Managing commercial risks in open source software licensing

Legal context: The article reviews the commercial risk allocation clauses intypical open source licence terms and discusses their enforceabilityand implications. Key points: The enforceability of warranty disclaimers and limitation ofliability clauses in common open source licence terms is questionable,particularly in a cross-border context, and commercial licensorsshould take additional steps to protect themselves from down-streamrisks. Practical significance: Open source software presents a number of unusual commercialissues, because it is available free of charge and the providerstry to disclaim warranties and liabilities. End users and resellershave to adjust their own in- and out-licensing models to accommodatethis situation.     

Literatur

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Öknomik der deutschen Wiedervereinigung: Erfolge, Probleme, Chancen

Ohne Zusammenfassung Rezension zu: Thomas Lange und Geoff Pugh: The Economics of German Unification. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 1998, xxiii, 209 S., ￡ 49,95.     

Die (neue) Haftung für Schäden an der Biodiversität

Zusammenfassung  Mit dem Umweltschadensgesetz wird im deutschen Umweltrecht eine neuartige Haftung für Sch?den an der Biodiversit?t eingeführt. Die n?here juristische und naturwissenschaftliche Bestimmung dieser Umweltsch?den sieht sich jedoch mit mehreren Problemfeldern konfrontiert. Ausgehend von der gesetzlichen Schadensdefinition als erhebliche nachteilige Auswirkungen auf den günstigen Erhaltungszustand bestimmter Lebensr?ume oder Arten behandelt der Beitrag die Frage, wann solche Auswirkungen erheblich nachteilig sein k?nnen. Um den Begriff der “Erheblichkeit” einzugrenzen, wird die Rechtsprechung und Literatur zu ?hnlich unbestimmten Rechtsbegriffen aus anderen Bereichen des Umweltrechts auf ihre Verwertbarkeit und Anwendbarkeit überprüft. Im Ergebnis kann allein auf die im Rahmen der FFH-Vertr?glichkeitsprüfung anerkannten Kriterien zurückgegriffen werden.     

Gender,Ethnicity, and Education as Privileges: Exploring the Generalizability of the Existential Guilt Reaction

Two cross-sectional questionnaire studies were conducted to replicate and extend previous research on the existential guilt reaction. In Study I, gender was considered as a privilege. Male student participants (N = 141) were confronted with the low proportion of women in high-ranking positions and asked to appraise this situation. Self-reported behavior, behavioral intentions, and appeal to authorities aimed at advancing equal opportunities for both genders served as criterion variables. Path analyses were performed to explore the correlation structure among the variables. Self-reported behavior depended most strongly on behavioral intentions and on belief in control. Behavioral intentions depended most strongly on existential guilt. This effect accords to previous existential guilt research. Ethnicity and education were considered as privileges in Study II. Privileged Paraguayan students (N = 80) were confronted with the disadvantageous living conditions of Indians and Campesinos. They were asked to appraise the situation. Behavioral intentions and appeal to authorities directed at improving the living conditions of Indians and Campesinos served as criteria. As in Study I, existential guilt was the strongest predictor of behavioral intentions. Study II revealed the role of values in the process of existential guilt and prosocial behavior. This is a new research finding. Indirect effects of the two values of universalism and benevolence on behavioral intentions were obtained. The effect of universalism was mediated by existential guilt and moral outrage, the effect of benevolence was mediated by injustice and existential guilt. Tradition had a negative indirect effect on behavioral intentions. This effect was mediated by justification of deprivation and probably means that adherence to tradition eases the justification of traditionally existing social inequalities in a society.     

The great landowners’ curia and the reichsrat elections during the formative years of Austrian constitutionalism 1867–1873

W.P. Blockmans (ed.): Le privilège général et les privilèges régionaux de Marie de Bourgogne pour les Pays‐Bas: 1477 (Kortrijk‐Heule. UGA, 1985; Anciens Pays et Assemblées d'États LXXX. pp. 549; ISBN 90–6768–117–2; 2060BF.)

Maija Jansson (ed.): Proceedings in Parliament 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia, PA 19106: Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, lxxii; 1988; pp. lii, 560; ISBN 087169 172 8; $70.)

Robert Williams: Political Corruption in Africa (Gower Publishing Co. Ltd., London, 1987; pp. vi, 146; ISBN 0 566 00794 0; £18.50.)     

The delegations: Preliminary sketch of a semi‐parliamentary institution

Summary

The introduction of glasnost heralded a revival of interest in the last years of tsarism and the period of semi‐constitutional monarchy from 1905–1917. The October Manifesto of 1905 was the first time a Russian autocrat had devolved any part of his unlimited and autocratic powers to an elected assembly. The Duma, which met for the first time in April 1906, was a parliament, but it had limited powers and the Tsar still referred to himself as an autocrat.

During the period between the summer of 1905 and the Duma opening there was a considerable debate in Russian intellectual and political circles as to the form the new body should take and what its powers should be. This paper is primarily concerned to discuss this debate and the differing concepts of the role of the Duma. It examines the historical precedents in Russian history for the idea of such a body and looks at the ideas put forward as to the nature of the new parliament by different political groups. It concentrates on the various branches of the liberal movement but also considers briefly the attitudes taken by the socialists and within government circles.