The Fair Balance

This book presents the means and the process by which fair balance solutions are shaped. Readers will find in it no recommendations to policy makers on social arrangements to be established, or proposals for solutions to social conflicts. Normative theories of justice, such as egalitarianism, utilitarianism or contractarianism, will be addressed, but not for promoting the ideas of justice which are advocated by them. They will be treated as material to be analysed for a better understanding of justice. Justice in this book is regarded as an observable phenomenon consisting of the satisfaction provided to individuals involved in a social interaction when they are having regard to the treatment of the others' interests. This conviction can be effective when it actually occurs, or hypothetical, when the individual in a position to judge considers that the treatment received by the interests in interaction may be regarded as being the best possible. It is about justice conceived in this way that the author intends, in this book, to procure a study that is simultaneously descriptive and operational: descriptive in the sense of covering the whole phenomenon and built on accurate and verifiable knowledge; and operational, in the sense of establishing the laws that govern the phenomenon, thus providing a sound basis for predicting the circumstances that may generate it.

In one of the most important publications on the European Convention and Court of Human Rights in recent years, a wide range of fundamental practical and theoretical problems of crucial importance are addressed in an original and critical way bringing a fresh, coherent and innovative order into well-known battle zones. The analysis revolves around the Courta (TM)s fair balance-test and comprises in-depth analyses of e.g. methods of interpretation, proportionality, the least onerous means-test, the notion of absolute rights, subsidiarity, formal and substantive principles, evidentiary standards, proceduralisation of substantive rights etc. The author coins the term of a oeprimaritya in order to clarify the obligation of the Contracting Parties to implement the Convention in domestic law.

In the increasingly complex and combative arena of copyright in the digital age, record companies sue college students over peer-to-peer music sharing, YouTube removes home movies because of a song playing in the background, and filmmakers are denied a distribution deal when some permissions “i” proves undottable. Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi chart a clear path through the confusion by urging a robust embrace of a principle long-embedded in copyright law, but too often poorly understood—fair use. By challenging the widely held notion that current copyright law has become unworkable and obsolete in the era of digital technologies, Reclaiming Fair Use promises to reshape the debate in both scholarly circles and the creative community. This indispensable guide distills the authors’ years of experience advising documentary filmmakers, English teachers, performing arts scholars, and other creative professionals into no-nonsense advice and practical examples for content producers. Reclaiming Fair Use begins by surveying the landscape of contemporary copyright law—and the dampening effect it can have on creativity—before laying out how the fair-use principle can be employed to avoid copyright violation. Finally, Aufderheide and Jaszi summarize their work with artists and professional groups to develop best practice documents for fair use and discuss fair use in an international context. Appendixes address common myths about fair use and provide a template for creating the reader’s own best practices. Reclaiming Fair Use will be essential reading for anyone concerned with the law, creativity, and the ever-broadening realm of new media.

This book tackles one of the most topical socio-legal issues of today: how the law - in particular, the European Court of Human Rights - is responding to shifting practices and ideas of fatherhood in a world that offers radical possibilities for the fragmentation of the conventional father figure and therefore urges decisions upon what kind of characteristics makes someone a legal father. It explores the Court's reaction to changing family and, more specifically, fatherhood realities. In so doing, it engages in timely conversations about the rights and responsibilities of men as fathers. By tracing values and assumptions underpinning the Court's views on fatherhood, this book contributes to highlight the expressive powers of the ECtHR and, more specifically, the latter's role in producing and legitimising ideas about parenting and, more generally, in influencing how family life is regulated and organised.