The use of EU soft law by national courts and bureaucrats: how relation to hard law and policy maturity matter

Abstract

Soft law instruments account for a sizable share of EU legal acts, with growing importance over time. Yet, while the implementation of hard EU law has been widely studied, little is known about the use of EU soft law at the national level. In the article, it is firstly argued that the type of soft law instrument will affect national usage. Administrators and judges may welcome interpretative guidelines to complicated pieces of legislation, while more open-ended instruments may be ignored. It is further argued that the maturity of the policy field matters. National actors in mature policy fields will be routinely exposed to EU rules and they are socialized into responding to impulses from Brussels. The article probes the plausibility of these expectations in case studies on the use of EU soft law instruments by German administrations and courts in four policy fields: financial market regulation, competition, environmental protection and social policy.     

瑞士、德国、法国人力资源开发的主要做法及其借鉴意义

瑞士、德国、法国等西方发达国家的人力资源开发,从实际出发,顺应了经济社会发展的需要,取得了较好的效果。他们在长期的人力资源开发实践中,探索出许多成功的做法,积累了丰富的经验。虽然国情不一样,文化观念有差异,但其经验和做法对加强和改进我国当前的干部教育培训仍有一定的借鉴意义。     

Comparative Perspectives on Childcare Expansion in Germany: Explaining the Persistent East‒West Divide

Abstract

Germany’s family policy responded to the European Union’s Barcelona targets by expanding publicly funded childcare, especially for children under the age of three, throughout the country. While overall nearly 33 per cent of all children in that age group had access to public childcare by 2015, there is still a large difference between the situation in the eastern and the western part of the country. This paper documents and explains this development of two persistently different childcare regimes in the two parts of the country. It shows that supply factors such as local administrative capacity and resources interact with demand factors such as parental need and demands for public childcare to produce the divergent development. It then discusses the conceptual challenges involved in engaging in this type of subnationally comparative analysis.     

德国防暴警察的行动战术

政治动乱和社会骚乱是德国这个老牌资本主义国家经常面临的问题。德国边防警察部队作为联邦德国一支重要的警察力量 ,由于其训练有素、装备精良和高度军事化、机动化等特点 ,被确定为德国机动防暴警察部队。德国边防警察部队不负重望 ,根据防暴警察联合行动的特点和要求 ,不断开发和利用更加先进的防暴武器和装备 ,并且十分重视防暴警察处置游行示威、处置球迷骚乱、保卫大型运动会、打击抢劫银行犯罪以及要人警卫等行动战术的总结、研究和应用 ,取得了惊人的效果     

社会演进与刑法修改——以德国为视角的研究

刑法的制定源于社会的需要,刑法的修改也是社会政治、经济形势发展推动的结果。因此,适时修改刑法,根据客观需要合理界定罪与刑的范围,乃是各国刑事立法的重要内容。本文以德国为视角,在概述德国刑法修改概况的基础上,从刑法修改始终依从社会的客观需要、始终与刑事政策的变化相呼应、始终伴随着刑法理论的发展三个方面对社会演进与刑法修改的关系进行分析,进而提出,我国应当借鉴德国刑法修改中体现时代性、注重实用性、反映国际性和追求超前性的经验,为不断完善我国刑事立法服务。     

Infant mortality in town and countryside: northern Germany, ca. 1750–1850

The discussion still continues among researchers about the causes for the decline in infant mortality in widespread parts of Europe at the turn of the 19th century. This article is based on sources such as unpublished statistical material from Prussia, parish registers, and lineage and village genealogies. As these sources are broken down by town and countryside and into various phases of infant mortality, they provide evidence for further reflection that may be fruitful. Thus, several causes for the decrease in infant mortality and ways of diffusion can be excluded and the impact of others delimited. The present study concludes that research should pay more attention to changes in infant care than it usually does.     

法、德民法典文风形成原因探悉——兼与滕毅先生商榷

法、德两国民法典文风形成的原因除了可以从文化方面进行探究外,还可以从其他方面来寻找。《法国民法典》文风形成与资产阶级争取城乡平民阶层、启蒙运动的影响以及当时法国法律职业的整体状况等诸多因素有关。而《德国民法典》文风形成则与“德意志国语运动”和德国启蒙运动及资产阶级革命的独特性所导致的德国社会体制的独特性有密切联系。我国民法典在制定过程中应当对这些问题加以研究,以发挥民法典的实际效用。     

Continuities and Discontinuities in German Legal Thought

How does the history of your country and its legal traditions affect your identity as a citizen, researcher, teacher? In case you happen to be from Germany, how do you live with the memory of national crimes - and the fact that legal academia identified in significant numbers with the Nazi regime? Are there affinities in German legal traditions to anti-liberal ideologies and authoritarian mentalities? How did post-war Germany face its past? The essay does not try to address these questions systematically but through a narrative which seeks to trace the biographical impact of the German history.

     

德国民事诉讼法的历史嬗变

大陆法系国家的民事诉讼法或多或少都受到过德国民事诉讼法影响,统一的德国《民事诉讼法》制订于1877年,至今仍在适用;然而,德国民事诉讼法自身的形成经历了漫长的过程,在制定以后也进行了多次修改。按照时间的顺序梳理德国民事诉讼法的历史渊源和法律继受,可以从它发展演变和不断改革的过程中发现德国民事诉讼法具有旺盛生命力和蓬勃生机的原因,可对我国的民事诉讼法修订有所启发。     

A Lasting Impact? On the Legislative Activities of Immigrant-origin Parliamentarians in Germany

The article analyses the degree of substantive representation by immigrant-origin MPs in Germany's national and state parliaments. To test the expectation that an immigration background increases the likelihood of engaging with migration-related topics, an analysis is undertaken of all parliamentary questions (PQs) formally asked by immigrant-origin MPs in Germany's national and state parliaments between 1987 and 2009. By controlling for several time-invariant and time-variant factors, the longitudinal analysis confirms that a visible immigration background results in asking more migration-related PQs. While several contextual, party-political and personal (career) factors influence the likelihood of asking such questions in parliament, there is no evidence for a decrease over time. Presence effects are significant and of lasting nature. This means that the parliamentary presence of immigrant-origin MPs with a visible background goes beyond sheer symbolic representation.