The New Zealand Law Commission Report on Access to Court Records

The first part of this article was published in the Commonwealth Law Bulletin, Volume 33, No 2. The article examines various elements that form part of a modern public fiscal management law as well as the role played by key players and puts forward a number of proposals for reform. Also examined in this article are elements impacting on the effective implementation of a modern fiscal law. The author moreover draws on a wide array of case law to propose core definitions of key fiscal law. While the preoccupation of this article is primarily legal in focus, the author cautions that unless other elements for effective re‐engineering, such as training and proper remuneration, are in place, the benefits mooted by such a legal regime may not materialise. The ultimate aim of a legal and regulatory framework supporting a modern financial management system is for increased accountabilities, transparency and value for money. Where these principles permeate the system of public financial management, from the identification and accounting of public money and the design and content of the Budget or public expenditure system, to the monitoring of the expenditure, the demands of the governed for better government and the protection of the public interest are met. So too are the demands of the governed for better government from the governing and the promotion of the public interest.     

The Psychological Consultative Examination for Social Security Disability

The Social Security Administration (SSA) provides for federal disability insurance for disabled workers and their families through the Social Security Disability Insurance program and the social safety net for low-income disabled individuals through the Supplemental Security Income program. For the Mental Disorders (12.0) listings in the SSA Blue Book, psychologists provide consultative examinations, a form of medicolegal consultation (Chafetz; The Clinical Neuropsychologist 24:1,045–1,063, 2010). Psychologists also provide consultation directly to the Administrative Law Judges for cases going on appeal, or they might work directly for a Disability Determinations Services facility as an examiner for cases with mental disorders. This article describes the role of the psychologist in the Psychological Consultative Examination and its medicolegal context. Problems with non-credible behavior, particularly malingering, must be accounted for by the psychologist, which ultimately can help SSA with the validity of its decisions.     

Report of the Law Reform Commission of Tanzania on Congestion in Prisons

Since its formal inauguration in the year 2006, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has arguably shown itself to be quite capable of effectively dispensing with its overarching aims of consistency, coherence and legal certainty in the process of adjudication. Indeed, through the adoption of a teleological approach to the construction of the Revised Treaty of Chaguramas, the CCJ has positioned itself as a major operational component in the new Caribbean legal order, serving, as the European Court of Justice as well as several domestic courts have done, to ensure transparency and accountability. The court’s relatively nuanced purpose-driven approach has arguably been the single biggest contributing factor to the region’s quickly evolving ‘indigenous jurisprudence’. Nevertheless, some of the court’s most recent original jurisdiction decisions reveal a growing trend towards judicial restraint. The varying degrees to which the CCJ has adopted a teleological approach to the interpretation of the Revised Treaty of Chaguramas, the concomitant effects of this important development as well as the challenges which invariably arise in this connection are the subject of this article.     

公司法规则的回应力——一个政策性的边缘理解

法律现实主义者十分关注法律的回应力。按照法律回应力的分析工具,最佳的公司法模式是有很强"回应性的公司法"。全球公司法的回应力模型可以区分为私人方向的回应模型和公共方向的回应模型,中国大体居于一种中间主义的状态。公司法的回应力取决于利益主体的识别、利益机制的设计以及回应成本、回应时机的考量。按照法律分工的模式,中国公司法的回应力应更集中于公司、股东以及董事、高管的利益调整,淡化其他的回应需求;要细分不同利益主体的利益层次;在回应成本和回应时机上进行改良,强化立法性、民间性、司法性回应机制,成立公司法改革检讨委员会、承认公司内部解决纠纷的能力、成立专门的公司法审判庭或者商事法院、促使裁判文书公共化。不同的公司法回应力政策会产生不同的系统性效应,导致不同的"习惯性沉淀"。要使沉淀的"法律资本"有用武之地,公司法必须持续保持其回应力。     

The National Crime Commission Report

In 1965 President Johnson established The Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice. Its report released earlier this year is highly significant. The recommendations concerning juvenile courts are likely to have strong influence over the next several years and that section of the report follows:     

美国动产担保交易法与我国动产担保物权立法

美国动产担保交易法引领着动产担保立法的世界潮流,其中所蕴含的概念和方法已被越来越多的国家作为动产担保法制改革的基础.我国物权立法中如何对待美国动产担保交易法的立法经验是我们目前应予面对的一大难点.文章从美国动产担保交易法的制度特色着眼,参照他国的继受经验,提出了我国动产担保物权立法的应有态度.     

经济法的利益观

受到以主客观分离与对立为出发点的二元思维模式的影响 ,在社会结构方面形成了市民社会与政治国家分立的二元理论 ,在法学领域中也形成了以规制政治国家权力为主的公法部门和以调整市民社会关系为主的私法部门的二元划分。随着社会的发展 ,传统的关于市民社会与政治国家截然分开的理论受到挑战 ,政治国家与市民社会日渐融合 ,经济法的出现是这种趋势在法律上的体现之一。经济法作为贯穿于政治国家与市民社会领域的一个新兴的法律部门 ,其利益观体现出一定的综合性 ,融合了运行于市民社会中的私法与运行于政治国家中的公法的双重特征。经济法虽然以社会利益作为其首要的保护目标 ,但其对社会利益保护的实质是以个人利益为核心的个人利益、国家利益、社会利益之间协调的结果。     

公司法学研究的法律经济学含义——以公司表决权规则为中心

在当代公司法学研究中,效率是一个主导性的理论范式。尊重情感、伦理等在其他法律场域中可能要被考虑的多维目标,在公司法中无需顾及。因而,以效率为价值取向的法律经济学,无可争议地成为公司法学研究中最具解说力的分析工具。就此而论,揭示公司法学研究的法律经济学含义,以公司法的演进路径和适应性品格为基础,反思并检讨我国的公司法学研究和立法实践,对于当前的公司法律变革,将起到思想和智识指引的作用。而作为公司法的基础制度安排,表决权规则的设计更应本着效率之理念进行。     

法律选择之抉择:国家利益与个人利益

法律选择是国际私法中解决法律冲突的特有方法。为了克服传统法律选择方法的弊端,法学家们提出了一系列新的法律选择方法。这些方法可以归纳为根据国家利益进行法律选择和根据当事人利益进行法律选择两类。当代国际私法的发展要求在法律适用问题上平衡当事人利益和国家利益乃至整个国际社会的利益,我国的国际私法立法应顺应这一时代潮流。     

公司法律规范分类研究

公司法律规范的种类应当包括强制适用规范、授权适用规范和推定适用规范。强制适用规范是强行界定当事人权利义务关系的一种公法和私法相融合的法律规范,授权适用规范和推定适用规范有助于私法自治原则的推行。解析公司法律规范的研究目的在于,重构公司法律规范体系,即内在的规范体系和外在的规范体系。内在的规范体系由公司法、民法、合同法等私法规范构成,外在的规范体系由宪法、刑法、行政法等公法规范和内在规范体系共同形成一个统一的整体。