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  Leading judges are putting "renewed emphasis" on British constitutional principles after years of concentrating on European legislation as a source of rights and obligations, according to the UK's most senior female judge.   Brenda Hale, deputy president of the supreme court, said a theme was emerging from recent court decisions which suggested that UK constitutionalism was "on the march".   She said she wondered whether the trend was developing as a response to a "rising tide of anti-European sentiment".   Lady Hale made her comments in a lecture to lawyers, which was published on the supreme court website  on Friday.   "After more than a decade of concentrating on European instruments as the source of rights, remedies and obligations, there is emerging a renewed emphasis on the common law and distinctively…

  [JURIST] Texas Governor Rick Perry [official website] on Friday was indicted by a Travis County [official website] grand jury on two felony charges for abuse of power [indictment, PDF]. The jury charged Perry with abusing his power to intimidate former District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to step down from her position. Lehmberg, a known Democrat, recently pleaded guilty to a drinking and driving charge and served 45 days in jail. Perry threatened to veto $7.4 million in state funding to the Travis County Public Integrity Unit, an initiative that investigates state and federal officials for acts of corruption, unless Lehmberg resigned [Austin American-Statesmanreport]. When Lehmberg refused to resign, Perry vetoed the bill. Perry released a statement [press release] in response to the charges, stating "I wholeheartedly and unequivocally stand behind my veto, and will continue to defend this lawful action…

  U.K. banks have made a push to hire more anti-money laundering staff as regulatory scrutiny grows, with a 54 percent increase in the number of roles available over the last year, according to a recruitment firm.   More than 2,157 anti-laundering positions were created by commercial banks in the year through June and pay is up 17 percent, according to BrightPool. Most of the posts are for contractors, who can earn 1,500 pounds ($2,503) a day, the agency said.   The Financial Conduct Authority fined Standard Bank Plc, the U.K. subsidiary of Africa’s largest lender, 7.6 million pounds in January for failures in anti-money-laundering controls penalty. It was the first penalty by the British markets regulator -- which also recently got authority to levy higher fines for these types of cases…

Projeto que fortalece MP para investigar autoridades revela uma insustentável desconfiança em relação ao Judiciário, como se este fosse responsável por impunidade Tramita no Senado projeto de lei que fortalece sobremaneira o Ministério Público para investigar autoridades e altera o alcance da atual Lei de Improbidade Administrativa (8.429/92), que completou 22 anos no início de junho. Trata-se de projeto de lei do Senado (PLS) 286, de 2012, que propõe alterações na legislação para facilitar o acesso do MP a dados sobre patrimônio e rendimento das pessoas alvejadas por esse tipo de investigação. Conforme o texto, de autoria do senador Vital do Rêgo (PMDB-PB), o acesso do MP a tais dados passaria a ser feito em tempo real, permitindo a promotores e procuradores da República fazer consultas sobre a evolução patrimonial…

  Más vale tarde que nunca, después de tres años y medio de instrucción, la juez del caso de los ERE, Mercedes Alaya, ha remitido al Tribunal Supremo parte del sumario del escándalo de los ERE en Andalucía, al encontrar indicios que presuntamente incriminan a nueve personas que gozan de fuero por los cargos públicos que ocupan; entre ellos como destacados los expresidentes andaluces Manuel Chaves y José Antonio Griñán. Además, la juez imputa a otros nueve magistrados: los ex consejeros José Antonio Viera, Gaspar Zarrías, Francisco Vallejo, Carmen Martínez Aguayo, Antonio Ávila, Mar Moreno y Manuel Recio. Siete de estos nueve aforados están preimputados por la juez desde el pasado 18 de diciembre; los dos restantes, los exconsejeros Gaspar Zarrías y Mar Moreno, son nuevos imputados.   Junto a la exposición…

  The Henan provincial government in central China has lobbied banks to support struggling local coal and solar companies, according to government officials familiar with the talks.   Local authorities asked eight lenders, including Bank of China Ltd. and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., to keep lending to the region’s three largest coal producers and to offer preferential interest rates, according to two officials, citing a meeting the government initiated last week. The officials asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the matter.   Pressure to prop up weak companies could swell bad-loan risks for the banks, already girding for what analysts forecast will be the nation’s weakest full-year economic growth since 1990. In April, in the eastern city of Wenzhou, the government urged lenders to support firms…

  [JURIST] The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] ruled [judgment; press release, PDF] Tuesday that the UK's ban preventing prisoners from voting violates their human rights. The judgment came on a case brought by 10 British prisoners who claimed that the voting ban, which prohibits prisoners from voting in national or European elections, breached their right to free elections under EU law by denying them the ability to vote in the 2009 European Parliamentary elections [official results]. Although the court agreed that the ban was a violation of the prisoners' human rights, their claim for damages was rejected. The ECHR has ruled [BBC report] against the UK similarly in the past.   JURIST guest columnist Richard Edwards of the University of the West of England Bristol Law School described [JURIST feature] the "constitutional crisis" facing the UK over…

O advogado baiano Bruno Dantas tomou posse hoje (13) como ministro do Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU). Ele passou a ocupar a vaga do ministro Valmir Campelo, que se aposentou. Indicado pelo Senado, o novo ministro foi por uma década consultor legislativo da Casa. Ao tomar posse, ele destacou sua passagem pela Congresso Nacional. “No convívio do Parlamento, pude compreender concretamente que o diálogo e o respeito à diversidade de opinião são essência da vida democrática e o ponto de partida dos avanços institucionais. Ali percebi, com muita clareza, que é possível divergir sem hostilizar”, disse. O ministro defendeu também que o convívio pacífico entre posições contrárias é possível e que as soluções negociadas  são sempre melhores do que as nascidas do confronto. Citou Norberto Bobbio, filósofo italiano, já…

  [JURIST] The US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] on Friday ruled [materials] that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) [official website] cannot prevent college football and basketball players from selling the rights to their names and likenesses. The class action case was brought by a group of current and former college student-athletes, who alleged that the NCAA rules that bar student athletes from receiving a share of the revenue generated from using their names and likenesses violate the Sherman Antitrust Act [text]. The court found that the NCAA rules unreasonably restrain trade in the market for certain educational and athletic opportunities offered by NCAA Division I schools. The court also issued a permanent injunction prohibiting certain overly restrictive restraints. Because the agreement among Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) football and Division I basketball…