Court Management of AIDS Disputes: A Sociolegal Analysis

Historically, disease scares reveal contradictions in the social order. We postulate that courts focus on depoliticizing social tensions revealed by AIDS, legitimating the routines of dominant parties in the AIDS sociolegal network. At the same time, courts deviate from their normal practices try upholding the claims of subordinate parties in this network, particularly people living with AIDS (PWAs) and their allies. Our analysis of 36 AlDS-related court rulings, published during the formative years of AIDS litigation in the United States, supports the notion that courts operate as "double-edged" institutions. To explain the duality of judicial decision making, we concentrate on the powers of social and cultural factors rather than on the doctrinal judgments of the courts. We trace how relational attributes, evident in contestants' characteristics (e.g., plaintiff/defendant, status differentials) and the nature of claims (i.e., restrictive/expansive), combine to account for wins for dominant parties and how other combinations of these attributes define wins for subordinate parties. We also show how judges combine specific interpretational attributes in the text of their rulings (e.g., use of divisive AIDS metaphors, deference to medical authority) to justify wins. We consolidate these findings to discuss how PWAs and their allies might use the courts to their advantage and point out the ways in which the changing epidemiology of AIDS in the United States limits the use of courts.     

Criminal Specialization Revisited: A Simultaneous Quantile Regression Approach

Whether criminals are specialized or versatile in their offending is a long-standing research area that has been recently revitalized by a paradigm that recognizes that both specialization and versatility characterize offending careers. Based on data from an enriched sample of 500 adult habitual criminals, the current study introduces a measure of relative specialization—the offense specialization coefficient—and a novel analytical technique called simultaneous quantile regression to further the study of specialization. Although offenders committed a mix of offenses, there was considerable and at times pronounced evidence of specialization. Age, sex, and arrest onset had differential predictive validity of specialization for eight crimes at the 75th and 95th quantiles. Implications and suggestions for future research are offered.     

行政检察:解决行政争议的第三条道路

当前解决行政争议的主要法律途径是行政诉讼和行政复议,但实践效果差强人意,两种方式还存在若干难以弥补的缺陷。如果把对西方制度借鉴的目光转向中国本土法律资源,审视现行宪法框架下的制度设计,会发现行政检察具有弥补诉讼和复议缺憾的潜力,其所具有的主动性、弱对抗性、威慑性以及公共利益导向等制度优势,可以以更高效、更容易被各方接受的方式解决行政争议。因此,建议将其作为解决行政争议的第三条道路。     

Disputes in Japan: A cross-cultural test of the procedural justice model

Research on procedural justice has provided ample evidence that people are concerned not only with the outcome of disputes but also with the fairness of the procedures used to resolve disputes. The majority of the studies examining the importance of procedural justice have been conducted in the United States and Western European countries. This study tests the generality of the procedural justice model by examining the importance of fair procedures to people in a non-Western country, Japan. This study also examines the meaning of a fair procedure from a legal perspective. Past studies have drawn the procedural justice criteria considered from social psychology. We examine several additional criteria derived from the legal concept of due process of law. Results indicate that fair procedures are more important to subjects than fair outcomes in both a traffic accident dispute and a breach of contract case. Furthermore, across both types of disputes, fairness concerns are more important than nonfairness concerns. These results are consistent with findings from studies conducted in Western countries. A new finding that emerges from the study is that the clarity with which a procedure is formulated and presented is a strong determinant of procedural justice judgments.     

Allocating the Burden of Proof in WTO Disputes: A Critical Analysis

This article argues that the World Trade Organization (WTO)jurisprudence on the allocation of the burden of proof is ina confused state. Panels and the Appellate Body have failedto produce a consistent line of cases, which can be used asa predictable model to solve future cases. Furthermore, thejurisprudence has also created artificial differences betweensimilar provisions, raising questions about the relevance ofthe criteria employed to distinguish provisions that must beproved by the defendant from those that must be proved by thecomplainant. The analysis undertaken in this article suggeststhat it may be time to reflect upon the basic question of whythe burden of proof should be allocated to a given party. Thearticle explores alternatives and suggests courses of action.     

Constitutional Right to a Healthy Environment and Human Rights Approaches to Environmental Protection in Nigeria: Gbemre v. Shell Revisited

In recent years, there has been an increasing practice of incorporating the right to a healthy/clean environment into national constitutions. This practice can be found in various parts of the world. Importantly, the judiciary in many countries has not only enforced such a right but has increasingly tended to interpret other constitutionally guaranteed human rights, especially the right to life, to include the right to a healthy/clean environment. In Nigeria, there are various environmental concerns which raise the question of environmental protection. This article seeks to consider recent developments in Nigeria in relation to the constitutional right to a healthy/clean environment – more specifically, the adoption of the human rights approaches to environmental protection by a Nigerian Federal High Court judge in deciding a case of alleged environmental damage.     

乡土社会民间法与基层法官解决纠纷的策略

本文从三个方面分析基层人民法院在解决民事纠纷时与乡土民间法的冲突与转化关系。着力阐释乡土社会民间法的作用 ;基层法院法官运用乡土民间法解决纠纷的原因 ;以及乡土民间法在解决纠纷时的实现过程与方式。     

The Politics of Jurisprudence Revisited: A Swedish Realist in Historical Context

This article argues that juristic theories must be understood in relation to the historical conditions in which they have emerged. This is not to reduce theories to their context but to gain essential insight into their aims, meaning, and scope with the aid of such “external” reference points. Here I use the ideas of the Swedish legal realist Vilhelm Lundstedt to illustrate these claims, choosing his juristic theory for this purpose specifically because it has been so widely seen (at least by non‐Scandinavian interpreters) as deeply puzzling and “extreme.” The article argues that his central ideas are readily intelligible in historical context. But such a contextual examination of juristic ideas also makes it possible to assess what in them can properly travel beyond immediate context: in other words, what insights about the nature of the jurist's task can legitimately be taken from them for more universal application. Lundstedt's work, despite having been largely ignored or excluded from international juristic debate, has something to offer here if seen through a contextualising lens that sets the possibilities for its broader application in sharp relief.     

论合宪性解释方法

虽然合宪性解释方法在概念上会存在些许差别,但其所遵循的合宪性推定逻辑是相通的,即都体现了司法权对立法权的谦抑。合宪性解释方法中所含括的单纯解释规则,如果不与冲突规则在学理上加以区分,则很容易对合宪性解释产生认识上的偏差。目前合宪性解释方法所模本的欧陆经验,从源流上来说,最早其实可溯及至早期美国合宪性推定的理论与实践,并与回避宪法方法一脉相承。通过合宪性推定可以发现,合宪性解释方法可以从宪法方法与法律方法两个层面展开。把握其内在理路及权力逻辑,方可使其具有本土可能性。     

仲裁:文物国际争议解决的新路径

文物非法流转的迅速蔓延致使国际争议大量发生,尽管对其解决有多种机制可供选择,但每种机制自身存在的缺陷却限制了其有效性的发挥。同时由于各国法律的差异、国际合作的匮乏,使这一问题始终难以得到根本解决。仲裁,作为一种开放、灵活的路径,将为文物国际争议的解决注入新鲜血液。以海牙国际仲裁院(PCA)为基础,建立专门的文物国际争议仲裁庭将是目前适宜的选择。     

Trilogy of Decisions Finds Insurers in Bad Faith

Insurance companies, even at their best, can be slow to respond to claims and to place what the insured regards as obstacles in the way of coverage. At their worst, as set forth in the cases discussed below, insurers can ignore their policyholders and violate their policy obligations. In all of these cases, policyholders are prone to shout “bad faith.” However, bad faith law differs dramatically from state to state, and is often unavailable as a remedy. The cases discussed below demonstrate a new willingness by the courts to hold insurers to their contractual obligations and to impose meaningful extra contractual damages for their failure to do so.     

刑法中客观主义与主观主义之争的初步考察

与学派之争无关的主客观争议,有必要从刑法中客观主义与主观主义之争中予以剥离。刑法中客观主义与主观主义之争,其意义可分为两个维度。第一维度的客观主义与主观主义之争涉及刑罚对象的争论,即刑罚的对象究竟是对法益的侵害还是行为人的人身危险性;第二维度的客观主义与主观主义之争乃是在不法论意义上而言,即不法的成立是根据行为的客观面或是行为人的主观意思进行判断。客观主义与主观主义之争在我国刑法学中尚未真正展开,双方的论争缺乏针对性,且在概念的指涉与运用上充满混乱。就我国刑法的立场问题而言,有必要根据客观主义与主观主义之争的不同维度进行立场选择。在第一维度的客观主义与主观主义之争中,应采客观主义;在第二维度的客观主义与主观主义之争中,应采受客观主义严格约束的主观论,即一种以法益侵害为基础的二元的行为无价值论。     

行政纠纷与民事纠纷的纠结与求解

行政与民事交叉案件日益增多,囿于法律依据不明,司法指导不一,实践中审判思路各异,做法不同,案件中经常出现当事人诉权得不到保障,法院权威受到挑战的情况,使公平和效率的实现大打折扣。因此积极探索行政与民事交叉案件的审理机制极为迫切。为了降低诉讼的成本,提高司法效率,合并或附带审理是一种更为可行的选择。对此,需把握原则,由点到面,类型化突破,还需建设专门的行政纠纷与民事纠纷交叉案件审判合议庭制度。