‘That Exalted and Noble Science of Jurisprudence’: The Recruitment of Jurists with ‘Superior Qualifications’ by the Middle Temple in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

By looking at the references of those who applied for the Middle Temple Readership in Civil Law and Jurisprudence in the middle of the nineteenth century this article reveals the seriousness with which ‘a great experiment’ was undertaken in the years between 1846 and 1862. New courses were established for would-be barristers. Reformers at the Inns believed that lecturers should be chosen on merit, and the use of references in this context raised novel issues. More generally, the reformers believed barristers should know about English jurisprudence and continental traditions of legal thought. It was a lively episode in which common lawyers showed interest in the ideas of English jurists and, at the same time, looked for inspiration far beyond the shores of England. In the early years at least, it was a time of hope in legal education.     

Youth probation officers' interpretation and implementation of the Youth Criminal Justice Act: A case study of youth justice in Canada

Many juvenile justice systems are characterized by an amalgam of different principles and ideologies, which have been incorporated into laws and policies regarding youth crime. This study examines the perceptions of youth probation officers (YPOs) concerning the 2003 Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) in Canada, which is one recent case example of a mixed model of juvenile justice. For instance, although the Act emphasizes diversion and community-based sanctions for first time and minor offenders, it also allows for adult-length custody sentences for the most serious and violent youth. This study asked YPOs about their understanding of the YCJA and their ability to apply the Act in their daily work as well as their access to community programs in 2004 and 2007. The results as well as previous research on the YCJA and policy implications are discussed.     

MPA as management education

The central theme of this article is that we have not adequately addressed the question of teaching management. The academic community has done a better job of preparing persons for technical/professional positions in personnel, budgeting and policy analysis. This failure to address the problem of teaching management leaves students (particularly mid-career students) without a foundation for understanding their role as managers. Given that so many MPA students aspire to be managers, it is time we faced this failure and sought means to correct it.

The article suggests a framework to understand and promote public management education. The central argument is to direct management education toward those factors which reflect the public values which underlie the concept of governance. Toward that end public management education must reflect three elements:

1) the political and ethical foundations of publicness,

2) the examination of the practice of management in public organizations, and

3) the skills needed to accomplish the task of management.

An MPA program should reflect all three of these elements if it is to provide an adequate management education. Nevertheless, it must also be recognized that career-long learning is the ultimate goal. Further, management education is but one task of an MPA program. The development of technical competencies in the other aspects of government, such as in budgeting and policy analysis are similarly important goals for MPA programs. A curriculum that accommodates both the management skills and technical competencies needs of students should be our goal.     

Speaking from the periphery

Many households and businesses in developing countries are said to face credit constraints which limit their ability to undertake investments in various production-enhancing economic activities required to reduce poverty. This limited access to formal credit is often attributed to the lack of ‘acceptable’ collateral, resulting from the absence of formally registered land titles. Despite the fact that this assertion is fast gaining ground, land registration has not been found empirically to positively influence access to credit. This article seeks to critically examine the above argument and provide credible theoretical explanations as to why previous studies in the developing world have failed to establish any significant positive link between land registration and access to credit. It is argued that formalising property titles alone will not be enough solve the problem of limited access to credit in the developing world.     

Selling Eastern Europe's social housing stock: Proceed with caution

Abstract

As the countries of Eastern Europe begin to reorient their housing sectors toward the private market, many quarters are advocating selling the units in the social sector—typically about one‐fourth of the housing stock—to the tenants. Whether purchasing their units is attractive to tenants depends on the sales price, current and expected rent levels, availability and terms of financing, and the strength of tenant rights of occupancy. Drawing lessons from the experiences of three countries—China, Hungary, and the United Kingdom—in selling social sector rental units, this paper concludes that too much emphasis has been placed on lowering the sales price compared with changing other conditions. This practice results in a substantial loss of revenue to government and a questionable distribution of the nation's wealth.     

Drug intelligence based on MDMA tablets data: 2. Physical characteristics profiling

One of the tasks of the European project entitled “Collaborative Harmonisation of Methods for Profiling of Amphetamine Type Stimulants” (CHAMP) funded by the sixth framework programme of the European Commission was to develop a harmonised methodology for MDMA profiling and the creation of a common database in a drug intelligence perspective. Part I was dedicated to the analysis of organic impurities formed during synthesis in order to investigate traffic tendencies and highlight potential links between samples, whereas this part focuses on physical characteristics of the MDMA tablets. Diameter, thickness, weight and score were demonstrated to be reliable and relevant features in this drug intelligence perspective. Distributions of samples coming from the same post-tabletting batch (post-TB) and samples coming from different post-TB were very well discriminated by using the squared Euclidean or the Manhattan distance on standardised data. Our findings demonstrated the possibility to discriminate between MDMA samples issued from different post-TB and to find out links between samples coming from a same post-TB. Furthermore, the hypothesis that most of the MDMA samples found on the international market come from the same countries was supported.