Non-Consensual Medical Treatment: The Legal Justification

-- Subhash Chandra Singh

Patients have a fundamental ethical and legal right to determine as to what happens to their bodies. Valid informed consent is therefore absolutely central to all forms of medical treatments and surgical procedures. Only in limited circumstances, a doctor may proceed without consent. Non-consensual treatment is legal only when the patient is not in a position to have or express any views as to his or her affairs. However, involuntary treatment against the patient’s wishes is very rare, and can only be done when the interests of a third party or the society are involved. Necessity, of course, is a viable defense to any proceedings for nonconsensual treatment where an unconscious patient is involved and there is no known objection to treatment. But a doctor cannot therefore take advantage of unconsciousness to perform procedures which are not essential for the patient’s immediate survival or wellbeing. This paper critically examines the position of patient’s autonomy in the field of medical treatment.

© 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Legal Dimensions of E-Contracts

--K Sita Manikyam and M Madhuri Irene

Recognizing the importance of e-commerce and its relationship with WTO, the General Assembly of the United Nations, by a resolution, adopted the Model Law on Electronic Commerce. E-contract (electronic contract)—the backbone of e-commerce—reduces costs, saves time, speeds up customer response, and improves service quality by reducing paperwork, therby increasing automation. E-contract focuses on how risk should be structured in an automated environment with an object to create default rules for attributing a message to a party so as to avoid any fraud or discrepancy. This paper discusses the definition, scope, nature, legality and various other issues related to e-contracts.

© 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005: A Critical Appraisal

--P Vijaya Kalyani

The plight of women in India is becoming pathetic day by day. Virtues such as education, awareness and economic security are unable to come to the aid of women who are in distress. The major aim of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 is to provide protection to the wife or female live-in partner from any kind of violence at the hands of the husband or male live-in partner or his relatives. The law under the Act also provides protection to women who are sisters, widows or mothers. Domestic violence under the act includes actual abuse or the threat of abuse whether physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or economic.

© 2013 IUP All Rights Reserved.

Right to Life and Personal Liberty: A Judicial Analysis

--V G Ranganath

Deprivation of liberty must be considered as a punishment, unless it is required to ensure that an accused will stand his trial when called upon. The courts owe more than verbal respect to the principle that punishment begins after conviction, and that every man is deemed to be innocent until duly tried and found guilty. From the earliest times, it was appreciated that detention in custody pending completion of trial could be a cause of great hardship. From time to time, necessity demands that some unconvicted persons should be held in custody pending trial to secure their attendance at the trial, but in such cases, ‘necessity’ is the operative test. In India, the situation is quite contrary to the concept of personal liberty enshrined in the Constitution, that any person should be punished in respect of any matter, upon which he has not been convicted, or that in any circumstances, he should be deprived of his liberty only on the belief that he will tamper with the witnesses if left at liberty, save in the most extraordinary circumstances. The present paper focuses on instances of right to life and personal liberty and occasional interpretation held by the Supreme Court.

© 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Competition Law: A Perspective

--Petikam Sailaja

With the launching of reforms and globalization of Indian economy, a need for specific laws to govern growing competition is felt. The main objective of the Competition Act, 2002 is curbing negative aspects of competition by establishing the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The CCI will have a principal bench and additional benches. The CCI will look into violations of the Act also. Further, it can pass orders for granting interim relief or any other appropriate relief and compensation or an order imposing penalties, etc.

© 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Investment Banking in India: Towards a Comprehensive Regulatory Structure

--Amit Kashyap and Anjani Singh Tomar

Banking and financial institutions and the securities market are two broad platforms for institutional intermediation of the flow of capital in the economy. Investment banking mainly deals with the primary function of assisting the securities market in the movement of financial resources from the investors to the issuers. Investment banks are actually the counterparts of commercial banks in financial markets. They perform the function of intermediation in the area of resource allocation. Regulatory authorities require promotion of quality issues, integrity and maintenance of compliance with the law on behalf of the banks as well as the issuers. Advising corporations on how best to configure their balance sheets constitutes the very heart of investment banking. This paper focuses on investment banking industry and related laws, with special reference to India and SEBI’s active role in the development of a powerful regulatory structure.

© 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Juvenile Crime and Punishment: An Overview

--Chintamani Rout

With the advancement of industrialization and urbanization, juvenile delinquency is emerging as a major problem in all the developing countries of the world. Gang activities, purposeless offenses, acts of vandalism, joy riding and the like, are on the increase. Children are misled by a perverted system. Further, the growth of urbanization, congestion in city life, bad housing condition, uneven development of the family, death, desertion and divorce, poverty, slum and filth, all have contributed to an unhealthy development of childhood. It is but natural that delinquency would be the end result of such a social process. This paper discusses the various measures of the statutory provisions in this regard, including national and international rules and their effectiveness.

© 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.