SLAPPs: Intent or Content?Anti-SLAPP Legislation Goes International

Due to the increasing interest in adopting anti-SLAPP legislation outside of the USA (where it was first implemented), the definition of what constitutes a SLAPP is being questioned. Some commentators have advanced the suggestion that, in order to account for jurisdictional differences, outside of the USA it is the motivation to intimidate or chill public speech that is the aspect of a SLAPP on which anti-SLAPP legislation must focus. However, defining SLAPPs by the initiator's alleged intent to intimidate can render anti-SLAPP legislation, in any jurisdiction, ineffective. SLAPPs should be defined by the involvement of public participation, rather than by the intent of the SLAPP plaintiff. Effective anti-SLAPP legislation employs procedural protections that are engaged once a threshold demonstration has been made that the case involves protected public interest communications. Generally, this approach is appropriate to adopt in any jurisdiction where the legislature desires to protect public interest communications.     

Social Network Analysis and the Diffusion of the Strict Liability Rule for Manufacturing Defects, 1963–87

This article reports the results of a study that uses social network analysis to compare the persuasiveness of legal precedents in the diffusion of the strict liability rule for manufacturing defects. This new study tests which legal precedents were most influential and also whether certain state judicial variables influenced the diffusion process. The results are striking. The federal circuit regions appear to define an important reference group in the diffusion process, and social network effects dominate economic and political variables. In addition, the de facto separation of powers in the enactment of new state legislation appears to influence courts' propensities to adopt the strict liability rule. When the executive and legislative branches were controlled by the same political party, regardless of whether it was Republican or Democratic, state courts were more inclined to adopt the strict liability rule.     

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation: The British Columbia Experience

In 2001, the province of British Columbia (BC) became the first Canadian jurisdiction to enact anti-SLAPP legislation. While this legislation proved to be short lived, the BC experience around the issue of SLAPPs is instructive for law reformers both in Canada and beyond. In this article, the authors describe the legal and political processes that set the stage for the passage of the 2001 law, and its subsequent repeal. They also provide a detailed analysis and critique of key aspects of the debate surrounding the design of the law, and consider its efficacy in identifying, dismissing and deterring SLAPP lawsuits. They conclude with some observations with respect to the current status of the SLAPP issue in BC.     

Institutional and Political Sources of Legislative Change: Explaining How Private Organizations Influence the Form and Content of Consumer Protection Legislation

This article explores how private organizations influence the content and meaning of consumer protection legislation. I examine why California forced consumers to use a private dispute resolution system that affords consumers fewer rights, while Vermont adopted a state‐run disputing structure that affords consumers greater rights. Drawing from historical and new institutional theories, I analyze twenty‐five years of legislative history, as well as interviews with drafters of the California and Vermont laws, to show how automobile manufacturers weakened the impact of a powerful California consumer warranty law by creating dispute resolution venues. As these structures became institutionalized in the lemon law field, manufacturers reshaped the meaning of legislation. Unlike California, the political alliances in Vermont and a different developmental path led to a state‐run dispute resolution structure. I conclude that how social reform laws are designed and how businesses influence social reform legislation can increase or decrease the achievement of a statute's social reform goals.     

Singapore's cybersecurity strategy

Imminent cybersecurity threats of a massive global scale have led countries to review and strengthen their national cybersecurity strategies and to enact new and bolder legislation that is both comprehensive and far-reaching. This paper discusses how Singapore's enactment of the Cybersecurity Act 2018 is one such attempt to foster a secure and resilient national infocomm environment against cyberattacks.     

The Failure of Defamation Law to Safeguard against SLAPPs in Ontario

The authors examine the failure of the law of defamation in Canada to reflect changed realities with respect to public participation in decision-making processes and the impact that this has had on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) in the Ontario context. They examine the enhancement of the public's substantive and procedural rights to participate in environmental decision-making processes reflected in legislation at the international, federal and provincial levels. They argue that SLAPPs threaten to reverse these shifts in norms in the development of public policy. The authors review anti-SLAPP legislation as well as the evolution of defamation law in Canada and other jurisdictions and conclude by offering some law reform recommendations for Ontario.     

Therapeutic cloning in Australia: one small stem from man, one giant leap for mankind

In 2002 the Australian Parliament enacted legislation which prohibited both therapeutic and reproductive embryonic cloning. Just four years later, in December 2006, this same legislation was amended, reversing the prohibition on therapeutic cloning, while retaining the ban on reproductive cloning. The Prime Minister, sensing the political mood, allowed a conscience vote. This contrasted with his decision several months earlier against introducing any changes to the 2002 Act, despite 54 recommendations having been made by a Statutory Review Committee. Approval of the legislation had as much to do with the careful drafting of the provisions as with any rational, social or scientific factor. The legislation is narrow in scope, retains an absolute prohibition on reproductive cloning and contains strict regulations with heavy criminal penalties. The Act requires a review after three years. A number of questions remain. Does stem cell research demand a global rather than a local approach, by way of an international Covenant? Does the legal status of a cloned embryo need further examination? Will the embryo have a separate legal standing recognised by law? These are some of the questions which will need addressing as the law tries to keep up with science.     

The International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015: Legislative Spending Targets,Poverty Alleviation and Aid Scrutiny

With the enactment of the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015, the United Kingdom has enshrined an aid target in law. It is now under a legal duty to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) each year on aid. This article assesses the implications of enshrining a spending target for development assistance in law. It argues that commentators have focused their analyses too narrowly on the legal target and that it is in fact the mechanisms for scrutinising development assistance contained in section 5 of the new Act that will be important in future. This is because judicial scrutiny of aid spending is a remote possibility as a result of the International Development Act 2002. The article provides an analysis of the new legislation in the context of the UK's now detailed legislative framework for international development aid and concludes that this framework is far from satisfactory.     

After the Crash: A Perspective on Multilevel European Democracy

From a social‐market perspective, European integration has reduced the capacity of democratic politics to deal with the challenges of global capitalism, and it has contributed to rising social inequality. The article summarises the institutional asymmetries which have done most to constrain democratic political choices and to shift the balance between capital, labour and the state: the priority of negative over positive integration and of monetary integration over political and social integration. It will then explain why efforts to democratise European politics will not be able to overcome these asymmetries and why politically feasible reforms will not be able to remove them. On the speculative assumption that the aftermath of a deep crisis might indeed create the window of opportunity for a political re‐foundation of European integration, the concluding section will outline institutional ground rules that might facilitate democratic political action at both European and national levels.     

论我国器官移植立法过程中应坚持的基本原则

传统立法过程中需要遵循一些基本原则,这些立法基本原则也适用于我国的器官移植立法.但很显然,我国器官移植立法在遵循传统立法基本原则的同时,也要坚持一些特有原则。这是我国器官移植法立法科学性的内在需要。     

国家立法与社会资源分配的内在逻辑

国家立法与社会资源分配之间的内在逻辑发端于各社会群体之间矛盾冲突的客观存在性。为了调和各社会群体之间的矛盾冲突，政治国家便赋予国家立法以平抑社会群体矛盾冲突的功能性，因此，国家立法便具有了对有限社会资源分配的本质性。     

Positive obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights: the duty of the Nigerian Government to enact a Freedom of Information Act

Beginning with the Independence Constitution of 1960, the right to freedom of information and other civil and political rights have been guaranteed by successive Nigerian Constitutions as fundamental human rights. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, which incorporated the provisions of the African Charter on Human and People’s Right into Nigerian law in 1983 consolidated these and a plethora of other social, economic and cultural rights and imposed a positive duty on the government to adopt legislative and other measures to give them effect. This article develops this potentially revolutionary principle of positive obligations, which amazingly remains unsung and unused more than a quarter of a century after it became an integral part of Nigerian law. The first part of the article proposes the principle as the most effective basis to compel the enactment of a Freedom of Information legislation, which successive governments have refused to enact despite overwhelming public support and sustained lobbying for a Freedom of Information Bill first introduced in the National Assembly in 1997. The second part critically analyses the latest (2007) version of the Bill. It concludes that its provisions are inadequate to give effect to the right to freedom of information in view of the legal and bureaucratic environment under which it will operate, and suggests remedial measures.     

寻求法律与社会的平衡——论民国时期亲属法、继承法对家族制度的变革

南京国民政府时期,家族制度变革从政治、社会、立法、司法等层面全面展开,直接效果就是《中华民国民法》"亲属编"、"继承编"的制定颁布及司法上的实际运作。政治层面上,近代中国面临的收回治外法权的压力,资产阶级民主革命的需要,迫使中国不得不创制新型法律,改革传统家族制度;社会层面上,传统家族观念及习惯仍普遍存在,但业已高涨的废除家族制度的呼声及新型社会阶层的出现,为家族制度的变革创造了一定的社会基础;立法层面上,在1929～1930年两年的时间内,国民政府即推出完整的民法典,效率之高,速度之快,世所罕见,超前性明显;司法层面上,司法主体既要遵循依法定案的原则,又要兼顾历史因素及社会实际,尽其所能,调和情、理、法的关系,实现法律与社会平衡。尽管民国时期家族制度的变革还存在诸多不平衡性或差异性,总体趋势则是渐进改革,全面推进。家族制度的变革特征体现为:政治引领风气,社会缓慢跟进,立法实施保障,司法调和新旧。     

法律移植的理论与实践

近代以来,许多亚洲国家伴随着宗主国或占领国的殖民统治而进行了大量的法律移植;中国从晚清到民国政府,也对西方法律进行了大量的主动移植,使传统法律实现了现代意义的转变。历史表明,规则的稀缺和社会政治经济发展对规则的强烈要求,使得中国的法制建设必然首先是改变“无法可依”的状态。在需要通过立法创造某些制度以实现政策目标时,法律移植是最有效的手段,成为创造法律秩序和促进社会进步的方式。然而,移植规则的深层含义在于移植文化,也即规则和制度的移植必须要有文化的支持,否则,法律移植很可能仅仅是立法者的游戏。     

The slippery slope of health care finance: business interests and hospital reimbursement in Massachusetts

In 1988 Massachusetts enacted a bill, popularly known as Health Care for All, which promised that by 1992 every Massachusetts resident would have available affordable insurance for basic medical expenses. This legislation was one of a series of laws enacted over a period of six years which progressively improved access to care for the uninsured. The policy process which led to the enactment of these laws was strongly influenced by the interests of large employers. This article describes the series of access-expanding hospital reimbursement changes in Massachusetts in the 1980s and traces the connection between the involvement of business interests in the policy process and the outcomes that occurred; that is, it follows the slide of employers down the slippery slope of health care finance. The article also describes a potential implementation strategy for the Health Care for All legislation.     

中国古代侵占罪立法考究

中国古代侵占罪的立法历史悠久,其产生与发展同一定社会形态的财产关系及其复杂程度以及商品经济发达程度密切相关。没有侵占罪罪状的悠久存在,就不会有盗窃与侵占行为的分离,也就不会有今天的侵占罪罪名。从侵占罪立法的发展史上看,由于历代统治者特别是封建统治者以“子为政焉用杀”为圣言,所以中国古代侵占罪的立法是以职务或公务侵占罪为重心的。侵占罪的刑罚呈现轻刑化趋势,是历史性的进步。     

在法治方略下寻求社会管理创新

社会管理创新是我国社会建设事业推进过程中回应现阶段经济政治社会发展的必然要求.在法治方面成为国家根本治国方略的当代,在法治方略下寻求社会管理创新具有现实正当性和优越性;依法适度培植社会组织和规范引导社会组织发展、在立法模式上改过去的行政主导立法为博弈立法、完善税收法制、立法中更多地吸收社会生活中形成的习惯和惯例、构建政府与社会分工合作各司其职的适法格局等是法治方略下寻求社会管理创新的根本性举措.社会管理法治化是人类社会发展和法治发展之逻辑必然.     

The autonomy of law in the war on terror: A contribution from social systems theory

The article analyses the impact of post-2001 counterterrorism policies on the autonomy of law, focussing on American and British measures and adopting social systems theory as a theoretical framework. Contemporary societies are conceptualised as social systems in which law operates as an autonomous subsystem. Its autonomy primarily is based on constant reference by decisions to the binary coding “legal/illegal” associated with the application of specific legal principles and procedures. Following the terrorist attacks of 2001, the structure of societal differentiation has been under attack from a twofold risk. A political risk is posed by armed organisations such as Al-Qaeda because of their threats to states sovereignty. An additional risk in relation to law depends on extraordinary powers, such as those established by certain recent antiterrorism legislation and several executive provisions. States attempt to subordinate decisions related to the new counterterrorism policies to the test of their “efficiency/inefficiency” in guaranteeing security, at the expense of questions about their “legal/illegal” nature and legal constraints. An analysis of the special detention at Guantanamo Bay provides evidence of a complex set of decisions endangering the autonomy of law.     

Money laundering laws as a political instrument: the social cost of arbitrary money laundering enforcement

The paper explains the reasons for modern money laundring legislation, namely to reduce the incidence of certain primary offences. Whereas enactment and effectuation of this legislation is costly, its postive effects typically materialize in other jurisdictions (positive external effects). The paper shows that international covenants seek to give direct incentives to overcome the possible underprovision in anti-money laundering legislation and enforcement. The paper also shows how, in such an international context, anti-money laundering legislation can be easily misused as a political weapon in the cross-border fight against "unwanted individuals" and gives concrete examples for such an arbitrary enforcement.

Social Work and the Security Issue in the Netherlands and Belgium

Over the past years security has become a central issue in political discussions both in the Netherlands and Belgium. This has led to the setting of new governmental schemes in urban areas that rely upon the commitment of social workers to a large extent. Besides that, a number of new professions linked to social intervention have appeared. The purpose of this article is to analyse the emergence of security as an issue and the effects of the new governmental schemes in the field of social work, and to compare the political and social backgrounds, how security is dealt with and the effects on social work in Belgium and the Netherlands. The general assumption is that the practice of social professions tends to a new balance between change and control, the two usual poles of social work, at the expense of emancipatory practices towards marginalised people. In other words, it is wondered whether the action of social workers is to put in place a system of control and risk prevention as a mix of social work and people policing. The article shows that the development in this direction in the two countries is similar, in spite of significant background differences.