Parliamentary scrutiny as a function of interparliamentary cooperation among subnational parliaments

ABSTRACT

The paper analyses the scrutiny activities of three different types of institutionalised form of interparliamentary cooperation with participation of subnational parliaments: the Conference of European Legislative Assemblies; the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference; and the Interregional Parliamentary Council of the Grande Région. For the purpose of analysis, the analytical parameters of parliamentary functions are modified and applied to the forms of institutionalised interparliamentary cooperation. It is shown that the exertion of scrutiny activities increases in relation to the age and institutionalisation of an interparliamentary cooperation. Ex ante control, which may consist of as little as demands, develops more easily than ex post control. Moreover, the exercise of the scrutiny function becomes more difficult when the level(s) that populate(s) the interparliamentary cooperation is/are not congruent with the level(s) that populate(s) the executive body of the respective international organisation. Interparliamentary cooperation of subnational parliaments struggles to scrutinise an organisation in which national executives play a major role.     

Latency problems with smothering using soft cover

Smothering by covering the respiratory orifices with soft material is one of the rarely established forms of mechanically induced death by asphyxia. An important reason of latency is that this kind of homicide leaves almost no traces. The two described cases from the autopsy material of the Institute of Legal Medicine in Berlin (CCM) show the limits of medico-legal interpretation and the resulting special responsibility of the investigator. In the first case the defendant denied the offence and was acquitted of the charge, while in the second case the self-confessed offender was convicted.     

Age determination of blood spots in forensic medicine by force spectroscopy

We present a new tool for the estimation of the age of bloodstains, which could probably be used during forensic casework. For this, we used atomic force microscopy (AFM) for high-resolution imaging of erythrocytes in a blood sample and the detection of elasticity changes on a nanometer scale. For the analytic procedure we applied a fresh blood spot on a glass slide and started the AFM detection after drying of the blood drop. In a first step, an overview image was generated showing the presence of several red blood cells, which could easily be detected due to their typical "doughnut-like" appearance. The consecutively morphological investigations in a timeframe of 4 weeks could not show any alterations. Secondly, AFM was used to test the elasticity by recording force-distance curves. The measurements were performed immediately after drying, 1.5 h, 30 h and 31 days. The conditions were kept constant at room temperature (20 degrees C) and a humidity of 30%. The obtained elasticity parameters were plotted against a timeline and repeated several times. The elasticity pattern showed a decrease over time, which are most probably influenced by the alteration of the blood spot during the drying and coagulation process. The preliminary data demonstrates the capacity of this method to use it for development of calibration curves, which can be used for estimation of bloodstain ages during forensic investigations.     

Anmerkungen zum Ministerialentwurf für eine BTVG-Novelle

Am 24. August dieses Jahres wurde vom BMJ der Entwurf eines Bundesgesetzes, mit dem das Bautr?gervertragsgesetz ge?ndert wird, zur Begutachtung versandt. Im Folgenden werden dazu einige -- zT ganz bewusst auch über den eigentlichen Regelungsgegenstand des BTVG hinausgehende, aber mit diesem zusammenh?ngende -- überlegungen angestellt. (Fast) zur G?nze ausgeblendet bleiben jedoch Fragen im Zusammenhang mit der Schaffung eines (zwingenden) Haftrücklasses zugunsten der Erwerber. Zu diesen Fragen ist vielmehr auf die umfassende Abhandlung von Iro/Riss, ebenfalls in diesem Heft der "wobl", zu verweisen.     

Cartel Laws Undermined: Corruption,Social Norms,and Collectivist Business Cultures

The combination of leniency programmes, high sanctions, complaints from customers and private actions for damages, has proven very successful at uncovering and punishing cartel agreements in United States Antitrust Law. Countless jurisdictions are being encouraged to adopt these ‘conventional’ enforcement tools, in the absence of an international competition authority. This paper identifies three issues which may undermine the universal efficacy of these cartel laws: (i) corruption and organized crime; (ii) social norms that are sympathetic to collusive practices; (iii) collectivist business cultures built on personal relationships.     

The Word Memory Test in medicolegal assessment: a measure of effort and malingering?

The Word Memory Test (WMT) is claimed to measure effort and to detect cognitive response bias. Archival data from n = 2526 cases referred in 2009–2016 for medicolegal assessment were analyzed. Each participant underwent a medical and a psychological examination including a cognitive test battery and several validity measures including the WMT. The WMT validity test scores do not approximately follow a normal distribution. Thus, parametric statistics for WMT validity scores may not be appropriate. WMT performance explains 0–20% of the variance in cognitive test performance. This is more than what substantial brain damage accounts for. The standard uniform cutoff indicating a ‘fail’ in all three WMT effort subtests (equal or less than 82.5% correct responses) seems not supported by the data. Taking into account the context of the testing, cutoffs may be chosen according to the desired sensitivity or specificity. ROC-statistics with modified Slick criteria as gold standard for malingering look alike for the three WMT effort subtests, with a AUC between 0.86 and 0.88. The WMT seems a good indicator of both effort and (Slick) malingering, however, little is gained by administering the entire test.     

Geschäftsraummiete oder Unternehmenspacht: Aktuelle Tendenzen in der höchstgerichtlichen Judikatur

Nachdem zuletzt die Problematik der Abgrenzung von Gesch?ftsraummiete und Unternehmenspacht vor allem für den Fall der Inbestandgabe von R?umlichkeiten in Einkaufszentren im rechtswissenschaftlichen Schrifttum gleichsam Hochkonjunktur hatte, liegen nunmehr zwei aktuelle h?chstgerichtliche Entscheidungen zu diesem Themenkomplex vor. Im folgenden Beitrag wird anhand dieser beiden Entscheidungen analysiert, ob und wenn ja, in welchem Umfang, der (ausufernde und zT hochkomplexe) literarische Diskurs bislang in der Lage war, die Entscheidungspraxis des H?chstgerichts zur Abgrenzung von Gesch?ftsraummiete und Unternehmenspacht dogmatisch zu beeinflussen.