Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Forfeiture laws'

This research will be undertaken in the field of both criminal and civil law with particular focus on international interventions in the fight against organized criminal activities, assets forfeitsure in South Africa in general and its treatment of victims of the underlying forfeitsure crimes ("the victims") in assert forfeitsure, more specifically.

In order for the proceeds of unlawful activities to be completely dislodged from the criminals’ hands, the latter should be effectively deterred from allowing their assets to be used to execute or facilitate the commission of offences. When properly exacted, in the interests of justice and within the existing constitutional framework, the legal process known as asset forfeiture should ensure that crime never pays. Asset forfeiture refers to both criminal forfeiture, which is conviction based following the United Kingdom asset forfeiture regime and civil forfeiture, which is non-conviction based following the United States of America one.2 Chapter 5 provisions of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act3 (hereafter POCA) provides for court, Basdeo M – Search, Seizure and Asset Forfeiture in the South African Criminal Justice System: Drawing a Balance between Public Utility and Constitutional Rights (2013) LLD, University of South Africa in Chapter 5 where a comprehensive comparative study of SA POCA and United States of America’s asset forfeiture and origin is undertaken. 3 Act 121 of applications for a restraint, confiscation and realisation for the recovery of proceeds of unlawful activities. The restraint is invoked when a suspect is to be charged or has been charged or prosecuted, there are reasonable grounds to believe that a conviction may follow and that a confiscation order may be made. Chapter 6 provisions of POCA provide for court applications for preservation and forfeiture order targeting both the proceeds of unlawful activities and removal from public circulation of instruments or assets used in the commission of offences where the guilt of the wrongdoer is not relevant. POCA has a Schedule with 34 items setting out examples of offences in relation to which civil forfeiture may be invoked. When the State discharges this noble professed task in the name of public safety, security and crime combating, legal challenges arise. This is more so within a constitutional democratic context where both individual and property rights are enshrined and protected. This study deals with some of these challenges. To the mind of a legal researcher, the law of asset forfeiture is, in this process, moulded and developed. South Africa (a developing country), Canada and New Zealand (developed countries in the north and southern hemispheres) have constitutional democracies. They also have asset forfeiture regimes, which attracted the attention of the researcher. The question is: can the developing country learn some best practices from the developed countries in this particular field? It would be interesting to establish this and the level of development of this field in the three countries under study. South Africa, with no federal government, has nine Provinces, single asset forfeiture legislation5 (combining both criminal forfeiture i.e. restraint, confiscation and realisation applications and civil forfeiture i.e. preservation and forfeiture applications), and a criminal statute6 applicable to all such Provinces. It also has, like Canada and New Zealand, pockets of asset forfeiture provisions embedded in various statutes. There is only one asset forfeiture office under the umbrella of the National Prosecuting Authority.7 It has branches8 in the Provinces, invoking the provisions of POCA, since 1999. It is not part of the police department. The researcher joined the South African Port Elizabeth branch in March 2003, Bloemfontein, Kimberly and Mmabatho branches from 2010 to 2011, July 2012 onwards in the Port Elizabeth and has practical experience in this regard. The Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998. The Namibian POCA 29 of 2004 is almost a replica of the South African POCA except that the former makes express recognition of the victims of the underlying victims. The Criminal Procedure Act, 51 of 1977 (as amended). The Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) with its Head Office situated in Pretoria under the umbrella of the National Prosecution Authority, which Raylene Keightley in Young S Civil Forfeiture of Criminal Property Legal Measures for Targeting the Proceeds of Crime (2009) Cheltenham Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.: Northampton, MA at 94 calls a specialist implementation agency. In Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, Bloemfontein, Kimberley, Mmabatho, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. It comprises of eleven Provinces to which the Criminal Code of Canada, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act 1996 and a host of other statutes apply. Eight of the eleven Provinces have their own and distinct primary stand-alone asset forfeiture statutes introducing civil forfeiture10 as more fully explained in Chapter 2 of this study.

Though Nixon did not coin the phrase “war on drugs” until the early 1970s, strong anti drug positions were already popular with elected officials and law enforcement. The 1973 creation of the Drug Enforcement Agency was impetus for a significant increase in drug-related incarceration, though a more significant increase of drug-related incarceration occurred in the 1980s alongside the birth of private, for-profit prisons. The end of the 20th century saw the conception of a national sentiment that drugs were the biggest security concern to the American people. The budget allocated to fight the war on drugs increased to the billions, much of which was distributed to police departments to aid them in catching drug users and/or dealers. The United States’ government’s proclamation of a war on drugs and their subsequent policy reforms occurred simultaneously to a significant increase in civil asset forfeiture--likely attributed to the heightened anti-drug sentiment

This research critically analyses and compares how the United Arab Emirates (UAE)1 Law and English and Welsh (EW) Law regulates obligations in a contract, for a thing that is to come into existence in the future, namely a construction contract. Uncertainty/speculation as to how an obligation is to be performed in UAE Law is termed gharar. The word that is synonymous with this terminology in EW Law is “risk”. The extent of gharar or ‘risk’ (these terms are used on an interchangeable basis in this thesis) in an obligation plays a fundamental role in the profitability of a construction contract. Where losses become unacceptable, particularly for the Contractor, a dispute will arise. These circumstances may be in conflict with UAE Law, which obligates parties to a contract to ensure circulation of wealth by maintaining the anticipated profit to be made from a contract. This analysis also reviews how the level of gharar or ‘risk’ can be increased by operation of two types of provision that are included in standard forms of construction contract such as the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, Geneva, Switzerland (FIDIC) Conditions of Contract for Construction for Building and Engineering Works Designed by the Employer 1st Ed. 1999 (FIDIC99). The first is a provision that releases the Employer from liability where the Contractor does not give timely notice of an Employer’s act of prevention. The second is a provision giving the Employer a discretion to act in an opportunistic manner, and exempt or limit his liability. It considers how FIDIC99 should be applied to control gharar or ‘risk’ in a positive way. It also identifies similarities between how UAE Law controls gharar and that of the notion of parties’ reasonable expectations in contract Law (herein referred to as parties’ expectations), and how relational contracts operate to ensure parties achieve their expectations.

Devenu clef de lecture des enjeux internationaux dans le nouveau désordre mondial, le crime organisé transnational concurrence l’État par ses propres moyens de coercition et investit la sphère publique de telle manière que, dans certaines régions du monde, son influence est indispensable pour remporter une élection ou un marché public. Il va même jusqu’à agir au détriment des engagements des États en matière de préservation de l’environnement ou du patrimoine, de politique urbaine ou de non-prolifération des armes de destruction massive. Dans quelle mesure les changements géopolitiques et les mutations juridiques en ex-URSS ont eu des conséquences sur la nature et l’évolution du crime organisé russe postsoviétique ? Anciennement garants des traditions carcérales, la nouvelle génération des Voleurs dans la loi (Vory v zakone) s’est largement développée durant la transition démocratique avant d’investir durablement les États occidentaux, au point qu’Interpol qualifie cette organisation de « grave menace pour le développement économique ». D’une part, seront étudiés la « sous-culture criminelle russophone » bien spécifique, la typologie et la structure des groupes criminels russes, ainsi que le contexte juridique de leur développement en Russie et en Géorgie. D’autre part, sera analysée l’évolution en Europe occidentale de cette criminalité russophone, davantage qualifiable « d’association de type mafieux » par ses liens politiques et ses activités économiques « légalisées ». L’étude des réponses juridiques de différentes législations sur le blanchiment de capitaux établit que la confiscation élargie sur le modèle italien reste le principal instrument de lutte efficace
From disruptive element to key factor of international stakes in the new world disorder, transnational organized crime competes with the State with its own coercive means and invests in public sector in a way it becomes inevitable in some parts of the world to win an election or obtain a procurement contract, often in spite of international agreements on environmental preservation, protection of holdings or town planning or even non-proliferation of weapons of mass-destruction. To what extent did the geopolitical and legal changes and their consequences in the ex-USSR impact the nature and evolution of post-soviet organized crime? Formerly guardians of the prison criminal traditions, the new generation of Thieves in Law (Vory v zakone) has developed throughout the democratic transition and expanded in Western Europe to such extent Interpol considers it a tremendous threat to economic development, international security and Russian democratic institutions. The first part will study the indigenous Russian-speaking criminal prison “culture” and give an analyzed overview of the structure of current types of Russian criminal groups and the legal context that led to their development in Russia and Georgia throughout the democratic transition. On the second hand, I will study the expansion in Western Europe of Russian-speaking criminality which can be qualified as “association of mafia-type” (cf. Art. 416bis of the Italian Criminal Code) because of its political links and its “legalized” profits. Forfeiture and seizure on the Italian legal model remain the most effective instrument as established from the study of different legislations against money laundering

Depuis plusieurs années déjà, un phénomène particulièrement dangereux se répand et s’étend désormais partout, suscitant des inquiétudes au sein de la société : la criminalité organisée. Pour l’endiguer et pour garantir la protection des personnes, on a essayé d’employer une politique de prévention des crimes. A cette fin, de nombreux procédés législatifs ont été adoptés au niveau national et international. La communauté européenne et internationale est intervenue plusieurs fois dans la lutte contre la criminalité organisée, à partir du Traité de Maastricht, d’Amsterdam, du Conseil de Tampere jusqu’au récent Traité de Lisbonne. Ces traités ont permis l’adoption d’importantes mesures pour lutter contre la criminalité organisée. Il est également possible de relever que la Convention des Nations Unies contre la criminalité transnationale organisée et la Convention du 29 mai 2000 ont eu un apport non négligeable. Des accords bilatéraux ont été adoptés par la France et l’Italie pour combattre plus efficacement ce péril et cette plaie qui infecte des points vitaux de la société (par exemple l’Administration Publique et les banques, dont le contrôle est nécessaire pour le blanchiment). La France, avec l’adoption de la loi Perben II du 9 mars 2004 portant adaptation de la justice aux évolutions de la criminalité et l’Italie avec les « paquets sécurité » de 2009 et 2010, ont employé beaucoup de moyens pour réduire et limiter le champ d’action de ces criminels. Un rôle fondamental a été celui des collaborateurs de justice que avec leurs aveux, en échange de réductions de peine, ont dévoilé la structure et la hiérarchie des associations criminelles permettant aux autorités compétentes de mieux les comprendre, de repérer les associés, et en nombreux cas de les détruire. Il faut souligner qu’une mesure efficace a été la confiscation des biens cumulés par les malfaiteurs (bien meubles et immeubles, c’est-à dire des dépôts bancaires, investissements financiers, propriétés, terrains, maisons) et leur utilisation de la part de l’administration publique à des fins sociales à l’avantage de toute la communauté (écoles, édifices publics et hôpitaux). La confiscation du bien, en fait, empêche la criminalité organisée d’en disposer et d’en tirer des revenus, mine sa structure et son pouvoir. Parallèlement, elle donne confiance aux populations souvent tourmentées et effrayées (pensons par exemple au racket imposé aux commerçants et aux entreprises de constructions, d’exploitation agricole), et alimente l’espoir d’une possible libération. La lutte contre les organisations criminelles est longue et difficile, mais si elle est mené avec détermination sur plusieurs fronts, avec la collaboration et la coordination des moyens répressifs des États et de leurs gouvernements, les succès ne pourront pas manquer
For quite a few years now, a particularly dangerous and unsettling phenomenon has been spreading and extending in various degrees throughout all the regions, and that phenomenon is organized crime. In order to check (limit) its spread and guarantee the protection of the population, a crime prevention policy has been imposed. To such an end, numerous legislative provisions have been adopted on both the national and international level. The European and international community have repeatedly intervened in the last years to fight against organized crime, beginning with the Treaty of Maastricht, the Council of Tampere, up to the recent Essay in Lisbon. These treaties have allowed for the adoption of important measures to fight against organized crime, and one should not overlook the Convention of the United Nations and the Convention of May 29, 2000 (in doing the same). Bilateral accords have been stipulated from both France and Italy to more effectively oppose this danger and social evil that threatens with infecting, if it has not already done so, the organs of modern societies (for example; Public Administration, banks (the control of which is necessary in order to recycle dirty money). France, with the approval of the Perben II Law of March 9, 2004 intended to bring up to date the tools of justice in order to make them more incisive in relationship to the evolution of criminality. Italy has done the same thing with the “safety packets” of 2009 and 2010. Furthermore, these two countries have employed many resources in order to try to reduce and limit criminality’s field of action. A fundamental role was carried out by those who collaborated with the judicial system who, by their confessions in exchange for reduced punishment, have disclosed the structure and the hierarchy of criminal associations allowing the authorities involved to better understand, individualize their affiliates (i.e. members) and, in numerous cases, to dismantle them. By contrast, a very effective measure has been and still is the confiscation of goods accumulated by (those) in organized crime (real and financial goods, that is, banking deposits, financial investments, property, land, houses) and their re-use by Public Administration for the social well-being and to the advantage of the entire community (schools, public buildings, hospitals). The forfeiture of such goods, in fact, deprives the criminal underworld the lifeblood and profits that it draws from them; it mines the structure its power, contemporaneously providing safety to the people who are often oppressed and intimidated (one needs only to think about the extortions imposed on shopkeepers, construction and agricultural enterprises) and heightens their hope of a possible liberation from the above. The struggles against criminal organizations is long and difficult, but if it is conducted with determination on more fronts, with the collaboration and the coordination of the repressive apparatuses of nations and their governments, success cannot fail

Magister Legum - LLM
Contrary to Common perception, corruption is not all that ails Africa. It is only a component of the multifaceted economic criminality that leads to illicit capital flight from developing states and those undergoing political transition. The siphoning away of economic resources has a devastating impact on such countries, both economically and socially. This leads to an erosion of public confidence in government departments and in the administration of justice generally. The clandestine nature of economic criminality makes it particularly hard to prosecute. There has thus been an international consensus that asset recovery would be the most apt mode of deterrence and reparation. Having its genesis in the 1989 Vienna convention, asset recovery has now become a useful tool with which developing countries can recoup some of the assets plundered by criminals. The United Nations Convention against corruption has also made it possible for states to recover stolen assets by way of non--‐criminal or non--‐conviction—based procedures. The main challenge for developing states is to make international treaties part of their national law. The democratization of former dictatorial states, especially those in Africa, also means that whatever international norms are domesticated in national legislation, should be in line with the tenets of their respective democratic constitutions, thus making them legally irreproachable. This paper evaluates Zambia’s Forfeiture of proceeds of crime Act. It discusses Zambia’s asset recovery provisions against the backdrop of international benchmarks and the laws of a few other countries that also have asset recovery laws. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations.

The enactment of civil asset forfeiture legislation by Alberta and Ontario in the fall of 2001, followed by the passage of similar legislation in five other provinces, has signalled a dramatic change in the way Canadian constitutional law ought to be understood. This thesis builds on American legal scholarship by highlighting how deficiencies in Canada’s constitutional law could create space for more invasive civil forfeiture statutes. Following a historical overview of forfeiture law in Canada, the thesis (i) examines how the Supreme Court of Canada mischaracterized this legislation as a matter of property and civil rights; (ii) considers whether the doctrine of federal paramountcy should have rendered the legislation inoperable and the consequences of the failure by the Court to do so; and (iii) evaluates iiithe impact of the absence of an entrenched property right in the constitution, in regard to this matter.

The aim of this thesis is to define, what is the position of right to life in the system of protection of human rights and whether is the death penalty a justifiable institute in international human rights law. The thesis focuses on the death penalty and its history in connection with the right to life as an inherent human right. It explores the conventions, protocols and resolutions that are related to the matter. The thesis is divided into seven chapters, whereas first of them is introduction, where the author asks questions about vindicability of the capital punishment. That is followed by a brief history of the death penalty and explanation of the purpose of the punishment. Following chapter looks into a view of international society on the death penalty, summing up views of international governmental organizations, as well as non- governmental. Fundamental part of the thesis is a chapter disserting on the right to life, its history, where we can find right to life in international law, interpretation of right to life and case law. Last chapter deals with an issue of a crime as an act of forfeiting the right to life. The analysis consists of criticizing the conclusions made in the course of the thesis and propositions of further possibilities.

Money laundering involves activities which are aimed at concealing benefits that were acquired through criminal means for the purpose of making them appear legitimately acquired. Money laundering promotes criminal activities in South Africa because it allows criminals to keep the benefits that they acquired through their criminal activities. It takes place through a variety of schemes which include the use of banks. In this sense money laundering control is based on the premise that banks must be protected from providing criminals with the means to launder the benefits of their criminal activities. The Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 (‘FICA’) in aggregate with the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998 (‘POCA’) form the backbone of South Africa’s anti-money laundering regime. Like its international counterparts FICA imposes onerous duties on banks seeing that they are most often used by criminals as conduits to launder the benefits of crime. In turn, POCA criminalises activities in relation to the benefits of crime and delineates civil proceedings aimed at forfeiting the benefits of crime to the state. This study identifies the idiosyncrasies of the South African anti-money laundering regime and forwards recommendations aimed at improving its structure. To this end nine issues in relation to money laundering control and banks are investigated. The investigation fundamentally reveals that money laundering control holds unforeseen consequences for banks. In particular, a bank that receives the benefits of crimes such as fraud or theft faces prosecution if it fails to heed FICA’s money laundering control duties, for example, the filing of a suspicious transaction report. However, if the bank files a suspicious transaction report, it may be sued in civil court by the customer for breach of contract. In addition, if the bank parted with the benefits of fraud or theft whilst suspecting that the account holder may not be entitled to payment thereof, it may be sued by the victim of fraud or theft who seeks to recover loss suffered at the hand of the fraudster or thief from the bank. Ultimately, this study illustrates that amendment of some of the provisions of South Africa’s anti-money laundering legislation should enable banks to manage the aforementioned and other unforeseen consequences of money laundering control whilst at the same time contribute to the South African anti-money laundering effort.
Criminal and Procedural Law
Mercantile Law
LL.D.

Since the advent of the new democratic order established under the 1996 Constitution, South Africa has been plagued with many new challenges .One of the facts that our new democratic state could not ignore was the rapid increase in both national and international, organized criminal activity .The South African Legislature realizing the desire to combat serious criminal activities, introduced into South African Law, the Prevention of Organized Crime Act 121 of 1998. The Act recognizes that conventional criminal penalties are inadequate as measures of deterrence when organized crime leaders are able to retain the considerable gains derived from organized crime, even on those occasions when they are brought to justice. It strives to strip sophisticated criminals of the proceeds of their criminal conduct. The Courts, in applying this legislation, has also created a new field of law that had until the advent of the Act, not existed in South African Law, namely organized crime law. A field, distinct from the ordinary principles of criminal law. The bulk of jurisprudence created over the past decade or more, however seems to be threatened to be undone by the recent judgment concerning the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Act. The confirmation of this judgment is being considered by the Constitutional Court and the purpose of this thesis is to argue against the confirmation of this judgment
Public, Constitutional and International Law
LL. M.

Law
LL.D.
The contract of insurance is one of the more frequently concluded commercial contracts. The premium which is undertaken in terms of an insurance contract is one of the essential features of the insurance contract. Notwithstanding the obvious importance of the role of the premium and the legal aspects surrounding it, it has in the past often received but scant treatment in insurance-law materials. In this thesis it is shown that there exist a number of aspects regarding the premium which are unclear and in need of careful scrutiny. In the case of certain other aspects (regarding the premium), although there is certainty as to their contents it is necessary to identify and (re-)define their place in the broader scheme of the insurance law. The study commences with an investigation into the historical development of the concepts of "insurance" and "premium". This is followed by a study of the relevant principles of Roman-Dutch law. A comparative study is made of the law in a number of countries, namely, the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Australia. The position in South African law is also considered. An introductory study is made regarding those concepts in South African indigenous law which are insurance-like. Finally, a number of conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made in respect of a selection of aspects regarding the premium which are unclear. These aspects concern the nature of the premium; the question whether "premiumless" or "free" insurance is legally possible; the question whether the parties may agree to insure at a "reasonable premium"; the protection of the insured in the case of the non­ payment of the premium; the receipt of the premium by the broker; the return of the premium where the insured has acted fraudulently; the legal tenability of the practice of insuring the premium; the possibility that the contribution in terms of some concepts of our indigenous law may resemble the premium; and finally, the analogous method as a source of law to extend and broaden the pool of legal principles applicable to the insurance contract.

Substantive gender equality has yet to be achieved in South Africa. As such, when a decision is made for one of the spouses to a civil marriage to stay at home and care for the children born of the marriage, or make career sacrifices to care for children, that spouse is usually the wife. As a result, while the husband continues to amass wealth and grow his earning potential, the wife is unable to do so. In circumstances where such spouses are married out of community of property or subject to the accrual system with onerous exclusion clauses in the antenuptial contract, the wife may be left with little more than a claim for rehabilitative maintenance in the event of a divorce. The courts only have the discretion to make an equitable distribution of marital property in civil marriages with complete separation of property concluded prior to 1 November 1984 (or 2 December 1988) and customary marriages. It is arguable that this limitation of the judicial discretion violates the equality clause contained in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. A broad judicial discretion to equitably redistribute the spouses’ assets upon divorce is therefore proposed in this dissertation.
Private Law
LL.M.