Arthur Ripstein,Equality, Responsibility,and the Law

Law and Philosophy -     

John M. Conley and William M. O'Barr,Just Words: Law,Language, and Power

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -     

Judicial Review,Rights, and Democracy

Law and Philosophy -     

Liberalism,Communitarianism, and Group Rights

Law and Philosophy -     

Entrapment,Culpability, and Legitimacy

Law and Philosophy - In this paper, I offer a novel account of entrapment. This account suggests that the wrongness of pursuing punishment in cases of entrapment consists of two distinct...     

Bloodstain characterization in the EAP, Hp, Hb, AK and Glo I typing systems using minigels and the PhastSystem

Application of minigels and the PhastSystem to obtain phenotyping results from bloodstains in the EAP, Hp, AK, and Glo I typing systems was investigated. Nonequilibrium isoelectric focusing with 4-6.5 PhastGel produced readily interpretable phenotypes in the EAP typing system. Both 4-6.5 and 5-8 PhastGel produced AK typing system phenotypes using nonequilibrium isoelectric focusing conditions. The 8-25% PAG PhastGel developed by two staining techniques allowed discrimination of phenotypes for the Hp typing system. Phenotypes from the Glo I typing system were also obtained with this gel type. Variant haemoglobins could be detected on pH 5-8 PhastGel using isoelectric focusing conditions. Much potential for standardized, rapid phenotyping of bloodstains was found to exist utilizing the PhastSystem.     

A rapid GC-MS method for the determination of dihydrocodeine,codeine, norcodeine,morphine, normorphine and 6-MAM in urine

The presence of the heroin metabolite 6-monoacetylmorphine (6-MAM) in urine is used to definitively identify recent heroin abuse. A rapid and sensitive GC-MS method for the simultaneous analysis of codeine, norcodeine, morphine, normorphine and 6-MAM in urine was developed and successfully applied to the analysis of 321 'heroin-positive' urine specimens from individual subjects (identified by the presence of 6-MAM), to provide quantitative urinary opiate excretion data for heroin abusers.The cohort analysed was composed of 238 males (age range 16-53 years) and 83 females (age range 16-50 years). The concentrations of free 6-MAM, morphine and codeine determined in these 321 specimens ranged between 103-246,312, 129-193,600 and 103-519,000 microg/l, respectively. Free norcodeine and normorphine concentrations were found to range between 143-50,200 and 205-149,700 microg/l, respectively. A statistically significant relationship was determined between the subject age and the 6-MAM concentration, possibly indicating opiate tolerance in these individuals.     

Competitive Liberalization,Competitive Imperialism,and Intellectual Property

Aggressive pursuit of free trade agreements (FTAs) and customs unions (CUs) by major and minor trading powers alike challenges the conventional wisdom in favor of such pursuit – competitive liberalization. An equally plausible explanation for an active bilateral and regional trade agreement policy, one which effectively de-emphasizes multilateralism, may be competitive imperialism. The protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights is one area in which new provisions, going beyond multilateral rules, are being negotiated and written into FTAs and CUs. Such provisions may yield insights into which characterization of bilateralism and regionalism – competitive liberalization or competitive imperialism – is more apt. Rice Distinguished Professor, The University of Kansas, School of Law, Green Hall, 1535 West 15th Street, Lawrence, KS 66045-7577, USA. Tel. +1-785-8649224. Fax. +1-785-8645054. www.law.ku.edu. J.D., Harvard (1989); M.Sc., Oxford (1986); M.Sc., London School of Economics (1985); A.B., Duke (1984). Marshall Scholar (1984-86). Member, Council on Foreign Relations, Royal Society for Asian Affairs, and Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. Author, Modern GATT Law (Sweet & Maxwell 2005), International Trade Law: Theory and Practice (2nd ed. 2000, 3rd ed. forthcoming 2007-08), and Trade, Development, and Social Justice (Carolina Academic Press 2003). I am thankful to my Research Assistant, Mr. David R. Jackson (B.A., George Mason University, 1992; J.D. Class of 2007, University of Kansas), for his indispensable help on this work. I also am grateful to Dr. Mohammed El Said, University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), for his consistent support and friendship, and for what he has taught and continues to teach me about international trade and intellectual property.     

Law and Market Economy: The Triadic Linking of Law,Economics, and Semiotics

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -     

Foucault, Law, and Power: A Reassessment

After raising doubts about Foucault's approach to law-power, in the light of various acts of religion-inspired violence on and after 11 September 2001, a case is made against this approach, based on the charge that Foucault ties law far too tightly to what he calls negative power. He makes law part of juridico-sovereignty power, a form of power he regards as outmoded, with an outmoded commitment to sovereignty and the state. It is argued that in attempting to separate law from what he sees as the positive power of modern governmentality, Foucault never understands law's role as a part of a crucial balance - between political power, military power, the social, the cultural, the legal, and the economic - a balance that tries to achieve both individual freedom and the security to enjoy that freedom. An alternative way of understanding law, and of understanding sovereignty and the state - the state under the rule of law - is presented as a much better route to an appreciation of law's part in the balance.     

Consent,Communication, and Abandonment

Law and Philosophy - According to the Behavioral View of consent, consent must be expressed in behavior in order to release someone from a duty. By contrast, the Mental View of consent is that...     

Freedom of Expression,Autonomy, and Defamation

Law and Philosophy -     

Kant on Wrongdoing,Desert, and Punishment

Law and Philosophy -     

Jurilinguistics: Ways Forward Beyond Law,Translation, and Discourse

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - This is the guest editors’ introductory paper to the special issue “Situating...     

Worldmaking,Legal Education,and the Saga Comic Book Series

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - This article argues that to disrupt legal education in a radical sense, students need to become...     

Between Truth,Legitimacy, and Legality in the Post-truth Era

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - The post-truth regime is a regime in which certain central categories of modernity seem to be...     

Promises,Rights, and Deontic Control

Law and Philosophy - This article argues that the notion of a promissory right captures a central feature of the morality of promising which cannot be explained by the notion of promissory...     

Law,Sovereignty and the Nation

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -     

Stability study of the designer drugs "MDA, MDMA and MDEA" in water, serum, whole blood, and urine under various storage temperatures.

A controlled study was undertaken to determine the stability of the designer drugs MDA, MDMA and MDEA in pooled serum, whole blood, water and urine samples over a period of 21 weeks. The concentrations of the individual designer drugs in the various matrices were monitored over time, in the dark at various temperatures (-20, 4 or 20 degrees C), for a low (+/- 6 ng/ml for water, serum and whole blood and +/- 150 ng/ml for urine) and a high concentration level (+/- 550 ng/ml for water, serum and whole blood and +/- 2500 ng/ml for urine). Compound concentrations were measured using a validated HPLC assay with fluorescence detection. Our study demonstrated no significant loss of the designer drugs in water and urine at any of the investigated temperatures for 21 weeks. The same results were observed in serum for up to 17 weeks, and up to 5 weeks in whole blood. After that time, the compounds could no longer be analyzed due to matrix degradation, especially in the low concentration samples that were stored at room temperature. This study demonstrates that the designer drugs, MDA, MDMA and MDEA are stable when stored at -20 degrees C for 21 weeks, even in haemolysed whole blood.     

Chiral identification and determination of ephedrine,pseudoephedrine, methamphetamine and metecathinone by gas chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance

The enantiomers of the related substances methamphetamine, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and methcathinone were determined by both gas chromatography after derivatization and by nuclear magnetic resonance using a chiral solvating agent. For GC the substances were derivatized with (R)-(+)-α-methoxy-α-(trifluoromethyl)phenylacetic acid (MTPA) to give diasteromeric derivatives. Resolution (baseline) of at least 1.6 was obtained between all derivatives. NMR determination of the enantiomers was conducted in a chiral environment by the addition of the chiral solvating agent, (R)-(+)-1,1′-bi-2-naphthol, to NMR solutions of the substances. Racemization of methcathinone was demonstrated to be facile by exposure to alkaline solutions for varying periods of time. Enantiomeric ratios of some products derived from the oxidation of ephedrine were determined.