Yet another method for marking incisal edges of teeth for bitemark analysis

Over the years many methods have been proposed and presented for marking or "highlighting" the incisal edges of anterior teeth on a dental stone model -- one of the critical steps in production of transparent overlays for bitemark analysis. A method is presented here that is an extension and refinement of the "paint the edges" method shown at least as early as 1966 by Gustafson. This method uses "invisible ink" and ultraviolet illumination to produce a very high contrast image of the incisal edges of the teeth on the model. The advantages of this new method are that it is nondestructive, it does not leave visible marks on the models, operator subjectivity in selecting the portions of anterior teeth to be highlighted is reduced, and the author submits that this technique lends itself to easy construction of overlays using computer image-processing software such as Adobe Photoshop and ImageJ.     

Proposal for internet-based Digital Dental Chart for personal dental identification in forensics

A dental chart is very useful as a standard source of evidence in the personal identification of bodies. However, the kind of dental chart available will often vary as a number of types of odontogram have been developed where the visual representation of dental conditions has relied on hand-drawn representation. We propose the Digital Dental Chart (DDC) as a new style of dental chart, especially for open investigations aimed at establishing the identity of unknown bodies. Each DDC is constructed using actual oral digital images and dental data, and is easy to upload onto an Internet website. The DDC is a more useful forensic resource than the standard types of dental chart in current use as it has several advantages, among which are its ability to carry a large volume of information and reproduce dental conditions clearly and in detail on a cost-effective basis.     

论船舶油污民事责任主体的扩张性

一直以来,中国学界和司法实践中普遍接受和遵循《1992年国际油污损害民事责任公约》船舶所有人责任专属制度,将船舶油污民事责任主体限定为船舶所有人。然而,船舶油污民事责任主体是否具有扩张性,即是否可以及于船舶所有人以外的当事方却鲜有讨论。针对船舶油污民事责任主体的扩张性,通过对国外立法、司法实践中相关案例及理论基础进行详细分析,并结合中国目前船舶油污事故发生的实际情况及相关法律规定,可以认为扩张船舶油污民事责任主体在中国具有必要性和可行性。     

A Dilemma for Protected Reasons

Joseph Raz’s account of norms provides that a norm requiring an agent to φ is a reason to φ protected by an exclusionary reason not to act on some other reasons. I present a dilemma concerning the determination of the contents of this set of excluded reasons. The question is whether or not the set includes reasons that count in favour of φing. If the answer is yes, the account is committed to a picture of norms that seems inconsistent with the phenomenology, in that it rules out acting on the very reasons on which the norm is based. If the answer is no, the account licenses a problematic form of double counting of reasons. I conclude that Raz’s protected reasons account of norms must be rejected, and tentatively suggest a solution to the problem posed by the dilemma.     

Sampling and statistical considerations for the Suchey–Brooks method for pubic bone age estimation: Implications for regional comparisons

Although the Suchey–Brooks (SB) system is currently the most widely used method for age-at-death estimation from the pubic bone, the system continues to evolve through stepwise improvements. Since the system was developed from a pubic bone sample derived mainly from North Americans, it is unclear how well it performs on populations from other continents. During the last decade, studies of the SB system on pubic bone samples from local populations in Europe and Asia have indicated regional differences in the relationship between age and pubic bone development. However, these studies have for the most part followed different research protocols, which make comparisons between their results less meaningful. It would be most useful if future regional analysis of the SB system were done in a rigorous and uniform fashion, following standard procedures. In this paper, sampling and statistical considerations are outlined that hopefully will help to standardize research on the SB system.     

A new method for locating saliva stains-spotty paper for spotting spit

A convenient method of locating saliva stains has been devised. Filter paper covered with blue coloured starch fragments is laid on the material to be tested. Salivary amylase hydrolyses the starch on the areas of paper corresponding to saliva stains, which are then delineated as clear zones whereas negative areas remain speckled with blue particles.     

Legal Theory for Legal Empiricists

There is a widespread view that one does either theory or empirical work, and that theory and empiricism represent distant concerns, opposing worldviews, and perhaps distinct mentalities or personalities. This prevalent view has deep roots and is also the result of pragmatic and understandable tendencies toward division of intellectual labor. Against this view, this essay suggests that the relations between theory and empirical study ought to be understood as more intimate and that making legal theory an explicit focus can improve empirical scholarship. We pursue this claim by articulating a basis for legal theory and by showing how that basis illuminates both the application and design of empirical research on law. Legal theory, we argue, follows jurisprudence in interrogating the law as a set of coercive normative institutions. The upshot of this approach is a recognition that an interdisciplinary analysis of law must rely on both a theory (explicit or implicit) of the way law's power and its normativity align and an account of the way in which this discursive cohabitation manifests itself institutionally. We thus argue that legal theory is necessary in order to draw fruitfully on empirical research and further claim that legal theory provides guidance both for setting up an empirical research agenda on law and for designing research into specific topics.     

为量刑比例辩护

作为策略，为量刑比例辩护本就是一种提出和论证其规范正义性的学问，有效的辩护一般都有达致相关目标的最佳途径。从渊源上审视量刑比例的实践，从概念上把握量刑比例的属性，以理性为视角论证量刑比例的生成，并把重心落于量刑比例的确立，无疑是开展这种辩护的最佳途径。经由这一辩护，量刑比例的意义维度随即呈现，即防止和克服量刑活动的异化，突破和超越传统量刑的局限，推动和启迪量刑公正的实现。     

孕妇不适用死刑的立法目的及其目的论解释

由于忽视对立法目的的探讨和提炼,对如何理解审判的时候怀孕的妇女存在聚讼。以限制死刑主体,废止孕妇死刑为目的,可以对此作出和谐统一的、合目的的解释。审判时包括整个刑事诉讼程序与死刑判决执行程序。孕妇应指怀孕的所有情形,包括正在怀孕、曾经怀孕和异常怀孕等。刑法第49条与相关司法解释、刑诉法第211条等的规定不存在矛盾。     

Ethics for Lawyers or Ethics for Citizens? New Directions for Legal Education

The Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Education andConduct (ACLEC) has called for the reconstruction of the ethicalfoundations of legal education. However, it has not justified its premisethat teaching legal values at the initial stage will enhance professionallegal ethics. It is argued that the present system of education, given itstechnocratic, individualistic, and authoritarian tendencies, cannot meetACLEC's challenge. A more ethical legal education can be envisagedwithin a neo-Aristotelian framework. This perspective emphasizes thereflexivity between micro and macro ethics, and utilizes the active andparticipatory learning approaches which should enable students to engagein meaningful moral discourse and problem solving.     

An Acquittal for Epistemicism

Scott Soames argues that consideration of the practice of legal judgement gives us good reason to favor the partial-definition/context-sensitive theory of vagueness against epistemicism. Despite the fact that the value of power-delegation through vagueness is evidenced in practice, Soames says, epistemicism cannot account for it theoretically, while the partial-definition/context-sensitive theory is capable of it. In this paper, I examine the two possible arguments against epistemicism that can be extracted from Soames’s account: (1) an argument based on unknown obligations, and (2) an argument based on power-delegation through vagueness. The first argument tries to convince us that, as based on epistemicism, the law has already decided the borderline cases, so that judges have obligatory decisions even in such cases: therefore epistemicism is inconsistent with the discretion of judges in borderline cases. I show that even if we sympathize with Soames’s intuitions concerning the legal practice, the argument he offers is not conclusive since it is either invalid, unsound, or paradoxical. The second argument holds that only the gaps which the partial-definition/context-sensitive theory predicts give judges the possibility of lawmaking in borderline cases. However, by categorizing the vague laws as imperfect laws, the judges can claim the right of lawmaking without any need to refer to gaps in the law. By neutralizing these arguments, I argue that epistemicism is able to explain the phenomena just as well as the partial-definition/context-sensitive theory.     

Medical devices; medical device distributor reporting; opportunity for comments--FDA. Final rule; opportunity for comments

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing an opportunity for public comments on the final rule on medical device distributor reporting, which is published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register. The medical device distributor reporting tentative final rule became final on May 28, 1992, by operation of the Safe Medical Devices Act of 1990 (the SMDA), as amended by the Medical Device Amendments of 1992 (the 1992 amendments). Although not required to do so, FDA realizes that there may be issues not previously considered, such as technical issues on specific provisions, and therefore is providing this additional time for comment. If changes are warranted by comments, FDA will make further changes in the rules.     

Proposal for a future delivery market for transplant organs

Improvements in surgical procedures and immunosuppressive practices have greatly increased the range and success rate of organ transplants. Unfortunately, supply does not meet demand, and demand is increasing. This paper documents the current level of unsatisfied demand for several transplantable organs, and argues that the extant system of altruistic organ donation is unlikely ever to provide adequate supply because of lack of incentives to donate and the ambiguity surrounding property rights over transplantable organs. A greater reliance on markets would help attenuate these problems. However, unorganized private spot markets for human organs are likely to be both inefficient and inequitable, and are perceived as morally offensive. A feasible alternative is an organized, publicly operated future delivery market, wherein an individual can contract, for valuable consideration, with a government agency for delivery of a specific organ upon death. The implementation of such a market would encounter difficult (but not intractable) problems such as price determination, the selection of a medium of exchange, and contractual issues, particularly the role of minors in such a system. Finally, it is argued that such a market is superior to the much-discussed compulsory expropriation alternative.     

Finnish guidelines for workplace drug testing

The Finnish guidelines for workplace drug testing outlined here represent what is considered the best practice for workplace drug testing to be followed in Finland. The guidelines are based on the act on the protection of privacy in working life (759/2004), the occupational health care act (1383/2001) and the decree on workplace drug testing (218/2005). They start by defining situations in which workplace testing is allowed and continue up to the point where the certificate is submitted to the employer. The role of the occupational health care system is crucial in the procedure. The guidelines include the best practice procedures to be followed by laboratories providing workplace drug testing services. The laboratory recommendations are based on general principles established internationally. In the Finnish guidelines, accreditation is an absolute prerequisite for a laboratory functioning as a workplace drug testing laboratory. The laboratory section of the guidelines includes specimen collection, laboratory organisation, analysis procedure, quality assurance and quality control measures. These largely conform to the European laboratory guidelines for legally defensible workplace drug testing published by the European workplace drug testing society (EWDTS), but there are differences. In addition to using urine as a specimen, the Finnish guidelines also encompass blood.     

Models for fingerprint pattern formation

There is currently no general agreement on the process by which fingerprint (epidermal ridge) patterns form. Nevertheless, many possible mechanisms have been proposed. Based on an extensive literature review and mathematical modeling we argue that the pattern arises as the result of a buckling (folding) process in a cell layer of the epidermis. Using this model we were able to explain the long-known observation that the pattern type is related to the geometry of the embryonal fingertip.     

Need for standardizing performance evaluation criteria for judicial magistrates in India

This article, after deliberating on utility of performance evaluation (PE) for the judiciary and practices developed in different jurisdictions for PE, examines existing rules on PE of magistrates in India. From these rules, effectiveness and utility of criteria formulated for PE of magistrates by different high courts is mapped to show their shortcomings, and suggestions are provided for improvement. The article relies on the results of a survey among 35 senior district judges to understand how evaluators see their role in the PE. In the end, some suggestions are offered for reforming the existing system of PE – like delinking it from annual confidential reports, establishing independent commission for PE, adopting transparency in PE, widening gap between two evaluations and making PE as a deciding factor for upward career mobility of magistrates.     

论侵害生命之损害赔偿责任——解释论的视角

侵害生命的损害赔偿责任由受害人生命权侵害责任和近亲属身份权侵害责任组成。生命侵害于死亡不可逆转地将要发生时构成,仍有主体资格的受害人此时即取得了生命侵害之抚慰金请求权以及死亡赔偿金请求权,这些请求权于死亡实际发生时转由受害人的继承人继承。身份权侵害于受害人死亡时构成,近亲属取得抚慰金请求权以及继发的物质损害赔偿请求权。被抚养人的抚养利益以及继承人的继承利益,均通过继承规则来实现,而不采固有利益侵权构成之模式。我国生命侵害之赔偿实践中,精神利益被过度低估,导致最终的赔偿数额的高低主要取决于物质损害的大小,引发了“同命不同价”之批判。解释论上,可根据《侵权责任法》第16条及第22条之规定,在坚持物质损害赔偿差异化处理的同时,对精神损害作平等的评价,认可受害人生命侵害之抚慰金请求权,并大幅度提高受害人及其近亲属的抚慰金数额,来彰显生命的精神价值,实现人格平等的价值诉求。     

Tax Court allows tax credit for herbs and vitamins, not for massage

In August 2001, the Tax Court of Canada issued its most recent judgment on the tax deductability of expenses for complementary/alternative therapies. The decision in Pagnotta v Canada is significant for people with HIV/AIDS who use such therapies. It also illustrates how provincial and federal laws regulating health-care practitioners and natural health products have a financial impact on the cost of accessing treatment.     

假设因果关系与损害赔偿

假设因果关系涉及的并非因果关系问题,而是通过假设的原因进程对损害的范围予以限缩。它与损害计算的时点、假设原因的性质及损害的直接性与间接性相关。损害计算的时点决定了可以修正损害的假设原因的时间范围。假设原因的性质排除了可归责于第三人的侵权行为这类假设原因对损害的修正。直接损害与间接损害的区分决定了假设因果关系对损害修正的范围及程度。     

Efficient compensation for employees' inventions

We analyze a legal reform concerning employees' inventions in Germany. Using a simple principal-agent model, we derive a unique efficient payment scheme: a bonus which is contingent on the project value. We demonstrate that the old German law creates inefficient incentives even if litigation cost is zero. However, the new law (concerning university employees) and the pending reform proposal (concerning other employees) also fail to implement first-best incentives. With suboptimal incentives to spend effort on inventions, the government's goal, an increase in the number of patents, is likely to be missed. A part of this research was done while I enjoyed the hospitality of the University of California in Santa Barbara (Economics Department) and Berkeley (Law School). Financial aid by the Thyssen Stiftung is gratefully acknowledged. classification K 12 . J 33 . C 72