When courts started publishing judgements, big data analysis (i.e. large-scale statistical analysis of case law and machine learning) within the legal domain became possible. By taking data from the ...European Court of Human Rights as an example, we investigate how natural language processing tools can be used to analyse texts of the court proceedings in order to automatically predict (future) judicial decisions. With an average accuracy of 75% in predicting the violation of 9 articles of the European Convention on Human Rights our (relatively simple) approach highlights the potential of machine learning approaches in the legal domain. We show, however, that predicting decisions for future cases based on the cases from the past negatively impacts performance (average accuracy range from 58 to 68%). Furthermore, we demonstrate that we can achieve a relatively high classification performance (average accuracy of 65%) when predicting outcomes based only on the surnames of the judges that try the case.
Abstract
This article analyses the eviction protections provided by the Revised European Social Charter by conducting a systematic content analysis of the European Committee on Social Rights’ (ECSR) ...Conclusions and Decisions on Articles 16 and 31. The findings reveal that the ECSR has established nine consistent eviction protections throughout its jurisprudence. Additionally, this article examines how the ECSR considers the right to property within the context of evictions, revealing additional eviction protections inconsistently applied by the ECSR that addresses the conflict between the right to housing and property. To provide insight into how the ECSR could address the conflict more directly, this paper compares the ECSR’s approach with that adopted by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN CESCR). Ultimately, this study concludes that the UN CESCR engages with the right to property in the context of evictions more directly than the ECSR.
This article analyses if, and how, the international right to housing obliges states to protect the victims of justifiable evictions, particularly evictions due to rent arrears. It concerns a ...comparative analysis of practices in one Asian and one European jurisdiction: Indonesia and the Netherlands. The study juxtaposes measures adopted by each of the governments, regarding their obligations to protect tenants from eviction and to rehouse them post-eviction. As the use of rental accommodation in Indonesia is increasing, a comparison with the Netherlands – where rental accommodation has a prominent role – is beneficial. One significant finding is there is a grey area regarding the protection of people who are evicted due to rent arrears. Although states should protect these victims in the same way as they do people affected by (urban) development, it is unclear how far this protection should go. In the absence of parameters for such protection, the two countries have adopted measures to prevent victims from becoming homeless. The Netherlands protects tenants by providing legal mechanisms against the threat of eviction, and by providing adequate shelter for such victims. Indonesia also shows its intention to protect tenants, by adopting an ad hoc policy to help tenants pay their rent. These measures both seem to be effective, yet there is still a pivotal need for more structured frameworks.
In this paper, we discuss previous research in automatic prediction of court decisions. We define the difference between outcome identification, outcome-based judgement categorisation and outcome ...forecasting, and review how various studies fall into these categories. We discuss how important it is to understand the legal data that one works with in order to determine which task can be performed. Finally, we reflect on the needs of the legal discipline regarding the analysis of court judgements.
Abstract
This article analyses if, and how, the international right to housing obliges states to protect the victims of justifiable evictions, particularly evictions due to rent arrears. It concerns ...a comparative analysis of practices in one Asian and one European jurisdiction: Indonesia and the Netherlands. The study juxtaposes measures adopted by each of the governments, regarding their obligations to protect tenants from eviction and to rehouse them post-eviction. As the use of rental accommodation in Indonesia is increasing, a comparison with the Netherlands - where rental accommodation has a prominent role - is beneficial. One significant finding is there is a grey area regarding the protection of people who are evicted due to rent arrears. Although states should protect these victims in the same way as they do people affected by (urban) development, it is unclear how far this protection should go. In the absence of parameters for such protection, the two countries have adopted measures to prevent victims from becoming homeless. The Netherlands protects tenants by providing legal mechanisms against the threat of eviction, and by providing adequate shelter for such victims. Indonesia also shows its intention to protect tenants, by adopting an ad hoc policy to help tenants pay their rent. These measures both seem to be effective, yet there is still a pivotal need for more structured frameworks.
Hoarding is an internationally recognised disability. Those who suffer from hoarding behaviour can be comfortably brought within the definition of disability found in the Convention on the Rights of ...Persons with Disabilities and should be provided with “reasonable accommodation” where doing so does not place an unjustified burden on others. However, hoarding also poses a threat to public health, and hoarders' behaviour may infringe on the rights of their neighbours and landlords. Thus, through their behaviour, hoarders may ultimately come into conflict with various areas of law, including neighbour law, housing law as well as administrative law. This article examines how hoarding may be addressed by the law in both South Africa and the Netherlands. It seeks to answer to what extent hoarders are provided with “reasonable accommodation” when their behaviour brings them into conflict of the law in these two jurisdictions. It also takes cognisance of the need to balance the provision of “reasonable accommodation” with the rights of neighbours and landlords. Finally, it seeks to assess which of the two jurisdictions provides the most balanced approach to handling hoarding, in light of the need for therapeutic jurisprudence.
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