Assessment of disputed identity of blood alcohol samples using DNA fingerprinting

DNA fingerprinting is a perfect tool for investigating the identity of disputed blood by alcohol samples extracted. However, blood samples stored at an ambient temperature for longer periods can show considerable degradation of high-molecular DNA, diminishing the value of fingerprint investigation because of loss of the less frequent bands formed by the longer DNA fragments. Addition of the complexing agent EDTA can retard this degradation. Determination of the sex with DNA probes in the blood alcohol sample increases confidence in the investigation.     

论法律发现及其方法

法律发现是指法官判案时生成裁判规范的活动。在实际进行法律发现的各种方法中,有古老的,有现代的;有简单的,有复杂的。不过,集中体现法官能动性和创造性的方法主要有比较适用的方法;冲突解决的方法;法律解释的方法;漏洞填充的方法;利益衡量的方法等。这些方法各有其特色,其运用皆体现了严格规则主义与自由裁量主义的有机结合。     

European Court of Human Rights accepts blood donor screening based on sexual orientation

In a series of three rulings released simultaneously on 15 October 2002, the European Court of Human Rights dismissed complaints that Italy's approach to screening blood donors infringed privacy rights and discriminated against lesbians and gay men.     

Discovering the Archimedean Element in (Judicial) Judgment

Law and Philosophy -     

Discovering sources of inequality in transition economies: a case study of rural Vietnam

Applying the recently developed inequality accounting framework, we quantify contributions of fundamental variables to consumption inequality in rural Vietnam. It is found that major determinants of the inequality include location, education, infrastructures. From 1993 to 1998, the contributions of education, physical capital, labour and community infrastructure to total inequality increased while those of land and credit access declined. Ethnicity is found to play a decreasing role in composing total inequality. Policy implications are discussed.

Digital identity,privacy and the right to identity in the United States of America

This article analyses digital identity as an emergent legal concept in the United States of America, as a consequence of the move to place all federal government services on-line. The features and functions of digital identity and its legal nature are examined, and the consequences are considered.     

从积极到消极的实质真实发现主义

我国刑事诉讼实行以务必发现事实真相为基本主张的实质(客观)真实发现主义,近年来此一主义受到挑战。本文比较了实质真实发现主义与形式真实发现主义、积极的实质真实发现主义与消极的实质真实发现主义的差异,分析了实质真实发现主义与诉讼类型、诉讼模式的关系,指出实质真实发现主义是职权主义刑事诉讼的构成要素,它与职权主义有着共同的理性主义的认识论基础。作者反对在刑事诉讼中弃置实质真实发现主义,同时主张将我国实际实行的积极的实质真实发现主义转移为消极的实质真实发现主义,将审判活动的重心转移到防止给无辜者定罪上来。     

刑事证据开示制度阶段性构建探讨

根据刑诉法及新修订的律师法的规定,应当分析侦查、审查起诉、审判阶段控辩双方的职能作用及对抗程度,在保障人权的同时,保证诉讼活动顺利进行,以诉讼阶段为分界点,建立阶段性证据开示制度,以实现控辩双方利益平衡.阶段性证据开示制度要求在侦查阶段向犯罪嫌疑人及其辩护人提供犯罪嫌疑人以外的非言词证据信息,审查起诉阶段保障律师阅卷权,开庭审理前控辩双方全面获取与案件有关的信息,并有机会充分发表意见.     

Mistaken identity,identity theft and problems of remote authentication in e-commerce

The problem of mistaken identity in e-commerce transactions brings together seemingly unrelated issues: privacy, network security, digital signatures – and classic contract law. Combining an academic exercise with the practical implications of the insecurity of the Internet, this paper draws some unexpected conclusions regarding cases of mistaken identity and exposes flaws in popular legal arguments on the subject. Problems of mistaken identity must be analysed afresh with a number of factors in mind: the more widespread use of fictitious identities in on-line transactions, the higher incidence of identity theft and the greater difficulty of authenticating the other transacting party. The trend to preserve the privacy of Internet users indirectly clashes with efforts to ensure transactional security in e-commerce. An indispensable prerequisite of the latter is the ability to identify the other party to the contract. The problem of mistaken identity is not new – but it assumes a different scale in e-commerce transactions.     

Solving the legal challenges of trustworthy online identity

Digital identity management is fundamental to the further development of the Internet economy. It is a foundational requirement for most substantive e-commerce transactions and other online activities.     

Sensemaking in prison: Inmate identity as a working understanding

This study examines some of the ways in which correctional officers construct, communicate, and defend a shared account of inmate identity in a maximum-security prison. Through sensemaking activities embodied in informal conversational routines, correctional officers produce a working understanding of the prisoner that is a central element in the reproduction of social control in the prison. The data suggest that challenges to the dominant assumptions embodied in key sensemaking categories may be met by a variety of defensive strategies. These strategies are embedded in the informal conversational routines of the group. Through the selective use of official records, by reframing tolerance as a social control strategy, and through participation in acts of ritual insubordination, correctional officers maintain a working understanding of the inmate that is demeaning, derogatory, and ultimately stereotypical. This research contributes to our understanding of occupational culture in the justice system, and to a fuller appreciation of sensemaking processes in formal organizations.     

The dangers of constitutional identity

This article purports to expose the dangers of the concept of constitutional identity – a doctrine shaped by apex state courts to shield areas of the national legal systems from the influence of European law. First, the article overviews the use of the concept of constitutional identity in the case law of national and supranational courts, mapping the growing expansion of this doctrine. Second, the article seeks to reconstruct the genealogy of the concept of constitutional identity, tracing its legal origins. Third, the article advances a normative criticism of the concept of constitutional identity, explaining how the doctrine suffers from an incurable lack of determinacy, which inevitably results in arbitrariness in its use. Moreover, the article points out how the practical use of a defensive concept such as constitutional identity is poised to weaken, if not undermine tout court, the process of European integration.     

Up the Hill and Across the Aisle: Discovering the Path to Bipartisanship in Washington

Appeals for bipartisan diplomacy pepper popular commentary, often with wistful references to a bygone era where leaders (like Lyndon Johnson and Everett Dirksen) set aside partisan point scoring to serve the public interest. Here we reconsider the elements driving bipartisan contact in Washington. Stepping back from popular narratives, we situate the president‐opposing leader relationship within a more general class of institutional bargaining, leading to the prediction that bipartisan negotiation emerges from a particular combination of incentives and institutions—namely, when the president is strong politically (rendering opposing leaders willing to compromise) but opposing party leaders are strong institutionally (rendering them crucial to passing the deal). Utilizing Presidential Daily Diaries, hypotheses are tested against original data on presidents' personal interactions with opposing Senate leaders across 40 years, 20 Congresses, and eight presidencies (1961–2000).