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The power of the executive to refer cases involving criminal conviction back to an appellate court is a mechanism for guarding against miscarriages of justice and regulating the inherent fallibility of the criminal justice system. These cases typically come before the executive by way of a petition that claims a person has been wrongfully convicted. In Australia, however, there are few guidelines and little information as to the criteria and standards by which the executive decides whether to refer a petitioned case. The test the petitioner must meet is not clear. This chapter therefore has two purposes. The first is to examine the types of petitions most likely to be referred to the appellate court by the executive. These cases are shown to fall into particular categories. The second is to argue that, from these categories, inferences may be drawn about the test the executive uses in deciding whether to refer a petition. These inferences follow from the common principles and links between the cases in each category. The chapter identifies the test the petition should meet to have optimal chance of referral.

This study aims to identify factors behind the intention to sign e-petitions, focusing on three aspects, i.e. information (argument quality), the source of information (source credibility) and personal perspective (personal relevance and altruism).

Data collection is done by using a quantitative approach through an online questionnaire. This study involved 211 respondents who were internet users in Indonesia who had signed an e-petition. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling approach with IBM Amos version 22.0.

The findings revealed that there are three factors shaping internet users’ attitudes toward e-petitions, namely, altruism, AQ and personal relevance, of which altruism was the strongest factor. Those who have a positive attitude toward e-petitions seemed to have higher intention to sign e-petitions. Additionally, we discovered that internet users believe credible e-petition initiators deliver better arguments, which drive them to sign e-petitions.

The finding related to elaboration likelihood model has revealed that not only the dual processing of central routes and peripheral routes but also the possibility of peripheral routes influencing the factors in the central route. Hence, future studies need to include the examination of this relation. Finally, altruism is identified as the major factor that influences people to sign e-petitions. Therefore, people should be aware of this factor while examining the environment that likely has voluntary aspects.

To improve the adoption of the e-petition system, it is important for the e-petition websites to maintain attitude factors to achieve the e-petition goals. It is also important that e-petition websites provide credibility information of the e-petition initiators and make it visible to everyone. The e-petition sites must be able to be personalized so that users can be categorized based on their profiles or interests. Finally, as altruism is the most influencing factor in shaping internet users’ attitude toward e-petitions, e-petition initiators need to write a persuasive and arousing information and images for their e-petition. Some templates, tips or even online training to persuasive public petitions also need to be provided.

This study attempts to fill the research gap by examining factors from three domains, i.e. information source (the e-petitioners), information/AQ and personal perspective (personal motivation) of the e-petition signers. The authors enrich the research model with altruism factors that influence attitude in signing petitions. This study illustrates the characteristic of Indonesian internet user’s and provides important implications for how the e-petitions site should improve the functionality of the sites.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of electronization in improving the effectiveness of citizens' democratic participation in the context of e‐petitioning. With this aim, the current study worked to ascertain what influences citizens' offline and online petitioning and the extent to which electronization empowers citizens for effective e‐petitioning.

The paper uses a case study from Sutharyakeralam meaning “Transparent Keralam” to determine the extent to which e‐petitioning worked for protecting a public irrigation canal in Kerala (India). Data were obtained through in‐depth interviews with relevant government officials, journalists and petitioners who reside near the canal. Secondary data used for the case analysis consist of petitioners' documents. Using a content analysis, this paper assesses citizens' ability to participate and influence decision making.

Findings illustrate adequate citizen participation before and after the electronization of the grievance redress mechanism. Results also show if there are adequate publicizing facilities, e‐petitions can empower citizens to engage effectively in efforts to fight for their human rights.

The scope of the study is limited to exploring the determining parameters that may improve democratic participation in an issue of environmental pollution. Results imply that adequate policies to ensure the involvement of participants are essential to enable e‐government initiatives to deliver on the ideals of e‐democracy for equity and justice.

Earlier studies on e‐participation were less adequate in explaining the influence of electronization on citizens' capability for effective e‐petitioning. The current study attempts to explore the enablers of effective e‐petitioning. Drawing on the canal case study, arguments are presented that explain the possible success and failure of e‐petitioning initiatives in India.

The development of Big Data and online searching engine provides a good opportunity for studying petition in China. This study has constructed a set of indices for predicting petitions in China by using online searching engines and further explored the predicting role of economic, environment and public life risk perception in various petitions.

Based on the study of Xue and Liu (2017), this research first re-classified offline petition by human and cluster analysis in terms of social risk perception and built online searching indices of the two sets of petition by using data from “Google Trend” and “Baidu Index.” Second, it analyzed the predicting effect of social risk perception on online searching indices of petition by using Granger causality analysis. Finally, this study integrated the results and selected significant paths from social risk perception to the two sets of petition.

The study found that the re-classification made by human was more appropriate than the categories made by cluster analysis in terms of social risk perception. For the two sets of petition, the correlations between offline petition and Baidu Index of petition were both more significant than that of Google index. Moreover, economic and finance and resource and environment risk perception had a significant predicting effect on more than one kind of online searching indices of petition.

The results have demonstrated the important role of economic issues in China on predicting petitions of the economic kind, as well as other kinds. They have also reflected the dominant social contradictions and their relationship in modern China.

The stability maintenance system has played an essential role in maintaining social stability although it also has brought about social problems worthy of attention. Admittedly compensation-based stability maintenance policy can address the appeals of citizens whose rights are infringed and the dissolving effect in the provision of compensation can save the cost of stability maintenance but such stability maintenance system lacks equilibrium.

The establishment of a strict assessment system for stability maintenance performance can encourage the stability maintenance authorities to eliminate the “fuse effect” as much as possible and ensure the effective implementation of the stability maintenance system. However, the rigorous stability maintenance performance assessment also provides the possibility for profit-driven petitions.

Due to the continuous accumulation of social dissatisfaction and the lack of stability maintenance equilibrium in the implementation of the compensation-based stability maintenance policy, public governance will fall into a stability maintenance paradox of “greater instability resulting from stability maintenance”.

The provision of sufficient means for the people to protect their interest by implementing measures such as strengthening the rule of law mechanisms is the key to achieve long-term social stability.

The paper aims to explore the extent to which the legal experience of minority shareholder actions in Hong Kong supports the sociological model of the Chinese family firm as developed by Wong Siu‐lun and reports some preliminary findings for the period 1980‐1995.

This paper is based upon the analysis of 275 minority shareholder petitions in the High Court of Hong Kong between the years 1980 and 1995 inclusive. It also draws upon material from a questionnaire sent to law firms involved in those petitions and interviews with members of the Hong Kong judiciary with experience of hearing minority shareholder cases, members of the legal profession and accounting and company secretarial professions directly or indirectly involved in the administration of companies in Hong Kong and regulators.

The findings indicate that the problematic early, emergent stage of the model as described by Wong Siu‐lun is quite accurate. Whilst there is considerable support for some aspects of the model of the Chinese family firm, the experience indicates a number of complex dynamics at play, some of which the model does not take into account. However, the findings, at least by implication, do point to the cohesive strength of the Chinese family firm with occasional fault lines resulting in some “disputes” of earthquake proportions which may rumble on in some cases for years.

The findings demonstrate the usefulness of lifecycle modeling of the family and other type of corporate firm. It also demonstrates some of the complex subtleties at play. The findings also have implications for the law matters thesis of La Porta et al.

This is one of the first studies to actually examine the legal experience of minority shareholder protection in a particular jurisdiction (Hong Kong) by examining the petitions and writs actually filed and relating them to a sociological model of the Chinese Family firm.

The purpose of this paper is to examine cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions caused by online petition campaigns against cases of perceived corporate malpractice, while also contributing to the ongoing debate over the spill-over effects of online activism to offline contexts. A dual pathway model is advanced based on the individual’s motivation to help the people affected by irresponsible corporate behavior and punish the deviant corporation.

Two studies (USA and UK) are used to gather cross-sectional and longitudinal data, which are analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Online petition campaigns relying on the display of victims affected by irresponsible behavior trigger feelings of compassion and anger. While the former leads to campaign support motivated by a desire to help, the latter causes intentions to punish. Intentions to support the petition resulting from this dual pathway influence the actual signing of the petition online and self-reported offline negative word of mouth against the company.

Both identified pathways should be activated by online petition campaigns to increase online support and spreading offline negative word of mouth. To do so, such campaigns need to increase perceptions of unfairness and victim’s similarity, and likeability.

Scant research has examined the psychological processes that explain the effectiveness of online petition campaigns against businesses and the motivations to sign an online petition and engage in subsequent offline behavior. Implications for businesses are also discussed.

EPetitioning has been emerging as arguably the most important eParticipation institutional activity. This paper aims to provide some insights into how ePetitions are perceived and supported by social networking sites.

The paper investigated the connection between the UK Government's ePetitioning system and social networking groups linking to governmental petitions. Online data from Facebook were collected and analysed with respect to numbers of supporters compared to official signatures.

The results indicate that although the process of signing an official petition is not more complex than joining a Facebook group, the membership of respective Facebook groups can be much higher. In particular, certain topics experienced very high support on Facebook which did not convert to signatures.

The paper's added value lies in the questions raised about the potential uptake of citizen‐government interactions in policy‐making mechanisms.

The purpose of this paper is to quantify how the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) export volume affects the anti-dumping (AD) petitions filed by its major trading partners against the country.

Focusing on the AD petitions at the Harmonized System (HS) Code eight-digit level and the PRC’s exports at the HS two-digit level to its major trade partners during the financial crisis, we construct three instrument variables for export volume within HS two-digit level variation in the variables. These instruments – documents required, time taken and container charges incurred for goods traded across borders – represent trade costs obtained from World Bank’s Doing Business Project. We find rising exports from the PRC lead to rising AD petitions against the country.

Instrumental variable estimates indicate that a 1 percentage point rise in the PRC’s export volume raises the number of AD petitions against the country by about 0.25 percentage points, and the probability of receiving AD petitions by 3.5 per cent. These estimates are about 10 times larger than that found in ordinary least square regressions.

Their quantitative significance underlines why it is important to consider the issue of export endogeneity in the estimation, and that the failure of the current trade statistics to account for the true value-added of traded goods particularly disadvantaged the PRC given its position as the factory of the world.

States have intervened with legislation to improve cashflow within construction project supply chains. The operation of the UK’s Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 leads to payment obligations stated either as a contract administrator’s certificate (or equivalent) or an adjudicator’s decision. The purpose of the intervention would be defeated unless there are speedy ways of transforming these pieces of paper into real money. The combination of the legislation, contractual provisions and insolvency law has produced a minefield of complexity concerning enforcement of payment obligations stated in these documents. Unfortunately, the knowledge and understanding required to navigate these complexities have been sorely lacking. The purpose of this paper is to plug this gap.

Legal research methods and case study approaches, using relevant court decisions as data, were adopted.

The enforcement method advised by the court is the summary judgment procedure provided under the Civil Procedure Rules. An overdue payment obligation, either under the terms of a construction contract or an adjudicator’s decision, amounts to a debt that can be the subject of insolvency proceedings. Although the insolvency enforcement method has been successfully used on some occasions, using it purely as a debt collection weapon would be inappropriate and likely to be punished by the court.

The paper contributes to knowledge in two ways: (i) it maps out the factual situations in which these payment challenges arise in language accessible to the construction industry’s professions; and (ii) comparative analysis of payment enforcement methods to aid decision-making by parties to construction industry contracts. It is relevant to the other common-law jurisdictions in which similar statutory interventions have been made.