Democracy out of Reason? Comment on Rainer Forst's “The Rule of Reasons”

In my paper, I comment on Rainer Forst's paper in this issue. I raise doubts as to whether the justification of democracy emerges from a fundamental moral right to reciprocal and general justification, as Forst claims. His basic argument appears questionable because democracy is different from a "hypothetical-consent-conception" of moral legitimacy, which limits as well as enables democratic legitimacy. The former cannot, however, justify the latter through an argument centered on self-government: Such an argument relies heavily on the possibility of consensus, thus neglecting the crucial phenomenon of disagreement or dissent. As a result of not adequately dealing with this phenomenon, the argument is unable to account for the basic democratic principle of majority rule as the remedy at hand.     

Naturschutzrecht im Zeichen des Klimawandels

Zusammenfassung  Der Aufsatz er?rtert naturschutzrechtliche Problembereiche, die im Hinblick auf die Adaption an den Klimawandel von besonderer Bedeutung sind. Hierzu z?hlen die Anpassung und Dynamisierung der Schutzgebietskonzepte und des Schutzes von Natur in der Fl?che, die Realisierung von Biotopverbünden als Infrastrukturen zur Anpassung wie auch der Umgang mit gebietsfremden Arten. Um den Anpassungsbedarf des Naturschutzrechts besser absch?tzen zu k?nnen, stellt der Aufsatz einleitend die m?glichen klimatischen Folgen für Natur und Landschaft dar.     

Der "gläserne" Abgeordnete? Transparenzregeln für Parlamentarier und ihre Folgen

Der vorliegende Beitrag analysiert – unter Bezugnahme auf eine ländervergleichende empirische Studie derselben Autoren – die Verhaltensregeln für Parlamentarier und die daraus resultierenden Konsequenzen. Dabei wird zunächst auf die Frage eingegangen, was unter Transparenzpflichten verstanden wird. Im Anschluss daran werden Hypothesen über den Zusammenhang von schärferen Transparenzpflichten und diversen Variablen dargelegt, gefolgt von einer kurzen Analyse der Implikationen für die verfassungsrechtlichen Argumente in Deutschland unter Berücksichtigung auch der österreichischen Regelungen.     

Injury potential of soft-air pistols

Report on a case in which an 8-year-old girl was injured on the left anterior thoracic wall by two shots fired by her 14-year-old cousin from a soft-air pistol (replica of mod. 17 make Glock, cal. 6 mm, solid plastic bullets); the projectiles caused two skin lesions, both reaching into the subcutis. The results of our own shooting tests with 2 different soft-air pistols and the injuries seen in our case confirm that soft-air pistols may cause penetrating soft-tissue injuries when fired from a short distance.     

A century of the The German Society of Forensic Medicine or Legal Medicine

On 20 September 1904 the Section of Forensic Medicine of the former Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians decided in Breslau to found an independent "German Society of Forensic Medicine". The constituent assembly was held in Meran on 25 September 1905, with Fritz Strassmann from Berlin being elected as the first president. According to section 1 of the first statutes the object of the association was to "offer a platform for joint scientific work". Later the name of the association was changed several times; the last change (to "German Society of Legal Medicine") was made in 1968. The close relationship between legal medicine and criminalistics is demonstrated on the background of the historical development.     

Confusing injury findings in a suicidal gunshot fired to the chest from a carbine with a sawed-off barrel

The stellate bullet entrance wound is one of the facultative features of a contact shot. For the formation of a star-shaped wound two factors are of special importance: first, an extensive bony support underlying the skin in the entrance region, and second, a strong propellant charge of the cartridge fired. Contact shots to the precordial region usually do not cause stellate entrance wounds, even if high-powered rifle ammunition is used. In the reported case, an injury pattern was observed that was not in line with normal findings and seemed confusing at first. Following a suicidal gunshot to the chest from a sawed-off carbine 98a (cal. 8 x 57 Js), a 4.5 cm wide, gaping bullet entrance wound with radiating tears was found. Instead of the usual pocket, the anterior thoracic wall showed a fist-sized area of destruction with extensive undermining of the subcutis. Not far from the entrance hole, a rib fragment had become displaced retrogradely thus perforating the skin from the inside out. The unusual pattern of findings could be explained by the fact that the barrel had been sawed off: as a result of this manipulation, a considerable part of the propellant charge had been converted outside the barrel, i.e. in the initial section of the bullet path.     

Personality disorders and romantic adult attachment: a comparison of secure and insecure attached child molesters

This study analyzed personality disorders in a group of 33 securely and 51 insecurely attached child molesters. A total of 51 child molesters were selected from a community based educational training program, and the other group was selected from a Belgian prison (n = 33). Research shows that adult attachment styles and personality disorders share a common underlying structure. It is remarkable that very little is known about differences between securely and insecurely attached child molesters. In this study, the authors found that the schizoid personality disorder differed between securely and insecurely attached child molesters. These findings have implications for the aetiology and treatment of child molesters. Future research is necessary to determine patterns of attachment in relationship to personality disorders.     

Positive constitutional economics: A survey

The author distinguishes between normative and positive constitutional economics. Taking the observation that the normative branch of the new discipline is much better developed than its positive counterpart as a starting point, the available positive literature is surveyed nevertheless. The available evidence is arranged into four categories: (1) Constitutional rules and the procedures bringing them about, (2) constitutional rules as the result of preferences and restrictions, (3) constitutional rules channeling constitutional change, and (4) the economic effects of constitutional rules. Additionally, various concepts of the constitution are presented, the tools suited for a positive theory of constitutional economics discussed, and precursors as well as related research programs shortly described.     

Ontogeny and dental genetics in forensic problems

Teeth are an excellent and reliable source of information useful in establishing identities in the absence of dental records providing that matching dental casts or teeth of other possibly related family members are available and that information on dental trait frequencies can be obtained. Such demographic data is generally available from physical or odontological anthropology departments in universities or museums. The data collected is subjected to statistical scrutiny and treatment of probability methodology.     

Do politicians’ preferences correspond to those of the voters? An investigation of political representation

This paper investigates political representation by exploring the relationship between citizens' preferences and the preferences of their elected representatives. Using Swedish survey data, the empirical analysis shows that voters and politicians have significantly different preferences for local welfare services, implying that voters do not elect representatives with the same preferences as their own. The results show that when comparing a politician of a certain age, gender, educational level and marital status, with a voter with identical characteristics, the politician still has preferences for a significantly higher level of spending on the locally provided services. Hence, our results indicate that the representation of different socio-economic groups does not necessarily lead to a larger degree of representation of these groups' agendas. Moreover, we find the observed difference to be largest for the least salient expenditure item. We do, however, not find any evidence for differences in preferences between the two groups being associated with a decline in trust for politicians among voters.