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Public Inquiry
A public inquiry, also known as a tribunal of inquiry, government inquiry, or simply inquiry, is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such an inquiry differs from a royal commission in that a public inquiry accepts evidence and conducts its hearings in a more public forum and focuses on a more specific occurrence. Interested members of the public and organisations may make (written) evidential submissions, as is the case with most inquiries, and also listen to oral evidence given by other parties. Typical events for a public inquiry are those that cause multiple deaths, such as public transport crashes or mass murders. In addition, in the UK, the Planning Inspectorate, an agency of the Department for Communities and Local Government, routinely holds public inquiries into a range of major and lesser land use developments, including highways and other transport ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Review
A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a content rating, rating to indicate its relative merit. A compilation of reviews may itself be called a review. Reviews can apply to a film, movie (a Film criticism, movie review), video game (video game review), musical composition (music criticism, music review of a composition or recording), book (book review); a piece of hardware like a car, home appliance, or computer; or software such as business software, sales software; or an event or performance, such as a live concert, live music concert, Play (theatre), play, Musical theater, musical theater show, dance show or art exhibition In the cultural sphere, ''The New York Review of Books'', for instance, is a collection of essays on literature, culture, and current affairs. ''National Review'', fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1994 South African General Election
General elections were held in South Africa between 26 and 29 April 1994. The elections were the first in which citizens of all races were allowed to take part, and were therefore also the first held with universal suffrage. The election was conducted under the direction of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), and marked the culmination of the four-year process that ended apartheid. Millions queued in lines over a four-day voting period. Altogether, 19,726,579 votes were counted, and 193,081 were rejected as invalid. As widely expected, the African National Congress (ANC), whose slate incorporated the labour confederation COSATU and the South African Communist Party, won a sweeping victory, taking 62 percent of the vote, just short of the two-thirds majority required to unilaterally amend the Interim Constitution. As required by that document, the ANC formed a Government of National Unity with the National Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party, the two other parties th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inquiries Act 2005
The Inquiries Act 2005 (c 12) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. According to the explanatory notes, published by the Department for Constitutional Affairs, the Act "is intended to provide a comprehensive statutory framework for inquiries set up by Ministers to look into matters of public concern". The act repealed the entirety of the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921, a much shorter bill that also empowered Ministers to set up so-called statutory inquiries. The act was motivated in part by the spiraling costs of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry and a desire to control the length and cost of future inquiries. The act has been criticised by a number of groups and individuals, generally concerned with the power Ministers have over the remit of the inquiry and the publication of its final report. Criticisms The Parliament of the United Kingdom's Joint Committee on Human Rights has voiced concerns about certain aspects of the Act, as have the Law Society of England a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tribunal
A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a single judge could describe that judge as "their tribunal." Many governmental bodies that are titled as "tribunals" are described so in order to emphasize that they are not courts of normal jurisdiction. For example, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was a body specially constituted under international law; in Great Britain, employment tribunals are bodies set up to hear specific employment disputes. In many (but not all) cases, the word ''tribunal'' implies a judicial (or quasi-judicial) body with a lesser degree of formality than a court, in which the normal rules of evidence and procedure may not apply, and whose presiding officers are frequently neither judges, nor magistrates. Private judicial bodies are also often styled "trib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inquest
An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coroner or medical examiner. Generally, inquests are conducted only when deaths are sudden or unexplained. An inquest may be called at the behest of a coroner, judge, prosecutor, or, in some jurisdictions, upon a formal request from the public. A coroner's jury may be convened to assist in this type of proceeding. ''Inquest'' can also mean such a jury and the result of such an investigation. In general usage, ''inquest'' is also used to mean any investigation or inquiry. An inquest uses witnesses, but suspects are not permitted to defend themselves. The verdict can be, for example, natural death, accidental death, misadventure, suicide, or murder. If the verdict is murder or culpable accident, criminal prosecution may follow, and suspects are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2012 Lamma Island Ferry Collision
On 1 October 2012, at approximately 20:23 HKT, the passenger ferries ''Sea Smooth'' and ''Lamma IV'' collided off Yung Shue Wan, Lamma Island, Hong Kong. This occurred on the National Day of the People's Republic of China, and one of the ships was headed for the commemorative firework display, scheduled to take place half an hour later. With 39 killed and 92 injured, the incident was the deadliest maritime disaster in Hong Kong since 1971. On 14 February 2015, ''Sea Smooth''′s captain Lai Sai-ming was convicted of 39 counts of manslaughter over the deaths, while ''Lamma IV''′s captain Chow Chi-wai was acquitted of the same charges by the High Court. Both men were found guilty of endangering the safety of others at sea. On 16 February, Lai and Chow were sentenced to eight years' and nine months' imprisonment respectively. Background The accident involved a Hong Kong & Kowloon Ferry-operated passenger ferry, ''Sea Smooth'' (海泰號), and a Hongkong Electric Company-owned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corruption In South Africa
Corruption in South Africa includes the improper use of public resources for private ends, including bribery and improper favouritism. The 2017 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index assigned South Africa a score of 43 out of 100, ranking South Africa 71 out of 180 countries; a high score and a low ranking signals that the country's public sector is perceived to be honest. There was a marginal improvement by 2021, when South Africa received a score of 44, ranking it 70 out of 180 countries. Nonetheless, this remains below its score of 45 in 2016. Countries with scores below 50 are believed to have serious corruption problems. South Africa has a robust anti-corruption framework, but laws are inadequately enforced and accountability in public sectors such as healthcare remain below par. In addition, internal sanctions have been employed to discourage whistle-blowers from reporting corrupt activities in both the public and private sectors – according to a 2021 Af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on ''baasskap'' (boss-hood or boss-ship), which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation's minority white population. According to this system of social stratification, white citizens had the highest status, followed by Indians and Coloureds, then black Africans. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day. Broadly speaking, apartheid was delineated into ''petty apartheid'', which entailed the segregation of public facilities and social events, and ''grand apartheid'', which dictated housing and employment opportunities by race. The first apartheid law was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Déclaration D'utilité Publique
A ''déclaration d'utilité publique'', or declaration of public utility, is a formal recognition in French law that a proposed project has public benefits. The declaration must be obtained for many large construction projects in France, especially for infrastructure, before work can begin. Process The first part of the declaration is a public inquiry, usually started by a prefect, to collect the views of all affected parties. Responses from affected parties are considered by a commissioner, who assesses whether the proposal has an overall benefit for the public. If the finding is favourable, the declaration is granted by decree. Legal basis The ''déclaration d'utilité publique'' was initially required by article 545 of the Civil Code, which stipulates that property cannot be confiscated except for public purposes and with fair compensation. See also * Eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresence in the sky, but the articulate voice of some sovereign or quasi sovereign that can be identified," ''Southern Pacific Company v. Jensen'', 244 U.S. 205, 222 (1917) (Oliver Wendell Holmes, dissenting). By the early 20th century, legal professionals had come to reject any idea of a higher or natural law, or a law above the law. The law arises through the act of a sovereign, whether that sovereign speaks through a legislature, executive, or judicial officer. The defining characteristic of common law is that it arises as precedent. Common law courts look to the past decisions of courts to synthesize the legal principles of past cases. '' Stare decisis'', the principle that cases should be decided according to consistent principled rules so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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