Economic efficiency in the provision of legal services: The private practitioner and the law centre

This paper seeks to examine the efficiency of the provision of legal services by alternative institutional modes of supply. Using a sample of unfair dismissal cases handled by a private practitioner and a law centre, an analysis of inputs and outputs was carried out. The objective of this analysis was to try to determine whether any systematic differences in these variables could be detected between the two legal modes. Although our sample size does not permit the drawing of broad generalizations, the results do represent a first step towards a full assessment of legal services supplied. There are important policy implications which could be drawn from this study regarding the mode of provision which the government should favour in maintaining or extending the availability of public funding for legal services.     

Towards Efficiency in Attributing Criminal Liability to Corporations: Canadian and Brazilian Regimes Compared

This article compares Canadian treatment of corporate criminal liability with that in Brazil, examining whether there are ways in which one system can learn from the other. It is argued that the Canadian model could provide a starting point for revision of Brazilian legal principles in this area that, would encourage the public to recognize that crimes committed by corporations should be taken seriously. However, because criminal liability requires a high burden of proof and is therefore difficult to secure, the Brazilian regime of strict liability may ultimately be useful in encouraging compliance by corporations, assuming sanctions are severe enough and detection of violations by law enforcers is enhanced. The solution may therefore consist in the use of both these regimes, as is currently the case with anticorruption law in the UK.     

Contract Governance in the EU: Conceptualising the Relationship between Investor Protection Regulation and Private Law

The instrumental use of private law, in particular contract law, by the EU raises a complex issue concerning the relationship between contract‐related regulation and traditional private law and underlines the need for conceptualising the interplay between the two from the contract governance perspective. The present article aims to apply this new analytical approach in the investment services field where there is considerable tension between the EU investor protection regulation embodied in the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID I and MiFID II) and national private laws. The article explores various models of relationship between investor protection regulation and traditional private law within a multi‐level EU legal order, considering the strengths and weaknesses of each field in pursuing public and private interests involved in financial contracting. This analysis also offers some lessons for the broader narrative of how European integration in regulated areas dominated by public supervision and enforcement could proceed.     

Legal Aid in the Eye of a Storm: Rationing, Contracting, and a New Institutionalism

This article discusses possible rationales underlying a legal aid system through an articulation of theories of distribution in the legal services market, considers the idea of prioritization and planning or, in the political vernacular, rationing of public funding, and addresses the impact of economic and social theories of the professions on legal aid structures. Finally, the emerging concepts of 'new-institutionalism' and 'new public management' are introduced to indicate the organizational and sociological complexity of reforming the legal services market. Each of these threads illustrate competing values and institutional influence on publicly funded legal services. Bureaucratic rules mix with professional and economic incentives to articulate entitlement to public money in a predominantly private forum. Drawing on research in the field of rationing health care, sociological and economic work on legal services, and organizational theories, it will be demonstrated that conceptual, policy, and research tools need to play closer attention to this competition of values.     

论公私法的划分对冲突法的影响——外国公法作为准据法的可行性分析

公私法的划分对冲突法的影响主要表现为:外国公法是否可以作为准据法?对于这一问题在国际私法学界是有争论的。本文在分析了公私法的划分在实体法和冲突法上的不同表现后,重点论述了外国公法作为准据法的可行性,和实现外国公法成为准据法的条件。     

公私法的划分与法的内在结构

公私法的划分是法理学的基本问题之一 ,也是建设中国特色社会主义法律体系必须解决的一个基本问题。本文回顾了公私法划分的历史 ,评析了学者们关于公私法划分的根据 ,对公私法的含义进行了新的阐释 ,认为公私法的划分是法的内在结构问题 ,划分公私法的直接根据是法律调整的不同方法 ,而法律调整的方法 ,基本上或主要地决定于法律调整的对象。明确这一问题 ,有利于澄清长期困扰法理学界的一些重要问题 ,以便根据法律调整对象的不同和实际生活的需要 ,选择最佳的法律调整方法 ,这对建设中国特色社会主义法律体系具有重大的指导意义     

Why we need the independent sector: the behavior, law, and ethics of not-for-profit hospitals

Among the major forms of corporate ownership, the not-for-profit ownership form is distinct in its behavior, legal constraints, and moral obligations. A new empirical analysis of the American Hospital industry, using eleven years of data for all urban general hospitals in the country, shows that corporate form accounts for large differences in the provision of specific medical services. Not-for-profit hospitals systematically provide both private and public goods that are in the public interest, and that other forms fail to provide. Two hypotheses are proposed to account for the findings, one legal and one moral. While no causal claims are made, not-for-profit hospital behavior is consistent with the behavior required by law and morality. The moral argument, developed as a preliminary theory of not-for-profit ethics, also provides a potential reason to prefer not-for-profit hospitals. The findings provide a new justification for the not-for-profit tax exemption for hospitals, and also suggest new uses for ownership categories as regulatory tools.     

论公民环境权及其法律保障

公民环境权是一项新型基本人权,应该成为法律上的权利和公民实有权利。从其内容体系和性质分析,公民环境权是一种复合型权利,兼具公益性和私益性双重属性。全面构建公民环境权的法律保障体系,需从以下几方面着手:确立公民环境权的完法地位;在环境立法中系统规定公民环境权的具体内容;公益性环境权应构筑以环境法和行政法为主的保障和救济途径;私益性环境权应构筑以民法为主的保障和救济途径。     

The Government’s Regulatory Obligations to Public Utilities Franchise

Under the public utilities franchise system, the executive branch may transfer the task of providing public utilities services for the common good to a private party. It should undertake to regulate and prevent the private party from pursuing its own interests to the detriment of public interest while discharging its duty under the public utilities franchise. Since any public interest must be enjoyed by all individuals, we can say that the obligations owed under administrative regulations aim at the ultimate goal of increasing individual welfare. In the public utilities franchise system, regulations of this kind can be divided into six different categories: maintaining and promoting necessary market competition, ensuring the continuity of public utilities services, ensuring non-discriminatory provision of public utilities services, ensuring the quality of public utilities services, ensuring reasonable charges for public utilities services, and ensuring the conservation of energy and protection of the environment while providing public utilities services. The absence of governmental regulation of the provision of public utilities and of reforms in such services in China has harmed both public interest and the rights and interests of consumers. Some of the problems caused include chaotic market access for public utilities, no guarantee of the sustainability of public utilities, the failure of the universality of public utilities, declining quality of public utilities, sharp rise in the prices of public utilities, insufficient regulations on the conservation of energy and environmental protection, and so on. In order to achieve the effective implementation of the administrative regulations and obligations therein with respect to public utilities and the maximization of public interest, the Chinese government should enhance its consciousness of regulating public utilities, improve the legal system to regulate public utilities, perfect the regulatory system for public utilities, and establish a system of liability to compensate for failures in regulation.     

法律援助制度的几个问题

中国法律援助经历了从 1 994年初起发展到今天的过程。法律援助的概念有广、狭二义之分 ;其性质是法律之助 ,即援助公民个人或者人民法院不向受援人收费或者少收、缓收从而在法律方面提供帮助以维护其合法权益的行为。法律援助的特别包括 :具有国家、社会承担援助的公助性 ;受援人享受法律援助的无偿性和优惠性 ;律师、公证员等提供帮助的法律专业性。法律援助的理论基础有四 :权利保障之要求 ;实现控、辩双方力度平衡之条件 ;司法公正之所需和扶贫助弱法制化发展之必然     

How damages recovery actions can improve the fight against corruption: the crisis of criminal law policies and the role of private enforcement in an Italian case of judicial corruption

In many countries corruption is rife, despite the fact that there is a criminal-law legislative framework for corruption. Italy is one of these countries. The commitment of judges and prosecutors to combating instances of corruption is often frustrated by the consequences of the excessive length of the proceedings. The fight against corruption has been carried out mainly in the field of criminal law. The criminalisation of corruption both in domestic and in international contexts is not enough to reduce corrupt practices. In the last decade another front in the fight against corruption has been explored: the private law approach as a complement to criminal law policies. Indeed, the same corrupt practise may be subject both to criminal proceedings by public authority and to civil proceedings by the victims of corruption. The argument that private law instruments may be used in order to achieve a public policy goal is not new and goes beyond the definition of "private enforcement" in the context of competition law. The idea of creating a favourable social and legal background to encourage the victims of anti-competitive practices can also be transposed to the fight against corruption. In fact, in many cases of corruption the low percentage of successful criminal persecution and the class of punishment associated with corruption offences do not represent a deterrent, considering the benefits deriving from bribe. This paper aims to address the question as to whether private law remedies under national legal systems could constitute an effective disincentive against corrupt practices, alongside criminal prosecutions. The case CIR vs. Fininvest, Lodo Mondadori is one of the first cases involving damages actions resulting from corrupt practices, and addresses two of the main obstacles to civil actions in this field: evidence and the quantification of damages.     

论环境民事公益诉讼

环境权是一项公益性与私益性相结合的权利。因此,既可私益诉讼,也应允许公益诉讼。无论英美法系还是大陆法系,许多国家,对涉及公益的诉讼都建立了相应的诉讼机制,其中环境公益诉讼在这些规定中往往占重要地位。而我国现行的法律框架里,并无环境民事公益诉讼的立足之地。相反,实践却在急迫的呼唤环境民事公益诉讼的出现。因此,我国可借鉴外国立法模式,建立具有中国特色的环境民事公益诉讼法律制度。     

INFORMATION COSTS AND LEGAL SERVICES

Most of the current debate on the effective provision of legal services ignores the centrality of information costs. It is argued that conventional controls do not address this issue, especially where clients are infrequent users of legal services and the services required are nonroutine. In this segment of the market for legal services there is an "adverse selection" problem that will drive down the quality of legal services. Existing methods of ensuring quality legal services to this segment of the market are unlikely to be effective. It is suggested that only legal agents with incentives and opportunities to acquire information can mitigate the adverse selection problem. The English bifurcation of lawyers into barristers and solicitors partly performs such a function and provides a model for possible innovations in the North American context.     

Market Processes, Standardisation, and Tort Law

Private standards play a decisive role in tort law and in administrative law. Although they seem to be a perfect tool to achieve the goal of European integration, they tend to substitute democratic legitimacy with uncontrolled private governance. The loss of democratic control is accentuated by the failure of markets to provide sufficient incentives for standardising organisations to behave in a non-opportunistic manner. The dangers of cartelisation and oligopolistic behaviour are obvious. The approach to overcome these deficits is complex: on the one hand, an institutional governance of private organisations is necessary to incorporate third party interests in the process of enacting private standards; on the other hand, the legal effects of private standards have to be restricted to mere assumptions dependent on the democratic quality of their enacting process. The problem of democratic legitimacy is aggravated by the parallel substitution of state authorities' control by means of private certification organisations which control only the management procedures of firms. As these management systems are difficult to be evaluate, the opportunities for opportunistic behaviour amongst firms and certifiers increases. Moreover, markets themselves fail to discipline certifiers by virtue of a lack of observable factors which might indicate the quality of certification. Tort law, too, cannot fulfil that gap by providing liability for damages caused by undue certifications because tort law suffers from a variety of shortcomings such as missing protection of public goods and difficult assessments of causation linkages. In sum, the author argues for a mixture of market incentives, tort law and administrative law. Each sector must fill in the gaps left by the others.     

公私法关系论

公私法的划分是现代国家的基本制度，我国的法律制度也遵循公私法划分法理。公私法既有相同性，又有不同性。相同性主要是具有共同的市民社会基础，某些权利义务具有公私法的双重属性，某些法律原因和客体也是相同的。不同性主要是表现为主体地位是否平等，是否允许自治以及是否等价有偿。也存在公私法规范综合的第三法域，在公私法的相同性领域，公法无规定的，可准用私法规定。     

Section 1983 litigation: An effective remedy to police misconduct or an insidious federalism?

In recent years the federal courts have experienced a dramatic increase in civil suits alleging police misconduct under the federal provision, 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, which was originally enactd as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1871. Section 1983, presently the second most litigated provision of the United States Code, grants a private right of action for redressing violations of federal and Constitutional rights committed by persons (including municipalities) acting under color of state law. The recent development of Section 1983 as a mechanism for controlling police misconduct has profound implications for New Federalism, public official conduct and traditional legal doctrines (such as the exclusionary rule). This study reviews the legal basis for civil liability remedies, examines the impact of recent developments on police behavior, and explores the policy considerations underlying an assessment of this expanding legal remedy as a viable option in preventing police misconduct.     

Public‐Private Arbitration and the Public Interest under English Law

Together with the increase in the number of public‐private contracts, recent years have seen a marked proliferation in public‐private arbitrations. This article explores the public interest implications which may arise in such arbitrations and examines how public‐private arbitration is treated under English law. We argue that, due to the lack of a developed administrative law sphere in England and the historical development of arbitration as an exclusively private mode of dispute resolution, the current legal framework of arbitration in England has developed around the private law paradigm of a commercial dispute involving private actors. This private law paradigm results in a conceptual and legal void in respect of how public interest is accounted for, and protected, in arbitrations involving public bodies under English law. Therefore, we suggest that English arbitration law needs to be amended to adequately protect the private interest in public‐private arbitration.     

法律的私人执行

法律执行可分为公共执法和私人执法。基于法律执行经济分析 ,结合民间收债、私人侦探、私刑等社会现象 ,可认为法律的私人执行是阐释私力救济的另一种思路 ,而提升私人执法的作用将成为法制变革的方向。私人执法与公共执法应保持平衡、相互补充。     

The Missing View of the Cathedral: The Private Law Paradigm of European Legal Integration

The traditional partition between public and private law continues to reinforce the belief that public law is the only proper realm of political debate, where decisions having redistributional consequences are and should be taken. This allows for a seemingly minor role of private law in the debate on European integration. This article challenges such a traditional image by noticing the central role of private law in the several legal systems of the European Union, and by analysing a few instances of resistance to private law integration. The analysis suggests that, while fully engaged in debating the public law implications of integration, Member States strive to keep civil adjudication within their control and to protect the self–contained, autonomous structure of their codes (or sets of private law doctrines) from the disruptive impact of European legislation. Integrationist pressures compel national legal actors to make explicit the social and economic choices underlying private law rules. Against such pressures, States' resistance may take the shape of formalist entrenchment.     

Public markets, private orderings and corporate governance

In the New Property Rights approach the degree of incompleteness of markets is taken independently of the cost of the public ordering and of their efficiency relatively to private orderings. In this approach “public markets,” similarly to a Swiss cheese, are either assumed to be nonexistent empty holes (because of infinite third party verification costs) or assumed to be smooth and efficient (because of zero third party verification costs). When we allow for positive but not infinite third party verification costs we are necessarily pushed back to the insights of Commons, Coase, Fuller and Williamson. The degree of (in)completeness of public markets becomes an endogenous economic problem and managers can be seen as agents that make “second order” specific investments to run specific relations that cannot be efficiently handled by public markets. Managers and the public authorities build respectively private and public “legal equilibria” that set the working rules within which transactions can take place. Private and public legal equilibria are not only substitutes but also complements. This complementarity is an important source of the path dependency that characterizes the development of different legal systems. The framework is applied to GM’s acquisition of Fisher Body. We suggest that, contrary to the claims of the New property Rights approach, the advantages of the acquisition were not due to the superior incentives of the new private owners but should be rather related to the replacement of public markets by the new private ordering set up by Alfred Sloan.