Financial Indiscipline in Zambia's Third Republic: The Role of Parliamentary Scrutiny

Contrary to the thesis that claims weak legislative power vis-à-vis the executive is essential if economic modernisation and development are to be driven forward in third world countries, Zambia's developmental interests would be served by making the powers of parliamentary oversight of the public finances more effective. The problematic of 'financial indiscipline' in the public sector is analysed in terms of a nest of principal-agent relationships, between legislature and executive, political executive and bureaucratic executive, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and the spending arms of government. Evidence from the Public Accounts Committee is used to illustrate the case for more enforceable mechanisms whereby government can be made accountable for the public finances. At the same time it is argued that more wide-ranging political changes are necessary if there is to be a significant reduction in 'financial indiscipline'.     

Non-State Actors in International Law: A Rejoinder to Professor Thirlway

That we consider the state-based system as best representing the individual is the product of a particular world view. A ‘naturalized myth’ renders inevitable the link between the physicality of the observable landscape and the state as a means of organizing a polity. This myth lingers on in international legal scholarship, although it has been debunked in other disciplines, notably in critical political geography. (Public) international lawyers can learn from their brethren in other disciplines and problematize the territorial state as a contingent political concept. Awareness of the social production of space may allow lawyers to imagine practices of resistance to the spatial status quo, in particular rights of non-state actors in the production of international law, alongside states, and obligations and responsibilities of non-state actors, especially where states have proved unable to properly assume roles of protection vis-à-vis individuals under their formal jurisdiction.

     

核安全独立监管的路径选择

提高核安全水平需要强化核安全监管的独立性。核安全监管独立性的本质是核安全监管机构能够在不受其他主体的不当影响下就核安全相关问题做出决定,并有能力履行规定的核安全监管职责。核安全独立监管的法理基础是核安全问题的专业性要求、政监分离的原则和监管政策稳定性的需求。核安全监管机构根据其设置模式主要分为与传统行政部门合并的核安全监管机构、隶属于传统行政部门的核安全监管机构和独立于传统行政部门的核安全监管机构。核安全监管机构的独立性是一个相对概念。提高我国核安全监管机构的独立性,需要制定核安全法明确其法律地位,规定其统一行使核安全监管权,并将其设为直属于国务院的核安全监管机构或部门(委)以提高其行政级别。     

Access to courts by vulnerable persons in relation to hydraulic fracturing in South Africa

Hydraulic fracturing is in a planning stage in South Africa. Notices have been issued regarding pending administrative decision concerning applications for exploration rights to explore for natural (shale) gas largely in the Karoo region. Concerns, which are similar to those expressed in other jurisdictions regarding the process are also being raised locally. These concerns are exacerbated considering that a significant part of the population of the Karoo have limited understanding of the issues associated with hydraulic fracturing. Many of them are also poor, which may hinder their effective access to justice. The aim of this article is to examine the constitutional provision pertaining to the right of access to courts in South Africa vis-à-vis a theoretical underpinning of the right with a view to determining whether or not the provision can effectively be applied to guarantee the access of poor and vulnerable persons to the courts in the event of any potential violation of their rights by hydraulic fracturing. Recommendations are made in the conclusion, to reinforce the ability of poor and vulnerable persons to enforce the right of access to courts in the event that hydraulic fracturing becomes a reality in South Africa.     

The EU–ACP development cooperation – governance challenges for non‐state actors: the case of Malawi

The European Development Consensus 2005 contains a broad policy re‐statement of the EU’s world view vis‐à‐vis its internal and external relations. It places poverty eradication and sustainable development at the heart of its policy. The context within which poverty eradication is pursued is an increasingly globalised and interdependent world that constantly creates new opportunities and challenges. Combating global poverty is seen by both parties not only as a moral obligation; rather as a building block for a more stable, peaceful, prosperous and equitable world, reflecting the interdependency of its richer and poorer countries. The EU has in its relations with the African, Pacific and Caribbean countries, past and present, pursued a development agenda via successive aid and development cooperation arrangements starting with the Yaoundé I convention, through Lomé to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA). In this article I reflect on the CPA, based on a corpus of shared objectives, principles and the Lomé ‘acquis’ in relation to Malawi non‐state actors (NSAs). I reflect on the opportunities and challenges it presents and how contemplated social dialogue between government and NSAs on the one hand and the EU can translate into poverty reduction, sustainable development and integration of the local economy to the global economy. I conclude that unlike its predecessors, Yaoundé and Lomé conventions, the CPA acknowledges the complementary role of NSAs in the development process, however NSAs in Malawi face constraints in terms of organisation and capacity building that affects their participation. What I do not do is to offer a discussion of the CPA as a whole, for that is outside the scope of this article, but rather have focused on the governance aspect vis‐à‐vis NSAs.     

PREDICTION AND INFERENCE IN CRIMINOLOGY

The calculus of probability constitutes an elegant formal model for the various questions of prediction in criminology. However, the use of this model has been criticized for its failure to deal with individual instances vis-à-vis group phenomena. It has been argued that since probability is a function of classes or sequence of events, no meaning can be attached to the probability of a single event. This paper presents a logical analysis of this aspect of probability and prediction. The proposal of logical probability is suggested as a meaningful explication of the prediction and the probability of a single event.     

Government Companies as Regulators

In 2016 the government established a new sectoral regulator, with power to grant and withdraw licences, set performance standards, and impose sanctions, not as a statutory authority but in the form of a company wholly owned by the Secretary of State: the Oil and Gas Authority.  This article critically examines this and other uses in the UK of government‐owned or ‐ controlled companies to discharge public regulatory functions, against the background of current government practice regarding arm's length public bodies in general and government companies in particular. It assesses the acceptability of the company form by reference to criteria of democratic control, independence and accountability of regulatory institutions.     

‘Not without the Consent and Goodwill of the Common People’: The Community as a Legal Authority in Medieval Sweden

The article investigates the legal authority of the people in later medieval Sweden. Three features are especially focused on. The first aspect of communal legal authority is the representation and participation of the local laity in the judicial process as co-judges, members of the nämnd, the Swedish equivalent of the jury, or town councillors. They also acted as surveyors, compurgators and inspectors in legal disputes. The second aspect is the role of the community, the people of the province, as lawmakers. Finally, the article looks at the role of medieval Swedish communities in choosing judges, juries and parish priests as well as electing kings. The article argues that the legal authority of the people in medieval Sweden was influenced by and reformulated through the church by learned doctrines on majority decisions and the quod omnes tangit maxim. After the Middle Ages, the nämnd and the representation of the peasant estate at parliament became some of the constituents of the national legal identity of Sweden vis-à-vis other countries.     

Formal and informal pharmaceutical economies in Third World countries: Synergetic, symbiotic or parasitical?

Informal economy functions without any formal social control for lack of a supervisory authority. Within a regulated locality the same activities would have an illegal character, but in that deviating situation those informal activities can thrive because the authorities do not intervene. Globalization of our western mixed market economy implies that also the aspect of government control takes on a global character. The fact that formal economies settle in places where an informal market is the rule leads to a combined action which, eventually, creates new market relations. In the present contribution we study the effects of a meeting between a formal and an informal market on the basis of a concrete case. An analysis of the market of medical products in Third World countries gives an idea of the new relations that arise when an informal market of natural medicines is confronted with a formal market of western medicines. We study both the situation in which there are no regulations and the situation in which the formal market is supported by economic regulations. This text illustrates how those situations can give rise to new opportunities for one group and to exploitation for another.     

政府横向权力配置新论——从结构功能主义角度的分析

在＂结构功能主义＂权力分立观看来,政府的立法权、司法权和行政权分别是一种政治性、法律技术性和兼具政治性与行政技术性的权力;为了实现相应的政府职能,这些权力应当由相应的政治性的机关（立法机关）、法律技术性机关（司法机关）和兼具政治性与行政技术性的机关（行政机关）来行使;为了保证各政府机关能够＂称职＂地行使相应的权力,各政府机关的组成人员、运作规则应当具备不同于其他机关和人员的制度设计。尽管当今世界各国存在国家性质和政权体制的不同,但是三种权力的性质却是永恒不变、超越国家界限和超越意识形态的。我国当前权力机关（民意机关）和司法机关（法院）的行政化倾向不利于国家职能的有效实现。     

Informal Institutions and Judicial Independence in Paraguay, 1954–2011

This article explains how informal institutions have prevented the emergence of autonomous judges in Paraguay between 1954 and 2011. The central argument is that co‐optation, clientelism, and judicial corruption considered as informal institutions, rooted during the dictatorship, have impeded the appearance of an independent judicial branch in the democratic regime. To test this hypothesis, the article relies on historical narratives, surveys, and semistructured interviews. The conclusions suggest that in countries that have experienced the consolidation of informal institutions oriented toward maintaining the ties of subordination of judges to politicians, constitutional reforms and fragmentation of political power are necessary but not sufficient conditions for improving judicial independence.     

The human right to marry: a refugee’s perspective

In the European Court of Human Rights cases of Muñoz Díaz v Spain in 2009 (Muñoz Díaz v Spain [2009], Application No. 49151/07) and Serife Yigit v Turkey in 2010 (Serife Yegit [2010], Application No. 3976/05), involving unregistered/informal ‘marriages’ of a Roma couple and a Muslim couple, respectively, the Grand Chamber took the position that civil marriages are available to all people in the state without distinction and therefore no breach of Article 12’s right to marry (nor Article 14’s prohibition of discrimination) had occurred when the respective states failed to recognise the informal marriages of the applicants. This article considers these two cases, and asks whether the court’s position is challenged by migrants/refugees, whose access to formal marriages maybe impeded due to a lack of identity and status documentation.     

关于行政授权若干问题的探析

完善行政授权理论,对建设和谐政府,乃至构建社会主义和谐社会都有重要的意义。本文分析了行政授权的内涵,法律、法规授权组织的法律地位,行政授权的有效条件及其责任归属等几个行政授权理论的基本问题,并据此提出一些完善行政授权理论的建议。     

Female crime and household control in early modern Frankfurt am Main

This article investigates the way in which informal control by household authorities affected how female crime was prosecuted in early modern Frankfurt am Main. Crime historians have argued that female crime was a particular urban phenomenon during this period. They have attributed this to a relatively high level of independence of women and the existence of many formal social control institutions. This article shows that due to strongly enforced patriarchal ideals concerning household authority in the Holy Roman Empire supposedly ‘rural’ characteristics (low levels of independence and high levels of informal control) could also be found in distinctly urban settings, like Frankfurt am Main. As the household was viewed as the central location for social order, authorities required everyone to reside in an orderly household. Unlike regions in which household control was weaker, the majority of women, including migrants, were therefore incorporated in networks of informal control through their position in the household. This means that strong informal control within the household, which is normally associated with close-knit communities in the countryside, also played a dominant role in the urban community of Frankfurt. The criminal investigation records show that only few domestics were prosecuted formally; rather they were disciplined by their master – leaving a possibly very large dark number of female criminality. Most of the offenders appearing in the criminal investigation records were those that had failed to secure a position within a household. Owing to the reliance on household control, cities like Frankfurt am Main knew a distinct type of urban female offender.     

Legal medicine and the medical establishment

Formal medical discipline-based regulation and professional support for legal medicine practitioners have been a long time coming. While informal associations and societies of like-minded doctors and dentists have existed for some time, they have not had the sort of "establishment credibility" that is required to influence policy-makers and drive formal processes for professional training and regulation in this area. The recent creation of formal medical College status for medico-legal specialists within the medical establishment is described and the advantages discussed. The creation of formal career pathways, organised training structures and policy advisory systems in legal medicine for government has the potential to support recruitment to this difficult and challenging area of medical practice. This can only be of benefit to the legal profession who rely on these medical practitioners in so many areas. The standards setting, recertification, revalidation and accreditation activities of a formal Royal Medical College are likely to have significant influence on the work of health and legal policy regulators at a time of considerable change.     

Flexibility and Authority: Resolving Labor Disputes in A County Government in Western China

Existing literature regards flexibility and authority as key characteristics of informal justice. We further contend that the combination of the two is crucial for informal justice to be effective. We investigate the process of dispute resolution by a Chinese labor agency. Following the life cycles of a sample of 810 labor disputes, we find that this informal justice forum was efficient and effective, made possible by the combination of flexibility and authority. Flexibility means that the agency attracts certain types of cases that are usually screened out of the formal legal system and that agency officials use “informal,” hence flexible, techniques. Authority means that the administrative agency possesses additional powers over the disputants; hence, the disputants are under pressure to follow its suggestions and decisions. A comparative analysis of various cases of informal justice reinforces the importance of combining flexibility and authority. We further demonstrate that flexibility without authority is insufficient and that some informal justice forums are effective because they enjoy both.     

The Constitutional Limits of Judicial Activism: Judicial Conduct of International Relations and Child Abduction

Judges are increasingly visible in their participation in activities off the bench. This may create difficulties in drawing the line between their duties in court and their other activities. However, if judges are not acutely aware of the importance of this line their extra-curial activities may interfere with their judicial duties. This article considers the failure to observe the importance of this differentiation in the context of international child abduction. It is argued that some judges, on and off the bench, have wrongly taken over the role of the executive in international relations and that such activity jeopardises the independence of the judiciary. This raises broader issues, in particular it suggests that some judges are being seduced into exceeding their proper judicial role, by working with government in policy-making and by their increasing contacts with judges from other countries.     

Divided We Quarrel: The Politics of Congressional Investigations, 1947–2004

Are congressional committee investigations into alleged executive‐branch wrongdoing more common during periods of divided government? We analyze original data tracking congressional committee investigations into alleged fraud, waste, and abuse by the executive branch between 1947 and 2004. Countering David Mayhew's (1991) empirical finding, we show that divided government generates more and more‐intensive congressional investigations, but this relationship is contingent on partisan and temporal factors. Our findings shed new light on the shifting dynamic between partisan institutional politics and congressional oversight.     

The Transfer of Small Business Assistance Strategies to Emerging Countries: The Case of Malawi

Malawi, located in Southern Africa, was ranked as one of the poorest countries in the world. Small business development was being emphasised by government and donors to expand employment and income. Numerous agencies, financed by government and foreign donors, existed in Malawi to assist the small business sector expand. The formation and much of the technologic know how used by these agency was originally transferred from donor countries. This paper presents results from a study to determine the capacity of these organisations to carry out national employment objectives. Numerous capacity constraints were identified and suggestions were made to improve agency effectiveness. The diverse source of SME assistance know-how was suggested as one cause of the capacity limitation of the agencies.