Academic literature on the topic 'Constitutional law – Moral and ethical aspects'

The specifics of the norm of the constitutional law of Ukraine in the context of enshrining in it the basic provisions of the constitutional and legal status of a person and a citizen are revealed. It is pointed out that the multifaceted system of constitutional law of Ukraine and all its structural elements consist of the norms of constitutional law. The latter are the basis of the institutions of constitutional law, as well as other parts of the system of constitutional law - natural and positive, general and special part, substantive and procedural, international and national, and so on. That is, the system of constitutional law of Ukraine cannot exist outside its normative dimension. In addition, law, and later its system, were formed on the basis of legal norms, which have historically stood out from other social norms - religious, moral, ethical, cultural, and so on. It is noted that the position of the general theory of constitutional law, the study of the constitutional and legal status of man and citizen is closely related to the problem of determining the subject of constitutional law on the legal status of man and citizen. In this sense, in the science of constitutional law, there are at least two ways to answer the question. One of them as a subject of constitutional law interprets only the basic principles of the constitutional and legal status of man, and the other to the subject of the science of constitutional law also adds the problems of protection and maintenance of the constitutional and legal status of man and citizen. On the other hand, the coverage of the problems of the constitutional and legal status of man and citizen has a purely methodological relevance. The establishment of the foundations of the legal status of a person by the Constitution of Ukraine marked the beginning of the process of compiling a new type of legal culture of our state and its citizens. At the same time, it is the principles of the legal status of a person, formed outside the very institution of the constitutional status of a person, that bring to it the meaning that necessitates truly historical changes in our society.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created emergencies in all sectors of life around the world. In this context, this study seeks to evaluate the important role of state officials and administrators' ethics as the basis for legal policy in handling Covid-19 in Indonesia. By using a descriptive method with a conceptual approach based on normative-juridical analysis, the results of the study show that law-making and policy implementation in handling Covid-19 should be based on an agreement of ethical, moral, and basic norms as basic legal values. In this context, the constitution must be used as the basis for ethics and moral values in which all State policies as outlined in the form of laws are guided by and by the 1945 Constitution. The conclusions of this study underline the implementation of ethics following the state constitution and theoretically contribute to the constitutional aspect in public policy where policy decisions on handling Covid-19 must remain following the constitution.

The topicality of the article is due to the strategy of transition to personalized medicine in Russia, based, among other things, on technologies of preimplantation and prenatal genetic diagnostics. The purpose of the article is to analyze the main directions of ethical and legal support for the development of these technologies. The work is based on the study of relevant international regulations, foreign and Russian legislation using the methods of legal-dogmatic and philosophical-legal analysis. The article substantiates the need for a clearer distinction between legal and moral-religious approaches to regulating relations in applying these technologies. The task is to find legal structures that can take into account the moral aspects of the problem without replacing legal regulation with an appeal to moral and religious values and norms. An example of this approach is the development of a legal regime for manipulations with embryo in vitro, in which the necessary legal protection of the embryo is provided by recognizing its special ontological status as a constitutional value of the common good. From these positions, the author identifies a range of issues that should form the organizational and legal context necessary to ensure adequate guarantees of human rights in the field of application of the considered genetic technologies. The legal regulation of this range of issues should be fixed in a special federal law on genetic testing.

The events of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent declaration of an open-ended “war on terror” have given a new urgency to long-standing discussions of the relationship of Islam to liberalism. In order to avoid the polemics that characterize much of the writing in the “Islam/Liberalism” genre, this Article proposes to use the framework set forth in John Rawls’ Political Liberalism to examine the grounds on which Muslim citizens of a liberal state could participate in a Rawlsian overlapping consensus. An overlapping consensus according to Rawls arises among citizens in a politically liberal state when they - despite holding incompatible theories of the good - each endorse the constitutional essentials of a politically liberal state for reasons within their own comprehensive religious or philosophical doctrines. This Article argues that the basis on which orthodox Muslims can participate in such an overlapping consensus can be found in Islamic theology and ethics. Because theology and ethics comprise the fundamental commitments of orthodox Islam, the political commitments set forth in Islamic substantive law which are inconsistent with constitutional essentials must be interpreted in light of those commitments. After describing orthodox Islam’s theological and ethical commitments to rational theological and moral inquiry, the Article argues that such commitments implicitly require political institutions that allow free theological and ethical inquiry. The Article illustrates this aspect of Islam by describing the development of a system of intra-Muslim normative pluralism in which the existence of conflicting ethical judgments was accepted as a legitimate and inevitable product of moral reasoning. The existence of normative pluralism in the realm of ethics, in turn, made the project of a legal system derived entirely from revelation an epistemological impossibility. The result was that Islamic substantive law was forced to adopt non-theological modes of justification. The Article argues that, in the course of so doing, Muslim jurists made appeals to what Rawls would deem to be public reason. The Article concludes with a series of examples from Islamic substantive law that illustrate the ways in which the pre-modern Islamic legal system represents a qualified form of public reason, consistent with the public culture of a liberal democracy.

The article examines basic human rights. Among the fundamental and inalienable human rights is the right to life. Yes, Art. 27 of the Constitution of Ukraine guarantees everyone an inalienable right to life. It states that no one can be arbitrarily deprived of life. The duty of the state is to protect human life. This right is closely related to human health. It is emphasized that human life depends on the state of its health. Often health is a major component for conservation and prolonged life. Accordingly, organ transplantation, as a way of saving life, is especially important, and therefore the problems of transplanting organs and tissues are drawn by scientists, and not only from the medical sphere. Transplantation of organs and tissues of the human body is one of the most promising and at the same time quite in demand of modern medicine, which has made it possible to treat a number of serious diseases. Transplantation of organs and tissues, as a means of real assistance to patients who need it, has a number of characteristic features that distinguish this method from other medicinal effects. This is due to the presence of a donor-a person who in most cases does not require medical care, as well as problems of moral and ethical and general legal content. These circumstances substantiate the importance and need to regulate public relations in the field of transplantology. It is emphasized that the analysis of the norms in force in this area shows that many issues of transplantation of organs and tissues are either not regulated at all or need to improve legal regulation. The legal aspects of the problem of organ and tissue transplantation are extremely relevant. That is why transplantology as a science of transplanting organs and (or) tissues of a person should be based on the law, which is based on the protection of fundamental rights, freedoms and human dignity of every citizen. From the point of view of ethics, the problem of transplantology differs significantly depending on whether it is about the sampling of organs and tissues for transplanting organs in a living person or from the body of the dead. Solving these ethical problems depends largely on the state of legislation in the state, including constitutional ones. Key words: human rights, right to life, right to health, somatic rights, transplantation, recipient, donor, legal regulation of donation, health care, human body, human body tissues.

In this paper we write about the relationship of religious and moral traditions and the state regulatory apparatus. The significant place of religion in the Constitution and legislative acts of Russia and other countries is emphasized. The work deals with some aspects of the Federal law "On freedom of conscience and religion" and the danger of missionary expansion from the outside. Religion is not only a part of the spiritual life of the country, a source of ethical norms, but also a serious political factor. Through non-cultural religious groups, the country may weaken and lose its state sovereignty. In Russia, statehood was formed on the basis of the traditions of the Orthodox Church, so the opportunities in the development of the Russian state largely depend on its well-being. Qualitative and balanced stateconfessional relations are the basis of Russia's spiritual security.

How to respond justly to the dangers persistent violent offenders present is a vexing moral and legal issue. On the one hand, we wish to reduce predation; on the other, we want to treat predators fairly. The central theme of this paper is that it is difficult to achieve both goals without compromising one of them, and that both are being seriously undermined. I begin by explaining the legal theory, doctrine and practice governing dangerous offenders (DO) and demonstrate that the law leaves a gap in the ability to confine them. Next I explore the means by which the law has overtly or covertly sought to fill the gap. Many of these measures, especially the new form of civil commitment for sexual predators, dangerously conflate moral and medical categories. I conclude that pure preventive detention is more common than we usually assume, but that this practice violates fundamental assumptions concerning liberty under the American constitutional regime.

The problem of creating proper safeguards to ensure attorney-client privilege has always attracted the attention of lawyers, as this Institute is the basis of advocacy. The issues of preservation in secret from third parties information notified to the client in confidence to his attorney are solved first of all at the legislative level. Thus, the Russian legislation on advocacy and the legal profession establishes the legal profession as a fundamental basis for the profession of lawyers and also obliges lawyers to enforce it. Paragraraph 1 of Article 8 of the Federal Law of the Russian Federation "On advocacy in the legal profession in the Russian Federation", as well as p. 5 Article 6 of the Code of Professional Ethics of a lawyer determine the subject of the privilege. As a guarantee of its securing p.2 Article 8 of the Law on Advocacy indicates the impossibility of calling a lawyer and his interrogation as a witness about the circumstances that have become known to him in connection with the provision of legal assistance. In accordance with the legal position of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on this issue, expressed in a number of decisions and definitions, the state is obliged to ensure at the legislative level and in law enforcement, such conditions for the exercise by citizens of the right to qualified legal assistance and for effective implementation by lawyers of activities to provide it, under which the citizen has the opportunity to freely disclose to the lawyer confidential information, and the lawyer in turn - the opportunity to prevent its disclosure. At the same time the requirement of confidentiality is the basis of a trust relationship between a lawyer and a client, covers any range of information provided both directly by the client and obtained independently by a lawyer during the provision of legal assistance and it is not limited in time. In the aspect of the above, the question of the possible limits, subjects and grounds for its disclosure, admissible criteria from the point of view of both legal and moral bases is very acute. The article focuses on the importance and relevance to the practice of law Institute attorney-client privilege, allowed its disclosure in light of changes in the existing criminal-procedural legislation, in particular, during the questioning of counsel, previously provided legal assistance in criminal proceedings with the aim of establishing procedural violations of investigative actions with his participation . The authors carry out a comparative analysis of the rules of legal and ethical regulation of this institution; generalize disciplinary practice of lawyer chambers of the subjects of the Russian Federation; emphasize the procedural contradictions in this aspect. The conclusions and proposals made in the work are aimed at improving the current legislation of the Russian Federation and law enforcement practice and can also be used in the educational process.

A number of scientific medical publications on the legal support of the medical field is analyzed. The historical aspect of treatment and protection of patients' rights from Antiquity to the present is characterized. The use of experiments by modern theorists and practitioners of medical discoveries, in particular regarding the treatment of diseases, prevention of risks of their spread or complications is substantiated. The author of the article presents and analyzes a number of legal documents, acts of different levels and legal nature, which protect the rights ofa patient during medical research. The groups of rights and responsibilities of patients during participation in medical researches according to their main purpose are defined. The article analyzes the draft law "On Protection of Patients' Rights" by Yu. Karakaiev, which emphasizes the values of medical ethics and identifies mechanisms for the implementation of constitutional rights of citizens to health care and medical care. Article 9 of the Law ‘On the Protection of Patients' Rights’ states "the patient's right to freedom of choice", so every patient has the right to make an informed choice during treatment, as their rights are governed by both mandatory acts and recommendations. The key responsibilities of medical practitioners have been identified, including health and safety of life, privacy and confidentiality. The author draws attention to the need to adhere to the concept of informed patient consent to participate in the study.It was found out that for future specialists in medical field the formation of the idea of protecting the rights of patients during medical research should be based on generally accepted principles, moral and ethical values. The principles of medical care oblige future medical professionals to act for the benefit of their patients, not to cause harm, to prescribe treatment, to ensure that professional activities meet modern standards. Future specialists in the medical field must adhere to the main goal of professional medical activity in order to protect the rights and interests of patients and other professionals in the field. It is determined that human rights are a priority for human development. The scientist proves that although a large number of legal documents have been created regarding the protection of patients' rights, the issue of human health remains and will be relevant in the future.

The problem of securing and protecting the citizens rights for the medical care delivery in the existing legislation is one of the most relevant in the modern Russian law. In domestic legislation the right to health and medical care is primarily enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. For example, the article 41 establishes the right to get free medical care in accordance with the state guarantees program of free medical care delivery to citizens, and to receive paid medical and other services. However, there are some peculiarities and problems of these rights implementation in minor patients. This article is devoted to the analysis of this problem certain aspects. In particular, it raises questions on the patient’s right to get information about his/her health status, enshrined in the Fundamentals (article 19) and the Law of the Russian Federation «On Protection of Consumers’ Rights of 07.02.1992». Quite controversial is the situation when the legal representatives of a minor under the age of 15 years strongly refuse medical intervention and hospital insists on it. Considering the features of the right ofminors to confidentiality, it should be noted that providing the information constituting patient’s confidentiality to legal representatives is not stipulated by the national medical legislation standards in case of minors over 15 years old. However, it should be taken into account that in case of harm infliction to a minor or unlawful interference with the minor’s health, the latters not having full legal capacity, are not able to protect themselves. Also in the current legislation in the field of donation and transplantation the problem of the minors lifetime donation regulation remains unsolved. In summary, it should be noted that, despite the relative development of the legislation on the minor patients rights, in reality unusual situations that create psychological, moral and ethical problems for doctors occur quite often.

This research examined the legal nature of the presumption of guilt created by section 235(2) of the South African Tax Admiration Act and considered whether or not its practical application violates the taxpayer’s fundamental right contained in section 35(3) of the Constitution, which gives every accused taxpayer the right to a fair trial, including the right to be presumed innocent. The research also provided clarity on the constitutionality of this presumption because it has been widely criticised for unjustifiably violating the taxpayer's constitutional right to a fair trial. The conclusion reached is that the presumption created by section 235(2) of the Tax Administration Act constitutes an evidentiary burden rather than a reverse onus. It does not create the possibility of conviction, unlike a reverse onus where conviction is possible, despite the existence of a reasonable doubt. Therefore, it does not violate the accused taxpayer’s the right to a fair trial and the right to be presumed innocent and hence it is constitutional. Accordingly, the chances that the accused taxpayer will succeed in challenging the constitutionality of section 235(2) of the Act are slim.

La revendication de transparence est récurrente dans des discours de différentes natures. En droit constitutionnel plus particulièrement, la transparence est souvent présentée comme une vertu garante de la moralisation de l’État. La volonté d'une moralisation par la transparence se manifeste tant dans le processus de construction de la norme constitutionnelle que dans la pratique du pouvoir. S’agissant de l'ensemble des règles juridiques qui structurent l'exercice du pouvoir politique et encadrent la compétition pour y accéder, il s’agira d’envisager ce pouvoir politique comme moyen d’action étatique. La transparence semble s'y inscrire comme la qualité du « bon gouvernement » et du « bon gouvernant ». Elle permettrait la réalisation des valeurs véhiculées par l’État de droit démocratique. La philosophie des Lumières était porteuse de cette démarche, une démarche également présente dans la morale utilitariste de Jeremy Bentham. Néanmoins, toute vertu possède ses vices. Non seulement la transparence n'est pas toujours réalisable mais plus encore, elle n'est pas toujours souhaitable
The claim for transparency is recurrent in speeches of different natures. Particularly in constitutional law, transparency is often presented as a virtue which guarantees the moralization of the state. The will for moralization through transparency is visible both in the building of the constitutional norm and in the practice of power. Regarding all the legal rules which structure the exercise of political power and regulate the competition for its access, this political power will be considered as a way to act for the government. Transparency seems to become the quality of a "good government" and a "good leader". It's supposed to achieve the values contained in the rule of law and the democraty. The Philosophy of Enlightenment carried this idea, so the utilitarian moral of Jeremy Bentham. But all virtue has its vices. Transparency is not always achievable, moreover, it's not always desirable

The purpose of this study to investigate the morality of persons in organisations and especially the effect of organisations on the moral autonomy of persons. In addition to reviewing the literature of moral autonomy in philosophy, psychology, sociology and organisation studies and management, the thesis also examines the ontology of organisations, moral agency and the organisation as a context. Based on this knowledge, a model is developed that addresses the relations of the organisation to society and the person to the organisation in ethical decision making. From this model the thesis develops three moral decision making categories. These are: moral autonomy. Where persons are allowed to use their moral values, moral heteronomy, where the organisation provides such values and moral anomy, where there is a lack of moral deliberation and moral values. Four research propositions are developed from this model. The propositions are that people are more likely to make morally autonomous decisions in personal life dilemmas than in organisational life dilemmas. In organisational dilemmas it is proposed that the organisation will affect the morality of its members. In bureaucratic organisations, people are expected to make more anomous organisational decisions when faced with an easy and simple dilemma and more heteronomous decisions when faced with complex and difficult dilemmas. In clan organisations, people are expected to make more autonomous organisational decisions. In a market organisation, people are expected to make more anomous organisational decisions. An exploratory primary research project is undertaken to test the model and the propositions developed. People from three Australian organisations that approximate Ouchi's (1980) typology of bureaucracy, clan and market organisations participated in the research. Managers and supervisors from each organisation were asked to assess the ethical climate of their organisation using Victor and Cullen's (1987, 1988) Ethical Climate Questionnaire. They also responded to Forsyth's (1980) Ethics Position Questionnaire and resolved and justified their resolutions six organisational and six personal ethical dilemmas. These dilemmas had been assessed by two groups of MBA students for relevancy, complexity and difficulty. The analysis of the primary data reveals that the three organisations have different ethical climates. It also reveals that the respondents from the three organisations do not differ insofar as they share similarly idealistic end relativistic ethical ideologies. They do however differ in the reasoning they use to resolve organisational and in some cases personal ethical dilemmas. People In organisation Alpha, the bureaucratic organisation, are more likely to make heteronomous decisions. People from organisation Beta, the clan organisation, are more likely to make autonomous moral decisions, and people from organisation Gamma, the market organisation, are more likely to make anomous moral decisions. These findings support the research propositions developed. More importantly, some people in organisations Alpha and Gamma did not perceive some organisational dilemmas as ethical issues but only as business issues that are void of ethics. In addition, people from organisation Alpha in particular were more likely to try to avoid making a decision and suggest that someone else in the organisation should make the decision not the person facing the dilemma. The findings suggest that organisations that rely on rules and regulations are more likely to remove the responsibility from ethical decision-making, and lead to avoidance of such decisions. The implications of these findings are discussed and opportunities for further research are identified.

The dramatic improvement of neonatal intensive care has produced vexing ethical and legal questions. One of the most striking issues is to determine whether the most defective neonates should be provided with intensive care and to what extent they should be treated. This thesis demonstrates that an attempt to answer this question and an analysis of the demands and limitations of a duty to treat defective neonates cannot properly occur without first considering the legal concerns and ethical issues surrounding the notion of "person". The author examines germane ethical theories and North-American jurisprudence to see what approaches and standards commentators and courts have adopted in this respect. This thesis demonstrates that in the context of the cessation or non-initiation of intensive care, the legal and moral status of very defective neonates remain ambiguous. In particular, the author suggests that a legal best interests analysis that includes quality of life considerations may actually involve the use of criteria similar to those supported by the authors of the controversial moral theories that negate the personhood of seriously handicapped newborns. The author ultimately concludes that a clear divide between the legal definition of the "person" and the moral and social perceptions of that term is misleading.

Over the past few years, embryo research has been a widely discussed topic. New techniques such as embryo stem cell research or therapeutic cloning are considered by scientists to be very promising. Nevertheless, opponents of these experimentations warn against the commodification of human life forms and argue that the moral status of embryos should protect them from being destroyed purely for research.
Legislations on this topic have been enacted in most Western countries, though they are still much criticised. Is there an adequate way of regulating embryo research? Our argument suggests that consensus can only be procedurally obtained. That is, we believe that only legislative assemblies should have authority to take a position on this controversial topic, which is subject to moral disagreement, and as such, judges should only have a minor role.

This thesis discusses the prohibition of human cloning in contemporary Islamic legal discourse, which relies on two distinct doctrines: the first seeks support in the Qur'anic text, while the second depends on method of utilitarian legal hermeneutics (al-istiṣlaḥ ). These doctrines are examined by comparing them to the method that contemporary Islamic legal discourse adopts, namely, uṣul al-fiqh. When this is done, a discrepancy emerges in the first doctrine that traces this prohibition back to the text of revelation, which in turn requires further clarification of the foundations of hermeneutics in uṣul al-fiqh---identified here as textual and legislative consistency. For this, Shaṭibi's theory of maqaṣid al-sharī'ah offers one of the most reliable bases for the hermeneutics to evaluate the second doctrine. The methodological venture in this thesis aims at criticizing the current methodology while at the same time offering a justified approach to hermeneutics in contemporary Islamic legal discourse and in the case of human cloning.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Perhaps one of the most talked about subjects worldwide and in South Africa these days is the abortion issue. A growing number of women admit to having had one. Basically there are two opposing views and values on the question of abortion. We normally hear people referring to the 'abortion issue'; my understanding of this is that there is a dialogue going on at the moment concerning abortion. In South Africa before the current Choice of Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) Bill, some activists' women and the ever-growing 'feminists' movements were lobbying and demanding that abortion be decriminalised. As we may all be aware, up until 1 February 1997, abortion or termination of pregnancy (TOP) in South Africa was conceivable under very restrictive atmosphere. Before the introduction of the current Termination of Pregnancy Bill, a majority of women had no access to abortion services in the country, hence the growing number of back-street job. By implication this means that most women given the choice, would not seek the experience of abortion, but if they do, it would be available to the in safe, legal, accessible and affordable service. Not only does the Act conceal that terminating pregnancy that occurred through criminal acts such as rape and incest is justifiable. The current liberal Termination of Pregnancy Bill also gives pregnant women the 'right' or 'freedom' to abort whenever and for whatever reason they deem fit. Part of the ethical dilemma of the abortion issue is that there are those who holds a view that always where there is a conflict of rights and interests, the foetus' rights must give way to, or that the foetus' rights must be overridden by those of a pregnant women. Pro-choice advocates maintain that a woman's choice to terminate her pregnancy is her own business and hers alone, in other words, this for them is a private decision. Well, I argue that this is not necessarily the case, ethically, the father of the unborn child should also be considered in such a decision. Given that virtually every abortion has risks, the parents of the aborting woman and to some extent the society at large are involved. Therefore, to solely talk of the 'mother's right to choose' is basically suggest that morality is "relative" and such relativism is conceived from the idea of privatisation of abortion and life in general. In the following pages I will look at the arguments in support of abortion and against it, and these are criticised. Also discussed are the ethical implications of the new South African Termination of Pregnancy Act. Broadly speaking, technology advancement has made it possible to detect the unborn baby's physical condition (sometimes even its mental state) while the mother is still pregnant. The ethical implications of this medical intervention are used to decide whether the unborn child should live or die. Given this, if the purpose of these prenatal diagnosis were for the destruction of the unborn, therefore, advocates of the movements such as 'the right to life', and 'pro-lifers' would argue that because of particularly twisted purpose, prenatal diagnosis must be abolished. Furthermore, I will acknowledge that the Termination of Pregnancy Bill as we have it, is appraised by feminists movements and others who are not necessarily feminists as allowing increased and unrestricted access to 'free' and 'safe' abortion in the government hospitals and clinics. However, I argue that this was rather prematurely introduced. I argue that a number of pregnant women claiming to be poor still present themselves to private doctors and private clinics for abortion and they pay anything between R 600- 800 or more depending where these services are provided. On the other hand, for one reason or another, other women still choose to terminate their pregnancies back street way although the risks are high in such servicing stations. In the light of these facts, one wonders whether it is appropriate to legislate for the termination of pregnancy or would it have been a worthwhile decision to delay the legislation of abortion for a while and thoroughly make a research and relevant preparation for it. I also argue that ideology plays an important part in the abortion debates. Besides, the abortion debate is also characterised by indoctrination, the purpose of which is to leave other confused. In both cases facts are misrepresented or false statements are made, and this for me is ethically unacceptable. I will also comment on the importance of linguistics, that is, the proper understanding of normal English terms and what I refer to as 'deceptive language' used by campaigners. Inthe last part of this thesis, I will outline some basic approaches to ethics and which belong to what is referred to as postmodernism. The Postmodern worldview deconstructs metanarratives so that no one particular belief is more believable than another. This worldview bring with it ethical relativism, which is a theory which holds that morality is relative to the individual. Three movements are given as an example of this move toward ethical relativism, they are: (a) Emotivism, (b) Subjectivism, and (c) Situationalism While I will argue that rape and incest are evil acts, and support abortion in cases involving such acts, however, I also believe that abortion is not the answer to the problem of rape and incest. I will propose a number of recommendations the South African government should have made before legislating for abortion. For instance, by creating separate abortion service facilities even in the hospital premises, with properly trained staff; so that people who came to seek advice for abortion are not intimidated by those who go to full terms with their pregnancy. Included in this thesis is a case study to demonstrate the complexity of the abortion issue to everyone involved. Some psychological and emotional symptoms following abortion will be outlined and this according to women who do share their abortion story is a reality they have to live with every day of their lives.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Aborsie is moontlik een van die mees veelbesproke kwessies van ons tyd, sowel in Suid- Afrika as wêreldwyd. 'n Groeiende aantal vroue erken dat hulle al een gehad het. Basies is daar twee opponerende gesigspunte en waardes betrokke by die twispunt rondom aborsie. Aborsie was voor die aanvaarding van die jongste wetgewing (d.w.s. voor 1 Februarie 1997) in Suid-Afrika slegs moontlik onder streng beperkings. Voor die huidige wet ( die "Termination of Pregnancy Bill") in werking gekom het, het die meerderheid vroue geen toegang tot aborsie gehad in Suid-Afrika nie, wat gelei het tot 'n toename in agterstraat aborsies. Die nuwe wet gee nie slegs die reg om te aborteer aan vroue wat swanger is as gevolg van kriminele optrede soos verkragting of bloedskande nie. Die huidige, buitengewooon liberale wet gee ook vir alle praktiese doeleindes aan die vroue die reg om aborsie op versoek te ondergaan tot op 20 weke van swangerskap. Die doel van hierdie werkstuk is om hierdie nuwe liberale wet aan 'n krities ondersoek te onderwerp. Deel van die etiese dilemma rondom die kwessie van aborsie spruit voort uit die feit dat daar diegene is wat reken dat, indien daar enige konflik tussen regte en belange is, die regte van die fetus ondergeskik is aan die regte van die swanger vrou. Diegene ten gunste van aborsie voer aan dat die keuse gemaak moet word deur die betrokke vrou, en dat so 'n keuse uitsluitlik haar eie is. Ek argumenteer dat dit nie noodwendig die geval is nie. Die vader van die ongebore kind behoort ook 'n sê te hê in hierdie saak. Gegee dat elke aborsie sekere risiko's insluit, het die ouers van die betrokke vrou en die samelewing ook 'n belang by so ,'n situasie. Dus is om slegs te praat van die 'vrou se reg om te Ides' om te suggereer dat moraliteit "relatief' is, en sulke relativisme word afgelei van die idee van die privatisering van aborsie en die lewe in die algemeen. In die volgende bladsye sal ek die argumente vir en teen aborsie analiseer en kritiseer. Die etiese implikasies van die nuwe Termination of Pregnancy Act word veral bespreek. Tegnologiese vooruitgang het dit moontlik gemaak dat die ongebore baba se fisiese (en soms selfs mentale) kondisie bepaal kan word voor geboorte. Die etiese implikasies van die mediese intervensie word gebruik om te besluit of die ongebore baba moet lewe of sterf Dus, indien die doel van prenatale diagnose die moontlike vernietiging van die ongeborene insluit, sal diegene wat teen aborsie is, argumenteer dat so 'n verwronge doel veroorsaak dat sulke ondersoeke gestaak behoort te word. Ek sal erken dat die nuwe wet waardeer word deur feministe, en andere wat nie noodwendig feministe is nie, as 'n wet wat dit moontlik maak dat daar toenemende en onbeperkte toegang is tot 'gratis' en 'veilige' aborsies in regeringshospitale en klinieke. Maar ek wil argumenteer dat die wet te vroeg aangeneem is. Ek argumenteer dat 'n groot aantal verwagtende vroue voorgee dat hulle arm is en poog om 'n aborsie te kry by private dokters en klinieke, en dan tussen R600 - R800 of meer betaal vir so 'n diens, afhangende van waar dit geskied. Aan die ander kant, om een of ander rede, kies sommige vroue steeds om hulle swangerskappe te termineer deur agterstraat-aborsies, ten spyte van die risiko's. Gegewe hierdie feit, wonder mens of dit gepas was on 'n wet in te stel aangaande die terminasie van swangerskap, en of dit nie beter sou wees om die wetgewing uit te stel tot volledige navorsing gedoen is en voorbereiding getref is nie. Ek argumenteer ook dat ideologie 'n belangrike rol speel in die aborsie-debat. Die aborsie-debat word ook gekenmerk deur indoktrinasie ten einde mense te verwar. In beide gevalle is daar die wanvoorstelling van feite of word valse stellings gemaak, wat eties onaanvaarbaar is. Ek salook kommentaar lewer oor die belangrikheid van taal, dws die korrekte verstaan van normale (Engelse) terme en wat ek na verwys as die 'misleidende taal' wat gebruik word deur sekere kampvegters betrokke by die debat. In die laaste deel van die werkstuk sal ek sekere basiese benaderings tot etiek ondersoek, veral dié wat na verwys word as "postmodernisme". Die Postmoderne gesigspunt dekonstrueer metanarratiewe sodat geen spesifieke oordeel langer meer geloofwaardig is as 'n ander nie. Hierdie gesigspunt word dan ook vergesel deur etiese relativisme, wat huldig dat moraliteit relatief is tot die individu. Drie bewegings word genoem as voorbeelde van hierdie beweging na etiese relativisme, nl: (a) Emotivisme, (b) Subjektivisme, en (c) Situasie-etiek Alhoewel ek argumenteer dat verkragting en bloedskande morele verkeerd is, en alhoewel ek aborsie in sulke gevalle voorstaan, glo ek nie dat aborsie 'n antwoord bied op die probleem van verkragting en bloedskande nie. Ek sal 'n aantal voorstelle maak aangaande wat eintlik moes gebeur het voor die regering die huidige aborsiewet aanvaar het. Byvoorbeeld, dat aparte aborsie-fasiliteite, selfs by die hospitaal en met opgeleide personeel, geskep moes word ten einde te voorkom dat diegene wat advies vra aangaande aborsie nie geïntimideer word deur persone wat nie wil aborteer nie. Ingesluit in hierdie studie is 'n gevallestudie wat die kompleksiteit van die kwessie rondom aborsie, vir al die rolspelers, demonstreer. Sekere emosionele en sielkundige simptome, veroorsaak deurdat 'n persoon besluit het om te aborteer, sal geskets word. Vir vroue wat 'n aborsie ondergaan het is hierdie 'n realiteit waarmee hulle elke dag moet saamleef

Discourse ethics relates to an argumentative discussion about our moral norms and their foundations. The purpose of my research is to describe and evaluate the functioning of several institutions of discourse ethics as sources of normativity for the regulation of new medical technologies and to propose some possible interactions between law and these institutions.
The institutions of discourse ethics I will look at are: national commissions of experts, national ethics committees, technology assessment committees and consensus conferences. Used in these institutions, argumentative discussion has the capacity to influence the meaning we give to our moral norms as well as the context and the conditions for their application. These discussions generate a special kind of normativity, which ought to be recognised by our legal system. Law itself would benefit from an interaction with such normativity.

This thesis is a work of applied moral and political philosophy which analyses the moral value of marriage and argues for a restructuring of the legal institution of marriage in accordance with principles of justice. The first section contains exegesis and criticism of Kant's and Hegel's accounts of marriage. Kant's focus is on the contractual exchange of rights, Hegel's on the nature of the relationship between the spouses. In the second section, I consider Kantian, Hegelian, and eudaimonistic accounts of the moral value of marriage and conclude that moral value is found in the relationship between the spouses, not in the rights established through the marriage contract. In order to defend the position that loving relationships have moral value, I elucidate what moral value love for a particular other has within a universalist ethics. While I argue that marriage has no moral value which is not to be found in such relationships, I defend a Hegelian account which locates social value in the institution of marriage precisely because it promotes such relationships. In the final section, I argue that the principle of liberal neutrality requires that the principle of freedom of contract should apply to marriage. While I defend the institution of marriage against certain feminist criticisms, I also argue that justice requires that the state recognize same-sex and polygamous unions as marriages. Freedom of contract may be limited under certain conditions in the interest of gender equality; I argue for an interpretation of Rawls' principle of equal opportunity which entails that liberalism is committed to addressing gender inequality even at the expense of freedom of contract.

AbstractIn the late nineteenth century, it became understood that the patterns on the skin of the fingers were unique and could be used for identification purposes, leading to the development of biometric identification (Smith M, Mann M, Urbas G. Biometrics, crime and security. Routledge, 2018). The ease with which fingerprints can be accessed and recorded, and the ease with which they transfer to surfaces and objects, made them ideal for law enforcement purposes. Today, in digital form, fingerprints and other biometric identification techniques, notably DNA profiles and facial recognition technology, are a widely used means of identification across a range of applications, from accessing personal devices, to banking, border security and law enforcement. However, these uses have raised a raft of ethical or moral (we use these terms interchangeably) concerns, some of the more important of which we discuss in this work.In the first chapter, we discuss general aspects of biometric identification, before focusing on fingerprint identification, including its reliability as form of evidence. Secondly, we provide an overview of applied ethics; and outline a key theoretical notion, relevant to many of the issues discussed throughout the later chapters: collective responsibility. Finally, we analyse the ethical risks and benefits associated with the technique of fingerprint identification.

This commentary illuminates key aspects of Shiffrin’s view by appeal to concrete examples and notions from game theory. It underscores the role of law as a means for the public communication of moral commitments by invoking the idea of common knowledge. Our commitments must be known to be shared, that knowledge itself must be known to be shared, and so on ad infinitum. This offers a perspective on the importance of common law from a democratic framework: common law can be seen as a mechanism for generating common knowledge about disputes and their resolution. The commentary invokes another game-theoretic notion, that of the contrast between cheap talk and costly signaling, to illuminate Shiffrin’s discussion of constitutional balancing. Where the interests of speaker and addressee are not aligned, cheap talk lacks credibility, and this is something to which courts need to be sensitive in balancing state and constitutional interests.

Chapter 1 illuminates the educational and legal contexts in which yoga and meditation entered the U.S. cultural mainstream. Beginning in the seventeenth century, public schools taught Protestant Christianity. Since the mid-twentieth century, public schools have been tasked by courts with providing a secular education and by educational reformers with shaping moral character and ethical behavior. Yoga and meditation appeal to educators because they promise not only to enhance physical, mental, and emotional health but also to instill morality and ethics without promoting religion. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a series of landmark rulings, among them Engel v. Vitale (1962) and School of Abington Township v. Schempp (1963), that prohibited public schools from endorsing religious practices such as prayer and Bible reading. The Court developed constitutional tests, the Lemon test, endorsement test, and coercion test, for identifying violations of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, based on principles of religious voluntarism, equality, and nondiscrimination. Through the federal cases Malnak v. Yogi (1979) and United States v. Meyers (1996), courts developed the Malnak-Meyers indicia of religion. In 2008, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) identified the imposition of yoga and meditation as reverse religious discrimination.

This chapter defines categories of human rights and describes United Nations documents on which many human rights are based. It covers Just War Theory and other aspects of the justification for war. It also covers justified conduct during war, based on the Geneva Conventions and other international humanitarian law. It covers the concept and the origins of medical neutrality. The chapter describes the origins, examples, and intervention for genocide and mass killing. It also describes torture and international law concerning torture, as well as illegal and immoral physician participation in torture. It describes enforced disappearance. The chapter also covers ethics, and the moral and ethical dilemmas faced by health professionals and humanitarian relief workers as well as ethical issues in research on war-affected populations. Finally, the chapter briefly describes conscientious objection to military service.

This chapter discusses ethical and legal aspects of the global distribution of medical resources; the allocation of national resources; and medical treatment of the individual. It argues that so long as decisions are made taking into account fundamental moral values and principles of equity, impartiality, and fairness, and provided the bases for decision making are flexible in relation to the times, then the underlying system is just and is likely to yield just results.

We are witnesses and participants of Copernican changes in the world which result in major crises/challenges (economic, political, social, climate, demographic, migratory, MORAL) that significantly change “normal” circumstances. The law, as a large regulatory system, must find answers to these challenges. Primarily, these circumstances relate to (i) the pandemic - Corona 19, which requires ensuring economic development with a significant encroachment on human freedoms and rights; (ii) globalization, which fundamentally changes the concept of liberal capitalism as the most efficient system of production of goods and services and democracy as a desirable form of government; (iii) automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, and big data are changing the ways we work, live, communicate, and learn in a Copernican manner. The law should serve to shape the relationship between people in order to realize a life of love and freedom. This is done to the greatest extent through the constitutional engineering of selected institutions. The legal system focuses on institutions that have a raison d'etre in their mission, which is read as “ratio legis”, as a desirable normative and real action in the range of causal and teleological aspect. Crisis situations narrow social cohesion and weaken trust in institutions. It is imperative to seek constitutional engineering that finds a way out in autopoietic institutions in allopoietic environment. We believe that the most current definition of law is that = law is the negation of the negation of morality. It follows that morality is the most important category of social development. Legitimacy, and then legality, relies on morality. In other words, the rules of conduct must be highly correlated with morality - legitimacy - legality. What is legal follows the rules, what is lawful follows the moral substance and ethical permissibility. Therefore, only a fair and intelligent mastery of a highly professional and ethical teleological interpretation of law is a conditio sine qua non for overcoming current anomalies of social development. The juridical code of legal and illegal is a transformation of moral, legitimate and legal into YES, and immoral, illegitimate and illegal into NO. The future of education aims to generate a program for global action and a discussion on learning and knowledge for the future of humanity and the planet in a world of increasing complexity, uncertainty and insecurity.

Virtue ethics is not typically invoked by academics today for the evaluation of political systems or political action. We could, however, recognize its potential role in this regard, turning to the history of its use as illustration. Interpreters who have attempted to theorize about political rights apart from moral psychology fail to recognize the support the underlying moral psychology provides to the notion of rights. Contemporary objections to the use of ethical theory in justifying rights may assume political theory is adequate enough when kept in terms that abstract away from any particular aspects of moral psychology. Yet a virtue-based approach to political system recognizes the desires for freedom, the risk of preferences being subsumed into a consequentialist assessment, and more readily enables agents themselves to assess what is necessary to condemn political systems as well as political efforts, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Key words: Rights, Law, Moral Psychology, Cicero, Virtue, Rawls, Virtue Ethics