District Judges and Possession Proceedings

In this article, we draw on data obtained in interviews with District Judges about the factors which they say influence the exercise of their discretion in possession proceedings. Analysing the data set enabled us to create three ideal types of judicial decision—making which we have labelled 'liberal', 'patrician', and formalist'. We discuss the differences between each ideal type across five different variables: the District Judge role; approach; view of occupiers; the problem; behaviour of occupiers. Our data demonstrate a set of reasons to explain different approaches and outcomes between different District Judges (as well as the perhaps unlikely identification of a 'maverick' or 'idiosyncratic' style of judging). We conclude by suggesting on the basis of our data that, despite calls to structure or remove the discretion from District Judges, any such changes are unlikely to have much effect.     

Political institutions and debt crises

This paper shows that political institutions matter in explaining defaults on external and domestic debt obligations. We explore a large number of political and macroeconomic variables using a non-parametric technique to predict safety from default. The advantage of this technique is that it is able to identify patterns in the data that are not captured in standard probit analysis. We find that political factors matter, and do so in different ways for democratic and non-democratic regimes, and for domestic and external debt. In democracies, a parliamentary system or sufficient checks and balances almost guarantee the absence of default on external debt when economic fundamentals or liquidity are sufficiently strong. In dictatorships, high stability and tenure play a similar role for default on domestic debt.     

“He would know,but i just have a feeling”: gender and oral history1

Abstract

While feminist historians have long used oral history, and continue to revise the ways oral sources can be employed, historians of masculinities have been slow to embrace new approaches to oral history. Using interviews conducted with women and men for a community study, this article suggests that a gendered, relational reading of oral history is instructive, not just in showing how different men and women's experiences have been, but also how their memories have been shaped by prevailing ideas of gender-appropriate behaviour and values. This raises the issue of the form as well as the content of oral history being gendered.     

Negativer Kompetenzkonflikt zwischen VwGH und Unabhängigem Umweltsenat; Aufhebung des Beschlusses des VwGH

Der Anwendung der in § 40 Abs 1 UVP-G 2000 und § 5 USG vorgesehenen Beschr?nkung der Zust?ndigkeit des Unabh?ngigen Umweltsenates auf Angelegenheiten des ersten und zweiten Abschnittes des UVP-G 2000 steht kein unmittelbar anwendbares Unionsrecht entgegen. Der als Gericht iSd Art 6 Abs 1 MRK sowie Art 47 Abs 2 GRC zu qualifizierende VwGH hat seine Zust?ndigkeit in der Sache daher zu Unrecht abgelehnt, sodass der die Beschwerde zurückweisende Beschluss des VwGH vom VfGH aufzuheben war.