On Explaining the Development of 'Emissions Trading' in U.S. Air Pollution Regulation

Over the past decade the legal-administrative framework of United States air pollution regulation has changed from one based almost entirely on "command control" mechanisms to one allowing considerable use of "transferrable pollution permits." This article traces the process of that change, suggests why it may be a very significant one, and proposes a social explanation for it. Perhaps its most important explanatory proposition is that market mechanism regulation may reflect the formation and rise of a new "regulatory culture" likely to affect the form and substance of regulation more generally.     

Toxic Torts,Politics, and Environmental Justice: The Case for Crimtorts*

The borderline between criminal and tort law has been increasingly blurred over the past quarter century by the emergence of new “crimtort” remedies which have evolved to deter and punish corporate polluters. Punitive damages, multiple damages, and other “crimtort” remedies are under unrelenting assault by neo‐conservatives principally because, under this paradigm, the punishment for wrongdoing can be calibrated to the wealth of the polluter. If wealth‐based punishment is eliminated by the “tort reformers,” plaintiffs’ victories in crimtort actions such as those portrayed in the movies Silkwood, A Class Action, and Erin Brockovich will become an endangered species.     

The Politics of the Difficult: Congress,Public Opinion,and Early Cold War Aid and Trade Policies

Many foreign policies central to American cold war efforts were politically difficult. Understanding the politics behind these policies is important for understanding the capacity of democracies to implement difficult but strategically important policies. I argue that we must recognize the important role of public opinion. When the public is unified, popular preferences permeate and dominate the entire political system. For the case of the early cold war, I present quantitative evidence that public attitudes about national security influenced Senate voting on security aid and trade issues. My tests employ previously unused opinion data and take advantage of methodological advances in the analysis of panel data.     

行业协会自治权之程序规制

行业协会自治是社会治理的重要组成部分,也是弥补市场失灵和政府缺陷的重要途径。行业协会自治过程中必然会涉及权力的行使,而任何权力都存在被滥用的可能性,作为一种社会权力,行业协会自治权也不例外。要充分发挥行业协会自治权的积极功能,尽量避免其消极效果,需要建立健全对行业协会自治权的程序规制。此外,须设立赔偿基金,以落实行业协会自治权行使中的责任追究机制。     

京津冀协同视角下的大气污染治理

由于京津冀区域经济展水平与功能地位存在差异,各行政区域政策呈现碎片化特征,环境成本和责任与经济效益长期处于不对等状态。不难发现,我国的环境法治理结构存在瑕疵,导致大气治理出现地区政府各自为战的局面。因此必须转换地区政府政绩优先的思考模式,以生态文明建设为中心线,以人为本作为根本制度出发点,平衡经济发展与环境保护,实现人与自然真正的和谐与平衡。在党的领导下加强政府整体责信是环境治理的重要环节,探索一条政府、企业、法律、公众等不同群体互联互动的横向区域协同治理路径势在必行。     

医院交易优势地位的法律规制研究——以新一轮医疗体制改革为背景

公立医疗体系事关全民健康安全,有"第二国防"之称.作为公立医疗体系的主体,我国公立医院在医疗市场上是具有交易优势地位的,体现在与患者的交易中,往往凭借其交易优势地位,实施各种权利滥用的行为,严重侵害了广大患者的合法权益.因此,确有必要对这种交易优势地位进行调节和制约.从限制医院滥用交易优势地化着手,引入法律对其规制,继而研究法律规制的理论基础,并在此基础上研究法律如何规制和政府公权力如何干预医院滥用交易优势地位的行为.     

Partnerships in the Development and Implementation of Canadian Air Quality Regulation

This case study focuses on how the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment combined consultative processes with federal provincial negotiations to develop a policy for reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. The paper argues that the relationship among the parties was not characterized by the reciprocity required for a partnership, and that the process employed was insensitive to inequalities in regulatory capacity. As a result, too little attention was devoted to the question of how regulatory capacities can be continuously improved.     

Inter Partes Proceedings and the Reform of the Community Trade Mark Implementing Regulation

Legal and practical context. Commission Regulation 1041/2005of 29 June 2005, which amends the Community Trade Mark ImplementingRegulation, entered into force on 25 July 2005. Substantialamendments are brought to inter partes proceedings, that isoppositions and applications in revocation or in invalidity,and appeal procedures. Key points. The rules governing the substantiation of the earlierrights and time limits are now stricter. Also, the new regimeaims at circumscribing the consequences of the rather broadinterpretation which the Court of First Instance gave over thelast two years to the notion of functional continuity betweenthe opposition division and the Boards of Appeal. Practical significance. The authors analyse the new provisionscontained in the Community Trade Mark Implementing Regulationin the light of the latest case law of the Court of First Instance,in order to provide practitioners with a simplified guide.     

论日本核污染的法律规制

从福岛核电站事故到日本政府排海方案,存在核污染风险的法律规制问题。排海方案实施行为违背多项国际环境保护义务。日本环境法规制在福岛事故前后发生变化,《放射性污染特措法》对日本国内核污染进行系统法律规制。国内法规制体系相对严格使得日本政府将核废水从国内排放转移到海洋排放。核污染风险法律预防需要突破剩余风险的限制,不能够按照达标排污即合规的常规预防思路,而应当采取特别预防,从风险的内涵定位、判断要素、禁令诉讼等多方面对其规制路径进行整体建构。     

Misunderstanding Corruption and Community: Comparative Cultural Politics of Corruption Regulation in the Pacific

This paper will take as its empirical foundation the author’s experience of corruption and regulation in small Pacific island states. The argument is that notions of corruption and strategies for its regulation suitable for modernized societies, which lack cultural specificity and community engagement, may in fact stimulate corruption relationships in transitional cultures. The other consequence of the imposition of inappropriate definitions and regulation strategies is a profound misunderstanding of communities of dependence. In fact, corruption control can misconstrue and exacerbate economic and political dependence environments, fostering the conditions for corruption which accompany socio-economic development. Two remedies are suggested. First, corruption requires an appreciation which is ‘community-centered’, while at the same time not being neutralized by disconnected cultural relativity. Second, an enterprise theory of corruption in modernized societies and international political/commercial entities may assist in the relevant translation of global anti-corruption policies in a way which advances good governance in traditional communities. This is so when corruption is conceived as dependant on phases of modernization, and the tensions which arise when the interests of societies at different phases intersect. Corporate citizenship and compliance with anti-corrupt business practices by major corporations with a commercial interest in these transitional economies may be more beneficial than deference to uniform international codes of governance.

Global Politics of Mercury Pollution: The Need for Multi-Scale Governance

This article analyses international legal and policy developments on mercury from the 1970s to the present time, and examines options for continued abatement. Multiple scientific assessments have demonstrated that mercury is an environmental pollutant that can pose a serious threat to human health and development. Currently, the international community is engaged in extensive debate about options for improved mercury governance. This article will critically examine three major policy options under discussion: the creation of a global mercury convention; the regulation of mercury under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants; and the development of voluntary partnerships. It is concluded that expanded and better integrated policy efforts are needed across global, regional and local governance scales to address mercury pollution and contamination effectively.     

Trade Liberalization and Regulatory Diversity: Reconciling Competitive Markets with Competitive Politics

This paper questions the more extreme or indiscriminate claims for international harmonization or policy convergence with respect to many areas of within-the-border domestic policy diversity. The welfare implications, both domestic and global, of policy harmonization or convergence are highly ambiguous in many contexts. Proponents of more extreme forms of international harmonization of domestic policies also severely discount the importance of competitive governments and politics as a form of demand revelation. A third premise is the distinction between unilateralism and contractarianism, which argues for the adoption of ground-rules in international trade treaties that minimize the extent to which harmonization can be induced by judicial fiat on the one hand, or threats of unilateral sanctions on the other. A final premise is that despite the achievements of the European Union in promoting positive integration, the supranational institutional structures of the EU do not exist now or in the foreseeable future in other international trade and investment contexts, which severely limits the transferability of the EU experience, and argues instead for an elaboration of the negative integration approach that has historically characterized the position of the GATT on NTB's.In the light of these premises, the paper then goes on to examine objections by countries of destination to domestic policies of countries of origin, including (a) anti-dumping duties; (b) competition/anti-trust: export cartels; (c) subsidies and countervailing duties; (d) environmental policies; (e) labour standards.The paper then reverses the perspective and examines objections by countries of origin to domestic policies of countries of destination, including (a) domestic subsidies; (b) competition/anti-trust policies; (c) intellectual property; (d) health, safety, environmental, and conservation measures.The paper concludes by arguing for a refined principle of National Treatment, with appropriately defined exceptions thereto as the framework for evaluating allegations of non-tariff barriers with respect to domestic policy measures beyond or within a particular country's borders. While this conclusion would not, of course, preclude negotiations among countries for mutually beneficial forms of harmonization of domestic policies, it would seek to minimize the threat points that each country brings to these negotiations so as to reduce the risk of coerced forms of harmonization reflecting asymmetric bargaining power, or worse, coerced forms of discriminatory managed trade arrangements.     

Policy, Politics, and the Criminal Courts

This case study of criminal process in a middle-sized western city in the United States employs quantitative data, interviews, and library research to explore the politics of criminal process and its impact on the operative policies of the criminal courts from I964 through 1980. The research reveals significant policy change but a very elusive relationship between politics and policy. Judges and prosecutors preserve a significant measure of autonomy for dealing with the bulk of their caseload by giving up much of their independence in those cases that are inescapably politicized. Both judges and prosecutors use this partial political insulation to advance their own versions of criminological wisdom. On the other hand, they are constrained by the prevailing ethos and by institutional limitations to operate well within conventional definitions of crime and criminality—even when those conventional views run counter to their own practical experience.     

区域大气污染侵权救济的法理难题及其解决建议

因为雾霾频发,最近几年发生了针对企业和地方政府的环境损害侵权诉讼.基于点源污染损害的救济规则能否适用于区域大气污染损害救济,目前存在法理上的争议.《侵权责任法》对于区域性大气污染损害的救济没有作出规范上的回应,建议设立对区域大气污染受害者的行政补偿机制.由于起诉特定的违法企业要求其承担区域侵权赔偿责任有难度,建议修改立法,扩大环境侵权责任适用范围,让区域大气治理变成各方面的义务,并把环境成本内化于各行各领域.区域大气污染损害应属于特殊的共同侵权,但是《侵权责任法》对此并未认可,建议用政府补偿的方式予以解决.区域之间大气污染侵权责任的追究,应遵循共同但有区别责任原则,拓展适用基于点源的无过错责任原则和因果关系间接反证原则.大气污染民事公益诉讼的责任形式建议仅限于停止侵权等行为责任,让公益诉讼回归本意.     

论我国投资基金关联交易监管模式的选择

随着我国基金业的发展与壮大,关联交易日益突出。在理论上,基金关联交易存在是否需要监管之争,在实践上监管则存在着不同的模式。经综合论证,适度监管是解决问题的最好办法。然而,适度监管的前提是对基金关联交易监管模式的正确选择。我国目前基金关联交易监管采用的是我国台湾地区监管模式,这种监管模式弊端很多,基金运行的实践已经对其提出了严峻的挑战。因此,我国目前面临着重新选择基金关联交易监管模式的艰巨任务。理论与实践证明,我国采用美国式的基金关联交易监管模式具有可行性。     

区块链技术在商业秘密保护中的运用及法律规制

随着大数据与人工智能算法的迅速发展,区块链技术在保护商业秘密数据真实性方面显示出突出优势,但也面临公有链与联盟链形式的系统风险、区块链自身延展性价值实现不充分及对区块链高位阶法律规制不健全等各类风险.探索"标准共识兼容插件+多链并存与跨链兼容"模式、鼓励前置性商业秘密司法鉴定业务、完善区块链诉讼证据机制、加强对智能合约...