Ethical criteria for procuring and distributing organs for transplantation

This article provides an ethical analysis and assessment of various actual and proposed policies of organ procurement and distribution in light of moral principles already embedded in U.S. institutions, laws, policies, and practices. Evaluating different methods of acquisition of human body parts--donation (express and presumed), sales, abandonment, and expropriation--the author argues for laws and policies, including required request, to maintain and facilitate express donation of organs by individuals and their families. Such laws and policies need adequate time for a determination of their effectiveness before society moves to other major alternatives, such as a market. In organ allocation and distribution, which have close moral connections with organ procurement, the author defends the judgment of the federal Task Force on Organ Transplantation that the community should have dispositional authority over donated organs, that professionals should be viewed as trustees and stewards of donated organs, and that the public should be heavily involved in the formation of policies of allocation and distribution. Concentrating on policies being developed in the United Network for Organ Sharing, the author examines the point system for cadaveric kidneys, the access of foreign nationals to organs donated in the U.S., and the multiple listings of patients seeking transplants. He concludes by identifying two major problems of equitable access to donated organs that will have to be addressed by social institutions other than UNOS: access to the waiting list for donated organs and the role of ability to pay in extrarenal transplants.     

Money for nothing and your MP3s for free

The judgment of the Federal Court of Australia (‘the Court’)in Universal Music is the first judicial pronouncement in Australiaon the legality of website operators who provide hyperlinksto remote websites to allow ‘internauts’ (web users)to download MP3 music files and the liability of internet serviceproviders (ISPs) and their employees for authorizing that infringementunder Australian copyright law.     

Motivation for offending and personality

Purpose. The main aim of the study was to examine the relationship between motivation for offending and personality. Method. A specially constructed Offending Motivation Questionnaire (OMQ) was developed along the lines of Farrington's (1986, 1993) theoretical framework. The OMQ, the Mak Self‐Reported Delinquency Scale, the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale (GCS), the Gough Socialisation Scale, the Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale, and the Gudjonsson Blame Attribution Inventory (BAI‐R) were administered to two groups of students: college students and university students. Results. Factor analysis of the OMQ revealed four motivational factors for offending (Compliance, Provocation, Financial, Excitement) and one further factor associated with the failure to appreciate the consequences of the criminal act. As predicted, the GCS correlated significantly with a compliance motive (i.e. being coerced, manipulated, or tricked into crime by a peer, or eagerness to please a peer), whereas the remaining four factors were associated with a low score on the Gough Socialisation Scale. External and Mental Element attributions were mainly found to be associated with provocation and consequences factors. Conclusions. The findings support the view that there is a relationship between the motivation for offending, failure to appreciate the consequences of one's actions and personality. Further research should focus on studying this relationship among criminal populations.     

Compensation for industrial accidents and incentives for prevention: a theoretical and empirical perspective

This paper examines the compensation systems for industrial accidents in Belgium, Germany and Great Britain, thereby taking into account some recent empirical data on industrial accident rates and (although hardly available) amounts of compensation paid out to employee victims. The key question of this paper, derived from past research in law and economics, is whether these particular compensation systems include elements that may contribute to the prevention of industrial accidents. While the three countries examined here all have at least some incentive-based elements, notably in the way those systems are financed, there appears to be room for improvement both in Belgium and Great Britain. The German case study leads to the proposition that giving an organisation the responsibility for both compensation and prevention may have a beneficial effect on the accident rate.     

违约责任与风险负担

风险负担与违约责任是共同处理标的物毁损灭失案型的两项不同制度。在我国违约责任的归责原则实现了由过错责任向严格责任转化的情况下,风险负担制度的内涵与适用范围应作相应的调整。违约之际风险负担的处理涉及到这两项制度的协调与配合的复杂关系。在履行迟延期间标的物毁灭时,原则上应使违约方当事人承担风险。对质的不完全履行之际的风险负担问题,国际公约、各国或各地区立法不一,对我国现行法律进行体系解释可知,当买受人拒绝接受标的物或者解除合同的,由出卖人承担风险,否则则由买受人承担风险,不过,买受人仍享有违约救济权。在违约之际的风险负担问题上,我国现行法律还存在若干漏洞,应予填补。     

科技型中小企业技术创新基金回顾与展望

自1999年6月正式实施到现在,科技型中小企业技术创新基金已经走过了整整十年的发展历程。十年间,创新基金培育了一大批具有中国特色的科技型中小企业,催生了一大批高新技术成果和项目,形成了一大批有竞争力的新型产业,有力地推动了我国高新技术产业的发展。     

看守所监管活动检察存在的问题及完善建议

近年来，各级检察机关按照“强化法律监督，维护公平正义”的检察工作主题要求，加大了对看守所监管活动执法的监督力度，看守所检察工作取得了显著成效，监督薄弱状况得到了较大改观。然而从目前看守所监管现状来看，牢头狱霸、超期羁押等问题仍然屡禁不止，成为国人抨击司法公正的话柄，特别是云南的“躲猫猫”事件，在反映看守所监管工作不到位的同时，也暴露出当前我国的看守所检察制度仍然存在很多问题，如监督法律依据不充分、监督信息获取难、监督手段和方法不完善等问题。下面笔者将就这一问题进行详细探讨。     

Constitutional authority and prospects for social justice for high-tension religious communities

By regulating religious practice, the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment challenges the authority of religious communities who may not have adopted American pluralism in favor of their own religious particularism. While the power of the Constitution is manifested in physical modes, its historic symbolic and socially constructed meaning elevates it as a competing transcending authority that challenges religious communities. Often labeled American civil religion, this authority either coerces non-mainstream religious communities to adopt modes of religious expression that mirror those of the dominant culture, or requires them to adopt a strategy for coping with its overwhelming social and political power. The Constitution's mechanism for guaranteeing religious free exercise thus serves as a method to limit religious particularism by coercing limited cultural orthodoxy through legal orthopraxy.Teach the [Constitution's] principles, teach them to your children, speak of them when sitting in your home, speak of them when walking by the way, when lying down and when rising up, write them upon the doorplate of your home and upon your gates. John Quincy AdamsRepeated by former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger (Franklin, 1987). The passage is a slight alteration of Deuteronomy 6:7–9.     

论治安管理处罚上的担保人与保证金制度

与其它行政处罚不同,立法没有为行政拘留设置听证程序,而是设计了担保人和保证金制度。由于缺乏对保证人责任追究措施的明确规定,加上拘留所为了追求非法经济利益,以及警察法治观念等方面的原因,这些规定并没有发挥预期作用。《治安管理处罚法》和其它新规定做了改进,强化了担保人责任,提高了保证金额度。为真正解决实际问题,建议还应该建立罚款与拘留期之间的转换制度。