MARRIAGE LAW AND CONFUCIAN ETHICS IN THE QING DYNASTY

The Qing Dynasty is the last dynasty of all the twelve dynasties in Chinese history. Its family law embodied the Confucian conception of the integration of family, country and the world under heaven. The rule of traditional Chinese society was depicted as ＂the Rule of Propriety and Music＂ which had been established by Duke Zhou as an instrumentalist mechanism and refined by the Confucian humanistic value orientation. This rule exhibited the intricate fabric of both family and country in five-types in dressing-service, making the laws and legalities in the Qing Codes and Cases peculiar in marriage, divorce, property inheritance and heir adoption and confirmation with obvious female and juvenile discriminations. Since Confucian ethics was introduced as a remedy to the deficiency in regulation and the stereotypes of mentality in the late Zhou Dynasty, their suggestions on equal and universal moral rights have become apparent in the relative enactments and cases ever since. As a system of social regulation, the Qing Codes and Cases demonstrated validity and stability in all areas of family law as well as in their compromise with Confucian ethics in the solidarity of family, clan, country and worm where the right to live and the balance between right and duty had been always prioritized.     

DISCRETE TASK REPRESENTATION, ETHICS, AND THE BIG PICTURE

This paper discusses the long term implications of the "unbundled legal services movement" with particular focus on overcoming perceived "ethical" barriers to unbundling and on the possibility of laying a foundation for the creation of a right to counsel in civil cases for those who cannot afford a lawyer.     

CLINICAL ETHICS COMMITTEES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: TOWARDS EVALUATION

In the United Kingdom there is a growing conviction that CECs have an important role to play in helping health care professionals address ethical dilemmas. For example, the Royal College of Physicians, the Nuffield Trust and the unofficial Clinical Ethics Network, which has received financial support from the Department of Health, commend the use of CECs in the UK. The growth of such committees has been influenced by the legal and policy support they have received in the United States. However, there is increasing concern about both the benefits and the quality of work produced by CECs. In addition, despite the rapid increase in the number of CECs in the UK, outside of the United States they remain under-researched and no formal mechanism exists to assess their performance. As a result we know little about the structure, function, impact and effectiveness of CECs. We are currently conducting a research project funded by the Wellcome Trust that seeks to interrogate the competing claims regarding the benefits and disbenefits of CECs. This initial account of our research provides a detailed analysis of theoretical issues that surround the development and use of CECs and points towards the questions that lie at the heart of the social science strand of our project.