Land policy in post-independence Eritrea: A critical reflection

After a brief review of the traditional land tenure systems in a historical perspective, the article attempts to identify and discuss the main tenets of the post-independence government's land policy and explains the reasons underlying the government's decision to opt for state ownership, in spite of the bleak track record of such a property rights regime, instead of building on the wealth of the historically transmitted, culturally embedded, and socially sanctioned tenurial regimes in the country. On the surface, there appear to be well-thought-out arguments underlying the government's land policy as underpinned by the land law. This article questions the main assumptions and the reasons that support this policy.     

African Customary Law and Common Law in South Africa: Reconciling Contending Legal Systems

ABSTRACT

The multicultural fabric of contemporary South African society is the result of the interaction between various and differing historical narratives, each with their own knowledge system, which led to the emergence of legal pluralism. The common law and African customary law are the major legal systems. A historical- political construction of the common law indicates that it has been influenced by the dominant political power. From an historical perspective, the contraction and expansion of the common law is due to its continuous deconstruction, whereby new knowledge is introduced into the existing system. Section 173 of the Constitution of 1996 provides that the judiciary is now responsible for developing the common law. However, under the new constitutional dispensation, the reconstruction of African customary law that is now on an equal footing with the common law indicates that it is being remodelled to fit the mould of Western legal values. In order to achieve jurisprudential parity between the two systems, the humanistic values of ubuntu should be adopted to infuse African equity into the common law. The realisation of this objective is possible if an interpretative paradigm is recognised as a means of ameliorating the legalistic consequences of the prevalent positivist paradigm. Within an African Renaissance model, adherence to an interpretative paradigm would advance restorative justice, and curriculum transformation along with research and development that resonate African/South African values. This would instil new vigour into the law and the Constitution that is seemingly becoming stulted due to its adherence to Western values.     

民间法研究中的基本概念辨析

民间法研究之潮起,反映出学界对中国法治之路更为深层次的探索。然而在民间法研究中,语言混乱已是不争的事实,习惯法、传统法、非官方法、活法、行动中的法等概念往往与民间法概念交织一起,不加区分而随意使用,一定程度地制约了民间法研究走向深入,因此急需完成对相关概念的辨析。     

非洲传统宗教与习惯法的发展

自古以来,人们就非常关注法律与宗教的关系问题。法律与宗教是辩证地相互依赖,一方的存在不能缺失另一方。在非洲,传统宗教与习惯法相互依存,相互渗透,相互影响,展示一幅水乳交融,共同发展的图景。非洲社会的发展离不开信仰和神话,所以传统宗教有关至上神、祖先祭祀、图腾崇拜、禁忌和巫术等的信仰,以及口耳相传的表现形式不仅成为习惯法发展的基础,而且也是习惯法从古至今都被非洲大部分国家所沿用的原因所在。可以说,非洲传统宗教对习惯法发展的影响主要表现为,在表现形式上,口述传承色彩浓厚;在管理模式上,体现非洲人特殊的价值理念;在诉讼审判中,奉行神明裁决;在刑罚观念上,崇尚神威惩罚。     

Un aspect de l'insertion des militaries dans le processus de développement national en Afrique: Étude de quelques contradictions

At independence, Botswana, like many other countries in Anglophone Africa, inherited a dual legal system that was undergoing a significant shift towards convergence in the areas of criminal law and procedure. In Botswana's case, convergence was driven by a desire to minimise or, more speculatively, to gradually eliminate the gap between the normative standards of common law/general and customary courts in criminal trials. The country chose to follow a route that involved the universalisation of a penal code based on English common law, and the partial standardisation of procedure rules for customary courts. The present article considers how codified law and written procedure rules have transformed the substance and classification of legal wrongs, disputes and dispute processes, as well as the context and meaning of punishment in traditional settings.     

习惯性规则的法治意义

习惯性规则是人类社会需求的产物,是关系密切群体为了追求社会福利最大化和交往成本最小化的目的而逐渐形成的一种行为规范和秩序安排.与人类社会共存的习惯规则和习惯权利,具有丰富的法治意蕴,它具有独立存在的价值,是法律和法律权利的前身,是法律的合法性基础和评价性标准,是法律的权威性内容.习惯性规则在人类社会中发挥着极其重要的利益调整和纠纷解决作用,维系着政治、经济和文化秩序,成为人类社会不可或缺的社会治理工具.     

To Arbitrate or To Litigate: That Is the Question

The benefits of interjurisdictional competition, particularly with a customary law option, are discussed. Arbitration can be a mechanism for choosing among systems of substantive law if effective sanctions back arbitration. Powerful groups capture wealth by manipulating monopolized law, however, and arbitrators' decisions must correspond with expectations about how they will be viewed under review if a coercive monopoly provides sanctions, so conditions necessary for establishing alternative sanctions are explored. Finally, historical efforts to eliminate or absorb customary commercial law are discussed in light of the analysis of interjurisdictional competition, and the potential for encouraging such competition in emerging markets is considered.     

试析外资公平公正待遇标准

与国民待遇和最惠国待遇这些相对标准不同，公平公正待遇是东道国给予外资的绝对待遇标准。然而该标准的含义在理论和实践中存在广泛的争议。由于多数公平公正待遇条款并未提及国际法，不应以偏概全地将公平公正待遇视为习惯国际法中的标准，而应将其视作独立的条约条款，根据《维也纳条约法公约》进行解释。     

成文法、习惯法与传统中国社会中的土地流转

本文详细考察了宋代至清代有关土地的成文法和习惯法的发展情况 ,在此基础上 ,对成文法和习惯法在农村土地流转方面所造成的影响进行了分析 ,指出习惯法的长期存在是由于其能够起到降低契约达成和执行中的交易费用的作用。同时本文还就法律制度中所反映的土地所有权和使用权思想进行了总结     

历史地认识习惯的法源地位：以法国为例

习惯是法律的渊源,这个命题需要历史地加以理解。在中世纪,习惯在某种程度上就是法律,这是当时西欧的政治格局造成的。那时中央集权的政治观念与实践尚不发达,统治者无力推行统一的法制。近代以来,以法典化为标志的法制现代化则将习惯放逐到法制之外,这是人类理性的矫枉过正,也是宪政结构演化的结果。但法典化不可能解决一切问题,在人类的建构理性力所不及之处,经验理性仍有发挥空间。习惯是一种次要的法律渊源意味着习惯不可能得到全面复兴,只有在正式法律缺席的情况下,习惯才有可能发挥其解决矛盾的制度功能。