Bøker av Kerry O'Halloran

This book examines jurisdictional differences in the role of the principle of the welfare interests of the child in common and civil law, and focuses on differences within these two legal traditions.By identifying and analysing the functions of the principle both in the public and private sector of family law, the book compares and contrasts different jurisdictions, and assesses their capacity to implement children's welfare interests and rights. Covering a variety of topics including child abuse and neglect, state care, adoption and reproductive rights and family breakdown, the book demonstrates how welfare interests and rights can be balanced to create a coherent framework for family law.In addition to providing an up-to-date digest of cases and legislation, the book will be of interest to researchers in the field of child welfare and family law.

This book contrasts and compares the different application of the law relating to the welfare interests of children in Australia and New Zealand including, respectively, the Indigenous and Māori children of those countries.

This book traces, assesses and compares the history of conscientious objection ΓÇô in the cultural context of six common law nations ΓÇô from refusal of military service and a range of similar moral dilemmas, to objecting to abortion, to the current social polarisation surrounding vaccination hesitancy in the COVID-19 pandemic.It considers the impact of this form of dissent in relation to social movements like Black Lives Matter, social activists such as Gandhi, and whistle blowers like Daniel Ellsberg. It reflects on the relationships between the sacred and the secular, the state and the citizen, in order to better understand the responsibilities of citizenship in our increasingly secular societies. It analyses what defines the conscientiousness of an objection from both legal and ethical standpoints. It examines what constitutes a matter of conscience, why this should justify exemption from civic duties and why this form of dissent has such a time-honoured status. It explores the increased reliance on ΓÇ£grounds of religion, belief or conscienceΓÇ¥ as providing justification for excusing some citizens from complying with certain responsibilities ΓÇô mandated by equality and non-discrimination legislation ΓÇô that are binding for all others.By conducting a comparative evaluation of national law and judicial rulings on a fixed agenda of issues, this book identifies key jurisdictional differences concerning conscientious objection. In so doing, it highlights the importance of cultural context and constructs a jurisdiction-specific overview of legislation, policies and case law. By tracking policy developments and highlighting crucial judicial rulings ΓÇô particularly in the US ΓÇô it provides insights into the probable future direction of developments in national law relating to conscientious objection.Lastly, the book draws attention to some of the potential consequences of manifesting dissent by opting out of performing public services ΓÇô e.g. the possible local breakdown of specific service availability (e.g. abortion, officiating at same-sex marriages, and immunisation); prompting population movements as established democratic civil rights are locally negated (reproductive rights, LGBT rights, right to health protection); fragmenting society into a geographic patchwork of regions in which some citizens are branded as conservative/reactionary and others as progressive; and fuelling the culture wars ΓÇô with profound implications for a coherent democratic society.

This book, which updates and expands the third edition published by Springer in 2015, explains, compares and evaluates the social and legal functions of adoption within a range of selected jurisdictions and on an international basis.

The state is legally required to be neutral towards religion, but in many countries it is increasingly anything but. This book conducts a comparative legal analysis of the church-state relationship within and between western countries - including the USA, France and Israel - that are key players in international and domestic dynamics in which religion and religious conflict take centre stage. It analyses how government accommodates diversity, how policies of multiculturalism and pluralism translate into legislation, the extent to which they address matters of religion and belief and what pattern of related issues then come before the courts. Finally, it considers how civil society and democracy in general can maintain a balance between the interests of those of different religions and beliefs and those of none. In this illuminating study, Kerry O'Halloran shows how the relationship between religion and government affects civil society and the functioning of democracy in North America and Europe.

This book explains, compares and evaluates the social and legal functions of adoption within a range of selected jurisdictions and on an international basis. It looks at adoption in France, Sweden and other civil law countries, as well as Japan and elsewhere in Asia, including a focus on Islamic adoption.