Defensive Politics

I analyze a minimax solution to the problem of social choice in a multidimensional policy space called the defensive optimum (DO). The proposed solution applies to a wide variety of models in voting including those concerning political advertising, incumbency advantage and interest group politics. The defensive optimum always exists, is unique and is continuous in the density of voter preferences. When a Condorcet winner exists it corresponds to the defensive optimum and, appealingly, the DO is always located on planes about with the density of voters is symmetric.     

Committee jurisdiction, congressional behavior and policy outcomes

The literature on congressional committees has largely overlooked the impact of jurisdictional fights on policy proposals and outcomes. This paper develops a theory of how legislators balance the benefits of expanded committee jurisdiction against preferred policy outcomes. It shows why (a) senior members, and junior members in safe seats, are most likely to challenge a committee’s jurisdiction; (b) policy proposals may be initiated off the proposer’s ideal point for jurisdictional gains; (c) policy outcomes will generally be more moderate with jurisdictional fights than without these turf wars. We empirically investigate these results examining proposed Internet intellectual property protection legislation in the 106th Congress.     

Formulae for Estimating Skeletal Height in Modern South‐East Asians

Estimating stature in human skeletal remains of Asian ancestry is problematic for forensic anthropologists due to the paucity and uncertain suitability of regression formulae. To address this issue, our study analyzed 64 individuals from a modern skeletal collection of South‐East Asian origin and developed population‐specific ordinary least squares regression formulae to estimate skeletal height from each of the long bones of the upper and lower limbs, as well as from trunk length. Results indicate that the most accurate estimates of skeletal height from a single bone (as measured by standard error of the estimate—SEE) are from tibial length in males (SEE = 2.40 cm) and from humeral length in females (SEE = 2.59 cm), followed by femoral length (SEE = 2.84 cm). When multiple elements are considered, the combination of femoral and tibial length yields the best estimates in both sexes as well as combined sex samples (male SEE = 2.40 cm; female SEE = 2.77 cm; combined sex SEE = 2.54 cm).     

Las competencias urbanísticas y la planificación metropolitana en el estado autonómico español y en el federalismo brasileño

This article makes a comparative analysis between the Spanish and Brazilian Urban Law, from the perspective of territorial and urban planning. Taken the basis of the constitutional rules that distribute powers to public authorities of both countries, and also the main laws that regulate the matter, as the case of RD 2/2008 of 20 June, approving the revised Land Law (TR/08, in Spain) and the Statute of the Cities (Law No. 10.257, f June 21, 2001 in Brazil). Besides that, highlight some differences between countries, such as the structure of the States —Spanish Parliamentary Monarchy and Brazilian Federal Republic— that is not an impediment to enable countries to use the legal constructions of the other country to improve its own system, especially in the metropolitan issue.     

Messy Business: Media Representations of Administrative Sanctions for Corporate Offenders

Enforcement against corporate offenses is increasingly carried out by specialized regulatory agencies. These often use publicity as a regulatory tool, in the expectation that disclosure of sanctions will invoke the threat of reputational damage and broadcasts a moral message about desired behavior. This article investigates how media represent administrative offenses in the Dutch financial market, in terms of punitiveness for offenders and in terms of the message about the wrongfulness and harm of offenses. Media coverage of administrative fines is messy in several senses. First, adverse publicity is unpredictable and disproportionally affects small firms in comparison with large, professional firms. In addition, it is also messy in terms of its contribution to the prevention of corporate misbehavior. Media do not unequivocally disapprove of financial market offenses. Rather than clarifying the demarcation line between right and wrong, media describe financial market behavior as a grey zone where differences of opinion can exist over whether certain behavior constitutes an offense. More than a publicity sanction or moral message, media was found to frame offenses by retail banks and capital market firms in terms of the power struggle between firms and the regulatory authority.     

Recent legal developments

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LAW OF TRUSTS. By Simon Gardner. [Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1990. First Edition. 250 pp. £25.00 (hardback), £11.95 (paperback).]

EXPLAINING CONSTRUCTIVE TRUSTS. By Gbolahan Elias. [Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1990. First Edition. 177 pp. £25.00 (hardback).]

CHARLESWORTH &; PERCY ON NEGLIGENCE. By R. A. Percy. [Sweet &; Maxwell. Eighth Edition. 1,232 pp. incl. index. £135.00 (hardback).]

CLARITY FOR LAWYERS. By Mark Adler. [The Law Society. 1990. First edition. 128 pp. £10.00 (paperback).]

PLANNING LAW AND PROCEDURE. By A. E. Telling. [Butterworths. Eighth edition. 385 pp. incl. index. £16.95 (paperback).]

PRACTICAL APPROACH TO PLANNING LAW. By V. Moore. [Blackstone Press Ltd. Second edition. 401 pp. incl. index &; appendices. £19.95 (paperback).]

THE EVIDENCE OF CHILDREN. By J. R. Spencer and R. Fun. [Blackstone Press. 1990. 362 pp. £19.50 (paperback).]

CROSS ON EVIDENCE. By C. Tapper. [Butterworths. 1990. Seventh edition. 757 pp. £22.95 (paperback).]

EMPLOYMENT LAW. By C. J. Carr and P. J. Kay. [M. &; E. Handbook. Pitman Publishing. 1990. Fifth edition, xxiv &; 232 pp. (inc. index). £7.99 (paperback).]

REVISION WORKBOOK: LAND LAW. By Gordon Henry.

A PARENTS’ GUIDE TO THE LAW. By Jeannie Mackie and Lesley Taylor [Penguin Books. 1990. 419 pp. (inc. index). £7.99 (paperback).]

A GUIDE TO INHERITANCE CLAIMS. By Nasreen Pearce. [Fourmat Publishing. 1989. 162 pp. £12.95 (paperback).]     

Beyond the multiple‐choice v. essay questions controversy: Combining the best of both worlds*

The increasingly diverse cohorts of students studying at new generation universities pose new curriculum challenges for disciplines such as law. These challenges are most visible in written assignments and thus interpreted as “writing problems”. As a consequence, much of the advice available to assist students focuses on “elements of good writing”, advising them primarily on expression and grammar and, in some instances, on the different purposes of legal writing. This paper offers, however, a quite different perspective on what underlies the writing problems of these students, arguing that students need to be knowingly inducted into the different positions or identities embodied in these written tasks, as well as instructed in the language required to “realise” these identities. This approach is explored through analysis of a standard problem scenario assessment task and student responses to the task. Finally, the paper suggests that designing a curriculum to assist these students' entry into the disciplinary practices of the law rests on more collaboration and mutual learning between law lecturers and language and learning lecturers.