The evolution of judge-made law

The Law must be applied in all cases which come within the letter or the spirit of any of its provisionsWhere no provision is applicable, the judge shall decide according to the existing Customary Law and, in default thereof, according to the rules which he would lay down if he had himself to act as legislator.Herein he must be guided by approved legal science and case-law¹     

Applying the Notion of Noise to Countering Online Terrorism

The growing presence of modern terrorism on the Internet is at the nexus of two key trends: the democratization of communications driven by user-generated content on the Internet; and the growing awareness of modern terrorists of the potential of the Internet for their purposes. How best can the terrorists’ use and abuse of the Internet be countered? As this article argues, the answer to violent radicalization on the Internet lies not in censorship of the Internet, but in a more sophisticated and complicated strategy, relying on the theoretical notion of “noise” in communication process theory.     

Testing the satisficing version of the political business cycle 1905–1984

This paper develops a test of the satisficing version of the political business cycle. Previous tests have focused on maximizing models of political behavior and are not sufficiently general to test for satisficing behavior. Using annual U.S. data for the period 1905 to 1984, we find evidence supporting the satisficing version of the political business cycle model, but we reject the maximizing version. In accordance with the satisficing hypothesis, we find that increasing inflation or unemployment and decreasing monetary base growth in the third year of a presidential term are followed typically by reversals during the election year.We wish to thank Gordon Tullock and two anonymous referees for valuable comments.     

An unusual case of double death

The report presents the case of an alleged double homicide or a homicide followed by suicide of a couple, in which the court-ordered autopsy of both victims revealed that the homicide had been committed by the husband immediately before he died himself from cardiac failure. The article gives a short summary of the pathophysiological relations between emotional tension (stress) and physical strain and the effects on the cardiovascular system. The case report describes a homicide by strangulation immediately followed by the perpetuator's death from a natural cause.     

Beyond acceptable risk: On the social acceptability of technologies

The social acceptability of large-scale technologies depends upon a wide range of things, some related to safety and economics, but also some factors of cultural, social and psychological significance. However, many risk analysts assume that public opposition to technologies is mostly due to unfounded fears of their risks and, that there can exist quantitative criteria of acceptable risk that could allow the acceptability of technologies to be judged. This paper traces the emergence of the acceptable risk problem formulation and reviews critically some of the approaches that have been put forward to solve it. It concludes by discussing the problem of acceptable technology returned to its wider political and cultural context.Paper written in the framework of a collaboration with the FAST Programme (Forecasting and Assessment in the Field of Science and Technology) of the Commission of the European Communities. We wish to thank Donald Bain, Ward Edwards, Howard Kunreuther, John Lathrop, Riccardo Petrella and Jerry Ravetz for their comments. Any opinions expressed or values revealed are solely those of the authors.