Court dismisses appeal for right to assisted suicide

On 29 November 2001, the Ontario Court of Appeal issued a lengthy decision overturning a lower-court judgment in favour of three hemophiliacs infected with HIV in 1985 through contaminated blood-factor concentrate. The joint decision in the three cases of Robb, Rintoul, and Farrow is the latest decision in litigation dating back to 1992. The plaintiffs alleged negligence by the Canadian Red Cross Society and the Canadian government for delays in introducing heat-treated concentrate after the risks posed by unheated product were known.     

反信息公开诉讼规则探析——兼析《最高人民法院关于审理政府信息公开行政案件若干问题的规定》之相关规定

反信息公开诉讼，从信息公开制度衍生而来，在很多方面不同于信息公开诉讼。界定反信息公开诉讼，明确其制度依据，探析其举证责任、审理方式、判决方式等诉讼规则，对我国政府信息公开制度乃至行政诉讼制度的理论和实践具有重大意义。     

Supreme Court finds red cross negligent in screening blood donors

On 19 April 2001, the Supreme Court of Canada released its first judgments in litigation alleging the Canadian Red Cross Society was negligent for inadequately screening blood donors in the early 1980s. It upheld an order that damages in the amount of over $2.5 million be paid to three individuals who contracted HIV between 1983 and 1985 from contaminated blood.     

红十字救护法律责任的豁免与限制——基于"好萨玛利亚人法"的分析

红十字救护在应对重大自然灾害、突发公共事件的过程中一直发挥着积极、重要的作用.中国红十字会每年耗费巨大的人力、物力、财力进行救护员培训.但在实践中,由于我国现行相关法律法规的缺失,诸多救护员担心即便是正当救护也可能面临承担法律责任的风险,因此在遇到伤者需要救助的情形时也慎于出手,无法更好地发挥群众生命健康守护员的作用.借鉴西方国家"好萨玛利亚人法"的有关规定,我国也应当设置相关法律法规对红十字救护的法律责任实行有条件地豁免,即便救护员应该承担一定的赔偿责任,也应对其责任进行适当限制.     

"It's Darwinism – Survival of the Fittest:" How Markets and Reputations Shape the Ways in Which Plaintiffs' Lawyers Obtain Clients

The survival of a plaintiffs' lawyer's practice depends upon the generation of an ongoing flow of clients with injuries that the civil justice system will compensate adequately. If this requirement is not met, lawyers will leave this aspect of the legal market for more promising ones. If they do, legal services for injured people will be diminished as a result. In order to find out how this personal services legal market is defined and developed, we interviewed ninety‐five plaintiffs' lawyers in Texas. These lawyers use four major strategies to get clients: client referrals, lawyer referrals, direct marketing, and other referrals. What any particular lawyer does is shaped by the geographic market from which clients are drawn, and by the lawyer's reputation. Our findings provide fresh insights for the empirical literature on plaintiffs' lawyers, and they provide an empirical context for assessing the potential impact of changes in the civil justice system, like tort reform, on the ability of plaintiffs' lawyers to obtain clients.     

Litigation, experimentation, and reputation

This paper develops a multiple-plaintiff game with a correlation across plaintiffs' private information (damage levels). It argues that the defendant engages in experimentation to learn (or remain uninformed about) the plaintiffs' types and play tougher (or softer) in the initial case when another party may also have an interest in the suit.     

Managed care liability today: laws, cases, theories, and current issues

Managed care entities face numerous liability issues in today's changing healthcare environment. This Article provides the plaintiff with a comprehensive road map for navigating the many avenues of managed care liability. The author describes ERISA pre-emption provisions and suggests ways plaintiffs' attorneys can strive to narrow the pre-emption. The Article also provides in-depth analysis of each theory of managed care liability that has been litigated against managed care entities to date, and then goes on to explore state laws imposing liability on managed care entities, and how HMO liability is being reformed through legislative action. For plaintiffs' attorneys seeking the full spectrum of theories of managed care liability, or for defendants' attorneys wanting to remain updated on all potential claims to defend, this Article constitutes an extensive primer on the current issues.     

Court approves final Red Cross bankruptcy plan to compensate blood victims

Following two years of negotiations, the insolvent Canadian Red Cross Society received court approval on 14 September 2000 of its plan to compensate victims of Canada's tainted blood tragedy (and pay other creditors).     

刑事程序性上诉的若干问题研究

程序性上诉是一种重要的程序制裁与救济机制,主要包括程序性上诉的模式、程序性上诉的提起、程序性上诉的审理程序、程序性上诉的裁判方式等方面的内容。程序性上诉有三种模式,其中二审实行事实与法律审之事后审、三审实行法律审之事后审是较为普遍采用的模式;程序性上诉提起的基本要求是必须明确上诉理由,但该要求需与辩护制度衔接起来,否则会变相地剥夺当事人的上诉权;程序性上诉审以上诉理由为审判对象,以庭审笔录为调查基础,以开庭审理为原则;发回重审是主要的程序性裁判方式,但只有严重影响程序公正和实体公正的程序错误,才会导致发回重审。     

论刑事上诉审构造

刑事上诉审构造,是指为规范上诉审与初审之间的关系,法律对刑事上诉审的审判对象、审理范围、审理方式、裁判方式等的规定所构成的整体格局。上诉审构造各构成要素的搭配须遵循一项基本原理,即审判对象与审理范围决定审理方式与裁判方式。在比较法上,存在三种典型的上诉审构造类型,即复审制、续审制、事后审查制。我国法律针对刑事上诉审构造的各方面要素,均已有不同程度的规定,但是未能对四方面要素的关系作出合理安排。因此,在立法没有对上诉制度作出根本性变革之前,可以考虑以上诉理由为标准,对二审案件进行分流,从而尽可能实现刑事上诉审构造的合理化。     

Whistleblowing Around the World Law,Culture & Practice

International humanitarian law (IHL) is a field in constant evolution and the International Committee of the Red Cross works closely with states to assist them in complying with their international treaty obligations. The present update provides an overview of the main developments that have taken place in IHL, with a particular focus on Commonwealth states.     

从刑民实体判断看交叉案件的诉讼处理机制

鉴于刑民实体关系的处理对司法实践中刑民交叉案件审理顺序的直接影响,刑民交叉案件应当坚持实体法和程序法的双重视角考察。在交叉案件的实体判断中,法秩序的统一不在于保持违法概念、违法判断的一致,而在于维护"合法"判断一致。强行将民事违法性作为刑事违法的判断前提,极有可能想当然地以合同无效、过错等充实尚无定论的民事违法性,反而导致了刑事违法判断的"失真"。在交叉案件的审理中,裁判的统一是客观事实的最大限度统一而非客观事实和法律评价的完全一致。贯彻了违法判断(相对)独立性的"刑民并行"模式既尊重了审判的独立性,也有助于避免因案件受理顺序的不同而导致裁判结果不同,是更为合理、高效的诉讼处理机制。但是,当刑民审判存在先决关系时,作为交叉案件审理例外模式的"先刑后民"和"先民后刑"具有一定妥当性。     

Changing legal standards for proof of causation in hazardous waste tort cases. Plaintiffs' problems and congressional responses

Increasing public awareness and concern over the possible dangers of exposure to toxic chemicals and hazardous wastes has resulted in a variety of lawsuits brought by plaintiffs claiming injury resulting from chemical exposure. The legal system and its traditional approach to tort cases demands that a plaintiff demonstrate that a particular chemical substance was the "cause in fact" of his injury. However, a plaintiff's inability to present credible scientific evidence sufficient to pinpoint conclusively the specific cause of his injury or disease, particularly in cancer cases, leads to defeat in courts of law. This article discusses the existing barriers to plaintiffs' recovery in toxic tort cases and reviews congressional proposals designed to ease plaintiffs' evidentiary burden and increase their chances of prevailing.     

刑事诉讼审判公开的缺陷与完善

公开审判是一切法治国家的重要法律制度,加入 WTO 后,中国司法应尽快“透明”起来。对刑事诉讼审判公开的缺陷进行思考:审判公开是原则还是制度;关于公开审判的庭审直播问题:审前报道问题;评议制秘密性与审判公开的矛盾冲突等,并对这些问题提出建议或解决的方式。望审判公开的法律制度进一步完善。     

Philip Corboy and the Construction of the Plaintiffs' Personal Injury Bar

Drawing on the career of Philip Corboy, this article examines the construction of the plaintiffs' personal injury bar in the second half of the 20th century. Through a relational biography based on Mr. Corboy's career, we look at the development of this subprofession in the context of the sociopolitical environment within which Mr. Corboy and his peers operated, the social capital they possessed, and the particular strategies they used as they worked to establish both a professional and market niche. This analysis shows how and why Mr. Corboy and his peers constructed a thriving subprofession that is characterized by a unique blend of working-class ideology, trial craft, professional bar leadership, Democratic politics, local philanthropy, and a market referral system — all of which reinforce the dominance and prestige of its own elite .     

民事诉讼法律审的功能及构造

为了满足法律适用的统一性要求,有必要在我国民事诉讼中实行有条件的法律审制度。引起法律审的事由应当是裁判违法,包括违反法院应当适用的法律规范,违反日常经验法则等,裁判违法应当与裁判结果具有因果关系;当事人提起法律审应经由原审法院;法律审仅审理法律适用问题且仅以上诉人主张的范围为限;法律审的裁决对重审法院应当具有约束力。     

共同犯罪案件的分案审理研究

共同犯罪案件的特征以及实现刑事诉讼价值的目标决定了共同犯罪案件原则上应该并案审理。分案审理只有在两种情形下才可以采用:一种是被告人人数众多、案情复杂,并案审理无法保障庭审质量和效率的;另一种是为保护被告人的利益而有必要分案审理的。分案审理,应该设立科学合理的决定程序:赋予法院分案审理的审查决定权,赋予被告人对分案审理决定的参与权、救济权,明确分案审理违法的程序性后果等。分案审理后,应该保障被告人的对质权,尤其应该赋予被告人对共犯的完整对质权。妥善处理前案裁判与后案裁判的关系,明确前案裁判对后案裁判没有预决效力,最多只具有参考价值。     

Disclosure obligations of the newly public healthcare company: practical strategies for the company and its counsel

Founders of healthcare companies, like entrepreneurs in general, dream of the opportunity to take their companies public. The benefits flowing from access to the public markets, however, carry with them additional responsibilities that are enforceable both by the regulatory authorities and the well-organized plaintiffs' securities bar. The authors of this Article provide the newly public company and its counsel extensive guidance for the navigation of this regulatory maze.     

Uganda: constitutional law

The implementation of international humanitarian law (IHL) is a continuous and evolving process. As such, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) co-operates closely with the Commonwealth Secretariat with the aim to advise and support Commonwealth states on developments in IHL and to assist them in meeting their IHL treaty obligations. The present update highlights some of the key issues and recent developments in IHL that are of interest to Commonwealth states.     

政府信息公开行政诉讼有关问题研究

正确适用《政府信息公开条例》,依法审理政府信息公开行政案件,对于推进服务型政府建设、保障社会公众的知情权具有重要意义。但是,作为一种新类型案件,政府信息公开案件在司法实践中争议颇多,而政府信息的界定、政府信息公开例外情形的把握、政府信息公开案件的裁判方式和诉权滥用的防范应对等问题尤为值得关注,司法审查层面须有判断标准和合理应对。