Drug contamination of US paper currency

It is known that US paper currency in the general circulation is contaminated with cocaine. Several mechanisms have been offered to explain this finding, including contamination due to handling during drug deals and the use of rolled up bills for snorting. Drug is then transferred from one contaminated bill to others during counting in financial institutions. The possibility of contamination of currency with other drugs has not been reported. In this study, the author reports the analysis of 10 randomly collected US$ 1 bills from five cities, for cocaine, heroin, 6-acetylmorphine (6-AM), morphine, codeine, methamphetamine, amphetamine and phencyclidine (PCP). Bills were immersed in acetonitrile for 2h prior to extraction and GC-MS analysis. Results showed that 92% of the bills were positive for cocaine with a mean amount of 28.75+/-139.07 microg per bill, a median of 1.37 microg per bill, and a range of 0.01-922.72 microg per bill. Heroin was detected in seven bills in amounts ranging from 0.03 to 168.50 microg per bill: 6-AM and morphine were detected in three bills; methamphetamine and amphetamine in three and one bills, respectively, and PCP was detected in two bills in amounts of 0.78 and 1.87 microg per bill. Codeine was not detected in any of the US$ 1 bills analyzed. This study demonstrated that although paper currency was most often contaminated with cocaine, other drugs of abuse may be detected in bills.     

The Internet as a New Factor in State and Public Development

On 14 March, when the State Duma introduced a bill that would have instituted a moratorium on executions, it almost had to dissolve itself—not completely, of course, for a quorum was maintained, but almost. Before the bill was put up for discussion, the LDPR [Liberal Democratic Party of Russia] faction (50 people) left (on private business), and during the final vote 193 deputies abstained; whether they went for a walk or simply stayed in their seats but did not press the button is unknown, but they refused to deal with one of the questions that is most important for Russia's future (there were 176 votes "against" and 75 "for" the bill).     

The Calculus of Cosponsorship in the U.S. Senate

We investigated why a legislator would be willing to vote “yea” on final passage of a bill but would choose not to cosponsor that bill. We tested a series of hypotheses regarding the cosponsorship decisions of individual senators, using a dataset that includes every major initiative that was introduced and received a floor vote in the Senate between 1975 and 2000. We found that senators are more likely to cosponsor bills when their preferences diverge from the Senate median but are closer to those of the bill's sponsor. Also, senators are more likely to cosponsor bills when they sponsor a higher number of bills overall, when they become more connected with colleagues, and when their constituents increase demand for legislation within particular policy areas. Senators are less likely to cosponsor bills if they received a higher percentage of the general election vote in their most recent election.     

Civil money penalties for referrals to entities and for prohibited arrangements and schemes--HHS. Final rule with comment period

This final rule implements the civil money penalty (CMP) provisions established through sections 1877(g)(3) and 1877(g)(4) of the Social Security Act. Specifically, in accordance with section 1877(g)(3), these regulations set forth CMPs, assessments and an exclusion against any person who presents, or causes to be presented, a bill or claim the person knows or should know is for a service unlawfully referred under section 1877(a)(1)(A) of the Act, or has not refunded amounts inappropriately collected for a prohibited referral. In addition, in accordance with section 1877(g)(4), these regulations set forth CMPs, assessments and an exclusion in cases where a physician or entity enters into an arrangement or scheme in which the physician or entity knows, or should have known, that the principal purpose is to assure referrals by the physician which, if made directly to a particular entity, would violate the prohibition on referrals described in section 1877(a) of the Act.     

论票据质押的权利担保与物的担保的二元性

票据作为有价证券,其基本属性应当是票据这张纸和权利的结合。在票据质押中,我们不能只关注票据所表彰的权利的质押,而忽视票据本身作为物的质押担保。作为提示性证券,票据权利脱离了证券的载体物,将对票据权利的行使带来困难。     

未获支付的卖方对海运货物的留置权

本文分析了记名提单的法律性质 ,指出记名提单也是物权凭证 ,承运人必须凭单放货 ,否则将侵害未获支付的卖方对海运货物的留置权。     

记名提单托运人货物控制权与收货人提货权研究

记名提单作为提单的一种,在海上货物运输环节具有至关重要的功能和作用。从记名提单托运人货物控制权-9收货人提货权这一新视角切入,在中国海上货物运输法律框架下,解读相关法律要素,还原记名提单应有的法定特征及功能,得出记名提单承运人需凭正本记名提单放货的结论。     

作为海上货物运输合同证明之提单的功能异化

航运经济基础的变化和合同概念的历史变迁等诸多因素使然,作为一种为立法所明确的功能,提单是海上货物运输合同的证明这一功能正在得到修正。在特定的条件下,提单就是海上货物运输合同。这就是提单的功能异化。这必然促使我国现行立法关于提单功能的界定发生变化。     

票据抗辩的分类

传统票据抗辩分类理论将其分为物的抗辩和人的抗辩两大类 ,但事实上还存在其它抗辩事由。为此 ,许多学者尝试变换票据抗辩分类的依据 ,尽量包容所有的抗辩事由 ,但却又往往偏离了票据抗辩分类的本质属性。应跳出非此即彼的思维窠臼 ,研究物的抗辩和人的抗辩之外现实存在的 ,介于二者之间的其他抗辩的一般理论及其具体形式。     

论运输证券

论述了提单的法律性质,分析了关于提单性质的各种学说。认为提单作为证明运输货物交付请求权的有价证券,具有要因、要式、文义、指示、回赎、交付、处分证券的性质,同时提单也具有物权的效力。     

Territory,Jurisdiction, and Colonial Governance: ‘A Bill to Repeal the British Constitution’, 1856–60

Britain claimed full territorial sovereignty over New Zealand, even though substantive enforcement of its authority against Maori often faced significant challenges. Alarmed at the weakness of British governance in relation to Maori, Governor Thomas Gore Browne proposed a Native Offenders Bill. The Bill proposed giving the New Zealand Governor sweeping powers to ban ‘any communication’ or trade with any Maori within a specified district, or with a particular tribe. Such a ban would, it was claimed, ensure compliance with colonial law. However, the bill was twice rejected by the settler legislature (1856 and 1860), on both constitutional and practical grounds. The paper places the bill in its political and legal contexts, and examines some of the ways colonial administrators and politicians responded to the difference between the government's claim to extensive legal authority and its more limited substantive power.     

Mens Rea by the Numbers

Before the recent presidential election, a bipartisan congressional effort was made to pass a criminal justice reform bill. The bill faltered in part because of a proposed default mens rea provision: statutes silent on mens rea, that were not explicitly identified as strict liability by the legislature, would be taken to require for guilt proof of knowledge with respect to each material element. This paper focusses on a prominent line of disagreement about the default mens rea provision. Proponents argued that it would reduce the number of unjust verdicts in corporate cases. They noted that there have been convictions of corporations and corporate officers for public welfare offenses in instances in which there was good reason to believe that the defendants lacked mens rea. They touted the legislation, then, as a way of reducing the false positive rate. Opponents noted that the provision would also reduce the rate of true positives in corporate prosecutions—convictions of those possessing mens rea who could not be proven to—and opposed the legislation on those grounds. Both sides, then, accepted that the relevant question was, in part, numerical: under the provision, would the reductions in guilty verdicts of those lacking mens rea outnumber and outweigh the increases in acquittals of those possessing it? This paper critically examines this numerical approach for assessing and justifying the default mens rea provision. The paper argues that there is a small domain under which it is appropriate to reason in such numerical terms about a default mens rea provision, but that that domain is so small as to make such arguments inappropriate when it comes to sweeping legislation, such as that proposed. The paper further argues that in light of this conclusion the default mens rea provision must be examined non-numerically, through appeal to principled considerations about the necessary conditions for morally justified infliction of punishment. When such arguments are freed from numerical considerations of the kind that dominated the public discussion of the legislation, they decide the matter: the default mens rea provision deserves bipartisan support.     

关于租船合同提单构成信用证不符点的案例评析

如何理解UCP 600第22（a）条款关于租船合同提单的描述,将直接导致构成信用证议付的不符点以及开证行送达拒付通知的严重后果。从案例分析的角度考量租船合同提单的表现形式以及何谓合法、有效的拒付通知,探寻妥善、合理地解决此类信用证款项议付纠纷的新途径。     

Evidence-informed or value-based? exploring the scrutiny of legislation in the UK Parliament

This article argues that three types of factor – process, subject and political circumstance – are likely to affect the extent to which claims of evidence are made during legislative scrutiny. It draws upon case studies of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, the Academies Act 2010 and the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016, utilising interviews with those involved and information from Hansard. The article concludes that these cases highlight that while there might be potential benefits from a yet more robust legislative scrutiny process, including greater use of pre-legislative scrutiny and the ability of public bill committees to take evidence from a wider range of witnesses and on all bills, subject and political factors would be likely to mean that the use of claims of evidence would continue to vary widely.     

背书连续认定规则之探讨

背书连续的认定是一项重要的票据业务和司法审判活动。由于背书连续的涵义具有广延性,加上我国认定背书连续的票据法规则存在一定程度上的模糊性,使得认定背书连续的实际操作存在较大灵活性和可调控性,为付款人拒付票款留出了足够的空间,致使持票人票据权利的实现失去预见性,从而阻碍了票据在我国的流通。为此应完善制度,以实现背书连续认定的规范性。     

论票据丧失及其法律救济

票据权利人在非出于本意的情况下丧失对票据的占有,就有可能发生票据权利人的票据权利随之而丧失,因此,各国的票据法律为保护票据流通的安全,保障因票据权利人意志以外的原因丧失票据利益,均对票据丧失后的法律救济途径作了明确规定。我国票据法在借鉴大陆法系和英美法系立法经验的基础上,结合我国实际规定了挂失止付、公示催告和普通诉讼三种法定救济途径。     

Constitutional Rights in the Irish Home Rule Bill of 1893

In 1893, Prime Minister Gladstone introduced the second Irish home rule bill in parliament. The bill broke with tradition in Britain and the empire, as it included provisions from the bill of rights of the United States. Its significance was clear at the time: it was debated for nine days in the committee stage and, with one minor amendment, it remained part of the bill that passed the Commons. However, the bill was defeated in the Lords and, at least in the United Kingdom, bills of rights were dismissed as unnecessary or detrimental to sound governance until well after the second world war. This article therefore tries to understand how this early bill of rights was regarded at the time. Who suggested, or demanded, its inclusion? How did they expect it to be applied? And how did the debate reflect and influence thinking about constitutional law in Britain and the empire?     

The wild mammals (protection) bill: A parliamentary white elephant?

Examining one unsuccessful private members’ bill (PMB) ‐ Kevin McNamara's Wild Mammals (Protection) Bill which would have prohibited hunting ‐ this case study examines many of the non‐legislative functions of the British Parliament. Even unsuccessful PMBs ‐ and this was a PMB whose failure was preordained ‐ have many consequences for both parliament and the wider political system of which it is an integral part. PMBs can perform an important ‘exit’ function, taking the decision away from a reluctant executive. They can help to set the agenda of political debate, generating publicity for parliament (as a body), the issue itself and the member promoting the bill. They generate correspondence between represented and representatives, helping to inform and educate. They can be used as a party‐political weapon and may have electoral consequences. They may also affect the legitimacy of the political system. PMBs are far from parliamentary white elephants.     

Reform of forensic autopsy in the German Code of Criminal Procedure

The Federal Ministry of Justice has presented another proposal to rephrase the wording of Section 87 of the German Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO). The new version of Section 87 StPO is to be rejected as it would lead to a loss of institutional and professional standards. The bill is clearly influenced by a tendency towards privatisation for the benefit of a small group of specialists in forensic medicine mostly organised in limited liability companies and thus at the expense of institutes of legal medicine affiliated to universities or physicians working in the forensic service of regional courts. In the long run, this reform would not only jeopardize medicolegal research and teaching but also medical education and specialist medical training. For future severe negative consequences would have to be expected on the rule of law and legal certainty.     

Integrating the view of the public into the formal legislative process: public reading stage in the UK House of Commons

Recent years have seen increasing calls to integrate the public's voice into the parliamentary process. This article examines the impact of public reading stage (PRS) on the UK Parliament's scrutiny of a bill. A new stage of the legislative process piloted by the House of Commons in February 2013, PRS invited the public to comment on a bill undergoing parliamentary scrutiny (the Children and Families Bill). The PRS was designed to encourage members of the public to participate in the scrutiny of legislation through a specially designed forum on parliament's website. Over 1000 comments were submitted. Drawing on a content analysis of the comments given by the public to the bill, complemented by interviews with members of parliament, key officials and PRS participants, it was found that although the public reading stage had an impressive response, it failed to make much of a tangible impact on the parliamentary scrutiny of the bill. This was largely due to the choice of bill being used for the pilot and its lack of appropriate integration into the formal legislative process.