Five Words for Assisted Dying

Motivated by Lord Joffe’s Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill, but with one eye on any possible future legislation, I consider the justifications that might be offered for limiting assistance in dying to those who are suffering unbearably from terminal illness. I argue that the terminal illness criterion and the unbearable suffering criterion are not morally defensible separately: that a person need be neither terminally ill (or ill at all), nor suffering unbearably (or suffering at all) to have a right to assisted dying. Indeed: I shall suggest that the unbearable suffering criterion undermines the Bill (or any proposal like it) wholesale. On the other hand, the criteria taken together are defensible, and this defence would be built on a concern for the protection of the vulnerable. However, I also claim that this implies that the law might justifiably—and maybe even properly—aim to prevent a person from gaining access to that to which they have a serious moral right. This seems paradoxical, and, towards the end of the paper, I seek to tease apart the paradox.     

Advancing police use of force research and practice: urgent issues and prospects

Leading police scholars and practitioners were asked to reflect on the most urgent issues that need to be addressed on the topic of use of force. Four themes emerged from their contributions: use of force and de-escalation training needs to improve and be evaluated; new ways of conceptualizing use of force encounters and better use of force response models need to be developed; the inequitable application of force, and how to remediate biases, needs to be more fully understood; and misconceptions about police use of force need to be identified and corrected. The highlighted topics serve as an agenda for future research. Such research should provide greater insight into when, where, and why force is used by police officers, and how it can be applied appropriately. If implemented, the practical recommendations included in the contributions should have a positive impact on police performance, public trust and confidence in the police, and citizen and officer safety.     

‘Country Rag Merchants’ and English Local Currencies in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, communities across England used country bankers’ notes almost as much as they used coins and Bank of England notes. Accounting for the relative success of these alternative currencies is challenging, however, due to the frequency of financial crisis during the period. If, during a crisis, all note holders attempted to enforce the promise to pay in gold coin against the issuing banker, the ‘law‐finance paradox’ would leave some note holders with gold coin, but would leave many more with merely ‘country rags’ or worthless pieces of paper. Building on both the credit approach to money and the relational approach to contract, this article shows note‐using communities successfully responding to financial crisis. They frequently did so by formalizing the bonds of reciprocity and trust tying the community to its note‐issuing banker – bonds sometimes made all the stronger by legal enforceability.     

The forensic and investigative significance of reverse paternity testing with absent maternal sample

The authors are involved in the extraction of DNA material from calcified tissues, oftentimes teeth, and analysis of such material to assist the investigative process, frequently by confirming the identity of the victim. Biologic or molecular techniques for the purposes of human identification have evolved to allow increasingly discriminating tests for use in criminal and noncriminal death investigations, as well as paternity disputes. The goal of such tests is to either include 2 samples (ie, they are from the same person, or in the case of paternity, they are from related individuals) or exclude 2 samples (ie, they are from different people or from unrelated individuals). Regardless of the system used and when data error has been eliminated, an exclusionary conclusion is irrefutable. The probability of excluding the falsely accused has steadily increased over the years as new methods are developed. Conventional ABO blood typing, for example, has a probability of exclusion (PE) of only 17%. This value increases to 53% with the inclusion of the Rh and MN systems. Additional serological markers can provide a probability of exclusion of greater than 99%. Today, the current method of choice for human identification is the polymerase chain reaction for the amplification of short tandem repeat (STR) multiplexes. This paper discusses the implications of nonpaternity in reverse paternity testing when only paternal DNA is available.     

Private equity: the UK regulatory response

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. Key points

• Rapid growth in private equity in recent years hasgenerated a public debate over the possibility of regulation.The Financial Services Authority (FSA), British Venture CapitalAssociation (BVCA), Treasury and the Treasury Select Committeehave all been active on this front in recent months.
• This briefingnote provides an overview of the current state of play in theUK, taking account of the final guidelines published by SirDavid Walker and the changes to capital gains tax that havebeen announced by the Treasury.
• The BVCA guidelines will bringwithin its enhanced disclosure regime around 65 portfolio companiesand will operate on a ‘comply or explain’ basis.
• TheFSA has indicated that it will focus on the risks of marketabuse and conflicts of interest arising from private equitytransactions, but it does not envisage a discrete regulatoryregime for the sector.