Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital: capping medical practice reform in Illinois

On February 4, 2010 the Illinois Supreme Court struck down Illinois' medical practice reform bill, P.A. 94-677, when it decided Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital. Although the court only considered the unconstitutionality of the cap on non-economic damages contained in that bill, an inseverability provision resulted in the invalidation of all of its provisions. The end result of the Lebron decision extends much further than the striking of the cap on non-economic damages. It affects such areas as medical liability insurance law, physician discipline, public disclosure of information, the admissibility of physician statements into evidence, and expert witness standards. The Lebron holding has raised a significant obstacle to the implementation of a wide range of legislative measures intended to improve both the delivery and quality of healthcare services in Illinois. This article explains the impact of Lebron in these collateral, but important, areas of the law.     

票据无因性之经济诠释

票据无因性包括外在无因性和内在无因性。票据无因性的坚持与否端赖其流通性如何。通过对票据无因性的含义及采无因性的经济逻辑进行分析,提出我国票据法的立法缺陷及其完善,从而使我国的整个票据制度更趋合理,与国际票据法接轨。     

《汇率改革促进公平贸易法案》评析

2010年9月29日,美国国会众议院通过了《汇率改革促进公平贸易法案》,试图通过修改其1930年《关税法》,授权主管机关对所谓低估本币汇率的国家征收特别关税。本文分析了该法案出台的背景,简述了其主要内容,并剖析了其立法动向,指出人民币汇率问题对美中经贸关系十分重要,以立法干预贸易是非常危险的动向。     

Integrating the view of the public into the formal legislative process: public reading stage in the UK House of Commons

Recent years have seen increasing calls to integrate the public's voice into the parliamentary process. This article examines the impact of public reading stage (PRS) on the UK Parliament's scrutiny of a bill. A new stage of the legislative process piloted by the House of Commons in February 2013, PRS invited the public to comment on a bill undergoing parliamentary scrutiny (the Children and Families Bill). The PRS was designed to encourage members of the public to participate in the scrutiny of legislation through a specially designed forum on parliament's website. Over 1000 comments were submitted. Drawing on a content analysis of the comments given by the public to the bill, complemented by interviews with members of parliament, key officials and PRS participants, it was found that although the public reading stage had an impressive response, it failed to make much of a tangible impact on the parliamentary scrutiny of the bill. This was largely due to the choice of bill being used for the pilot and its lack of appropriate integration into the formal legislative process.     

Constitutional Rights in the Irish Home Rule Bill of 1893

In 1893, Prime Minister Gladstone introduced the second Irish home rule bill in parliament. The bill broke with tradition in Britain and the empire, as it included provisions from the bill of rights of the United States. Its significance was clear at the time: it was debated for nine days in the committee stage and, with one minor amendment, it remained part of the bill that passed the Commons. However, the bill was defeated in the Lords and, at least in the United Kingdom, bills of rights were dismissed as unnecessary or detrimental to sound governance until well after the second world war. This article therefore tries to understand how this early bill of rights was regarded at the time. Who suggested, or demanded, its inclusion? How did they expect it to be applied? And how did the debate reflect and influence thinking about constitutional law in Britain and the empire?     

Commitment and Consequences: Reneging on Cosponsorship Pledges in the U.S. House

We argue that bill cosponsorship in Congress represents an institutional arrangement that provides credibility to commitments of support. We predict that if cosponsorship fosters legislative deals, MCs will only rarely back out on their pledges to support a bill if it comes up for a floor vote, and when they do, these choices will reflect strategic calculations. Further, legislators who violate their cosponsorship agreements will face punishment from colleagues, compromising their ability to gain support for their own bills. We explore the causes and effects of MCs' choices to renege on a pledge by voting no on a bill for which they were a cosponsor, focusing on all cosponsorship decisions in the 101st–108th Houses. The results reveal that patterns of reneging and its consequences are consistent with the idea that cosponsorship functions as a commitment mechanism.     

论票据质押的权利担保与物的担保的二元性

票据作为有价证券,其基本属性应当是票据这张纸和权利的结合。在票据质押中,我们不能只关注票据所表彰的权利的质押,而忽视票据本身作为物的质押担保。作为提示性证券,票据权利脱离了证券的载体物,将对票据权利的行使带来困难。     

An opportunity for research and bioethics]

This article looks at the draft bill of the law on Biomedical Research. It analyses its novelties, such as: the creation of a Spanish Bioethics Committee, the new regulation on nuclear transfer, biobanks and finally the setting of the groundwork for the fostering of the professional degree of researcher in the National Health System. This draft bill is a great opportunity for the scientific community.     

论运输证券

论述了提单的法律性质,分析了关于提单性质的各种学说。认为提单作为证明运输货物交付请求权的有价证券,具有要因、要式、文义、指示、回赎、交付、处分证券的性质,同时提单也具有物权的效力。     

论无单放货的法律问题

提单是海上货物运输的重要单证.随国际贸易和航运事业的不断发展,提单也从一般托运收据发展成为物权凭证.提单作为代表货物所有权的凭证,可以通过背书转让或抵押,它已具备了一种有价证券的性质.提单的内容、条款以及调整提单的法律也随现代国际贸易的迅速发展而日趋详细和完善.但是,近些年由于航运的变化,无正本提单提货的现象频繁发生,这种行为的产生对传统的航运制度带来的冲击和影响很大.无单放货问题在司法实践和航运实践都引起重视,对这一现象进行研究.     

中国近代票据立法探析

本文旨在以清末《大清商律草案》中的票据法草案,北洋政府的票据法草案及南京国民政府制颁的1929年《票据法》为基本线索,考察中国近代票据立法的产生、发展变化的历史进程及其规律性,揭示中国近代票据立法的特点,探寻中国是如何移植西方票据法律制度,走上了近代化道路的。     

提单首要条款性质辨析

对于提单首要条款的性质,我国学界存在着截然不同的两种观点:一种观点认为提单首要条款是法律适用条款;另一种观点认为提单首要条款不是法律适用条款。本文针对第二种观点进行了深入分析,指出第二种观点是建立在传统国际私法理论基础之上的,随着国际私法传统理论的转型,第二种观点存在的理由和依据已经丧失。     

Ottawa moves to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana

Making good on a promise made in December 2002, the federal government has tabled a bill that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. However, the bill would also toughen penalties for growing large amounts. The bill is part of a renewed Canada Drug Strategy that emphasizes the need to discourage cannabis use.     

Territory,Jurisdiction, and Colonial Governance: ‘A Bill to Repeal the British Constitution’, 1856–60

Britain claimed full territorial sovereignty over New Zealand, even though substantive enforcement of its authority against Maori often faced significant challenges. Alarmed at the weakness of British governance in relation to Maori, Governor Thomas Gore Browne proposed a Native Offenders Bill. The Bill proposed giving the New Zealand Governor sweeping powers to ban ‘any communication’ or trade with any Maori within a specified district, or with a particular tribe. Such a ban would, it was claimed, ensure compliance with colonial law. However, the bill was twice rejected by the settler legislature (1856 and 1860), on both constitutional and practical grounds. The paper places the bill in its political and legal contexts, and examines some of the ways colonial administrators and politicians responded to the difference between the government's claim to extensive legal authority and its more limited substantive power.     

Parliament,public engagement and legislation in Bangladesh: a case study of Domestic Violence Act of 2010

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the process of enactment of the domestic violence bill in Bangladesh. One of the distinctive features of the bill, passed in 2010, was that it originated in civil society and widespread public engagement characterised its enactment process. The paper explores the factors that encouraged different actors to agree to enact the law. There are, however, not many examples of parliament–CSO interaction in the legislative process. The paper identifies reasons that discourage engagement in other areas of public concern. Prominent among the reasons underlying weak public engagement in the legislative process are: monopoly of the government in the legislative process and its eagerness to pass laws in haste, dominance of part-timers in parliament, legal restriction on ‘independent’ voting in parliament, over-centralization of power in political parties and politicisation of CSOs.     

Reform of forensic autopsy in the German Code of Criminal Procedure

The Federal Ministry of Justice has presented another proposal to rephrase the wording of Section 87 of the German Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO). The new version of Section 87 StPO is to be rejected as it would lead to a loss of institutional and professional standards. The bill is clearly influenced by a tendency towards privatisation for the benefit of a small group of specialists in forensic medicine mostly organised in limited liability companies and thus at the expense of institutes of legal medicine affiliated to universities or physicians working in the forensic service of regional courts. In the long run, this reform would not only jeopardize medicolegal research and teaching but also medical education and specialist medical training. For future severe negative consequences would have to be expected on the rule of law and legal certainty.     

提单权利善意取得构成要件的法律分析

立足于提单权利善意取得的特殊性,结合普通动产及票据权利善意取得的既有理论,对提单权利善意取得的存在依据、构成要件等基本问题展开分析。     

票据背书法律规制之我见

流通是票据的生命,背书是票据流通的主要方式。我国票据法律法规对票据背书进行了较为具体和详细的规定,但也存在一定的问题。其未规定空白背书及背书涂销;关于背书的后手对直接前手背书真实性负责的规定含义不清;对期后背书效力的规定自相矛盾;对委托取款背书及质押背书的被背书人的再背书限制不明确;司法解释对质押背书时“质押”字样记载的效力的规定易生歧义等,均在一定程度上损害或阻碍了票据的流通,建议《票据法》予以修正。     

记名提单托运人货物控制权与收货人提货权研究

记名提单作为提单的一种,在海上货物运输环节具有至关重要的功能和作用。从记名提单托运人货物控制权-9收货人提货权这一新视角切入,在中国海上货物运输法律框架下,解读相关法律要素,还原记名提单应有的法定特征及功能,得出记名提单承运人需凭正本记名提单放货的结论。     

SB 375: Smart Growth Savior or Just the Beginning?

This article analyzes and dissects SB 375. This bill, which was the result of a unique compromise between environmentalists, local governments, and the building industry, seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by creating incentives for smarter land use and development choices by local governments and developers thereby seeking to reduce vehicle miles traveled. Although proponents and drafters have deemed SB 375 as a bill that will be responsible for reshaping the face of California's communities into more sustainable walkable communities, this article places doubt on these optimistic predictions based on both internal and external constraints that will make achieving its ultimate goal of GHG reduction a demanding task.