Remembering A Year of Anniversaries, 2015

2015 was a year of significant anniversaries and commemorations related to the Commonwealth, Magna Carta, World War II and the United Nations. In this article the author reflects on these events, on his personal participation and on the media coverage of the events.     

第三人欺诈与民事行为效力瑕疵--来自比较法角度的观察与评析

能够成为民事行为效力瑕疵的第三人欺诈将导致民事行为无效或者被撤销。就这种欺诈而言,法国法认为其不能够成为民事行为效力瑕疵;德国法认为其在对方当事人知道或应当知道其存在的情形下即能够成为民事行为效力瑕疵;意大利法则认为其无论对方当事人是否知道其存在均能够成为民事行为效力瑕疵。我国法对此问题的看法在实际上相同于意大利法,但有关立法中的不合理因素应当予以克服。     

相互依存式霸权：“第二世界”和金砖国家的崛起透析

在全球化背景下,以金砖五国等新兴国家为代表的“第二世界”崛起对全球产生广泛影响,并由此带来了国际关系与国际政治经济的变迁。葛兰西的核心理论框架——“霸权”概念以及以考克斯为代表的新葛兰西主义学派对探究新兴国家崛起的问题是有启发作用的,但是全球化与跨国资本主义的深化对新葛兰西主义学派提出了挑战。在整合新葛兰西霸权理论和后霸权批判理论,并将“第二世界”和“相互依存”加入分析框架之后,理论界提出一种新观点,即新兴国家作为一种新型反霸权的国际政治经济力量,在全球资本主义时代,尚不能建立起替代性的独立霸权,而“相互依存式霸权”将主导当今这个时代。“相互依存式霸权”定义为根植于金砖国家的崛起所带来的基于地区合作所形成的联盟型关系,这一联盟型关系的形成主要为了牵制并超越由单一国家或单一权力中心（西方）所产生的霸权。届时在国家利益、地区走向、共同政治议程、政治联盟以及潜在危机管控等方面,“第一世界”（西方国家）和“第二世界”（新兴国家）将相互影响、相互制约,共同重塑国际安全与国际政治经济秩序。     

上海世博交通需求分析与对策思考

上海世博交通需求的快速增长,增加了世博交通保障的难度。公安机关交通管理部门要借鉴国外先进经验,根据上海世博会客流特点,坚持可持续发展的理念,构建有效的世博交通体系。     

比较法概念的批判与重构

比较法的概念问题是比较法所有问题中的原点性、基石性问题。比较法学家在这一问题上形成了五种有代表性的观点,但这些观点都存在着各种各样的内在缺陷。本文提出,比较法是一门研究世界总体法律格局及其变化的学科。这一新的比较法概念和模式,可以为比较法开辟了新的发展方向和理论空间。     

The strategic determinants of legislative malapportionment in new democracies

When the number of seats to be elected in the districts of an electoral system is not proportional to their population, the cost of seats in raw votes tends to vary across districts. Malapportionment generates partisan bias when some parties do better (worse) in the districts where seats are cheaper (costlier) than in other districts. While existing research has focused on the exogenous determinants of malapportionment, in this article we argue that malapportionment also derives from the strategic decisions of ruling elites to maximize their legislative representation. The degree of malapportionment in newly democratized countries increases when ruling policymakers have reliable ex ante information about the geographical distribution of partisan support, and the authoritarian incumbent, at the moment of democratic transition, is strong. Our arguments are tested with original data from 60 third and fourth-wave democracies at national and district levels.     

Introducing the Open Clause to improve copyright flexibility in cyberspace? Analysis and commentary on the proposed “two-step test” in the Third Amendment to the Copyright Law of the PRC,in comparison with the EU and the US

The so called “three-step test”, that the limitations and exceptions of copyright shall be allowed in certain special cases, provided that they do not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author, grants copyright flexibilities to balance the interests of all stakeholders, especially within the European system of circumscribed limitations and exceptions. This is essential for the domain of computer law, confronted by rapid and unpredictable global technological developments, and is, thus, enshrined in the most important international intellectual property (IP) treaties. Through the proposed third amendment to the Copyright Law of the PRC, the legislature intends to adopt this test while also introducing an open-ended list of limitations and exceptions that constitutes a China-specific “two-step test.” This contravenes prima facie the thesis endorsed by the WTO Panel in the case concerning Section 110(5) of the US Copyright Act in 2000. In contrast, court decisions in China frequently apply the fair use doctrine of US copyright law, neglecting to consider its peculiar context of the US common law tradition and, thus, unduly expanding the Chinese courts' discretionary power.This paper summarizes the case law in China and takes a comparative approach to address the divergence between the judicial application of cyber copyright law and the existing legislation. It suggests revising the proposed Article 43 of the Copyright Law of the PRC to capture the due interpretation of the three-step test, thereby finessing the delineation between rights protection and free use with the compensation of remuneration under the principle of proportionality. It argues that transplanting the US fair use doctrine into Chinese copyright law is feasible, but with the preconditions of endeavouring to strengthen judicial reform to integrate the IP adjudication systems, enhancing the coherence and efficiency of copyright enforcement, and facilitating consistent dialogues between scholars, practitioners, and lawmakers.     

政治特性、效率误区与发展空间--非政府组织的现实主义理性审视

非政府组织的乐观主义者在强调该类组织对政府失灵和市场失灵的有益补充时,也或多或少地陷入了两个误区即忽视了其组织具有的政治性特性,并对其组织效率给予了过高的期望.试图从现实主义的视角,来阐述非政府组织作为一种相对独立并拥有一定社会基础的民间组织所具有的政治功能和作用,以及在组织效率方面可能存在的缺失.并认为,非政府组织对双重失灵的补充性,以及其政治特性和效率缺失,共同构成了其组织与政府之间存在的复杂关系,这种复杂关系在相当程度上决定了非政府组织发展空间的限度.     

二战时期马来亚华人与印度人政治活动的比较分析

二战初期,英属马来亚华人就已展开轰轰烈烈的抗日救亡运动,支持中国抗战。英属马来亚印度人则主要通过举行罢工等较为温和的方式,希望英国殖民政府给予他们公平合理的地位和待遇。日据时期,马来亚华人开展富有成效的抗日武装斗争。马来亚印度人则通过与日本人的合作,借助日军的力量,掀起了一场较有声势的独立运动,希望推翻英国人在祖籍国印度的殖民统治。从民族主义和身份认同的角度考察,二战时期马来亚华人与印度人的政治活动既有共同点和相似性,更有明显的不同和差异。     

中国加入世贸组织十年来的经验与教训——以国际规则的认识和运用为视角

中国入世十年来发展成就巨大,也面临着越来越多的贸易摩擦,主要原因之一就是中国企业对国际贸易规则和法律的认知及运用还有待提高.在认识和了解国际规则、增强国际规则意识的基础上,中国还应当加强对国际规则的运用,更要参与完善旧的国际规则体系.