Nurses, midwives and the requirement for "appropriate" professional indemnity insurance

The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 (the National Law) imposes the obligation on nurses and midwives to have appropriate professional indemnity insurance coverage as a condition of applying for, or renewing, their registration to practise in Australia. The National Law also empowers the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia to develop a registration standard and guidelines in relation to professional indemnity insurance and to enforce compliance through the registration process. Though not previously a requirement for their registration, nurses and midwives must now understand the nature and extent of the professional indemnity insurance under which they practise and declare that they will not practise their profession unless they have appropriate professional indemnity insurance arrangements which cover the full scope of their practice. This column provides an overview of the obligations and responsibilities imposed on nurses and midwives under the National Law and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia's registration standard and guidelines. It is imperative that nurses and midwives understand the National Law provisions and the standard and guidelines developed by the Board before making decisions about their professional indemnity insurance and self-declaring that they have "appropriate" professional indemnity arrangements in place.     

Sickness benefits. Railroad Retirement Board. Final rule

The Railroad Retirement Board (Board) hereby amends its regulations under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA) to permit a "nurse practitioner" to execute a statement of sickness in support of payments of sickness benefits under the RUIA. The Board does not currently accept statements executed by a nurse practitioner, which in some cases may delay payment of benefits.     

股份有限公司董事“恶”之法律抑制

股份有限公司作为一个开放性的公司,不再是仅与几个股东利益相关的法人实体,而是与数以千计甚至万计的股东(投资者)息息相关,并肩负有一定的社会责任,股份有限公司的董事会及董事如何正确行使职权、对其"恶"如何抑制的问题显得日益突出。根据对董事"恶"之抑制机制的不同性质,可以分为对董事的内部抑制和外部抑制。内部抑制主要是通过公司章程对董事之"恶"进行制约,外部抑制则通过法律规定对董事之"恶"进行制约。     

A review of rejected police candidates.

This paper reviews the activities of a Civil Service Medical Review Board which has reviewed the appeals of civil service applicants, particularly for police work, who have been rejected for psychiatric reasons by the hiring authority on the grounds of "mental unfitness." In a 1-1/2-year period, 98 cases have been reviewed. The Board has upheld the applicant in 65% of the cases and the hiring authority in 35% of the cases. Some of the factors resulting in the reversal of the decision of the hiring authority have been discussed. These include insufficient and superficial examination, inappropriate use of test material, attitudinal biases by the examiner, and inadequate reports which do not provide the adequate documentation required by law. It has been the hope of the Board that this review of professional judgment will ultimately impress both hiring authorities and examiners with the defects of the procedures utilized and will encourage them to provide higher quality screening which will be upheld on appeal. To a degree this has been accomplished. Hiring authorities were upheld in only 25% of the cases from September 1973 to March 1974 and 18% from March 1974 to September 1974. This changed radically in the September 1974 to December 1974 period, when hiring authorities were upheld in 60% of the appeals. As has been pointed out, such screening primarily involves review of personality disorders which, by their nature, require thoroughness of knowledge and delicacy of judgment for the formulation of a reasonable conclusion. It is hoped that these lessons will ultimately result in the selection of police officers likely to be successful at their tasks, without arbitrary rejection of those who reasonably merit a trial at work so essential to our society.     

《明会典》性质考辩——“官修典制史书”“行政法典”说驳正

如何看待《明会典》的性质?学界长期存在争议,代表性观点有"官修典制史书"说、"行政法典"说,两说各讲各话,并行流传。然考察《明会典》的纂修宗旨、典文构成、《会典》事例的性质和功能、《明会典》是否行用等问题表明:"增修《诸司职掌》,成一代画一经常之典"是《明会典》编纂的动因;正德《会典》典、例分述,典文以整合祖宗成法有效条款为核心内容,事例由精心删定的现行事例和仍适合行用、参用的先年事例构成;万历《会典》典、例一体合编,所有条款都提升为"经久常行之法"。《明会典》全面规范国家的各项基本制度,具有最高法律效力,被明人称为"大经大法",其颁行后被广泛行用。"官修典制史书"说混淆了法典与史书编纂目的、方法的不同,忽视了《明会典》的法律效力和长期行用的史实,"行政法典"说忽略了《大明律》458条列入《明会典》的史实,两说均难成立。     

"Business Unionism" versus "Responsible Unionism": Common Law Confusion, the American State, and the Formation of Pre-New Deal Labor Policy

The emergence of the American Federation of Labor in the 1880s and its ideology of voluntarism or "business unionism" transformed the mainstream American labor movement. Voluntarism, however, had little impact on the formation of the pre-New Deal labor policy. I suggest that members of the progressive movement developed "responsible unionism" as an alternative to "business unionism" and that it was the progressives' alternative that shaped later developments in labor policy. (1) Progressive state and federal court judges relied on the principles of agency, a fiduciary term, to make unions competent contracting parties and enforce collective trade agreements. (2) Although the AFL had long lobbied for anti-injunction legislation sup ported by an underlying ideology of voluntarism, the progressive Republican-Democratic coalition that engineered passage of the Norris-LaGuardia Anti-Injunction Act of 1932 based the legislation on their notion of "responsible unionism." These progressives interwove the principles of agency into the act. As a result, rather than withdrawing the American state from labor-management relations, the act caused unions to begin to lose their status as private, voluntary associations, thus creating the foundation for the construction of the statist regulatory apparatus, the National Labor Relations Board, during the New Deal.     

Determining disability. Railroad Retirement Board. Final rule

The Railroad Retirement Board (Board) hereby amends its disability regulations to discontinue the current policy of conducting continuing disability reviews (CDR's) for medical recovery of disability annuitants in medical improvement not expected (MINE) cases. The Board has found that these reviews have not been cost effective and impose an unnecessary burden on the annuitant.     

“犯罪人心理”与“犯罪心理”辨析

关于"犯罪心理结构"之争,已经集中在"犯罪心理"或"犯罪人心理"这个焦点上反对"犯罪心理结构"音认为,犯罪心理实际上是不存在的,犯罪人心理在很多方面(甚至一切方面)同守法公民没有区别因此,犯罪心理学实际上是一门研究"犯罪人心理"的学科笔者认为,这是一种违反逻辑的、必将导致取消犯罪心理学的推论     

Suicidal deaths in childhood and adolescence

Suicide has been reported as the second or third most common cause of death in children and adolescents worldwide. In this study, cases of under the age of 19 years submitted to the Institute of Forensic Medicine, First Specialization Board between 1996 and 2000 as suicides by the Board were evaluated retrospectively. The cases included in this study were the cases bearing locally questionable components, so had been submitted to the evaluations by the Board in order to eradicate the doubts. A total of 43 cases were investigated regarding age, gender, cause of death, manner of death, place of death, time of death, and the risk factors. Of the 43 cases evaluated, 31 cases were female and 12 cases were male. The notable suicide method was found to be firearms. Although it was clear that that not all of the suicide cases in this age group had been submitted to the Institute of Forensic Medicine, the most striking result of this study, nevertheless, was that girls constituted the 72% of suicidal deaths in this age group.     

本案适用修订后的《婚姻法》还是适用修订前的《婚姻法》--兼谈最高院对新修订《婚姻法》溯及力问题的解释

新修订的《婚姻法》是否具有溯及力问题直接影响到有关案件的处理结果。从最高院的司法解释来看,《婚姻法》的新修订部分具有溯及力。但法律是否具有溯及力应由法律本身作出明确规定,不能由司法解释来决定。我国《婚姻法》新修改部分的实施时间是明确的,并未规定有溯及力,最高院规定其有溯及力的司法解释违背了全国人大常委会《关于修改〈婚姻法〉的决定》,也不符合我国《立法法》的有关规定。     

“命案必破”的逻辑解析

“命案必破”是一个规范命题,承诺命题,同时又是一个必然模态命题。“命案必破”之因,产生了公安工作发展之果;公安工作发展之果又不断促进“命案必破”目标的实现;“命案必破”目标的不断实现必然促进社会治安秩序的稳定;社会治安秩序的稳定又为构建社会主义和谐社会提供强有力的保障。因此,无论从逻辑上对命题本身的解读,还是对命题与实践结果的因果分析,都可以得出一个结论,“命案必破”命题的提出不但是科学的,而且具有十分积极的社会意义。     

我国“案例公布制度”的实证考察及其启示

自1985年起,最高人民法院采用《公报》的形式定期向国内外公开发布典型案例,以为下级法院在审判同类案件时"提供范例"。但"案例公布制度"并没有很好地实现指导全国各级人民法院的审判工作,统一法律适用标准的初衷。目前司法实践中还存在着同案差异性审判、同案的重复性审判、案件的机械性裁判和地方法院各自统一法律适用标准等现象,这些现象的出现主要是由于"案例公布制度"自身存在的诸多制度性缺陷所致,因而需要在制度层面予以完善。     

美国网络色情言论管制的“空间”标准——从ACLU案到ALA案

在网络色情言论管制中，美国司法机关通过案例建立起“空间”标准，以及对“空间”标准的审查基准。“空间”标准是指在网络色情信息和成年人之间形成封闭空间，避免未成年人轻易接触网络色情信息。“空间”标准的建立，是保障特定人群免遭色情言论污染的一个重要运用。网络的虚拟性和开放性决定了这一封闭空间很难做到完美，而有可能侵害非色情信息发布者的言论自由。ACLU案和ALA案是美国最高法院建立和完善“空间”标准的两个里程碑式的案例。经过案例的积累和发展，美国最高法院逐渐形成了立体化的“空间”标准。为保障未成年人免遭色情言论侵扰提供了法制上的保障，也缓解了网络色情言论管制与言论自由之间的张力。     

Medicare program; provider reimbursement determinations and appeals. Final rule

Subpart R of 42 CFR part 405 consists of regulations governing Medicare reimbursement determinations, and appeals of those determinations, by health care providers. (For the sake of simplicity, throughout this final rule, we use "reimbursement" to refer to Medicare payment under both the reasonable cost and prospective payment systems.) Under section 1878 of the Social Security Act (the Act) and the subpart R regulations, the Provider Reimbursement Review Board (the Board) has the authority to adjudicate certain substantial reimbursement disputes between providers and fiscal intermediaries (intermediaries). Board decisions are subject to review by the CMS Administrator, and the final agency decision of the Board or the Administrator, as applicable, is reviewable in Federal district court. In addition, under the subpart R regulations, intermediaries have the authority to hold hearings and adjudicate certain other payment and reimbursement disputes with providers. This final rule updates, clarifies, and revises various provisions of the regulations governing provider reimbursement determinations, appeals before the Board, appeals before the intermediaries (for lesser disputes), and Administrator review of decisions made by the Board.     

“克隆”票据犯罪案件侦查研究

“克隆”票据犯罪案件是指犯罪嫌疑人以真实票据为基础伪造出与其要素相同或基本相同的票据,进行骗诈的犯罪案件。此类案件有两种情况:一是以真实票据为基础,伪造出与其要素相同或基本相同的票据,使用伪造的票据,在票据有效期内向银行或其他金融机构提示付款、申请贴现、质押贷款或背书转让的犯罪案件;二是以真票据为基础,伪造出与其要素相同或基本相同的票据,并不是直接用伪造的票据,而是通过与真实票据接触,伺机偷换票据,使用真实票据向银行或其池金融机构提示付款、申请贴现。“克隆”票据诈骗案件侦查除采用普通诈骗案件侦查的方法外,还可利用票据(包括伪造的票据)为线索,通过调查票据的原因关系、票据兑付、背书等环节进行侦查。     

The Labor Reform Act of 1977: a detailed analysis.

As a former General Counsel of the NLRB, Peter Nash enjoyed a vantage point from which to observe the procedures of the Board and evaluate how the provisions of the NLRA itself operated. Nou in private practice, he has made a detailed analysis of the labor reform legislation pending in Congress and strongly supported by organized labor. Writing from management's point of view, Mr. Nash concludes that the bills now pending are designed solely to assist unions in their organizing efforts; will not expedite the processing of Board cases; and contain harsh, unfair, and unnecessary deterrent remedies against employers.     

An 'enlightened' view of employee committees under the Taft-Hartley Act

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled, in NLRB v. Streamway Division of the Scott and Fetzer Co., that an in-plant representation committee, unilaterally established by the employer, was not a labor organization. Until 1959, when the Supreme Court decided NLRB v. Cabot Carbon. "labor organization" was narrowly construed, based on the traditional adversary model of labor relations. With Cabot Carbon, and some later Board decisions, the definition has broadened. Now, at a time when many employers are turning to employee committees, quality circles, etc., as ways of improving relations with employees, the Streamway decision takes on particular significance. In the following article, the author examines the statutory basis for determining whether an employee committee is a labor organization, within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. He also discusses the judicial and Board precedent for the more liberal definition of "labor organization" set forth in Streamway.     

Psychiatric testimony in "cult" litigation

Changes in political or religious beliefs among POWs and hostages have often been attributed to "brainwashing" or "coercive persuasion." The cases reported have usually involved people held involuntarily. Since the publication of DSM-III, the authors have noted frequent usage of the term "atypical dissociative disorder" in civil lawsuits by plaintiffs seeking damages from groups or cults they joined voluntarily. The effects of "psychological captivity" are claimed to be comparable to the effects of involuntary participation in instances of kidnapping or being taken prisoner. The authors suggest that voluntary and involuntary activities are fundamentally dissimilar and that the use of DSM-III is problematic in these cases.     

"Chartering" the limits of involuntary psychiatric treatment in Victoria: interpreting the Mental Health Act 1986 (Vic) in the age of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic)

The Mental Health Act 1986 (Vic) allows for individuals with a serious mental illness to be treated on an involuntary basis either in a psychiatric hospital (on an involuntary treatment order) or in the community (on a community treatment order). The Act also establishes the Mental Health Review Board with the authority to review these orders within eight weeks of those orders being made and at least once every 12 months thereafter. This article analyses a recent decision of the board, Re Appeal of 09-085 [2009] VMHRB 1, in which the appellant challenged a decision of a psychiatrist to extend his community treatment order for a further 12 months. The appellant argued that aspects of his involuntary treatment under the Act amounted to "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment and therefore breached his right to freedom from "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment under s 10(b) of Victoria's recently enacted Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic). Thus, the board was asked to consider whether the definition of "treatment" under the Act was compatible with the rights and freedoms enacted by the Charter. This was the first time that a Victorian court or tribunal had considered the impact of the Charter on involuntary psychiatric treatment. The decision was also a prelude to the Victorian Government's announcement that it would comprehensively review its mental health legislation, now the oldest in Australia. As this case highlights, in determining the future direction of mental health legislation and policy in Victoria, the Charter has been crucial.     

我国法律方法教育的反思

在法学教育中,法律方法即把法律规范运用到裁判案件中所采用的方法具有双重属性,即知识的属性和能力的属性。就法律方法的知识属性而言,它应成为法学教学中的知识传授对象,就法律方法的能力属性而言,它又是法律人才必备的素养。目前,我国法学教育既没有重视法律方法知识在法律人才培养中的作用,也没建立起较完善的训练法律技能的有效机制。法律方法教育是我国目前法学教育的薄弱环节,因而应当成为当下法学教育必须重视并着力解决的根本性问题之一。