Farmer Representation in Australia: Avenues for Changing the Political Environment

This paper focuses on changes in the way Australian farmers have sought to influence their political environment. A taxonomy of avenues for change is constructed and used to illustrate the broad transitions in the way farmers have engaged with the formal political process. It is argued that Australian farmers have proceeded from parliamentary/electoral through militant/sectoral forms of action, and are currently pursuing sectoral action supplemented by promotional and consultative actions. Using the New South Wales Farmers' Association (NSWFA) as an example, we show how these changes in political engagement relate to a number of trends in the economic and political environment, for example economic deregulation, electoral change, administrative change, the declining economic significance of agriculture and the increasing impact of sociopolitical movements. These trends and perceived inadequate responses by sectoral interest groups and political parties have also led to rural people experimenting with alternative political avenues such as new 'populist' movements, rural summits and social movements such as Landcare and Women in Agriculture. The significance of Landcare as an avenue for renewal of rural identity and new forms of rural governance is briefly outlined.     

Havel versus Klaus: Public Policy Making in the Czech Republic

In Central and Eastern Europe, we can observe and analyze an ongoing social experiment euphemized as the process of the transformation of totalitarian countries with centrally planned economies into democratic countries with market economies. This article offers an analysis of what has been happening in the Czech Republic in this regard. Attention is given to the impact of political philosophies (those represented by names of Václav Havel and Václav Klaus) upon legal and institutional changes. Key terms for better understanding of these processes are the free market, civil society, civic sector, and participation of citizens in public affairs. Channels, developmental threats, and opportunities for public policy formation and implementation are studied as well.     

The National Transportation Act and Western Canada: a case study in co-operative federalism

Abstract. The transformation of the Canadian federal system from classical to co-operative federalism has placed greater importance on consultations between federal and provincial governments prior to the balkation of policy within their respective jurisdictions. There is, however, an absence of case studies that examine the interaction among provincial governments, provin-cially or regionally based pressure groups, Members of Parliament from a particular region or province and the federal cabinet in the formulation of policies in areas of federal jurisdiction. Using the enactment of The National Transportation Act of 1967 as a case study, the paper examines the policy-making process within the Canadian federal system as it affects the Western Canadian provinces. The central thesis of the paper is that the consultative mechanisms employed by the federal government in areas of provincial jurisdiction limit the extent to which provincial policy inputs are injected into the decision-making process. Co-operative federalism is entering a new phase that will be characterized by the establishment of specialized structures to permit the input of regional views at the federal level on a regularized basis. Furthermore, the provinces will attempt to develop regional policies in the hope that this will strengthen their bargaining position with the federal government. Sommaire. La transformation du système fédéral canadien, de fédéralisme classique en fédéralisme coopératif, a donné une grande importance aux consultations entre le gouvernement fédéral et les gouvernements provinciaux avant l'adoption définitive de politiques dans leurs juridictions respectives. On manque cependant d'études portant sur des cas d'espèce qui illustreraient l'interaction des gouvernements provinciaux, des groupes de pression provinciaw ou régionaux, des députés d'une région ou d'une province donnée et du cabinet fédéral, dans la formulation des politiques du ressort fédéral. En se servant comme cas d'espèce de l'adoption de la loi nationale sur les transports de 1967, l'auteur de la communication étudie le processus d'é'laboration des politiques dans le cadre du système fééral canadien, du point de vue de ses répercussions dans les provinces de l'Ouest. Sa thèse centrale, c'est que les mécanismes consultatifs employés par le gouvernement fédéral dans les domaines qui sont du ressort des provinces limitent l'incorporation des apports provinciaux dans le processus de prise de décision. Le fédéralisme coopératif entre dans une nouvelle phase qui sera caractérisée par la création de structures spécialisées afin de permettre l'apprt méthodique des opinions régionales au niveau fédéral. De plus, les provinces essaieront d'élaborer des politiques régionales, espérant ainsi renforcer leur position dans les négociations avec le gouvemement fédéral.     

Law as tradition

This essay argues that to understand much that is most central to and characteristic of the nature and behaviour of law, one needs to supplement the time-free conceptual staples of modern jurosprudence with an understanding of the nature and behaviour of traditions in social life. The article is concerned with three elements of such an understanding. First, it suggests that traditionality is to be found in almost all legal systems, not as a peripheral but as a central feature of them. Second, it questions the post-Enlightenment antinomy between tradition and change. Third, it argues that in at least two important senses of tradition, the traditionality of law is inescapable.This article is part of a project on law and tradition, research for which has been aided by a grant from the Australian Research Grants Committee. It was written while I was a visitor at the Cente for the Study of Law and Society, University of California, Berkeley, and revised while I visited the Centre for Criminology and the Social and Philosophical Study of Law, University of Edinburgh. I am grateful to the members of both centres for generously providing me with extremely congenial and stimulating conditions for work. Versions of the paper were presented to seminars at these centres, to the 12st World Congress on Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy, held in Athens in August, 1985, and to seminars at the universities of Warsaw, Lodz and Glasgow. I am grateful to participants in these seminars, especially Nel MacCormick, Philip Selznick, Wojciech Lamentowicz, Daniel Sinclair and Jerzy Szacki, and to Edward Shils for useful discussions and criticism.     

Markem v Zipher--the Court of Appeal provides guidance on entitlement proceedings

Legal and practical context. The Markem v Zipher Court of Appealjudgment provides useful guidance on patent entitlement proceedingsand, more generally, on the conduct of litigation. Key points. (i) Patent entitlement. To bring an entitlementaction under sections 8, 12, and 37 a party must invoke a breachof some rule of law. Validity is only relevant in entitlementproceedings where a patent or part of it is clearly and unarguablyinvalid. A claim-by-claim approach is not appropriate in proceedingsunder sections 8, 12, and 37 and ‘invention’ inthese sections refers to information in the specification. Theproper approach to entitlement should be to identify who contributedto the invention and determine whether he has any rights tothe invention. (ii) Litigation generally. A witness should be cross-examinedas to the truthfulness of his evidence whenever a party wishesto challenge that evidence. Where a party has more than onecause of action relating to the same factual background, considerationshould be given to bringing all causes of action in the sameproceedings to avoid a future claim being struck out for abuseof process. Practical significance. This case highlights the importanceof a properly pleaded case and of the ongoing need to reviewthe case strategy throughout proceedings.     

A quantitative PCR assay for the assessment of DNA degradation in forensic samples

A multiplex quantitative PCR assay has been designed to amplify target sequences of different length, which allows for the assessment of DNA degradation in samples of forensic interest. The targets were chosen to provide quantification and fragment length information relevant to the STR amplification targets commonly used for forensic genotyping. The longer target (nuTH01, 170-190 bp) spans the TH01 STR locus. Although not one of the longest loci used for STR genotyping, it was chosen as a good compromise given the target length limitations on qPCR efficiency with TaqMan detection. The shorter target (nuCSF, 67 bp) was designed in the upstream flanking region of the CSF1PO STR locus. In addition to these human nuclear targets, the assay includes an internal PCR control target sequence to allow for an assessment of PCR inhibition. The assay was rigorously tested on samples with varying amounts of degradation, and the ratio of nuCSF:nuTH01 quantifications was shown to provide a good estimation of the degree of degradation present in a sample. This estimate, along with the internal control for PCR inhibition, provides a valuable tool for post-extraction sample assessment.     

Evaluating the forensic informativeness of mtDNA haplogroup H sub-typing on a Eurasian scale

The impact of phylogeographic information on mtDNA forensics has been limited to the quality control of published sequences and databases. In this work we use the information already available on Eurasian mtDNA phylogeography to guide the choice of coding-region SNPs for haplogroup H. This sub-typing is particularly important in forensics since, even when sequencing both HVRI and HVRII, the discriminating power is low in some Eurasian populations. We show that a small set (eight) of coding-region SNPs resolves a substantial proportion of the identical haplotypes, as defined by control-region variation alone. Moreover, this SNP set, while substantially increasing the discriminating efficiency in most Eurasian populations by roughly equal amounts, discloses population-specific profiles.