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The history and politics of impeachment -- Comparative case study I: The United States of America -- Comparative case study II: Denmark -- Executive accountability in the UK -- The existing political accountability mechanisms -- A justification for a possible role for impeachment within the UK system -- Reinvigorating impeachment -- Re-engineering the British Constitution.

For the first time, this article examines the impeachment trial of Warren Hastings from a human rights perspective. Even now, the seven year impeachment trial retains a degree of controversy, particularly as to its merits, and to the motivation of Edmund Burke, the man responsible for holding Hastings to account. The trial resulted in the clash between the reality of Britain's colonial expansion for many contemporaries and a defence of the intrinsic human rights of the Company's Indian subjects. If for many, it is debatable as to how successful Burke was in raising awareness of 'human rights' and whether the impeachment trial brought about any tangible results; this article argues not only that Burke's awareness of 'human rights' as a concept which could be defended by a court of law was for the late eighteenth century revolutionary but also that its legacy has a current resonance. In order to address these issues an exploration is provided of the events which gave rise to the impeachment, namely the role of Edmund Burke, and the political and moral concerns surrounding the East India Company's administration of a substantial part of modern India and Bangladesh. The political attempts to hold the Company to account will also be discussed, with particular reference as to why Burke felt the need to impeach Hastings. Finally, consideration will be given to the use of impeachment as a method of accountability and parallels that can be drawn with the modern inquiry and the human rights dimensions thereto.

"This collection brings together historians, political scientists and legal scholars to explore the Anglo-American origins of impeachment and its use in the USA. Impeachment originated in England during the Good Parliament of 1376. It was used, subject to several periods of disuse, until the beginning of the 19th century. The British form of impeachment in turn inspired the drafters of the US Constitution and the inclusion of a mechanism permitting the removal of members of the federal executive and federal judiciary. These Anglo-American origins of impeachment have inspired many constitutions around the globe to include impeachment mechanisms which permit, in most cases, the legislature to remove the President, a Prime Minister, ministers and judges. This volume explores the origins, influence and practice of impeachment. Divided into three parts, the history of impeachment and how it developed in British history is the focus of part one. The inclusion of Ireland reflects the constitutional status of impeachment, the legacy of union with Great Britain and how impeachment can still serve as a deterrent. Part two examines the adoption of impeachment within the US Constitution and its use in practice. The third and final part discusses impeachment in the 21st century. The book will be an essential resource for students, academics and researchers in law, political science and history"--

Intro -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- List of Contributors -- List of Boxes, Diagrams, Figures and Tables -- List of Cases -- 1. Accountability Matters -- I. A Definition, Puzzle and Issue -- II. Accounting for Structure -- PART I: FRAMING -- 2. Questions of Perspective - Accountability as a Behavioural Proposition -- I. Two Accountability Approaches -- II. Blending and Binding: The 'Cool' End of Accountability Behaviours -- III. Blending and Binding: The 'Noisy' End of Accountability Behaviours -- 3. Questions of Measurement: Striking an Accountability Balance -- I. Quantifying Accountability -- II. An Accountability Ideal -- III. Proportionality, Tensions and Balance -- 4. Loss of Balance? Exploring the 'Dark Side' of Accountability -- I. Why might Accountability be 'Bad' for Democracy? -- II. How was the 'Dark Side' Thesis Initially Received? -- III. What Do We Know about the Pathologies of Accountability Ten Years On? -- 5. Fuzzy Law, Executive Powers and the Problem of Accountability -- I. Enter 'Fuzzy Law' -- II. Constitution-Generated Fuzziness -- III. Legislative-Generated Fuzziness -- IV. Executive-Generated Fuzziness -- V. Accountability and Fuzziness: What Can be Done? -- 6. Collaborative Constitutional Accountability -- I. Political or Legal Constitutionalism -- II. Collaborative Constitutionalism -- III. Collaborative Constitutionalism in Practice -- IV. Conclusion -- PART II: THEMES -- 7. Questions of Control: Accountability in the Shadow of Prorogation -- I. Constitutional Flux and Constitutional Truths -- II. Judicial Power -- III. Doing Things Differently -- 8. Questions of Counsel: Accountability and Policy Advice -- I. Distance, Divides and Disconnects -- Ii. Wiring It Up -- III. Speaking Truth to Power -- 9. Enforcing the Conventions of Constitutional Monarchy -- I. Case Study 1: The Duty to Summon Parliaments.

A critical commentary on the Fraud Act 2006 / Chris Monaghan -- The Fraud Act's 10th anniversary : time to celebrate? not quite? / Axel Palmer -- An empirical review of the use of the Fraud Act 2006 and other criminal offences within the school application system / Chris Monaghan -- Food fraud and the Fraud Act 2006 : complementarity and limitations / Cecilia J. Flores Elizondo, Nicholas Lord, and Jon Spencer -- Fraud in the twenty first century : is the criminal law fit for purpose? / Caroline Collins and Noel MC Guirk -- The Fraud Act 2006 : a decade of deception? / Maureen Johnson -- Criminal fraud legislation since 2006 / David Kirk -- Revisiting dishonesty : the new strict liability criminal offence for offshore tax evaders / Sam Bourton -- Brexit and financial crime / Rhonson Salim -- Do we need a failure to prevent fraud offence? / Bill Davies -- A judge's perspective of the impact of the Fraud Act 2006 / Hh Toby Hooper QC -- The fraudster at work : the interaction of the criminal justice process with the operation of an employer's disciplinary procedures / Stephen Hurley -- Who should try "complex fraud trials" reconsidering the composition of the tribunal of fact 30 years after Roskill / Nicola Monaghan -- Good character directions : some implications of hunter for Fraud Act 2006 prosecutions / Richard Glover

Intro -- Contents -- About the Contributors -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 The Aim of This Collection -- 1.3 The Contributors -- References -- Chapter 2: Justifying Bancoult (No 2): Why Justice Hercules Must Sometimes Disappoint Us -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Bancoult (No 2) and Its Critics -- 2.2.1 Was the Prerogative Power of Colonial Governance Limited by a Fundamental Right? -- 2.2.2 Did the Formulation 'Peace, Order and Good Government' Connote a Limited or Plenary Prerogative Power? -- 2.2.3 Did Judges Have the Power to Review the Reasons Given by the Government for Removing the Chagossians Islanders? -- 2.3 Positivism and Pragmatism in Bancoult (No 2) -- 2.3.1 What's Wrong with Positivist Textual Analysis? -- 2.3.2 A Pragmatist Way Out? -- 2.4 Enter Justice Hercules -- 2.4.1 Interpreting Bancoult (No 2) -- 2.4.2 Two Competing Schemes of Principle: 'Moral No-Difference' and 'Moral Difference' -- 2.4.2.1 Moral No-Difference -- 2.4.2.2 Moral Difference -- 2.5 Isn't It Justice Hercules's Job to Do Justice? -- 2.6 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 3: Environmental Protection v the Right of Abode: A Case-Study in the Misuse of Power -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 The Legal Flaws in the 2009 Consultation -- 3.3 The Position Today -- References -- Chapter 4: How Public Law Has Not Been Able to Provide the Chagossians with a Remedy -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Background -- 4.3 First Attempts at a Remedy: The Vencatassen Case -- 4.3.1 Settlement Terms Are Mis-Described -- 4.3.2 Chagossians Are Misinformed -- 4.4 The Judicial Review in Bancoult (No. 1) and Its Evolution -- 4.4.1 Procedural Reform -- 4.4.2 Do Your Homework First -- 4.4.3 How Did the High Court Declare the Exile Unlawful? -- 4.5 The Group Litigation: Chagos Islanders v Attorney General and HM BIOT Commissioner [2003] EWHC 2222 (QB).

This volume considers the use of impeachment within a global context. The book brings together leading scholars and experts to give an insight into significant periods in the development of impeachment and its modern comparative use. Divided into five parts, the opening chapter introduces the topic and underlines its significance in terms of understanding the relationship and inter-dependence among politics, governance and the law. It also offers a novel conceptual framework that facilitates the global mapping of impeachment processes. Part I presents a thematic approach that explores the topic of impeachment through the lenses of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. With these themes in mind, Part II focuses on those parts of the world where impeachment is generally recognised as a core constitutional process including the United States, South Korea, Brazil and other countries in South America. Part III continues with the process of constitutional mapping by moving to a focus on those countries where impeachment is arguably an important but largely secondary or peripheral process. This includes chapters on Denmark, Iceland, Sri Lanka and the Philippines and flows through into Part IV's focus on areas of the world where impeachment matters and may even be increasing in terms of visibility but, for a number of reasons, arguably exists within a satellite status in terms of constitutional processes and safeguards. The fifth and final section steps back in an attempt to assess impeachment processes from a broad comparative perspective. The collection presents the definitive text on impeachment for students and scholars with an interest in comparative public law, politics and constitutional studies

Human activities within the industrial economy are now the main and most significant drivers of change to the Earth System. These changes, driven by both the scale of human population and the magnifying effects of human technologies "are multiple, complex, interacting, often exponential in rate and globally significant in magnitude" (Steffen et al. 2004: 81). The years since the 1950s "have without doubt seen the most rapid transformation of the human relationship with the natural world in the history of humankind" (Steffen et al. 2004: 131). Over approximately the same period, the use of manufactured materials has increased by 4 to 15 times (Allwood et al. 2012: 7) and correlates with a rapid rise in global GDP. The expansion of the global economy is directly linked to the rise in land, sea and atmospheric pollution, natural habitat loss and the extraction and consumption of resources. Creating a future free of these destructive patterns will require the abandonment of the 'take, make and throw away' culture, moving toward a circular economy in which human wants and needs are met by managing resources at their highest utility for the longest time within biological and technical cycles. Without a wholesale recalibration of the global materials economy to factor in both immediate and long-term implications of all material decisions, inclusive of extraction to processing and transference to recapture, aspirations for a 21st-century circular economy will stall. This paper sets out a proposal for the development of an underlying common architecture and set of protocols for the generation, aggregation, and tracking of materials information in ways that are open, interoperable, and incorruptible. As such, materials information is envisioned as an open web of interconnected databases. The authors propose that such a materials information commons could empower stakeholders at all levels to make more effective decisions. For such an infrastructure to be operable and effective, a concerted and coordinated effort across all scales and sectors would need to be incentivised. This paper lays out the overarching context and need for such an undertaking and highlights both the opportunities and challenges therein. It surveys existing sources of materials information in order to expand upon and characterise recommended criteria for key material, technological, and behavioural functionalities. Lastly, this paper poses a number of areas of focus for future research.