A proposed methodology for assessing the economic needs of safeguard zones protecting groundwater intended for human consumption within the context of the European Water Framework Directive

This paper describes the gross domestic product and hydrological environment service method for assessing the socio-economic consequences of implementing necessary measures for safeguarding the quality of groundwater for human consumption and eliminating the risk of pollution. This method assesses the positive and negative impacts of designations of protected areas. Economic assets and social goods are the two integrated variables used in analysing the method. The first includes economic impacts on the local gross domestic product of defining protected areas, and the second considers the benefits of this designation in the conservation of water resources, assigning a monetary value to the preserved resources. In addition, tools have been incorporated, such as payment for hydrological services and generation of permissible activities, which reduce negative social impacts through positive economic impacts. These tools can only be used when compliance with conservation requirements for protected areas is demonstrated. The conclusions of this study include an application of the proposed methodology and provide essential and specific assessments that show that this methodology fulfils the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive requirements and that it is an effective tool in the implementation and development of strategies for hydrological planning processes.     

Introduction of Mandatory Vehicle Inspection and Its Impact on Health: Case of Georgia

Abstract

To fight atmospheric air pollution, the Georgian government has implemented a law about vehicle inspection. The aim of this survey is to determine under which conditions are owners of technically faulty vehicles ready to give up using technically faulty cars. Within the qualitative study the in-depth interviews were conducted. Taxi drivers think that this law is harmful to them though they appreciate the efficacy of vehicle inspections. Controls should be placed on the quality of fuel as part of the development of public transport while increasing awareness about the harmful effects of atmospheric air pollution.     

Accuracy of 3D Scanners in Tooth Mark Analysis

The objective of this study was to compare the accuracy of contact and laser 3D scanners in tooth mark analysis. Ten dental casts were scanned with both 3D scanners. Seven linear measurements were made from the 3D images of dental casts and biting edges generated with DentalPrint© software (University of Granada, Granada, Spain). The uncertainty value for contact 3D scanning was 0.833 for the upper dental cast and 0.660 mm for the lower cast; similar uncertainty values were found for 3D-laser scanning. Slightly higher uncertainty values were obtained for the 3D biting edges generated. The uncertainty values for single measurements ranged from 0.1 to 0.3 mm with the exception of the intercanine distance, in which higher values were obtained. Knowledge of the error rate in the 3D scanning of dental casts and biting edges is especially relevant to be applied in practical forensic cases.     

Disobedience and Criticism. The Ethos of Ombudsman's Institution and the "East-European Revolution of Human Rights"

The commissioners of human rights in the Parliament aim at ensuring the protection and formation as well as the development of the culture of human rights with their activities in Hungary and all over the world. What else could be done by the citizens practising their disobedience during the non-violent revolutions in 1989 after Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the American Henry David Thoreau? At a first glance, it perhaps seems to be strange to put the following question: what is the connecting link between the role of political law of a public state and the citizens breaking the rules in order to protect the constitutional rights? What will be the result of this comparison? I think, the result is that we can recognize the role of both functions more thoroughly in operating the constitutional state suitably in order to protect the culture of constitutional rights (reactive role) and to develop them (proactive role).     

Constitutional Law in Twenty Years from Now

The principles of constitutional law as those of many other disciplines seem to develop and to be replaced by new paradigms in the light of globalization. The present article using the genre of constitutional futurology attempts to determine whether this change is real or an illusory impression, and to predict the future of constitutional law and of scholarship reflecting on constitutional issues. A mighty forecast emerges from the interplay of opposing forces. While the withering away of the constitutionalist paradigm is unlikely partly because of the lack of a new generation of legal scholars following new patterns of thinking, partly because there is no reason to assume that the prevalent socioeconomic order would cease to exist , the essay maps a number of possible challenges like genetic engineering or personal computers interconnected in the World Wide Web , which constitutionalists shall expect to face in theory and in practice alike.     

Scope of liability: the vanishing distinction between negligence and strict liability

The duty-of-care requirement cannot be used anymore as the touchstone to differentiate negligence from strict liability because it can be found in many forms of the latter. Duty of care is smuggled into strict liability hidden under the scope of liability requirement (traditionally called “proximate causation”). As far as the scope of liability requirement is common to negligence and to many forms of strict liability, there is a fairly large common ground to both liability rules, and consequently the marginal Hand formula is applied to both rules. Indeed, under a negligence rule, the marginal Hand formula is applied twice: first to assess whether or not the defendant did breach his or her duty of care, and, second, to delimit whether or not the defendant’s behavior was a proximate cause of the harm suffered by the victim. However, under a strict liability rule, the Hand formula is applied only once when the proximate causation question is raised. Traditional law and economics analysis has almost always taken the normative question raised by the causation requirement as given, which is a potential major problem due to the importance of scope of liability or proximate causation in legal practice. Defining the scope of liability, that is to say, the boundaries of the pool of potential defendants, is the basic legal policy decision for each and every liability rule. In the normative model presented in this paper, the government first chooses efficient scope of liability, and given the scope of liability, the government then decides the liability rule and damages that guarantee efficient precaution. In the article, most known scope of liability rationales developed by both common law and civil law systems are discussed in order to show the substantial common ground between negligence and strict liability.