The cornerstones of plant variety protection in India

Traditionally, India—with a high proportion of small farmers—hasbeen cautious in granting IP rights in food and living matter.As India is one of the fastest developing countries, both interms of industry and in its population, the plant breedingand farming industry in India may be expected to play an importantrole in coping with these problems, as the government has realized.For this reason and in order to comply with its obligationsunder Article 27 of the TRIPs Agreement, in 2001 India passedthe Plant Varieties Protection and Farmers' Rights Act (PVPAct). The constraint arising out of a market situation which is determinedmainly by traditional rights of farmers, by the size of thefarms and the dependency of a significant section of the availablerural area, requires a system     

试析构建“和谐社会”进程中农民工犯罪问题

城市农民工是城市中的特殊群体。一直以来,由于受制度歧视,社会保障机制不完善等原因的影响,加之自身素质低下,造成了城市农民工的犯罪活动频繁发生,危害了安定的社会秩序,侵害了公民的人身和财产权益,激化了社会矛盾,增添了社会不稳定、不和谐的因素。因此,本文从构建和谐社会的视角着笔,重点分析了当前农民工犯罪的现状及产生原因,并就如何在新的形势下解决农民工犯罪问题提出了自己的看法和观点。     

关注农民工职业病危害问题

农民工是我国经济建设新型的劳动大军。由于职业角色的转换,农民工面临一系列的问题,其中农民工职业安全状况是一个十分突出的问题,农民工已成为职业病容易侵害的目标群体。目前农民工职业病危害严重,维权艰难。要解决农民工职业病防护问题,政府职能部门应加大监管力度,给予更大的关注;企业应承担起主体责任,改善劳动条件,改进工艺技术;完善相关法律,逐步建立起农民工社会保障制度;同时还需要农民工自身努力提高职业安全防护意识。     

农村集体土地征收中被征收入的权利缺损及其补全——从以集体所有权为中心到以农民用益物权为中心

农民集体土地所有权由于缺乏一级市场上的价值发现机制,同时公益性征收中土地改变用途未必能产生地价增值,导致农村集体土地征收中被征收入权利缺损难以通过以集体所有权为中心的补偿制度来弥补。新农村建设中农民土地承包经营权等用益物权不仅是未来农民个体生存权与发展权获得实现的主要法律形式,农民用益物权流通市场的发展也使之更充分的被市场发现价值,从而针对农民用益物权的专门补偿适合成为弥补农村集体土地公益性征收中被征收入权利缺损的新的制度中心。     

知识产权国际造法新趋势

在 TRIPs 协议产生后十余年的时间里,知识产权国际造法活动明显加快。在WTO 体制之外,不少国际组织、机构和论坛围绕着如何处理保护知识产权与维护生物多样性、合理开发植物基因资源、促进公共健康、维护人权之间的关系等问题,对 TRIPs 协议所确立的一系列高标准的知识产权规则提出了批判,探讨和制订了一系列软法性质的、倡导人权和维护社会公共利益的知识产权新规则。这些活动打破了 WTO 和 WIPO 在国际法层面上对知识产权立法权的垄断,反映了国际社会对知识产权私权利之外的人权、公共健康等社会权益的日益重视,势必对未来知识产权国际立法和国内立法产生深远影响。     

农民土地维权行动方式考察及法律对策研究

在评析国内外农民土地维权三种观点基础上,认为＂日常抵抗＂、＂依法抗争＂、＂以法抗争＂三种理论模型均存在一定的缺陷,认为就农民阶层的行为动力层面考察,相对剥夺理论更具价值与逻辑双向解释力。根据该理论,主张中国乡村地权的残缺以及法律的倾斜,导致失地农民阶层谈判能力缺失或被削弱,当上访与司法救济均呈现为低效应时,失地农民往往倾向于选择群体性维权路径,以追求维权行动的有效性与利益的最大化,在此基础上进而提出农村土地国有化,土地法权模型趋向开放性,简单化方向发展为解决困局的可能之路。     

农民权利特殊保护：理论依据及实践形态

农民权利理论是农民权利保护实践的基础,平等权的实现是农民权利保护的目标。农民平等权的享有、实现和保护现状为农民权利的特殊保护提供了理论依据。在实践中,农民权利的特殊保护体现在两个方面：在资源和利益分配的制度设计方面向农民倾斜,在农民权利的救济方面适当多投入立法和司法资源。从实践形态来看,包括政策倾斜和制定专门法律以及以保障人权为原则制约、监督公权力的行使三个方面。     

农地权利制度的和谐发展及其司法保障——基于推进农村改革发展的语境

伴随着农村的改革和发展,农村土地上形成了三个方面的重要权利,一是农民集体对土地享有的集体所有权;二是集体经济组织或村委会对土地所拥有的经营管理权或代表行使权;三是农民个人对土地所享有的承包经营权。农地集体所有权是农地经营管理权和承包经营权的权利根源和基础,它影响、决定着经营管理权和承包经营权存续发展的宗旨、方向和内容。而为了推动农村经济社会的全面和谐发展,集体组织的经营管理权可以超越所有权而得以独立地发挥作用。同时,农民个人的承包经营权也具有高度的自主性和绝对性,不受农地集体所有权等的不当干预。在农村的进一步改革发展中,各方面的农地权利需要在相互联系协调中不断完善发展,形成一个严密而和谐的农地权利体系,并建立相应的司法保护体系,从而有效地推进农村的改革发展。     

Food security and access and benefit sharing laws relating to genetic resources: promoting synergies in national and international governance

Are the national laws regulating access to genetic resources that countries have enacted in exercise of their sovereign rights accorded by the Convention on Biological Diversity jeopardising food security by failing to take into account the distinctive features of genetic resources for food and agriculture? If so what can be done about it? What are the obstacles to doing so? And how can they be overcome, especially in the context of the present ongoing negotiations for an international regime on access and benefits sharing under the biodiversity convention? This article examines the impact of the national access laws and other instruments on the free access and exchange of these genetic resources and hence on the maintenance of agricultural biological diversity upon which food security hinges so critically. It highlights the obstacles that stand in the way of developing countries facilitating access to their genetic resources and proposes a multilateral non-market-orientated approach to overcome them.     

On realization of equal election for farmers in China

With the election rights of farmers, there exists inequality not only in practice but also in legislation. How do we view such inequality? We do not think that such inequality is entirely the result of artificiality. It depends on the historical status of farmers, especially the level of the productive forces they represent. In China, provided the majority of the residents are farmers, who are small individual farmers, it is plausible that farmers cannot acquire the equal election rights in legislation. However, we shall create conditions for actively promoting the realization of farmers’ equal election rights in legislation. The day when the majority of farmers become the producers and operators of commodities will be the time when farmers in China realize their equal election rights in legislation.     

Property Rights and Biodiversity

This essay deals with the allocation of genetic resources with regard to property-rights theory. In addition to this, different arrangements of property rights will be examined as to their allocation and distribution effects. The result will show that property rights on biological diversity can only cover patrimonial rights which contain the right to use the resource but not to destroy it. Bioprospecting conventions, such as the well known Merck-INBio agreement, will be examined as mechanisms to establish property rights in terms of biological diversity. Moreover, the identification of these agreements will be critically questioned for their applicability as a form of the Coase-theorem.     

征地补偿与农民财产权益保护问题研究

通过借鉴国外征收补偿与财产权保护法制的先进经验,结合我国征收补偿与财产权保护法制历史与现状,在学术界已有研究成果的基础上,针对我国征地补偿实践中存在的“有法不依”和“无法可依”现象与我国现行征地补偿与农民财产权益保护法律制度中存在的主要问题,为改革我国征地补偿与农民财产权益保护法律制度提供对策建议：坚持农民财产权益保护、征地和补偿三位一体、从保护农民财产权益角度改革征地补偿法律制度;从实体法与程序法上建构对农民财产权益的制度性保护与个别性保护,以改变征地实践中“有法不依”与“无法可依”现象、确保农民财产权益的存续保护与价值保护。     

Life after death: preservation of the immortal seed

In today's brave new world, women who suffer the loss of their husband or lover can call upon medical science to create a souvenir baby. The rights of the decedent over his genetic material and the rights of the child who is created therefrom are the subject of an evolving legal process. This Essay examines legal, moral and ethical issues which arise from post-mortem artificial insemination. It discusses the attendant conflicts of procreative rights, finality of probate, psychological issues, international law, and recent cases. Ultimately, comprehensive legislation must be enacted to address these issues.     

关于水权争论问题的意见

水权不包含水所有权、水合同债权,它们分别为独立的权利。只有行政权而无水资源所有权创设不出水权。水权的初始配置在我国不宜采用拍卖的方式,水权的主体多样化,须具体分析。     

农民土地承包经营权的新法律保障——农村土地征用制度改革探微

农民的土地承包经营权,既是农民的一种生产资料用益物权,又是国家赋予农民的一种土地使用权,近年来,随着工业的发展和我国城市的扩张,农民的土地承包经营权受到严重经害,加快农村土地征用制度改革,落实<宪法>(修正案)的新精神,依法保护农民的土地承包经营权,已成为广大农民的心声和法律界的共识,为此,本文就农村土地征用制度改革的必要性、应确立的几个原则及农民土地承包经营权的保障问题进行了一些法律探讨,认为应以保护公民合法私有财产的立宪精神去推进农村土地征用制度改革,使农民真正事有对土地承包经营权的财产权力,在土地征收、征用中依法获得"公正补偿",从而使失地农民生活得到基本保障.     

Morphology findings in intentional hand amputation

Presented is the case of a 33 years old farmer, who alleged to have lost his left hand accidentally when grasping into a chuff-cutter. Immediate investigation of the amputate proved, that the hand must have been severed initially by a single cut and was only secondarily bruised by multiple blunt contusions. The farmer confessed to have mutilated himself with some kind of a guillotine which he had constructed for that particular purpose. The amputate was then thrown into the chuff-cutter to make his allegation appear credible and to prevent replantation. The motivation of this self-mutilation was the expectation of considerable insurance payments.     

Necessity, Moral Liability, and Defensive Harm

A person who is liable to defensive harm has forfeited his rights against the imposition of the harm, and so is not wronged if that harm is imposed. A number of philosophers, most notably Jeff McMahan, argue for an instrumental account of liability, whereby a person is liable to defensive harm when he is either morally or culpably responsible for an unjust threat of harm to others, and when the imposition of defensive harm is necessary to avert the threatened unjust harm. Others may favour a purely noninstrumental account of liability: one that looks only to the past behaviour of the potentially liable person. We argue that both views are vulnerable to serious objections. Instead we develop and defend a new view of liability to defensive harm: the pluralist account. The pluralist account states that liability to defensive harm has at least two bases. First, if an attacker is morally or culpably responsible for an unjust attack then he has forfeited what we call his agency right, and in doing so he has made himself partially liable to defensive harm. Whether the attacker is fully liable to defensive harm depends, however, on whether the imposition of defensive harm would infringe a different right held by the attacker: his humanitarian right. Humanitarian rights are rights to be provided with urgently needed resources or to be protected from serious harms when others can do so at reasonably low cost. We argue the pluralist account avoids the objections to which the instrumental and noninstrumental views are vulnerable, coheres with our intuitive reactions in a wide range of cases, and sheds new light on the way different rights combine to determine a person??s liability to suffer harm.     

法治模式中“合作社”的文化动员

合作社是在建立在群体自觉的基础上农民权利的实现方式,也是农民实行自治、利益表达的组织性资源。合作社是一种超血缘、传统、亲缘的"地缘"组织,在中国当下半熟人社会的条件下,只有可能从乡村的文化动员中让农民合作起来,从传统的政治动员式参与过渡到主体认同的自愿式参与。强调法治模式中的制度约束与创造,用现代权利理念来保障农民利益的需求,以文化动员唤醒农民的主体认同,建立起农民在现代市场经济条件下生活的自觉。     

混合共同担保之研究——以我国《物权法》第176条为分析对象

同一债权设有混合共同担保，即既有人的担保又有物的担保时，人的担保责任与物的担保责任平等，债权人可以选择向保证人或物上保证人主张权利，已承担担保责任的担保人有权向其他担保人在其应分担责任的范围内求偿。人的担保与物的担保并存时，债权人放弃物的担保的，保证人在物上保证人应分担责任的限度内免除担保责任；债权人放弃人的担保的，物上保证人在保证人应分担责任的限度内免除担保责任。     

论我国土地征收收益分配制度改革

自上世纪我国实行土地统征和有偿使用制度以来,土地征收收益分配制度的缺陷日益凸显,表现在:农民集体和农民未能分享土地征收过程中产生的发展性利益;土地征收补偿标准太低;土地收益分配集中于市、县人民政府。究其成因在于:没有解决动态土地权利的制度安排;土地征收补偿机制不能适应市场经济新体制;"土地财政"的利益驱动。破除上述缺陷的改革思路为:建立土地发展权制度;遵循市场规则,改革土地征收补偿方式;增加中央土地收益分配比例,理顺土地收益分配关系。