浅议司法独立

实现司法独立是维护个人权利的最后一道屏障,它不仅关系到人的权利能否实现,而且更是人们的理念所向.我国当前正处于司法制度大变革的非常时期,既是机遇又是挑战.本文指出树立以司法独立为核心的现代司法理念,改革司法体制,是实现公正与效率这一永恒主题,是维护社会秩序持续稳定,保障社会主义市场经济健康发展的历史选择和必然要求.     

司法亲和力的法理思辩

司法亲和力不是一个术语,而可能仅仅是一个俗语,但当下受到了司法决策层的高度关注。本文有三个立意:一是,社会转型时期的司法在“断裂社会”的社会结构下运行,司法的职业性与世俗性之间产生了难以避免的冲突,司法在现实困境中需要积极求变;二是,出于司法策略的考虑,司法政策会作出相应的调整,而刚柔并济是一个凸显的指向,司法只有刚性与柔性统筹兼顾,才能够让人民感受到“法律散射的正义之光的温暖”;三是,如果说追求司法的现代性是司法观念的一次重要解放,那么让司法回归于人民,回归于社会,就是一次“否定之否定”的解放思想。     

跨世纪检察工作发展的契机及定位

跨世纪的中国正经历着一个社会转型的过程。依法治国的推进，权力被重新定位；市场经济的实行，利益集团急剧分化、重组；社会生活的丰富多彩，社会群体的观念不断裂变和重构。在这个挑战重重而又充满机遇的关键时刻，在依法治国和反腐败斗争中肩负历史重任的检察机关如何把握住这个历史契机，明确自身发展的大方向，通过自觉的思考和努力，确立自身的历史地位，是一个亟需认真研究并付诸行动的课题。一、抓住司法改革的契机，为明确检察性质定位。司法改革是我们所处这个时代的大课题，在司法改革实施的过程中，整个司法体制将发生巨大变化…     

中国古代法官裁判权限制原则探析

中国古代法官裁判权的限制原则,既有来自法律的直接约束性规定,也有来自特定的司法指导原则设定的自由裁量权限制.法律规定或司法原则因适应不同案件的复杂性需求而产生,为司法实践提供了适合的裁判依据或标准,目的是为降低冤假错案的发生几率.中国古代司法制度同时还设计了审判程序中的纠错机制,供当事人在遇到冤错案件时作出救济选择.诚然,法律规定与司法原则并非完整地呈现在中国古代历史上的任何时期,而是随着古代法制的发展逐渐演变和丰富起来,并在司法实践中展现了它的功能.古代法官裁判权的限制原则对当今司法制度仍不失借鉴意义.     

加强“五项建设”全面提升司法公信

<正>十八大以后,新一届中央领导集体将法治建设推到了前所未有的高度,社会民众对司法的新需求和新期待日益增长,司法工作迎来了新的历史发展机遇。习近平总书记提出"要努力让人民群众在每一个司法案件中都感受到公平正义,所有司法机关都要紧紧围绕这个目标来改进工作。"最高人民法院院长周强强调:"让人民群众在每一个司法案件中都感受到     

践行法治应当务本求真

社会转型期对法治建设的呼唤和要求越来越强烈,依法治国也被提到了前所未有的新高度。在这样一个历史机遇面前,人民法院如何顺应人民群众的新期待,肩负起历史赋予的责任?上海一中院副院长黄祥青、青岛中院院长祝华、全国审判业务专家赵贵龙和全国优秀法官邵晋栋等人一致认为,建设法治中国,关键是进行司法改革,其中提升司法公信力是重中之重。     

两岸司法协助与和平统一

2009年4月26日．海峡两岸关系协会会长陈云林与台湾海峡交流基金会董事长江丙坤在南京签署了《海峡两岸共同打击犯罪及司法互助协议》，这是两岸首个包含刑事和民事司法协助的规定。是两岸司法协助一个新的里程碑．将成为大陆与台湾今后一个时期进行司法协助的主要依据。两岸司法协助的签署，对促进和平统一具有重大的现实意义和深远的历史意义。     

源于“书写”的权利与技术——令状的司法化与普通法的形成

令状制度(thesystem of writs)是英国普通法历史上最为重要也最具有特色的司法制度,在王室法院适用的司法化令状以及与之紧密相关的具体的诉讼程序,是普通法独特的司法治理赖以存在的程序基础,普通法正是在王室法院适用司法化令状而形成的大量判例中逐渐成长起来的。本文把历史背景定在早期英国法的形成时期,即诺曼征服(1066)至亨利-金雀花时期(1154-1189),通过考察普通法形成初期的历史,阐述令状司法化的进程及其对英国普通法形成的重大影响,从而形成对于普通法和英国式法治传统的独特认识。     

司法行政之“中医五行”说

司法行政系统即将迎来一个大有作为的历史机遇期。抓住这场机遇,需要紧扣十七届五中全会精神和＂十二五＂规划,对我国经济社会的深刻变化有一个精准把握,对实现基本现代化的职能要求有一个明确定位,对社会管理创新的理念实践有一个深度思考。     

英国的巡回法庭

12世纪是英国历史上富有创造性的时期,是一个产生新事物、新思想的时期,是一个知识复兴、大学兴起的时期.12世纪也是法律的世纪.人们思考法律,评论法律.正是在这样的氛围中,产生了一种司法行政的新形式,叫巡回法庭.它是地方司法的一个重要组成部分,也是将王室权威尽可能广泛地延伸至公众的一个主要途径.既是到地方巡游和视察的王室法庭,也是强化和扩大的地方法庭;既是王权与地方冲突和合作的集中表现,也是普通法与地方惯例交锋、融合的媒介与渠道.     

讼师与律师:基于12至13世纪的中英两国之间的一种比较

英国著名法律史学家梅特兰曾经断言:12世纪是"一个法律的世纪"。以此为参照标准,12至13世纪的中英两国均可谓处于这一状态。然而,作为法制发展进程中一个重要的标志,法律职业共同体(法官和律师)在此时的英国初步形成,但是,在当时许多方面处于领先地位的中国,何以未能产生出英国意义上的律师?笔者认为,中国古代君主过于绝对的权力以及与之相关的法律工具主义的观念和对于无讼的追求等是导致上述现象出现的主要原因。     

民国时期的“人身保护法”

民国时期 ,中国模仿英美人身保护令制度 ,先后制定了《保护状条例》和《提审法》。它们的产生 ,从观念意识到立法技术都为中国的人身自由及其保障奠定了最初的基础。由于政治环境不允许 ,更由于缺乏相应的法文化土壤 ,这两个法并没有产生实际效用 ,中国也没有因此形成英美那样的制度。而其中深藏的问题 ,仍是当今中国人所应该思考和解决的。     

试论中国国际信托关系的法律适用

信托源于遥远的古代,但作为一种法律制度发展起来则是从11世纪的英国最先开始的。在借鉴英美法系和大陆法系信托制度的基础上,中国于2001年4月28日颁布了《信托法》。然而,不无遗憾的是,该法并没有对涉外信托的法律适用作出规定。这对于加入WTO之后中国国际信托关系的发展缺乏应有的预见性,也给人民法院审理涉外信托纠纷案件留下了法律适用的难题。因此尽快建立和完善中国国际信托关系法律适用规范已成当务之急。首先回顾了中国信托法律制度的演变过程,然后阐析了中国国际信托关系法律适用的原则,最后提出了完善中国国际信托关系法律适用的若干法律思考。     

对物诉讼与我国的船舶扣押法律制度

对物诉讼源于罗马法,却只在英国得到延续,并在其海事诉讼中得到巨大发展.随着英国殖民者将对物诉讼制度带到其殖民属地,移植法律与本地法律互相作用,逐渐发展出英美法系各国目前各具特色的扣船制度,其中最有代表性的莫过于英美两国的对物诉讼制度.我国的扣船制度既坚持了对人诉讼的传统,又大胆吸收了对物诉讼制度的合理内涵,反映了国际船舶扣押立法中对人诉讼与对物诉讼相互融合的良性发展态势.     

Sexual offenders discharged from prison in England and Wales: A 21‐year reconviction study

Purpose. This study examined the reconviction rates of a cohort of sexual offenders released from prison in England and Wales during 1979. A 21‐year follow‐up period was used and sexual, violent and general reconvictions assessed. Method. The sample consisted of all adult male sexual offenders discharged from prison in England and Wales during 1979 (N = 419). Criminal conviction histories were obtained for the sample from the Offenders Index and sexual, violent and general reconvictions were calculated, over a period of 21 years (1979‐2000). Results. A quarter (24.6%) of the sample received a reconviction for a sexual offence over the 21‐year follow‐up period, 21.7% received a violent reconviction and 61.8% received a general reconviction. A proportion of the sample received their first sexual reconviction 5, 10 or 15 years after being discharged from custody, thus remaining at risk of reconviction for many years. Conclusions. The findings from this study give a unique insight into the long‐term offending of discharged sexual offenders in England and Wales and have implications for the supervision of such offenders.     

The Malthusian intermezzo: Women's wages and human capital formation between the late Middle Ages and the demographic transition of the 19th century

The paper offers a new explanation for ‘the great conundrum’, the acceleration of population growth in England in the second half of the 18th century. It is argued that it was not only population growth that was ‘different’ in England, but the stagnation of the rise of literacy and of human capital in general, seems to be an anomaly of this period. This ‘conundrum’ has been explained in the following way. It is demonstrated that in England the gender wage gap increased a lot during the early modern period, which was caused by: (a) the switch from post Black Death labour scarcity to labour surplus, which in particular harmed the economic position of women, and (b) changes in the structure of agriculture, leading to the rise of large-scale, capital intensive and labour extensive farms, which had a very limited demand for female (wage) labour. This is also suggested by the fact that on the Continent (in the Netherlands) a much smaller decline of female wages occurred, because there family farms continued to be quite important. Moreover, the decline of English wages had important effects on its demographic development. It helps to explain the decline of the average age of marriage of in particular women between 1600 and 1800, and the related increase in fertility that occurred in this period — resulting in a much faster rate of population growth after 1750 than elsewhere in Western-Europe. It also helps to explain the stagnation in human capital formation that occurred during the 18th and early 19th century — again a feature peculiar for the English development in these years. The explanation of ‘the great conundrum’ is therefore intimately linked to the changing position of women on the labour market and within marriage.     

Structuring Judicial Discretion in China: Exploring the 2014 Sentencing Guidelines

In recent years, a range of western jurisdictions has introduced reforms designed to restrict and guide judicial discretion at sentencing. The reforms enacted include mandatory sentencing laws and guiding statutes prescribing sentencing purposes and principles as well as important aggravating and mitigating factors. However, formal guidelines are the most promising and well-studied innovation. We may now add China to the growing list of countries that have recognized the utility of guidelines. Over the past decade, China has slowly developed sentencing guidelines for its courts. The new guidelines contain both general directions with respect to the determination of sentence as well as specific numerical guidelines for common offences. The guidelines do not follow the approach taken by the US schemes, many of which employ a two-dimensional sentencing grid. Instead, China has adopted a strategy consisting of “Starting Point” sentences which are then adjusted by the court to reflect relevant mitigating and aggravating factors. This approach is much closer to the guidelines developed in England and Wales and those proposed but not yet implemented in New Zealand and Israel. In this article, we explore the new Chinese guidelines and provide a limited comparative analysis with guidelines in other jurisdictions. England and Wales is selected as the principal comparator since it has developed and implemented a comprehensive system consisting of both offence-specified guidelines as well as generic guidelines.     

‘It lets out all my demons’: Female young offenders' perceptions about the impact of alcohol on their offending behaviour

The paper reports on findings from 55 qualitative face-to-face interviews with young offenders, and observations of 41 youth offender panel meetings over an 18-month period taking place in two Youth Offending Teams in the Southeast of England. It discusses the perception of correlation between drunkenness and offending asserted by a high number of the female offenders and compares this to perceptions of male offenders, both in this research and from previous research studies. The research brings into question whether current interventions are effective and puts forward suggestions for capitalizing on the apparent greater willingness of female offenders to acknowledge the significant negative impact of drunkenness on their behaviour.     

19世纪英国大学法律教育的开展

法律教育是培养法律人才的重要途径,而法律教育机制是随着社会发展而不断调整和变革的。工业革命后英国社会发展对法律教育提出了现实需求,在新的历史条件下,英国以伦敦大学为代表的新大学和以牛津与剑桥为代表的古老大学都加入到法律教育的事业中来,使得英国法律教育体制从中世纪以律师会馆为主体的学徒制——经验型法律教育逐渐发展到以大学和法律职业组织分工合作的现代学院制法律教育,英国法律教育体制实现了从传统到现代的转型。     

Homicide-suicide (dyadic death), homicide, and firearms use in England and Wales

Homicide-suicide forms a distinct form of homicide. An analysis of cases in the Yorkshire and Humberside region of England between 1991 and 2005 revealed 37 episodes with 42 victims. Previous studies have shown a high rate of use of firearms. Over the last 2 decades firearms legislation has become more restrictive. In this study all assailants were male, mean age 46.8 years. The commonest method of homicide was strangulation (36%) with 16% killed by firearms. This is a reduction compared with a previous study in the same region. All killers who shot their victims killed themselves with firearms. There were no multiple killings with firearms in this study and no stranger killings. Hanging was the commonest method of suicide. During the same period the use of firearms as a method of homicide increased in England and Wales with handguns, the most common weapon. Nationally, suicide after homicide has remained at a similar rate over the half century and is an uncommon phenomenon. Firearms use remains low in both homicide and homicide-suicide episodes in England, and further analysis is required to determine changes in patterns of killing.