Ministry of Fear: The 1947 National Security Act in Historical and Institutional Context

The Bush administration's plan for a new Department of Homeland Security is often described as the most comprehensive effort at institutional reform since the 1947 National Security Act (NSA). Unfortunately, many of the references to the NSA are misleading. This study surveys the debates that culminated in the passage of the NSA, then traces the evolution of the key agencies created by the NSA from 1947 to 1991. The author considers why so little institutional reform took place during the period between the end of the Cold War and the attacks of September 11, 2001, and then offers some points of reference for the evolving debate about post-9/11 reform of the national security bureaucracy. He concludes that the president and Congress risk weakening, rather than strengthening, U.S. national security if they create a Department of Homeland Security but leave in place an institutional infrastructure that was designed for a different time and a different set of problems.     

A Suicidal Woman, Roaming Pigs and a Noisy Trampolinist: Refining the ASBO's Definition of 'Anti-Social Behaviour'

This article discusses the definition of anti-social behaviour employed by section 1(1)(a) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 for the purposes of the Anti-Social Behaviour Order. It argues that, if the ASBO is to remain at the forefront of the Government's campaign against anti-social behaviour, this section should be amended. The article begins by outlining the claimed benefits of, and critics' concerns about, the definition, arguing that the difference of opinion stems from different views of state power. It then argues that the ASBO has been employed for social control, often at the expense of more constructive forms of intervention, and that this has shown New Labour's willingness to vest enforcement agencies with the wide discretion conferred by section 1(1)(a) to have been misplaced. Finally, it proposes a refined version of section 1(1), which focuses the Order on the cases for which it was purportedly designed whilst maintaining any benefits of the broad definitional approach currently taken in section 1(1)(a).     

Patents and enantiomers: Generics v Lundbeck

Legal context: This article examines a decision of the English Patents Courtin relation to the validity of a patent claiming a single enantiomer(a particular molecular form) of a known pharmaceutical compound. Key points: The court held that while it would have been obvious to theskilled person at the priority date to prepare the single enantiomerof the drug claimed in the patent, the actual method of preparationtaught by the patent was not obvious. The attack on groundsof lack of inventive step therefore failed. However, the factthat the patent taught only one method of preparation, but soughtto claim the single enantiomer however prepared meant that theclaims (other than the method claim) were invalid on the groundsof insufficiency. Practical significance: This case demonstrates the formidable difficulties in obtaininga valid patent for a single enantiomer of a known pharmaceutical.While claims to a method of preparation can be valid, providedthe usual requirements of novelty, inventive step, etc. aremet, a patent claiming a single enantiomer of a known compoundper se will be likely to be invalid on the grounds of obviousnessor insufficiency.     

Informal economic activity: Early thinking, conceptual shifts, continuing patterns and persistent issues – a Michigan study

In this paper we review theoretical perspectives on the informal economy that developed during the period 1958–1992. We describe shifts in thinking in two phases that we identify as ‘first wave studies’ and ‘second wave studies,’ and we identify a series of critical theoretical issues that emerged from the thinking during these periods. Then, focusing on the state of Michigan, USA, we examine empirical research that was conducted in the second wave and compare the results with a state survey that we conducted in 2005. The overall aim of this paper is to summarize the extent of theoretical and empirical studies of informal economy before the more recent postmodern informed analysis of the 1990s, and to document shifts in patterns of informal economic activity as this is revealed from the research. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and empirical questions that have begun to be addressed in the last 15 years of what has now been 50 years of research on this topic.