It is Just Good Business: The Case for Supporting Reform in Divorce Court

This article examines the ways in which divorce and child custody proceedings can impact employee productivity and suggests that it behooves businesses to become involved in supporting efforts to improve the process—both as a matter of community service and because it can impact their bottom line. This article further outlines some improvements that are being implemented or considered in various jurisdictions.

Key Points for the Family Court Community
• Divorce does not just impact the parties and their children. It also impacts the work productivity of the individuals involved.
• The population of individuals seeking court involvement in child custody issues has changed, and new processes must be developed to address their needs.
• There are new ideas about how to restructure the divorce process in ways that could benefit both the individuals and their employers.

     

人格权:何以可能

人格权保护为法律的基本任务.在民法典中如何规定人格权,是一个人权保障的一个重要课题.本文从人格与人格权的关系、一般人格权以及人格权请求权三个视角就中国未来的人格权立法展开探讨.     

知假买假行为适用惩罚性赔偿评析

知假买假行为使用惩罚性赔偿的分歧主要集中在立法目的、消费者的认定、欺诈、打假的社会功能等四个方面。由于《消法》立法目的不明确,无法作为立论依据;由于举证难,无法否认知假买假行为为生活消费需要、事先知假,应该认定知假买假者为消费者、销售者存在欺诈,因而可以适用惩罚性规则;从社会功能上看,知假买假客观上净化了社会环境,提高了社会福利,因而法律应该确立这种行为。     

Parenting without Protection: How Legal Status Ambiguity Affects Lesbian and Gay Parenthood

Through the lens of lesbian and gay parenthood we ask how individuals who experience “legal status ambiguity”—that which emerges when legal fluctuations combine with divided attitudes, ignorance of the law, and autonomous institutional gatekeepers—exercise their legal rights and responsibilities. The results from thirty‐one interviews with lesbian and gay parents in Oregon and their six adult children suggest that the state's fluctuating legal and social climates for lesbian and gay parenting between 1985 and 2013 presented significant challenges for two generations of same‐sex parents. Although both cohorts created and utilized a range of legal and social mechanisms to assert their legal rights, they found these rights to be controlled as much by gatekeeper perspectives as by legal force. After the 2015 Obergefell ruling on marriage equality, lesbian and gay parenting status remains a site of ongoing legal and social contestation, providing insight into the risks and challenges of legal status ambiguity.     

Restoration and Retribution: How Including Retributive Components Affects the Acceptability of Restorative Justice Procedures

Two studies investigated people’s perceptions of the acceptability of restorative justice procedures for handling crimes that differ in severity. Results from Study 1 supported our hypothesis that as crimes increase in seriousness, people require a restorative justice procedure that also has a possible retributive component (i.e. a prison sentence). Study 1 also demonstrated that individuals assigned lower prison sentences for offenders who successfully completed a restorative procedure as compared to a traditional court procedure. The results from Study 2 replicated those from Study 1, as well as demonstrating that offenders who failed to successfully complete the restorative procedure received no reduction in prison sentence. These findings suggest that in order for citizens to view a restorative justice procedure as an acceptable alternative to the traditional court system for serious crimes, the procedure must allow for the option of some retributive measures.

Through the Eyes of a Father: How PRWORA Affects Non-Resident Fathers and Their Children

Under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity ReconciliationAct (PRWORA), new laws have been enacted that focus on reducingsingle-parent families’ reliance on state assistance bycollecting child support from non-custodial parents (typicallyfathers). These laws pressure fathers to pay child support throughstricter penalties for non-payment, but do not help fathersovercome barriers (eg, unstable employment) that prevent payment.In addition, PRWORA does not help fathers gain access to theirchildren, which, according to research, promotes payment andchild welfare. A literature review indicates that children whogrow up without a father experience more psychosocial difficultyand diminished well-being compared to children who grow up ina two parent household. Thus, it is recommended that the federalgovernment make greater efforts to assist fathers in their abilityto provide emotional and developmental guidance for their childrenthrough father involvement programmes. Programmes such as mediation,parenting plans, joint custody, and parental education promotethe well-being of the children and encourage non-residentialparents to fulfill their financial commitments to their offspring,reducing the need for state aid.     

我国证券市场的制度性缺陷及其克服

我国已经启动了《证券法》修改工作。尽管我国《证券法》颁行的时间并不长,但《证券法》中的许多规定大多带有阶段性,不能适应市场发展的需要,也无法应对我国加入WTO证券市场对外开放所带来的机遇与挑战,这与我国证券市场的制度性安排有着密切的关系。因此,对我国证券市场的制度性缺陷进行反思,探讨我国证券市场存在的问题,将有助于拓宽我国《证券法》修改的思路。     

传染病疫情信息公开的障碍及克服

传染病疫情信息公开是政府信息公开的一个特殊领域。在传染病疫情信息公开实践中,社会信息需求与政府信息供给之间的矛盾加剧,呈现出疫情信息公开的功能障碍。这种功能障碍的成因包括法律规则、管理体制和社会生态等方面。就法律层面看,现有法律规则对传染病信息公开的规定非常原则抽象,强调信息流的内部管理,忽视信息公开的预防性功能。就管理体制而言,传染病疫情信息公开体制内嵌于管理型体制框架之中,表现出信息分配的内紧外松,内外有别,行政部门垄断信息发布,信息竞争和流通受到抑制的特征。疫情信息公开的障碍是传染病防治体制机制的一个短板,应当从法律规则完善、管理体制改进、社会治理生态优化等层面克服障碍,在立法中强化预防性公开,在体制层面落实治理型公开,在社会层面鼓励竞争性公开。     

The Division of Marital Assets Following Divorce

In this paper, several possible bases for post-divorce asset division are examined from an economics-of-law perspective, focusing in particular on the incentives for opportunistic behaviour set up by the use of reliance, restitution, partnership, rehabilitation, and needs-based approaches. The current focus of marital law in England and Wales on a mixture of needs-based and contractual elements in divorce settlements is vulnerable to the charge that behaviour is encouraged in both males and females that is predatory in nature. The contractual uncertainty that follows from this may well deter some good quality marriages that might otherwise occur. The paper explores the case for using an expectations-damages approach, given that this can deter opportunistic divorce. The conclusions favour an updated and flexible view of the marriage contract. The paper draws extensively on the American literature covering property settlements.     

论中华人民共和国检察监督职能的形成与发展

检察监督职能是我国检察机关的一项重要的职能.中国的检察监督职能随着中国检察制度的发展,经历了一个曲折的过程.大体而言,1956年以前,中国检察监督职能初步确立;1956年到1968年中国检察监督职能不断的弱化,最终被取消;1978年以后,随着法制建设的发展,中国检察监督职能得到了完善和发展.     

法与经济学视野中的外部性及其解决方法分析

对于外部性的含义,学者们多从经济学的角度进行界定;而对于外部性的解决方法,学者们又多从制度的角度加以寻求。从法律视角即权利和义务的角度,也可以对外部性进行界定,并由此提出法律解决的方法。在解决外部性方面,经济法机制优于民法和行政法机制,但经济法解决外部性也需要注意一些问题。     

Interest Groups in the Israeli High Court of Justice: Measuring Success in Litigation and in Out-of-Court Settlements

The question of whether and to what extent interest groups are more successful than other parties in litigation is the subject of many debates among social scientists. Previous works in the field concentrated on checking outcomes of cases that were disposed of by courts in officially published final decisions. We sought to analyze not only final court decisions but also the outcomes of out-of-court settlements. Drawing from Marc Galanter's hypothesis that groups, especially those who are "repeat players," are likely to use out-of-court settlements more often and more efficiently than other litigants (Galanter 1974), we measured actual case outcomes of petitions brought before the Israeli High Court of Justice. We found that groups in general, and "repeat player" groups in particular, achieved a success rate significantly higher than other litigants. We also found that the relative advantage of groups in litigation is the result of their ability to reach out-of-court settlements with government agencies.     

Matrimonial Breakdown and the Legal Process: The Limitations of No-Fault Divorce

This paper sets out the factors underlying the policy of no-fault divorce, and questions the attainability of its aims. From the writer's empirical research into the operation of English divorce law, it is argued that legal reforms are not of themselves enough to change the attitudes of divorcing parties to the breakdown of their marriage. Reform should take into account the dynamics of the process of breakdown, in particular, the likelihood that the parties will have different attitudes to the breakdown of the relationship.