Genetic citizenship: DNA testing and the Israeli Law of Return

The Israeli State recently announced that it may begin to use genetic tests to determine whether potential immigrants are Jewish or not. This development would demand a rethinking of Israeli law on the issue of the definition of Jewishness. In this article, we discuss the historical and legal context of secular and religious definitions of Jewishness and rights to immigration in the State of Israel. We give a brief overview of different ways in which genes have been regarded as Jewish, and we discuss the relationship between this new use of genetics and the society with which it is co-produced. In conclusion, we raise several questions about future potential impacts of Jewish genetics on Israeli law and society.     

Does court-supervised reorganization work? Evidence from post-confirmation firm failure

Unlike the US Chapter 11, the Belgian reorganization legislation requires that distressed firms remain temporarily under court-supervision during the post-confirmation stage. Using a hand-collected sample of firms, we analyze the likelihood of business failure and the time to failure during this period. Less viable firms are more likely to fail and do faster so, indicating relatively effective reorganization proceedings. Firms that are indebted to highly secured banks or owe high sums of unpaid taxes are more likely to fail. Judicial discretion affects the likelihood of failure only in a subsample of sole proprietorships.     

系统法学在中国——纪念全国首届法制系统科学讨论会召开15周年

1 98 5年全国首届法制系统科学讨论会的召开 ,标志着系统法学在中国的崛起。其历史背景是多种社会文化因素作用于法制建设和法学研究的结果。运用系统法学的“结构目标”和“效果目标”对其反馈检验 ,发现虽然成果累累 ,但是“目标差”巨大。系统法学面临着非常规意义上的挑战。     

Egg freezing,stratified reproduction and the logic of not

This commentary examines social and political implications of social egg freezing in a market that is stratified, globalized, and part of a larger bioeconomy. John Robertson''s article and public discourse prompted by Facebook and Apple''s ‘corporate egg freezing’ benefits provide touchstones for interrogating social and industry practices that embrace making reproductive capacity marketable. Supply of the cells and bodies necessary for assisted reproductive technology use depends on market thinking and structural inequality. What the industry produces are carefully calibrated social-political distances between participants in egg freezing and banking, as well as ‘third party reproduction.’     

Reformperspektiven für den Bundesrat

Eine Ländermitwirkung an der oberstaatlichen Willensbildung (insb Gesetzgebung) gehört unbestreitbar zu den Merkmalen eines (echten) Bundesstaates. Über die Formen und Wege, vor allem über die Gegenstände und die Intensität einer solchen Länderbeteiligung wird seit längerem in Wissenschaft und Öffentlichkeit kontrovers diskutiert. Das Vorhaben der neuen Koalitionsregierung für eine "Staatsreform" gibt Anlass zu neuerlicher Reflexion. Der Beitrag unterzieht die wesentlichsten früheren Reformideen (einschließlich jener im Österreich-Konvent und der Äusserung des Bundespräsidenten von 2005) einer kritischen Analyse und rechtspolitischen Bewertung. Abschließend werden Möglichkeiten einer Verbesserung und Flexibilisierung der Entscheidungsverfahren im Bundesstaat erörtert.     

Forward,Gillick: Are competent children autonomous medical decision makers? New developments in Australia

Another chapter has opened in the tortured history of the status of Gillick competence. Never before has Gillick been extended to permit a mature child to make autonomous medical decisions over and above the curial ‘parens patriae’ power. In 2013, two judicial decisions promulgated from different Australian courts are in conflict over this most fundamental of questions. This Article situates the law of the ‘parens patriae’ power in Australia and, drawing on overseas conceptualizations of analogous doctrine, explores the bases for and potential consequences of this conflict.     

Anthropological analyses of 30 insertion/deletion autosomal markers in five major ethnic groups of Pakistan

We investigated the forensic efficacy of the 30 insertion/deletion (Indel) markers included in the Qiagen Investigator® DIPplex kit in 529 Pakistani individuals from five major subpopulations in Pakistan (Punjabi, Pashtun, Sindhi, Saraiki, and Baloch). In the Sindhi population, the distribution of HLD81 and HLD97 alleles deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium after Bonferroni correction. The combined match probability ranged from 2.0E-12 (Pashtun and Baloch) to 1.0E-12 (Sindhi), and the mean paternity exclusion power varied from 0.995 (Punjabi, Sindhi, and Saraiki) to 0.996 (Pashtun and Baloch). The high combined power of discrimination (0.999 999 999 999 97) and low combined match probability (1.7E-12) for all subpopulations studied support the utility of the 30 Indel markers for forensic identification in the studied subpopulations. The allele frequencies of the Indel markers in the Pakistani subpopulations were compared with those from 18 other populations. The results show that the populations clustered according to geography. The subpopulations investigated in this work showed a close genetic relationship with others from Pakistan, as well as with South Central Asian and Middle Eastern populations. The results suggest that the Investigator^® DIPplex kit can be useful as a supplementary tool for human identification in the five Pakistani subpopulations investigated in this study.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/20961790.2021.1933366 .     

Strafrecht im Wandel

Der Beitrag analysiert die Entwicklung der Strafrechtswissenschaft und der Kriminalpolitik und gibt eine Standortbestimmung des materiellen und formellen Strafrechts sowie des kriminalpolitischen Diskurses heute. Die kritische Bewertung zeigt zugleich Entwicklungslinien für zukünftige Herausforderungen auf.     

Das Energieausweis-Vorlage-Gesetz

Mit der Verabschiedung des Energieausweis-Vorlage-Gesetzes (EAVG) ist im Schatten der Wohnrechtsnovelle 2006 noch ein weiteres den wohnrechtlichen Bereich betreffendes Gesetzesprojekt am Ende der 22. Legislaturperiode zum Abschluss gebracht worden. Der folgende Beitrag soll einen ersten überblick über die Regelungsinhalte dieses neuen Bundesgesetzes geben.     

Objective evaluation of similarity scores derived by Evofinder® system for marks on bullets fired from Chinese Norinco QSZ-92 pistols

In recent years, many studies have been conducted in the field of firearm identification with the objective of providing an objective method of evaluating the comparison of cartridge cases. However, less attention has been paid to the objective evaluation of bullet comparisons. In this study, 1 000 registered Chinese Norinco QSZ-92 pistols were used, and a database of 2 996 bullets was constructed. Both the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the score-based likelihood ratio method were used to objectively evaluate the similarity scores derived by the Evofinder^® system. The results indicate that this system has excellent ability to discriminate between the selected pistols. This paper proposes an objective evaluation method, which serves as a response to the ongoing debates regarding the foundation of the discipline.     

Warenverkehrsfreiheit versus sektorales Fahrverbot: Europäische Verkehrspolitik und nationale Handlungsspielräume

Die mit 1. Jänner 2008 in Kraft getretene VO des Landeshauptmannes von Tirol, mit der auf einem Teilstück der A 12 Inntal-Autobahn der Transport bestimmter Güter im Fernverkehr verboten wird, stellt den zweiten derartigen Versuch der Tiroler Landespolitik dar, dem stetig ansteigenden Alpentransitverkehr Einhalt zu gebieten. Das gegen diese "Sektorale Fahrverbots-VO neu" eingeleitete Vertragsverletzungsverfahren gegen Österreich soll zum Anlass genommen werden, die mit der Transitproblematik einhergehenden Fragestellungen in Bezug auf die europäische Verkehrspolitik zu erörtern. Dabei wird va die Frage in den Mittelpunkt gerückt, ob den Mitgliedstaaten überhaupt noch eine Regelungsautonomie verbleibt oder ob es sich beim europäischen Verkehrswesen um eine ausschließliche Kompetenz der Gemeinschaft handelt. Die europäische Verkehrspolitik als Instrument und Gegenstand der europäischen Integration kann naturgemäß nicht isoliert betrachtet werden, sondern ist insb auch unter dem Aspekt der Warenverkehrsfreiheit zu behandeln. Die damit einhergehende Problematik, die ihren Höhepunkt in der Diskussion über die freie Wahl des Verkehrsträgers findet, bildet den zweiten Schwerpunkt dieser Arbeit. Unter Berücksichtigung der erlangten Erkenntnisse sollen zuletzt die Chancen der gemeinschaftsrechtlichen Zulässigkeit des neuen sektoralen Fahrverbots beurteilt werden.     

Reconsidering the southern Europe model: Dowry, women's work and marriage patterns in pre-industrial urban Italy (Turin, second half of the 18th century)

This paper aims to investigate and analyse the impact of the dowry and the endowment system on marriage and household patterns and on the labour market in 18th century Turin. At the same time it enquires into the reliability of the northern/southern Europe pattern for the study of this topic. Two points are developed. Firstly the paper shows that the dowry system coexists with a relatively high age at marriage because of the specific role played by the dowry in Turin society. Indeed, this was not a once-and-for-all established asset but was a negotiable and flexible resource that could be manipulated by the different actors concerned in the endowment. Moreover, the payment did not always take place immediately upon marriage, nor was the money quickly available. At the same time the paper examines the economic role of dowry in Ancien Régime households: by means of a juridical procedure couples could alienate this property, and use or invest it to ensure their well-being and/or their economic situation. Finally, the second part investigates the relationship between the dowry system and the participation of young girls and married women in the local labour market: their significant and crucial presence demonstrates that the dowry and its expectation was not a sufficient incentive to keep them out of the labour market.     

Nichtterritoriale Selbstverwaltung

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Der Subsidiarantrag

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The delisting decision: The case of buyout offer with squeeze-out (BOSO)

In this paper, we exploit the specificity of going-private transactions that are initiated by the historic controlling shareholders (i.e. voluntary delistings). In Continental Europe, the majority of firms that become private do so following a buyout offer with squeeze-out (BOSO); using this mechanism, the controlling shareholder can cash out minorities and take the firm private. We argue that the decision to go private results from a cost–benefit analysis. Moreover, we pay particular attention to the consequences and the related costs of compliance resulting from the passage of the French Financial Security Law (FSL) in 2003. A quantitative study was performed using a unique dataset spanning 1997–2006. This data set consists of 140 French firms, of which 70 were voluntarily delisted via BOSO and 70 were industry-matched control firms. Univariate analysis and logistic regressions support the cost–benefit analysis: when listing benefits decrease because of weak liquidity and/or weak analyst coverage, it seems better for the firm to go private. Furthermore, the inherent characteristics of delisted firms (i.e. performance, leverage, and risk as measured by the beta factor) appear to be important driving factors of delisting. The passage of the FSL has strengthened the impact of these characteristics on the decision to go private. Mature firms that have weak performance and low specific risk and that are not financially constrained by debt will decide to go private because they cannot afford the listing status anymore. Finally, we show that the driving factors of delisting differ according to the identity of the controlling shareholder; specifically, the level of risk appears to be the strongest determinant for family firms, while non-family firms also consider their own financial structure.     

Exit, voice, and loyalty: Parent–child relations in the proto-industrial household economy (Zürich, 17th–18th centuries)

This article formulates a simple model of parent–child interest conflicts. Based on a simple model of a household economy with a production or wage income function, a labor maintenance cost function, and an externally given wage rate, it discusses potential conflicts over the appropriation of the product of family members' labor in terms of the trilogy of exit, voice, and loyalty. The model is then explored by using household lists that provide detailed information on the economic activity of individuals. Many young proto-industrial workers used the threat of exiting their parents' household to keep much of their earnings through the Rast custom (boarding allowance). The threat of leaving operated well among the middle and lower classes of proto-industrial society, but it is unclear whether it also worked for the daughters of farmers who apparently left home much earlier than their brothers. The discourse of contemporaries about the Rast custom are considered and interpreted as a counterstrategy against the exit threat in which the elders fostered a sense of loyalty among the young.     

Zur Strafbarkeit des Führens eines Adelstitels

Durch das Adelsaufhebungsgesetz wird das Führen eines Adelstitels untersagt und ein Verstoß gegen dieses Verbot mit einer Geldstrafe bis 20.000,– Kronen oder einer primären Freiheitsstrafe bis zu 6 Monaten bedroht. Die Regelungen dieses Gesetzes wurden durch eine Vollzugsanweisung näher ausgeführt, wobei diese Konkretisierungen teilweise gravierend von den Bestimmungen des Adelsaufhebungsgesetzes abweichen. Nach Auseinandersetzung mit der Lehre gelangt der Autor zum Ergebnis, dass für Übertretungen des Adelsaufhebungsgesetzes ein Maximalgeldstrafsatz von € 0,14 Anwendung findet, dass aber auch eine Verhängung einer primären Freiheitsstrafe bis zu 6 Monaten durch eine Verwaltungsbehörde zulässig ist. Außerdem wird der Vollzugsanweisung zum Adelsaufhebungsgesetz ein im Verhältnis zum Adelsaufhebungsgesetz eigenständiger Regelungsgehalt abgesprochen.     

Validation studies of the ParaDNA® Intelligence System with artificial evidence items

Short tandem repeat (STR) profiling is one of the mostly used systems for forensic applications. In certain circumstances, STR profiling is time-consuming and costly, which potentially leads to delays in criminal investigations. LGC (Laboratory of the Government Chemist, UK) Forensics has developed a robust STR profiling platform called the ParaDNA^® Intelligence Test System which can provide early tactical intelligence and aid investigators in making informed decisions on sample prioritization for detection. Here, we validated the ParaDNA intelligence test for its application in forensic cases using a range of mock evidence items following guidelines set by the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM). Specifically, we tested the sensitivity and accuracy of the ParaDNA intelligence test, as well as the success rates for detecting mock samples and for use in case scenarios. Our findings demonstrate that the ParaDNA intelligence test generates useful DNA profiles, especially for samples such as blood, saliva, and semen that contain ample DNA, indicating the benefits of including ParaDNA as a prior step in forensic STR profiling pipelines.     

Der verfahrene Feiertag

Die Vorschriften über die Ablaufhemmung verfahrensrechtlicher Fristen orientieren sich – wie im Übrigen auch jene über die Anberaumung von Verhandlungen – an den allgemeinen Feiertagsregelungen. Diese bilden im Wesentlichen die religiösen Bedürfnisse der Bevölkerungsmehrheit ab, lassen aber Raum für solche einzelner religiöser Minderheiten. Eine Überprüfung anhand des Gleichheitssatzes fördert verfassungsrechtliche Bedenken zutage, die durch eine kleine gesetzgeberische Korrektur ausgeräumt werden könnten.     

Herabsetzung des Wahlalters auf 16 Jahre – Fortschritt oder Irrweg

Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden verschiedene Fragen diskutiert, die sich im Zusammenhang mit der Herabsetzung des Wahlalters für die Nationalratswahlen auf 16 Jahre ergeben. Insbesondere wird auf mögliche Inkonsistenzen infolge höherer Altersgrenzen in anderen Bundesgesetzen, die ebenfalls auf eine entsprechende Reife von Jugendlichen abstellen, eingegangen. So stellt sich etwa die Frage, ob Personen, die noch nicht voll geschäftsfähig sind, schon die geistige Reife haben, um auf Bundesebene zu wählen.