The equity of exoneration is an age-old doctrine, originally available to married women, who without recognised legal status, were accorded an equity in circumstances where they charged their own interest in an asset, usually the family home, for the purposes of promoting a business or venture conducted and owned by their husband and where their husband later became bankrupt. This article examines the equity in its current form and the ways that it is typically used today. Whether there is a need for such an equity in most circumstances is a moot point, given the considerable advancement of the legal status of women, and the development of the conduct and financing of business since the 17th century. Recent decisions, nonetheless, support the continued operation of the equity.

This paper examines the difficulties that have arisen in Australia in the use of its contact-tracing app. We examine the privacy implications around the use of the app, the wider economic imperative, and the balancing of those concerns against the health threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. We posit that default options are superior in times of emergency and rather than begging for the adoption of lifesaving technology, we suggest that the evidence gathered by behavioral economists provides an apposite and powerful alternative worthy of consideration.

The recently published Australian Government’s Religious Freedom Review of December 2018 drew attention to the lack of community understanding about the right to religious freedom Down Under. This article explores and compares recent German and Australian cases on ‘conscience’ and ‘religious liberty’ and offers observations on their implications for both countries. In particular, it considers the “crucifix” and “headscarf” scenarios under both systems. The article concludes that the German constitutional guarantees - which provide high protection for conscience and religious freedom - offer a thoughtful model for Australia which should be taken into account in any future Australian law reform.

[Extract] Most English-speaking lawyers are unfamiliar with the work of Joseph Isensee,1 an eminent jurist and sometime contender with Jurgen Habermas,2 as well as a leading writer on the law of the German Constitution. Isensee's Handbook of German Constitutional Law has been a leading text for many years,3 and his various interventions over time have lead to a number of significant awards, including the Ring of Honour of the Gorres-Gesellschaft in 2013.4 The aim of this Article is to translate and comment upon some of Isensee's work and the arguments surrounding conscience protection under the German Basic Law (Grundgesetz).

Professor Josef Isensee's rich exegesis on conscience protection in German law strikes a number of targets, which few other analyses have attempted. In the first place, it gives breathing room to state and to non-state institutions in a way that preserves the dignity of both. Second, it provides serious counter-weight to the Hegelian analysis, which labors under difficult contradictions. Third, it highlights the problems inherent in separating the concept of conscience from its religious roots. Finally, it indirectly raises the extraordinary 'Bockenforde dilemma' for constitutional analysis. This translation and commentary paves the way for further discussion in all these areas in the context of German law.

This article discusses the role played by art 9 of the United States' Uniform Commercial Code in the Global Financial Crisis, and outlines the method for taking security over deposit accounts held in US banks. It compares the process for taking such security in Australia with that used in the US, and places particular emphasis on the detailed provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code relating to attachment, collateral description, consumer exceptions, perfection by control, standard control agreements, priorities and proceeds. It is submitted that the set-up, workings and side effects of the Uniform Commercial Code art 9 regime will be instructive for practitioners in non-US jurisdictions, and may prompt useful questions and insights about their own rules and commercial conventions. Relevant portions of the American Bar Association's Joint Taskforce on Deposit Account Control Agreements are discussed, and some comparative observations are made for those involved in international transactions.

This insightful book explores the acute challenges presented by the 'internationalisation' of law, a trend that has been accelerated by the growing requirement for academics and practitioners to work and research across countries and regions with differing legal traditions.

This article examines the German Pfandbrief (“covered bond”) as an example of the banking practice of “originate to hold” by which mortgage debts are retained on the balance sheet of the originator and not sold on to a third party such as an investor or hedge fund. The global financial crisis (GFC) of 2008-2009 will be forever linked to the process known as “securitization” and the distribution of mortgage-backed securities throughout willing and later remorseful financial markets. But this is not the only model. As a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) noted in June of 2008, “it may be worth recalling that this [originate to distribute model] is not the way banks have historically done business. Under the traditional—perhaps, I should say secular—‘originate to hold’ business model, banks extend loans to firms and households and hold them in their balance sheets until they mature or are paid off.”

Sher’s book is an exploration of the epistemic dimensions of moral psychology and responsibility, prior to considerations of free will and control. His goal is to show that “because philosophers have not taken the knowledge requirement [of moral responsibility] seriously, a certain familiar way of understanding it has not received the scrutiny it deserves.” Sher then sets out to give the knowledge requirement of moral responsibility an extended and lucid treatment, and to offer his own composite version.

The authors have drafted a scholarly roadmap through the narrow streets of the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution.