Liability for the Escape of GM Seeds: Pursuing the ‘Victim’?

The widespread commercial cultivation of GM crops in the EU and the UK is getting closer. Intense concerns about the uncertain health and environmental effects of GM farming have been the subject of high profile debate. The effects of GM farming on existing forms of agriculture, raised by the prospect of cross–pollination by GM seed, provoke similarly polarised views. However, whilst regulatory developments have been strongly influenced by environmental and health concerns, the socio–economic impact of GM agriculture is relatively neglected in current regulatory approaches. The authors examine various possible legal responses to unwanted cross–pollination by GM seed, and contend that the law is likely to struggle to cope with the conflicts that may arise.     

Accreditation of offending behaviour programmes in HM Prison Service: ‘What Works’ in practice

Purpose. This study assessed the short‐term impact of offending behaviour programmes in relation to certain key features of programme delivery identified by an accreditation system. The aim was to further inform the debate on ‘What Works’ in practice by establishing whether well‐delivered programmes are more effective. Method. The sample consisted of 5,255 offenders serving custodial sentences in prisons across England and Wales who completed one of two accredited cognitive skills programmes during the financial year 2001/2002. The relationship between a battery of assessment measures, tutor experience, drop‐out rates, audit observations and the quality of programme delivery was explored. Results. A positive short‐term impact was observed on the majority of assessment measures across both programmes. Patterns of change were broadly similar across gender, age, and ethnic groupings. This short‐term impact of the programmes was significantly greater for a group of high‐need prisoners and at those sites where tutors were delivering more frequently. Tutor delivery rates were also found to be related to drop‐out rates and the quality of programme delivery. Attempts to establish a relationship between ratings of tutor performance from video‐monitoring and the short‐term impact of the course were unsuccessful. However, at the programme site level, positive correlations were observed between the quality of delivery and other measures of the site's performance. Conclusion. This study shows that programmes do have a short‐term impact and that this is greater for higher‐need prisoners and at sites where tutors were delivering more frequently. Furthermore, the accreditation system has highlighted key aspects of programme delivery which do appear to influence the short‐term effectiveness of the programmes.     

Bill of Sale Lending: Reforming a ‘Toxic’ Form of Credit

The Bills of Sale Acts were enacted in Victorian times as a form of secured credit whereby ‘goods’ owned by a borrower could be assigned under the bill of sale to a lender who would have title to the goods transferred to him. The lender would then allow the borrower to retain possession of the goods in exchange for instalment payments with interest. In the twenty‐first century these bills are most commonly used as ‘logbook loans’ for vehicles with extortionate interest rates and very little protection for individual consumers. This article examines the operational background to the Bill of Sale Acts. It focuses upon particular concerns for consumers and businesses and provides critique of the registration process before examining the proposals and consultations for reform currently before the Law Commission.     

We All Make Mistakes: A ‘Duty of Virtue’ Theory of Restitutionary Liability for Mistaken Payments

In contrast to the moral foundations of contract, tort, and the law of property, which are generally regarded as elements of Kantian ‘right’, the liability to return the value of mistaken payments is, it is argued, an example of the law's enforcing a duty of virtue, the legalisation of the duty of beneficence in a way similar (though not identical) to how the law might instantiate a duty of easy rescue. Accordingly, one of Birks's most cherished theses – that the law of unjust enrichment represents a distinctive element of private law – can be made out: it is distinctive in having an entirely different normative source: in virtue, not in right. But this result comes at a cost: (1) a legal system could function more or less justly without such a liability; (2) Birks's thesis that liability for mistaken payment is the archetype or paradigmatic case of liability for unjust enrichment would have to be abandoned; and (3) we would have to recognise that the ground of this liability is policy‐motivated.     

Regulatory Domain and Regulatory Dexterity: Critiquing the UK Governance of ‘Fracking’

This article provides a critique of the UK government's regulatory response to ‘fracking’. It shows how government has adopted two distinct schemas of regulation, which may usefully be classified under the headings ‘regulatory domain’ and ‘regulatory dexterity’. These schemas rely on very different interpretive conventions and are in many ways contradictory. Yet, government uses both ‘domain’ and ‘dexterity’ arguments simultaneously in order to advance its policy in favour of fracking. The article explains how two seemingly different regulatory approaches work together towards the same policy goal, and highlights the role of law in facilitating technological development.     

Doing family: Responses to the constructions of ‘the migrant family’ across Europe

This paper draws on how constructions of ‘the migrant family’ in political discourse influence migrants' and their families' lives. In specific national contexts, ‘the migrant family’ is determined according to the national and European debates and expressed by their respective rules and regulations. By ‘doing family’, migrants and their families develop strategies in order to fit these requirements of living a certain family life. Fulfilling specific norms and perceptions which are not necessarily required for the majority of society is a precondition to succeed. Who is and who is not part of the family, who holds responsibility — such aspects have to be proved and repeatedly reproduced by migrants and their families. This not only affects their position in society, but also has strong implications on their lives as a couple and family, since it requires the continuous adaptation and reconstructions of their everyday reality.     

The Proposed ‘Common European Sales Law’: Legal Framework and the Agreement of the Parties

The European Commission's Proposal for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law (‘CESL’) seeks to create a European scheme of contract law available for parties to choose to govern cross‐border contracts for the sale of goods, supply of ‘digital content,’ and for the supply of related services. This article explains the background to the Proposal, sketches out the purposes and scope of the CESL, and considers and criticises its legal framework (and in particular its relationship with private international law) and the key requirement of the parties’ agreement. In the author's view, the CESL scheme remains an unconvincing basis for the achievement of its economic purposes and, as regards consumer contracts, puts too much reliance on the agreement of the consumer as a justification for the loss of their existing protection under EU private international law rules.     

Police shooting as a method of self-harming: A review of the evidence for ‘suicide by cop’ in England and Wales between 1998 and 2001

There is increasing evidence that some individuals actively seek to bring about their own deaths by provoking armed police officers to shoot them. The current paper examines 22 police shooting incidents, nine fatal, between 1998 and 2001, to assess the likelihood of suicidal motivation in each of these cases. All 22 individuals shot were male, 18 were white, three black and one Asian and ages ranged from 18 to 51. Around half of the shootings examined have some evidence indicating a suicidal motive in those shot, with further indications of irrational behaviour in a number of the other cases. This has clear implications for the choice of police strategy in responding to such incidents and an imperative to develop ‘less lethal’ options to minimise the risk to such vulnerable populations.