Carbon dioxide capture and storage—liability for non-permanence under the UNFCCC

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has recently been gaining more and more attention as a climate change mitigation option. However, as CO₂ may re-enter the atmosphere after injection into geological reservoirs, the question of long-term liability has to be considered if an environmentally sound policy is desired. Apart from this aspect, additional complexities arise from the fact that CO₂ capture and storage can be carried out in two different countries. A classification of CCS cross-border activities shows that not all cases with non-Annex I participation fall under the Clean Development Mechanism. This classification is based on the assumption that according to Article 1.8 of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, CCS would be considered an emission reduction at the source. Furthermore, we elaborate on the problem that seepage of CO₂ from reservoirs located in non-Annex I countries—under current rules—would not be subtracted from the emission budget of any country. We discuss options for creating liability in these cases.     

The software Proteus – UsedSoft changing our understanding of software as ‘saleable goods’

One of the ongoing conundrums in the field of IT law is the nature of software. Pragmatic solutions have been adopted, and lawyers and developers alike have become comfortable that contracts and licences can be drafted and concluded in relative certainty despite the fundamental conceptual problem. As Atiyah's Sale of Goods puts it:

?…?the key to the conundrum is not to get lost in metaphysical questions as to whether or not software is goods, but to focus on who is being sued in respect of what sort of defect, and to be clear as to the basis on which liability is being imposed. (Atiyah 2010, 78–79)     

Religion,Violence and Cities: An Introduction

Abstract

The catalyst for this special issue was a symposium entitled Religion, Violence and Cities, held under the auspices of a five year inter-disciplinary research project on ethno-nationally divided cities.¹1. Conflict and Cities and the Contested State: Everyday Life and the Possibilities of Transformation in Belfast, Jerusalem and Other Divided Cities (2007–2013), ESRC Large Grant No. RES-060-25-0015. Principal Investigators were: Wendy Pullan (University of Cambridge), Liam O'Dowd and James Anderson (Queen's University, Belfast) and Mick Dumper (University of Exeter). The ‘Contested State’ of the title refers to states where the central political dynamic concerns the boundaries, or even the existence, of the state itself. While this project expressly addressed cities divided by ethno-national conflict, it was clear from the beginning that there was an important religious dimension to such conflicts in most, if not all, the cities being studied.²2. The two main cities studied were Belfast and Jerusalem while other cities researched by project personnel included Vukovar (see Baillie, 2013 Baillie, B. (2013) Structural Violence and the (Re)construction of Vukovar's Churches, Space and Polity, 17(3). [Google Scholar], this issue), Beirut, Kirkuk, Nicosia, Mostar, and Brussels. The rationale of the Special Issue is to examine how this religious dimension exacerbates (or moderates) urban violence within a broad comparative context. Although three of the following articles are informed by Project research, we draw the net wider to encompass a broader geographical spread from the Balkans, the Middle East, Nigeria and Japan.     

Determination of ethyl glucuronide in human hair by SPE and LC-MS/MS

A method for the sensitive and selective determination of ethyl glucuronide (EtG) in hair has been developed using solid-phase extraction (SPE) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Washed and cut hair segments were extracted by ultrasonication (3h, 50 degrees C) and the extracts were cleaned-up with aminopropyl SPE columns. LC-MS/MS analysis was performed using a polar-endcapped phenyl-hexyl-RP-phase with negative mode electrospray ionisation (ESI) using a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (Sciex API 365) with a turboionspray source and post-column addition of acetonitrile for enhanced sensitivity. The MS/MS transitions monitored were m/z 221 -->75 for EtG and 226 -->75 for D(5)-EtG as an internal standard. The method was selective and sensitive, with a detection limit of 51 pg/mg hair at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3:1. The mean recovery was 96%, with an intra- and inter-day precision of less than 11.7% at a concentration of 200 pg/mg. The linearity was assessed in the range of 25-2000 pg/mg hair, with a correlation coefficient of 0.997. The method was successfully applied to 97 human hair samples which were taken at autopsies from persons with known alcoholism or were obtained from alcoholics who were hospitalized for ethanol withdrawal, from social drinkers and from children having not consumed any alcohol. Although, approximately two-third of the alcoholics showed EtG concentrations in hair of higher than 51 pg/mg (up to >4000 pg/mg), in one-third the EtG concentration was below the detection limit. However, only in one of five hair samples of "social drinkers", the EtG concentration was above the detection limit (51 pg/mg). No EtG has been detected in the hair of children. These investigations demonstrate that heavy alcohol consumption may be but not necessarily has to be detectable by EtG analysis in hair.     

Bestimmungsgründe der Parteienvielfalt in den deutschen Bundesländern

Which factors are decisive for the extent of the legislative party fragmentation in the German Laender? While the institutional approach stresses the importance of the electoral design, the sociological theory considers the degree of heterogeneity within a society and the resulting cleavages the determining factors. In this article hypotheses are derived from both theories. The analysis of these hypotheses is based on aggregate data. It is shown that religious heterogeneity exerts the greatest influence on party fragmentation. Besides, factors of socio-economic modernisation matter while the only institutional variable of relevance is district magnitude.     

Undoing the Legal Capacities of a Military Object: A Case Study on the (In)Visibility of Civilians

International law dictates that actors in armed conflicts must distinguish between combatants and civilians. But how do legal actors assess the legality of a military operation after the fact? I analyze a civil proceeding for compensation by victims of a German‐led airstrike in Afghanistan. The court treated military video as key evidence. I show how lawyers, judges, and expert witnesses categorized those involved by asking what a “military viewer” would make of the pictures. During the hearing, they avoided the categories of combatants/civilians; the military object resisted legal coding. I examine the decision in its procedural context, using ethnographic field notes and legal documents. I combine two ethnomethodological analytics: a trans‐sequential approach and membership categorization analysis. I show the value of this combination for the sociological analysis of legal practice. I also propose that legal practitioners should use this approach to assess military viewing as a concerted, situated activity.     

New Public Management Reforms in the Italian Universities: Managerial Tools,Accountability Mechanisms or Simply Compliance?

Since 2009, a cross-sectorial reform based on the New Public Management (NPM) principles introduced a performance management system in Italian universities. On the basis of the analysis of the documents regarding the performance management system produced by 60 public Italian universities as a result of the reform implementation, the paper investigates the performance management tools in relation to both completeness and use of them. The analysis highlights that the universities have implemented performance management tools in an unstructured and nonhomogeneous way. This allows formulation of hypotheses on the main determinants of this unsatisfactory result.     

German Constitutional Law in the UK Supreme Court

Liverpool Law Review - The outgoing tide of EU law will be Britain’s most significant constitutional change in recent times. In an era of uncertainties, the UK Supreme Court proved to be a...     

Challenges and methodological flaws in reporting the global land rush: observations from Tanzania

Since international awareness of a global rush for land has grown from 2008 onward, various databases and reports have attempted to provide an overview of the situation by compiling information on individual land deals. While providing such an overview is challenging owing to the dynamic and untransparent nature of the investments, flawed methods of using and citing data are aggravating that challenge and allowing dissemination of inaccurate information. The consequences are an unnecessarily blurred picture of the land deal situation and thus an inadequate basis for related political decisions or social actions and a misleading starting point for new research projects. In this article we demonstrate some of the flaws in the use of data and their consequences, with examples from fieldwork and literature on Tanzania. The paper illustrates and contributes to the evolving debate on appropriate research methodologies for studying the global land rush.