The Changing Face of the Yakuza

Over the last half century, Japan has undergone considerable political, economic and social change. In response to these changes, Japan's criminal organisations, collectively known as yakuza, have themselves rapidly adapted. This chapter explores these developments. The two main factors driving the yakuza's historical development are first, changing market opportunities and secondly, vagaries in the legal and law-enforcement environment in which these groups operate. During the last decade these two factors have had a serious impact on the yakuza fortunes; the 1992 bōryokudan (yakuza) countermeasures law and Japan's protracted economic woes following the collapse of the bubble economy in 1990 have made their lives considerably harder. Since then, legal and social developments have further undermined these groups. While the yakuza have attempted to reduce the impact of these developments by adopting a lower profile and strengthening the mechanisms by which inter-syndicate disputes are resolved peacefully, there is inevitably a tension here with their members' needs to make money. The continued existence of illegal markets, and the lack of political will to seriously tackle these groups, makes the survival of these groups a certainty. However, the space within which they can operate has diminished and is diminishing.     

衡平法、用益与信托:英国信托法的早期史概说

英美信托制源自用益制。在用益和信托的早期史上,大法官法院基于拯救受托人的良心的衡平管辖权赋予了用益和信托以法律上的保障,而衡平法从"良心到衡平"的变化通过塑造衡平权益使得信托得以制度化。     

论诉讼信托和讨债信托的效力——探讨《信托法》第11条第4项

我国《信托法》第11条第4项规定,专以诉讼或者讨债为目的设立的信托无效。然而,该条文是对日本《信托法》移植的结果,我国并没有禁止诉讼信托和讨债信托的理由。同时,该条文容易被规避且难以被认定,在司法实践中缺乏适用的空间。再者,该条文不仅与我国现行的诸多法律条文和制度产生冲突,而且与我国减少社会不良资产和增强我国公民法律意识、维权意识的目的相违背,故应当删除。事实上,诉讼信托和讨债信托不仅符合信托设立的要求,而且能使债权人、债务人受益,并起到减少讼累等有利效果,因此,应当承认诉讼信托和讨债信托在我国的合法地位。     

正义召唤良知,良知追求正义——从19世纪法国德雷福斯案件谈起

在任何国度和社会中 ,知识分子都应该是社会良知的一种象征。因为他们来自不同社会阶层 ,集合成一个相对独立的社会群体 ,最能够不受阶级利益的局限、最能从理想和理智的角度、最能凭着做人的良知 ,表明自己的观点和立场。事实上 ,知识分子在重大政治事件面前的立场和行动 ,国家和社会对知识分子立场与行动的反应 ,往往能折射出特定国家和社会的政治生活状况及其得失。在 19世纪末法国发生的德雷福斯案件中 ,法国知识分子在社会良知支配下 ,挺身主张正义。他们的勇气 ,他们对正义的不屈追求 ,他们的自我牺牲精神 ,正是实现其自身价值和履行其社会职责的过程。     

论土地征收行为的合法性和适当性

为有效规制土地征收权,加强对土地征收行为合法性与适当性的审查,本文从土地征收的目的、主体和程序等几个方面对土地征收行为的合法性进行了分析和论证．并依据行政行为合理性的内容时土地征收行为的适当性进行了分析．以期形成对土地征收行为合法性和适当性进行判断和考量的客观标准。     

Revision of Department of Justice Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act Regulations and Implementation of Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996--DoJ. Proposed Rule

This document sets forth proposed revision of the Department's regulations under both the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Privacy Act of 1974. The FOIA and Privacy Act regulations have been streamlined and condensed, in accordance with the principles of the National Performance Reviews. With more "user-friendly" language wherever possible. These revisions also reflect the principles established by President Clinton and Attorney General Reno in their FOIA Policy Memoranda of October 4, 1993. The new statement of discretionary disclosure policy will supercede the existing regulation regarding discretionary access to records of historical interest. Additionally, the regulations have been updated to reflect developments in the case law and to include updated cost figures to be used in calculating and charging fees. These proposed revisions also contain new provisions implementing the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996.     

Face Off: The Ironic,The Irenic and the Face Between

The formation of a school, whether feminist, critical, Marxist or other involves the establishment of a doctrine – literally a teaching – and a group of students or followers – the disciples who form the discipline. No doctrine without disciples has been the history of the schools and the formative principle of academic movements. They exist in the end to convert their students, old to young, male to female, female to male, or female to female, or any other possible combination of orientations. And conversion implies orthodoxy, institutionalization and hierarchy or at least a relation to hieros and hierarchy. This paper examines these themes in terms of the specific example of feminist legal studies and a curious recent discursive event, a polemical exchange on the identity of the movement, the face of feminist legal studies, as viewed through a eulogy and a challenge to that praise. Thanks to Richard Collier, Margaret Davies, Margaret Halliwell, Elena Loizidou, Desmond Manderson, Ngaire Naffine for correspondence, for relevant discussions, and candid responses. Especial thanks to Thanos Zartaloudis for a peculiarly detailed and hospitable reading, offered at a time when it would have been much easier, both just and more appropriate for him to say very little, almost nothing. And emotive thanks as well to Linda Mills for her customary frankness and finely honed attention.     

Title by Registration: Rectification,Indemnity and Mistake and the Land Registration Act 2002

Our understanding of the system of registered title is crucial to our understanding of real property in general but there is no consensus as to the best way to interpret ‘correcting a mistake’ in Schedule 4 LRA 2002. This provision should be interpreted to mean that subsequent registrations following a ‘mistaken’ registration are not in themselves a mistake. Section 58 means that the subsequent transferee is relying on good title and a valid transfer and this ought to protect them from rectification. Where an original registered proprietor loses out as a result of this interpretation, they should be entitled to an indemnity however and this requires a change of approach to the interpretation of Schedule 8 LRA 2002. This approach best accords with the logic of the principle of title by registration whilst also avoiding a clash with Article 1, Protocol 1 ECHR.     

Speed Bumps On The Information Superhighway: A Study Of Federal Agency Compliance With The Electronic Freedom Of Information Act Of 1996

The Electronic Freedom of Information Act of 1996 amended the Freedom of Information Act of 1966 to clarify that computerized agency records are subject to disclosure under the FOIA. Congress passed the 1996 amendments because federal agencies for many years had been withholding computerized records and databases from the public. Another feature of the EFOIA requires agencies to publish their policies and rules on the Internet. The rationale behind this provision was to guard against the development of "secret law" known only to agency officials, but not to members of the public who deal with the agencies. The purpose of this article is to examine how federal agencies have complied with the EFOIA in its first few years of implementation. A look at the documented early history of EFOIA compliance reveals agency performance has been marked by slow starts, missed deadlines and general confusion over exactly what kinds of records qualify as disclosable records under the statute.     

The Land Registration Act 2002 – the Show on the Road

This article reviews the Land Registration Act 2002, taking advantage of the deeper perspective afforded by the intervening decade, and absorbing subsequent developments – and, in the case of the Act's electronic conveyancing project, non‐developments – that have also come to contribute to the picture. It suggests especially that while the Act's central idea of conclusive, indeed ‘constitutive’, registration can be beneficial, its deployment here has been problematic. In particular, the lapse of electronic conveyancing, and the possibility (resisted by the courts) that conclusive registration can be procured by fraudsters, have diminished the control that parties have over dispositions of their own title, to the detriment of their autonomy; and over‐preoccupation with the central idea has resulted in a failure to think carefully enough about problems to which it was never going to be the answer.