The Politics of a European Civil Code

Abstract:  Last year the European Commission published its Action Plan on European contract law. That plan forms an important step towards a European Civil Code. In its Plan, the Commission tries to depoliticise the codification process by asking a group of academic experts to prepare what it calls a 'common frame of reference'. This paper argues that drafting a European Civil Code involves making many choices that are essentially political. It further argues that the technocratic approach which the Commission has adopted in the Action Plan effectively excludes most stakeholders from having their say during the stage when the real choices are made. Therefore, before the drafting of the CFR/ECC starts, the Commission should submit a list of policy questions regarding the main issues of European private law to the European Parliament and the other stakeholders. Such an alternative procedure would repoliticise the process. It would increase the democratic basis for a European Civil Code and thus its legitimacy.     

Civil Society and the Re-imagination of European Constitutionalism

Abstract: The twin concepts of constitutionalism and democracy, which offer a complex template for the structural organisation of a polity, can be understood in terms of a dialectic of complementary but competing values, values represented by responsiveness to an existing order and innovation towards a potentially new order. Recognising this necessarily dynamic relationship, an essentialist reading of a constitutionalisation of the demos is abandoned, and an examination of the extent to which the dialectic can credibly or legitimately be played out in a supranational ‘community’ and in the context of an emerging transnational civil society can be undertaken. Rather than seeking credibility or legitimacy through the rationalisation of a community by an ethical consensus as in some forms of republicanism and communitarianism, the dialectic opens up the norms and boundaries of the polity and leads to an understanding of the ‘community’ in less rigid and more diffuse, even plural, terms. Once understood in this way the possibility emerges for legitimacy to be pursued through a public sphere enlarged by a context‐transcending constitutional discourse mediated by transnational civil society. Alternatively the normative ‘openness’ of the polity might be prioritised and with it the uncertainty/fluidity of the constitutional arrangement itself; in this way the legitimate pursuit of constitutionalism is understood in terms of a never‐ending agonistic struggle or experimental practice.     

民事执行机构改革实践之反思

纷繁杂芜的民事执行机构改革实践类型化为横向静态分权、横向动态分权、集中裁决型纵向分权、集中实施型纵向分权、双重集中型纵向分权等五种模式。除了解决执行难问题外,当前各地法院推动执行机构改革的动机主要是预防司法腐败、提高执行机构办事效率、实现多元政治利益诉求。为防止试点法院为追逐自身利益而损害当事人及案外人合法权益,民事执行机构改革应当坚持程序利用者中心主义。民事执行权主要包括执行裁决权、执行命令权、实施事务权三种权能,其中前两种权能应当保留由执行法官行使,而无涉实质判断的简单实施事务的权能可以交给由执行员及其辅助人员行使。鉴于实施事务权与执行命令权、执行裁决权、涉执行审判权之间存在密切的联系,而且执行事务局内置于法院系统更有利于提高执行效率和减轻当事人执行负担,在全国法院系统内设置跨行政区划的、上下级法院之间垂直领导的执行事务局系统的改革思路更为可行。     

司法实践中未出生者的民法地位

通过研究国内外司法实践中未出生者的民法地位 ,提出了我国民法典立法中未出生者民法地位的立法建议。     

European Civil Society: Shaped by Discourses and Institutional Interests

Abstract: During recent years, the concept of European civil society has gained increasing popularity. The European Institutions themselves have developed a discourse on civil society and civil dialogue. Institutional interests have shaped this discourse. Reframing the normative context for EU democracy, this discourse suits some institutions better than others. In particular, the European Economic and Social Committee and the European Commission have made recourse to it; the former to redefine its proper role and combat the risk of marginalisation within the European institutional set‐up; the latter first to build support for policy initiatives in the social sphere and subsequently to respond to the legitimacy crisis of the Brussels’ bureaucracy. These institutional interests have inspired a conceptualisation of civil society as ‘functional participation’ and ‘functional representation’ rather than as ‘politicisation’ or ‘decentralisation’. However, while the Commission and the ESC have had some success in selling their discourse, to be successful in the longer run some problematic assumptions of the discourse should be tackled and both the different rationales for civil society involvement as well as the multi‐level character of European civil society and European policymaking should be taken into account.     

聚焦司法鉴定过程生成的鉴定人民事责任

考察鉴定人民事责任的制度依据和法律渊源，分析我国司法鉴定过程中，鉴定人民事责任的现实基础和规范依据。并以此为出发点，探讨我国司法鉴定人民事责任的基本内涵和外延，指出其特殊之处。最后从当事人实现救济的角度出发．提出鉴定人民事责任追诉的基本设想。     

理论与实践:美国民事诉讼法教科书的典范——评弗兰德泰尔等的著作《民事诉讼法》

弗兰德泰尔等著的民事诉讼法一书,具有严谨的理论体系,融学术理论与诉讼实践为一体,内容丰富,资料翔实,结构新颖,对研究美国民事诉讼法,以及重新认识和借鉴判例教学法等,都具有重大参考价值。     

实践中的民事审判——四个中级法院民事一审程序的运作

本稿是在特定理论模型支撑下对若干有代表性的中级法院民事一审程序运作状况展开实证调查而取得的一项初始性成果。调查采用案件卷宗抽样、访谈、参与观察、问卷和文献研究等方法,就庭前准备、开庭样式、各类证据的使用情况及结案方式等方面程序的实际操作做了系统的了解,并对"非正式开庭"等调查中新的发现进行了较深入的分析。调查结果显示了在审判方式改革给司法实践带来重大变化的同时,诉讼模式转型仍在进行之中的实际状况。     

Rediscovering Civil Society: The European Union and the White Paper on Governance

The concept of 'civil society' has been rediscovered in contemporary discourses concerning the relationship between democracy and governance. This paper analyses this rediscovery in the more specific context of the European Commission's 2001 White Paper on European Governance. However, processes of transnationalisation, governmentalisation and autonomisation may compromise much of the potential of 'European civil society' as an intermediating sphere of social action. By reinforcing these processes, the White Paper undermines the normative claims made for a civil society premised upon the voluntary nature of its associative forms and its distinctive open, communicative and deliberative rationality.     

实践中的民事审判(续)——四个中级法院民事一审程序的运作

本稿是在特定理论模型支撑下对若干有代表性的中级法院民事一审程序运作状况展开实证调查而取得的一项初始性成果。调查采用案件卷宗抽样、访谈、参与观察、问卷和文献研究等方法 ,就庭前准备、开庭样式、各类证据的使用情况及结案方式等方面程序的实际操作做了系统的了解 ,并对“非正式开庭”等调查中新的发现进行了较深入的分析。调查结果显示了在审判方式改革给司法实践带来重大变化的同时 ,诉讼模式转型仍在进行之中的实际状况。     

民事合同与商事合同:学理、实务与立法期待

民事与商事:是否可分与是否能分李志刚:2019年10月13日,在中国人民大学法学院召开的民法典合同编分则草案立法研讨会上,诸多发言者认为,有必要区分民事合同与商事合同,尽可能在合同法分则中体现出商事关系的特点,解决二者的混同甚至错位问题。在某种意义上说,这可能也是决定此次民法典修订评价指数的一个核心要素。最核心的问题,是能否在具体条款上,实现民事规则与商事规则的区分。     

论既判力理论在民事诉讼司法实践中的适用

既判力理论在我国民事诉讼中处在理论上的重视与立法上的轻视、实践中的漠视之尴尬境地.传统法律文化的缺乏、法律继受历史的排斥、市场经济不发达和职权主义诉讼模式的制约、司法权威性的缺失、法官法律素质和职业道德的影响是既判力理论在民事诉讼司法实践中适用存在困境的原因.为了摆脱既判力理论在民事诉讼司法实践中适用存在的困境,应当在思想层面上树立既判力的观念,进一步深化既判力理念的研究,在立法上全面、正确地体现既判力理论,加强对当事人的程序保障,深化司法体制改革以增强司法权威性,大力提高法官的法律素质和职业道德水准.     

高拱整顿吏治的理论与实践

高拱,字肃卿,河南新郑人,生于明武宗正德七年(1512),卒于明神宗万历六年(1578).世宗嘉靖时曾侍裕王(穆宗)讲读,历任国子监祭酒、礼部尚书等职,并进为内阁大学士,参予机务.