Raz on Rights: Human Rights,Fundamental Rights,and Balancing

After clarifying the outlines of Raz's interest theory of rights and its relationship to aspects of the principles theory of rights, I consider how his recent observations on human rights manage to fit (or fail to fit) into the interest theory. I then address two questions. First, I elaborate on Raz's definition of morally fundamental rights, arguing that he is right in claiming that there are no such rights. I then show that the interest theory accommodates the notion that rights may take qualitative precedence over conflicting considerations—a question that has become increasingly relevant in light of recent writing on rights.     

Clashing Rights, the Welfare of the Child and the Human Rights Act

Under the Human Rights Act so far there has been until very recently little judicial or even academic recognition of the difference between resolving clashes of Convention rights and addressing conflicts between utilitarian concerns and such rights. This article has chosen to illustrate that failure of recognition and to consider methods of resolving the conflict between rights, by concentrating on one particular clash of rights – that between media free speech under Article 10 and the privacy of children under Article 8. It argues for presumptive equality for the two rights and for conducting a 'parallel analysis' of their application to the circumstances of a particular case. It contends that therefore the principle that the child's welfare is paramount must be abandoned in its present form, as must the presumptive priority accorded to Article 10 where that principle is not found to apply.     

请求权、私权救济与民事权利体系

引言民法是一个以权利为核心而构筑起来的制度体系,基于“无救济即无权利”之理念,对于权利救济理论的研究,应当成为民法理论中关于权利制度的一项重要内容。就私权结构而言,民法为保护特定利益而设置的权利,并不只是一种静止的权利,而是设定了一系列前后相连的权利,前面的权利     

Rights,women, and the state of Pakistan

Violence against women is a problem around the world. Addressing the issues of physical and sexual violence against women has been a complicated endeavor for criminologists. Much of the traditional criminological research on violence against women has frequently focused on rape as a crime of power between individuals. However, this framework has been expanded to incorporate the analysis of rape during times of war and rape as a state crime. In these cases, rape serves a broader purpose within the military and social structure. By focusing on the specific case of the gang rape of Mukhtar Mai, the goal of this paper was to demonstrate and analyze the role of the state in many of these crimes. Mukhtar Mai’s case should not be understood in isolation, but as a way to illuminate the role of the state in these numerous crimes.     

Promises,Rights and Claims

The paper argues that promise rights presuppose independently existing (if not pre-existing) claims. The argument relies on the Bifurcation Thesis, according to which all claims, and all rights, can be exhaustively divided into two categories: capacity based and exercise based.     

On the Right to Have Nationality Rights: Statelessness,Citizenship and Human Rights

Netherlands International Law Review - This article considers contemporary predicaments of nationality rights against the background of reflection on Arendt’s phrase ‘the right to have...     

文化多样性的主权、人权与私权分析

文化传统保护与文化发展选择是国家文化主权的基本内容;保护文化多样性的权利和自由属于基本人权的范畴;知识产权对文化创造参与者的支持和激励具有重要意义。《文化多样性公约》以主权和人权作为文化多样性保护的基本举措,并以对艺术家的知识产权保护作为补充措施,由此构建了一个保护文化多样性的多元权利形态。     

Trade Unions, Human Rights and the BNP

The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992,section 174, bars trade unions from (amongst other things) excludingor expelling individuals on grounds of their membership of apolitical party. An issue has arisen about whether trade unionscan exclude or expel individuals who are members of the BritishNational Party (BNP). This article questions whether the currentrestrictions are consistent with international treaties ratifiedby the UK, and considers the human rights claims of the tradeunion and the ‘unwanted’ individuals.     

Women's Rights, the European Court, and Supranational Constitutionalism

This analysis examines supranational constitutionalism in the European Union (EU). In particular, the study focuses on the role of the European Court of Justice in the creation of women's rights. I examine the interaction between the Court and member state governments in legal integration, and also the integral role that women's advocates—both individual activists and groups—have played in the development of EU social provisions. The findings suggest that this litigation dynamic can have the effect of fueling the integration process by creating new rights that may empower social actors and EU organizations, with the ultimate effect of diminishing member state government control over the scope and direction of EU law. This study focuses specifically on gender equality law yet provides a general framework for examining the case law in subsequent legal domains, with the purpose of providing a more nuanced understanding of supranational governance and constitutionalism.     

Resources, Rights, and Environmental Regulation

Prior to the Human Rights Act 1998, there were significant expectations that it would promote the development of environmental rights and extend remedies for environmental harm. This has not been the case, but then the expectations were probably always false. The paper points to three reasons why: the retention of a strong model of parliamentary sovereignty; the need to mould human rights principles alongside the common law; the traditional reluctance of the courts to determine questions of utility where questions of resource allocation arise. The paper concludes by reflecting on whether one would hope, in any case, to advance the cause of the environment through the mechanism of the Convention and suggests that there may be reasons to doubt the wisdom of this approach.     

信息、知识产权与中国知识产权战略若干问题

“自主知识产权”与“以信息化促工业化”有着密切的联系。知识产权客体的本质是信息。“信息化”如果仅仅着眼于信息处理与传输,就仅仅注意到了“枝”或“流”;只有同时也注意到“信息”本身的创新,才算注意到了“根”或“源”。就中国知识产权保护的定位,既需要有理论上的思考,又必须了解与分析国际国内的许多实际问题。除了按照国际条约要求的义务保护我们的非长项外,在构思中国知识产权战略时,还应积极思考如何主动地保护我们自己的长项。