This chapter considers what arguments can be offered to defend patents (the normative question). It revisits the three types of argument introduced in Chapter 2: the labour, utilitarian and personality arguments.

This chapter introduces the law of trade marks and passing off. It considers what arguments can be offered for rights in signs (the normative question).

States’ attempts to translate the messy realities of revolutionary-era coerced mobilities into orderly categories of law were met with efforts to define legal statuses by those forcibly removed. Focusing on revolutionary-era political refugees, the chapter shows how governments’ responses led to a proliferation of so-called alien laws across the Americas and Europe and how, despite their seemingly universal and neutral character, these laws reflected the ambiguous status and multiple mobilities during this period. As can be seen in a major legal battle involving a family of refugees of Haitian origin in Jamaica, the regulation of alien status had long-standing ramifications during a period in which the terms of political membership and state belonging were in full transformation across the Atlantic world. Both in mundane administrative interactions and legal battles, refugees engaged with the law and sought to shape and negotiate their status. In doing so, they could also rely on “vernacular” uses in other relevant branches of the law, such as legal distinctions governing freedom and slavery. As with freedom, belonging was not just granted or asserted by state authorities but could also be claimed and recrafted by those who sought it.

The German state is often presented as an archetypal example of a bureaucratised system of migration surveillance and control. The Central Foreigners Register, introduced in West Germany in 1953 and digitised in 1967, is a central pillar of this infrastructure, and one of the most comprehensive tools of migration control in any liberal democratic state. Through analysis of federal and state records, this chapter reconstructs the challenges of coordination and resources that impeded the effective operation of the register in the post-war years. Nevertheless, despite its operational deficiencies, it has played an important symbolic role in bolstering the self-image of Germany as a modern state with a high capacity to control its population.

Some continuities run through the long period from the late Roman empire to the Counter Reformation. An archive existed well before the empire in the West collapsed. Throughout the period papal government was largely demand driven. To settle disputes in far-away localities of which the popes knew little, they delegated authority to men on the spot who were not paid for their services. The papacy lacked the resources to fund a ‘Weberian’ bureaucracy, but was adept at devising rules to run systems that circumvented its own shortcomings, and thus it was able to meet the expanding demand for its services.

Article 102 of the UN Charter requires that every treaty shall be registered with the UN Secretariat, and published by it. Over 75,000 treaties have now been registered. The UN General Assembly has drawn up detailed regulations on registration, which the chapter summarises. It also explains the documents which should be submitted to the UN Treaty Section to register a treaty. Where there is a dispute as to whether an instrument is a treaty, the fact that it has been submitted for registration may be evidence of the intention of the states concerned as to its status. But registration is not of itself conclusive of its status. The UN publishes treaties which have been registered in the UN Treaty Series. Each state will also usually have its own treaty series, in which treaties which it has signed or to which it is a party are published. Examples are the UK Treaty Series (UKTS) and the Treaties and Other International Acts (TIAS) of the United States.

This chapter is about registration systems for interests in property. The chapter takes an innovative approach by incorporating the systems and legal frameworks for both land and personal property. This is a theme reflected in other chapters of the book. In this chapter, the primary system for land registration, the Torrens system is explained in detail. The Deeds registration system in relation to general law land is also explained. The chapter covers the electronic Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR,) where security interests in personal property are recorded. The chapter aims to draw comparisons between the systems to identify what lessons can be learned in terms of optimal, effective, and efficient methods of electronic registration of interests in property.

Chapter 9 examines the consequences of subjecting children to SORN laws. It argues that registration and notification laws are uniquely ineffective and harmful when applied to children. The chapter begins with a history of how SORN laws came to regulate juvenile sexual misconduct. In response to moral panics around “sexual predators” and “juvenile super-predators,” policymakers explicitly expanded the scope of SORN laws to cover children adjudicated delinquent of sex offenses. The chapter next evaluates the effects of these laws on juvenile offending, particularly recidivism. Contrary to the myths underlying their enactment, children found to have engaged in sexual misconduct very rarely reoffend. Further, the evidence is unanimous that SORN laws do not reduce recidivism. The chapter then compiles evidence on the many deleterious effects SORN laws produce when they are applied to children. Studies of providers and children who are registrants demonstrate that SORN laws increase substantially the risk of suicide and sexual victimization. Furthermore, SORN laws are associated with high rates of plea bargaining among children. In light of these failures and dangerous effects, the application of SORN to children should be abandoned.

Chapter 3 analyzes the demographic makeup and composition of state sex offender registries. The data reject the popular narratives of incomplete registries filled with dangerous individuals. The chapter begins by investigating the widely reported counts of registered individuals from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). While NCMEC reports that there are nearly one million registrants nationwide, no true national registry exists to confirm this claim. Further, independent studies indicate that many registrants simply do not live in their listed community – they may be incarcerated, committed, deported, or deceased. Additionally, the data refute common arguments that registries are systematically incomplete with regard to “missing” registrants. The chapter next examines how registries reflect broader racial dynamics. The typical registrant is middle-aged and white. However, registries are disproportionately black, and black registrants are overclassified with respect to recidivism risk. Finally, the chapter dissects the technical and data challenges affecting registries. While intra-registry duplicates plague few jurisdictions, many registries contain individuals present on other states’ registries. This chapter contends that policymakers should account for these deficiencies when considering sex offender policy.

The organ constituted a prominent and lavishly supported voice for the church from at least the late fourteenth century. In tracing the various building projects from that time until the mid-sixteenth century, this chapter reveals its importance in the organisation’s self-image: as an elaboration of the ritual, a demonstration of institutional pride, and as an instrument of display and propaganda. The level of detail provided by the continuous run of accounts is exceptional, and affords historically important insight into developments in instrument design over a 150-year period, from a single Blockwerk into a more sophisticated instrument with various keyboards, registrations and chests. The study also provides an exceptional level of detail on the complex process of scoping, ordering, building-work and quality control that went into the installation of an organ in a large church building in the later Middle Ages.

In recent years, debates over voting rights have taken center-stage in American politics.

In a 2017 decision, theUS Supreme Court held that constitutional commitments to free expression barred the Patent and Trademark Office from rejecting the registration of 'The Slants' for an Asian rock band, even though the term is understood to disparage Asians. Because we do not agree with the Court’s view that true speech can always correct false speech, we argue that the US can learn from the ways in which New Zealand trade mark jurisprudence protects cultural integrity while ensuring free speech. In so doing, we follow Sam Ricketson’s admonition that common law jurisdictions learn from one another.

There is a crucial difference between creating a treaty, expressing consent to be bound by it and bringing it into force. The focus of this chapter is on completing the process of consenting to be bound and bringing the treaty into force, once the decision to become a party has been taken and treaty officials are asked to prepare the documentation and take care of procedures. The process is examined at both the international and domestic levels. It concludes by considering the action needed immediately after entry into force, in particular publication of the treaty text and registration at the UN under Article 102 of the UN Charter.

It is generally assumed that a single theoretical account is sufficient to explain why we protect both registered and unregistered trade marks. Specifically, the need to protect against consumer confusion is said to explain the protection that is afforded to trade marks through both the registration system and through passing off/unfair competition law. Drawing on recent scholarship that sets out to re-examine the role of trade mark registration, this chapter argues that we need to think more seriously about embracing a bifurcated model of trade mark protection, with the two modes of protection underpinned by different justifications and perform different functions. This would allow us to have a clearer idea of how the two systems should interact and when we should prioritise the operation of one over the other.

This chapter examines adult guardianship and powers of attorney in England and Wales today. Section I considers the origin of modern adult guardianship law in Roman law and traces its development in English common law through to the current legal and institutional infrastructure of mental capacity jurisdiction. It then introduces the procedures of appointing a deputy, and evaluates the safeguards provided by the Office of the Public Guardian. Section II focuses on the policy considerations underpinning the legislation on enduring and lasting powers of attorney, the development of policy and legislation over the past 35 years, and potential developments in the foreseeable future. The author also compares deputyship with attorneyship, and explains the advantages of the former over lasting powers of attorney.

This chapter evaluates enduring powers of attorney (EPA) law in Australian jurisdictions. It first describes capacity requirements for creating EPAs, the responsibilities of EPA 'representatives', the role of tribunals and courts in overseeing EPAs, and a new form of EPA known as a 'supportive attorney' established toward Australia's compliance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Second, the chapter discusses recent and proposed reforms to install stronger safeguards, establish a registration scheme, and update the terminology surrounding EPAs. Third, the chapter evaluates the legislation and precedents that have developed the concept of conflict of interest as it applies to EPAs, for example in gift giving and transactions that otherwise benefit the EPA representative. The chapter ends by arguing that that regulation of conflict transactions is a key area that can contribute to reducing elder financial abuse and reveals deeper lessons about the nature and significance of EPAs in contemporary society.