Money and Marriage: Sexually Transmitted Debt in England

In recent years of economic recession, the problems faced byspouses and partners (especially wives) who provide third partyloan security (usually a second mortgage over the family home)for the business debts of their spouse or partner has emergedas an increasing evidence social and legal problem, especiallyin the United Kingdom, and also Australia (where the problemhas become know as ‘sexually transmitted debt’).In this article, the central findings of the first major empiricalstudy of ‘sexually transmitted debt’ are discussed,after first placing the problem in its legal and social context.     

Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Likelihood of Marriage: The Effect of Incarceration

Researchers have highlighted the importance of marriage when studying variation in deviance over the life course, but few studies have examined the effect that incarceration has on marriage or have considered variation by race and ethnicity. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), this study contrasts the effect of incarceration on the likelihood of marriage for White, Black, and Hispanic males. Incarceration reduced the chances of marriage for all men, but had a significantly stronger effect on the marital outcomes for Whites. Although Whites were most likely to be married overall, incarceration was associated with a 59 percent decline in the odds of marriage for Whites, and the odds of marriage decreased 30 percent for Blacks and 41 percent for Hispanics. The association was maintained even after controlling for time‐varying life‐course events and static individual‐level factors. This research has important implications for the study of the incarceration and the consequences it can have for spouses, families, and communities.     

The Tide in Favour of Equality: Same-Sex Marriage in Canada and England and Wales

The tide in favour of legal equality for gay and lesbian individualsand couples continues to roll forward on both sides of the Atlantic.In Canada, the federal Parliament recently passed legislation(the Civil Marriage Act) (CMA) that extends the legal capacityto marry for civil purposes to same-sex couples throughout thecountry. This change in the law was driven not by the executiveand legislative branches of government but by the courts, interpretingand applying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (theCharter). On the other side of the Atlantic, in England andWales, the Westminster Parliament in 2004 passed legislation(the Civil Partnership Act) (CPA) that will enable same-sexcouples to obtain legal recognition of their relationships,and to access most of the legal rights and responsibilitiesoffered to married couples. However, unlike the Canadian legislation,civil marriages between same-sex couples will still not be legallyrecognized. This article considers whether the English courtswill also facilitate the legal recognition of same-sex civilmarriage, like their Canadian counterparts. The author concludesthat, in light of recent case law, there is an increasinglystrong argument that the opposite-sex marriage requirement inEngland and Wales violates Article 14 (the equality provision)of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which isincorporated into UK law by the Human Rights Act, 1998. However,the author also concludes that there are a number of reasonsto be cautious that a positive result would flow, at this point,from a domestic court challenge to the opposite-sex marriagerequirement.     

Considering the Tower of Babel: Correlates of Assimilation and Multiculturalism among Ethnic Minority and Majority Groups in the United States

Survey data collected from multiethnic samples of geographically dispersed college students and a national probability sample of US adults were utilized to examine the correlates of support for multiculturalism and assimilation—two competing interethnic ideologies, or ideals for how an ethnically diverse society should optimally function. Endorsement of multiculturalism and assimilation was related to perceived ethnic group differences, intergroup bias, and voting behavior on a number of public policies, but in opposite directions. Relative to white participants, ethnic minority participants endorsed multiculturalism to a greater extent, reported higher levels of group identification, and were more likely to support pro-diversity public policies. Discussion focuses on explanations for the variety of observed differences between ethnic minority and majority respondents, on the meaning of assimilation and multiculturalism, and on the argument that harmony between ethnic groups and dissimilarity between ethnic groups need not be thought of as mutually exclusive.

Ethnic Law and Minority Rights in China: Progress and Constraints

Western discourse on human rights in China typically assumes that China's minority rights law must be a sham because China is an authoritarian state. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, China has articulated an "ethnic law" that elaborates rights and preferences that minorities value. At the same time, People's Republic of China ethnic law is inadequate to grant the idealized range of minority rights claimed by the Chinese state, and some rights are being eroded by the marketization of China's political economy. The most notable weaknesses in the ethnic law system include the failure to enlarge the scope of ethnic regional autonomy, a lack of preferential policies sufficient to offset the growth of the economic gap between Han and minority areas, and an inadequate program for overcoming antiminority bias. While an emerging minority elite is a stabilizing factor in minority‐state relations, additional measures to expand minority rights are required, some of which are suggested by the policies of other Asian states.     

对少数民族劳教人员集中管理及教育挽救工作的探讨

对少数民族劳教人员集中管理及教育挽救工作，是指把各地的少数民族劳教人员分别集中到该少数民族集中居住地的劳教所，实行统一管理和教育。这项工作政策性强，涉及面广，需要跨地区操作，相关理论工作应当进一步引起重视。下面，笔者结合所在民族地区劳教工作实际，就这项工作试作探讨。     

企业集团与少数股东保护研究

传统公司法是建立在公司之间彼此独立、互不参股的基础上的。在企业集团与关联企业日益增多的今天,各国公司法都实现了从只调整单一公司到以调整单个公司为主,以调整关联企业与企业集团为辅的立法思想转变。从少数股东保护角度验证中国公司法增加对关联企业与企业集团的规定的必要性。     

‘Rioting in goatish embraces’: Marriage and improvement in early British Jamaica

Marriages were relatively infrequent among the white population of early British Jamaica. This article examines the ideological implications of the failure of whites to marry with sufficient regularity to ensure that white population increase would allow Jamaica to become a settler society on the British North American model. It looks, in particular, at the tendency of whites to live in irregular unions, either with other whites or with black or brown concubines, and the effect that such arrangements had on perceptions of white Jamaicans as especially immoral. It connects these views with other discourses on settler societies in which improvement and frequent marriage were linked.     

论中世纪英国教会的婚姻家庭法

伴随着西罗马帝国的灭亡,基督教会在中世纪的西欧逐渐取得相对独立的地位,并在一个相当长的历史时期对当时人们的生活产生了极其重要的影响。这种影响表现在法律领域便是一种所谓教会法的问世,由此反映出基督教会对于当时世俗生活的积极引导抑或干预。其中,教会的婚姻家庭法构成了教会法的一个重要的部分。英国的基督教化的历史始于公元597年。从此,英国与这一宗教即结下了不解之缘。英国统一的教会组织体系建立于盎格鲁—撒克逊时期。但是,自征服者威廉一世禁止百户区法院受理宗教案件后,英国才出现独立的教会法院并开始了对婚姻家庭等方面的积极干预。     

少数民族就业纠偏行动:宪法平等原则的实施机制

纠偏行动是矫正少数民族结构性就业困境的有效法律机制,也是国际社会解决民族就业矛盾的成功法治经验。当前,我国亟需通过就业纠偏行动缓解西部少数民族面临的结构性就业障碍。我国宪法有关实质平等的原则和规范为就业纠偏行动提供了法理基础,但是在宪法实施工作中依然存在着重视禁止就业歧视,忽视就业纠偏行动的现象,就业纠偏行动的制度性缺陷削弱了宪法平等原则的民族保障功能。为此,应当加强就业纠偏行动的立法工作,建立专门的行政执法机构,完善纠偏行动的司法救济制度,强制性的就业配额制度与引导性的雇主激励机制相结合,兼顾干部人事制度与劳动保障制度,构建预防歧视与纠偏行动相结合的民族就业平等保障机制。     

The Involvement of Different Ethnic Groups in Various Types of Crime in the Netherlands

Various studies have shown that registered crime among non-western immigrant groups in the Netherlands is higher than among the average Dutch population. Little is known however concerning the differences in the nature of crime. The authors studied the degree to which various ethnic groups are represented in various types of officially registered criminal offenses and the degree to which the chance of being a suspect in specific types of crimes can be explained by demographic and socio-economic background characteristics of the person in question. The results show that there are clear differences among ethnic groups with respect to the relative share of various types of criminal offenses. Only a small part of the differences relate to ethnic origin; demographic and socio-economic background characteristics play a more important role. A large part of the explanation might be found in personal factors, coincidental circumstances or background characteristics not included in the model.     

满族传统婚姻家庭法文化研究

满族作为中华民族56个民族大家庭中的一员,在悠久的历史长河中留下了光辉的足迹,扮演了十分重要的角色。它不仅建立了一个中央政权,还统治中国长达二百余年,为中华民族的政治统一、领土完整、经济发展和文化进步做出了巨大贡献。如今随着社会的交流、融合和发展,居住在城市的满族人的民族特点正在逐渐消亡,因此寻找满族曾经的痕迹和拯救满族的传统文化具有深远的意义,力图从法文化分析的角度出发来剖析满族传统婚姻家庭中各种制度背后所蕴含的文化理念。     

Procedural Justice in Majority–Minority Relations: Studies Involving Belgian Linguistic Groups

Two studies investigated perceptions of fairness of two modes of group representation in a political assembly. The numerical status of two Belgian linguistic groups (Dutch-speaking vs. French-speaking) was predicted to influence these perceptions: The minority finding equality fairer and proportionality less fair than the majority. These preferences were investigated at two levels of comparison, Belgium and Brussels, Dutch speakers being numerically a majority in Belgium and a minority in Brussels. The results of two studies (N = 52 and N = 127, respectively) revealed that the expected trend was present, especially at the level of Brussels. A third study (N = 103) suggested that minorities and majorities could be driven by different motives with trust in the out-group being a powerful predictor of minorities' choices, whereas group identification predicted majorities' preferences.     

Sacred Spaces,Sacred Words: Religion and Same‐sex Marriage in England and Wales

This article provides an analysis of the ways in which the spatial and illocutionary requirements of English marriage law – which regulate the spaces in which marriages may be solemnized and the words the parties being married must speak – have been used to maintain distinctions between same‐sex and opposite‐sex couples. It shows how religious opponents of same‐sex partnership recognition have relied upon historically entrenched differences between the spatial and illocutionary aspects of ‘civil marriage’ and ‘religious marriage’ to argue in favour of the enactment of law that enables organized religions to exclude same‐sex couples from religious premises and ceremonies that are open to opposite‐sex couples for the purpose of solemnizing marriage. It extends recent international debates about how faith‐based discrimination against same‐sex couples is accommodated by legislators and legitimized by law, and concludes with a consideration of how English law could be amended to end discrimination based on sexual orientation.     

Social Background and Academic Performance Differentials: White and Minority Students at Selective Colleges

This article uses the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen(NLSF) to study the continuing consequences of segregation.Data show that minority students from segregated backgroundsattended substandard schools, received lower quality instruction,were exposed to higher levels of disorder and violence, andwere less prepared socially for campus life. Minority studentsalso experience higher levels of stress within their socialnetworks while at college. Operating through these interveningvariables, segregation significantly depresses minority academicachievement.     

英国保释制度及其借鉴意义

在英美法国家刑事诉讼中 ,保释是被逮捕人或者被羁押人的一项重要诉讼权利。其中 ,英国的保释制度历史最为悠久 ,立法最为完善。本文对英国保释制度的历史沿革和基本内容进行了考察 ,提出了借鉴英国保释制度 ,完善我国取保候审制度的若干建议     

Third molar development in a London population of White British and Black British or other Black ethnicity

Population differences in dental development between Black and White ethnic groups have been debated but not previously studied in the UK. Using inappropriate data for dental age estimation (DAE) could lead to erroneous results and injustice. Data were collected from dental panoramic radiographs of 5590 subjects aged 6–24 years in a teaching hospital archive. Demirjian stages were determined for left-sided teeth and third molars and data collected regarding hypodontia and third molar agenesis. Third molar development in self-assigned Black British, including other self-assigned Black ethnicity, was compared with that of self-assigned White British subjects. Data were compared for males and females in the two ethnic groups using T-tests for Demirjian Stages A–G of third molar development and Mann-Whitney tests for Stage H once a cut-off age at the maximum age for Stage G had been imposed. Third molar development occurred earlier in subjects of Black ancestry compared to those of White ancestry. While both ethnic groups showed large age ranges for every third molar stage, in female subjects these generally occurred at least 1.5 years earlier, and in males at least one year earlier. Hypodontia and third molar agenesis were more prevalent in White British, but the ethnic difference in third molar development persisted in subjects with complete dentitions. This is a large study that confirms ethnic differences in a London population, emphasises the difficulties of establishing the 18-year-old threshold using DAE, and confirms the risk of overestimating the age of individuals of Black ethnicity using White ethnic reference data.