THE EVOLUTION—OR END—OF MARRIAGE?: REFLECTIONS ON THE IMPASSE OVER SAME‐SEX MARRIAGE

The debate over legalizing same‐sex marriage implicates the question of whether doing so would signal the end—or destruction—of the institution of marriage. The appeal to preserving a millennia‐old tradition of marriage against change fails to reckon with the evolution that has already occurred. Invocations of gender complementarity between parents as essential to child well‐being also conflict with growing recognition in family law that children's best interests can be served by gay and lesbian parents. Canada's path toward same‐sex marriage suggests that impasse need not be inevitable. In the United States, this impasse stems in part from the problem that same‐sex marriage serves as an emblem of everything that threatens marriage.     

加强行政审批制度的配套措施建设

审批改革涉及经济、政治、法律等诸多领域,除进行自身改革外,要加强中介组织和公共财政体制建设,创新管理方式,构建先进的行政文化模式等配套措施推进改革进行。     

文艺的德性：审美与伦理的耦合

文艺有着深刻的伦理学内涵,优秀的文艺作品的道德意义就在于它是人性的敞亮与主体性的高扬。缺乏伦理学的视野,就无法全面把握文艺的本真特质。文艺作品不同于道德教科书,文艺所传达的不应是抽象的直白的信条,而应该是活的生活———经过作家审美创造的生活。但文艺毕竟不是超人类的存在,文艺展示自然、社会、人际、心灵,提供测试人生价值和人生态度的光谱,文艺家的主观命意、文艺作品的客观意蕴以及受众的解读与再创造,本身就是一定价值的自觉选择和自然涵纳。伦理道德在文艺作品中必须是符合审美要求的存在,明晰的个性化(典型化)与生动的感性化,是其按照美的规律进行创造的实现机制。     

To Wonderland Through the Looking-glass: Conceiving a Critical Legal Argument for Contractual Justice in the South African Law of Contract †

The aim of this paper is to identify the possible substructure (looking glass/es) of a critical legal argument for contractual justice (Wonderland) in the South African law of contract. South African contract law still fails, ten years after the constitutional transformation, to reflect the constitutional ideals of freedom, equality and human dignity in an acceptable manner. I argue that this disposition places a question mark over the legitimacy of contract law and marginalizes opportunities for the social change envisaged by the Constitution. The paper explores Duncan Kennedy’s Form and Substance-argument and indicates that the reluctance to accommodate these values may be attributable to the fact that the majority of role-players position themselves on the individualism/rules side of Kennedy’s continuum – a paradigm that perceives the law of contract as a body of positivistic rules to be applied neutrally and regardless of the social or socio-economic distortions its application may generate. In an attempt to move away from this traditional approach, the privileged paradigm is criticised. A typical CLS-approach is followed which employs sociology, psychological jurisprudence and game theory to criticise the law from outside the restrictive realms of law itself. Simultaneously, I attempt to illuminate the argument for a shift (step through the looking glass) to another paradigm. I conclude that our judiciary finds itself in a position similar to that of Plato’s prisoners in the cave and will not reach the point where they apply relevant (constitutional) values directly to contractual disputes. The State is thus responsible for infusing contract law with contractual justice, by implementing legislation to this effect in order to limit the hegemonic consequences of the judiciary’s obsession with freedom of contract and utopian rules, which fail in reality to further the ideal of justice. Paper presented at the Critical Legal Conference, 4 September 2004, London, UK. This paper is dedicated to the memory of the late Judge of Appeal, Mr. Justice P.J. Olivier. The paper is based on research conducted for the thesis in partial fulfilment of the degree LLD in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria under the title ‘A critical legal argument for contractual justice in the South African law of contract.’ The degree supervisor is Professor Karin van Marle in the Department of Legal History, Comparative Law and Jurisprudence. The author wishes to thank the following persons for valuable deliberations and input: Karin van Marle, Graham Bradfield and Anashri Pillay. In addition, the author wishes to acknowledge and thank the University of Cape Town for financially supporting this research. †Paper presented at the Critical Legal Conference, 4 September 2004, London, UK. This paper is dedicated to the memory of the late Judge of Appeal, Mr. Justice P.J. Olivier. The paper is based on research conducted for the thesis in partial fulfilment of the degree LLD in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria under the title ‘A critical legal argument for contractual justice in the South African law of contract.’ The degree supervisor is Professor Karin van Marle in the Department of Legal History, Comparative Law and Jurisprudence. The author wishes to thank the following persons for valuable deliberations and input: Karin van Marle, Graham Bradfield and Anashri Pillay. In addition, the author wishes to acknowledge and thank the University of Cape Town for financially supporting this research. apply relevant (constitutional) values directly to contractual disputes. The State is thus responsible for infusing contract law with contractual justice, by implementing legislation to this effect in order to limit the hegemonic consequences of the judiciary’s obsession with freedom of contract and utopian rules, which fail in reality to further the ideal of justice.     

Resignifications and subversive transformations: Judith Butler’s queer theory and women who kill

This article provides an empirical study of a number of cases dealing with women who kill their abusive partners and the construction of the battered woman syndrome in order to identity the possibilities for transformation within the legal system. Drawing upon the work of Judith Butler, the article will argue that the unstable nature of social terms and the nature of social power provides the potential for resignifying and subversively transforming the gender identities constructed and perpetuated by the law. In addition to outlining the defences for murder and engaging in a close examination of the cases, the article will also provide a critical analysis of Judith Butler’s approach to subject formation. Dr Anna Carline LLB (Hons), LLM, PhD. Law Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University.     

思想政治素质教育的重要性

随着我国社会主义市场经济体制的逐步建立和改革开放的不断深入,我国进入了经济发展的空前繁荣时期。与此同时,西方国家的拜金主义、享乐主义、个人主义等思想观念也随之乘虚而入,致使一些大学生的思想观念发生变化。因此,加强学生的思想政治素质教育就显得尤为重要。     

常人方法学理论探析

社会学理论总是试图清晰地描述并解释社会行动及由此产生的复杂的生活世界 ,在熟知的基础上达到真知。传统的结构功能主义范式在这方面建立了较为完整的分析框架 ;而 5 0年代产生于美国的常人方法学理论则对结构功能主义理论进行了全方位的批判 ,并在“权宜性行动”、“索引性”、“反身性”等概念基础上建立了独特的社会学理论和分析方法。常人方法学为我们提供了全新的研究路径 ,但是它并没有完成给自己赋予的使命。     

防范打击计算机犯罪的法律思考

计算机犯罪愈演愈烈,危害越来越严重,应予高度重视。目前打击防范计算机犯罪存在许多薄弱环节,建立完善的计算机安全法律体系刻不容缓。一是根据新情况、新问题的出现制定新法以增强法律的调整力和强制力;二是及时修改、完善旧法以适应、调整和规范网络行为。充分利用法律的手段,有效防范和打击计算机犯罪,趋利避害,使计算机更好地为人类服务。     

谁是非法讯问的受益者?--侦查讯问的博弈分析

博弈论是研究冲突对抗条件下最优决策问题的理论,将其经典模型“囚徒困境”与侦查讯问进行类比,可以建立讯问中警察与犯罪嫌疑人的博弈模型。在我国,警察和犯罪嫌疑人博弈遭到破解的主要原因是警察的合法讯问和非法讯问策略、犯罪嫌疑人的坦白和抗拒策略均存在严重的效用倒置,这也是导致警察选择非法讯问,而犯罪嫌疑人选择抗拒策略的主要原因。为倒正警察和犯罪嫌疑人策略的效用,必须建立非法口供排除规则、明确口供合法性的证明责任、完善非法讯问法律责任体系、消除认定事实对口供的依赖、提高强制措施的适用标准等。     

简论以法治腐--学习邓小平反腐倡廉思想

邓小平反腐败思想的一个重要特点就是把治理腐败与民主法制建设紧密地结合起来,这不仅为我们指出了防治腐败的根本方法,也为我国政治现代化建设提供了一个整体思路.