliament. The ECtHR’s decision came under harsh criticism from all governments between then and 2022, as well as from the press. The criticism often focused on the perceived erosion of the UK Parliament’s sovereignty and revolved around the question of whether the right to vote for prisoners should be seen as a fundamentally national issue of penal policy, or as an international human rights issue. This article will explore political parliamentary discourse on this issue through a qualitative analysis of debates in the House of Commons on the Hirst decision and subsequent attempts at legal reforms. During this twelve-year-long standoff, politicians in the House of Commons often took up the issue as a way to signal their Euroscepticism, frequently conflating the Council of Europe and the EU. Many arguably engaged in a form of penal populism, pitting “law-abiding citizens” against convicted criminals (an unpopular minority) protected by “elite” foreign judges. For the three main parties, the issue could either represent a convenient diversion from their internal divisions on Brexit, or on the contrary, an embarrassing topic with the potential of creating further internal divisions.
The article analyzes the emergence of the concept of genocide from the beginning of the formation of the idea regarding the need to introduce criminal liability to its use in scientific literature and legal practice. The purpose of the study is to determine the emergence of the concept of genocide in history, its introduction in scientific literature and use in proving the guilt of persons who committed genocide, and to analyze the periods of improvement of criminal liability for genocide.
The concept of genocide arises from a natural or acquired position about the inequality of certain groups or communities and the desire to obtain the resources of one group at the expense of another. This perceived inequality of groups has led to the beginning of more than one genocide in human history.
The concept of genocide arose thanks to the lawyer of Jewish-Polish origin Raphael Lemkin.
In the process of committing the crime that Lemkin defined, there is oppression, disempowerment of a certain group, mockery of moral values and the use of physical attacks, the group becomes disempowered and it is easier to impose a national model of the oppressor. This process can be followed in practice.
The commission of genocide requires extensive preparation, coordination of actions to fulfill the intent to destroy a specific group, as defined in law. The premeditation of genocide and the use of a large number of methods of committing the crime indicate the intent to destroy a specific group.
It is concluded that the intention to define the concept of genocide and responsibility for committing the crime began in 1933, the concept was defined in 1943, the concept of genocide was first used in the work “The Rule of the Axis Powers in Occupied Europe», and in 1945-1946 the concept of genocide was used in practice.The definition and consolidation of the concept of genocide took place in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, December 9, 1948.
Accordingly, a long period of defining the concept of genocide has passed, from the moment of the emergence of the specified concept to the introduction of responsibility for the commission of genocide in international law. The concept of genocide has changed since its emergence. At present, there is a need to improve this concept in criminal legislation.
El presente artículo estudia las bases jurídicas de Derecho originario de la Unión Europea en materia de protección temporal de personas nacionales de terceros países en afluencia masiva. Se aborda el surgimiento de esas bases jurídicas, inexistentes en la primera redacción de los Tratados comunitarios, la persistencia de su inexistencia tras el Acta Única Europea pese a que esta redefinió Mercado común como Mercado interior sin fronteras internas a la circulación de personas, la situación de impasse que a este efecto supuso el Tratado de Maastricht, y la primera aparición de tales bases jurídicas por obra del Tratado de Ámsterdam. A continuación, se efectúa la caracterización en detalle que esas bases jurídicas tienen en la actualidad en el Tratado de Funcionamiento de la Unión, principalmente en los apartados 2 y 3 del artículo 78 del mismo (incluyendo su interpretación jurisprudencial por el Tribunal de Justicia), así como el mayor desarrollo armonizador con respecto al existente con la Directiva de Protección Temporal, e incluso con el surgido del nuevo Reglamento de Situaciones de Crisis derivado del Nuevo Pacto sobre Migración y Asilo, que esas mismas bases jurídicas permitirían.
Recibido: 17 diciembre 2024
Aceptado: 15 enero 2025
This article provides an objective historical analysis of the decrees issued by the President of the Republic, commonly referred to as the "Beneš Decrees." These decrees, which encompassed various legal aspects, gained attention due to their connection to the post-World War II expulsion of the German population from Czechoslovakia. The article examines the historical facts associated with these decrees, their impact on restitution disputes, and the decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic. It also addresses the myths and simplifications surrounding the Beneš Decrees and aims to present an unbiased understanding to foreign readers.
History (General) and history of Europe, History of Law
This article proves the correlation between parental education level and the ability to memorize juz 'amma fluency in Al-Mustaghfiroh Jombang Kindergarten students. This research was conducted on students in early childhood education, namely at Kindergarten B Al-Mustaghfiroh Jombang. The method in this research was carried out through a quantitative approach using documentation studies. The data previously obtained was processed using descriptive analysis, percentage formulas, standard deviations and Contingency Coefficient Correlation analysis. In this case, the research results show that this research is very suitable for identifying students' learning processes, including relationships that influence the learning process or students' memory during their golden age. Second, the educational level of the parents of Al-Mustaghfiroh Kindergarten students, which is in the high category, is 25% or as many as 5 people who are Bachelor graduates; the medium category is 70%, or as many as 14 people who are high school graduates and finally the low category is only 1 person or as much as 5% are elementary school graduates. Al-Mustaghfiroh Kindergarten students' ability to memorize fluency was included in the high category with a score of > 70.00 for as many as 7 people, 11 people in the medium category got a score of 60.00 - 69.00 and only 2 people in the low category with a score of < 59.00. From this, it can be seen that there is a positive and significant correlation between the level of parental education and the fluent memorization ability of Al-Mustaghfiroh Kindergarten students at a significance level of 5% or ?=0.05 with ?_0 > ?_tabel / 0.74998 > 0.444 so reject H_0 and H_a accepted. and vice versa, namely 25.002% influenced by other factors.
Qu’implique l’étude d’un droit administratif étranger ? Inscrire une recherche dans le champ disciplinaire du « droit étranger » soulève d’abord la question de la manière dont il convient d’envisager la relation de ce dernier avec celui du « droit comparé ». À bien des égards, la distinction généralement établie semble devoir être nuancée, notamment parce qu’un droit étranger ne peut être compris et présenté que par rapport au droit national. Quant au droit administratif étranger, le constat majoritaire a longtemps été celui d’une certaine indifférence des comparatistes à l’égard du droit administratif, et des administrativistes à l’égard du droit comparé. Pourtant, outre que l’étude d’un droit administratif étranger présente un grand intérêt pour la compréhension du système de gouvernement considéré, elle permet également d’envisager son droit administratif national avec un regard renouvelé et critique.
The Paper deals with the importance of the Slovak influence (the role of Hungarian law and Slovak commissions) in the and recodification of civil law in Czechoslovakia for the time period 1918-1948 using the example of inheritance law. Firstly, different approaches in private law legislation after 1918 are presented (discontinuity, compromise, continuity with Hungarian law, continuity with Austrian law). Secondly, attention is paid to the inspiration of Slovak (Hungarian) law in the course of the recodification of inheritance law, which together with family law was one of the areas differing the most in the Czech lands and Slovakia, while receiving the most attention in the literature of the time and compared to other areas of civil law, which also influenced the further legal development the most significantly (Slovak law, the preparation of the Civil Code of 1950, the interwar curricula of 1931 and 1936/37, as well as the preparation of the Civil Code of 2012). In particular, the issues discussed in the so-called Slovak commissions (the Commission for the Civil Law established in Bratislava in 1922 and partly also the Commission under the Justice Commission for the Codification and Unification of Civil Law established in 1946), such as the acquisition of inheritance, incapacity to inherit (crime against the testator, the status of members of religious orders, adulterers and deserters), waiver of the right of inheritance, oral will, testamentary succession, protection of the surviving wife, extraordinary right of inheritance of legatees, determining the value of the gift by collation, transfer of the testator’s debts, contract of inheritance, war will, annulment of last will and testament and protection of illegitimate children. The ABGB was chosen as the basis for the recodification, which was only to be modernised (mainly the codification of Austrian law, its applicability to the majority of the population of the new state and its familiarity with Slovak lawyers were the reasons given for the preference of Austrian law), however, the law in force in Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia was also to be taken into account. However, the reality was different, and the comments of the Slovak Commissions were only marginally taken into account. The dismissive attitude towards Slovak law and, indirectly, towards Slovak lawyers was also one of the reasons why only partial unification took place in the interwar era and the Civil Code was not adopted in the end. Comprehensive unification of private law, which followed the interwar recodification (albeit to a limited extend), only took place after the communist overturn within the framework of the so-called legal biennium from 1948 to 1950, which took real account of the Slovak legal situation.
History (General) and history of Europe, History of Law
Abstract This article examines how governments can regulate the values of social media companies that themselves regulate disinformation spread on their own platforms. We use ‘disinformation’ to refer to motivated faking of news. We examine the effects that disinformation initiatives (many based on automated decision-making systems using Artificial Intelligence [AI] to cope with the scale of content being shared) have on freedom of expression, media pluralism and the exercise of democracy, from the wider lens of tackling illegal content online and concerns to request proactive (automated) measures of online intermediaries. We particularly focus on the responses of the member states and institutions of the European Union. In Section 1 , we argue that the apparent significance of the threat has led many governments to legislate despite this lack of evidence, with over 40 national laws to combat disinformation chronicled by March 2019. Which types of regulation are proposed, which actors are targeted, and who is making these regulations? Regulating fake news should not fall solely on national governments or supranational bodies like the European Union. Neither should the companies be responsible for regulating themselves. Instead, we favour co-regulation. Co-regulation means that the companies develop – individually or collectively – mechanisms to regulate their own users, which in turn must be approved by democratically legitimate state regulators or legislatures, who also monitor their effectiveness. In Section 2 , we explain the current EU use of Codes of Conduct. In Section 3 , we then explain the relatively novel idea that social media content regulation, and specifically disinformation, can be dealt with by deploying AI at massive scale. It is necessary to deal with this technological issue in order to explain the wider content of co-regulatory policy options, which we explain and for which we argue in Section 4 . In Section 5 we explain what this means for technology regulation generally, and the socio-economic calculus in this policy field.
(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2023 8(2), 405-410 | European Forum Highlight of 26 July 2023 | (Abstract) The Digital Markets Act (DMA) intends to ensure contestable and fair markets in the digital sector through the introduction of obligations for “gatekeepers”. This term represents a legal innovation. No mention of gatekeepers can be retrieved in the case law regarding digital platforms, and the origins of the nomenclature cannot be ascribed to competition law. The concept can, however, be linked to information studies: its adoption in the DMA reflects the centrality of information control for contestability and fairness. A look at the DMA treatment of gatekeepers reveals that, on the one hand, it is coherent with an information-based approach, while on the other it is not devoid of elements typical of a competition law approach. Only the future interpretation of the DMA will show whether the Regulation is an attempt to inform competition policy with notions fit for the data economy or if it is bound to depart from a competition-based reading.
Dear Colleagues,
This year marks the celebration of a remarkable event in the cultural history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – the establishment of the printing house of Francysk Skaryna in Vilnius and the beginning of book printing in Lithuania. The printing house was established in the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, although it worked only for a few years, it still marked the beginning of a great history. As the preface to the programme of this conference beautifully states, “The Grand Duchy of Lithuania became part of the Gutenberg galaxy.”
Historians, philologists, and art historians will spend several days discussing this historical event, examining its cultural context and its consequences from different perspectives. I would especially like to emphasize the multi-disciplinary approach of this conference which is bound to enable us to share and deepen our knowledge. It is clear that the Francysk Skaryna printing house is a phenomenon of the multicultural and multi-confessional tradition of the Grand Duchy. Skaryna came from the Belarusian lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and studied in Padua before working between Prague and Vilnius, where he eventually went on to publish Orthodox books. The title of the first book he published was The Little Traveller’s Book. And this title aptly reflects the mobility of Skaryna himself as well as many other literary people of the time, although the intended meaning of the title is somewhat different.
The beginning of the 16th century was a significant period in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The codification of Law (the First Statute of Lithuania), the first complete history of Lithuania, and the first original works of fiction were written at that time. In this context, the establishment of the Skaryna printing house reflects both the growing political consciousness of the contemporary society, as well as its literacy.
Let us turn to the present day. I’m very happy to welcome you to Vilnius. We have all missed such in-person conferences. Still, we must not forget the current political situation. We need to be responsible in our behaviour with history. And we urgently need to explore what the foundations of a new European and global policy should be. All this thinking must be done in a rational, focused, knowledge-based and contextual manner. And that is what we, the academics, can provide for societies consumed by the anxiety of war, manipulated by the media and biases of propaganda. And that is how we, the academic community, show how relevant we are to the external world. Just as Skaryna recognized the benefits of printing texts for his society, we all recognize the value of disseminating accurate information and our duty to combat misinformation. However, speaking truth to power and standing up for what is right requires courage.
In this way, I would like to extend a special welcome to our colleagues from Belarus and Ukraine. Many of them, for various reasons, are unable to continue in their regular positions, and some of them have to call themselves ‘independent researchers’ because they have lost their jobs because of their views. We welcome you to Lithuania and Vilnius and are always ready to support you.
I would like to finish my speech by wishing you a productive and meaningful conference and a pleasant time in Vilnius. Next year, we shall celebrate the 700th anniversary of our capital city. In 1323, Gediminas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, invited people from all over Europe to come to Vilnius and settle down for peaceful trade and business. I am happy to vouch that our commitment to open international cooperation continues to stand firm.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
Citation: Michael Veale and Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius, ‘Adtech and Real-Time Bidding under European Data Protection Law’ [2021] German Law Journal.This paper discusses the troubled relationship between contemporary advertising technology (adtech) systems, in particular systems of real-time bidding (RTB, also known as programmatic advertising) underpinning much behavioural targeting on the web and through mobile applications. This paper analyses the extent to which practices of RTB are compatible with the requirements regarding (i) a legal basis for processing, transparency, and security in European data protection law. We first introduce the technologies at play through explaining and analysing the systems deployed online today. Following that, we turn to the law. Rather than analyse RTB against every provision of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we consider RTB in the context of the GDPR’s requirement of a legal basis for processing and the GDPR’s transparency and security requirements. We show, first, that the GDPR requires prior consent of the internet user for RTB, as other legal bases are not appropriate. Second, we show that it is difficult – and perhaps impossible – for website publishers and RTB companies to meet the GDPR’s transparency requirements. Third, RTB incentivises insecure data processing. We conclude that, in concept and in practice, RTB is structurally difficult to reconcile with European data protection law. Therefore, intervention by regulators is necessary.
Aconite (Aconitum napellus) was one of the most notorious, poisonous plants in the ancient world. Its dangerous, lethal power – present in leaves, roots, stem, and tuber – was well known to the Greeks and the Romans from the earliest times. Evidence of this phenomenon is not only present in archaeological findings, but also in many writings – biographies, poems, legal codes, etc.
However, the most precise and detailed accounts come from treatises written by botanists, physicians and encyclopaedists, like Theophrastus, Nicander, Pliny the Elder, Dioscorides, or Galen, and by early Byzantine authors, Oribasius, Aetius of Amida, and Paul of Aegina. In their testimonies, one can find descriptions of aconite, its influence on the human body (and animals), and remedies for affected people.
In contrast, there are few passages from these sources that inform the readers about the healing properties of aconite. According to these fragments, carefully administered, aconite could be helpful in some therapies, but its use was extremely hazardous, as even a small part of the plant could kill a man.
Slavic languages. Baltic languages. Albanian languages
ABSTRACT This paper analyzes recent trends of democratic backsliding within the European Union (EU). While some scholars highlight threats to the rule of law and judicial independence as the key development and problem, others focus on elite discourse and partisan competition. We provide a comprehensive analysis of the essence of democratic backsliding by analyzing changes between 1990 and 2019 on key indicators of democracy – polyarchy, liberalism, participation, deliberation and egalitarianism – documented in the V-Dem dataset, within the European Union. We find that democratic backsliding at its core is structured by a deterioration of the quality of deliberation. Deliberation is also the component where EU member states differ amongst each other the most and which has featured the greatest deterioration in recent years. We conclude by spelling out the implications this has for EU policy.
This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs and requested by the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, assesses the impact of disinformation and strategic political propaganda disseminated through online social media sites. It examines effects on the functioning of the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights in the EU and its Member States. The study formulates recommendations on how to tackle this threat to human rights, democracy and the rule of law. It specifically addresses the role of social media platform providers in this regard.
The rule of law is a principle of constitutional importance under the European Convention on Human Rights. For decades, it has guided the work of the Strasbourg Court. The article discusses the principle’s ideological core as a fundamental component of “European public order” and its three normative dimensions, as they find their expression in the case-law of the Court. The author then discusses in detail the rule of law’s most important structural principle under the Convention, the independence of the judiciary.
ABSTRACT The European Union (EU) has become the main driver for environmental policy output for its member states whose number has more than tripled over the past four decades. The EU’s deepening and widening has led researchers to expect more non-compliance with EU environmental legislation. In fact, however, the implementation gap has narrowed over the past 25 years. Except for Southern enlargement, taking on new member states has not exacerbated the EU’s compliance problem in the field of environmental policy. Nor has the expansion of the environmental acquis. This is explained by the European Commission’s strategies of managing and enforcing compliance. EU environmental policy has become less demanding on member states since it increasingly tends to amend existing rather than set new legislation. Simultaneously, the Commission has developed new instruments to strengthen member state capacities to implement EU environmental legislation.
We demonstrate how privacy law interacts with competition and trade policy in the context of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We follow more than 110,000 websites for 18 months to show that websites reduced their connections to web technology providers after GDPR became effective, especially regarding requests involving personal data. This also holds for websites catering to non-EU audiences and therefore not bound by GDPR. We further document an increase in market concentration in web technology services after the introduction of GDPR. While most firms lose market share, the leading firm, Google, significantly increases market share.