Inventing and patenting activities of scientists: in the expectation of money or reputation?

We propose that scientists use patents/invention disclosures as signals to gain reputation than financial benefits. Based on a newly created dataset on the commercial activities among 2,500 scientists affiliated with 67 institutes of the German Max Planck Society, we explore the relation between the expectations of scientists concerning the outcomes of commercial activities and the likelihood of their patenting and disclosure behaviors. We find that expectation of gaining financial benefits are not related with the patenting activities of scientists without industrial cooperation. Instead, their expectation to gain/increase reputation through commercial activities is correlated with their patenting and disclosures activities. This may in turn also increase the possibility to gain academic promotion, financial benefits through industrial collaboration etc., rather than the immediate personal financial gains.     

Can Law Account for the Past? Law and the Road from Oblivion to Memory

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -     

What’s Inside and Outside the Law?

In this article I take up a conceptual question: What is the distinction between ‘the law’ and the behavior the law regulates, or, as I formulate it, the distinction between what is ‘inside’ the law and what is ‘outside’ it? That conceptual question is in play in (at least) three different doctrinal domains: the constitutional law doctrines regarding the limits on the delegation of legislative powers; the criminal law doctrines regarding mistakes of law; and the constitutional rights doctrines that turn on the distinction between state action and the acts of non-state actors. I argue that legal doctrines should turn solely on normative considerations and should not turn on answers to conceptual questions. However, the doctrines I discuss appear to turn on the conceptual question regarding what is ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ the law. I show how each of these doctrinal areas appears to raise this conceptual issue, and I explain how the doctrines might or might not escape being held hostage to conceptual controversy.     

Law by human intent or evolution? Some remarks on the Austrian school of economics’ role in the development of law and economics

In the late nineteenth century, economic analysis of law experienced an outright rejection by the German-speaking legal community. In the second half of the twentieth century, it became a dominant approach in American legal inquiry. We argue that this success was partly due to the insights of Austrian economics which the second wave of law and economics has incorporated. We argue that Austrian legal and economic scholars marked the two cornerstones between which the subsequent discussion oscillated: social planning versus evolution (spontaneous order).     

Juridification: Disrupting the Relationship between Law and Politics?

The article addresses some possible implications of juridification in the society. The concept of juridification is unclear, and the empirical knowledge of the social implications of various processes of juridification is weak. We argue that clear‐cut conclusions about the implications of such processes cannot be drawn. To address questions of implications of juridification processes, we focus on the relationship between law and politics. An analytical framework for the analysis of juridification processes is introduced to manage the vast implications of these processes. The discussion indicates complexity and contradictory outcomes of juridification processes. We conclude that to understand the vast complexity of the different kinds of juridification processes, we need more empirical studies from a range of academic fields, including law, economics and political sciences, and that researchers in these fields need to take a step back to get a more satisfactory analytical point of departure for such studies.     

Considering advances in neuroscience through the lenses of law and human?rights

Advances in neuroscience should be subject to a robust public dialogue that includes attention to the legal and human rights issues raised by both research and its applications.     

No Harm No Foul? Objectivism and the Law of Attempts

Law and Philosophy -     

Father–child relations in France: Changes in paternal authority in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

The history of fathers is one of the most suggestive lines of inquiry for understanding adolescents. The power of a father over his children, whether minors or those that had reached their majority, is a simple power, but one that became more complicated. The article assembles the elements needed to illustrate major trends in the long history of paternity. The adoption of the Civil Code in 1804 marked the triumph of a patriarchal system. More than 150 years later, the law of January 4, 1970 abolished paternal authority and replaced it with parental authority. Now, the father could only share parental authority with the mother on the strict condition that he is legally married to her. This seems like a linear movement, but it should be noted that it follows an earlier similar shift.     

Enduring Love? Attitudes to Family and Inheritance Law in England and Wales

This paper reports on the findings from a large-scale study of public attitudes to inheritance law, particularly the rules on intestacy. It argues that far from the assumption that the family' is in terminal decline, people in England and Wales still view their most important relationships, at least for the purposes of inheritance law, as centred on a narrow, nuclear family model. However, there is also widespread acceptance of re-partnering and cohabitation, producing generally high levels of support for including cohabitants in the intestacy rules and for ensuring that children from former relationships are protected. We argue that these views are underpinned by a continuing sense of responsibility to the members of one's nuclear family, arising from notions of sharing and commitment, dependency and support, and a sense of lineage.