Resources, Rights, and Environmental Regulation

Prior to the Human Rights Act 1998, there were significant expectations that it would promote the development of environmental rights and extend remedies for environmental harm. This has not been the case, but then the expectations were probably always false. The paper points to three reasons why: the retention of a strong model of parliamentary sovereignty; the need to mould human rights principles alongside the common law; the traditional reluctance of the courts to determine questions of utility where questions of resource allocation arise. The paper concludes by reflecting on whether one would hope, in any case, to advance the cause of the environment through the mechanism of the Convention and suggests that there may be reasons to doubt the wisdom of this approach.     

Tourist Representations and Public Space Regulation

This article illustrates the ways in which visual representations construct the meanings of norms governing the spaces we commonly inhabit. I argue that norms regulating public spaces such as streets, parks, plazas, and beaches arise within the process of conceiving tourist representations of space that benefit hegemonic groups in society. My argument is empirically grounded on evidence from a case study on public space regulation in Acapulco, Mexico. By means of a semiotic analysis of tourist materials such as maps and postcards, I show that images related to tourism represent urban space in a way that includes some elements and excludes others. By doing so, they portray a very specific image of the city and its public spaces. Because representations of space are performed upon the entire society, the imagery reproduced by tourist materials is part of the expectations that surround social actors’ actions. This is one of the mechanisms through which the tourism industry influences the regulation of public spaces.     

Human Rights and the Regulation of Privatized Essential Services

Netherlands International Law Review - The privatization of essential services such as water and electricity has raised a number of questions with respect to the role of the state and how these...     

Transformation or Dilution: Fundamental Rights in the EU Social Space

Abstract:  This article argues that in developing social rights to counterbalance economic freedoms, the EU has begun to reformulate traditional notions of rights. Instead of creating rights in their traditional individualised, negative, judicially enforceable, and fault-based form, a new proactive model is emerging, which aims at institutional change, based on the notion of the active citizen and the centrality of participation in both rule formation and enforcement. It is argued that while this model has important advantages, its weakness lies in its dependence on political will. The challenge is therefore to ensure that proactive strategies are firmly centred on fundamental rights rather than political discretion. Part I briefly sketches the development of social rights in the EU; Part II examines the applicability of Third Way ideology; Part III considers European employment strategy and gender mainstreaming, asking whether they represent a dynamic new manifestation of fundamental rights at work, or a betrayal. Part IV applies a similar evaluation to the EU Charter.     

环境规制与财产权保障的冲突和协调

环境保护应当协调好环境规制与财产权保障之间的关系。德国《宪法》尽力协调私人财产权的自由保障功能和社会公正功能之间关系的做法值得我们借鉴。在环境规制行动中,要分清对财产使用的负外部性的规制和特殊贡献两种不同情形,贯彻好比例原则和平等原则。     

我国产权交易市场的基本原理与规则进路

产权交易市场建设是我国多层次资本市场建设的重要组成部分。现阶段我国产权交易市场呈现出一种以行政管制为主导的发展模式,我国产权交易监管制度也将遵循这种立法与行政监管为主、市场自律为辅助的监管模式。     

Still in Deficit: Rights,Regulation, and Democracy in the EU1

Abstract: Critics of the EU's democratic deficit standardly attribute the problem to either sociocultural reasons, principally the lack of a demos and public sphere, or institutional factors, notably the lack of electoral accountability because of the limited ability of the European Parliament to legislate and control the executive powers of the Commission and the Council of Ministers. Recently two groups of theorists have argued neither deficit need prove problematic. The first group adopts a rights‐based view of democracy and claims that a European consensus on rights, as represented by the Charter of Fundamental European Rights, can offer the basis of citizen allegiance to EU wide democracy, thereby overcoming the demos deficit. The second group adopts a public‐interest view of democracy and argues that so long as delegated authorities enact policies that are ‘for’ the people, then the absence of institutional forms that facilitate democracy ‘by’ the people are likewise unnecessary—indeed, in certain areas they may be positively harmful. This article argues that both views are normatively and empirically flawed. This is because there is no consensus on rights or the public interest apart from the majority view of a demos secured through parliamentary institutions. To the extent that these remain absent at the EU level, a democratic deficit continues to exist.     

跨国公司侵犯人权行为的法律规制简

在当前国际经济秩序中,跨国公司凭借其强大的经济实力愈发扮演起重要的角色.跨国公司在经营活动中,侵犯东道国人权的问题已引起广泛关注.然而,现行法律框架不足以规制跨国公司在东道国侵犯人权的行为.在现行国际法规制模式下,跨国公司不是国际法主体,国际法无法直接规制跨国公司行为.在现行国内法规制模式下,东道国没有实力进行规制,甚至有些侵犯人权行为在东道国法律体系下根本不构成违法;母国没有意愿进行规制,唯一相关的母国立法,即美国ATCA存在诸多缺陷,实际效果有限.通过母国法律规制母公司的行为是一种解决途径,主要基于“企业理论”使母公司对子公司在东道国的侵犯人权行为承担责任,或者母国通过立法给母公司施加规制子公司行为的义务,但是该途径也在法律上及实践中存在障碍.根本的解决途径是促使发展中东道国积极签署并切实履行人权保护相关公约,来规制境内跨国公司侵犯人权的行为,提升本国法治环境.     

论我国海域物权的类型与体系建制

我国现行立法已初步建构海域物权的基本类型及其体系,但现行立法存在着诸多法律漏洞或者法律冲突,如海域使用权与矿业权、渔业权之间冲突,进而引致法律适用困局与权利秩序混乱。我国应根据民法总则及物权法的基本原理,修改《海域使用管理法》《渔业法》《水法》《矿产资源法》等法律,对海域使用权、矿业权、渔业权等海域物权进行系统梳理,以建构类型明确的海域物权结构,以及符合法理的规范体系。     

论宪法规定公民权利宜用禁止性规则

虽然各国宪法对公民权利实际上有两种规定方式,一是采用禁止性规则,二是采用授权性规则,但从理论上分析,宜采用禁止性规则.从宪法学上来讲,禁止性规则符合宪法乃授权于国之法、权利先于宪法、宪法控制权力的观念;从立法学上来说,禁止性规则更能表达防范国家权力可能侵犯公民权利的目的;从解释学上来看,禁止性规则能够消除"宪赋人权"的误解.     

人权保障视野下的行刑权的规制问题

作为公权性质的行刑权与罪犯的人权具有冲突的一面,行刑权与罪犯人权并非绝对对立的关系。保障受刑人的人权仅仅靠人道主义思想是远远不够的,而是应当通过规制行刑权来保障人权。因此,一方面应当整合行刑权的行使主体;另一方面应当将行刑权进行司法审查。     

“异化”的权利与权利的“异化”——以知识产权的私权保护与公权规制之协调为视角

知识产权并非起源于民事权利,而是起源于封建王室“特权”。这种特权,由封建君主或者代表君主的地方政府授予。知识产权正是在这种看似完全不符合“私权”原则的环境下产生,而逐渐“异化”为现代民法上的一种私权。一、从特权到私权:“异化”的权利及其内在生长机制考察(一)私权嬗变的社会结构子系统之“功能耦合”“结构功能主义理论”认为,社会是具有一定结构或组织化手段的系统,社会各组成部分以有序方式相互关联,并对社会整体发挥着必要的功能,执行这些功能的子系统分别为经济系统、政治系统、社会共同体系统和文化模式托管系统。其方法…     

我国与知识产权有关的对外贸易秩序的规范与调整

随着进出口货物中含知识产权货物比重的增加,侵犯知识产权导致的贸易秩序的损害日趋严重。TRIPS协议的签订和实施,为各国建立相应的对外贸易秩序,提供了一个基本标准。本文从知识产权立法的利益平衡理论、立法和执法现状,及其完善立法及其执法措施等方面,分析了我国如何实现与贸易有关的知识产权秩序的规范与调整问题。     

“三权分置”背景下农地抵押的规则设计

三权分置改革的背景下,土地承包经营权的财产属性更加凸显,这有助于促进农地自由流转,彰显其经济价值,推动农村社会发展。可以设定抵押的农地权利包括土地承包经营权和土地经营权,抵押权的效力及于扣押时尚未分离的农作物,以及土地被征收时抵押人所获得的土地补偿费。土地承包经营权的抵押人只限于为自己的债务设定抵押,而抵押权人则不受身份的限制。从公示及安全的价值考量,农地抵押权需要登记才能设立。对于农地抵押权的实现方式,法律所作的规定只是为当事人提供选择方案,并不具有强制性约束力。     

Cultures in Orbit,or Justi-fying Differences in Cosmic Space: On Categorization,Territorialization and Rights Recognition

The many constraints of outer space experience challenge the human ability to coexist. Paradoxically, astronauts assert that on the international space station there are no conflicts or, at least, that they are able to manage their differences, behavioral as well as cognitive, in full respect of human rights and the imperatives of cooperative living. The question is: Why? Why in those difficult, a-terrestrial, and therefore almost unnatural conditions do human beings seem to be able to peacefully and collaboratively live together? What is there beyond terrestrial boundary conditions that allows for such a result? And what can we learn from the astronauts’ experience about the (lack of) effectiveness of human rights on Earth? My proposal is that the a-terrestrial dimension deeply alters the mind/body indexical framework and, in this way, disentangles the human inclination to semiosis from the cognitive and behavioral habits of categorization and territorialization inherent in the experience on Earth. If analyzed through the spectrum of an interdisciplinary approach involving anthropology, semiology, law, and human geography, I think that outer space enterprises can offer many insights into the cognitive and ethical/political hindrances to the effectiveness of human rights and their intercultural uses. Meanwhile the compulsive greed for a possessive territorialization of outer space and celestial bodies is growing by leaps and bounds. It haunts and imbues both astropolitics and space law. The astronauts’ semio-anthropological experience of human rights and cooperative coexistence seems to have been left in orbit. The future requires awareness and action by anthropologists, semioticians, cognitive scientists, geographers and lawyers, working all together in an interdisciplinary effort to move beyond approaching the experiential with a territorial mindset. The hope is that the “dark dream” of human exploitation/colonization of outer space will not turn from a political and legal speculation into a future reality.     

《民法典》中债权表见让与的解释空间及其构成要件

《民法典》第546条第1款规定让与通知为债权让与对债务人发生效力的法律要件,在债权让与未发生或者无效的情形下,应从解释论上认为当让与人将债权让与通知债务人之后,无论债务人是否积极地知悉债权让与实际上未发生或者无效,一般都能成立债权表见让与。不过,债务人若根据生效的司法裁判文书知悉债权让与未发生或者无效的,鉴于司法裁判具有较强的公信力,债务人不能再继续信赖让与人之通知的正确性而认为债权让与有效。在成立债权表见让与的情形下,债务人可以凭借通知信赖债权让与有效而向受让人为免责性清偿等行为。此时,让与人只能向受让人请求不当得利返还。如果通知主体不是让与人的,或者债务人对债权让与未发生或者无效具有较大主观恶意的,均不成立债权表见让与,让与人不再对债务人承担债权表见让与责任。     

Lost in Moral Space: On the Infringing/Violating Distinction and its Place in the Theory of Rights

Law and Philosophy -     

人权的革命与革命中的人权——对罗伯斯比尔人权观的重新解读

本文在介绍了罗伯斯比尔关于人权的基本观点后,分析了罗伯斯比尔人权观中存在的内在矛盾,并结合法国大革命的历史背景着重探讨了导致罗伯斯比尔人权理想和人权实践形成巨大差距的原因。本文认为造成罗伯斯比尔人权观的悲剧既与其思想中存在的民粹主义和道德理想主义密切相关,也与那时的人权是一种人权革命后的人权和革命中的人权这一事实有着极为重要的关系。     

性的自治与规制——在法律规则的视野下对性权利的一种解读

尽管人的进步是和性的解放关联在一起,但是法治意义上的性权利绝不是完全的性自治和性自由,性权利永远都是法律规则与制度下的权利,永远都是与性义务、性责任相对应的权利,它受制于社会规则,来源于社会合作。因此,性的法治是建立在自治基础上对性的法律控制。具体说,这种法律控制体现在婚姻形态的选择、国家对性资源的配置以及国家权力与私人力量的博弈等环节或过程中。