PARTICIPANTS’ EVALUATIONS OF ASPECTS OF THE LEGAL CHILD CUSTODY PROCESS AND PREFERENCES FOR COURT SERVICES

Domestic relations courts continue to experience large caseloads. As the volume of cases in which families are in crisis continues to grow, policy makers, practitioners, judges, and attorneys struggle to meet the growing demand and seek more effective ways to address the needs and issues of those who are engaged in child custody processes. The present study provides an examination of parent attitudes concerning various aspects of the legal process and preferences concerning a variety of court‐based family services and interventions.     

FINANCIAL REPRESSION,FINANCIAL LEGAL GOVERNANCE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN CHINA

Financial repression usually exists in developing countries. By nature, it is like a hidden tax and can liquidate public debt of the government effectively. The policy of financial repression will likely hinder financial deepening, negatively influence the building-up of efficient and inclusive financial systems, and eventually harm sustainable economic growth in the long run. The fine legal infrastructure plays an important role in financial deepening and development. In China the major measures to reduce financial repression and improve the legal governance in finance are the following: the strict respect and protection of private property rights, including the obligation rights of the common depositors against the banks and the shareholders’ rights of the common investors, the respect and protection of the contract freedom and contract enforcement, the sequential openness of financial market entry and introduction of the principle of free and equal competition in the financial market, and the improvement of the judicial system to increase the adaptability of Chinese law, such as the strengthening of judicial independence and the establishment of case law.     

APPLICABILITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF LEGAL NORMS

We analyse the relationship between applicability and effectiveness of legal norms from a philosophical perspective. In particular, we distinguish between two concepts of applicability. The external applicability of norms refers to institutional duties; a norm N is externally applicable if and only if a judge is legally obliged to apply N to some case c. Internal applicability refers instead to the sphere of validity of legal norms. A norm N is internally applicable to actions regulated by its sphere of validity. We also explore the consequences of a thesis which maintains that applicability restricts the concept of effectiveness, so that only applicable norms can be considered effective. Our analysis illustrates that a proper reconstruction of the concept of applicability is of great importance not only for understanding the concept of effectiveness but also for providing insight into the nature of law.     

APPLICABILITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF LEGAL NORMS

We analyse the relationship between applicability and effectiveness of legal norms from a philosophical perspective. In particular, we distinguish between two concepts of applicability. The external applicability of norms refers to institutional duties; a norm N is externally applicable if and only if a judge is legally obliged to apply N to some case c. Internal applicability refers instead to the sphere of validity of legal norms. A norm N is internally applicable to actions regulated by its sphere of validity. We also explore the consequences of a thesis which maintains that applicability restricts the concept of effectiveness, so that only applicable norms can be considered effective. Our analysis illustrates that a proper reconstruction of the concept of applicability is of great importance not only for understanding the concept of effectiveness but also for providing insight into the nature of law. This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.