This book aims to give a comprehensive picture of law, government and the constitution in Malaysia, and to set constitutional developments in their proper political and social context. It is written in such a way that lawyers may see how perspectives other than the purely legal can enrich the understanding of constitutional issues in Malaysia and that others may comprehend the lawyer's perspective on these issues. There has been an increasing interest in constitutional issues in Malaysia since the mid-1980s following a number of important events, including the advent of judicial activism and...

Although it is commonly asserted that enhanced citizen participation results in better environmental policy and improved enforcement of environmental standards, this hypothesis has rarely been subject to testing on a comparative basis. The contributors to this book set out to study the extent to which citizens can and do exert influence over their urban environments through the legal (and extra-legal) 'gateways' in eleven countries spanning several continents as well as different climates, levels and type of economic development, and national legal and constitutional systems, as well as...

Preventive detention law is a subject which continues to receive great international attention. In recent years the legal rights of detainees have been more and more frequently litigated, and significant new approaches have been developed.

As society becomes more global and multicultural, many lawyers find themselves researching and applying principles and rules from several legal traditions. In Europe especially, the gradual convergence of civil law and common law that has been under way for decades is now gaining depth and breadth from aspects of Islamic, Asian, and African legal cultures, and we are all the better for it. So it is time to take stock of where the discipline of comparative law stands and where it is going, a task ably undertaken in the sixteen insightful essays in this book. The originals of these papers were...

This book discusses court-oriented legal reforms across Asia with a focus on the creation of 'new courts' over the last 20 years. Contributors discuss how to judge new courts and examine whether the many new courts introduced over this period in Asia have succeeded or failed. The 'new courts' under scrutiny are mainly specialist courts, including those established to hear cases involving intellectual property disputes, bankruptcy petitions, commercial contracts, public law adjudication, personal law issues and industrial disputes.

The justification of the trend to...

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have proliferated rapidly during the past decade and are set to multiply in the next - embracing not only Asia and Europe but also Africa and the Americas. This book is the first to examine the Asian experience of SEZs in China, India, Malaysia and the Philippines. SEZs are usually clearly defined geographic areas in which national, provincial or local governments use policy tools (such as tax holidays; improved infrastructure; less onerous or differentiated regulations and incentives other than those generally available in the rest of the country) to attract and...

This book, the first in the new Constitutional Systems of the World: Thematic Studies series, examines territorial governance in Asia in the context of central-local relations. In an era of attempts to deal with issues such as decentralization, conflicts involving ethnic and religious enclaves, and demands for regional autonomy, it is timely to examine central-local relations in a pan-Asian perspective, assessing the attempts in a range of different systems - federal and unitary - to re-order constitutional structures for territorial governance, including local government. The book looks at...

Myanmar's Constitution of 2008 was the 'road map' for the reform process that began in 2011. Despite extensive criticism of this Constitution for its emphasis on the role of the military, much progress has been made towards constitutional government and law reform. The opposition led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has repeatedly called for constitutional changes, and currently the Constitution is subject to a review process which is intended to be completed before the elections scheduled for 2015. Much has been made of the Constitution's rigidity, which is seen as an obstacle to reform and...

Gina's premonition dream reared its ugly head when they're called out to the old mental hospital; haunting them again, now the fly-tippers had found it. Thankful a lorry driver had the guts to call 999, knowing he could be arrested. This job couldn't be tackled in the dark, they tried - returning the next morning, mortified by what they find. Pieces of the jigsaw were even more difficult to lock into place when Hillary couldn't find forensic reports that were missing. The Home Office were under enough suspicion and hearing they had no idea who the pathologist was, supposedly working for them,...

The financial markets of Hong Kong and Singapore are leading examples in Asian financial development and regulation. Shanghai, which is developing its Free Trade Pilot Zone, is equally aiming to incorporate a sophisticated service market in order to upgrade, reform and reinvigorate the current economic model of development in China in the aftermath of the global financial and economic crisis. Streamlining administrative regulation is a precondition for its financial market to find root and play a central role in Asia and beyond. Finance, Rule of Law and Development in Asia offers a...