Alternatives to Public Provision: The Role of Legal Expenses Insurance in Broadening Access to Justice: The German Experience

The literature suggests that the main barriers to justice range from a general lack of knowledge about legal rights, and the related prevalent use of technical language within justice systems (which has led to commentators describing law as a 'leviathan'), to a vague 'fear of the unknown'. In Germany the principal barrier is thought to be the problem of funding legal services. Empirical research indicates that the question of whether or not to consult a lawyer is primarily one of cost, although over one–third of potential clients have little idea about lawyers' fees. To find ways to surmount this barrier is therefore of paramount importance for a modern society. In broad terms, there are three potential attitudes to legal costs: reliance on one's own resources; hope for third party assistance (such as legal aid or pro bono ); and insurance. This article concentrates on the last of these three options, comparing, in particular, the systems in Germany and England and Wales.     

Judgment of age and attractiveness in a paired comparison task: Testing a picture set developed for diagnosing paedophilia

Purpose. The Not‐Real‐People picture set serves as stimulus material for assessing paedophilic sexual interest. The pictures were generated according to five stages of sexual maturation from infancy to adulthood. While experts seem to be able to discern between the pictures based on maturity levels for a nude variant of the stimuli, it remained unclear whether lay persons would be able to reliably distinguish between picture of clothed individuals from various maturity levels. Methods. Heterosexual university students (52 females, 50 males) participated in a paired comparison task, deciding which of the persons shown on two pictures was younger and which one was more attractive. Additionally, reaction times were recorded. Results. Both male and female judges were able to differentiate between stimuli from the opposite sex with regard to age: the perception of the stages of pubertal development conformed to a measurement on a ratio scale. Similarly, the decisions on attractiveness of the categories were in accordance with a ratio scale. Male participants favoured adolescent and adult female stimuli. Contrary to expectation, female participants did not show a preference for any single age category. Conclusions. The stimuli appear suitable for diagnostic purposes. The participants' decisions reflect the inherent maturity levels of the persons depicted. Reaction times in the paired comparison paradigm increase with task difficulty (i.e., similitude of pictures). The implications for indirect measures of sexual interest, based on reaction times, are discussed.     

Data processing by police and criminal justice authorities in Europe – The influence of the Commission's draft on the national police laws and laws of criminal procedure

The proposal for a fundamental reform of the European data protection law, published by the EU Commission on 25 January 2012 is composed of two elements. Apart from a General Data Protection Regulation, the Commission proposes a second regulatory instrument, namely a Directive with regard to data processing by police and criminal justice authorities that shall supersede the Council Framework Decision 2008/977/JHA. This paper seeks to analyse the draft Directive in the context of the entire reform approach and scrutinizes a number of specific issues in regard to the scope, the requirements of data processing, notification duties and data transfer to third countries.     

Personality under EU Law: A Conceptual Answer towards the Pluralisation of the EU

Although the trend towards pluralisation within the institutional framework of the EU is somewhat reflected in theoretical efforts, legal scholarship's answer remains incomplete. Acknowledging that legal personality is always relative—ie related to a particular legal system—personality under EU Law should be recognised and developed as a distinct category. This allows for reconsideration and rearrangement of inter‐ and intrapersonal relations in EU Law: inter‐institutional agreements can gain firmer legal ground, the recognition of hierarchical structures within the EU executive branch can advance the maintenance of the rule of law, legal protection of the Union's citizens shall be advanced, and options as well as limits to privatising organisation at the EU level shall be formulated. On the whole, methodological self‐reflection along these lines is bound to lead to a valuable contribution of legal research in times of EU crisis.     

Die “history of safe use” im europäischen Gentechnikrecht

Natur und Recht - Die “grüne” Gentechnik ist seit jeher ein spannungsreiches Feld: Während die Befürworter im Interesse hehrer Ziele eine...     

Demokratie und Imperium. Tocqueville in Amerika und Algerien

Zusammenfassung Im Zentrum des Aufsatzes steht der Versuch, Tocquevilles Rechtfertigung der Kolonialisierung Algeriens aus seiner sozialen und politischen Analyse der Demokratie in Amerika zu erkl?ren. Die Eroberung und Besiedlung Algeriens ist für Tocqueville die M?glichkeit, die unaufhaltsam expansive und gewaltf?rmige Seite der demokratischen Lebensform zu nutzen, um die Gef?hrdungen, die zugleich von ihr ausgehen (Individualismus, Konformismus, Gleichgültigkeit), zu kompensieren. Mit dem imperialen Projekt zur Errichtung einer nordafrikanischen Kolonie sollte eine konformistische und erwerbsorientierte Bourgeoisie zu einer politisch führenden und tugendhaften Klasse erzogen und dem demokratischen Frankreich wieder der gebührende machtpolitische Platz unter den europ?ischen Nationen einger?umt werden. Erst sp?t erkennt Tocqueville, dass der brutale Verwüstungskrieg des franz?sischen Milit?rs gegen die indigene Bev?lkerung sich als das genaue Gegenteil erweist: n?mlich als Brutst?tte für Rassismus, Gewalt und Unterdrückung.

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Summary Tocqueville’s justification of the French conquest and colonization of Algeria is not merely a blind spot of an otherwise liberal and enlightened thinker. It is a consequence of his social and political analysis of democracy as a dangerous way of life. For Tocqueville, the imperial conquest and occupation of Algeria was a kind of escape from the crisis and vulnerability democracy caused in the domestic politics of France, i.e. individualism, conformism and apathy. With the national project to raise a French colony on the coast of North Africa he intended to forge a political class of virtuous citizens out of a rather commercial and depoliticized bourgeoisie. At the same time a democratic France should recapture its former powerful position among the European nations. It is only in his late writings on Algeria that Tocqueville recognizes the disastrous outcome of this nation- and class-building politics: the ruthless war waged by the French military against the indigenous population proved to be a hotbed of racism, violence and domination.

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Résumé Cet article tente d’expliquer les raisons qui ont poussé Tocqueville à justifier la colonisation de l’Algérie à partir de son analyse politique et sociale de la démocratie en Amérique. Tocqueville voit dans la conquête et le peuplement de l’Algérie la possibilité de tirer parti des tendances expansionnistes et violentes du mode de vie démocratique pour neutraliser les dangers (individualisme, conformisme, indifférence) qui lui son inhérents. Le projet impérial d’établir une colonie nord-africaine était destiné à transformer une bourgeoisie conformiste et matérialiste en une classe politiquement dominante et vertueuse ainsi qu’à redonner à la France démocratique le rang qui lui revenait parmi les nations européennes. Ce n’est que tardivement que Tocqueville a compris que la guerre brutale et impitoyable menée par l’armée fran?aise contre la population indigène s’avérait être l’exact contraire: le terreau du racisme, de la violence et de l’oppression.

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Der Aufsatz ist die erweiterte Fassung meines Habilitationsvortrags, der am 4. Juli 2005 vor der Philosophischen Fakult?t III der Humboldt Universit?t zu Berlin gehalten wurde. Für Anregungen und Hinweise danke ich Harald Bluhm, Hans-Christoph Schr?der, Skadi Krause und Effi B?hlke.