A coup d'état in law's empire: Dworkin's Hercules meets Atlas

In Law's Empire, Ronald Dworkin advances two incompatible versions of law as integrity. On the strong thesis, political integrity understood as coherence in fundamental moral principles constitutes an overriding constraint on justice, fairness and due process. On the weak thesis, political integrity, while a value, is not to be privileged over justice, fairness, and due process, but to be weighed along with them. I argue that the weak thesis is superior on both of Dworkin's criteria: fit and justifiability. However, the weak thesis must be amended to allow for coherence in policies as well as in principles: the social consequences of legal decisions must be taken into account.I would like to thank Kenneth Kiprnis for his helpful comments on earlier drafts.     

Employee assistance for law enforcement: A brief review

A brief review of the concept and practice of providing various services to police employees similar to those in private industry is presented. These include Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) that may be either internal or external in relation to the structure of the organization. Such efforts may also be found in law enforcement organizations. In addition, a hybrid model for law enforcement is examined. This involves a working alliance between an internal Peer Support Program and an external EAP. This model may provide immediate assistance to an otherwise resistant population and, in turn, pave the way for additional aid from mental health professionals. Confidentiality issues are presented. A brief review of recommended peer supporter characteristics is offered. Author Note: David B. Goldstein has been a police officer for approximately 25 years. He is presently The Chief of Police in Winthrop, MA. He retired from the NH State Police with the rank of Captain. He has a Ph.D. in Human Services/Criminal Justice, M.S. in Public Health, and a B.A. in Psychology. He is a Peer Supporter/Counselor, Crisis (Hostage) Negotiator, Polygraph Examiner, and Forensic Counselor. Chief Goldstein is a Fellow of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and a Diplomate (Crisis Intervention & Forensic Traumatology) of the American College of Forensic Examiners, International.     

A step back in time: nineteenth century US patent law revisited

‘A book may be good for nothing; or there may be onlyone thing in it worth knowing; are we to read it all through?’(Samuel Johnson) This section is dedicated to the review ofideas, articles, books, films and other media. It will includereplies (and rejoinders) to articles, the evaluation of newideas or proposals, and reviews of books and articles both directlyand indirectly related to intellectual property law.

A Treatise on the Law of Patents for Useful Inventions, FourthEdition By George T. Curtis 1873; Boston: Little Brown Books.Reprinted 2006; Clerk, New Jersey: Lawbook Exchange. Price:US$150, ISBN: 1584775807, pages xxxvii + 749   In the United Kingdom, the great patent treatise of the twentiethcentury     

A socio-legal quest: from jurisprudence to sociology of law and back again

How should socio-legal studies view jurisprudence, the legal theory of jurists? Jurisprudence's task is to promote law as a socially valuable idea taking various forms in different times and places. As a value-oriented and context-focused enterprise, it should draw on the social sciences to make its inquiries relevant in a changing socio-legal world. Correspondingly, socio-legal research needs theory to link its empirical inquiries to an overall sense of what can be hoped for from law as a social phenomenon. In different ways, jurisprudence and socio-legal inquiry should help to theorize the nature of legal practice and legal experience. They are necessarily distinct enterprises with contrasting orientations, but they can aid each other in important ways.     

The autonomy of law in the war on terror: A contribution from social systems theory

The article analyses the impact of post-2001 counterterrorism policies on the autonomy of law, focussing on American and British measures and adopting social systems theory as a theoretical framework. Contemporary societies are conceptualised as social systems in which law operates as an autonomous subsystem. Its autonomy primarily is based on constant reference by decisions to the binary coding “legal/illegal” associated with the application of specific legal principles and procedures. Following the terrorist attacks of 2001, the structure of societal differentiation has been under attack from a twofold risk. A political risk is posed by armed organisations such as Al-Qaeda because of their threats to states sovereignty. An additional risk in relation to law depends on extraordinary powers, such as those established by certain recent antiterrorism legislation and several executive provisions. States attempt to subordinate decisions related to the new counterterrorism policies to the test of their “efficiency/inefficiency” in guaranteeing security, at the expense of questions about their “legal/illegal” nature and legal constraints. An analysis of the special detention at Guantanamo Bay provides evidence of a complex set of decisions endangering the autonomy of law.     

论法学的人性论传统

法的基础的核心是人性。中国传统法学和西方法学大都是以人性论为基础的。同样,马克思主义法学也有自己的人性论。人性论不是资产阶级的专利。现在自由主义法学所面临的问题无不与人性有关。     

Putting fault back into products liability: A modest reconstruction of tort theory

This paper postulates that the proper function of tort law is to provide protection from, and redress of, non-consensual invasions of individual rights of person and property. It then proceeds to analyze and criticize, in that context, several theories of the law of unintentional torts including traditional English negligence law and the models of Posner, Fletcher and Epstein. That analysis proceeds in terms of the answers of each theory to a uniform set of questions which must be answered by any theory of the law of unintentional harms. The paper concludes that none of the theories examined is rights-based or, indeed, consistent with the existence of individual rights of person and property.The paper goes on to elucidate a theory of liability which is rights-based. That theory turns out to be variant of traditional English negligence law in which reasonable foreseeability of harm to legally recognized rights or interests is the sole criterion of liability, the burden of precautions on the agent of the harm being explicitly excluded from consideration.Finally, the rights-based theory is applied to the area of products liability. It is demonstrated that this area of the law of unintentional harm does have the same moral foundations as the general law of negligence so that resort to the anomalous, and amoral, constructs of fictitious warranties, strict liability, enterprise liability and the deep pocket is neither appropriate nor necessary.     

Crime clearance rates in Canadian municipalities: A test of Donald Black's theory of law

Donald Black's theory of law has been considered an important theory in the sociology of law. However, while the theory views law as a quantity variable, there has been limited empirical support from quantitative studies. This study offers a quantitative test of Black's theory using data from 579 Canadian municipalities. The results show that the quantity of law, in terms of crime clearance rates, varies positively with stratification, morphology, culture, and organization just as Black's theory has predicted. In addition, population size, population density, the property and violent crime rates, and policing resources also affect the clearance rates. These findings support the general notion that there is more law for certain groups and under certain social conditions. Also, most of the findings are consistent with Black's theory, thus supporting its viability as a sociological theory. In addition, two seemingly contradictory explanations, the resource explanation and the need/dependency explanation, are proposed to interpret the findings. These contradictory and yet complementary explanations perhaps reflect the reality of law in society.     

邓小平法治理论是依法治国的指南

邓小平法治理论是邓小平理论的重要组成部分 ,其内容十分丰富 ,涉及到我国法制建设的各个方面 ,但其核心精神十分明确 ,即 :完善法律制度是根本。这一极其重要的结论 ,是邓小平同志在对我们党和国家法制建设的经验教训进行深刻反思的基础上得出的。在我国全面进行经济、政治、行政体制改革的背景下 ,邓小平同志对加强行政法制建设、保证政府严格依法行政作出了一系列重要论述 ,主要包括 :一要加强行政组织立法 ,二要严格依法行政 ,三要加强对行政权力的监督和制约。依法治国 ,建设社会主义法治国家是一个长期而复杂的历史进程 ,是社会主义制度的伟大创新 ,在这一创新过程中 ,当务之急就是要以邓小平法治理论为指导 ,努力探索适合我国国情的法治道路 ,正确处理依法治国向纵深推进过程中面临的一些重大关系