THE IMPACT OF THE SPORT OF BICYCLE RIDING ON SAFETY LAW

On Wednesday, a gentleman, who stated he came from Thornhill in Dunfries, was placed at the Gorbels public bar, charged with riding along the pavement on a velocipede to the obstruction of the passage, and with having, by so doing, thrown over a child. … The child who was thrown down had not sustained any injury, and under the circumstances, the offender was only fined 5 shillings. Glasgow Argus, June 9, 1842- arguably the first court decision applying safety law to the bicycle.     

THE IMPACT OF FLORIDA'S HABITUAL OFFENDER LAW ON CRIME*

Research examining the impact of habitual offender laws on crime has suffered from numerous methodological problems, including failure to consider incapacitation effects that may be responsible for most of the laws' impact but that may not appear until years after the law is passed; not addressing simultaneity issues; and omitting needed control variables to avoid spurious or suppressed results. The present study specifies procedures that can be used to mitigate these problems. These procedures are used in the current study to estimate the impact of Florida's habitual offender law on crime using a multiple time series design, with data for 58 counties from 1980–1998.     

THE IMPACT OF MEGAN'S LAW ON SEX OFFENDER RECIDIVISM: THE MINNESOTA EXPERIENCE*

Although Megan's Law was passed more than 10 years ago, very little is known as to whether it reduces sex offender recidivism significantly. Using a retrospective quasi‐experimental design, we examine whether community notification has a deterrent effect by comparing the recidivism rates of 155 level 3 (“high public risk”) sex offenders released from Minnesota prisons between 1997 and 2002 who were subject to broad notification with two separate control groups who were not. The first control group (referred to as the prenotification group) contained 125 sex offenders released between 1990 and 1996 (the 7 years preceding the implementation of the Community Notification Act) who likely would have been subject to broad community notification had the law been in effect at the time of their release. The second control group (referred to as the non‐notification group) was composed of 155 offenders (37 level 1 and 118 level 2) released between 1997 and 2002 who were not subject to broad community notification. The results from the Cox proportional hazards models reveal that broad community notification significantly reduced the risk of time to a sex reoffense (rearrest, reconviction, and reincarceration) compared with both control groups. The findings were mixed, however, for both non‐sex and general reoffending. Whereas broad community notification significantly reduced the risk of timing to both non‐sex and general recidivism compared with the prenotification group, no such effects were found in the non‐notification group analyses. We discuss the implications of these results and attempt to explain why Megan's Law seems to reduce sex offense recidivism in Minnesota.     

THE IMPACT OF CONTINUING EDUCATION TRAINING ON LAW GUARDIAN KNOWLEDGE,EFFICACY, AND PRACTICE BEHAVIORS

There is an increased demand for law guardians in domestic violence cases, especially those involving child witnesses. Training is required for law guardians to meet child clients’ needs. While workshops and conferences are typical venues for continuing education training, their effectiveness is unknown. This pilot study compared law guardians who attended a conference on community violence and children to nonattendees on several training outcomes. Results showed a positive impact on attendees’ feelings of efficacy and intentions to carry out new practice behaviors post‐conference; differences were maintained at follow‐up. Limitations and implications of this pilot study are discussed.     

THE EFFECTS OF CRIMINAL LAW ON ARBITRATION

While arbitration is essentially a private law institution, its various aspects have ties to criminal law. Therefore, it is highly important to examine particular circumstances that criminal law norms may have on the arbitration procedures, or arbitral awards, as well as the consequences of these affects. In this respect, the implementation of the rules of Criminal Procedure, in particular rules regarding inadmissible evidence--in the arbitration proceedings; direct or indirect influence of criminal court judgments on arbitration proceedings; or criminal responsibility of arbitrators, are some of the important issues that deserve to be examined. In this study, these issues will be evaluated with respect to the theory and the practice of Turkish Law.     

古代法律与法医学

法医学是因法律的需要而发生发展起来的。古代法律与法医不的关系是研究法医学史的重要课题。关于我国古代法律与法医学的关系已经在拙著《中国古代法医学史》一书中做了比较详细的研究。关于外国古代法律与法医学的关系是研究世界法医学史不可缺少的组成部分。这方面的研究国内尚未见报告，本文根据有关文献资料作一综合介绍。乌尔纳姆法典早在2113～2006BC，苏美尔人（sume－rian）在两河流域南部古城乌尔（今伊拉克境内）第一次建立起统一的国家乌尔（Ur）。乌尔第三王朝的创建者乌尔纳姆的重要历史功绩之一就是编定了一部法典：乌尔纳…     

北京大学法学院民法研究中心暨《中外法学》编辑部2005年物权法草案研讨会综述

<正>物权法(草案)三审稿已向社会公布,为配合物权立法,北京大学法学院民法研究中心暨《中外法学》编辑部于2005年10月28、29日联合举办了物权法草案研讨会。民法研究中心尹田教授及《中外法学》主编贺卫方教授致词后,研讨会由民法学家魏振瀛教授、尹田教授及郭明瑞教授主持。来自北大、清华、法大、中国社科院法学所等单位的中青年民法学者以物权法(草案)三审稿为对象,以服务物权立法为宗旨,对物权法草案的评价标准、物权变动、所有权的取得及类型等主题展开了热烈的讨论,现将讨论的主要观点综述如下。