Popular Music Revolution Essay -- essays research papers

Music has undergone many changes throughout and history and prehistory. These changes were always somehow connected to sociological movements at the time. Rock music evolved mostly out of a need by young people of the fifties to break away from so-cietal norms. America had just come out of the Korean War, and men looked to settle down into a peaceful life. Also just prior this time period, Senator Joseph McCarthy ac-tively encouraged citizens to conform with his infamously false accusations of Commu-nism. â€Å"McCarthy spectacularly charged that there were scores of known Communists in the Department of State† (Bailey 887). This made people fearful that they would be tried as Communists and led most to conform to a common societal standard. When the nation emerged from this era, teenagers sought to rebel against their parental authorities. They created everything from new styles of clothing to new styles of music to promote their newfound individuality. The new style of music evolving at the time was called Rock and Roll. â€Å"Rock has been influenced by country music, by the blues, by classical music, by calypso, by traditional folk styles, and by a variety of other music conventions† (Belz vii). This variety reflects the varied backgrounds of young people at the time. Early successes in this new music genre included Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, and Chuck Berry. This music only succeeded because the conditions in society and the opinions of the youth in that time period allowed it to succeed. This music revolution is not unique. Similar revolutions will occur if and when the circumstances permit. Modern music is going this direction, but has not reached the point of a new genre as of yet because conditions in so-ciety have not allowed a radical change.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the most obvious elements which separates rock music from previous forms of musical expression is a dominant rhythm accenting a strong beat. Rhythm is de-fined as â€Å"a basic element of music concerned with the duration of tones and the stresses or accents placed upon them† (Columbia Encyclopedia). Rhythm, developed in the 12th century, was not a new phenomenon; however, previously, the only musical genre to place so much emphasis on rhythm was Rhythm and Blues, from which rock derived much of its sound patterns. These â€Å"had their roots in slavery, borrowed their rhythms ... ...d of music heard by the public. The lyrics of modern songs indicate unruliness and anger among musicians. This indicates that the attitudes exist and it is possible that out of this overwhelming desire to resist authority, new songs will be written in new styles that may eventually lead to a new genre. The feeling that does not exist is the feeling that all citizens are the same and that they are conforming to societal standards. With increas-ing censorship of the Internet and privacy being infringed upon with new anti-terrorist laws, this feeling may begin to take hold of the nation. It is not within the foreseeable, however, because these issues do not affect most of the population. Music is a medium of expression for all people, so the people’s music must speak to the people. Smaller changes have been made to rock music in the last forty-five years. If this genre is so malleable, then change must come frequently. Once the elements are in place, music will undergo a chan ge. Rock music evolved out of conditions in society. If these conditions exist again, another music revolution will occur. Many of the elements are already in place, it is only a matter of time before the change.

Internet Safety and Young Children Essay -- essays research papers

In today’s times, it can be hard to know what you children may be doing on computer. It is sometimes upsetting and very scary to know that someone could be stalking your child without you or him ever knowing about it, until it’s to late. There are programs out there that monitor your child’s activities on the Internet. But where are they, how much do they cost and why aren’t they advertised more? There are a couple precautions that you can take at home, without spending any money, to help safe guard your child.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Children like the Internet. They like the convenience, fun, and activities they can do on the Internet. But how safe are they really? It all depends on you and your child. When a child enters a chat room, they expect to find someone that is their own age with their interests. They may even find someone that just seems like they truly are the â€Å"perfect† friend. But beware. Pedophiles and other undesirable people â€Å"fake† who they truly are. Your child comes to trust them, and maybe in time agrees to meet them. This can lead to really horrible and unforeseen outcomes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many programs out there that are designed to protect your child such as CyberPatrol and NetNanny. But remember that these mechanisms are not fail-safe, and may also exclude access to perfectly innocent material. There are also filtering features built into the popular web browsers that enable parents to limit access to only those sites tha...

The Long Term Impact of Staff Reduction on Surviving Staff: Starbucks Experience

Research Aims Staff reductions are often required as part of the restructuring of an organisation, or as a response to economic conditions. However, the focus of the research here is to look at the long term and whether this type of staff reduction has an impact on the staff that remain, rather than focussing on those that leave. It is argued, at the outset, that the remaining members of staff are often overlooked, as they are perceived to be the â€Å"lucky ones†. Despite this, the basis of the research is that there will be both a psychological and practical impact on those remaining staff and these issues needs to be considered with much greater emphasis by the management team when looking at this type of restructuring. The aim is to provide a much greater understanding, by looking at Starbucks as an example, so that the management team is in a better position to deal with these types of situations in the future (Ferrie et al., 2001) Objectives In order to achieve this aim and to look at the broader issues associated with staff reactions, it is recognised that there will need to be several focussed objectives. Staff reactions are by their very nature going to vary, depending on a variety of subjective factors and by being clear with the objectives this will ensure that the overall aim remains the focus of the research throughout. The key objectives are as follows: To gain an understanding of the initial redundancy or downsizing process, including the impact of the various selection processes; for example, the long-term impact is likely to be different where the redundancy is voluntary and therefore understanding the involvement of those staff retained in the process is the first step to understanding the reactions. To understand the perception of individuals, depending on their role within the downsizing process; this recognises that there are multiple staff being impacted on when some are made redundant as well as the retained staff. These include the staff members who were not involved in the process, in the first place, as well as the managers, to make the ultimate decision. To appreciate the psychological reactions and individual perceptions of those staff members who remain within the organisation, depending on the way in which this process is managed; for example, is there a difference between staff who are engaged with post-redundancy, or does it generally seem preferable to return to a â€Å"business as usual† mentality (Armstrong-Stassen, 1993) Finally, the impact on the performance of the business over a longer time horizon will then be considered, looking at the immediate aftermath, as well as six months or even one year down the line, with potential reference to the ways in w hich staff members then react when the recovery process takes place. For example, it is potentially suggested in the literature that staff lack loyalty to the organisation and when general economic conditions improve may be more likely to look for alternative employment, as a result of the treatment they received during the recessionary period. Research Questions Two key questions emerge from this proposed research: Which factors impact on and to what extent do they impact on the remaining employees, following a period of downsizing or redundancy How can a management team look to mitigate the negative effects of downsizing and redundancy Critical Review of the Literature The literature in this area has already dealt with a variety of factors relating to redundancy and the impact on an organisation, but has not looked specifically at the longer term impact on the retained staff and the wider staff groups that may not have been directly linked to the restructuring and decision making. Firstly, it is noted that research in this area recognises that staff members will typically understand that there are often periods where it is necessary to downsize or restructure, to such an extent that there will be involuntary redundancies. Klein (2009) states that, although staff will recognise this need, there is now also a recognition that the business managers are making decisions with the staff in mind, but are instead looking specifically at the immediate business demands. This shows lack of long term recognition of business sustainability, when it comes to retaining staff loyalty. Research by Machlowitz (1983) looked at the emotions of the individuals, following on from a redundancy situation where they were survivors. This looked at the immediate aftermath, from an individual perspective, finding that individuals typically felt emotions of guilt or isolation, as well as a feeling of betrayal, where they felt that the process had not been undertaken completely fairly. Research from Brockner et al. (1985) looked at a laboratory experiment where students were subject to â€Å"lay offs†, finding that feelings of inequality were emerging and a sense of disgruntlement happened where it was felt that the relationship between the individuals was in some way unfair. This indicates that where there is a redundancy situation, the vitally important aspect to consider is the process of the downsizing, rather than the actual downsizing itself. Anxiety also ranked as a driving factor, as there was the concern that others would be made redundant, in the future. These perceptions and fears potentially result in efficiency within the organisation reducing and the staff then being more prepared to look towards other locations for their long term employment (Hughes, 2000). The longer term impact of staff reduction and downsizing remains largely unexamined and the purpose of this paper is to look at how these activities can have an impact on the longer term operation within the business, by understanding the way in which the surviving individuals react (Cascio,1993). Further research is also required to ensure that the management team understands the impact of the way they handle a downsizing process and that this can have a direct and lasting impact on the success of the business, in the long run. Industry background In order to explore this issue in more detail and to create a relevant analysis, Starbucks is being looked at as a case study. Starbucks presents an interesting opportunity for analysis, as it has risen very rapidly from its first store which opened in 1971 to an organisation that has stores in nearly 21,000 locations across the world. Despite this, during the last ten years, the store has actually reduced its numbers, in the wake of the global financial crisis and lowering profits (Jennings, 2008). Starbucks was not seemingly on the brink of disaster and in fact continued to open up other stores across the world, yet chose to close 600 stores across the United States, creating an interesting question as to how it impacted upon staff members where there were reports of a globally successful organisation that was still experiencing redundancies in their local area. Arguably, the reason for the downsizing in the United States was the recognition that they had achieve the maximum growth available within the industry and they simply had too many stores. Takeaway coffee is largely a luxury product, with a limited number of affluent individuals able to partake on a regular basis. Despite Starbucks being a popular location for individuals and being recognised as an outlet in which individuals can choose to spend a large amount of time working or meeting friends, there are some limits to the number of customers who are prepared to pay premium price for good quality beverages. With an industry essentially at saturation point, there needs to be a readjustment of strategy, yet there is likely to be a reaction from the employees who feel somewhat jilted having been involved in the dramatic growth and now suffering from their own success and hard work. This type of reduction is therefore particularly interesting, as it is a reaction within the industry, rather than something which can necessarily be attributed to the staff members themselves. Research design The research design for this paper is particularly important, as it involves looking at the feelings and reactions of individuals, thus making it a different type of research than simply collecting statistical data and then analysing this in a quantitative manner. In order to look at the reactions of individuals to a downsizing scenario, it is necessary to consider a sufficiently broad range of individuals, to gain any material understanding of exactly what is actually going on and the way in which individuals react. Different individuals will naturally react differently to a downsizing scenario. Certain individuals may even view this as an opportunity to further their own position, as there will be less competition within the organisation when it comes to securing their future; others will be much less positive, despite both individuals being part of the same process (Vahtera et al., 1997). For this reason, the primary method of research will be a detailed case study of precisely what is happening within the organisation. This will include an understanding of the management theory behind the downsizing, before then going on to undertake a relatively detailed questionnaire with individuals from a variety of different locations, all of whom have been affected by the downsizing in some way, as well as completing at least two focus groups where individuals are brought together to discuss their experiences. This form of research is particularly important in this scenario, due to the fact that when individuals are left to openly discuss their thoughts and feelings, it is likely that they will open up and produce a much deeper understanding of their reactions (Weca, 2008). Data Analysis Plan Due to the qualitative nature of the research planned, the necessary data analysis also needs to be sufficiently open to looking at individual reactions and trying to find consistency of patterns of behaviours or thoughts. For this reason, the questionnaires will involve a quantitative analysis of the results, which will offer an understanding of any patterns being formed, before then looking towards the qualitative aspect of the research, in order to understand why certain responses have been obtained. By taking this two-stage approach, it is anticipated that the overall conclusions will have sufficient certainty, based on the quantitative analysis and will also be able to add to the understanding, through the use of individual thoughts and responses. A particular concern does arise, however, that there will be some limitations in the accuracy of the research. Firstly, the research focuses on survivors within a certain location or organisation and there may be an unwillingness of th e individuals to be completely open about their thoughts and feelings, for fear of jeopardising their own position in the future. There are also likely to be limitations, due to the fact that this research is focusing on one organisation alone and downsizing may have different responses in different organisations (Stone, 2008). By ensuring that any results obtained are dealt with anonymously, this will assist in some way to ensure greater accuracy. Nevertheless, there will always be the need to recognise that interviewing survivors of a redundancy process is potentially a skewed approach and some individuals are going to present an inaccurate picture, purely to further their own position, or at least to protect it. On balance, however, this overall analysis is likely to present the most balanced result and also establish some themes and generalisations which will be useful for the future. Conclusion In conclusion, understanding the impact of a downsizing programme on surviving staff members is crucial to the approach taken by the management team and any such situations in the future, either within the same organisation or for management teams of other organisations (Schwaner-Albright, 2008). Personal reactions to a situation can be somewhat difficult to appreciate and understand, due to the fact that individuals, by their very nature, will react differently to exactly the same factual scenario. The aim of this research, is to identify themes and generic strategies that may be useful to those looking at downsizing in the future, in order to ensure that surviving members of staff do not suffer from the negative effect of the redundancies and that the organisation is able to return to full efficiency, as soon as possible. Time-scale for Project This research is being undertaken over one academic year, although the plan is to undertake a full research and write-up within eight months. The following chart depicts the general approach that is being followed. 12345678 Background, Aims and Objectives Literature Review Research Design Research Collection Analysis of Research Writing Up Revisiting and Checking The majority of this research will involve the collection of primary data and the analysis of the research findings that have then been collected. It is anticipated that there will need to be several re-visits to the original data, as new information or themes arise. For example, analysing questionnaires will provide a strong starting point for the focus groups, but following the focus groups, it may then be necessary to go back to the questionnaires to further explore certain key issues. It is for this reason that the research collection and analysis of research findings takes up such a substantial part of the time allowed. There is a degree of flexibility in this process and the research will be sufficiently flexible to ensure that the key points arising from both the case study, conducted as part of the literature review and the research collection, is able to take a longer period of time, if required. Resources As noted previously, the research is focusing entirely on the experience of individuals within one organisation. Therefore, good access to those individuals will be an essential element of ensuring that this research is conducted in sufficient depth. It is also noted at the outset that one of the main aims of this research is to provide the management team with guidance as to how it can better manage a downsizing operation in the future and therefore having management support in order to gain access to key individuals is a necessary resource. Secondly, understanding the responses received and looking at existing literature will also require access to a variety of different publications, although this can largely be obtained through library facilities. On balance, the key resource within this research is the ability to speak to a variety of individuals who have survived the downsizing process in Starbucks. This will require the management team to be completely supportive of the overall agenda. Individuals may be reluctant to speak about the subject or do not feel that the management team is supportive of this. No specific software is required for the analysis, although Microsoft Office suite including Excel will be useful, in order to collate the information received. References Armstrong-Stassen, M. (1993). Survivors reactions to a workforce reduction: A comparison of blue-collar workers and their supervisors. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 10: 334-343. Cascio, W. F. (1993). Downsizing: What do we knowWhat have we learnedAcademy of Management Executive, 7: 95-106. Ferrie, J. E., Shipley, M. J., Marmot, M. G., Martikainen, P., Stansfield, S. A., & Smith, G. D. (2001). Job insecurity in white-collar workers: Toward an explanation of associations with health. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 6: 26-42. Hughes, J. (2000). Avoidance of emotional pain during downsizing in a public agency. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 52: 256-268. Jennings, L. (2008). Starbucks to pull breakfast items, shut 100 units, put focus back on java. Nation’s Restaurant News. [Online Version] published 11th February 2008, reproduced in bnet.com, available from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_6_42/ai_n24267543 [Accessed 12/11/2014]. Kivimaki, M., Vahtera, J., Pentti, J., & Ferrie, J. (2000). Factors underlying the effects of organizational downsizing on health of employees: Longitudinal cohort study. British Medical Journal, 320: 971-976. Schwaner-Albright, O., (2008). Tasting the future of Starbucks coffee from a new machine. The New York Times. [Online Version]. Published March 26th 2008, available from: http://www.nytimes.com/03/26/dining/26starbucks.html?_r?=2&sq=starbucks&st=nyt&oref=slogin [Accessed 12/11/2014]. Stone, B. (2008). Starbucks Plans Return to its Roots. The New York Times, [Online Version], published March 20th 2008, available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/business/20sbux.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=starbucks&st=nyt&scp=3 [Accessed 12/11/2014]. Vahtera, J., Kivimaki, M., & Pentti, J. (1997). Effect of organizational downsizing on health of employees. The Lancet, 350: 1124-1128. Weca (2008). Pay more/ stop reliance on Tips. Mystarbucksidea.com. Posted May 23rd 2008, available from http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/ideaView?id=087500000004hShAAI[Accessed 12/11/2014].

Maya Angelou Biographical Approach Essay

Maya Angelou has remarked, â€Å"I’m always inspired by men and women who rise†¦That ability to rise is nobleness of the human spirit.† Write an essay in which you analyze Angelou’s beliefs about the human spirit, as reflected in the four works you just read. Before you begin, consider what Angelou has to say about her work: â€Å"I speak to the black experience, but I am always talking about the human condition—about what we can endure, dream, fail at, and still survive.† Writing Your Essay As you plan, draft, and revise your essay, keep the following tips in mind: †¢In the introduction, or the beginning of your essay, include a specific thesis statement that presents the key point you will prove in your essay. †¢Support your ideas with evidence from the four selections. Be sure to analyze how Angelou’s tone and use of stylistic devices contribute to the expression of her themes or main ideas. †¢Make sure that every paragraph has unity and coherence. All the sentences in the paragraph should relate to one main idea and help develop that idea. †¢End your essay with a conclusion in which you summarize your main points. Include a new, but related, closing insight or reflection. Create a one-page document that shows you have understood the book with the 2 parts below: †¢Part 1: First, think of the symbols in the book. Then, find pictures using â€Å"Google images† or â€Å"Clip Art† and paste them into the document. Then give a 1-2 sentence reason for the symbol. †¢Part 2: Write a book review. Make sure you convince me you have read it thoroughly! It should be no more than 1-2 paragraphs.

Discuss the Significance of Binary Oppositions Essay

A Discussion of the Significance of Binary Oppositions in Hemingway’s â€Å"Cat in the Rain† Introduction â€Å"Cat in the Rain† is a short story by American author Ernest Hemingway, which was first published in 1925 as a part of the short story collection In Our Time. The story is about an American man and wife on vacation in Italy. In the biography Hemingway’s Cats, the author writes: â€Å"[â€Å"Cat in the Rain†] was a tribute to Hadley (Hemingway’s wife), who was dealing with the first year of marriage, the loneliness it entailed, and her deep desire for motherhood. According to biographer Gioia Diliberto†¦ Hemingway based the story on an incident that happened in Rapallo in 1923. Hadley was two months pregnant when she found a kitten that had been hiding under a table in the rain. ‘l want a cat,’ she [told Hemingway], ‘l want a cat. I want a cat now. If I cant have hair or any fun I can have a cat. † David Lodge’s analysis of Hemingway’s short story â€Å"Cat in the Rain† shows that this is a symmetrical story consisting of several binary oppositions such as husband and wife, manager and wife, maid and wife, husband and maid, etc. According to Cuddon Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, â€Å"the term ‘binary denotes ‘composed of two’, twofold’; as in a binary star, ‘one of a pair of stars held together by gravitation’. Language, too, has countless binary oppositions: up/down; slow/fast; sense/nonsense; truth/falsehood; black/white; man/woman – and so on. † â€Å"Binary opposition originated in Saussurean structuralist theory. According to Ferdinand de Saussure, the binary opposition is the means by which the units of language have value or meaning; each unit is defined in reciprocal determination with another term, as in binary code. It is not a contradictory relation but, a structural, complementary one. â€Å"l In this essay, binary oppositions are discussed and analyzed under five categories: gender, symbol, characterization, action, and local color. (1 . Fogarty, S, 2005, The Literary Encyclopedia) Gender In this story, we can consider men and women as binary oppositions, especially by differentiating between George and his wife who are an American couple. As we can see in the story, in comparison to George, the wife is a weaker person; she’s always new clothes) and she’s not satisfied with the things she has. But in contrast, we see George lying down on the bed all the time, making himself busy with reading. George is indifferent to her wife’s being sad, and instead of consoling her, understanding her or trying to find a solution for her problems, he Just continues lying down on the bed indifferently and going on reading and even when she’s talking more about what makes her sad and what she wants, George insults her by telling her â€Å"Oh, shut up and get something to read†. The wife is a disturbed lonely woman that even her husband can’t understand and help her. As a result when she receives respect, polite ehavior and understanding from the hotel keeper, it’s strange for her (and maybe new!!! Because her husband has never treated her like this) and she starts to like the hotel keeper. But as we all know, respecting the guests, understanding them and treating them politely is an inseparable part of being a hotel keeper if one wants to be a successful one. Symbol There are two kinds of symbols in the story; natural ones and artistic or cultural ones. The most important natural symbol is the cat. As we can see in the story, the wife is not satisfied with her life and with her appearance. She’s sad about having short hair and looking like a boy. She doesn’t have anything in her life which can make her happy and give her an identity. So she tries to find something else on which she can hang. So we can imply that by helping the cat, she wants to think she’s important and she’s done something useful, so in this way she can feel good about herself. In another way, we can say that the cat is the symbol of fertility which is in contrast with the short hair that is the symbol of infertility. Maybe the wife is sterile, so by looking after a cat, she wants to satisfy her maternal emotions. Another natural symbol can be good weather which is in contrast with bad/rainy weather. Good weather is the symbol of serenity and shows that there’s nothing wrong, but bad weather is the symbol of a bad situation when something is wrong. Rainy weather shows that the couple’s marital life is not in a good condition; they have a cold relationship with each other. The war monument is a cultural symbol in this story. The tourists, including the American couple, traveled a long way there to see the war monument, but we see here, the American couple doesn’t care about the monument at all; George is always ying down on bed reading, and the wife is always thinking about what she doesn’t have in life. It’s ironical that they came this long way to see the war monument, but it is the only thing they don’t care about. Inside/outside can be a binary opposition. George always wants to stay inside and never wants to leave the room. Inside can be a symbol of passivity. George is a passive character. But instead, the wife wants to go outside all the time; she wants to discover the unknown; she’s curious about the world outside, so we can say she’s an Characterization We can differentiate between the maid and the wife. The wife is apparently a caring person who even cares about lonely cats, but the maid, as we can see in the part in which she’s surprised by the fact that the wife is actually looking for a cat and she even laughs about it, is not so caring; she doesn’t think that a cat can be so important that a person goes after it in the rain. She may not even really care about the wife, because in the part she goes after the wife to take her an umbrella, it is mentioned in the story that â€Å"Of course the hotel keeper had sent her†. Or at the end, when the aid brings the wife a cat, she says, â€Å"the padrone asked me to bring this for the Signora†. So we can conclude that she’s doing all this Just because of her Job tells her to do them. We can also differentiate between George and the hotel keeper. The hotel keeper is a responsible and active person. He’s so alert about his guests and their needs and wishes. Whenever he sees the wife, he stands up and bows to her as a sign of respect. He sends the maid to take an umbrella for the wife, although it’s not his Job to do that. At the end of the story, he sends the maid to take a cat for the wife; e could not do that, because it is not his responsibility to find a cat for her, but he did, because he cares about the wife. But in contrast, we see that the wife’s own husband doesn’t care about her; he’s a passive and negligent person. He’s not doing anything more than reading and he doesn’t do anything for her wife to relieve her. Action George is lying down reading all the time, but the wife is always moving from one place to the other (from the hotel room to the street and from there back to the hotel room, and even in the room, she goes to the dresser to see herself in the hand irror) and talking all the time (she talks to her husband, to the maid, to the hotel keeper). George is a passive character who doesn’t do anything special in the story, but in contrast the wife is so active; she’s always talking and going from somewhere to the other. She wants to do something all the time; (sometimes it is talking to other people, sometimes it is going out to find a cat) because she’s not satisfied with her life, with her appearance and with the things she has. She wants to be different, to have different things; she wants to own something so she could feel important, atisfied and useful. Maybe she’s fghting in a patriarchal society to prove her femininity. Local Color There’s a binary opposition here between Italian and English language and between Italian and American culture. The couple is American and they speak English, but the maid and the hotel keeper are Italians and they speak Italian most of the time; they can speak English, too. The American couple can speak a little Italian and sometimes respect each other’s language by speaking Italian sometime and speaking English at the other time. George is an American man who’s negligent of his wife and the hotel eeper is an Italian man who respects women and cares about them to a great extent. As we can see in the story, many Italians came there to see the war monument, but the American couple doesn’t care about it at all. Conclusion All the categories of binary oppositions which discussed here are deeply interrelated and directly or indirectly are aimed to magnify the man/woman binary opposition. So it can be concluded that the thematic core of the story is the opposition between man and woman and what Hemingway is trying to do is showing a couple’s problems in their married life by making use of some binary oppositions.

Equity in legal system origin, development and significance Essay

Equity in legal system origin, development and significance - Essay Example Today equity apparently has lost its significant correlation to 'justice,' as rules of equity are settled in much the same way as the common law.2 However creations of equity such as including the rights, interests and remedies continue to be of significance in English legal system3 The paper attempts to understand the origin and development of equity as a source of law in the English legal system and analyze the significance of rules of equity and equitable doctrines and remedies in legal proceedings today. While analyzing the significance of equity, it would be imperative to understand its percepts as well as the principles and remedies of equity; hence a discussion on the same is also included. The historical origin of equity in English legal system dates back to the late 13th and 14th centuries. The English legal system of the time - the common law system developed by the judges on the basis of unwritten customary rules and precedents or past judicial decisions - were very rigid and too technical with the procedures such as the writ. The procedural compliance and the legality of the writ often surpassed the merits of the case in legal decisions. The inadequacy of the common law remedy of damages was another issue with the system. Also, the common law only recognized certain kinds of cases; for example, the common law courts did not recognize the Trust deed.4 The defects in common law obviously led to distress, as disappointed litigants directly petitioned the King for justice. The King, considered the 'Fountain of Justice,' either determined the petitions himself or referred the cases to the King's Chancellor, usually a clergyman and priest, known as "Keeper of King's conscience." The petitions were decided on the basis of principle of natural justice and "moral rightness," considering the merits of the case rather than any precedent.5 The broad principles used by the King and his Chancellor's became to be known as rules of equity. Equity was not a complete system of law and as Jacqueline Martin observes, it "merely filled the gaps in the common law and softened the strict rules of the common law." 6 As the volume of cases increased separate courts called Court of Chancery, also called Courts of Equity, were established and administered by the Chancellor. The Chancellors developed new and flexible procedures, as well as new and appropriate remedies to compensate the plaintiffs, which are applicable to this day. However, the jurisdictional overlap of the two systems - common law and equity - led to an inevitable conflict between the two, impinging the certainty of law. The conflict was finally resolved by the King in Earl of Oxford's Case (1615) it was ruled that equity should prevail in case of conflict.7 While the equity courts continued to enjoy supremacy over common law courts, with the enactment of Judicature Acts 1873-75, the common law courts and the court of equity merged together to form the Supreme Court of Judicature, which would concurrently administer common and equity. The supremacy of equity in legal decisions was affirmed in Section 25 of the Judicature Act 1873 an d continues to be followed by the Supreme Court.

The War of 1812 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The War of 1812 - Essay Example 218-19). In 1807, Jefferson persuade Congress to pass a drastic measure, the Embargo Act, prohibiting American ships from engaging in any trade with any foreign port; he thought it would punish the British by denying them American agricultural goods, but, instead, it was "a complete disaster for the economy" (Roark; pp. 218-219). It hit New England merchants and southern planters particularly hard, bringing trade to standstill. It was also hard to enforce, and had little of the intended impact on the British who simply turned to South American countries for agricultural goods. (Roark; pp. 218-219). The embargo stayed in place until Jefferson left office, but was then replaced by the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809 which prohibited trade with only Britain, France, and other colonial possessions (Roark, et al; pp.218-219). In 1810 the Act expired and was replaced by a new law that reopened free commercial relations with either Britain or France, whichever stopped restrictions on neutral shipping f irst. (Roark, et al; pp.218-219). Napoleon, wanting to entice the United States into re-imposing its embargo against England, declared that France would never interfere with American shipping. Madison believed the French and reinstated the embargo against England, but French leaders continued to seize American ships. Many Americans felt that the nation was on the verge of war, but were unsure whether the correct target was England or France (Roark, et al; pp.219-220) "But maritime issues were only part of the reason for the conflict between the United States and Britain" which led up to the 1812 War. (Roark, et al; pp.219-220). In the face of constant encroachments of white settlers west onto Indian lands, Indians began consolidating alliances with British Indian agents (Roark, et al; pp.219-220). American concern over this was compounded by the two "dynamic Shawnee Indian leaders", war Chief Tecumseh, and his mystical brother Tenskwatawa, known as the "prophet", who united many tribes of Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan in a confederation to protect their lands. (Roark, et al; pp.219-220). The Governor of Indiana Territory, William Henry Harrison, negotiated a treaty with "unrepresentative Indians" to purchase three million acres of territory at bargain prices, thus helping Tecumseh work with southern tribes as well. In 1811, alarmed at the brothers' growing power, Harrison met the Shawnees at Tippecanoe Creek, and captured and destroyed their strong hold, Prophetstown. (Roark, et al; pp. 220-222). After Tippecanoe, Tecumseh allied with British military commanders in Lower Canada, and American conflicts with the Indians soon merged into a broader confrontation with England. In June 1812, Congress declared war on England in a "sectionalized vote" with New Englanders largely opposing it (Roark, et al; pp. 223). The war did not go well: a planned invasion of Canada failed, and the British grabbed forts on the Great Lakes. On the home front, New Englanders, led by Federalist merchants, openly opposed the war, and carried on illegal trade with England. (Roark, et al; pp. 223). Federalists gained political strength in the election of 1812, demonstrating discontent with the war. American fortunes improved somewhat with