Freedom of Speech as an Expressive Mode of Existence

This paper adopts Deleuze’s reading of Spinoza’s expressionism and pure semiotics to argue that Spinoza’s Ethics offers an alternative notion of freedom of speech that is based on the potentia of the individual. Its aim is to show how freedom of thought is connected to the problem of individuation that connects our mode of being with our power to speak and think. Rather than treating freedom of speech as an enlightened idea that is in opposition to, for example, religious authority, or the suppression of human rights, this paper argues that freedom of speech should be understood by what Spinoza calls ‘an adequate idea’: an idea that explains the cause of its own production. What is to be considered is: who wants this freedom, in what situation, why, what is at stake? No freedom in itself is ever given. This paper argues for speech as an assembled body that is always in connection with other bodies. It is argued that to understand the power and value of the freedom of speech, we should study the praxis of the utterance as an assembled body, its causal dimensions, and its affective immanent relations with other bodies, and other modes of speaking.     

Post‐Secularism and the European Court of Human Rights: Or How God Never Really Went Away

This article analyses the critical yet elusive notions of state neutrality, secularism and religious coercion under the European Convention in light of the European Court of Human Rights recent decision in Lautsi v Italy. We contend that the real concern in the Italian crucifix case was not the infringement of the school pupils’ religious freedom nor the proselytising or coercive effect of the ‘passive’ religious symbols. Rather, opponents of the longstanding symbols were animated by desire for strict religious equality, a notion that is, correctly in our view, not guaranteed under the Convention. Lautsi has significantly cleared the conceptual undergrowth surrounding state neutrality and the varieties of secularism, reined in the elastic notion of religious coercion and eschewed attempts to squeeze the constitutional diversity of European religion‐state frameworks into a strict American‐style separationist mould. The Convention jurisprudence on freedom of religion has finally come of age.     

Hands‐Off or Hands‐On?: Deconstructing the ‘Test‐Case’ of Re G within a Culture of Children's Rights

This note challenges the so‐called ‘test‐case’ status of Re G in so far as it attempts to overturn the principle established in Re T that courts should adopt a neutral position when it comes to weighing the merits of different upbringings and the education provided by parents of minority religions. In determining the future upbringing and education of children who had been brought up in a minority religious community, Re G applies a principle of maximising educational opportunity in order to uphold the mother's proposed educational choice and way of life. This note argues that Re G was wrong to do so, should not be regarded as establishing any new principle and that the only relevant principle, both in determining this case and future cases, ought to rest on the psychological well‐being of the child.     

决议行为效力规则之构造

社团决议行为并非法律行为,无法直接适用法律行为规则.物权法、公司法虽设有特别规则,但二者关于决议行为效力类型及瑕疵事由的规定均不周延且相互冲突,无法满足司法需求.非公司法人等的决议行为更面临法律规制漏洞.未来民法典总则亟需增设决议行为规则.规制决议行为的伦理基础并非程序正义,而系社团自治,应围绕社团自治建构规则.应区分决议成立认定与效力判断,经有召集权者召集会议作出多数决,方形成决议.已成立的决议需满足有决议权限、真实性、合法性、合理性要件,方具有法律效力.与之对应,无决议权限、程序瑕疵、表决瑕疵、内容违法、违反规约及侵害成员合法权益将导致决议效力待定、可撤销或无效.     

公共议题下的权力 “抵抗”逻辑——— “彭水诗案”中舆论监督与公权力之间的博弈分析简

近年来,公共舆论对公权力的监督日益呈现出多样化、博弈化的复杂态势,通过彭水诗案的分析表明,媒体舆论经过“公共议题”设置后形成了层级推进、多维质疑的追问方式,但公权力在这种强大的舆论监督压力面前,则往往会采取迂回“死扛”、暗渡陈仓的回应方式和策略,其中演绎着公权力的“抵抗”与“就范”逻辑,而这也是当下加快法治国家建设进程所需要认真反思和应对的。     

组织行为视角下互联网平台劳动关系从属性展开的新进路

劳动关系从属性源于现代化生产中个人对组织的依赖和屈从,组织通过经济体制、组织体系、心理契约等形成权力与权威,保障组织的存续和实现对劳动者的管理。从属性及其判断标准是组织权力与权威的"果",而非"因"。以平台用工为代表的新型灵活用工模式,有意识地针对传统从属性判断标准编织了一套包含隐蔽权力、转变权威、变更外部标志等新组织形态面纱,使得传统从属性判断标准日益难以做出判断。通过对网络平台用工组织权力和权威的分析,可以更好地理解新组织形态背后的从属性变化的路径。对平台用工从属性的理解,应当将本质论与组织变化相结合,合理扩大对从属性类型化的理解,采用积分累计式的检核体系实现组织与其用工的收因结果。     

自然的宪法与宪法的自然——解读柏拉图的宪政观

为摆脱人类政治的现代性危机,我们有必要回到古典政治哲学里去,回到柏拉图的世界中寻找宪法的本质,而宪法的本质也正是在于一种组成结构:自然的规律,可以视为其自身的宪法;而宪法的规律,就是要求宪法符合自然。宪法的萌芽,正是在这样的自然基础上诞生的。"宪法是公民的生活规范,宪法的权威根源于民众的生活"。宪政并不是一种形而上的价值构造,而是一种合乎自然的和谐的生活方式。     

In the Best Interests of an Indian Child: The Indian Child Welfare Act

Before passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978, state, private, and federal agencies systematically removed Indian children from their families and tribal communities, placing them with non‐Indian families with little appreciation for the detrimental impact that cultural deprivation would have on these children. State courts often ignored the sovereign authority of tribal courts with regard to their children, and were, more often than not, unwilling to acknowledge the importance of the perspective of the child's tribe and/or extended family members. With passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978, Congress imposed upon state child welfare practices substantive and procedural requirements to which state courts must adhere, most notably the mandate that state courts must now give primary consideration to the placement of Indian children within their extended families and tribal communities. In addition, federal law requires state courts to recognize tribal court authority and jurisdiction over tribal children. This article reviews the history of federal, state, and private practices that propelled Congress to pass the ICWA, the changes that have resulted from this vital legislation, and the challenges that face courts in ensuring that state courts meet these requirements.     

现实主义法学的批判与建构

法律形式主义曾是美国法学的正统,现实主义法学则从概念、逻辑、规则等多个角度对法律形式主义进行了批判,并以预测模式为中心,提出了个殊主义、目的性司法和对司法过程进行经验主义探究等改革主张,对美国法理学的未来走向影响深远。     

Religion, State Power, and Domestic Violence in Muslim Societies: A Framework for Comparative Analysis

This article focuses on the issue of domestic violence in Muslim societies in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The analytical framework is comparative, emphasizing four factors and the interplay among them: shari'a (Islamic law), state power, intrafamily violence, and struggles over women's rights. The comparative approach historicizes the problem of domestic violence and impunity to consider the impact of transnational legal discourses (Islamism and human rights) on "local" struggles over rights and law. The use of shari'a creates some commonalities in gender and family relations in Muslim societies, notably the sanctioning and maintenance of male authority over female relatives. However, the most important issue for understanding domestic violence and impunity is the relationship between religion and state power. This relationship takes three forms: communalization, in which religious law is separate from the national legal regime; nationalization, in which the state incorporates religious law into the national legal regime; and theocratization, in which the national legal regime is based on religious law.     

The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea? A Critique of the Ability of Community Mediation to Suppress and Facilitate Participation in Civil Life

This article revisits debate between academics and practitioners about the potential of community mediation. While mediation evangelicals make bold claims about the possibility of mediation helping to rebuild communities, academic critics have been suspicious of such contentions and claimed instead that mediation has provided just another route through which the state can interfere in the life of its citizens. It is argued here that debate on the topic has been clouded by unduly high expectations of disputes as agents of social change. Their importance has been understood by reference to their ability to rebuild communities or their potential to become test cases. It is argued here that mediated disputes make much more modest challenges to state authority but that they can be aided in this by the intervention of mediators prepared to take a pragmatic approach to the unachievable ideal of neutrality. The article does not conceive of community mediation as an alternative of the state or its agent. Rather, it suggests that mediators can be embedded within both worlds and act as message-bearers between them.     

Learning under the cross: legal challenges to ‘cultural–religious symbolism’ in public schools

This article examines the nature and scope of the legal challenges mounted against religious symbolism in European public schools. It discusses religion in education and the relationship between Church and State in European societies. The European Court is defining what counts as a religious symbol through a secular lens and while the court upholds the right to hold a religious belief it qualifies this right to manifest belief in public. This article argues that the courts should be more accommodating in their approach towards the public manifestation of religious beliefs and traditions.     

Wielding Occam's Razor: Pruning Strategies for Economic Loss

The English Court of Appeal is currently faced with three analyticallydistinct approaches to the question of when one party owes anothera duty of care in respect of her economic interests, all ofwhich bear the authority of the House of Lords. Unable to choosebetween them, it has recently adopted a fourth approach combiningwhich combines them, in the apparent belief that the combinationwill eradicate any individual deficiencies. Against the backgroundof a recent case, the author argues that this is a holding strategyat best and methodologically deficient. He also challenges thecontinuing lip-service paid by courts to models of liabilitybased upon ‘assumptions of responsibility,’ examiningand criticising the causes of their persistence in the law inthe face of widespread academic criticism. Instead, the authorargues, the House of Lords should now clearly endorse a singlereasoning strategy to economic loss cases based on the three-stageapproach in Caparo Industries v Dickman. Properly understood,this approach offers the best prospect of facilitating consistentand transparent decision-making in the longer term.     

The english juvenile detention centre: A lesson for the U.S.A.?

It is important when contemplating change in the criminal justice system to survey and build upon experience both at home and overseas. In this age of increasing concern with the criminal activity of our youth it has become fashionable in some quarters to adopt a tougher attitude toward delinquent youth. This is manifested by a desire to hold juveniles directly responsible for criminal behavior and to subject them to more punitive sentencing dispositions. In this political climate it might be wise to examine the history of the English juvenile Detention Centre, with its emphasis upon providing a “short, sharp shock” for juveniles who are sent there.This article examines the philosophical rationale behind the Detention Centre regime and traces its development from establishment in 1948 to the present day. The evidence available suggests that the Detention Centre program, established to provide a strict deterrent regime for the relatively unsophisticated and not seriously delinquent offender, has not met with resounding success. Additionally, the program is shown to have departed considerably from its original standards of rigor. Indeed, it is now uncertain whether the Detention Centre differs appreciably from other English juvenile correctional institutions, and the governmental trend of thought has been toward abolition of the centres altogether. The article concludes that it may be preferable to make greater use of non-institutional dispositions than to sentence delinquent youth to short periods of incarceration.     

Utilization and satisfaction of volunteer law enforcement officers in the office of the American sheriff: an exploratory nationwide study

Many government organizations utilize volunteers to enhance services, and volunteers have been used in law enforcement agencies for a variety of functions. However, volunteers in American policing are a largely under-studied part of the criminal justice system. This current paper examines the utilization of volunteer reserves, auxiliaries, and special deputies in the office of the American sheriff. The article also examines the perceived organizational characteristics of those agencies that treat volunteers the same as regular full-time sworn deputies by allowing them full power of arrest and the authority to carry a weapon on and off duty. The results generally show that volunteer deputies that are treated the same as their full-time counterparts in regard to authority and responsibility are generally more satisfied with their role within the organization and report greater satisfaction with the organization in terms of communication, leadership, and professionalism.     

Moving from the Mainstream to the Margins: Lessons in Culture and Power

This article highlights the ways in which power is conceptualized, activated, and institutionalized in American culture. Drawing from research and the author’s experience within mainstream and culturally-specific organizations in the violence against women field, this article exposes the subtle, yet pervasive mechanisms that lead to the marginalization of culturally specific communities and smaller, typically culturally specific, community-based organizations. By design and unconsciously, researchers, mainstream organization, and leaders often perpetuate a system designed to localize research, evaluation, services and resources for white people, organizations and institutions. This occurs for example, when researchers center and elevate a “gold-standard” of evidence-based practices, research, and evaluation that share no frame of reference to those being “studied” and most effected. It also happens when organizations marginalize culturally specific community members and organizations by seeking their participation at the final stages rather than at the conception of projects. The author provides concrete recommendations that researchers, providers, and leaders can adopt to counteract institutional oppression and help move culturally-specific communities and organizations from the margins to the center.     

Freedom of Religion and Minority Religions in Hungary

Religiosity in Hungary is not especially high; however, the vast majority of the population has a denominational identity. There has been a religious revival since the early 1980's, both in the mainstream churches and due to some religious groups newly active in the country. Religious claims are mostly accommodated on an individual basis. Legal entities called churches can be founded for the purpose of exercising religion, but the registration of a church is not a condition of the free exercise of religion. Religious freedom is guaranteed by the Constitution. The Hungarian state regards itself neutral in matters concerning ideology and religion. Church and state operate separately. The state, however, appreciating religious phenomena, provides support for churches and is open for cooperation with them on a sophisticated legal basis. A new method of offering state support for religions using taxpayer choices is described, which shows some interesting patterns of support for minority faiths as well as traditional ones.     

The Arendtian Dread: Courts with Power

Hannah Arendt was fearful not only of a populist President speaking in the name of the people and unbound by legality. She was also concerned that popular support could be harnessed by those responsible for limiting it. In other words, she was fearful of the American Supreme Court relying on popular support. This is the meaning of her obscure depiction of the American Supreme Court as “the true seat of authority in the American Republic” but unfit to power. I argue that Arendt's characterization of authority as requiring “neither coercion nor persuasion” means that the Court's source of legitimacy is expertise rather than public support. Yet the current dominant understanding among American Justices as well as scholars is that public support is the source of the Court's authority. In Arendt's mind, such an understanding means that the Court has become the seat of power. The corruption of the Court's authority and constitutional law as a language of expertise capable of resisting public opinion will inevitably follow.     

论人民法院在民事诉讼中的职权

法院是民事纠纷的裁判者 ,裁判权是其最基本的职权 ,然而 ,在围绕着这一职权的行使而展开的一系列程序中 ,又衍生出诸多权利 ,如程序控制权、程序事项裁决权、调查取证权、释明权、事实认定权等。程序控制权和程序事项裁决权是法院控制诉讼的发生、发展和终止的节奏和方式并对程序争议事项进行裁判的权力 ;调查取证权、释明权和事实认定权作为法院的三大审理权 ,在不同的诉讼模式下是有所区别的。笔者认为 ,在我国 ,法院不应通过职权干预调查取证 ;释明权作为一把双刃剑 ,应正确把握和运用 ;而事实认定权的行使 ,则必须通过建立一套科学的证据规则 ,以确保法官心证的公开化和客观化