建立国际统一的管辖权和判决承认与执行制度--海牙《选择法院协议公约》述评

海牙国际私法会议于2005年6月所通过的<选择法院协议公约>系迄今为止国际社会在法院管辖权和外国法院判决承认和执行方面意义最为深远的一个公约.本文首先介绍了本文公约产生的背景以及公约的结构.之后,作者就公约中关于统一管辖权的规定进行了较为详细的评述被选择法院行使管辖权的权利和应该行使管辖权的义务、未被选择法院不行使管辖权的义务以及临时保护措施不受公约约束的例外规定.关于公约中所规定的外国法院判决的承认与执行制度作者从六个方面进行了探讨承认与执行外国判决的一般义务、承认与执行外国判决的例外情形、不审查与事实认定、先决问题、损害赔偿问题以及承认和执行外国判决的法律适用问题.     

《旅行契约国际公约》评介

1970年世界旅游组织(WTO)在布鲁塞尔制定的《旅行契约国际公约》,比较全面地规范了旅游契约的主要内容。根据该公约的规定,旅行契约包括有组织的旅行契约和中间人承办的旅行契约两类;旅游契约的主体有三类:旅行业者、旅行业中间人和旅行者。而且公约中也详细规定了旅客与旅游营业人的权利与义务以及旅游营业人责任的限制与免除等。这对我国的相关立法有较高的借鉴意义。     

Race and Law in Fortress Europe

The universality of human rights is undermined by the principle of territorial supremacy. This allows member states of the EU to discriminate against those who are not citizens of the Union. Moreover, the European Convention on Human Rights and the EC Race Directive are incapable of redressing collective racial or ethnic disadvantage because they do not provide for the enforcement of positive social, economic and cultural obligations. These limitations are assessed in the light of current political and legal developments, using as the main illustration the case of the European Roma. An analysis is provided of obligations to respect, to protect and to fulfil social rights, which could be used when challenging the actions of public authorities and securing access for individuals to public facilities and services. An inclusionary approach would emphasise that equality is central to human rights, and that 'outsiders' such as migrant workers and asylum-seekers have human rights.     

[Disability] Justice Dictated by the Surfeit of Love: Simone Weil in Nigeria

How is Nigeria’s failure to fulfil its obligations as a signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to be appreciated or even resolved? Answers to this are sought through a seminal criticism of human rights, namely, Simone Weil’s 1942 essay Human Personality. Weil questioned the ability of human rights concepts to cause the powerful to develop the emotional dispositions of empathy for those who suffer. Weil’s insights provide a convincing explanation that the indifference of Nigerian authorities towards the Convention may be accounted for by the weakness of human rights discourse to foster human capacity for empathy and care for those who suffer. Weil’s criticisms will serve as a point of departure for a particular way to circumvent this inadequacy of human rights discourse to achieve disability justice in Nigeria through other means. I argue that Weil, through her concept of attention, grappled with and offers a consciousness of suffering and vulnerability that is not only uncommon to existing juridical human rights approaches, but is achievable through the active participation in the very forms of suffering and vulnerability in which amelioration is sought. To provide empirical content to this argument, I turn to a short-lived initiative of the Nigerian disability movement, which if ethico-politically refined and widely applied, can supply an action-theoretical grounding for and be combined with Weil’s work to elevate agitations for disability justice above human rights to the realm of human obligations.     

Airport Noise and the Right to Family Life: A Legitimate Application of Article 8 of the European Convention?

The central question in this piece is the scope of Article8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and in particular its extension to the protection of environmental rights.Whilst environmental rights have been recognised as fundamental human rights in international and regional contexts, the extension of the positive obligations of the state in relation to Article 8, which focuses on the private sphere, is problematic where there is an onus on the individual state to balance the inevitable conflicts between the protection of individual rights and national economic interests which include the freedom of individuals and groups to enjoy the benefits of competitive business. Equally important is the question ofeffective remedies where a violation of the Convention has been found. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

NGO Standing in the European Court of Justice – Does the Aarhus Regulation Open the Door?

This article assesses whether the new European Community (EC) Regulation applying the provisions of the Aarhus Convention to EC institutions and bodies provides non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with access to justice in compliance with the EC's obligations under the Aarhus Convention. We conclude that, notwithstanding the uncertainty over the wording finally adopted in the Aarhus Regulation, the procedural rights granted to NGOs in the Regulation brings NGOs within the standing requirements of the EC Treaty, such that they can seek justice in the European courts. This is a significant development in the field of environmental democracy and procedural rights to the environment – including the ability to seek enforcement of the right to a healthy environment.     

Pre-Trial Defence Rights and the Fair Use of Eyewitness Identification Procedures

This paper sets out the normative basis of a claim to procedural rights concerning the fair use of eyewitness identification procedures. It is argued that there are two aspects to suspects' procedural rights. The first aims to secure an opportunity for the suspect to participate in procedures where doing so might result in exculpatory evidence (a participatory right). The second is the state's obligation to take reasonable measures to prevent wrongful conviction on the basis of mistaken identification by providing the suspect with a satisfactory degree of procedural accuracy (a protective right). This normative analysis provides the basis of a claim that Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides a suspect with similar rights. The final part of the paper considers whether domestic procedure is compatible with these putative rights, and whether it could be said to provide an effective remedy if they were to be breached.     

论著作人格权保护在美国的演绎

著作人格权作为一种非财产性权利,是作者享有的基于作品产生的人格利益.著作人格权制度是版权体系和作者权体系的分水岭所在.现行美国《版权法》第106条之2保护“某些作者的署名权及其保护作品完整权”,可是美国真的保护著作人格权吗？最初,美国延续版权体系的传统,无论是在版权法案中还是在司法实践中都不保护著作人格权制度.直到1988年,美国加入《伯尔尼公约》后,为了履行公约义务不得不在其版权法案中加入著作人格权的保护条款,但在司法实践中,美国仍遵循版权是财产权的理念,通过对作者和作品范围严格限定并未真正保护著作人格权.     

O'Keeffe v Ireland: The Liability of States for Failure to Provide an Effective System for the Detection and Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse in Education

In O'Keeffe v Ireland, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights found that Ireland failed to protect the applicant from sexual abuse suffered as a child in an Irish National School in 1973 and violated her rights under Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights. This note argues that the decision is important in expanding the Court's jurisprudence regarding positive obligations under Article 3 to child sexual abuse in a non‐state setting where there was no knowledge of a ‘real and immediate’ risk to the applicant. It also argues that the case raises concerns about the Court's methodology for the historical application of the Convention and about the interaction of Article 3 positive obligations with vicarious liability in common law tort regimes.     

家庭的民事主体地位

家庭是一种独立的社会组织,为了自身的生存和履行其社会职能,家庭在客观上具有作为民事主体的必要性,事实上也已经是民事法律行为的实施者。家庭具有独立的意志和财产,在法理上具备作为民事主体的一般条件,现行的国内外法律也在一定程度上承认了家庭的民事主体地位。     

论国际法规范的位阶

条约法公约首次在国际法上规定了强行法概念。国际法学者以强行法、对一切义务、国际罪行等的出现为根据,提出了位阶理论,主张国际法规范已经产生类似于国内法的"规范等级"。在实践中,位阶理论在确定国际法等级以及效力层次上的作用也极为有限。国际法院的判决在某种程度上仅仅是指明某些义务具有基础性,而并不能证明强行法规范具有高于一般规范的效力。尽管如此,位阶理论的提出仍使特定国际法规范的效力在某种程度上超出"同意",也在某种程度上解决了条约义务与国际社会根本义务相冲突的情形。     

劳动合同签订前当事人之权利义务分析——兼谈就业协议书的法律性质

自《劳动法》颁布以来,对于劳动合同双方当事人之间的权利义务关系进行法学分析的文章不少,但是,对于尚处于劳动合同订立阶段的双方当事人享有什么样的权利,承担什么样的义务话题相对较少,能否比照合同法之一般原理,即要约与承诺理论来诠释双方当事人劳动合同签订前之权利义务关系问题值得法学界关注。目前,我国每年400万大学毕业生,不少人签订了就业协议,这样的协议其性质如何,权利义务如何配置,本文借鉴台湾地区"雇佣内定"概念及其他国家劳动合同签订前双方当事人权利义务的理论,对我国劳动合同签订前当事人双方权利义务进行法学分析,并对实践中之就业协议的相关问题进行了相应探讨。     

国际私法条约解释的路径依赖与方法展开

国际条约的文本制订及其为当事国接受仅实现了条约的形式统一,而条约的实质统一则需要通过一致解释和适用来达致。国际公法条约解释更多针对的是国家的权利和义务,而国际私法条约解释更多关涉的是私人的权利和义务,且没有相应的管辖国际私法条约的国际争议解决机构,故存在当事国解释的多样性风险。国际私法条约解释在路径上依赖条约解释的习惯法规则的同时,必须坚持自洽性和统一性解释要求。当事国在司法实践中对国际私法条约的解释,倾向于采用约文解释和目的解释方法,要求法官学会自我克制和比较借鉴,使用补充资料作为辅助手段,同时处理好多种约文文本和公共政策条款的解释问题。     

Balancing data protection and privacy – The case of information security sensor systems

This article analyses government deployment of information security sensor systems from primarily a European human rights perspective. Sensor systems are designed to detect attacks against information networks by analysing network traffic and comparing this traffic to known attack-vectors, suspicious traffic profiles or content, while also recording attacks and providing information for the prevention of future attacks. The article examines how these sensor systems may be one way of ensuring the necessary protection of personal data stored in government IT-systems, helping governments fulfil positive obligations with regards to data protection under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (The Charter), as well as data protection and IT-security requirements established in EU-secondary law. It concludes that the implementation of sensor systems illustrates the need to balance data protection against the negative privacy obligations of the state under the ECHR and the Charter and the accompanying need to ensure that surveillance of communications and associated metadata reach established principles of legality and proportionality. The article highlights the difficulty in balancing these positive and negative obligations, makes recommendations on the scope of such sensor systems and the legal safeguards surrounding them to ensure compliance with European human rights law and concludes that there is a risk of privatised policymaking in this field barring further guidance in EU-secondary law or case law.     

Incidental findings and ancillary-care obligations.

Recent work on incidental findings, concentrating on the difficult problems posed by the ambiguous results often generated by high-tech medicine, has proceeded largely independently from recent work on medical researchers' ancillary-care obligations, the obligations that researchers have to deal with diseases or conditions besides the one(s) under study. This paper contends that the two topics are morally linked, and specifically that a sound understanding of ancillary-care obligations will center them on incidental findings. The paper sets out and defends an understanding of ancillary-care obligations, which is based on the idea that when participants signed up for a study they may -- independently of their beliefs and expectations and of those of the researchers -- be taken to have partially entrusted certain aspects of their health into the researchers' hands. This partial entrustment model of ancillary-care obligations, in turn, has substantive implications for how to deal ethically with incidental findings; for instance, it suggests that researchers have no moral obligation to hunt for incidental findings.     

授益行政的义务主体及义务属性

授益行政由一定的权利义务构成。授益行政对于受益人而言,主要意味着权利,但它同时也负有一定的义务;对于行政主体而言,主要意味着义务,但对个人和组织负有义务的又不仅限于行政主体,国家、社会、受益人以及第三人均负有相应的义务。合理界分各方义务主体的义务属性和义务内容,正确处理各方之间的关系,科学配置权利义务资源,是完善授益行政制度体系的前提条件。     

The Biodiversity Convention and in situ Conservation in Zambia

This article describes biological diversity, its importance to the global community and to the African continent, focusing particularly on Zambia, my home country. The article considers briefly the provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity¹ (the Biodiversity Convention) and in particular the in situ conservation obligations under the Convention. The article identifiies the required actions for the effective in situ conservation of biological diversity in Zambia. In this regard, the article high-lights the main problems associated with biological diversity loss, examines Zambia's legislation on the conservation of biological diversity and considers whether the obligations thereunder comply with the actions required for the effective conservation of biological diversity identified under the Biodiversity Convention. The article concludes with recommendations on what actions are needed for effective in situ conservation of biological diversity in Zambia.     

Disability,right to culture and copyright: which regulatory option?

Access to knowledge and participation in cultural life for persons with disabilities has always constituted a tough challenge. Recent studies show that only 5% of published works are available in accessible format, and the number plummets to 1% in developing countries. Coupled with the high costs of production and distribution, and the full reliance on public funds and intervention of public or non-profit organizations, copyright has traditionally represented an additional obstacle on the path for a broader availability of accessible works. Recently, the situation has worsened with the tilting in the balance between rights and exceptions caused by the legislative response to digital threats, when the unprecedented opportunities offered by new technologies to foster accessibility have been largely trumped by copyright law. Still, the last decades have witnessed the beginning of a paradigm shift, originating from the human rights arena, and moving towards a new definition of the interplay between authors’ rights and the right to take part in cultural life, both at a general level and with particular regards to persons with disabilities. This article offers a diachronic overview of the path that, from the rediscovery of Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights through its General Comments to Article 30 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, has led to the adoption of the Marrakesh Treaty. It then analyses, with a focus on the European Union and its Member States, the national and regional responses to the new human rights obligations, looking at the relations between legislative exceptions and model or collective license agreements. The assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the two main regulatory options lays the groundwork for proposals of further areas of intervention, necessary to fully comply with the international human rights obligations and to achieve the fullest access to and participation in culture possible for persons with disabilities, by using the tools offered by international and national copyright law.     

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Punishment of Children Under English Law – Public and Private Vices?

The punishment of children in the domestic sphere and in the public domain is an issue of concern for those with care of children or whose interests lie in the protection of children’s human rights. How children are treated when they are judged to have broken rules reveals fundamental approaches to the welfare of those who have yet to reach adulthood. The effect of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in respect of how children are punished, whether in the home or as transgressors of criminal law, may be examined through two distinct but linked spheres: the private and home life context of domestic or personal punishment, and the public domain of state punishment of children in terms of criminal responsibility under English Law. Both spheres reveal attitudes towards the rights of children which suggest how human rights are accorded to particular groups in applying international obligations to a state’s domestic provision. This article seeks to explore some issues of compliance with Article 19 (the physical chastisement of children), Article 37 (the imprisonment of children being a ‚last resort’) and Article 40 (the minimum age of criminal responsibility) of the United Nations Convention on the␣Rights of the Child. The application of the rights of children and the operation of the ‚best interests’ of the child in applying Articles 19, 37 and 40 suggests that there are issues in relation to non-compliance which indicate a diminution of the separate rights of children under English Law in particular and in the operation of the best interests of the child. Penny Booth is a Reader in Law at Staffordshire University Law School.