Das Aufhebungs- und Rehabilitationsgesetz 2009

Das AufhG 2009 löst das AnerkG 2005 ab, über das in dieser Zeitschrift ebenso eingehend berichtet wurde wie über die vorangegangene Entwicklung. Nach einem kurzen Überblick über diese Vorgeschichte und die Gründe zur erneuten Gesetzgebung wird das politische Zustandekommen des neuen Gesetzes behandelt und dieses im Einzelnen dargestellt. Wenn auch die lang umstrittene Rehabilitierung der Wehrmachtsdeserteure vollkommen erreicht wurde, zeigen sich doch im Übrigen einige Mängel in der juristischen und rechtspolitischen Aufarbeitung der Materie, denen das Hauptaugenmerk gilt.     

Reduced payer's liability for unauthorized payment transactions under the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2)

In 2015, the European legislator enacted the second Payment Services Directive, which, among other things, determines the payer's liability for unauthorized payment transactions. This paper will show that PSD2 has widened its scope and further reduces the payer's liability for unauthorized transactions, for example by making it impossible to hold the payer liable in case no strong customer authentication has been applied, by requiring supporting evidence to prove the payer's fraud or gross negligence and by applying the same rules when unauthorized transactions are initiated through a payment initiation service.     

Disentangling governance: a synoptic view of regulation by government, business and civil society

Governance became a catch-all concept for various forms of steering by state and non-state actors. While it pays tribute to the complexities of steering in poly-centred, globalised societies, its fuzziness makes it difficult to oversee who actually steers whom and with what means. By focussing mainly on actor constellations, the article disentangles governance into seven basic types of regulation, four of them representing public policies with varying degrees of government involvement and three depending solely on civil society (civil regulation), on businesses (industry or business self-regulation) or on both (civil co-regulation). Although each of the seven types is well known and extensively researched, they are rarely joined in a synoptic view, making it difficult to grasp the totality of contemporary governance. After introducing the seven basic types of regulation and co-regulation, the article addresses the interactions between them and it adds the widely used concepts of hybrid regulation and meta-governance in distinct ways. The synoptic view provided here helps to comprehend how governmental deregulation has been accompanied by soft governmental regulation as well as “societal re-regulation”. The concluding discussion emphasises that this “regulatory reconfiguration” is the cumulative product of countless, more or less spontaneous initiatives that coincide with forceful global trends. It also stresses that the various forms of regulation by civil society and business actors are not simply alternatives or complements to but often key prerequisites for effective public policies. Although the essentials of the typology developed here can be applied universally to a variety of policy issues, I focus it on how businesses are steered towards sustainable development and Corporate Social Responsibility.     

Death after anal "fisting"

A 45-year-old homeless woman was found dead at her usual sleeping place. Apart from traces of blood on the lower abdomen of the body, the police investigations did not produce any clues pointing to an unnatural death. At autopsy, it was found, however, that death had been caused by extensive disruptions of the intestine. After being confronted with the results, the sexual partner of the victim admitted manual anal penetration, but claimed that this had been done by mutual agreement. The court did not accept that statement and sentenced him to life imprisonment for murder. The frequency of such fatal outcomes of anal penetration, the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim and the special features at the scene are discussed.     

Business and Culture

正Itraveled around Asia for business as CEO and business director together with my buyers between 1980 and 1993,in particular the annual trade fairs in China's mainland and Taiwan. In subsequent years I have returned to visit the same countries and the region privately in order to maintain acquaintances and to deepen my knowledge of Chinese culture.     

Perspektiven des künftigen österreichischen und europäischen Zivilrechts

Dieser Beitrag befasst sich einleitend mit dem ABGB, das international untersch?tzt und unzureichend beachtet wird. Dem ABGB, wie den anderen nationalen Kodifikationen, wird nunmehr freilich ein Konkurrent erstehen: ein Gemeinsames Europ?isches Kaufrecht, für das die Europ?ische Kommission jüngst einen Entwurf vorgelegt hat. Nach einem überblick über die Genese dieses Entwurfs bietet der Beitrag in seinem Hauptteil eine erste kritische Einsch?tzung. Er weist darauf hin, dass der Entwurf lückenhaft ist und unter einer Reihe inhaltlicher M?ngel leidet; auch eine Revision des acquis communautaire, die diesen Namen verdient, hat bislang nicht stattgefunden. Eine Analyse des Entwurfs wird dadurch erschwert, dass vielfach nicht erkennbar ist, warum seine Verfasser bestimmte Entscheidungen getroffen haben. Die praktischen Erfolgschancen des Gemeinsamen Kaufrechts sind skeptisch zu beurteilen. Das liegt nicht zuletzt an seinem in dreifacher Hinsicht eingeschr?nkten Anwendungsbereich und an den überkomplexen Regeln zu seiner Wahl. Auch sind die allgemeinen Rahmenbedingungen eher ungünstig, denn weder die Sprachenfrage noch das Problem einer einheitlichen Auslegung ist befriedigend gel?st. Zudem stützt sich die Kommission auf eine ungeeignete Rechtsgrundlage.     

Medical and legal aspects of genital mutilation and circumcision part I: female genital mutilation (FGM)

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is considered to be against the law and against morality not only in Western countries, although a woman of age and able to consent may sometimes think differently. The procedure may have serious physical and emotional consequences for the girl or woman. Nevertheless there are attempts to justify the procedure with medical and hygienic pseudoarguments, ideology, freedom of religion, cultural identity and social adequacy. Outside the Western world, some people claim that religion and culture alone justify the practice. In Germany, parents can lose the right to determine the residence of their daughter, if she is faced with the risk of genital mutilation in order to prevent that the child or girl is taken to her home country. Genital mutilation as a gender-specific threat is recognized as a reason to grant asylum or prevent deportation. Proposals to make genital mutilation a separate punishable offence are presently discussed by the legislator.