Trade and the environment in North America

Environmental assessments of trade agreements remain in its infancy, and demonstrate that trade in itself will not green our economies. By examining various aspects of the environmental effects of trade in North America, this special issue not only contributes to deepening our understanding of the key issues in the trade and environment debate, but also helps to formulate mutually supportive trade and environmental policies.     

成就與局限:能動主義司法實踐中的個人信息保護

在我國,司法機關對個人信息的保護,具有較強的司法能動性和司法造法性。因爲在立法上,不但對傳統(古典)隱私權的獨立保護是較晚的事情,而對以個人信息爲主要保護對象的現代隱私權的保護,是在完全沒有個人信息保護法的背景下完成的。對我國關於個人信息保護的司法實踐分析和研究,有助於     

Youth and the forbidden fruit: Experiences with changes in legal drinking age in North America

The effects of changes in the minimum drinking ages in various North American jurisdictions are reviewed. The research suggests that although most teenagers have experimented with alcohol, the rates of alcohol consumption and alcohol-related traffic collisions can be increased and decreased with the drinking age control legislation.     

Digital technology: its impact on copyright law and practice in North America

Legal context. The effect of rapid technological change on copyrightlaw in Canada and the United States, and in particular on thebalance between creators' rights and users' rights. Key points. Copyright law involves a balance between the rightsof both creators and users. When initially faced with fast-evolvingdigital technology, the courts struggled with the balancingact and tipped it in favour of users' rights. The Supreme Courtof Canada elevated various exceptions to infringement to userrights, and cautioned against a low standard of originalitywhich would favour creators' rights. The US Court of Appealsremarked that introduction of new technology is disruptive tocopyright owners whose works are sold through traditional mechanisms;and others suggested that a bias in favour of owners rightsmay have well impeded the development of digital culture. Despitethe initial struggles, legislative changes, market forces andrecent deference by the courts to the balancing of various interests,have slowly restored the copyright balance, even when facedwith rapid technological change. Practical significance. Copyright litigants must give carefulconsideration to the balance between creators' and users' rights,and be prepared to justify traditional copyright protectionin fields of new technology.     

Between pedagogy and practice: developing and delivering international justice coursework in North America

While the need for new and innovative international coursework in North America has been recognized, developments in North American Universities have been few. Building on Mathias Reimann’s (Penn State International Law Review 22:397–415 [23]) useful justification for a new basic course in international law, this paper provides a discussion of a new approach to international justice coursework. Based on the nascent ICC and the jurisprudential developments of past international tribunals, a discrete international legal order has emerged. This may provide an opportunity for a broader examination of international criminal justice drawn from disciplines such as history, sociology, psychology, and criminology. By offering practical classroom techniques to assist in the delivery of international justice coursework, this paper attempts to provoke debate and discussion about how international coursework ought to be designed and delivered to a wider audience of undergraduate students.     

Finding the levers, finding the courage: lessons from cost containment in North America

"Learning" is broader and more complex than simply the orderly acquisition of new knowledge. At least as important is the evolution of the background of assumptions and beliefs held by the community, or its principal decision makers, and implicit in its institutions and policies. These may bear only a loose relation to evidence or knowledge narrowly defined. The pressures of cost escalation over the past twenty years, and the attempts at containment in the U.S. and Canada, have added substantially to our knowledge of how the health care system works. Containment is possible, and the successful mechanisms, thus far, are quite specific. But the results of these attempts and (in the U.S.) the continued escalation have also significantly shifted the broader set of assumptions in the community about appropriate priorities and policies in health care. Attitudes towards physician supply, variations in practice patterns, capitated practice, and for-profit organization, for example, have changed radically, although the supporting evidence has not. But cost pressures have created an audience which wants to hear, whose background assumptions provide a different "fit" for the evidence.     

The history of family and colonialism: Examples from Africa,Latin America,and the Caribbean

The historical study of the family started later in the “Third World” than in Europe and North America, and the link between colonialism and family structures in the colonized or formerly colonized countries has not been explored thoroughly. In this issue we have chosen examples from Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean in part because the importance of people of African background in both continents provided a certain link. The main connection, though, was the fact that all examined cultures had to cope with Christian-European family norms and with the values of the colonizers. The aims, forms, and historical circumstances of the colonial situation were quite different in all the cases examined. When changing conditions made traditional kinship bonds less reliable or less workable, people turned to alternative institutions such as gynaegamy or gender groups. If there is one conclusion to be drawn from all the examined cases, it is that colonized societies had the ability to use a variety of family forms as they adjusted to new situations.     

The history of family and colonialism: Examples from Africa,Latin America,and the Caribbean

The historical study of the family started later in the “Third World” than in Europe and North America, and the link between colonialism and family structures in the colonized or formerly colonized countries has not been explored thoroughly. In this issue we have chosen examples from Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean in part because the importance of people of African background in both continents provided a certain link. The main connection, though, was the fact that all examined cultures had to cope with Christian-European family norms and with the values of the colonizers. The aims, forms, and historical circumstances of the colonial situation were quite different in all the cases examined. When changing conditions made traditional kinship bonds less reliable or less workable, people turned to alternative institutions such as gynaegamy or gender groups. If there is one conclusion to be drawn from all the examined cases, it is that colonized societies had the ability to use a variety of family forms as they adjusted to new situations.