Ideals and Practices in the Rule of Law: An Essay on Legal Politics

Massoud, Mark Fathi. 2013 . Law's Fragile State: Colonial, Authoritarian, and Humanitarian Legacies in Sudan . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 277. Paper $34.99. This essay responds to the three commentators in the symposium on my book, Law's Fragile State, by describing the sociolegal study of the rule of law as an investigation into both a set of ideals (the rule of law as a normative question) and a set of practices (the rule of law as an empirical question). Studying the rule of law involves understanding the contingent nature of its ideals as well as investigating the actual work that lawyers, judges, state officials, aid workers, activists, and others have done in specific contexts to promote legal remedies to social or political ills. These overlapping layers of the study of the rule of law—ideals and practices, normative and empirical—provide a sociolegal framework for understanding the successes and failures of legal work and, ultimately, how citizens experience state power in democratic and nondemocratic societies alike.     

主权在民:源流与反思

主权在民原则系宪法之首要原则。主权在民原则经历了由国家主权、政治主权、议会主权到人民主权的发展过程。主权在民原则既是近代宪法的逻辑起点,又指导着宪法具体制度的建立。主权在民原则在历史上发挥了巨大的作用,但也应当厘清、识别和深刻反思主权在民在宪政成长过程中的作用与局限。     

意义与缺憾：《著作权法》二修之管见

正十一届全国人大常委会于2月26日(在第十三次会议上)表决通过了关于修改《著作权法》的决定。按照修改,《著作权法》第4条第1款,"依法禁止出版、传播的作品,     

Comparative Sociology of Legal Professions: An Exploratory Essay

The author surveys and compares the legal professions of 15 nations, including both civil law and common law countries. The essay is organized around the ways that legal professionals control their markets—first by controlling "production of producers" or who and how many enter the profession (with formal education or apprenticeship requirements, examinations, access to entry-level positions). Legal professionals also control "production by producers"—both external competitors and lawyers themselves. This occurs, for example, through definition and defense of the professional monopoly, control of competition between licensed professionals, and creation of demand. The discussion takes place against the background of the legal profession's recent history—assessing changes in its composition (by race, age, gender), in lawyers' practice settings, in the categories of work they perform, and in the income and status associated with these categories and with the profession in general.     

Trading Signs: Semiotic Practices in Law and Medicine

Lawyers write, blog and are otherwise producers of words; they structure public life through legal discourse and integrate all issues that reinforce legal reasoning. Even if one is inclined not to justify the power of their words in the context of a democratic theory, one is hardly able to challenge its public acceptance. But semiotic analyses harden the question whether these emperors wear nothing but robes. That attitude intensifies where medicine becomes increasingly relevant for legal discourse, as becomes clear where for instance US political viewpoints bring bioethical issues to the Courts. One major theme in today’s medicine pertains to identity in its psychological, philosophical and social dimensions. Identity thus becomes a groundbreaking semiotic issue in law and medicine; both discourses are particular important to the otherness of the other. A US criminal law case interests here (Harrington v. State of Iowa, 2003; cited as: 659N.W.2d 509). The case is decided with “information about what the person has stored in his brain”. A chain of signs is involved: from “brain-function” to “brain-storage” via “brain-scan” to “brain-fingerprint”, for which the case became famous. A long series of signs and meanings belong here to intertwined discourses. Central is a particular sign in each discourse: “brain” means brain scan, and “fingerprint” means law! The two display trading mechanisms, which determine the otherness of the other and the self! The chain of signs in the Harrington case shows inter-disciplinarity in law and inter-discursivity among law and medicine. The trading itself underlines the semiotic dimensions in cyberspace, in particular the semiotics of the virtual (Hayles, Kurzweil) and their effects on legal discourse.     

人文主义法学引论

人文主义法学是指崇尚人的价值、尊重人的本性的法学观点或法学思想体系。人文主义法学的指导思想是将人作为目的。人文主义法学的基本原则及对法律思想的影响表现在如下方面:尊重人的需要和利益原则促进了权利、人权、自由的产生和发展;防范人的恶性原则促进了法治概念、民主政府、分权、法律程序、法律监督的产生和发展;宽容人的弱点原则主张法律对人的行为不宜提出过高的要求;鼓励人的优点原则主张法律允许人们参与法律实践活动、鼓励人的奉献行为。人文主义法学的兴起将促进法学研究和法律实践的发展。     

票据背书法律规制之我见

流通是票据的生命,背书是票据流通的主要方式。我国票据法律法规对票据背书进行了较为具体和详细的规定,但也存在一定的问题。其未规定空白背书及背书涂销;关于背书的后手对直接前手背书真实性负责的规定含义不清;对期后背书效力的规定自相矛盾;对委托取款背书及质押背书的被背书人的再背书限制不明确;司法解释对质押背书时“质押”字样记载的效力的规定易生歧义等,均在一定程度上损害或阻碍了票据的流通,建议《票据法》予以修正。     

Jacqueline Rose: Mothers: An Essay on Love and Cruelty

Jindal Global Law Review -     

执法检查:立法程序外完善法律的制度途径

在执法检查实践中,全国人大常委会创新性地将这一监督平台嫁接到为完善法律服务这一立法任务之中,从而在立法程序之外建立其一个有助于适时监控和提高立法质量的强大信息收集系统。迄今为止,这一制度功能尚未得到充分和有效的发挥,依然存在较大的完善空间。但这个制度创新的过程则充分表明全国人大常委会已经成长为一个比较成熟的政治系统和立法机关。     

刑法预防性立法对犯罪学之影响:困境与出路

当代风险社会及其构成要素,是互相联系、互相成就和互相影响的刑法学与犯罪学的共同知识场域。预防性立法模式在刑法立法实践中确立,预防型犯罪也被简化为安全的技术辅助。犯罪学研究的犯罪现象、原因和对策随之发生变化,其研究范式也便面临危机和挑战。针对预防刑法的“事前法”特征,对其进行研究的犯罪学也应转向“事前”犯罪学。事前犯罪学在传统的“现象-原因-对策”研究范式的基础上,更应进行问题意识和研究方式的转化,为预防性立法走向理性、科学和合理贡献知识。事前犯罪学理论知识,要进入预防性立法的决策场域,就应寻找适合预防性立法的犯罪学逻辑体系。其展现的知识逻辑和问题意识,不是要和预防刑法知识体系合谋,而是要在既有理论的基础上,整合和构建恰当的研究范式和知识库存、跨学科借新智、打破传统事实学窠臼、遵守法治精神,据此走出困境,也为预防性立法提供根据。