Over the years, there has been an explosion in the mainstream scholarship of various academic disciplines on the issue of the appropriate corporate objective, which has been framed by a debate between the shareholder wealth maximisation and stakeholder-orientated theories. Behind the two paradigms is a complex set of controversies on which there exists wide disagreement. What is certain is that the prevailing theories have obvious normative and/or practical limitations and neither is to be extolled as an affirmative theory, for different reasons. The purpose of this paper is to cut through the consequent knot of partial and inaccurate dialectic in order to develop a positive normative principle of the corporate objective. This will be referred to as the Equitable Maximisation and Viability principle. The objective of the corporation as a separate legal entity should be to: (i) respect, protect, and fulfil the demonstrable, legitimate interests and expectations of the constituent groups that contribute to the corporation; and (ii) to facilitate the corporation's viability so that its future is guaranteed with sufficiently high probability. This theory is justifiable on the basis of the values of equality and efficiency.

This paper argues that climate change litigation is an important component of the governance framework that has emerged to regulate how states respond to climate change at the global, regional and local levels. The paper examines climate change-related cases from selected jurisdictions, including Australia and the EU, and proposes a theoretical framework to shed light on the use of litigation as a regulatory response to climate change.

The study of criminal justice policy making is generally approached from the perspective of structural variables (eg social, cultural or economic), or, if inclined towards agency-led approaches, on the policy making activities of ‘elites’. The potential of practitioners to shape policy has been relatively neglected. This paper explores a striking example of practitioner-led criminal justice policy transformation: the decline in the use of custody for juveniles in England and Wales in the 1980s. The focus of the study is on the communicative origins of a philosophical turnaround in youth justice localities through the empowerment of youth justice practitioners. Drawing on empirical sources (including reflective interviews with key participant-observers) the paper explores, in depth, the occurrence and the meaning of local structural transformations. It is argued that the emergence of trust relations between participants in local youth justice processes was the key development behind the transformation of the state of penal culture towards one of ‘communicative rationality’ which, in turn, enabled the dramatic reduction in the use of custody. It is suggested that proponents of more moderate penal policy could draw valuable lessons from this episode.

During the 1530s Henry VIII remarried twice, each time annulling his previous marriage. The English laws outlining the prohibited degrees of relationship for marriage were changed upon each marriage in the First and Second Succession Acts. These Acts were passed in Ireland by an Irish Parliament in 1536–7 and became part of the Irish statute book. However, the second Act regulating Henry VIII's marriage to Queen Jane (Marriage Act (no 2) 1537) was never published and was unknown to Irish law for centuries. The Act made its return onto the Irish statute book in 2007, greatly extending the class of relatives prohibited from marrying and potentially annulling many Irish marriages. This paper traces the fate of the lost Act and analyses the consequences of its rediscovery both on Irish marriage law and the legitimacy of the Irish statute book.

The paper examines the controversial issue of referral fees for personal injury claims. It looks at the function of referral fees in the civil justice system, their relationship to the guarantees of access to court and the right to seek legal assistance in ECHR Art 6, and the debate about promoting access to justice or a litigious society. It examines the experience of the referral fees market in England and Wales, where the costs of referrals have risen dramatically and there is concern that referrers are auctioning their customers to the highest bidder rather than helping them find competent lawyers. Sir Rupert Jackson recommended banning referral fees in his report on the costs of civil litigation, and the Government has announced it will implement this recommendation. The paper considers the potential effects of a ban on competition in the legal services market and its compatibility with UK and EU competition law. The paper argues that a combination of better regulation of the industry and proper regulation of costs rules is a better and more proportionate way of controlling legal costs and the quality of legal services than an outright ban. While referral fees have not delivered all the benefits one would expect from a for-profit independent referrals service, they can help people obtain information about their legal rights, and competent lawyers to enforce them. This service is particularly valuable given that the state has substantially cut public funding of the civil justice system in recent years.

While there is a central assumption that charities can be key implementers of Big Society ideals, this paper will consider whether there is compatibility between the political rhetoric of the Big Society and its delivery through the charitable sector. It will be maintained that, while much obvious synergy exists, there are inherent difficulties, at both the practical and theoretical level, for the large-scale involvement of charities and their volunteers in the delivery of the Big Society. At the practical level, it will be seen that some amendments to the legal framework, so as to accommodate the greater use of charities and volunteers within the Big Society, may need to be brought into effect. However, at the foundational level, an examination of the core characteristics of charities and their substantive legal principles reveals some more fundamental impediments to their fulfilling Big Society objectives laid out for them by government.