How Many Seats in Congress Is Control of Redistricting Worth?

How large a benefit is partisan control of the redistricting process? Do legal constraints on redistricting—such as the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act—alter this benefit? Are institutions designed to reduce the benefit to partisan control—such as redistricting commissions—effective? To measure the effects of partisan districting on the electoral fortunes of the parties, we collect data on the partisan composition of state government, House election outcomes, and moderating institutions over an 80-year period. Our results suggest that over time, both parties have benefited from unified control, with the effects largest in states where voters were evenly divided among the parties and smallest in states where the controlling party had a large advantage in the electorate. The effects have changed over time, with both parties having equally benefited from control during the middle of the 20th century, the benefit largely disappearing in the late part of the century, and the Republican Party seeing a moderate advantage from control in the current century. The benefits of partisan control were not diminished in states with redistricting commissions. The preclearance requirement appears to have hurt the Democratic Party except when its vote share was very low. The aggregate effects of partisan redistricting are moderate in magnitude—in the modern period, this effect has typically been less than 10 House seats, with the last election where control of the House would have flipped in expectation occurring in 1954.     

胎儿地位的法哲学思考——以权利之概念分析为基础

胎儿地位问题是自罗马法以来倍受法学界关注的重要课题之一。对这一问题的探讨,必须以权利之概念分析作为基础。坚持“活着出生规则”为前提,采取概括保护与个别保护相结合的立法策略,应该作为我国民法保护胎儿利益的明智选择。     

Fundamental principles of the international protection system of intellectual property rights and the applications

Legal principle, which underlies the value of the legal system, is supposed to be the origin and basis of concrete legal rules. It has also resulted from abstracting and summarizing the value and spirit of these legal rules. In light of the universality and hierarchy of legal principle, the principles of the international protection system of intellectual property rights (IPR) can be divided into the following two types: one is the fundamental principles applied to the what, why and how a legal system shall be constructed, such as principles of sovereignty, equality and mutual benefit, joint development, and international cooperation, which also can be expressed as the principles of sovereignty, international coordination and cooperation, fairness and justice. The other type includes those existing in the legal system and capable of being applied directly, such as the principle of national treatment, principle of minimum standard, principle of independence (for industrial property right), principle of independent protection (for copyright), principle of compulsory implementing patent (for patent right) and doctrine of priority (for industrial property right), etc. In my opinion, the principles of the international protection system of IPR shall follow the latter model, indicating that they shall be provided and written in the international conventions on the grounds that they can be applied directly, and that they can be universally applied to the whole international protection system of IPR instead of exclusive application to one certain system. Hereupon, the author believes that principles concerning the international protection system of IPR should include the principles of national treatment, minimum protection standard and public interest.     

反恐、保护人权与世界和平

从国际法,尤其是国际人权法的角度,探讨“反恐与保护人权与基本自由”的关系问题。文章认为,恐怖主义严重侵犯人权,但反恐与保护人权是相辅相成的关系,反恐措施不当也会侵害人权,并对国际反恐斗争产生严重负面影响。因此,在打击恐怖主义的同时,我们也要保护人权和基本自由,注意二者的兼容性,而不应顾此失彼。在国际层面上,国际联合反恐必须纳入国际法和国际反恐公约的框架内,应以促进和平与发展、保障基本人权为最终目的。这样才能实现反恐与人权保护的协调发展,促进世界和平与安全。     

难民保护面临的国际法问题及对策

对难民提供国际保护既是人道主义的要求,也是维护国际和平与安全使然,然而拒不接受难民的趋势越来越严重。应对这一问题的法律措施,一是修改既有难民定义,扩大国际难民法的保护范围,使得各国对那些不符合既有难民定义却处于与难民同样境地的人的援助,从纯粹基于人道主义考虑的自觉自愿行为转化为法律义务。二是强调国际人权法在难民国际保护中的应有作用。将人权原理应用到难民保护领域,通过敦促国家履行国际人权保护义务来实现对难民的保护,可以克服国际难民法的固有缺陷,并强化难民国际保护的法律基础。     

中国破产法实施的法律经济分析

从契约和产权的角度,破产法改变了企业原来的合同束,并根据新的合同束界定利益相关人对企业的产权,产权界定清楚可以激励相关人为提高破产效率去行为。这就是市场化的破产理论和实践的经济学基础。市场化的破产实施方法需要配套的制度以降低实施成本,这种制度既包括人的因素,又包括市场因素。我国破产法的实施效果,也有赖于这两个因素。     

20世纪90年代以来中国公民资格权利的发展

从公民资格权利发展角度考察我国的社会转型有利于分析、解释国家面临的挑战和宏观发展轨迹。1990年代以来,在市场经济的发展、社会的分化和利益的多元化、社会公平问题、政府转型的大背景下,我国公民资格权利取得了一定进展:与市场经济建设相关的公民权利内容进一步发展,民主政治的实践使公民政治权利的形式和内容有所充实,社会权利的保护和发展尚处于探索当中。从宏观角度看,公民资格诸权利呈现出分化发展和相互推动的特点;国家主导制度构建与公民积极行使权利构成公民资格权利发展的双动力;户籍制度对权利的分等作用弱化,平等的公民资格权利的普遍化进程加速;程序性权利的设置与保障仍然不足,呈现出探索性特征。     

海外投资的外交保护

海外利益是指境外的国家利益,属于国家利益的组成部分。WTO规则,特别是与贸易有关的投资协定更是国际法规则的一部分。外交保护是指一国针对其国民因另一国国际不法行为而受的损害,以国家的名义为该国国民采取外交行动或其他和平解决手段。对海外投资的外交保护是海外投资保护的最后的也是最有效的途径和方式,可以进一步维护和拓展中国的海外利益。     

从事实到规范:物权法民意基础的实证研究——以土地问题为中心

以社会调查数据为判断标准,物权法对土地制度发展的事实,既有呼应,也有背离、漠视、逃避和模糊。呼应主要包括:明确坚持保护私有财产;妥善规定承包经营权的流转、登记的效力、土地使用权到期后的处理等。背离表现为:继续强调集体土地所有权。漠视表现为:未规定建设用地使用权的类型和取得时效;未明确承认宅基地使用权、集体建设用地使用权的流转等。逃避表现为:未能明确统一登记的具体机构及其设置等。模糊表现为:未能清楚界定征收条件、征收中物权的变动时间、登记审查等。