Reviews

Books reviewed:
McCoubrey: The Obligations to Obey in Legal Theory
Halpin: Rights and Law: Analysis and Theory
Harrison: Good Faith in Sales
Weir: Economic Torts
Prosser: Law and the Regulators
Goodrich (ed): Law and the Unconscious: A Legendre Reader
Sheldon: Beyond Control: Medical Power and Abortion Law
Amato: Antitrust and the Bounds of Power: The Dilemma of Liberal Democracy in the History of the Market
Zeisel and Kaye: Prove It with Figures: Empirical Methods on Law and Litigation Good Faith in Sales
Cavadino: The Law of Gravity     

Reviews

Park: The Duty of Disclosure in Insurance Contract Law
Brazier: Ministers of the Crown
Penner:, The Idea of Property in Law
Davies: Delimiting the Law: 'Postmodernism' and the Politics of Law
Damaška: Evidence Law Adrift     

Reviews

Brooman and Legge: Law Relating to Animals
McHale and Fox with Murphy: Health Care Law: Text and Materials
Bridge: The Sale of Goods
White: Planning Appeals
Pearson: Origins of Law and Economics: The Economists' New Science of Law, 1830–1930
James: Private Ombudsmen and Public Law
Doe: The Legal Structure of the Church of England: A Critical Study in a Comparative Context
Hunt: Governance of the Consuming Passions: A History of Sumptuary Law     

Determination of sex from femora

The determination of sex from bones or bone fragments considerably contributes to identifying unknown bodies or skeletal remains. Due to temporal change and regional differences anthropometric standards have to be constantly renewed. The present study provides measurements of femoral dimensions in a contemporary German population and analyses sexual dimorphism by discriminant analysis. Maximum length (male: 46.4+/-2.4 cm, female: 43.4+/-2.4 cm), maximum midshaft diameter (male: 3.1+/-0.2 cm, female: 2.8+/-0.2 cm), condylar width (male: 8.4+/-1.0 cm, female: 7.7+/-0.5 cm), vertical head diameter (male: 4.9+/-0.3 cm, female: 4.4+/-0.3 cm), head circumference (male: 15.7+/-0.8 cm, female: 13.8+/-1.0 cm) and transverse head diameter (male: 4.9+/-0.3 cm, female: 4.3+/-0.3 cm) were measured in 170 femora, 100 from male (age: 16-92 years, mean: 60.8 years; body height: 153-190 cm, mean: 171 cm) and 70 from female (age: 20-96 years, mean: 72 years; body height: 146-175 cm, mean: 161 cm) individuals. In the discriminant analysis (leave-one-out-method) 67.7% of cases could be grouped correctly with the maximum length alone, 72.4% with the maximum midshaft diameter, 81.4% with the condylar width, 86.8% with the vertical head diameter, 87.7% with the head circumference and 89.6% with the transverse head diameter. The stepwise procedure with all head measurements showed that the results for the transverse head diameter could not be improved. With all measurements subjected to stepwise procedure 91.7% of cases could be classified correctly combining midshaft diameter and head circumference (D=3.012xmidshaft diameter in cm+0.780xhead circumference in cm 20.569).     

Diurnal and Nocturnal Flight Activity of Blow Flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in a Rainforest Fragment in Brazil: Implications for the Colonization of Homicide Victims

Nocturnal flight of blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) is a controversial issue in forensic entomology. We performed two field experiments to investigate the diurnal and nocturnal activity of six blow fly species in a rainforest fragment in Brazil. Initially, nocturnal (17:30–05:30) versus diurnal (05:30–17:30) flight activity was investigated. Only 3.9% of adults were collected at night, mostly the native species Mesembrinella bicolor, and nocturnal oviposition did not occur. In the second experiment, collection of adults took place at the following intervals: 05:30–08:30, 08:30–11:30, 11:30–14:30, and 14:30–17:30. The proportions of adults did not differ significantly among the four diurnal intervals, except for Hemilucilia segmentaria, which was captured more frequently in the early morning. Calliphoridae has predominantly diurnal behavior, not laying eggs in darkness. The association of the native species M. bicolor, Hemilucilia semidiaphana, and H. segmentaria to forested areas reinforces the forensic relevance of data on their flight pattern.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
John Eekelaar, Mavis Maclean, and Sarah Beinart, Family Lawyers: The Divorce Work of Solicitors
Thomas M. Franck, The Empowered Self: Law and Society in the Age of Individualism
Ian Leigh, Law, Politics and Local Democracy
Stanley Fish, The Trouble With Principle
Christine Bell, Peace Agreements and Human Rights
Lawrence Rosen, The Justice of Islam: Comparative Perspectives in Islamic Law and Society
Fiona Donson, Legal Intimidation
Bridget M. Hutter, Regulation and Risk: Occupational Health and Safety on the Railways; Garry Slapper: Blood in the Bank: Social and Legal Aspects of Death at Work     

Sensitivity of various study technics in blood stains

Quadratic pieces of fleece measuring 16 mm2 were soaked with 10 different blood-samples in the dilution steps of 1:1, 1:10, 1:100, 1:1000, respectively, and were tested in blood group typing and identification tests of forensic serology. The above spezified dilutions correspond with 5 microliters, 0.5 microliter, 0.05 microliter and 0.005 microliter of blood, respectively. The detection limit of the microspectrometric test for blood was the dilution 1:10, of the porphyrine test a dilution above 1:100, whereas the preliminary test for blood (peroxidase) succeeded always up to a dilution of 1:1000 and the species determination by the radial immunodiffusion test in agar gels succeeded in most cases op to a dilution of 1:1000. The detection limit of the anti-human globulin inhibition test was between the dilution steps 1:10 and 1:100 when non-titrated and undiluted anti-human globulin serum was used. Gc- and ABO-grouping were possible up to a dilution of 1:100 and were thus the most sensitive grouping systems. Phenotyping of the enzyme-systems and the Gm/Km-system usually required stains with considerably higher blood concentrations i.e. stains of undiluted blood.     

土制海洛因的薄层色谱扫描快速检验

建立土制海洛因的快速定性和定量检测方法。土制海洛因甲醇溶解,点于GF(254)薄层板上,正庚烷：氯仿：乙酸乙酯：乙醇：氨水（5：2：2：1．5：0．2）非饱和上行展开2次。薄层色谱扫描,Rf值结合斑点光谱扫描定性,色谱扫描定量。结果土制海洛因中主要成分海洛因、单乙酰吗啡、乙酰可待因、吗啡、可待因、蒂巴因、罂粟碱和那可汀分离完全,薄层扫描线性范围为0．2～2或4μg／斑点,最小检出量为0．1μg或0．2μg／斑点。本法可用于土制海洛因和海洛因的定性和定量检测。     

Reviews

Books reviewed:
Daintith and Page, The Executive in the Constitution: Structure, Autonomy, and Internal Control
Walters and Davis-White, Directors' Disqualification: Law and Practice
Collier and Lowe, The Settlement of International Disputes: Institutions and Procedures
Backhaus, The Elgar Companion to Law and Economics
Bouckaert, and de Geest Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Vols I–IV
Ewing and Gearty, The Struggle for Civil Liberties: Political Freedom and the Rule of Law in Britain, 1914–1945
Dine, The Governance of Corporate Groups
Collins, Regulating Contracts
Karpik, French Lawyers A Study in Collective Action, 1274–1994
Aust, Modern Treaty Law and Practice
Douzinas, The End of Human Rights: Critical Legal Thought at the Turn of the Century
Cotterrell, Emile Durkheim: Law in a Moral Domain
Revesz, Sands and Stewarts, (eds) Sands and Stewarts (eds): Environmental Law, the Economy, and Sustainable Development     

混合生物样品的组分分析及其STR基因型判定

目的应用荧光标记STR多基因座联合检测技术对混合生物样品较少组分最低比例检出限和STR基因型的判定进行研究。方法 将已知浓度的人标准细胞系DNA:9947A和K562分别按照1:1、1:4、1:9、1:19、1:39、1:59、1:79和1:99比例混合后作为扩增模板,应用Profiler plus试剂盒对D3S1358、VWA、FGA、D8S1179、D21S11、D18S51、D5S818、D13S317、D7S820和性别鉴定基因座检验。结果在比例为1:19时能明确判定两个体各基因座基因型,且两样品基因型结果峰高平均值之比与样品浓度之比正相关。结论应用荧光标记STR多基因座联合检测技术可以对一定比例的混合生物样品进行STR基因型判定,并对其混合比例状况进行大致推断。     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
K. D. Ewing and C. A. Gearty, The Struggle for Civil Liberties: Political Freedom and the Rule of Law in Britain
Doreen McBarnet and Christopher Whelan, Creative Accounting and the Cross-Eyed Javelin Thrower
Roger Cotterrell, Émile Durkheim: Law in a Moral Domain
Donald Nicolson and Julian Webb, Professional Legal Ethics: Critical Interrogations
Christine Parker, Just Lawyers: Regulation and Access to Justice     

REVIEWS

R. L. Abel: The Legal Profession in England and Wales J. Pritchard: The Legal Five Hundred J. Slinn: A History of Freshfields J. Slinn: Linklaters and Paines: The First One Hundred and Fifty Years Michel Fromont and Alfred Rieg: Introduction au droit allemand, République Féderale, Tom II, Droit Public — Droit Pénal M. J. Detmold: Courts and Administrators: A Study in Jurisprudence The Spycatcher Cases edited by Michael Fysh Q.C.     

Reviews

Thomas: Legal Frontiers Wellman: An Approach to Rights: Studies in the Philosophy of Law and Morals Allsop and Mulcahy: Regulating Medical Work: Formal and Informal Controls Mercuro and Medema: Economics and the Law: From Posner to Post-Modernism Franck: Fairness in International Law and Institutions Nussbaum: Poetic Justice: The Literary Imagination and Public Life Posner: Law and Legal Theory in the UK and USA Montgomery: Health Care Law     

Ageing in forensic psychiatric secure settings: the views of members of staff

Background: Although the prevalence of older patients in forensic psychiatric services is increasing, research around service provision for this population is very limited. We aimed to gather the views of members of staff on how well secure services are meeting the challenges of an ageing population.

Methods: Three focus groups were carried out with 13 members of staff working with older patients in secure services. A topic guide, based on the research team’s previous research, guided the sessions. The focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed through thematic analysis.

Results: Two themes were identified: (1) Identifying patients’ needs, which focused on how promptly any emerging issues in the older patients are identified and reported; (2) addressing patients’ needs, which focused on how the unique needs of the older patients are addressed, once established.

Conclusions: There are unique age-related issues that may have an impact on the older patients’ opportunities for recovery, including a lack of specialist training for members of staff, prolonged stay in secure care and a limited number of age-relevant activities. Far from optimal, provision requires improvement through the active involvement of the primary stakeholders.     

Understanding Law as a Democratic Institution Through US Constitutional Development

Gillman, Howard, Mark Graber, and Keith Whittington. 2012 . American Constitutionalism: Volume I: Structures of Government . New York: Oxford University Press. Gillman, Howard, Mark Graber, and Keith Whittington. 2012 . American Constitutionalism: Volume II: Rights and Liberties . New York: Oxford University Press. This essay reviews Howard Gillman, Mark Graber, and Keith Whittington, American Constitutionalism: Volume I: Structures of Government (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), and Howard Gillman, Mark Graber, and Keith Whittington, American Constitutionalism: Volume II: Rights and Liberties (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012). It defends developmental approaches in the study of US constitutional law. It explains how law has been studied in political science, illustrating how political development became part of the story. It outlines how American political development approaches work when applied to law, noting how studying law transforms these approaches. It notes the insights produced through the blending of American political development and constitutional law, explaining how these insights provide more leverage for understanding the role of courts as democratic institutions. The essay closes by discussing the promising directions these approaches suggest, defending their value beyond political science.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Reza Banakar, Merging Law and Sociology: Beyond the Dichotomies in Socio-legal Research
Helen Reece, Divorcing Responsibility
Keith Hawkins, Law as Last Resort: Prosecution Decision Making in a Regulatory Agency
Mark Tushnet, The New Constitutional Order
Brendan Edgeworth, Law, Modernity: Legal Change in the Contracting State     

Crime and Delinquency Prevention in Some European Countries

As part of a larger study on crime and delinquency prevention programs in North America, the authors visited four European countries, Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland in order to compare prevention programs and their evaluation.

The authors found that the systematic study of the programmatic effectiveness and efficiency of crime and delinquency prevention is unknown to European practitioners and researchers.

The authors describe in this article six European crime and delinquency prevention programs: family case-work, leisure activities, community organization, crisis intervention centers, information for victims and prevention police activities.     

Plasma protein and red cell enzyme groups in Galicia (north west Spain)

Galactose-1-phosphate uridyl transferase (GALT), esterase D (EsD), and plasminogen (PLG) phenotypes were determined by isoelectric focusing in thin-layer polyacrylamide gels (PAGIF) in a random sample from Galicia. Haptoglobins (Hp) were determined by conventional electrophoresis. The following gene frequencies were observed: for GALT: GALTN: 0.930; GALTD1: 0.044; GALTD2: 0.025; for EsD: EsD1: 0.874; EsD2: 0.104; EsD3: 0.021; for PLG: PLG1: 0.800; PLG2: 0.199; for Hp: Hp1: 0.426; Hp2: 0.573. Population data results of all electrophoretic markers typed until now in Galician population are also included.     

ABO genotyping by mutagenically separated polymerase chain reaction

ABO blood groups were determined by the mutagenically separated polymerase chain reaction (MS-PCR). The products from two sets of PCR reactions using the same program for the nucleotides at positions 261 and 703 from cDNA at the ABO locus were used to distinguish A, B and O alleles. Two forward mutagenic allele-specific primers of different lengths for the ABO polymorphic site were paired with the same reverse primer in each PCR reaction. The 216 bp fragment of the PCR products for the 261th nucleotide was A or B allele-specific and the 195 bp fragment was O allele-specific. The 126 bp fragment of the PCR products for the 703th nucleotide was B allele-specific and the 106 bp fragment was A or O allele-specific. The ABO genotypes were determined by the intersection of the predicted alleles from these two PCR reactions. The PCR products were obtained using 10 ng of DNA in 50 μL of PCR reaction mixture, and electrophoresed in 4% agarose gel. In this study, 265 ABO-phenotype known samples (A: 31, B: 48, AB: 6 and O: 180) in Chinese were used. The results of ABO genotypes were AA: 1, AO: 30, BB: 2, BO: 46, AB: 6 and OO: 180. These results were confirmed by the PCR-RFLP ABO genotyping method. This technique is a simple, rapid, and reliable method for ABO genotyping.