Maids to the city: migration patterns of female domestic servants from the province of Zeeland,the Netherlands (1850–1950)

This article deals with the migration patterns of female domestic servants from the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands during the second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. The main topics are rates of servant migration, major destinations, strategies behind migration, and determinants of migration across provincial boundaries. A multimethod approach is used, combining the analysis of a data set of life courses of servants with an investigation of qualitative material such as interviews, letters, autobiographies, and government reports. Migration rates of domestic servants peaked in the last decades of the 19th century. Major destinations of Zeeland servants shifted from local and regional jobs with farmers to positions outside the province, particularly in the growing Dutch cities of Rotterdam and The Hague. Family strategies of survival and possibly of risk diversification and upward mobility were behind this migration. However, qualitative sources show that the out-migration of Zeeland servants must also be understood in terms of individual strategies, such as the desire for higher wages, emancipation from the parental home, and participation in more exciting city life.     

Reproductive behaviour in the Lutheran urban family from historical Poland (the Parish of St. Peter from Poznań, the second half of the nineteenth century)

Fertility and reproductive behaviour in the nineteenth-century Lutheran family from the city of Poznań was characterized. Use was made of the St. Peter parish (Peterkirche) registers from 1840s to 1870s, upon which reconstructions of the individual histories of 463 families were based. Fertility was assessed on the basis of the length of between-birth intervals according to their order and age of women. Next, the age-specific fertility rates of women f_x and Coale Index of marital fertility I_g were calculated. From a seasonal rhythm of both marital and illegitimate births, and reconstructed on the basis of these, the annual rhythm of marital and prenuptial conceptions were characterized. In the Lutheran Parish of St. Peter from the city of Poznań illegitimate births and prenuptial conceptions accounted for almost 10% and over 5% of all births, respectively. Lack of seasonality for marital births was noted here. Illegitimate births, by contrast, were characterized by a statistically significant annual rhythm: their maximum was noted in April, which was a result of conceptions during summer. The average woman with completed reproduction cycle gave birth to the first and to the last child at the ages of 29 and 40 years, respectively. She therefore used 32% of her whole reproductive period. Late age of birth of the first child was associated with late age of marriage of women (on average 28 years). An average woman with completed reproduction gave birth to 4.8 children. The average length of the protogenesic interval was 18 months. The highest fertility occurred in women aged between 20 to 29 years. The value of the I_g index was 0.67, and proved a lack of birth control rather than conscious birth regulation. Generally, Lutheran women from Poznań were characterized by fairly high reproductive potential.     

Exit,voice, and loyalty: Parent–child relations in the proto-industrial household economy (Zürich, 17th–18th centuries)

This article formulates a simple model of parent–child interest conflicts. Based on a simple model of a household economy with a production or wage income function, a labor maintenance cost function, and an externally given wage rate, it discusses potential conflicts over the appropriation of the product of family members' labor in terms of the trilogy of exit, voice, and loyalty. The model is then explored by using household lists that provide detailed information on the economic activity of individuals. Many young proto-industrial workers used the threat of exiting their parents' household to keep much of their earnings through the Rast custom (boarding allowance). The threat of leaving operated well among the middle and lower classes of proto-industrial society, but it is unclear whether it also worked for the daughters of farmers who apparently left home much earlier than their brothers. The discourse of contemporaries about the Rast custom are considered and interpreted as a counterstrategy against the exit threat in which the elders fostered a sense of loyalty among the young.     

The 2013 CLSR-LSPI seminar on electronic identity: The global challenge – Presented at the 8th International Conference on Legal,Security and Privacy issues in IT Law (LSPI) November 11–15, 2013, Tilleke & Gibbins International Ltd., Bangkok,Thailand

We are the middle of a global identity crisis. New notions of identity are made possible in the online world where people eagerly share their personal data and leave ‘digital footprints’. Multiple, partial identities emerge distributed across cyberspace divorced from the physical person. The representation of personal characteristics in data sets, together with developing technologies and systems for identity management, in turn change how we are identified. Trustworthy means of electronic identification is now a key issue for business, governments and individuals in the fight against online identity crime. Yet, along with the increasing economic value of digital identity, there are also risks of identity misuse by organisations that mine large data sets for commercial purposes and in some cases by governments. Data proliferation and the non-transparency of processing practices make it impossible for the individual to track and police their use. Potential risks encompass not only threats to our privacy, but also knowledge-engineering that can falsify digital profiles attributed to us with harmful consequences. This panel session will address some of the big challenges around identity in the digital age and what they mean for policy and law (its regulation and protection). Questions for discussion include: What does identity mean today? What types of legal solutions are fit for purpose to protect modern identity interests? What rights, obligations and responsibilities should be associated with our digital identities? Should identity management be regulated and who should be held liable and for what? What should be the role of private and public sectors in identity assurance schemes? What are the global drivers of identity policies? How can due process be ensured where automated technologies affect the rights and concerns of citizens? How can individuals be more empowered to control their identity data and give informed consent to its use? How are biometrics and location-tracking devices used in body surveillance changing the identity landscape?     

Evaluation of portable gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) for the analysis of fentanyl,fentanyl analogs,and other synthetic opioids

Potent synthetic opioids including fentanyl and its analogs are frequently encountered in the field and require detection and identification by first responders to maintain the safety of drug abusers, first responders, health-care providers, and the public at large. Due to the low concentration at which these substances may be encountered and the complicating matrices within which they may be dispersed, the use of portable gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) for their identification in the field offers great potential value. This research established that portable GC–MS is a useful method for the detection and identification of a large number of synthetic opioids, especially fentanyl and its analogs. In this study, 250 synthetic opioids and related substances including 210 fentanyl analogs were analyzed using portable GC–MS. It was concluded that 225 of the 250 (90.0%) opioids analyzed were successfully detected onboard at the time of analysis and identified as either the substance (55.2%) or an analog (34.8%). These outcomes have equivalent benefit for the field analysis of illicit drugs due to both initiating the same subsequent actions by first responders.     

Migration and work in the Alps (17th–18th centuries): Family strategies,kinship, and clientelism

Outmigration from the Alps is traditionally attributed to the hardship of life and to the lack of employment. The article questions such assumptions and proposes a different relationship between working conditions and migrations. Focusing on the eighteenth century, it examines three economically diverse Alpine regions and shows that behind the apparent diversity, there are common features to the ways families do or do not choose between working in the village or elsewhere. Analyses of family networks have to be performed in terms of the distribution of power within communities. The existence and reproduction of family networks, as well as the ability of individuals and families to develop strategies, are unequally distributed among social groups, and this has to be noted in the examination of decisions about migration.     

Commentary: In Response to the Paper by Timothy Swanson,Negotiating Effective International Environmental Agreements: Is an Objective Approach to Differential Treatment Possible? (see pp. 125–153)

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics -     

Commentary: In Response to the Paper by Peter. H. Sand,A Century of Green Lessons: The Contribution of Nature Conservation Regimes to Global Governance (see pp. 33–72)

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics -     

Abandoned and illegitimate,a double mortality penalty? Mortality of illegitimate infants in the foundling hospital of Madrid,La Inclusa (1890–1935)

This paper examines the existence of a mortality penalty for illegitimate abandoned infants in the Foundling Hospital of Madrid, La Inclusa, during the period 1890–1935, in the context of the mortality experience of the city. A rich dataset on the life histories of all infants abandoned in the city of Madrid (almost 60,000 children), nominally linked to births, has allowed the study of the determinants of mortality of foundlings, newborns in the city, and the study of the determinants of abandonment. Contrary to previous findings, our results for La Inclusa show no evidence of an illegitimacy penalty among foundlings and, in some cases, show even better prospects for them. However, this situation did not reflect the circumstances of the city, as illegitimate infants were both more likely to suffer a neonatal death and to be abandoned. The explanation proposed in this paper is that the health of infants born of wedded couples that ended up resorting to abandonment was possibly poorer than that of those born of single or migrant mothers, as the situation triggering abandonment meant that infants were under very hard conditions, possibly worse than those single women faced in the event of a pregnancy.     

Transitions in women's and children's work patterns and implications for the study of family income and household structure: A case study from the Catalan textile sector (1850–1925)

This article deals with the outcomes of changes in the family labor resource allocation for family incomes and household structures. During the first stage of the demographic transition, since women worked more than men due to child bearing and child rearing, and children were the main contributors to household incomes over the medium term, there was a substitution effect whereby women 's wage labor was replaced by that of the children. With the beginning of the second industrial revolution, a contrary trend can be observed whereby child labor was replaced by that of married women, even by those reported as housewives in the Municipal Census. A smaller number of children, mandatory schooling, and an improvement of women 's position within the factory with respect to men, all seem to explain this second substitution. As a result of all these transformations, household structures and family incomes do not conform to any pre-established norms and integrate what we have defined as a family economy of mutual assistance.     

Monique Cormier,The Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over Nationals of Non-States Parties,Cambridge University Press, 2020, 244 pp. £ 85.00 (Hardback) ISBN 978-1-108-49930-9

Criminal Law Forum -     

Intentional Homicide: A Fifteen-Year Study (2000–2014) at the Department of Forensic Medicine,University of Rome “Sapienza”

This study analyzes postmortem records from 260 homicide cases autopsied by the Department of Forensic Medicine in Rome from 2000 to 2014. The victims were mainly males (74%) and young (61% aged from 21 to 50 years). Although the victims were mostly Italians, the number of foreign victims (33%) has increased since 1990, primarily due to immigration. The offenders frequently used firearms (39%), particularly in multiple murders. An increase in blunt (20%) and sharp force (32%) weapons was also seen. The primary crime scene was residential (42%), and the head was the most frequently injured body region. Male victims occurred frequently in the context of organized crime (7.6%). In family or intimate-sexual relationships, women were the majority of victims (8%). Forensic pathologists play an important role during investigation. They should consider all the information available to them, including autopsy information, crime scene information, and crime investigation data.     

The 2012 CLSR-LSPI seminar on privacy,data protection & cyber-security – Presented at the 7th international conference on Legal,Security and Privacy Issues in IT law (LSPI) October 2–4, 2012, Athens

This has been a big year for privacy with so much going on within the EU regarding reform of data protection. What are the implications of reform here and what are the issues that concern us about the proposed new data protection regime contained in the proposed Regulation? We hear a lot about the ‘right to be forgotten’. How is that possible in the digital age within the online world? And what can be done about the big players who stand charged with the erosion of privacy viz Facebook, Google, Skype & YouTube etc? How can the law keep up with technological change when the latter is moving so fast e.g. with RFID, Cloud and social networking? To what extent can data breach notification, net neutrality and privacy impact assessment help and how should the law approach issues of liability and criminality in relation to privacy? What is the state of play too in the relationship between privacy policy and state surveillance and, given its implications for privacy, what obligations should governments adopt in response to cybersecurity regulation and data management? Is there a place for privacy self-regulation and if so in what respects and how effective are the Information Commissioners who often complain of being under resourced? In reviewing the way privacy law has emerged do we now need a completely new approach to the whole issue? Has the law crept into its present form simply by default? Do we need some new thinking now that reflects the fact that law is only one dimension in the battle for privacy? If so what are the other factors we need to recognise?