Books,Bureaus, and the Historiography of Cameralism

This paper traces a deep rift in the historiography of cameralism, demonstrating how historians have systematically separated cameralist writings from the context of the Holy Roman Empire’s fiscal chambers. Scholarship on the subject has been largely defined by an artificial separation between “cameralists of the book” and “cameralists of the bureau.” I argue that it is time to interrogate this distinction, which is itself a legacy of the nineteenth century.     

Public perceptions of crime seriousness in Israel:: native-born versus new immigrants

The broad consensus generally found with regard to public perceptions of crime seriousness has been shown to reflect “consistency” in relative rankings rather than “absolute agreement” in ratings among sample groups. The present study compared the crime seriousness perceptions of native-born Israelis with those of two groups of new immigrants (one from the former Soviet Union and the other from Ethiopia). Questionnaires including 30 different criminal offenses for evaluation were distributed by means of face-to-face interviews to a representative sample of the Israeli adult population. As expected, the three groups provided very similar rankings of offenses but much less absolute agreement (ratings). It is suggested that the significant gaps in the perceptions of the groups stem from “culture conflict” (Culture Conflict and Crime, Social Science Research Council, New York, 1938), that is, differences in the social and cultural norms of the immigrants’ countries of origin and those prevailing in the absorbing society.     

On Some Connections Between Legal Communication and Violence

The first version of this article was written and published in 1989 in Tartu in Russian.¹ As perestroika gathered strength the possibility emerged to take a fresh academic look on concepts which had been dogmatically frozen by “historical Marxism” for many years. One of those laying in the dead end was the Marxist concept of law together with its relation to violence. For a young scholar studying at Tartu University 15 years ago, there was always a possibility to try to apply some ideas and approaches drawn from Yuri Lotman’s articles and lectures. The power of his ideas and its brilliant presentation had already for years fascinated everybody dealing with problems of society and culture in Tartu. The other sources of the present analysis are the ideas about the nature of law and legal communication as they appeared in the 1920s–30s in the works of several Soviet scholars as Eugene Pashukanis and Mikhail Reisner. Both scientists were later condemned and forgotten in the Soviet Union. I also felt very comfortable with the understanding of the nature of law as “language of interaction” expressed and developed by the American lawyer and scholar Lon L. Fuller. The present article focuses only on the logic of communication based on the principle of exchange, reciprocity/contract and mechanism (code) of symbolic equalizations necessary, for achieving such reciprocity. But it is appropriate to point out that in a broader context, contract and reciprocity in society are balanced by different types of principles of human interaction. In this broader understanding, L. Fuller and Y. Lotman are close in their interpretations of cultural interaction and human communication. If we compare Fuller’s article “Two Principles of Human Association”² to Lotman’s “‘Contract’ and ‘Devotion’ as Archetypical Models of Culture”³ we see their approaches are in fact complementary.¹ Kannike, S.H., “O nekotorykh svjazjakh pravovogo obshchenija s nasilijem. Istorija I sovremennost’”, in Tartu Ülikooli Toimetised 850. Studia luridica. Historia et theoria3 (Tartu: Tartu Ülikool, 1989), 76–93² Fuller, L., “Two Principles of Human Association”, in L. Fuller, (ed), The Principles of Human Order(Durham: N.C. Duke University Press, 1981), 67–85³ Lotman, Y.M., ““Dogovor” i “vruchenie sebja” kak arhitipicheskie modeli kul’tury”, in Uchenye zapiski Tartuskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta 513. Trudy po russkoi I slavjanskoi filologii 332. Literaturovedenije: problemy literaturnoi tipologii I istoricheskoi preemstvennosti(Tartu, 1981), 3–16     

Practical guidelines on incorporating “partnering” within IT agreements for public sector bodies

“Partnership” and “partnering” are two of the most frequently used terms in public sector procurement. They may be used by both customers and suppliers to justify their respective negotiating positions. A supplier may argue that, since the agreement is a “partnership agreement”, there should be no service credits or liquidated damages payable. The customer on the other hand, may argue, on similar grounds, that it wants to benchmark the supplier and have a broad right to audit every aspect of the supplier’s business.But despite being well used phrases, most guidance relating to these concepts does not define how “partnerships” or “partnering” is to work in practice. While most talk of the supplier and the customer working together “in partnership” with common aims, there is little information available as to how this will be incorporated into agreements, particularly in the context of large scale IT procurements.¹ The purpose of this article is to review the available guidance and detail some of the ways in which this guidance can be incorporated into legal agreements.     

Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT): A reliable indicator of the risk of driving under the influence of alcohol when determined by capillary electrophoresis

Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) is a marker of chronic alcohol abuse, which has recently been introduced to evaluate the physical fitness for obtaining a driving license. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of elevated CDT levels in subjects stopped while driving under the influence of alcohol by using a validated method based on capillary electrophoresis. The study was carried out on a group of 40 drunken drivers (group A) and on a control group (n = 51) of subjects chosen from the general population (group B). CDT was directly determined by capillary electrophoresis in free solution and UV detection at 200 nm. CDT results from both groups were classified as “negative” or “positive” on the basis of the cut-off set at 2.00% (CDT index). The subjects classified as “positive” in group A were 24 (60%), whereas in group B were 2. The subjects classified as “negative” in group A were 16 (40%), whereas in group B was 49 (96.1%). The comparison of the observed percentages, evaluated with the χ²-test, was highly significant (p < 0.001). The present study confirms the high prevalence of chronic alcohol abusers among drunken drivers and the usefulness of CDT as a predictor of the risk of drunk driving.     

Administrative interventions on police shooting discretion: An empirical examination

In August, 1972, the New York City Police Department promulgated administrative shooting guidelines and shooting incident review procedures far more restrictive than former statutory “defense of life” and “fleeing felon” justifications for police shooting. Using a data base that includes all reported New York City police firearms discharges and serious assaults on police between 1971 and 1975, this article examines the effects of the new guidelines and procedures on shooting frequencies, patterns, and consequences.Great decreases in “fleeing felon” shootings, “warning shots,” and shooting-opponent injuries and deaths were found to be associated with the new rules. This change also appeared to have a favorable effect on line-of-duty officer deaths and serious injuries. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Drinking and driving: Detecting the “dark figure” of compliance

The “dark figure” of undetected alcohol-impaired driving in the United States is acknowledged to be very high. However, this “dark figure” may lead to premature pessimism about the prospects for deterrence unless there is a countervailing estimate of “the other dark figure”—the rate of compliance with the drinking-driving laws under conditions of negligible arrest risk. This was a feasibility study in the use of survey data (N = 1,401) to identify patterns of compliance on the last drinking occasion as a function of social roles as drivers and passengers. A small but statistically significant proportion of U.S. drivers took these steps to reduce alcohol-impaired driving: reduction of drinking before driving, allocation of the driving role to low volume drinkers, and relinquishment of the driving role to an alternate driver after heavy drinking. There was no evidence for the selective use of public transportation as a means for diverting heavy drinkers from alcohol-impaired driving.     

Old and New Actors in the Italian Drug Trade: Ethnic Succession or Functional Specialization?

The article analyses Italian and foreign organized crime involved in the drug market from two perspectives. The first, called “criminal succession”, assumes that the great presence of foreign criminal groups into this illegal market would represent a menace to the traditional hegemony exercised by Mafia-type associations in Italy. From a different perspective, defined as “functional specialisation”, the involvement of foreign criminal groups in the drug market could also be seen in terms of criminal “labour force” tending to follow the same mechanisms occurring in the general market at large, where immigrants fill low-paying jobs not requested by the local population. Through the analysis of data provided by the Italian Central Antidrug Bureau and recent court records the article tests these two perspectives. In particular, the in-depth analysis of three case studies from northern, central and southern Italy – i.e. Milan, Florence and Naples – has allowed us to identify the main changes that occurred in the drug market since the early 1990s. In effect, in Milan and Florence, we register the emergence of foreign criminal actors in the high- and medium-level positions of the local drug trade, while in Naples, where Camorra clans hold very strong positions, it leaves small areas of autonomy to foreign criminal groups.     

Storm clouds gather over spy agency

Simon Davies discusses the concern that is arising over alleged “secret” US/EU plans for a “seamless” telecoms surveillance system across national boundaries     

A theory of identification

This paper analyzes the phenomenon of “identification” by an individual with actors in his environment. It argues that individuals interpret their environment according to “frames,” which they, as recipients of a message, derive by a complex process of interpretation of the communication setting. The paper also argues that individuals identify with actors in their environment, because this identification increases their utility vis-à-vis a “neutral” watching of their environment. The paper applies this approach to a variety of real life examples, in particular to voting.     

The true servant: Self-definition of male domestics in an Italian city (Bologna, 17th–19th centuries)

Some historians have classed as servants only people living with their masters; some have excluded farm servants; some have included married domestics living with their own families. The archive of the Bolognese Confraternity of San Vitale, also known as Università dei Servitori, is analyzed in this article to show how one group of servants defined a “true” servant. Their solution was to exclude from their association people who performed what they deemed “filthy” tasks. They also excluded women, giving us a particular insight in the history of gender and masculinity. In their view, the “true” servants were bourgeois (and locally born) men rather than lower class (migrant) women who are often identified as the stereotypical servants. Moreover, most members of the association were married, they had their own families in Bologna and did not always live with their masters. This makes possible the analysis of married male servants living with their own families, a category of servant that has received less attention than life-cycle servants.     

Supreme Court of Canada's “Beautiful Mind” case

The Supreme Court of Canada's (SCC) first case involving capacity and the refusal of involuntary psychiatric treatment involved a self described “professor” who had been referred to as “Canada's Beautiful Mind”. He had been found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder for uttering death threats. While considered incapable of making a treatment decision by psychiatrists and a review board, three levels of court, including the SCC, found him to be capable. “Professor” Starson therefore continued to refuse treatment for his psychosis and spent over seven years detained because he refused the treatment required to become well enough to be released. This refusal of treatment is permitted under Ontario law, although it is not permitted in some other Canadian provinces, and in many other countries.This article describes Starson's situation, Ontario's law with respect to consent to treatment and relevant Canadian constitutional and criminal law. It provides an analysis of the Consent and Capacity Board decision and the court appeals. Implications from Starson's case are analyzed in relation to what happened to Starson, human rights and comparative law pertaining to involuntary patients' refusal of treatment, especially their relevance to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and laws in some other countries. Many Canadian and foreign jurisdictions where laws apparently accord with human rights codes do not allow a person to refuse the treatment required to restore their liberty. We conclude that a law that allows a person with a mental illness to be incarcerated indefinitely in a “hospital” because needed psychiatric treatment cannot, by law, be provided is not justifiable in a caring democratic jurisdiction.     

Adolescents as offenders, social order, and the morality of work in a postindustrial society: The Australian experience

This article argues that traditional views of employment as both financially necessary and morally imperative for guaranteeing a relatively smooth transition from adolescence to responsible adult status are naive in the context of a postindustrial society. Increased youth unemployment since the mid-1970s has excited considerable anxiety and debate about the criminal potential of “youth,” generating debate and research claiming a causal link between youth unemployment and crime. Analyzing this gives rise to inquiry about some of the old assurances and certitudes of full-time, waged labor in a context where full-time, waged labor is steadily becoming a minority activity for most people of working age. The pursuance of youth, political, and economic policies based on assumptions about an indefinite growth in the labor market, or a return to the “full-time employment” of the past, are problematic and require rethinking. Rather than providing corrective measures that entail the restoration of now unfeasible certainties (“full” employment), effort can be better spent appreciating the significance of the shift toward a postindustrial society and considering other ways of providing the inner stability and the fundamental social experiences for young people once obtained through waged work.     

The politics and mythology of organized crime: A Philadelphia case-study

Although much criticized, the “Cosa Nostra” theory of organized crime continues to exert considerable influence over lawmakers and law enforcement officials. This theory has been extensively studied on a national level, but few local case studies trace the transition from the multiethnic organized crime of the 1930s and 1940s to the (supposed) Italian hegemony of the years since 1960. Philadelphia provides an excellent opportunity for such a study, as the base of a strong Jewish-dominated structure before 1960 and a “Mafia town” thereafter.A major concern of this article is the manner in which the history of crime in the city was retroactively rewritten during the 1970s, in order to provide a basis for contemporary theories and bureaucratic needs.     

Going for the throat: Carnivore in an Echelon World — Part I

Carnivore is a surveillance technology, a software program housed in a computer unit, which is installed by properly authorized FBI agents on a particular Internet Service Provider’s (ISP) network. The Carnivore software system is used together with a tap on the ISP’s network to “intercept, filter, seize and decipher digital communications on the Internet”. The system is described as a “specialized network analyzer” that works by “sniffing” a network and copying and storing a warranted subset of its traffic. In the FBI’s own words “Carnivore chews on all data on the network, but it only actually eats the information authorized by a court order”. This article, in two parts, will provide an overview of the FBI’s Carnivore electronic surveillance system. The Carnivore software’s evolution, its ‘prey’ and the system’s relationship with Internet Service Providers will be the focus of the study. (Although the FBI’s Carnivore surveillance system is now officially called DCS1000, as the surveillance system is more commonly referred to as “Carnivore”, that term will be used throughout). Also addressed in the article are misconceptions about Carnivore, publicly available sniffer programs, Carnivore’s functionality, methods to counter Carnivore as well as the software’s limitations. In addition, the pertinent American law allowing for wiretapping and electronic surveillance as well as programs and policies outside the United States regarding electronic surveillance are surveyed, and an overview of ECHELON, the global interception and relay system, is provided. The aim is to provide the paper’s readers with a better understanding of these surveillance systems: naturally, only through an in-depth knowledge can the benefits and dangers they present for the public (government), private (individual communications users) and technical industry (ISPs) be understood.     

When is personal data not “personal data” – The impact of Durant v. FSA

The Data Protection Act 1998 (the “Act”), which implements the EU Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC), applies to personal data and governs the activities of data controllers and data processors in relation to such data. In Michael John Durant v. Financial Services Authority (2003), the scope of the Act was restricted. In particular, key provisions, including “personal data” and “relevant filing system”, became the subject of narrow judicial interpretation when the Court of Appeal sought to limit the “unjustifiable burden and expense” imposed on data controllers in complying with the Act. Although questioned by commentators and subject to investigation by the European Commission, the significant shift in approach initiated by Durant has been endorsed in two subsequent cases: (1) David Paul Johnson v. The Medical Defence Union (2004) and (2) Terence William Smith v. Lloyds TSB Bank Plc (2005). This article considers the main principles of the Act, how the Information Commissioner, the courts and the European Commission have responded to Durant and what happens next.     

Data retention in the UK: Pragmatic and proportionate,or a step too far?

On 6 April 2009 new legislation came into force, for the first time putting Internet service providers' duty to retain significant amounts of data (relating to customers' email and Internet usage) on a compulsory, as opposed to a voluntary footing. It is a topic which has provoked intense protest from the privacy lobby and fuelled months of “Big Brother” headlines in the press. For the industry it raises operational challenges – how to facilitate storage and retrieval of colossal amounts of data. In this article we consider the policy background to the regime, the detail of the UK implementation and the practical implications for communications service providers. We weigh up the privacy and human rights concerns against the business case put forward by the Government. We also examine the Government's proposals – announced at the end of April – to significantly extend and “future proof” this regime in the form of its Intercept Modernisation Programme.     

Sanctions, modeling, and deviant behavior

This study investigated the extent to which group influence (and particularly the modeling aspects of groups) specifies the relationship between the certainty of punishment and deviant behavior. An experiment was conducted in which sixty males played a game of “chicken” against a computer. The study was designed to assess the influence of subjects' exposure to deviant behavior by “models,” subjects' knowledge of the outcomes of deviance for the “models,” and the interaction of these variables with the probability of punishment. Analysis showed that exposure to the behavioral outcomes of models' deviant conduct either enhanced or weakened the effects of certainty of punishment, depending upon whether the models were rewarded or punished for their deviant behavior. Implications of the findings for the development of a theory of deterrence are drawn, and suggestions for future research are made.     

Domain names: Comments on WIPO''s new overview of selected UDRP questions

This article reports on five years of Internet domain name dispute resolution activity within the World Intellectual Property Organisation's Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy. The analysis incorporates findings from WIPO's publication of an informal “Overview” if the panellists themselves prepared the scheme.