Move Analysis of Legal Justifications in Constitutional Tribunal Judgments in Poland: What They Share and What They Do Not

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - It appears that we know surprisingly little about how judges frame linguistically the rationale...     

Women Are Being Beaten They Are Beaten Constantly and Systematically Every Day

As we approach the end of the century, the Islamic world is becoming a key element in the system of international relations. The influence of Islam is no longer restricted to the traditionally Moslem countries of the Middle and Near East. The Islamic factor has a quite major impact on the policies of several countries: the United States, France, Great Britain, China, Germany, and Russia.     

All Judges Are Political—Except When They Are Not: A Response

The author explains the origins of All Judges Are Political—Except When They Are Not: Acceptable Hypocrisies and the Rule of Law (2010) as a response to a fundamental question posed by legal realism: How can the judicial process be permeated with politics and yet remain an accepted part of a legitimate legal system? The author demonstrates the ongoing importance of this question by examining debates over the place of constitutional law in the law school curriculum and by assessing public perceptions of the Supreme Court's ruling on health care reform. The author then addresses the critical appraisals presented by the symposium contributors. The critiques are taken as road maps for extending the author's arguments in new directions.     

Continental Normativism and Its British Counterpart: How Different Are They?*

Abstract
The separability thesis claims that the concept of law can be explicated independently of morality, the normativity thesis, that it can be explicated independently of fact. Continental normativism, prominent above all in the work of Hans Kelsen, may be characterized in terms of the coupling of these theses. Like Kelsen, H. L. A. Hart is a proponent of the separability thesis. And–a leitmotiv– both theorists reject reductive legal positivism. They do not, however, reject it for the same reasons. Kelsen's reason, in a word, is the normativity thesis. Hart, however, grounds his theory in social fact. In place of the reductive thesis of the legal positivist tradition, and in sharp contrast to Kelsen's normativity thesis, Hart defends a non-reductive version of what the author terms the facticity thesis.     

Supreme Court Elections: How Much They Have Changed,Why They Changed,and What Difference It Makes

This essay draws on four recent studies of elections to state supreme courts in the United States to probe widely perceived changes in the scale and content of electoral campaigns for seats on state supreme courts. 1 Evidence from these studies and other sources indicates that changes have indeed occurred, though they are more limited than most commentaries suggest. These changes stem most directly from trends in state supreme court policy that have attracted interest‐group activity, especially from the business community. Like their extent, the effects of change in supreme court campaigns have been meaningful although exaggerated by many observers. What we have learned about changes in supreme court elections has implications for choices among selection systems, but those implications are mixed and complex.     

诗无达诂 译尽其能——评毛泽东词《沁园春·长沙》五种英译本

中国是诗词的国度,诗、词、歌、赋代代相传,诗人辈出,世代相袭。中国历代政治家几乎都能诗会文。当代伟人毛泽东的诗词风格古雅,题材广泛,内容丰富隽永,常为国人及国际友人传诵引用。毛泽东诗词早在20世纪60年代初就被译成多种外文,流传到世界各地。其英文译本几近二十余种,各家译本竞显风流。不同译本的对比研究有利于进一步提高译文质量,更加有效促进地我国文学翻译事业的健康发展。     

Directives in EU Legal Systems: Whose Norms Are They Anyway?

This article is concerned with whether the concept of a legal system—long a centrepiece of state‐based legal theories—is a useful conceptual tool in theorising the contemporary EU and its legal relations with its Member States. The focus lies particularly with EU directives, and with what the character and operation of this distinctive type of EU norm can tell us as regards the existence of and relations between legal systems in the EU. I argue for the view that the EU is comprised of distinct but interacting legal systems at EU and national level, and claim that the character and operation of directives supports this view. Throughout the discussion I try to bring the conceptual tools of analytical legal philosophy to bear on puzzles generated by EU law and its relations with national law, in order to show that a sound analysis of aspects of the EU can benefit from abstract legal philosophical reflection, and vice versa.     

法治和关系:是对立还是包容?--从韦伯的经济与法律之间关系的理论谈起

前　言韦伯关于形式合理的法律制度与西方资本主义之间关系的理论多少年来一直是法律与社会学界议论的一个话题。他第一次提出了为什么工业资本主义首先在西方产生 ,而在世界其他文明中却没有出现的问题 ,而他认为 ,法律在其中起到了重要的作用。西欧的法律对于资本主义的产生具有其他文明的法律所不具有的功能。按照韦伯的理论 ,其他国家只有建立形式合理的法律制度 ,才能为一个可预测的、可计算的、合理的经济制度奠定基础。与此相关 ,随着资本主义制度的建立 ,形式合理的法律制度也从西方逐步扩大到世界其他地区。 2 0世纪中期以来 ,在西…     

Police personality: What is it and why are they like that?

Debate has swirled around the issue of the term “Police Personality.” The debate over this has been mainly over the issues of definition and development; i.e., what is a police personality and how does it form? Is it a predispositional model of personality or is it created by the nature of the work itself (an occupational-socialization model)? Perhaps the issue is not as simply dichotomous as that; perhaps it is a combination of both predisposition and experiences that forms this elusive personality. This paper will review the relevant literature pertaining to police personality, both predispositional notions and job created notions, as well as the literature on personality theories in a broader perspective.     

Revisiting the Instrumentality of Voice: Having Voice in the Process Makes People Think They Will Get What They Want

Research on procedural justice has found that processes that allow people voice (i.e., input) are perceived as fairer, and thus elicit more positive reactions, than processes that do not allow people voice. Original theorizing attributed these effects to beliefs that the provision of voice enhances people’s sense of process control, which people were assumed to value because it impacts their perceived likelihood of receiving desired outcomes (the instrumental perspective of procedural justice). Subsequent research questioned this perspective, arguing that outcome expectations do not account for the effects of voice. However, this subsequent research failed to directly examine the interplay of voice, outcome expectations, and reactions. The current studies revisit and extend research on this topic by asking whether manipulations of voice act as shared circumstance effects. Confirming an untested implication of the instrumental perspective, we show that giving everyone voice increases their belief, ex-ante, that they are likely to win an upcoming competition. However, this instrumental belief accounts for only part of the effects of voice on perceived procedural fairness and on general reactions to outcomes. Results suggest that voice does indeed have instrumental significance, an implication not adequately recognized in current justice theorizing. However, this instrumentality does not, by itself, explain why people value having a voice in processes that affect them.