Abstract
This paper discusses the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005, which enshrines in law, for the first time, a duty on government ministers to uphold the independence of the judiciary. The paper describes the history and the scope of the law, as well as its purpose. In addition, the paper discusses the Constitutional Reform Act with relation to English constitutional law and its need for reform.

From the Paper
"The scope of judicial review today is almost unrecognisable compared to that of 25 years ago, and judges are more willing to intervene to ensure that the body in question acts in a procedurally correct manner, even when such a decision may impugn on the authority of the executive. For example in the case of Anisminic Ltd v Foreign Compensation Commission , where a statutory provision seemed to exclude the courts' supervisory jurisdiction, the court, according to Wade and Forsyth, acted in a way of "total disobedience to Parliament" by recognising a broad concept of jurisdiction. Further, in the Pergau Dam case, Lord Irvine argues that the court "took away from the executive a considerable degree of autonomy" in holding that the Secretary of State's decision was unlawful. He continues arguing "it is this type of judicial activism which begins to blur the boundary between appeal and review, thereby undermining the constitutional foundations on which the courts' supervisory jurisdiction rests"."

Tags:parliament, commission, administration

Abstract
The paper attempts to assess the relevance of the US Constitution to modern US society. The paper poses the question that, having been written in 1787 when society was drastically different, to what extent is it possible to say that the Constitution of the United States is capable of effectively guiding a twenty first century democracy? The paper offers a series of arguments that both support and repudiate this question as well as the author's personal view that the Constitution continues to act as an effective and constructive democratic arbitrator.

From the Paper
"Generally speaking the purpose of a constitution is to lay an ultimate legal foundation upon which the political functions of a state are organised. As such, constitutions invariably receive considerable praise and acclamation for their ability to effectively provide for political stability and the rights and liberties of citizens. Constitutions come in a variety of forms and thus there exists no single unified agreement on the structure and form they should take. For example, the British constitution is unwritten in the sense that it does not exist in one unified document but rather a collection of acts of parliament. As such, Britain's constitution is flexible in that it can be altered and developed fairly easily. Contrast this with the constitution of the United States, fully written in one single document and due to its democratic limitations, perilously difficult to change. However, having a written constitution does not necessarily produce rigidity as the constitution of the former Soviet Union clearly shows. Thus, at the outset it is important to note the diverse and varied nature of constitutions."

Tags:political, disputes, jurisprudence, custodian, president, judiciary

Abstract
This paper paper briefly outlining the pros and cons of gun control, without taking either side.

From the Paper
"When you mention the issue of gun control, you will elicit a wide range of responses. Of those that care about the issue (and most people at least have an opinion), opinions are usually vehemently for or against increased gun control. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground. Those for increased measures to limit access to guns feel that to do so would limit a criminals access to guns, thereby reducing violent crime. Opponents of gun control refute this claim. Their reasoning is that making guns less available or harder to obtain will, in the end, only hurt the law abiding citizen."

Tags:guns, crime, violence, civil

Abstract
This paper discusses the views of both gun advocates and gun eradicates. This paper is slightly biased towards the views of gun advocates and their fight to protect their "right to bear arms". However several key points are discussed in favor of those who wish to abolish our right to bear arms.

From the Paper
"The government has attempted to propose new gun regulations in order to decrease such crimes, violating the Bill of Rights. The 2nd amendment has protected the peoples right to bear arms for over 200 years, yet government policies are attempting to dismantle the ideas formed by our founding fathers to maintain a free democracy. They feel that depriving us of the right to possess firearms will solve all crime related issues. Contrary to their beliefs statistics and logic prove that firearms are the primary weapons against crime."

Tags:argumentation, civil, control, gun, rights

Abstract
This paper explains the Fairness Doctrine and charts its application over its forty year history. It also examines the relevant Supreme Court cases in relation to the Doctrine and looks at how two presidents embraced the doctrine and used it to actively curtail free speech. The party political argument from both the Democratic and the Republican parties is examined and explained, with criticisms being illustrated throughout the paper.

From the Paper
"The Fairness Doctrine was first introduced at the beginning of anti-communist hysteria in the United States in 1949 and stated that opposing viewpoints on issues of controversy had to be presented in an equal manor, with equal time given to each viewpoint in the media. This rule however was not applied to newspapers, but only to the broadcast media outlets of television and radio. The doctrine was intended to enable a wider range of opinions to be aired, so that the public would be better informed about current events. The owners of radio and television stations were threatened with having their licences revoked or having to pay hefty fines if the rule was not stringently adhered to. "

Tags:Kennedy, Nixon, Rights, Freedom, of, Speech, Press, Madison, Locke

Abstract
This paper examines reasons for amendments to the United States constitution. The paper evaluates both sides of the argument for reform, particularly focusing on the role of the Electoral College and the Supreme Court, and their place in the constitution today.

From the Paper
"The constitution is a living, growing document" expresses well one of the main aims and indeed achievements of the founding fathers and their constitution. In this statement Bennett attempts to characterize the nature of the constitution as something which, whilst not literally changing, does apply continually well to changing times, and has in fact picked up only 27 amendments in the 217 years of its existence."

Tags:amendments, electoral, government

Abstract
This paper assesses whether the traditionalist views held by Dicey, Blackstone and Jennings et al, still hold weight in contemporary Britain following enactment of the European Communities Act and the Factortame Merchant Shipping Case. It describes the traditionalist conventions, such as the enrolled bill rule, Heuston's manner and form thesis and implied repeal. It then looks at the UK court's attitude to the development of the common law in relation to these principles according to the primacy of European legislation and asks whether the British constition has been indirectly amended as a result.

From the Paper
"However, a further challenge to the traditional view has come from the UK's membership of the European Union. The European Communities Act incorporates EC law into the UK legal system providing the mechanism by which EC law is incorporated, gives powers to government to implement EC law, provides that UK courts should interpret all legislation to avoid conflict and that they should determine disputes in accordance with the principles laid down by the European Court of Justice. It is the final point that has the strongest implications, in that the ECJ has decided in Internationale Handelsgesellschaft that EC law takes priority over incompatible national law. The principle was to be upheld in the Factortame case , where the House of Lords disapplied the Merchant Shipping Act when granting interim relief to Spanish fishermen in breach of UK law."

Tags:constititution, dicey, ecj, handelsgesellschaft, jennings, repeal, rights

Abstract
The author of this paper feels that the general approach to addressing privacy on the internet has led to a debate between government and self-regulation with technology only providing a modest recourse. He feels that any attempt to address privacy concerns will depend on the very institutions that have been pitted against each other. This papers evaluates the rationale for each of these approaches and concludes by presenting a interdependence model for regulating privacy on the internet.

From the Paper
"Before its demise two years back, Toysmart.com made a standard promise to its customers: The Company's privacy statement assured customers that Toysmart would never sell information registered at the site, including children's names and birth dates. But in the liquidation proceedings, Toysmart.com declared that its customer lists were business assets and therefore it was allowed to sell the lists to a "qualified buyer" that would be a successor-in-interest to the customer information (Doherty, 2001). DoubleClick is an Internet advertising company that tracks Internet user behavior in order to better target banner ads. Not only did DoubleClick deceive consumers by claiming in multiple earlier privacy policies that information collected would remain anonymous, the company also unfairly collected and linked information about Internet users without their knowledge or control. Elensys Inc., a Woburn, Massachusetts company had been secretly collecting the pharmacy records of millions of consumers from 15,000 pharmacies nationwide a deed which won them the infamous Big Brother Award. The above examples are just one of the few brought out in the public light revealing the utter disdain with which corporations deal with consumers personal data. These organizations while raking in huge profits bombard consumers with massive loads of unwanted spam while strategically selling on data to unknown third parties, where it gets aggregated along with other databases for the purpose of online profiling. The rapid advances in new intelligence gathering technologies, and their almost limitless spectrum of functions, creates a buoyant surveillance economy. It is known that on an average, each adult in the developed world is located in 200 computer databases (Davies, Unknown). Such facts present an increasingly dangerous ground for privacy conscious consumers to tread on."

Tags:approach, contractual, fair, information, interdependence, internet, opt, out, practices, privacy, regulation, self

Abstract
This paper offers a full discussion of Acts of Parliament in the constitutional area of public order powers. Statutory powers eg: arrest for breach of peace are also referred to. The writer then relates relevant case law and links it to the argument as necessary. The paper concludes with the mpact of political influence.

From the Paper
"Problems with this question first occur when merely trying to define the terms given. We assume that "law" is a reference to either Statutory or the Common Law, and therefore the question is directing us not to consider the practical powers, in terms of resources, financing, etc., that the government award the police. (However, this essay would be incomplete without a brief analysis of the effect of these practical considerations on law-given powers, so there shall be a short section dedicated to these questions later.) By restricting our studies to England we shall also not have to consider the specific public order problems faced, especially in respect to parades, in Northern Ireland, and we shall assume again that the term "police" refers to the public police, not private policing relying on civil powers or indeed unofficial ?self-policing.?"

Tags:constitutional, disorder, english, influence, law, order, police, political, powers, public

Abstract
This paper deals with Somaliland's claim to self-determination by an examination of the resolutions of the General Assembly and opinions of the international crisis group. It also seeks to examine what makes a state in the legal sense and what legal requirements are necessary to have soveriegnty. The idea of terrritorial integrity is also discussed at great length as well as the opinions of the International Court of Justice.

From the Paper
"If Somaliland is basing its claim for independence on self-determination then it is possible to argue that Somaliland is edging towards what has been described by Martti Koskenniemi as the romantic idea of self-determination rather than the purely legal idea. In saying this, what is implied is that the inhabitants of Somaliland see the state of Somalia as failing and they wish to breathe new political life into their state. In fact the ICG has gone as far as to describe Somalia as a "failed state" . This type of argument goes against the traditional legal opinion, this viewpoint attempts to reconcile claims of self determination with statehood by dealing with them as claims for national minorities to participate more fully in public life. This could also be argued as being true in the case of Somaliland, the dominance of the Mogadishu government in areas such as the police force and the military could be seen as a basis for their claims of statehood."

Tags:un, general, assembly, court, of, justice