THE COMPETITIVE EFFECTS OF A CABLE TELEVISION OPERATOR'S REFUSAL TO CARRY DSL ADVERTISING

Many cable television operators routinely refuse to run localDSL advertising on their cable systems. Given that such conductreduces the advertising profits of cable companies, a plausiblepurpose for such discriminatory refusals to deal is to limittheir cable customers' information about competitive alternativesto their cable modem services. By banning local DSL advertisementsplaced on cable television, a cable television operator foreclosesequally efficient rivals (DSL providers) in the broadband Internetaccess market from the most efficient form of advertising abroadband product (television advertising), as I prove here,and thereby impairs rivals' efficiency. To the extent that DSLproviders cannot compete as effectively as they would in theabsence of the ban, the ban allows cable television operatorsto raise the price of cable modem service and thereby reduceconsumer welfare. Using a traditional antitrust analysis, Ipresent evidence that local television advertising can be aseparate product market (when it comes to marketing DSL), andthat cable television providers have market power in that advertisingmarket. I also present evidence that local television advertisingon cable networks is the most efficient form of advertisingfor DSL providers. The potential anticompetitive effect of cable'sban on DSL advertising is to relegate DSL advertising to lessefficient marketing channels, thereby allowing cable operatorsto charge higher prices for cable modem service. Such conductthus raises obvious antitrust issues.     

Reductio Ad Absurdum: The Kapo Trial Judgements’ Contribution To International Criminal Law Jurisprudence And Customary International Law

Several Jewish persons designated as concentration camp guards (Kapos) during the Holocaust were subsequently tried in Israel in the 1950s and 1960s for allegedly committing grave crimes. This article examines these trial judgements and considers their significance to international criminal law jurisprudence and customary international law. First, this article will delineate the trial judgements’ purpose, relevance and previous contribution to customary international law. Secondly, a comparative narrative of the judgements with recent case law from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court will illuminate their potential contribution, specifically to the principles of modes of liability, criminal intent, and the defence of duress. The Kapo trial judgements may therefore continue to offer an extreme case example and a worthy source of common law for international criminal law jurisprudence and customary international law.     

What goes around comes around: Perceived vulnerable employment and economic voting in developing countries

Voters who perceive the economy to be weak are generally less likely to support the incumbent government. Yet there is a debate over whether all people respond equally to economic shifts or if the state of the economy is more salient for those who feel economically vulnerable. This article examines whether insecure employment situations and employability concerns strengthen responses to the government's economic record. Data from Latin America and Eastern Europe confirm that workers who feel anxious about being fired or who believe it would be difficult to find a new job place significantly greater weight on sociotropic evaluations than do those with more secure employment situations. Thus incumbents who create risks for vulnerable workers are sanctioned, while those who create opportunities are rewarded most.     

The relationship of methanol and formate concentrations in fatalities where methanol is detected

An automated headspace gas chromatography method was developed for the determination of formate (formic acid) in postmortem specimens, based on the in situ sulfuric acid-methanol methylation of formic acid to methyl formate. Diisopropyl ether was used as an internal standard. The method was applied to over 150 postmortem cases where methanol was detected. Of the 153 cases presented, 107 deaths were attributed to acute methanol toxicity. In the vast majority of the remaining 46 deaths, the methanol was determined to be present as a postmortem or perimortem artifact, or was otherwise incidental to the cause of death. Of the 76 victims who were found dead and blood was collected by the medical examiner, all but one had a postmortem blood formate concentration greater than 0.50 g/L (mean 0.85 g/L; n = 74). The sole exception involved suicidal ingestion of methanol where the blood methanol concentration was 7.9 g/L (790 mg/100 mL) and blood formate 0.12 g/L. In 97% (72/74) of the cases where blood was available, the blood formate was between 0.60 and 1.40 g/L. In 31 of the 153 cases, the victim was hospitalized and blood obtained on admission or soon after was analyzed for methanol and formate during the subsequent death investigation; the vast majority (27/30) had antemortem blood formate concentrations greater than 0.50 g/L. Cases with samples taken prior to death with blood formate concentrations less than 0.5 g/L can readily be explained by active treatment such as dialysis. The blood formate method has also been useful in confirming probable perimortem or postmortem contamination of one of more fluids or tissues with methanol (e.g., windshield washer fluid or embalming fluid), where methanol ingestion was unlikely.     

DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND THE POSTDIVORCE FAMILY: IMPLICATIONS OF A PARADIGM SHIFT1

Over the past two decades, there has been a paradigm shift in the way the legal system handles most family disputes—particularly disputes involving children. This paradigm shift has replaced the conventional model of adjudication with a more collaborative, interdisciplinary, and forward‐looking family dispute resolution regime. It has also transformed the practice of family law and fundamentally altered the way in which disputing families interact with the legal system. This essay examines the elements of this paradigm shift in family dispute resolution and explores the opportunities and challenges it offers for families, children, and the legal system.     

The political context and Duverger's theory: Evidence at the district level

A central tenet of electoral systems' research is that more parties should get votes in districts with large magnitudes than in districts with smaller magnitudes. This proposition is largely untested at the district level, even though that is the level at which relevant pressures are expected to work. At the aggregate level, research has found that there are systematic deviations from Duverger's law related to incentives from ethnolinguistic fragmentation, institutions, and strategic voting. This analysis confirms that many of these results hold at the district level, which is the most appropriate level for testing Duverger's law. District level party-system fragmentation patterns in 44 countries support Duverger's basic hypotheses. The effect of electoral institutions is contingent, however, upon the presence of social cleavages that generate pressures for additional parties, the establishment of patterns of party-system competition that help voters evaluate contenders' viability, and the absence of competing incentives generated by districts of varying magnitudes. These effects are robust to different specifications of social heterogeneity. However, we find no evidence that institutional features like federalism or presidentialism reduce the strategic effects of district level factors.     

Institut Pasteur v. United States: the AIDS patent dispute, the Contract Disputes Act and the international exchange of scientific data

In the case of Institut Pasteur v. United States, the Institut Pasteur (Pasteur) claimed that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) had breached express and implied contracts to share research on AIDS virus samples provided to NCI by Pasteur. NCI scientists allegedly used the samples to acquire information which allowed NCI to file patent applications for an AIDS blood test kit. The United States Claims Court dismissed the complaint by holding that the Institut Pasteur had not complied with certain administrative procedures required by the Contract Disputes Act before bringing its suit. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the decision of the Claims Court by holding that the disputed contracts did not fit within the scope of the Contract Disputes Act. Soon after the Court of Appeals decision, President Reagan and Prime Minister Chirac announced a settlement agreement whereby the lawsuit was to be dropped, American and French scientists were to share credit for having discovered the AIDS virus, and both parties to the suit were to share the patent rights for the AIDS blood test kit. This settlement suggest that international legal disputes involving urgent scientific and medical matters may require dispute resolution techniques that serve as alternatives to national courts.