Studies in Law and Justice

The Application of International Human Rights and International Humanitarian Laws in Armed Conflict: Appraisal of the Armed Conflict in Anglophone Cameroon

Prof. Mikano E. Kiye, Dr. Molua Patrick Ewange — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Cameroon has been projected as a peaceful country since achieving independence in 1960. However, since late 2017, an armed conflict broke out in the Anglophone regions of the country following the government’s brutal repression of the protests of lawyers, teachers, and University of Buea students in late 2016, and subsequently in September and October 2017 with the violent clampdown of the general protests in Anglophone Cameroon. The violence of the armed conflict has led to several thousands of deaths, several hundred of villages razed, hundreds of internally displaced persons and refugees in neighboring Nigeria. According to analysts, there has been an unprecedented violation of human rights and humanitarian laws by the belligerents in their conduct of hostilities, with devastating consequences on the civilian population, in total disregard of international norms. To this end, this paper examines the violations of human rights and humanitarian laws recorded in the conflict-torn Anglophone regions of Cameroon and assesses the obligations of the belligerents, the defense and security forces of the state on the one part and the Anglophone armed separatist groups on the other, to respect these norms during the prosecution of the war in the country.

The Necessities of Conceptual and Fundamental Reconstruction of the Administrative System — Reforms and Innovations

Seyed Ali Mousavi — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Innovation and adaptation of an administrative system to new requirements are considered essential for its dynamism and effectiveness, and require attention to the issues from which reforms are to begin. Given that modern public administration is a concept derived from the United States administrative system and pursues maximum efficiency, the aim of the research is to find the roots and foundations of administrative system reform in this country. Therefore, the subject was studied using a descriptive-analytical and library method. The research findings emphasize the important role of three factors, which are: 1) Design of a program-based budgeting system; 2) Legal approach to public administration; 3) Emphasis on performance management and conceptual transformation of the principle of separation of powers.

Study on the Legal and Contractual Obligations of Power Companies in Private EV Charging Pile Installation Request

Yiran Yang, Shiyao Tan, Yufei Zhu, Yan Luo — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

With the popularization of electric bicycles and new energy vehicles, the demand for private charging pile installation has surged. When users submit installation applications to power companies, disputes arise over whether the latter bears a mandatory contracting obligation. While power companies are obligated to contract under certain circumstances, this obligation has clear boundaries. When the owner does not have the installation conditions, the common parking space has not been agreed by all the owners, and the requirements of the electricity contract are unreasonable after review, the power company has the right to refuse the installation, and the dynamic balance rule of the power company’s review right and contracting obligation should be established. By creating a “power company technical review — property synergy management — owner rights protection” three-party linkage mechanism, practical and legally justified solutions can be provided for new energy infrastructure disputes.

Paradigm Reconstruction of the Protected Legal Interests in China’s Crime of Money Laundering

Yaoying Huang — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Since the Criminal Law Amendment (XI) established the punishability of self-laundering, the systemic dilemmas faced by traditional legal interest theories in interpreting the constitutive elements of the Crime of Money Laundering have become increasingly evident. The understanding of the legal interests protected by the Crime of Money Laundering serves as the foundation for interpreting its constitutive elements and the guiding principle for its judicial application. Through a critical analysis of the deficiencies in existing doctrines, this paper proposes a dual-structure theory of protected legal interests: “result-oriented financial management order” and “control rights over proceeds derived from predicate offenses.” The former, grounded in the consequence of regulatory failure, emphasizes transcending the traditional paradigm that narrowly equates Money Laundering with the instrumentalization of financial tools. The latter, by synthesizing the rational core of the “judicial function theory” and the “protected legal interests theory of predicate crimes,” reconstructs the independent legal interest boundaries distinguishing Money Laundering from traditional crimes involving proceeds of crime. This theoretical framework not only rationally explains the regulatory logic of judicial interpretations governing non-financialized laundering behaviors but also provides substantive criteria for differentiating Money Laundering from crimes involving proceeds of crime. It holds methodological significance for refining China’s criminal governance system against money laundering.

Research on the Limitations of Bone Age Assessment in Confirming the Age of Criminal Responsibility

Wenxi Deng — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Bone age assessment is a technical means to observe the growth age of human beings by utilizing biological laws. At present, there are identification methods such as the atlas method, the scoring method, and the CHN method. However, bone age assessment has limitations in accuracy when it comes to confirming the age of criminal responsibility, is ambiguous in terms of the basis for legal application, has difficulties in coordinating with other evidence and in cross-regional and cross-jurisdictional applications, and also has problems such as chaotic qualifications of institutions and personnel and a lack of unified standards. Therefore, bone age assessment can only serve as an auxiliary reference to corroborate or supplement other evidence chains, and can only become the basis for age determination under extreme circumstances.

International Criminal Law: Should Ecocide Become the Fifth Core International Crime?

Yicun Zhang — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In recent years, climate change and environmental damage have had a profound impact on the global ecosystem and human society. Climate change and ecological destruction have become a global crisis, but the current international criminal law system has not yet provided an adequate legal response to large-scale environmental destruction. This paper explores whether ecocide should be incorporated into the Rome Statute as the fifth core international crime after war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and crime of aggression. By analyzing the legal basis of ecocide and its global impact, the paper assesses the necessity and feasibility of incorporating the crime of ecocide and discusses the future of the topic in the light of existing academic research.

Optimizing the Change Decision Mechanism in Administrative Reconsideration: Key to Effectively Resolving Administrative Disputes

Hongyan Yu — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

How to resolve administrative disputes quickly and effectively is the key to realizing the goal orientation of the main channel of administrative reconsideration. As a kind of decision for the substantive settlement of administrative disputes, the new Administrative Reconsideration Law has refined and emphasized the importance of the decision to change. Looking at the current situation of China's change decision system, there are still imprecise scope of application, the order of application is unclear, subjective exclusion of review organs and other dilemmas. In order to solve the above problems, the change decision should be positioned as the core of the administrative reconsideration decision system, focusing on the realization of the function of administrative reconsideration to substantively resolve administrative disputes, following the legitimacy, clarifying the scope of administrative reconsideration, constructing a typology of administrative reconsideration, expanding the exceptions to prohibit unfavorable administrative reconsideration, and speeding up the construction of an administrative reconsideration talent team by perfecting the means of the public administrative reconsideration system. Optimize the administrative environment for reconsideration and related systems by speeding up the establishment of reconsideration teams and improving the system for publicizing reconsideration decisions, in order to ensure that the decision to amend can be applied properly and efficiently.

Judicial Inconsistencies and Legislative Gaps in Service Period Agreements for Special Treatment: An Empirical Study

Ying Xiong — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Along with the constant growth of the demand for advanced talents in our labor market, more and more employers are attracting talents by offering special treatment. Based on the principle of consideration in contracts, the service period system for special treatment has emerged. However, the 22nd article of the Labor Contract Law, which is also known as the “sponsored training service period” in academic circles, raises questions about whether the service period for special treatment is legally recognized. The academic community has different views on this issue. For disputes between employers and employees regarding the service period for special treatment, the views of the courts across the country are not consistent. Through the collection and sorting of judicial cases on the service period for special treatment, this article finds that the main problems in such cases are inconsistent identification of the nature of the service period, huge differences in the standard of return of special treatment, and weak legal support and logical reasoning in the reasoning part. Based on the problems existing in judicial practice, this article suggests that the legislation should expand the scope of service period, increase the review of service period reasonableness, unify the standard of return of special treatment, and restructure the existing default penalty system to match it. In this way, the service period system in labor contracts can be improved.

On the Administrative Law Protection of Marine Data Property Rights

Pengfei Bao — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

With the rapid development of the marine economy and the swift progress of information technology, marine data, as an emerging factor of production, is increasingly valued. However, there are still many challenges in defining, protecting, and utilizing marine data property rights. This paper aims to explore the administrative law protection of marine data property rights, analyze the legal attributes of marine data property rights, review the current status of marine data property rights protection in China, and draw on international experiences to propose countermeasures for improving the administrative law protection of marine data property rights in China.