The paper is based on my contributions to the East Asia Forum blog (and my partially overlapping "Japanese Law and the Asia Pacific" blog) drawing mainly on developments from the end of 2008 through to mid-2009. Many topics are important not only within Australia and Japan, but also potentially...

This paper builds on an analysis of VAT jurisdiction rules in Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 09/44, to consider intentional and unintentional double non-taxation issues in the context of VAT. Since a VAT is an indirect consumption tax, imposed on suppliers but intended to burden the...

This paper focuses on the principles underlying the jurisdiction to impose value-added-type consumption taxes (VATs). It analyses existing VAT models to identify the concept of consumption on which they are based and to determine whether there is a common language in which questions of...

If Australia were to become a republic with a directly elected head of state, how should the powers of the head of state be constrained to prevent him or her becoming a rival to the Prime Minister? This paper notes proposals to codify the head of state's reserve powers, but suggests an...

The degree of justiciability (as well as enforcement) of the socio-economic rights of the African Charter have always played second fiddle to that of the traditional civil and political rights. Over two decades after the coming into force of the Charter, the African Commission has received...

(i) Council Regulation (EC) 1346/2000 on insolvency proceedings (‘EU Insolvency Regulation’) was based on the model of modified universalism, but its current practice militates towards pure universalism. (ii) Universalism coupled with the policy of ensuring the proper functioning of the EU...

This paper describes and analyses Indonesia's Anti-terrorism Law of 2002. It provides a brief background to the law's enactment, the crimes it defines, and compares the law with pre-existing provisions of Indonesia's Criminal Code that had been applied against those accused of terrorism before...

Article 33 of Indonesia's Constitution requires the state to 'control' important branches of production and natural resources. The meaning of 'control' has been a matter of significant debate since Indonesia's independence: does it require the state to manage directly, or is regulation enough?...

A trust is a relationship, not a legal person, popular misconceptions (reinforced by statutory fictions) notwithstanding. The trust relationship is between trustee, beneficiaries, property and third parties. It interacts with other aspects of the legal system, notably, common law and statute....

In 2009, the 1959 Antarctic Treaty celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. Over its fifty-year existence the Treaty and the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) built upon it, have promoted freedom of scientific research in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Despite the many successes of the Antarctic...