{"title":"Law Students Providing Legal Support in an International Hate Speech Project (Part 2)","authors":"Sandra Žatková","doi":"10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.771","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.771","url":null,"abstract":"The previous report from 2022 presented a newly started international anti-hate speech project with the participation of students from the Faculty of Law of the Comenius University in Bratislava. Despite the EU-funded project started in April 2022, in December of the same year, we were already able to present tangible results. At the end of 2023, the project can be described as fully established and set to reach its ambitious goals thanks to the synergy among students, volunteers and the client Forum for Human Rights (“FORUM”). This report is a follow-up to the first one and presents new interesting developments and challenges. It focuses on the role of students, aspiring young professionals, in protecting the human rights of Roma people.","PeriodicalId":33796,"journal":{"name":"Bratislava Law Review","volume":" 18","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139144011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"ECtHR: Żurek v. Poland (Application No. 39650/18, 16 June 2022)","authors":"Mateusz Wojtanowski","doi":"10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.716","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.716","url":null,"abstract":"The article is devoted to the analysis of the judge's freedom of expression in a constitutional crisis, using the ECtHR case of Żurek v. Poland as an illustration. The argument begins with a discussion of the facts of the case and the judgment. At this point, I argue that the category of discriminatory legalism is relevant to the facts of the case. Further, two interrelated problems are addressed, which are considered to be particularly relevant for the expression of the judge in the course of the constitutional crisis. These are: 1) the relevance of Article 10 in relation to speaking in one's professional (here: judicial) capacity, and 2) an attempt to determine whether the judge's opposition to a constitutional crisis is an exercise of his or her freedom or a duty. On both issues, I also present the position of Judge Wojtyczek, who challenged the majority views in his separate opinion (partly dissenting, partly concurring). I believe that the disagreement between Wojtyczek and the majority goes to fundamental philosophical-legal issues and can be described as a friction between the analytical and post-analytical approaches to law.","PeriodicalId":33796,"journal":{"name":"Bratislava Law Review","volume":" 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139142936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Framework for Effective Smart Contracting","authors":"Ioana Vasiu, Lucian Vasiu","doi":"10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.511","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.511","url":null,"abstract":"Smart contracts are event-driven computer programs used to automatically execute all or parts of the agreements between two or more entities, pursuant to their specifications. The self-executing and self-enforcing attributes of smart contracts present numerous potential benefits, such as cost efficiency, accuracy, and reliability, as well as the potential to support several sustainable development goals. Smart contracts can be very efficient in many sectors, with important automation, procurement, financial, and other supply chain management features. For this study, a systematic literature review was performed, with a view to assessing, synthesizing, and critique the current state of legal and security aspects of smart contracts. The analysis of publications and reports gathered allowed the identification and mapping of the most relevant aspects and revealed numerous issues and vulnerabilities associated with the use of this technology. This paper provides the following contributions: the study and organization of a large corpus of relevant publications; the review of smart contract definitions, from several perspectives; an outline of smart contract characteristics; a framework for effective smart contracting, addressing legal and security issues and proposing several improvements.","PeriodicalId":33796,"journal":{"name":"Bratislava Law Review","volume":" 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139143456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Administrative Law without Borders","authors":"J. Handrlica","doi":"10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.758","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.758","url":null,"abstract":"An international conference, entitled “Administrative Law without Borders” was organised by the Faculty of Law, University of Košice in the municipality Veľká Třňa, which is situated in the very heart of the Slovak area of the Tokaj wine region. The conference was organised under the research project “Extraterritorial effects of foreign administrative decisions in the European Union”, which has been supported by the Scientific Agency VEGA. The Košice-based research team, under the leadership of Associate Professor Radomír Jakab, has been dealing with various problems arising from mutual recognition of foreign administrative decisions for several years, and the conference, as organised on 19th and 20th October 2023 in the Tokaj Wine Region, represents one of the major academic meetings organised under the umbrella of this academic endeavour.","PeriodicalId":33796,"journal":{"name":"Bratislava Law Review","volume":" 32","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139144668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Real Property Tax in Slovakia – Scoping Review","authors":"Anna Vartašová, Cecília Olexová, Radka Štefanová","doi":"10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.393","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.393","url":null,"abstract":"Real property tax is a common type of tax applicable often as a local tax and a source of local revenues, which is also the case in the Slovak Republic. This topic is gaining importance in general due to the decreasing revenues of local budgets and the increasing financial requirements of municipalities to ensure services for the citizens. Even though there is a wide range of available scientific literature on the topic, it has not yet been systematically summarized to identify the thematic spectrums of interest to the scientific community and there are areas not yet covered by the research. This review aims to identify the state of knowledge (scientific literature) on the issue of real property tax in the Slovak Republic and the research gap. For this reason, the authors have included the broadest possible range of available scientific literature on the topic of Slovak real property tax searched through the most relevant international databases (Web of Science and Scopus) and a complex national database comprising the works of Slovak academia (CREPČ), even in its broader context of local taxation and local government. The results were acquired by use of the method of a scoping review. Our findings show an increasing trend in the number of publications and authors on the topic in the course of time and their comparable focus on the legal and economic aspects. We identified a high preference for general assessment and certain topics in particular (e.g. tax revenues, tax rates) together with a lower interest in very specific problems and more interdisciplinary issues, where we see the potential for further research.","PeriodicalId":33796,"journal":{"name":"Bratislava Law Review","volume":" 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139145280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Consultation Conference on Land Consolidation","authors":"Ľudovít Máčaj","doi":"10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.769","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.769","url":null,"abstract":"On the 31th May 2023, Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Law organized an international scientific conference entitled \"Consultation conference on land consolidation”. The conference was organized at the faculty with the participation of several Slovak as well as foreign guests. The conference represented the outcome of the research team concerning the project No. APVV-19-0494 „Effective land consolidation“, granted by Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV).","PeriodicalId":33796,"journal":{"name":"Bratislava Law Review","volume":"18 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139147961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Human Rights Litigation in Africa Under Attack","authors":"Ayyoub Jamali, M. Faix","doi":"10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.337","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.337","url":null,"abstract":"Human rights values, to which international organisations adhere, serve not only as the working premise for achieving their goals but also constitute an inherent part of their legal framework and judicial decisions. Established by States that claim to share a fundamental set of values from the outset and are committed to reflecting these values throughout their activities, the African Union is no exception. The organisation articulated its fundamental principles and values in its founding Treaties, which include, among others, ‘respect for democratic principles, human rights, the rule of law, and good governance.’ Over time, various preventive, monitoring, and enforcement mechanisms have been developed to realise these human rights objectives in the continent. This progress includes the establishment of the African Commission in 1987 and the creation of the African Court in 1998, as well as the expansion of human rights jurisdiction of sub-regional courts over time. This article delves into the resistance faced by the judicial mechanisms used to enforce human rights in Africa. As demonstrated, in all cases under discussion, a State subject to an adverse ruling of the court responded by questioning its legitimacy and authority, advocating for institutional reforms to weaken the fledgling human rights system on the continent. The article highlights the similarities and differences between all cases, illustrating that the impact of political reaction in the case of the continental African Court and the SADC Tribunal has been much more severe than the ECOWAS and the EACJ court. It is argued that the institutional design of the courts, the scale of the community, relative State power, the subject matter of the judgment, the requirement to obtain consensus to revise the founding treaty of the courts, and the engagement of civil societies played crucial roles in determining the type and outcome of backlash in the cases under discussion.","PeriodicalId":33796,"journal":{"name":"Bratislava Law Review","volume":" 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139143482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Oleg M. Yaroshenko, Hanna V. Anisimova, R. Y. Prokopiev, Ivan P. Zhygalkin, O. A. Yakovlyev
{"title":"Peculiarities of Labour Rights Protection in the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights","authors":"Oleg M. Yaroshenko, Hanna V. Anisimova, R. Y. Prokopiev, Ivan P. Zhygalkin, O. A. Yakovlyev","doi":"10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.347","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.46282/blr.2023.7.2.347","url":null,"abstract":"The practice of defence of labour disputes is quite dynamic. That is why the analysis of labour rights protection in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is quite relevant. The purpose of the study is to analyse the current case law of the European Court of Human Rights on the protection of labour rights; to analyse the ECtHR's interpretation of the concept of forced labour and the right to form trade unions; to summarise the problematic issues of the ECtHR's case law in the field of labour rights protection and ways to resolve them. The methodological basis of the study is general and special methods and techniques of cognition. The article substantiates that one cannot complain directly to the ECtHR about deprivation of the opportunity to work, denial of access to the workplace, or refusal to hire. The European Convention explicitly states only 2 rights: the right to form and join trade unions and the prohibition of forced and compulsory labour. The author explains the concepts of forced labour and the right to form trade unions and outlines the problematic issues of the European Court of Human Rights case law in the field of labour rights protection and ways to resolve them.","PeriodicalId":33796,"journal":{"name":"Bratislava Law Review","volume":"13 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139147792","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
V. Zarosylo, Halyna Karelova, Oleksandr Kaplya, Lyudmyla Denisova, I. Muravyova
{"title":"Legal Measures in Ukraine to Restrain the Spread of the Coronavirus Disease","authors":"V. Zarosylo, Halyna Karelova, Oleksandr Kaplya, Lyudmyla Denisova, I. Muravyova","doi":"10.46282/blr.2023.7.1.349","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.46282/blr.2023.7.1.349","url":null,"abstract":"The article is devoted to the analysis of administrative and other measures in Ukraine aimed at reducing the number of coronavirus disease. Considerable attention is paid to administrative proceedings in the context of the spread of coronavirus disease. The state of the legislation that exists today in Ukraine is analysed. It is noted that most of the regulations are quite positive and in compliance with their requirements, it was possible to stop the spread of coronavirus disease. However, despite the fact that the number of infected people has decreased significantly compared to previous years, the risk that the coronavirus will gain momentum remains high. The reasons for this phenomenon in most cases are, firstly, non-compliance with the requirements of quarantine, wearing masks and other measures, and secondly, the small number of people who are vaccinated and thus spread the coronavirus. This problem is global, it is probably necessary to develop appropriate regulations at the United Nations level and implement the requirements of such regulations in the legislation of all countries.","PeriodicalId":33796,"journal":{"name":"Bratislava Law Review","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42952606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Limitations of Human and Civil Rights in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Activity of the State and Law","authors":"Joanna Marszałek-Kawa, K. Holovko","doi":"10.46282/blr.2023.7.1.339","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.46282/blr.2023.7.1.339","url":null,"abstract":"Restrictions in the sphere of civil rights and freedoms introduced by governments led to the numerous demonstrations of citizens in the whole world. During street protests, they expressed their disapproval of the radical measures taken by authorities. The main research problem of this paper relates to the impact of repression on the course of social protest using the example of Estonia. The findings of the study will serve as the basis for formulating more general conclusions concerning protests in the pandemic era. We will describe repressive and non-repressive protest policing from the spring of 2020 to the autumn of 2021. Having in mind the above, we formulated two principal research aims. The first of them refers to the identification of the main reasons behind the organisations of protests in Estonia and what steps the demonstrators took. The other, equally important research aim is to establish what factors influenced the course of demonstrations. In particular, the response of the police to civil disorder will be analysed. The thesis posed in this paper assumes that the high level of political culture, resulting in trust in the institution of the state, contributes to the de-escalation of protests and influences the non-repressive behaviour of the police towards demonstrators. The method used in this study is the qualitative source analysis text analysis. It draws on the technique of content analysis of the specific media coverage of the activities of the police and protest participants during the indicated period. The study rests on the reports that appeared on the most important websites and Internet portals reporting on the course of the protests.","PeriodicalId":33796,"journal":{"name":"Bratislava Law Review","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42333542","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}