Homicide by methane gas

Two cases of sudden death due to myocardial infarction which were associated external injuries on the chest are discussed here. Injuries were in the form of abraded contusions on the anterior part of chest. Both the cases were declared dead on arrival to the casualty section (Accident and Emergencies Department). In these cases, mention of injuries was not made in the inquest report. In both the cases, suspicion of foul play or the trauma induced myocardial infarction were ruled out by inquiring into the incidents by the autopsy surgeon. The cases highlight the importance of detailed history by the autopsy surgeon in cases of sudden death with associated injuries on the front of the chest.     

Optimal linear contracts under common agency and uncertain central bank preferences

We analyze the effects of imperfectly known central banker’s preferences on optimal linear contracts offered by the government and an interest group. These effects depend on the type of uncertainty faced by the principals. When the central bank’s output target is uncertain the results by Campoy and Negrete (Public Choice 137:197–206, 2008) under perfectly known preferences obtain. Uncertainty about the central banker’s degree of conservatism or about its degree of “selfishness” has a multiplicative impact on the principals’ instruments in the agent’s best response function; this may generate an inflation bias independently of the type of contract offered by the interest group.     

BUDGETING IN A TIME OF AUSTERITY: THE CASE OF THE ESTONIAN CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

Resulting from the global economic crisis, high budget deficits and debt burden characterise many economies looking for an exit strategy from current fiscal unbalances. The government of Estonia, having pursued a conservative fiscal policy for over a decade, reacted to the economic recession with radical budget adjustments, the latter constituting approximately 9% of gross domestic product in 2009. Consequently, Estonia took its chance and qualified for the euro in 2011. This study examines the behaviour of the Estonian central government and the basis of its budget decisions when planning drastic cost reductions through the theoretical lens of cutback management. The foremost results reveal that the crisis pushed the government to establish a different institutional framework that facilitated fast and effective decision‐making during the budget process. The savings proposals came from the Ministry of Finance; however, running a cash‐basis line‐item budgeting system in practice, the centre possessed only limited performance data for developing the proposals. Consequently, the long‐term impacts of the budget adjustments had not been assessed and are as yet unknown. A further conclusion is that the current budgeting framework should be revised and replaced step by step with a more advanced approach. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Between Procedural Impermeability and Constitutional Openness: The Italian Constitutional Court and Preliminary References to the European Court of Justice

On 15 April 2008, the Italian Constitutional Court (ICC) raised for the first time a preliminary question to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). This decision (see judgment No 102/2008 and order No 103/2008) represented a turning point in the ICC's case‐law, and calls for a careful assessment of the motives backing such revirement as well as of the legal reasoning that the Italian judges used to wrap it up without repudiating their previous case‐law. In addition to this preliminary analysis, the aim of this essay is to explore two themes: i) the developments of the ICC's case‐law as regards the role of Community Law and the ECJ, and ii) the appraisal of the interplay between the ICC and the ECJ in the light of the notion of ‘interpretive competition’.     

Territorial government reforms at the time of financial crisis: the dawn of metropolitan cities in Italy

On 1 January 2015 a new institution, the metropolitan city, took its place among the Italian territorial authorities. Despite its incorporation in the Italian Constitution since 2001, the metropolitan city become a reality only when the national government carried out a process of reform and transformation of Italian territorial government by transforming 10 large cities into metropolitan cities and depriving other intermediate governments (regions and provinces) of their fundamental competences. This article critically reviews the activation of metropolitan cities and the reshuffle of Italian territorial authorities. It stresses the way in which this reform marks the shift towards a new phase of Italian regionalism, which is dominated both by a dynamic of recentralizing intergovernmental relations and by the resulting loss for provincial and regional governments.     

A Novel Forensic Investigation Applied to Bone Remains Exhumed near to Quirra Interforce Firing Range

The need to implement novel techniques, able to support a causal link between exposure and pathology, has been emerged over the recent years. The application of scanning electron microscope coupled with probe X‐ray microanalysis (by means of an energy‐dispersive spectroscopy) has been developed by our research group for the bone remains investigation. It was aimed to testify the exposure to microsized and nanosized pollutions, due to military activities in the Quirra interforce firing range, of a Sardinian shepherd, died of acute leukemia. Metallic debris with a combustive morphology and with an oncogenic potential has been surely detected inside his bone marrow canal. This novel technique has proved to be able to bring to light a source of past exposure preserved over time within the bone marrow canal. It can be useful for postmortem analyses, delivering a new avant‐garde approach to modern forensic science.     

The Social Dilemma of European Integration

This essay examines the problems that many scholars raise when referring to the EU’s chances of implementing a true, original and effective social model, capable of renewing the Welfare State model developed after the Second World War. The analysis is conducted in the light of the process of ‘constitutionalisation’ in the European Union and of the Lisbon Treaty. Following a constructive approach, the author examines the current debate among European public actors on this issue, with particular emphasis on the ‘advanced enforcement’ of the Nice Bill of Rights evident in the jurisprudence of the European Courts as well as in recently published European Commission documents on ‘flexicurity’.

Widening the Protection Gap: The 'Politics of Citizenship' for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon, 1948-2008

Lebanon has been a reluctant host to Palestinian refugees since1948. A mainstay of Lebanese policies vis-à-vis the Palestinianrefugees has been preventing their permanent integration andsettlement in the country. The question of naturalizing refugeesis one of the most contentious political issues in Lebanon today.Palestinian refugees tend to live in conflict-ridden environments,often at the margins of the host society. This first of allapplies to the camp-based refugees, who languish in dilapidatedand overcrowded camps. Unable to return to Palestine and marginalizedby the host society, they are caught in a legal limbo. In orderto understand the complex legal regime that governs their refugeestatus, it is necessary to examine their rights as refugeesin international law, regionally as hosted by Arab League statesand nationally as residents of Lebanon. The rights regime iscomplex and contributes to a critical ‘protection gap’for the refugees. This article demonstrates how this protectiongap was created and widened by historically contingent, international,regional and national legal rights regimes.     

Trading Refugees for Land and Symbols: The Palestinian Negotiation Strategy in the Oslo Process

This article analyses the negotiation strategy of the PalestineLiberation Organization regarding the refugee issue in the failedIsraeli–Palestinian peace process from 1993 to 2001. Itis argued that the PLO was on the brink of conceding the ‘rightof return’ for the sake of territorial concessions fromIsrael. The author discusses the implications of this strategyfor the domestic legitimacy of the Palestinian leadership, asgiving up the right of return would violate a core tenet inPalestinian national mythology. The PLO negotiators tried tosolve that dilemma by, first, separating the principle of returnfrom its implementation—making it possible for the PLOto remain committed to the principle, while offering compromiseson physical return—and, second, by demanding symbolicgestures from Israel, including acknowledgment of Israel's historicresponsibility for the refugee problem. It is argued that Israel'srefusal to offer a minimum of face-saving gestures preventedthe PLO from formalizing its compromise proposal.