Legal ‘Elasticity’ and ‘Sidestepping’ in European Crisis Management of Financial Markets

This paper explores the roles played by law in crisis management of financial markets and some possible consequences. Three questions are raised ‐‐about the ‘elastic’ use of law, about ‘sidestepping’ existing legal order by invention of new structures and about redistributive consequences. These questions are appraised empirically in relation to three areas of financial market law: public support given to banking from 2008 onwards; English case law concerning derivatives contracts when confronted with Lehman‐style insolvencies; and the European Stability Mechanism, which during summer 2015 was being primed in relation to Greece. On the first two case studies, law, having been mightily stretched, did not break. Likewise, legal sidestepping, as epitomised by the European Stability Mechanism, may result in a less coherent legal structure; however such incoherence may be not be fatal to the ensemble. On all three fronts, redistributive questions remain controversial, but controversy in itself does not undermine legal structures. A particular form of theory, the Legal Theory of Finance, is discussed in light of the case studies. Such theory may have an unfulfilled longing to discern law‐like regularities (ironically chasing economics).     

A walk in to the cloud and cloudy it remains: The challenges and prospects of ‘processing’ and ‘transferring’ personal data

Cloud computing is an information technology technique that promises greater efficiency and reduced-cost to consumers, businesses and public institutions. However, to the extent it has brought better efficiency and minimal cost, the emergence of cloud computing has posed a significant regulatory challenge on the application of data protection rules particularly on the regime regulating cross-border data flow. The Data Protection Directive (DPD), which dates back to 1995, is at odds with some of the basic technological and business-related features of the cloud. As a result, it is claimed that the Directive hardly offers any help in using the legal bases to ‘process’ and ‘transfer’ data as well as to determine when a transfer to a third country occurs in cloud computing. Despite such assertions, the paper argues that the ECJ's Bodil Lindqvist decision can to a certain extent help to delineate circumstances where transfer should and should not occur in the cloud. Concomitantly, the paper demonstrates that controllers can still make the most of the available possibilities in justifying their ‘processing’ as well as ‘transferring’ of data to a third country in cloud arrangements. In doing so, the paper also portrays the challenges that arise down the road. All legal perspectives are largely drawn from EU level though examples are given from member states and other jurisdictions when relevant.     

Prisoners’ perceptions of correctional officers’ behavior in English and Dutch prisons

Purpose

In light of the mounting research on the “new punitiveness”, an important but largely unanswered question is the extent to which a country's penal policies and punitive sentiments are actually reflected in prisoners’ experiences. The aim of the current study is to examine how prisoners perceive correctional officers’ behavior in English and in Dutch prisons.

Methods

A cross-sectional design was used, in which we conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 Dutch prisoners incarcerated in England and 25 English prisoners incarcerated in the Netherlands. The interview schedule covered a number of topics addressing divergent aspects of life in prison, including staff-prisoner relationships.

Results

In English prisons, despite the ostensible efforts to improve prison life, the attitude is more confrontational, staff-prisoner relationships are more detached, and staff members seem more unresponsive and more inclined to punish. In Dutch prisons, where responsibilization and a market orientation have supposedly replaced rehabilitation, staff is perceived as more helpful and fair, and interactions with Dutch staff are more informal and less authoritarian.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that penal policy and increasingly punitive sentiments in society are not necessarily mirrored in the practice of prisons, and concomitantly, in prisoners’ perceptions of correctional officers’ behavior.     

Mobilizing Migrant Workers’ Rights in “Non‐immigration” Countries: The Politics of Resonance and Migrants’ Rights Activism in Israel and Singapore

How are the rights of migrant workers mobilized in non‐immigration regimes? Drawing on an ethnography of human rights NGOs in Israel and Singapore, two countries that share similar ethnic policies but differ in their political regime, this study contributes to scholarship on migrants’ rights mobilization by expanding cross‐national analysis beyond the United States and West Europe and diverting its focus from legal institutions to the places where rights are produced. Findings show that differences in the political regime influence the channels for mobilizing claims but not the cultural politics of resonance that NGOs use when dealing with the tensions between restrictive ethnic policies and the expansion of labor migration. While restraints in authoritarian Singapore operate mainly outside the activists’ circle, in the Israeli ethno‐democracy they operate through self‐disciplining processes that neutralize their potential challenge to hegemonic understandings of citizenship. Paradoxically, success in advancing rights for migrants through resonance often results in reinforcing the non‐immigration regime.     

Postmortem Blood Concentrations of R‐ and S‐Enantiomers of Methadone and EDDP in Drug Users: Influence of Co‐Medication and P‐glycoprotein Genotype

Abstract: We investigated toxicological and pharmacogenetic factors that could influence methadone toxicity using postmortem samples. R‐ and S‐methadone were measured in femoral blood from 90 postmortem cases, mainly drug users. The R‐enantiomer concentrations significantly exceeded that of the S‐enantiomers (Wilcoxon’s test, p < 0.001). The samples were divided into four groups according to other drugs detected (methadone only, methadone and strong analgesics, methadone and benzodiazepines, or methadone and other drugs). There was no significant difference in any of the R‐methadone/total methadone ratios among the four groups. The median R/S ratio was 1.38, which tends to be higher than that reported for the plasma of living subjects. In addition, we investigated whether small nucleotide polymorphisms in the MDR1 gene that encode the drug transporter P‐glycoprotein were associated with the concentrations of R‐ and S‐methadone and its metabolite 2‐ethylidene‐1,5‐dimethyl‐3,3‐diphenylpyrrolidine. No significant association was detected.     

我国网络“转载”立法评述及完善

中国网民通过网络媒体获取资讯的现象已经达到了空前的繁荣程度,导致网络转载纠纷案件猛增.对网络转载侵权行为的规制成为重要的法律课题.本文从分析和评述网络转载立法入手,结合实践中的诸多问题进行理论反思,最后提出完善立法的几点思考,建议立法中应增加网络转载法定许可制度,并对网络转载侵权行为的规制提出了看法,为规范我国网络转载的混乱现象提供借鉴.     

‘Citizens’ and ‘Foreigners’ in EU Law. Migration Law and its Cosmopolitan Outlook

Migration has become a controversial subject across Europe and beyond. At the same time, the EU has built up an impressive set of rules for third‐country nationals over the past two decades, which—unlike the mobility of EU citizens—received comparatively little attention apart from immigration and asylum specialists. This contribution presents the constitutional framework for ‘migration law’ towards third‐country nationals and shows in how far they depart from the paradigm of intra‐European mobility. It will be argued that differences can be rationalised by divergent objectives and do, nonetheless, not present a move towards ‘fortress Europe’. EU migration law maintains the distinction between citizens and foreigners at the same time as it protects migrants, including refugees. By accommodating migrants' rights and self‐government, EU migration law can be construed as an endeavour to replace traditional notions of alienage with constitutional rules with a cosmopolitan outlook.     

论社区矫正中的“帮教基地”与“社区”的关系及完善

自2003年7月试点社区矫正制度以来,帮教基地就逐步与社区组织紧密连接在一起.随着社区矫正适用范围不断扩大,帮教基地作为社区矫正工作的重要载体之一,数量日益增多,且类型也日渐丰富.从现存的社区矫正中的帮教基地与所在社区的互动关系来看,社区是帮教基地良好运行的前提,而帮教基地又促进社区组织建设.笔者在整理归纳现存的多种帮教基地的基础上,分析帮教基地与所在社区之间的应然与实然状态,尝试性地提出建构两者良性互动的若干意见,力图促进社区矫正中的帮教基地与所在社区和谐发展.     

The Perversions of History: Constitutionalism and Revolution in Burke’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Reflections</Emphasis>

Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France is one of the defining texts in the history of English constitutional thought. It is conservative in its overt defence of England’s ancient constitution, and in particular the twin bulwarks of Church and Crown. In more immediate terms, it was written against those who appeared to sympathise with the principles of the French revolution, men such as Joseph Price and Tom Paine. But the true ‘genius’ of Burke, as Wordsworth famously noted, does not lie in the surface defence of traditional conservative institutions and principles. It lies, rather, in an appreciation that constitutions are aesthetic expressions, their vitality dependent upon the strength of the political imagination which they strive to shape and to nurture. What is truly distinctive about Burke’s Reflections accordingly is that it was written as a poetic as much as a political treatise. The purpose of this essay is to explore this genius and this poetic.     

University and inter-firm R&amp;D collaborations: propensity and intensity of cooperation in Europe

This paper investigates the determinants of firms’ decision to cooperate in R&D with universities and the intensity of the cooperation effort, in relation to the engagement in inter-firm R&D collaborations. Using novel survey data for seven EU countries between 2007 and 2009, our analysis accounts for unobservable factors influencing R&D cooperation forms and addresses the main endogeneity issues. We find that internal knowledge, appropriability conditions and incoming spillovers explain a large variation of the probability and of the intensity of R&D collaborations of European firms with universities (and comparably with unaffiliated companies).     

Distribution of ∆9‐Tetrahydrocannabinol and 11‐Nor‐9‐Carboxy‐∆9‐Tetrahydrocannabinol Acid in Postmortem Biological Fluids and Tissues From Pilots Fatally Injured in Aviation Accidents

Little is known of the postmortem distribution of ?⁹‐tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and its major metabolite, 11‐nor‐9‐carboxy‐?⁹‐tetrahydrocannabinol (THCCOOH). Data from 55 pilots involved in fatal aviation accidents are presented in this study. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis obtained mean THC concentrations in blood from multiple sites, liver, lung, and kidney of 15.6 ng/mL, 92.4 ng/g, 766.0 ng/g, 44.1 ng/g and mean THCCOOH concentrations of 35.9 ng/mL, 322.4 ng/g, 42.6 ng/g, 138.5 ng/g, respectively. Heart THC concentrations (two cases) were 184.4 and 759.3 ng/g, and corresponding THCCOOH measured 11.0 and 95.9 ng/g, respectively. Muscle concentrations for THC (two cases) were 16.6 and 2.5 ng/g; corresponding THCCOOH, “confirmed positive” and 1.4 ng/g. The only brain tested in this study showed no THC detected and 2.9 ng/g THCCOOH, low concentrations that correlated with low values in other specimens from this case. This research emphasizes the need for postmortem cannabinoid testing and demonstrates the usefulness of a number of tissues, most notably lung, for these analyses.     

"Solomon" and Consciousness

For more than forty years, now, the strange dwarf planet had been under Earth's control.     

清代“科道合一”得失之再认识

清雍正年间的"科道合一",是我国古代监察法制发展史上继"台谏合一"后的又一次重要变革。这一改制,使得六科给事中转隶都察院,并于客观事实上造成了我国古代监察法制中谏议制度的终结。通过对比"科道合一"前后六科给事中的权责变化,以历史辩证法为分析进路,认为"科道合一"在巩固皇权和稳定国家政权、实现监察机构和组织的规范化建设等方面发挥了应有的实效;然而,皇权专制下的"科道合一"更是加深了皇帝专权的力度,并在一定程度上加剧了清中后期的官场腐败。     

International Conference on Harmonisation; Guidance on E7 Studies in Support of Special Populations; Geriatrics; Questions and Answers; availability. Notice

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the availability of a guidance entitled ``E7 Studies in Support of Special Populations: Geriatrics; Questions and Answers.' The guidance was prepared under the auspices of the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). The questions and answers (Q&A) guidance addresses special considerations for the design and conduct of clinical trials of drugs likely to have significant use in the elderly. The Q&As are intended to provide guidance on the use of geriatric data to adequately characterize and represent the safety and efficacy of a drug for a marketing application, including data collected postmarketing.     

Validity in judgments of high‐ and low‐accurate witnesses of own and other ethnic groups

Purpose. Research has shown that people often have difficulties estimating eyewitness accuracy correctly. In most previous studies examining validity in credibility judgments, participants have assessed the accuracy of witnesses who have been homogeneous in their memory performance. This study investigated validity in judgments of witnesses who varied widely in memory. A further purpose was to examine whether judgmental validity was moderated by the witnesses' ethnic in‐group/out‐group status. Methods. Participants (N = 120) rated the reliability of videotaped testimonies of high‐ and low‐accurate in‐group (Swedish, N = 4) and out‐group (immigrants, N = 4) witnesses who were genuinely trying to recall a criminal event. Results. Participants assigned more reliability to high‐ than to low‐accurate in‐group witnesses, while out‐group witnesses received low reliability ratings regardless of their actual memory performance. Path analyses demonstrated that the subjective confidence of in‐group, but not of out‐group, witnesses predicted participants' accuracy judgments. Conclusions. The results indicate that the validity in judgments of in‐group witnesses can be better than has previously been implied. Investigators may have difficulty distinguishing high‐ and low‐accurate witnesses from other ethnic groups, and they may also systematically underestimate the reliability of ethnic out‐group witnesses. Implications for legal practices are discussed.     

Law,Fact and Narratives in Ancient Rhetoric: The Case of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">causa Curiana</Emphasis>

The present article examines the role of narratives in rhetoric and jurisprudence, trying to understand the ancient system of ‘issues’ (staseis), an essential part of the rhetorical curriculum in antiquity, with the help of some basic notions of legal semiotics. After a brief reconstruction of the doctrine, I argue that narratives are essential to classical rhetoric, that the basic types of issues correspond to particular stories in and of the trial, and finally that the system of ancient rhetorical theory is capable of giving an account of the narrativisation of the pragmatics of the trial. Then I turn to a cause célèbre of Roman law, the causa Curiana, trying to show that not only the trial itself but also subsequent (ancient and modern) debates concerning the case were shaped by some grand narratives, and that stories about the trial are likely to return to the court, where they may become part of the story of the trial.     

Legal Culture and State Building: Liberal Constitutionalism and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Droit Administratif</Emphasis> in early Twentieth Century Argentina

This paper deals with the ways in which jurists and law professors applied transnational systems of public law, in particular US constitutionalism and French droit administratif, in their approaches to the state building process in late nineteenth century Argentina. In covering these movements of adaptation of a nascent legal culture to changing ideological and political circumstances, this article attempts to illuminate the strong links between the process of institutionalization of certain academic disciplines or forms of social knowledge, and modern state building in Latin America.