The Rise of Committees

Committees are of increasing importance in the process of EC policy-making, particularly in regulatory fields which touch upon politically sensitive issues. This article discusses the problems which have arisen due to the unforeseen emergence of committees within the institutional framework of the Community. It examines the main institutional conflicts in relation to committees and argues that parliamentary disdain for Comitology notwithstanding, the use of committees in the area of social regulation may be explained through a 'Member State-oriented' understanding of the institutional balance of powers. Committees may thus not only contribute to more effective decision-making, but may also secure a degree of subsidiarity. The increasing reliance on committees, however, might nonetheless be argued to detract from the general legitimacy of Community decision-making, especially since committees remain creatures of pragmatism. This article accordingly argues that the lack of transparency within committees, and the absence of general procedural rules upon the activities and composition of committees, should now be compensated for through the evolution of formal and generalisable procedural rules.     

The impact of litigants' baby-facedness and attractiveness on adjudications in small claims courts

The effects of litigants' facial appearance on judicial decisions were investigated in 506 cases heard in small claims courts. Replicating previous laboratory studies, both baby-facedness and attractiveness exerted a significant impact on adjudications. As plaintiffs increased in attractiveness, defendants were more likely to lose the case. Also, as defendants increased in baby-facedness, they were more likely to win cases involving intentional actions and less likely to win cases involving negligent actions, although the latter simple effect was not significant. Finally, as defendants increased in facial maturity, they were required to pay larger monetary awards to baby-faced plaintiffs, albeit not to average or mature-faced plaintiffs. This pattern of decisions was interpreted as reflecting assumptions about the psychological attributes of baby-faced versus mature-faced individuals. The effects of the extralegal variables of litigant attractiveness and baby-facedness were sufficiently large to have practical as well as statistical significance, and they were independent of each other and the age of the litigants as well as of legal variables predicting adjudications.This research was supported by NIMH grant No. BSR 5 R01 MH42684 to the first author. Thanks are extended to Philip Shapiro for his help with legal terminology, to Steven Samuels for his help in the data collecton, and to Michael Berbaum and Avron Spiro III for their statistical assistance in the data analysis.     

Assessing mothers' and fathers' violence toward children as a function of their involuntary participation in family work

This study examines the association between parents' violence toward children and their involuntary participation in family work. Involuntary participation in family work is conceptualized as a form of role strain measured by the disparity between the amount of responsibility husbands and wives would prefer to assume in the home and the amount of family work they actually perform. The prediction guiding this research is that differences of this kind are more associated with mothers' violence than fathers'. Regression analysis with a national sample of parents supports this hypothesis. Nonetheless, the association between such role strain and violence is quite weak, suggesting that additional research is required in formulating and measuring this relationship.