Migration and work in the Alps (17th–18th centuries): Family strategies,kinship, and clientelism

Outmigration from the Alps is traditionally attributed to the hardship of life and to the lack of employment. The article questions such assumptions and proposes a different relationship between working conditions and migrations. Focusing on the eighteenth century, it examines three economically diverse Alpine regions and shows that behind the apparent diversity, there are common features to the ways families do or do not choose between working in the village or elsewhere. Analyses of family networks have to be performed in terms of the distribution of power within communities. The existence and reproduction of family networks, as well as the ability of individuals and families to develop strategies, are unequally distributed among social groups, and this has to be noted in the examination of decisions about migration.     

Families and mountains in the Balkans: Christian and Muslim household structures in the Rhodopes, 19th–20th century

This article investigates household structures and household formation patterns among Orthodox Christians and Muslim Bulgarians in the Rhodope Mountains between 1875 and 1935. The analysis, which is based on the computerized evaluation of household listings as well as on ethnographic sources, reveals obvious differences in the structures of Orthodox and Muslim households. Muslim households were more likely to be complex, whereas among the Orthodox population, nuclear families prevailed. But, despite the different cultural backgrounds and economic activities of the two communities, the underlying structure of their household formations shared also some common features. Christian and Muslim households did not differ with respect to size. The complex households of the Muslims were just a phase in the developmental cycle and rarely included more than two simple families. Among both Christians and Muslims, the village community was more important than descent groups. The Rhodopes therefore do not fit into the pattern of the zadruga (the large, complex family household in the western Balkans). A division appears to have existed between family forms and social network patterns for the eastern and western Balkans. Clearly, generalizations about family structures are difficult because of the great variability of family patterns within the Balkans.     

From parish register to the “historical table”: The Prussian population statistics in the 17th and 18th centuries

This overview deals with the development of population statistics in Germany and Prussia, where different streams and trends in the field of statistics can be observed until the end of the 18th century: (1) the so-called university statistics (Staatenkunde); (2) political arithmetic; (3) table statistics; (4) “German Kameralia;” and (5) Prussian financial science. The most important sources for historical demographic research are the parish registers. In Germany, they start in the early or high Middle Ages as baptismal lists. In Prussia in the 16th century, parish registers consisted of entries and items of baptisms (births), marriages, and funerals (deaths). Based upon these parish registers at the end of 17th century in the Brandenburg Electorate, population lists were set up as registers or tables of population movement, as “general registers of the born, the married, the deceased, and the communicants.” Physicians and such Prussian medical authorities as the Collegium medicum and the Collegium sanitatis collected data about the causes of death and the longevity of human life (people more than 90 years old). In the course of 120 years during the 17th and 18th centuries, about 350,000 immigrants came to Brandenburg-Prussia. The Prussians developed excellent migration and census statistics in the form of historical tables. From the founding of the Prussian Office of Statistics in 1805 until its reorganization in 1809–1810, historical tables were set up using population statistics.     

Women's bread — men's capital: The domestic economy of small textile entrepreneurs in rural Zurich in the 17th and 18th centuries

The family enterprises of small rural entrepreneurs in proto-industrial textile production have been little studied so far. This article focuses on the ways in which family labor assists in entrepreneurial activities and nonindustrial activities within the domestic unit contribute to the creation of proto-industrial capital. The empirical material on early modern Zurich (Switzerland) documents large household economies among entrepreneurs engaging in agriculture as well as among drapers who employ their family labor in weaving or in ancillary tasks connected with the activity of putting out dependent weavers. It also demonstrates an association between proto-industrial entrepreneurship and baking, the latter often being performed by female family labor. This finding is explained by the use of bread as a means of paying workers and by the lack of access to capital markets: baking implies the creation of a surplus value within the family economy that can be directly converted into proto-industrial capital.     

Procreation,family and ‘progress’: Administrative and economic aspects of Ottoman population policies in the 19th century

The making of the modern Ottoman state in the 19th century was closely interrelated with population issues and policies. ‘Population’ became an important component of Ottoman history throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. As the state identified the ‘population’ as a source of income after the Tanzimat, it tried to protect and procreate it through certain institutional arrangements and regulations. These policies consisted of protecting the existing population, controlling population movements, promoting procreation, and giving subsidies and lending money at interest to peasant families. The procreation policies included enforcement of marriages and encouragement of reproduction within marriages while they discouraged traditional birth control methods and practices. As in any other context, Ottoman families resisted the policies of procreation and pressures coming from the central government. This paper will examine the state's policies toward families and individuals as well as the responses of the people to these policies. I will attempt to construct a model based on the protection and the procreation policies of the modern Ottoman state, which will be an important springboard toward building a basis for conducting comparative analysis with other European states. By doing this, I will try to challenge some of the established assumptions on the nature of the ‘modern state’ in the 19th century.     

Apprehension and Application of the Confession Provision ＂Amendment 8th of the Criminal Law＂

《刑法修正案（八）》第8条规定了坦白从宽情节,这是我国刑事立法上首次确认坦白从宽制度。坦白从宽法定化是落实宽严相济刑事政策,实现司法公正、提高司法效率,走出司法尴尬境地之必然产物。坦白,是指犯罪嫌疑人除构成自首以外的如实供述自己罪行的情形。坦白的主体是＂犯罪嫌疑人＂,可以包括犯罪单位。坦白的成立条件包括：被动归案;如实供述自己的已被司法机关掌握的罪行或者如实供述司法机关虽未掌握、但与已掌握的罪行属同种罪行。坦白从宽是原则,不从宽是例外。避免特别严重后果的发生可以从四个方面进行认定。     

Exit,voice, and loyalty: Parent–child relations in the proto-industrial household economy (Zürich, 17th–18th centuries)

This article formulates a simple model of parent–child interest conflicts. Based on a simple model of a household economy with a production or wage income function, a labor maintenance cost function, and an externally given wage rate, it discusses potential conflicts over the appropriation of the product of family members' labor in terms of the trilogy of exit, voice, and loyalty. The model is then explored by using household lists that provide detailed information on the economic activity of individuals. Many young proto-industrial workers used the threat of exiting their parents' household to keep much of their earnings through the Rast custom (boarding allowance). The threat of leaving operated well among the middle and lower classes of proto-industrial society, but it is unclear whether it also worked for the daughters of farmers who apparently left home much earlier than their brothers. The discourse of contemporaries about the Rast custom are considered and interpreted as a counterstrategy against the exit threat in which the elders fostered a sense of loyalty among the young.     

The politics of social welfare: MPs’ attitudes and activities in the 13th Israeli Knesset

This paper reports the findings of a study exploring the attitudes and activities of members of the 13th Israeli Knesset, and seeks possible connections between the two. The study involved extensive interviews with members of the 13th Israeli Knesset (1992–96), as well as drawing on archival and quantitative data of their activities. The paper presents a short overview of the Israeli political system, the 13th Israeli Knesset and its composition. The MKs’ perceptions of social welfare policy, their attitudes towards government involvement in the provision of social welfare services and their activities, both formal and informal, on social welfare issues are described. Finally, possible connections between the MKs’ attitudes and their activities are explored.     

Orphans,apprenticeships, and the world of work: The Trinité and Saint-Esprit hospitals in Paris in the 17th century

This article explores a frequent and important practice in the ancien Régime society, namely, apprenticeship. The apprenticeship contracts of legitimate orphans (boys and girls) who were received in institutions that specialized in caring for them — such as the Trinité or the Saint-Esprit — provide the data for this study. By focusing on these two, it is possible to compare two groups of orphans, as well as differences in the intentions and accomplishments of the institutions in terms of offering instruction and preparation for the working world. This examination focuses on the transition from the institution to society. How did the orphans interpret this transition? And how did administrators perceive their roles? The example of the Trinité and the Saint-Esprit serves to rectify the common image of the hospitals as poor and highly imperfect in terms of education and apprenticeship. It shows that these were genuine training institutions for older children.     

The Jewish population and family in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the second half of the 18th century

The sources that can be employed to examine demographic aspects of the Jewish population and family in 18th-century Poland–Lithuania are sparse and mostly fiscal in origin. Since this source material has been preserved only for some periods and regions, few generalizations can be made. First, the authors have referred to the most comprehensive census that was carried out in 1791 by household in Cracow province (województwo krakowskie). It does not allow for detailed family reconstitution, however. Although extended/multiple family households might have been fairly common, the two-generational conjugal family unit seems to have prevailed, and no more than four nuclear families lived in one house. In addition, the age at first marriage was influenced only to a limited extent by the traditional practice of early marriage.     

State Duma of the Russian Federation of the 7th Convocation: Between “Sleeping Potential” and Party Discipline

In the run-up to the elections of 18 September 2016, suggestions were made that a change in the rules for electing the State Duma (a return to a mixed majority-proportional system) would affect the qualitative composition of the deputy corps.^11. See for example Kynev, Lyubarev, Maximov 2015; Mintusov (ed.) 2016; Mixed districts 2016. Today, a year since the Duma campaign, we already have sufficient information to move from hypothetical arguments to a specific study not only of the composition, but also the style of work of the new parliament.

Existing data allow us to say that two different tendencies exist in the Duma. One of them is connected with the change in the composition of the deputy corps, caused by the addition of a majority component, which has influenced the principles of selecting candidates, and by a number of other causes—from the assumption of a low turn-out to the emergence of new bans and restrictions in legislation. Another involves the change in style of work of the lower chamber of the Federal Assembly. Besides efforts directly toward reducing scandalous behavior and overcoming the reputation of a “maniacal printer,” this concerns attempts by the leadership of the Duma in general and individual parliamentary groups to regulate and centralize the lawmaking process as much as possible. If the first tendency involves increasing political independence of deputies (as a consequence of the increase of the importance of their personal qualities at elections), the second means an even greater reduction of their influence on decisions taken by the Duma. This article provides a detailed analysis of these tendencies.     

Marriage and household in the Belgrade elite at the beginning of the 20th century: The Novaković family

Building on Ahmad ibn Yusuf b. al-Qadi al-Timbuktawi's treatise entitled Hatk al-Sitr Amma Alayhi Sudani Tunis min al-Kufr (Piercing the Veil: Being an Account of the Infidel Religions of the Blacks of Tunis) this paper examines the implications of the Hausa non-Muslim Bori cult practice in Ottoman Tunis on enslaved West Africans' retentions of religious and family values from their original homelands. Specifically, the paper traces and analyses the evolution of Bori cult practice in the Tunisian milieu and places it in its proper historical and diasporic contexts. To this end, the paper goes beyond questions that are not central to al-Timbuktawi's condemnation of the enslaved West African community of Tunis, but which nonetheless attracts the attention of scholars interested in the diasporic and historical significance of Bori cult practice in the Maghreb.     

More questions than answers? R v Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority ex parte Blood The Times 7th February 1997

The recent Court of Appeal decision in R v Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority ex parte Blood (1997), was an attempt to reconcile media driven support for a widow's desire to have a child using sperm obtained from her comatose husband immediately prior to his death. The Court of Appeal held that the written consent of the husband had not been obtained in respect to the storage of his sperm and this was contrary to the requirements of the Human Embryology and Fertilisation Act 1990. However in the present case it was right that once the sperm had been removed, it was preserved and stored pending a ruling as there appeared to be some uncertainty surrounding the situation. The Court also held that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority had failed to exercise its discretion correctly in refusing to give Mrs Blood permission to export the sperm to Belgium where the written consent of the donor to storage of gametes is not required. The Court of Appeal stated that there was no question of a precedent being set as this was a unique situation which should not arise again in the future.     

The true servant: Self-definition of male domestics in an Italian city (Bologna, 17th–19th centuries)

Some historians have classed as servants only people living with their masters; some have excluded farm servants; some have included married domestics living with their own families. The archive of the Bolognese Confraternity of San Vitale, also known as Università dei Servitori, is analyzed in this article to show how one group of servants defined a “true” servant. Their solution was to exclude from their association people who performed what they deemed “filthy” tasks. They also excluded women, giving us a particular insight in the history of gender and masculinity. In their view, the “true” servants were bourgeois (and locally born) men rather than lower class (migrant) women who are often identified as the stereotypical servants. Moreover, most members of the association were married, they had their own families in Bologna and did not always live with their masters. This makes possible the analysis of married male servants living with their own families, a category of servant that has received less attention than life-cycle servants.     

The conflict between the ethics of th individual and the ethics governing public health: practical sustainability of health care in jeopardy?

The "health rights movement" has reconstructed the clinical relationship between health care workers and patients by simultaneously demanding more from traditional medical care and challenging the perceived power differential between doctors and patients by rejecting the paternalistic medical model in favour of an individual patients' rights model. However, the growth in individual expectations of a right to health care creates a potential conflict with the ethics that prioritise public health and guide the rationing of its limited financial and human capital resources. This, in turn, creates a practical dilemma which requires public health institutions to become service orientated while sacrificing their integral role in training and educating the medical workforce and potentially compromising the practical sustainable delivery of public health in Australia. However, the law can play a role in resolving this conflict through legislation, regulations, codes, administrative law and common law in an effort to ensure the quality and future sustainability of public health in Australia.     

Contribution à une analyse narrative de la théorie institutionnelle

Conclusion Que faut-il penser de la co-existence de trois modèles différents pour interpréter l'élément central de la théorie institutionnelle de MacCormick? Cette pluralité de modèles n'est source de perturbations que pour ceux qui tiennent à défendre l'idée selon laquelle il n'y a qu'une seule forme possible de discours juridique. Dès qu'il est accepté — comme hypothèse de base — que les formes d'organisation de ce type de discours peuvent être multiples, la perspective est inversée.C'est le schéma explicatif — dit schéma narratif — qui est alors unique. Quant aux différentes variantes de la formule de MacCormick, elles représentent les altérations de cette définition en fonction de paramètres identifiables — et identifiés — comme le statut des différents actants et acteurs, la définition de l'objet de valeur final dont ils cherchent à s'emparer et les objets de valeur d'usage dont ils se servent.L'éclatement de la formule de Maccormick ne correspond alors plus à un rejet mais bien à une mise en question. Cette remise en question débouchant sur la reconnaissance de plusieurs schémas narratifs, nous devons nous demander dans quelle mesure notre perception de la phasep correspond à l'idée que s'en fait MacCormick. S'agit-il seulement de la procédure au sens juridique du mot ou de tout un ensemble d'actes permettant de persuader un destinateur comme un juge ou une administration de la coïncidence entre un parcours narratif effectif et le type idéal de parcours narratif qu'ils tirent de la lecture des normes juridiques?S'il s'agit bien de la procédure au sens juridique de ce mot, il faut alors préciser au terme de cette analyse sémio-narrative que l'ensemble des phénomènes pragmatiques — comme les interactions dans le cas d'une procédure orale — ne sont pris en compte ni par la formule de MacCormick, ni par la présente discussion mais qu'ils relèvent d'une recherche particulière sur cette dimension supplémentaire, certes compatible avec la théorie sémiotique mais pas avec la théorie institutionnelle de MacCormick. Pour conclure, nous dirons donc qu'il est possible d'intégrer certains éléments de cette dernière théorie dans un cadre plus général mais qu'elle sera vite transformée à la fois de l'intérieur par la reconnaissance d'une pluralité des formes du discours et de l'extérieur par son intégration partielle dans un schéma plus large qui vise à décrire un phénomène dans son intégralité.     

8th Annual Conference on European Tort Law (ACET) – Ankündigung

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