Traffic accident vs homicide: The contribution of DNA analysis to clarify this mystery. A case report

A marriage procession was going through the road when the vehicle met with a fatal accident and the wife of the driver died. The autopsy revealed lesions according with fatal traffic accident. But, a second autopsy revealed that there were injuries, but it was not reported in the first autopsy protocol. We analyze several autosomal STRs to typify some evidences collected inside the vehicle of traffic accident which were stained by the blood of the woman mortal victim. The results of the analysis of DNA suggested that the victim bled inside the vehicle and died and then, she was placed on the pavement and her husband simulated an accident.     

Unanimous constitutional consent and the immigration problem

This paper utilizes the cross-cutting cleavages approach to evaluate the probability of a unanimous constitutional consent and, based on these results, discusses the implications of immigration on an existing constitutional consent. It is shown that previous conclusions of beneficial effects stemming from a multitude of political dimensions for a unanimous constitutional consent crucially depend on the assumption of an extreme mode of intrapersonal compensation of constitutional majority and minority preferences. These conclusions are reversed once you consider more restrictive schemes of such intrapersonal compensation. Since, furthermore, the probability of constitutional consent unambiguously falls with a growing size of the collectivity, only a policy of selective and controlled immigration will be able to guarantee with regard to the existing cleavages of a society that the existing constitutional consent will not be damaged or destroyed, whereas uncontrolled immigration, possibly based on ethical norms, will risk the breakdown of any constitutional consent in a society.     

Aufgaben- und Instrumentenwandel dargestellt am Beispiel der schweizerischen Forstpolitik

Die staatliche Entwicklung in der Schweiz für die letzten 150 Jahre wird am Beispiel der Forstpolitik aufgerollt. Die Analyse dieses Politikfeldes zeigt als wichtigstes Ergebnis die inkrementale Anpassung von Interventionen und Inhalten an das sich stetig ändernde Umfeld. Adapationsmechanismen wie die Einflussnahme anderer forstrelevanter Politikbereiche (Politikverflechtung) oder auch veränderte externe Rahmenbedingungen (Waldsterben, sinkende Holzpreise, Finanzknappheit etc.) erklären, warum sich die Forstpolitik gegenüber anderen Policies geöffnet hat. Zunehmende Vernetzung der Forstpolitik, neue Akteurkonfigurationen und eine flexible Politik der Bundesverwaltung haben zusätzlich zur Erhöhung des Veränderungspotentials beigetragen. Begünstigt werden die genannten Prozesse durch den wachsenden Legitimationsbedarf der Politik. Die inhaltliche Anpassung der Policy hat ebenfalls auf der institutionellen Ebene Veränderungen induziert. Eine direkte Übertragbarkeit der politikfeldspezifischen Schlüsse auf institutionelle Reformen ist schwierig, weil die Interessen dort noch bedeutend vielfältiger sind.     

Pennies from heaven: Entry fees to a socialist “paradise”

Based on a political-economic perspective, this paper assesses the former GDR-regime's policy of obligatory exchange (Pflichtumtauschsatz). ThePflichtumtausch, one of a wide array of instruments used to collect convertible currency and restrict access to the GDR, is briefly described. Following that, a demand function, relating visits to East Germany on the one hand to thePflichtumtauschsatz on the other, is estimated. The empirical evidence adduced suggests that visits to the East were considered a normal good. The next question considered is whether the GDR-regime, acting in its role as a monopolist, followed an optimal pricing policy. On both theoretical and empirical grounds this can be rejected. Visits to the East were underpriced. This resulted in a higher number of visits and lower revenue when seen from a profit-maximizing perspective. On the other hand the actual pricing was advantageous with respect to two goals: the deterrence of visits and the collection of convertible currency. Nonetheless, it is clear that the GDR-regime voluntarily restricted its revenue collection from thePflichtumtausch. This restraint, however, can be seen as its input into a political bargain. As a rule, such “good manners” in the matter of thePflichtumtausch were more than compensated by interest payments saved in the use of the Swing. The GDR-regime's generosity thus turned out to be a rather expensive good for the West Germans.     

Shopping cart injuries, entrapment, and childhood fatality

Shopping carts may be associated with a variety of injuries, particularly in toddlers and young children. These usually relate to falls from carts or to tip-overs. Injuries that are sustained include hematomas/contusions, abrasions, lacerations, fractures, and fingertip amputations. Fatal episodes are uncommon and are usually due to blunt craniocerebral trauma from falls. A case involving a 19-month-old girl is reported who became entrapped when she inserted her head through the side frame of a cart that had been removed from a supermarket and left at her home address. Death was caused by neck compression. Although rare, the potential for lethal entrapment during unsupervised play means that the presence of stray shopping carts at private residences and in public places, including playgrounds and parks, is of concern. Strategies, such as coin deposits, should be encouraged to assist in the return of such carts to supermarkets.     

Legal Culture and State Building: Liberal Constitutionalism and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Droit Administratif</Emphasis> in early Twentieth Century Argentina

This paper deals with the ways in which jurists and law professors applied transnational systems of public law, in particular US constitutionalism and French droit administratif, in their approaches to the state building process in late nineteenth century Argentina. In covering these movements of adaptation of a nascent legal culture to changing ideological and political circumstances, this article attempts to illuminate the strong links between the process of institutionalization of certain academic disciplines or forms of social knowledge, and modern state building in Latin America.     

Online-Öffentlichkeiten als Gegenstand empirischer Forschung

So far, research of online public spheres has mainly been carried out as an online version of offline public spheres. The possibilities of the new medium to create new and Internet-specific forms of a public sphere have been ignored both on the theoretical and empirical level. In this article, I propose an approach that allows for the conceptualization of new forms of online public spheres. It takes the Internet user, the providers of web sites and the structural specificities of the Internet into account. The main thrust of the article is the question as to where the Internet provides public spheres that fulfill functions similar to their offline siblings yet are characterized by an Internet-specific quality. Taking the case of online public spheres that are created by search engines, it can be illustrated how these Internet-specific forms of the public sphere may be analyzed empirically. In order to be able to judge their potential, online public spheres are compared with printed mass media. In a final reflection, I propose a theoretical framework that could be fruitful for the explanatory interpretation of the patterns found in the empirical analysis.     

Restating the Acquis Communautaire? A Critical Examination of the ‘Principles of the Existing EC Contract Law’

The article examines the 'Principles of the Existing EC Contract Law' (Acquis Principles) published by the European Research Group on the Existing EC Contract Law (Acquis Group), a key player within the academic network charged with the preparation of a 'Common Frame of Reference'. The Acquis Principles may therefore have a considerable impact on the shape and development of EC Contract Law. It is argued that the Acquis Principles do not constitute merely a restatement, or systematic revision, of existing EC private law. To a significant extent, the Acquis Group has drafted 'desirable rules', based on 'political' decisions that may even entail a transformation towards a regulatory model of private law. At the same time, the Acquis Principles clearly demonstrate that the acquis communautaire is not a coherent system of contract law that can be taken to have emancipated itself from the acquis commun .     

Patterns of Truthfulness

The encounter of Advaitins with bhakti represented a new departure, in seventeenth century India, and gave birth to a new style in philosophy. It was a time when rational inquiry emancipated itself to a certain extent from the tradition of commentaries and exegesis. But we should not confuse two different ideas of rationality. Using one’s own reason in religious matters is one thing, and this is what the new philosophers did in India; spreading the lights of Reason is another thing, and this was not an issue in India.