Children's disability law: the more things change, the more they stay the same

The social security system insures both children and adults who are disabled. Over the years, the Social Security Administration and the courts have developed a number of tests to determine whether a child is eligible to receive social security benefits. In 1997, as part of its attempt to reform welfare, Congress laid out a new, arguably more restrictive standard that must be met before a child can be deemed "disabled." For all of the apparent changes, however, it is unclear how much the standards have changed in practice.     

Diatoms and drowning--once more

The content of diatoms in 5 samples: lung-, kidney- and liver-tissue plus columna- and femur-marrow from each of four drowned and four non-drowned persons has been investigated. Diatom valves were found in all the samples. It seems, however, impossible to point out any characteristic differences between the composition of the diatom 'flora' in drowned and non-drowned persons. Consequently it will not be possible by means of diatoms to prove that a person died by drowning.     

Simulated evidence on the prospects of treating more drug-involved offenders

Despite a growing consensus among scholars that substance abuse treatment is effective at reducing offending, strict eligibility rules and budgetary considerations greatly limit the impact that current models of therapeutic jurisprudence can have on public safety in the United States. A question of pressing importance for U.S. drug policy is whether it is beneficial to expand application of this model to treat every offender in need and, if so, whether a set of evidence-based, going-to-scale strategies can be developed to prioritize participation. We use evidence from several sources to construct a synthetic dataset for answering the question: What are the benefits we can reasonably expect by expanding treatment to drug-involved offenders? We combine information from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) and the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program to estimate the likelihood of various arrestee profiles having drug addiction or dependence problems. We use the same sources to also develop prevalence estimates of these profiles among arrestees nationally. We use information in the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS) to compute expected crime-reducing benefits of treating various types of drug-involved offenders under different treatment modalities. We find that annually nearly 1.5 million (probably guilty) arrestees in the U.S. are at risk of abuse or dependence and that treatment alone could avert several million crimes that these individuals would otherwise commit. Results vary by treatment modality and arrestee traits and those results are described herein.     

Identification of more sequence variations in the D8S1179 locus

Routine STR-typing of 10,293 buccal swabs using different multiplex kits presented discordant D8S1179 profiles in four cases. Sequencing analysis identified a G-to-A transition upstream to the repeat, and an A-to-T transversion and a G-to-A transition downstream to the repeat. In the fourth case a four-base pair deletion downstream resulted in altered genotypes using different primer pairs. Current searching algorithms of the German DNA database are not capable of matching profiles that are divergent in only one STR-locus. Thus, to accommodate matching requirements and to avoid errors in individual genetic characterization for D8S1179, as described here, it is suggested that alternative primer pairs be used for routine genotyping as a matter of course.     

Promoting a more efficient corporate governance in Nigeria through the law

Corporate governance reforms have been viewed as one of the formal means of improving the economic and social welfare of emerging economies. There have been efforts by the Nigerian government, through its agencies, to promulgate codes of best practices for companies in the country. These reforms appear to be ineffective and the codes do not compliment and are not complimented by corporate law. The aim of this paper is to identify the problems that hinder effective corporate governance reforms in Nigeria within corporate law. Using the doctrinal approach, the paper analyses features of the Nigerian corporate governance framework and identifies the problems bedeviling this regime. It argues that the problems stem from (amongst others), state ownership and control, board independence, poor minority shareholder protection, ineffective judicial system and Incomplete disclosure. The paper, by linking the apparent weakness of the extant framework to the attempt to reform outside corporate law, suggests a hybrid of legislation including hard laws, soft laws and other policy proposals to promote an effective corporate governance regime in Nigeria.     

商标热的冷思考

近年来,在持续升温的商标热的有力推动下,我国商标注册申请量呈现出前所末有的迅猛增长态势。不少人士认为,当前的商标热是国民经济高速稳定增长、商标执法力度不断加大以及全社会商标法律意识普遍提高的反映。这种看法当然是有道理的,不过,笔者在对商标申请量迅猛增长的若干地区的一百多家企业以及八十多位自然人商标注册人进行调查后发现,在导致商标热的诸多因素中,虽有国民经济高速稳定增长等积极因素,但也包括了一些非理性的因素。如果全社会,尤其是执法部门不对导致商标热的非理性因素保持清醒的认识,而是陶醉于商标注册申请量的迅猛增长,那么在将来的某一天,人们或许会发现当前的商标热在促进商标注册申请量迅猛增长的同时,也制造了大量的商标泡沫,带来了商标保护成本的无谓提高,其至有可能导致了商标的异化,因此,有必要对当前的商标热进行冷思考。     

A note on the optimality of (even more) incomplete strict liability

This paper starts from the premise that liability is incomplete and establishes that firms may nevertheless invest excessively in care. This may justify a (further) reduction in the level of liability from a social standpoint, thereby arguing against seeking to approach full compensation as close as possible. In our framework, firms are liable under product liability, but also invest in care to prevent consumers’ switching to competitors. Affecting the partition of consumers by means of care-taking is not desirable from a social standpoint. Consequently, it may be optimal to reduce liability below a given level of incomplete compensation in order to adjust firms’ care incentives.     

A more sensitive method for the quantitation of genomic DNA by Alu amplification

Current procedures for human DNA quantitation reach their limit at 150 pg DNA, which is above the limit of the PCR profiling range using Profiler-Plus (Applied Biosystems, CA). This study tested the potential for the use of primate specific Alu sequences in forensic science for the sensitive detection and quantitaion of DNA. A fluorescently labelled primer pair was designed enabling high efficiency amplification of the core Alu sequence within primate DNA. Quantitation was performed by measurement of fluorescence intensity and comparison to a series of standard template DNA amounts via the construction of a standard curve. The new Alu-based quantitation protocol developed has shown its feasibility in more sensitively quantitating (100-2.5 pg) unknown amounts of human DNA for forensic use. The method is compatible with the use and throughput of current forensic procedures.     

论约定优于法定原则

约定优于法定是合同法的一项重要原则。但在市场经济发展的今天,尤其是在消费合同中,这一原则受到了挑战,完全遵守这一原则会形成合法不合理的情况。因此重新审视这一原则,适时地赋予约定优于法定原则新的内容,就显得十分必要了。文章在探究了约定优于法定原则之后提出在消费合同中应当推行约定有利的原则,以切实保护消费者的权益。     

Simple rules for a more inclusive economy

European Journal of Law and Economics - This paper explores some of the reasons why capitalism experiences periodic crises of legitimacy and asks whether Richard Epstein’s “simple...     

Parallel imports: more CD than WOW?

Legal context: Intellectual property rights, particularly trade marks, haveas their primary aim the protection of the rights holder (andperhaps consumer) by allowing him and only him to sell eg, hispatented product, or his product under his trade mark. Counterfeitersand infringers are stopped in their tracks. However, intellectualproperty law has a secondary use – allowing rights holdersto stop products being marketed in Europe without their consent,even when said products are genuine. Key points: This article summarises the law on parallel importation andexhaustion of rights, focussing on two recent UK cases; thesuccessful action by the music industry for copyright infringementby CD-WOW, a leading CD retailer based in Hong Kong and thesuccessful appeal against a finding of trade mark infringementby parallel importer Mastercigars Direct, which imports Cubancigars. Practical significance: Parallel imports provide a means for entrepreneurs to exploitprice differentials between countries in Europe and countriesin the rest of the world. As such, they occur on a significantscale, generating substantial revenues. IP rights holders haveconsistently taken action against such individuals, with Sonyin particular heading to the courts on regular occasions, meetingmostly with success.