The Sovereignty of Children in Law

The Sovereignty of Children in Law
Author: Farhad Malekian
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 515
Release: 2012-01-17
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1443836737

The system of the United Nations, as well as many international and regional bodies, imposes various duties on states that consequently have obligations towards the rights of their individuals. This is particularly significant in the case of children who are not only considered one of the most valuable subjects of international regulations, but are also an integral part of the legislation of domestic laws. Despite the fact that laws concerning the rights of children are well settled in the international sphere, and are recognized under the jus cogens norms, national laws about children, or national laws having an effect on children, are still not completely adequate. Many legislative and cultural practices expose the fact that children are not recognized as the holders of rights. National legal authorities should not, in accordance with the existing international legislations, plead provisions of their own laws or deficiencies of those laws in response to a request against them for alleged violations of children’s rights that have occurred under their jurisdiction. In fact, the absence of appropriate legislation within national legal systems and the reluctance of legal authorities to seriously take children’s rights into consideration, have been two of the key reasons for the contraventions of children’s rights in national or international conflicts. Strange as it may seem, when we do not respect the rights of others, it might be considered a civil violation or a crime. But when the rights of children are violated it has, on many occasions, been dismissed as custom or argued that they gave their express consent. For example, in the nineties, when a child of 11 was raped in Sweden, the judgment concluded that there was an implicit consent. Similarly, when a child of seven was raped by an Iranian priest in a Mosque, it was judged as the victim receiving spiritual enlightenment. By analogy with the rules which exist to provide legal, social and economic aid to the victims of national or international crimes, it may be possible to suggest that there is an established legal duty for all states to provide access to resources which can, under reasonable criteria, protect children from the improper conducts of individuals, organisations, and the administration of justice. It is, in principle, true that literally millions of people believe that children are their property or that a child has no rights of his or her own, and thus the conduct of parents, guardians, representatives of organisations, and the administration of justice relating to children are permitted as a matter of law or nature. This book examines many different areas within the law which deal with the specific rights of children such as the philosophy of law, civil law, social law, tax law, criminal law, procedural law, international law, human rights law and the humanitarian law of armed conflict. The intention is to show that there are many rules, provisions, norms, and principles within various areas of the law that relate to the rights of children. The extent of these rights implies the existence of certain regions of law which have to be acknowledged and respected by national authorities. However, the acknowledgement of rights is also a matter of intention, and may be implied or expressed by the practice of authorities. The question of the child constituting a self-ruling subject of justice and its legal ability to create an independent individual legal personality for the protection of its rights, but not necessarily for the exercise of those rights, are the central issues of this book.

Children, the Law and the Welfare Principle

Children, the Law and the Welfare Principle
Author: Kerry O'Halloran
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2023-05-16
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1000885577

This book continues the themes addressed by its two predecessors in this mini-series by examining the role of the principle of the welfare interests of the child in the law of the U.S. and Canada. It provides a record of the key milestones in its development in each country and conducts a comparative analysis of the contemporary law relating to children in both. In doing so, it focuses also on the Indigenous communities – the AN/AI and the First Nations – of the U.S. and Canada respectively. By identifying and analysing the functions of the principle in the public (care, protection and control, etc), private (matrimonial, adoption, etc) and hybrid (adoption from care, surrogacy, etc) sectors of family law, it builds a picture of the law relating to children in the two countries and reveals significant jurisdictional differences. By examining the legislation and related caselaw, it assesses the different effects of the same legal framework on the welfare of Indigenous and other children. In addition to a digest of cases and legislation that identifies and tracks the role of this legal principle, lawyers, academics and other researchers will find a wealth of information on how it has evolved to reflect corresponding changes in social mores. For those interested in politics and social policy, there is much illuminating evidence of how the law has balanced this principle relative to others in both civil and criminal contexts.

Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Author: Rachel Hodgkin
Publisher: United Nations Publications
Total Pages: 787
Release: 2007
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9789280641837

"The Handbook aims to be a practical tool for implementation, explaining and illustrating the implications of each article of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and of the two Optional Protocols adopted in 2000 as well as their interconnections."--P. xvii.

Children's Constitutional Rights in the Nordic Countries

Children's Constitutional Rights in the Nordic Countries
Author: Trude Haugli
Publisher: Brill Nijhoff
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020
Genre: Children
ISBN: 9789004382800

This study explores whether and how enshrining children's rights in national constitutions improves implementation and enforcement of those rights by comparing Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish law.

Child Rights

Child Rights
Author: Clark Butler
Publisher: Purdue University Press
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2012
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1557535493

"Published in cooperation with the Human Rights Institute of the Center for Applied Ethics, Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne."

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: An Analysis of Treaty Provisions and Implications of U.S. Ratification

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: An Analysis of Treaty Provisions and Implications of U.S. Ratification
Author: Jonathan Todres
Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers
Total Pages: 395
Release: 2006-05-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1571053638

This in-depth text goes beyond the rhetoric of the debate on children’s rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular, to provide a detailed examination of the impact that U.S. ratification of the Convention would have on U.S. law. The chapters have been written by leading children’s advocates and scholars with a general audience in mind, as the authors believe that it is important for all Americans to become informed about the Convention and about children’s rights in general. With a greater understanding of the substance of the Convention and children’s rights, readers will be better positioned to determine what the real issues are, what is simply rhetoric without any basis in fact or law, and how they can address the real issues in an effective manner in order to provide a better world for all children.

The Oxford Handbook of Children's Rights Law

The Oxford Handbook of Children's Rights Law
Author: Jonathan Todres
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 797
Release: 2020-02-19
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0190097620

Children's rights law is a relatively young but rapidly developing discipline. The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the field's core legal instrument, is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. Yet, like children themselves, children's rights are often relegated to the margins in mainstream legal, political, and other discourses, despite their application to approximately one-third of the world's population and every human being's first stages of life. Now thirty years old, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) signalled a definitive shift in the way that children are viewed and understood--from passive objects subsumed within the family to full human beings with a distinct set of rights. Although the CRC and other children's rights law have spurred positive changes in law, policies, and attitudes toward children in numerous countries, implementation remains a work in progress. We have reached a state in the evolution of children's rights in which we need more critical evaluation and assessment of the CRC and the large body of children's rights law and policy that this treaty has inspired. We have moved from conceptualizing and adopting legislation to focusing on implementation and making the content of children's rights meaningful in the lives of all children. This book provides a critical evaluation and assessment of children's rights law, including the CRC. With contributions from leading scholars and practitioners from around the world, it aims to elucidate the content of children's rights law, explore the complexities of implementation, and identify critical challenges and opportunities for children's rights law.

Property and Sovereignty

Property and Sovereignty
Author: James Charles Smith
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2016-04-15
Genre: Law
ISBN: 131707467X

This book explores the relationships between property and the concept of sovereignty from a number of different perspectives. It distinguishes between the dual meaning of 'sovereignty' in property discourse - political sovereignty and owner sovereignty. The contributors discuss the nature of sovereignty in both senses, applying it to a wide range of topics such as the evolution of property rights in fragile and conflict-affected nation states, and notions of sovereign property in new worlds. A section on the Arts illuminates the relationships between property, sovereignty, and culture, and a further section investigates regulatory property and governmental control over resources. The book concludes with an exploration of sovereign shaping of private property entitlements to achieve instrumental ends. This interesting collection will be valuable to those in the fields of legal philosophy, property theory, international and comparative law, and political sociology. This book explores the relationships between property and the concept of sovereignty from a number of different perspectives. It distinguishes between the dual meaning of ’sovereignty’ in property discourse - political sovereignty and owner sovereignty. The contributors discuss the nature of sovereignty in both senses, applying it to a wide range of topics such as the evolution of property rights in fragile and conflict-affected nation states and notions of sovereign property in new worlds. A section on The Arts illuminates the relationships between property, sovereignty and culture and a further section investigates regulatory property and governmental control over resources. The book concludes with an exploration of sovereign shaping of private property entitlements to achieve instrumental ends. This interesting collection will be valuable to those in the fields of legal philosophy, property theory, international and comparative law, and political sociology.

Semblances of Sovereignty

Semblances of Sovereignty
Author: T. Alexander Aleinikoff
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2009-07-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0674020154

In a set of cases decided at the end of the nineteenth century, the Supreme Court declared that Congress had "plenary power" to regulate immigration, Indian tribes, and newly acquired territories. Not coincidentally, the groups subject to Congress' plenary power were primarily nonwhite and generally perceived as "uncivilized." The Court left Congress free to craft policies of assimilation, exclusion, paternalism, and domination. Despite dramatic shifts in constitutional law in the twentieth century, the plenary power case decisions remain largely the controlling law. The Warren Court, widely recognized for its dedication to individual rights, focused on ensuring "full and equal citizenship"--an agenda that utterly neglected immigrants, tribes, and residents of the territories. The Rehnquist Court has appropriated the Warren Court's rhetoric of citizenship, but has used it to strike down policies that support diversity and the sovereignty of Indian tribes. Attuned to the demands of a new century, the author argues for abandonment of the plenary power cases, and for more flexible conceptions of sovereignty and citizenship. The federal government ought to negotiate compacts with Indian tribes and the territories that affirm more durable forms of self-government. Citizenship should be "decentered," understood as a commitment to an intergenerational national project, not a basis for denying rights to immigrants.

The Right of Sovereignty

The Right of Sovereignty
Author: Daniel Lee
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2021-08-31
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0191072044

Sovereignty is the vital organizing principle of modern international law. This book examines the origins of that principle in the legal and political thought of its most influential theorist, Jean Bodin (1529/30-1596). As the author argues in this study, Bodin's most lasting theoretical contribution was his thesis that sovereignty must be conceptualized as an indivisible bundle of legal rights constitutive of statehood. While these uniform 'rights of sovereignty' licensed all states to exercise numerous exclusive powers, including the absolute power to 'absolve' and release its citizens from legal duties, they were ultimately derived from, and therefore limited by, the law of nations. The book explores Bodin's creative synthesis of classical sources in philosophy, history, and the medieval legal science of Roman and canon law in crafting the rules governing state-centric politics. The Right of Sovereignty is the first book in English on Bodin's legal and political theory to be published in nearly a half-century and surveys themes overlooked in modern Bodin scholarship: empire, war, conquest, slavery, citizenship, commerce, territory, refugees, and treaty obligations. It will interest specialists in political theory and the history of modern political thought, as well as legal history, the philosophy of law, and international law.