The Partisan: Carl Schmitt and Terrorism

This article critiques and expands upon the jurisprudence of law’s violence from feminist and lesbian/gay/queer perspectives. The incorporation of gender and sexuality into the jurisprudence of law’s violence, via the social experiences of women and gay men, highlights the masculine and heteronormative character of law’s violence, while bringing into view particular forms of law’s violence, and forms of extra-legal but thoroughly legitimate heterosexual male violence, that have remained invisible in previous accounts. A feminist analysis of violence also suggests that law’s regime of violence is neither totalising nor inevitable, and that possibilities for resistance, if not avoidance, do exist.     

The jury: Social and psychological variables

The selection of a jury is an important phase of the American court system. Many lawyers believe that wise choices at this point may mean the difference between winning and losing a case. Various means of selecting jurors have been practiced by attorneys, and there seem to be among lawyers general impressions about the type of people best suited for certain cases. These ideas have most often concerned social, economic and psychological variables rather then genetic factors.The purpose of this study is to add to the limited body of knowledge in this area by identifying and testing some of these variables. The first step was to design a research instrument to gather significant data relating to the jury system. Included in this examination were both psychological and socio-economic information. Also incorporated into the study were questions designed to reveal the respondents’ jury backgrounds. Items sought to disclose how a juror perceived the trial, interacted with the group, and voted.After the construction of the research tool, a survey was made using it in one of the counties of Florida. The interviews were conducted to gather data regarding perceptions of jurors and test the research tool. The people chosen to be interviewed came from the venire furnished by the county clerk. Analysis of the information was conducted. Statistical tests of significance revealed that the people illustrated a strong support for the jury system and a relatively high degree of commonality of attitudes. Comparisons were done on groups voting guilty with those voting not guilty. Voting tests on national origin and income further supported a homogeneity of attitudes. The importance of a trial vote to testing jurors was found.This case study aided in identifying some plausible hypotheses and providing data on the relationship of variables that are of import to understanding the jury system.     

The Russian 'Mafiya': Consolidation and Globalisation

Organised crime emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union unexpectedly quickly and forcefully, rapidly 'colonising' the new economic and political structures. Hyperbole notwithstanding, the 'mafiya' does not 'own' the new Russia, but it is undoubtedly a powerful force, and one which has eagerly exploited new opportunities to cultivate strategic alliances in the global underworld and also to spread across the world. It is presently at an important crossroads at home. It is maturing, as larger, more professional networks eliminate or incorporate the myriad gangs that emerged in the freewheeling days of the early Russian state, and under President Putin it faces a regime embarked upon a state-building programme intolerant of the kind of open anarchy that characterised the early 1990s. However, Russian organised crime remains strikingly disorganised, characterised by loose and highly entrepreneurial networks rather than disciplined hierarchies, and there are still pressures, including the impact of foreign criminal penetration and the growing profits from drug smuggling, which threaten the present status quo.     

The Defense Counsel: Rights and Problems

With this article by the prominent jurist, Grigorii Zakharovich Anashkin, our journal initiates a discussion on the problems of Soviet lawyers.     

Retributivism: The Right and the Good

Victor Tadros claims that punishment must be justified either instrumentally or on the grounds that deserved punishment is intrinisically good. However, if we have deontic reasons to punish wrongdoers then these reasons could justify punishment non-instrumentally. Morever, even if the punishment of wrongdoers is intrinsically good this fact cannot contribute to the justication of punishment because goodness is not a reason-giving property. It follows that retributivism is both true and important only if we have deontic reasons to punish. Tadros also claims that the constitutive aim of punishment is to inflict harm or suffering on offenders. On the contrary, the constitutive aim of retributive punishment is to inflict (justified) wrongs on offenders that are proportionate to the (unjustified) wrongs they commit. Indeed, punishment should involve the least harmful wrong that is proportionate to the wrongfulness of the offense, adequate to facilitate recognition, and (perhaps) conducive to deterrence.     

辛亥革命中的三大妥协及其历史遗产

辛亥革命中形成了汉满民族妥协、南北政治妥协和孙袁权力妥协三大妥协,这既是参与政治各方发挥政治智慧的结果,更是革命的大势所趋所逼的结果.三大妥协使得辛亥革命以较小的代价和低烈度的震荡实现了共和政制的跃迁,结束了秦汉以来垂两千多年的君主专制.百年以来,这一妥协成果依然是后人享受且在升值的宝贵遗产.