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30 pages, 368 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mining Work Health, Safety Laws and Serious Industrial Crimes in Australia: Down the Shaft of Jurisdictional Inconsistency

by Trajce Cvetkovski and Neville Weston

Laws 2025, 14(4), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws14040049 - 16 Jul 2025

Viewed by 491

Abstract

This article examines the level of inconsistency in work, health and safety (WHS) laws across Australia’s mining sector. Despite general efforts towards national harmonisation through model WHS legislation, significant inconsistencies persist because individual states and territories retain primary regulatory control. A critical analysis of each jurisdiction’s legislative framework reveals a fragmented legal landscape. Queensland, especially, exhibits notable divergence. Key findings highlight a considerable variation in legislative approaches to risk management principles and specific obligations. In particular, a disjointed and incremental approach to serious offences such as industrial manslaughter and provisions concerning imputed conduct are evident. These inconsistencies suggest that corporations operating in multiple Australian mining regions must develop a nuanced understanding of the varying WHS requirements in each jurisdiction. This study underscores the need for caution when assessing risk management strategies aimed at preventing serious incidents because the presumption of a harmonised system can be misleading, especially concerning mining-specific legislation. Full article

20 pages, 1009 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Quantifying Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Human Deaths to Guide Energy Policy

by Joshua M. Pearce and Richard Parncutt

Energies 2023, 16(16), 6074; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16166074 - 19 Aug 2023

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 77545

Abstract

When attempting to quantify future harms caused by carbon emissions and to set appropriate energy policies, it has been argued that the most important metric is the number of human deaths caused by climate change. Several studies have attempted to overcome the uncertainties associated with such forecasting. In this article, approaches to estimating future human death tolls from climate change relevant at any scale or location are compared and synthesized, and implications for energy policy are considered. Several studies are consistent with the “1000-ton rule,” according to which a future person is killed every time 1000 tons of fossil carbon are burned (order-of-magnitude estimate). If warming reaches or exceeds 2 °C this century, mainly richer humans will be responsible for killing roughly 1 billion mainly poorer humans through anthropogenic global warming, which is comparable with involuntary or negligent manslaughter. On this basis, relatively aggressive energy policies are summarized that would enable immediate and substantive decreases in carbon emissions. The limitations to such calculations are outlined and future work is recommended to accelerate the decarbonization of the global economy while minimizing the number of sacrificed human lives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Energy Policy)

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22 pages, 375 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Adultery as a Defence: The Construction of a Legally Permissible Violence, England 1810

by Susanna Menis

Histories 2023, 3(2), 76-97; https://doi.org/10.3390/histories3020007 - 11 Apr 2023

Viewed by 5733

Abstract

The Mawgridge’s case in 1707 set the precedent where adultery was recognised as a justified trigger for the husband’s killing of his wife’s lover; this crystallised a partial defence for provocation. However, in an 1810 case, the killing of the unfaithful wife followed a manslaughter conviction rather than murder for the first time. This study aims to investigate the shaping of a legally permissible violence, that is, the mitigation of the husband’s culpability in killing his adulterous wife. This provides the opportunity to question the (ir)rationality behind the judiciary’s discourse in the case of R v Clinton 2012; here, despite infidelity being abolished in 2009 in England and Wales as a defence for murder, the judges still insisted on its relevance in our culture and hence on legal culpability. The theoretical framework in this paper draws upon the scholarship of masculinity, the family, and the law. This paper discusses the contribution of the hegemonic male identity in creating this legal violence and fortifying social-hierarchical structure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section History of Knowledge)

20 pages, 1283 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Serious Accidents Punishment Act of South Korea and Its Impact on the Shipping Industry: Toward Sustainability

by Junghwan Choi, Sangseop Lim, Sungho Park, Hwasop Roh, Hohyun Jin and Changhee Lee

Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8936; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148936 - 21 Jul 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5633

Abstract

The Serious Accidents Punishment Act (SAPA) of South Korea mandates that chief executives secure operational safety and health to prevent industrial and civil disasters. The SAPA imposes civil and criminal responsibilities on chief executive officers, including business owners, for fatal accidents due to safety and health measures violations. We examine the SAPA’s challenges to the shipping industry and the measures taken by ship owners and ship management companies to address them. In the modern shipping industry, ships and crew often have different nationalities; hence, it may be difficult to determine which law applies or where liability lies. Business activities are mostly overseas. Ship management is performed by third parties, and the introduction of autonomous systems is leading to crew reductions and other changes; these factors create uncertainty about the SAPA’s applicability. Therefore, legal requirements and measures must be established to ensure that South Korean shipping companies do not take on excessive responsibilities internationally while still protecting workers and others. This study suggests measures to ensure safety and stability in the South Korean shipping industry following the SAPA through a horizontal comparative analysis with the UK’s Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, which served as a model for the SAPA. Full article

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16 pages, 276 KiB

Open AccessArticle

‘Endlessly Valuable’ Discursive Work—Intimate Partner Femicide, an English Case Study

by Adrian Howe

Laws 2019, 8(4), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws8040033 - 28 Nov 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4228

Abstract

Against the trend of roll-backs of pro-feminist initiatives by right-wing governments, feminist-led reforms to the law of murder deserve accolades as hard-fought feminist victories. For three decades, feminist analysts have critiqued the operation of provocation defences in intimate partner femicide cases. Their work has been rewarded with the implementation of reforms in several anglophone jurisdictions that have abolished or curtailed that defence. This article focuses on the revolutionary impact of the reform implemented in England and Wales. It argues for the continuing purchase for feminist legal scholars of a methodology championed by Carol Smart in her seminal 1989 text, Feminism and the Power of Law. She counselled feminist law scholars to read law as a site for contesting law’s truth about gendered relationships. This methodology has not only been critical in exposing the misogyny and injustice embedded in traditional provocation by infidelity defences; it also enables researchers to chart shifts in law’s discursive constitution of truth in the post-reform era. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feminist Legal Theory in the 21st Century)

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