Legal Diversity in the Middle East: Some Comparative Research Horizons

This paper sketches the contours of Middle Eastern jurisprudence by focusing on the historical processes which gave rise to Islamic law and the four schools of justice which branched out from the seminal doctrines of Muhammad. Sources of case law and potential research horizons are discussed within the framework of comparative criminal justice.     

Toward Normalization of Defamation Law: The U.K. Defamation Act of 2013 and the U.S. SPEECH Act of 2010 as Responses to the Issue of Libel Tourism

In the wake of several high-profile libel actions brought by U.S. celebrities and foreign businessmen in London because of more favorable defamation laws there, London was dubbed the “libel tourism capital of the world.” The U.S. response in 2010 was the passage of the SPEECH Act, preventing courts from enforcing libel judgments from foreign jurisdictions not providing the same level of protection as the United States. Similarly, in 2013 the United Kingdom responded to international and national criticism by passing the Defamation Act to address the loophole in its system that caused the abuse. Both acts have been criticized, the first for its aggressiveness, and the second for its conservative nature. This article examines the development of the law of defamation in the two jurisdictions and analyzes the content of both statutes, along with their criticisms, proposing international cooperation to address the issue of libel tourism.     

中日法律的近代转型的比较分析

19世纪中叶 ,中日两国均在西方殖民主义的武力威胁之下 ,开始了法律的近代化转型 ,但又有所差别 ,表现在 :一、社会背景不同。二、变革过程不同。三、主体不同。四、立法目的不同。五、具体内容与实施程度不同。六、历史作用不同。     

Defamation in cyberspace: A Japanese perspective

The aim of this paper is two-fold: first, to introduce how Japanese law and its jurisprudence have dealt with the case of on-line defamation, which is arguably one of the most acute problems in modern society, and second, to critically examine the efficacy of such an approach. The recent decision of the Supreme Court in on-line defamation (as oppose to off-line defamation) will be introduced as an exemplar of the way Japanese law and its jurisprudence have dealt with such an acute problem. A first step will be to provide, by way of background, a brief overview of how defamation in a conventional sense has been treated by the Japanese legal system. The second step will be to outline how the Japanese jurisdiction has dealt with on-line defamation, that is to say, to what extent the Japanese court regulates on-line defamatory comments made by the ordinary people. A third step will be to examine the efficacy of such an approach, and the final step will be to examine whether the UK court can learn a lesson from the Japanese jurisdiction. The author will draw upon Japanese jurisprudence, in order to consider whether a valuable lesson might be offered to the UK jurisdiction.     

The Protection of Reputation in Japan: A Systematic Analysis of Defamation Cases

Although Japanese defamation law has been a subject of legal interest for scholars and judges, their main focus was the defamation rules that appeared in cases publicized by legal reporters. The following study coded 232 defamation cases against the media that were decided in district courts in Japan, according to the type of database that reported the cases. Statistical results reveal that newspapers are more likely to report defamation cases than other databases because stories about defamation cases may satisfy readers' interest or because the newspaper might have been informed by plaintiffs who won their cases. The results also show that the professional status of the plaintiff is a predictor of the case outcome. Politicians and officials are less likely to win in defamation cases than are executives and criminals, and they received lower damages than athletes and entertainers.     

论对比广告的利弊及其法律规范

对比广告指直接或间接指明某广告产品的其它竞争者,对产品进行对比而无需征得其事先许可的广告,它有助于国家繁荣经济。但也存在三个问题贬低其他竞争者;用指出虚构的“一般”产品品牌的方式误导消费者;夸大广告中产品的一个或一些特点的重要性。通过合理完善的法律规定,可以控制对比广告潜在的弊端。     

让法律对社会性别做出回应:东亚和东南亚面临的发展挑战

一　引　言(一)为什么法律需要具有性别敏感度?在促进妇女赋权与性别平等和促进实现人权这两个全球运动汇聚之际,让法律具有性别敏感度既是我们的迫切需要也是我们面临的挑战。联合国前秘书长B B 加里明确阐释了社会性别与人权的关系:“在里约、维也纳、开罗和哥本哈根,历次会议均强调与提升妇女地位相关的那些重要议题。每一次全球会议都明确承认妇女在可持续发展与保护环境中的重要角色;承认妇女的人权是普遍人权不可分割和不可剥夺的组成部分;承认对妇女的暴力是不能容忍的对这些权利的侵犯;承认健康、分娩保健、计划生育门诊设施、接受…     

中世纪西欧法律的内在逻辑与现代法律的开启

从整体上讲,中世纪西欧的法律深受神学思想的影响,并在神权与王权长期的斗争过程形成了神权的独语特性;在世俗法领域强调初级互惠的观念;在具体的纠纷解决过程中强调激发个人以决斗为表现形式的内在勇气。尽管中世纪西欧法律的内在逻辑导致神性对人性的压制、法律人道主义的缺失以及法律独立性的缺乏,但是,这套逻辑及其所支撑的法律制度并不像有的学者所认为的那样一无是处。它对西方法律传统的现代转型以及法律主体性的开启具有重要的意义。     

中国内地与香港媒体诽谤问题比较研究

诽谤就是损毁名誉,保护名誉不受侵害的法律在国际上通称为诽谤法,中国称为名誉权法。诽谤法最早诞生在英国。鸦片战争后,英国占领香港,并将英国法律移植到香港。1997年7月1日中国对香港恢复行使主权,实行“一国两制”,香港原有法律基本保持不变,在香港延续了一百多年的英国普通法传统得以继续保留。     

反就业歧视法律问题之比较研究

文章分析了就业歧视的概念、表现形式和危害,介绍了国际上关于就业歧视产生根源的不同理论解说,评析了有关国际条约及美国、英国、加拿大和我国关于反歧视的立法规定,并就完善我国反就业歧视的法律制度提出了具体建议:(1)完善相关立法;(2)扩大法律援助的范围;(3)加强司法介入;(4)正确界定政府角色,加强劳动执法监督检查力度。     

Criminal justice in the Middle East

Criminal justice in the Middle East conjures up images of severed hands, religious police, and qadi justice. Yet those seeking a more accurate picture find few sources. Conventional treatments of the region focus on Islamic law, although few Middle Eastern states actually base their legal systems on Islamic law. This article argues that in the Middle East as elsewhere, rulers use criminal justice to achieve two related ends: to maintain order generally, and to maintain a particular order — to preserve the regime in power and the interests and values of those who support it. A comparative historical analysis of the emergence of the police and judiciary links these two ends, and these two institutions.     

Winners and losers and Why: A Study of Defamation litigation

This article summarizes the results of a study of 534 reported defamation cases decided over a period beginning in 1976 and ending just before the Hutchinson and Wolston decisions of mid-1979. A major aspect of the study was the comparison of media and nonmedia defamation cases, which appear quite different. Each case was studied to identify, among other things, the plaintiff and the defendant, the statement that provoked the suit, the context of that statement, the role of state and federal law in resolving the case, and the procedural stages at which each case was resolved. A follow-up study to identify changes since Hutchinson and Wolston is in progress.     

Defining Defamation: Community in the Age of the Internet

The ability to instantly communicate with a global audience has created numerous legal uncertainties as jurists struggle to adapt age-old jurisprudence to modern-day technologies —and defamation jurisprudence is no exception. The definition of a plaintiff's community is critical to his or her ability to succeed in a defamation lawsuit, often determining whether the plaintiff is a public figure or whether the plaintiff's reputation has been injured in his or her community. This article examines federal and state defamation jurisprudence to compare the factors courts have used to define community in both traditional print and broadcast cases with the factors used in more recent Internet defamation cases. It then suggests three possible rubrics courts could employ to more uniformly define community in Internet defamation cases.     

公司法律冲突中两种基本适用规则的对比分析

<正>引言公司在发生跨国性经济交往过程中,如外国公司在本国从事商业活动,本国公司在国外从事商业活动,应适用哪一国的法律来调整公司有关事项(如内部事务)等。在过去的几年中,学者已经对几种理论展开了讨论,但是如今两种主要的理论或多或少地被接受,综观现有各国有关的立法与司法实践,我们可以得出它们主要是依据这样两种理论来确定,即“真实本座理论”(therealseatdoctrine)与“公司成立国理论”(thestate-of-in-     

过错与抗辩：以名誉权侵权为重点

不法性不应作为一般侵权行为的构成要件,而应由过错要件吸收。过错本质上为主观范畴,但其衡量标准可以客观化。言论自由与名誉权同属宪法规定的基本权,法律应慎重处理二者冲突的情形。名誉权侵权中应区分不同的行为人主体和被报道对象而作具体分析。其中,过错具有独特含义:就故意而言,应指言论发表人对该言论的虚假性明知或对其真假完全的漠不关心;就过失而言,应指言论发表人未尽一般理性人的注意义务。行为人享有除真实性抗辩外的多种无过错抗辩。     

Liberalizing British Defamation Law: A Case of Importing the First Amendment?

Regardless of whether American law tends to be too outlying to be relevant to the rest of the world, the U.S. free speech jurisprudence is more impactful than ever. Indeed, the United States remains a real-life laboratory for other countries in resolving clashes between press freedom and reputation. Jameel v. Wall Street Journal Europe and other recent English media libel cases are a good illustration. This article examines the liberalization of U.K. defamation law in connection with the U.S. actual malice rule while noting English courts' significant adoption of neutral reportage, which American courts consider to be less viable as a libel defense. The principle of functionality informs the article's analytical framework.     

The Process is the Punishment: Criminal Libel and Political Speech in Canada

The number of U.S. states with criminal libel laws has been steadily declining since the 1960s, and the offense has been struck down in the United Kingdom and several former British colonies. In Canada, however, criminal libel not only continues to exist, but appears to be enjoying a resurgence, albeit one that has flown beneath the radar of Canadian lawyers, judges, and journalists, who frequently assert that criminal libel prosecutions are rare. The research reported in this article found more than 400 prosecutions since the beginning of the twenty-first century. While many of these cases were brought against people who disseminated sexual slurs against former romantic partners, in a substantial number of cases criminal libel law was used to punish citizens’ political speech, particularly speech critical of police or other justice system officials, a use wholly inconsistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.