最高法院对外国法适用的上诉审查

最高法院位于一国司法体系的顶端,同时负有上诉终审裁判功能和发展法律的功能.最高法院是否应对外国法的错误适用进行上诉审查,各国实践和理论分歧甚大,从中可以概括出三种基本模式:拒绝审查模式、有限审查模式和全面审查模式.从最高法院的上诉裁判功能出发,为落实当事人的上诉救济权利,尤其是在我国二审终审和法官对外国法的查明和确定拥有主导权的语境下,最高法院应对外国法的错误适用进行上诉审查.外国法的适用与本国法律体系的发展并不割裂,相反两者具有实质关联,最高法院从其发展法律的功能出发,也应主动审查下级法院对外国法的错误适用.最高法院解释和适用外国法,有助于增进本国法律体系的包容和开放的精神.     

Responsibility to Protect or Right to Punish?

Abstract

This essay argues that the new global regime of R2P bifurcates the international system between sovereign states whose citizens have political rights, and de facto trusteeship territories whose populations are seen as wards in need of external protection. Under the direction of the UN Security Council, the International Criminal Court has become an integral part of the international R2P regime by allowing for the legal normalization of certain types of violence (such as Western counterinsurgency efforts), while arbitrarily criminalizing the violence of other states as ‘genocide’. In place of this unequal global regime, the essay concludes by arguing for an internally-driven process of political reform and legal reconciliation, as pioneered in South Africa.     

An analysis of traditional rules applied by Australian courts to establish personal jurisdiction and their application in e-commerce

This article analyses the jurisdictional principles employed by Australian courts in establishing personal jurisdiction in traditional settings and its extension to e-commerce cases. The Australian courts apply the court rules to exercise personal jurisdiction over defendants. The article discusses these rules relating to serving process within and outside Australia and jurisdiction based on the submission of the parties. The adequacies of principles like forum-non-conveniens, forum selection clauses which are vital in the personal jurisdiction inquiry are analysed. The unique High Court decision in Dow Jones v. Gutnick is discussed and the approach followed by the court critically analysed to highlight the excessive exercise of personal jurisdiction. Other cases concerning the internet are also discussed to highlight the approaches followed to establish personal jurisdiction in internet and e-commerce cases. It is argued that the drawbacks highlight the need for legislation to regulate personal jurisdiction in e-commerce cases.     

人民法院创制司法政策参与社会治理的动力溯源及路径优化——以1071项新冠肺炎疫情防控司法政策文件为中心的分析

以1071项新冠肺炎疫情防控司法政策文件为样本的实证研究发现,人民法院在应对社会治理的司法政策创制活动中存在着重危机治理轻司法规律、重价值求同轻形式多元、重博弈竞争轻多元合作、重压力传导轻制度规控、重司法能动轻司法谦抑等一系列问题。“内驱力”、“压力”、“助成力”三维一体的动力机制模型则进一步解释了风险社会背景下各级法院热衷于通过创制司法政策来参与公共危机治理其背后的原因所在。立足于此,人民法院要想有效应对突发社会危机,应回归现有的制度框架体系。未来进一步优化人民法院创制司法政策活动必须要坚持双管齐下,要以“五个相统一的原则”为指导科学把握司法政策创制的基本方向,同时要树立全流程规控思维,从事前、事中、事后全方位着眼严格规范人民法院的司法政策创制活动。     

法律效果与社会效果的统一——中国法院角色定位的失误

本文通过对“法律效果与社会效果的统一”相关概念的辨析,通过探讨这一提法的本意,引用者的目的以及受束的理解,笔者将“法律效果”界定为法律本身对法律行为合法性的评判,将“社会效果”界定为社会各阶层从其自身利益出发对法律及其实施的合理性评判,认为法律效果与社会效果相统一的载体不应该只是法院的司法行为,而包括普遍的法律行为。法律行为的法律效果和社会效果相统一是法治社会、和谐社会的一种状态：这种状态的实现是一个渐进的过程,是整个社会走向真正法治,趋向和谐的漫长过程,不是某一个机构在短时间内能够实现的。因此,实现法律效果和社会效果相统一,是权力机关、行政机关、司法机关乃至每个公民的共同任务。法院将其作为自身独自完成的目标是其角色定位的失误。     

公共服务体系建设中的问题与对策

完善公共服务体系建设,是党和国家高度重视的问题。目前,我国公共服务体系建设存在投入不足、总量不多,覆盖面不宽,结构不合理,多元社会参与机制尚未形成,公共服务能力有待进一步提高等问题。为此．要通过提高政府全面履行职能的能力、加大财政对公共服务供给投入、切实提高公共服务的覆盖面、优化公共服务投入结构、加快推进政事分开为重点的事业单位改革、进一步加强政府自身建设等对策措施,推进公共服务体系的完善。     

Shooting Down a Hijacked Plane—The German Discussion and Beyond

The article examines whether state officials may shoot down a hijacked airplane which carries uninvolved passengers, if it is known that the plane will be used against the lives of other human beings. In its first sections, it explains the German Federal Constitutional Court’s verdict against such a permission, and it scrutinizes the crucial arguments in this ruling (restrictions on the use of military weapons; human dignity arguments). The author then extends the discussion beyond the path taken by the court. She examines the defensive claims of passengers aboard the plane and the protective claims of potential victims who are present at the hijackers’ target zone. In contrast to the German Federal Constitutional Court, she concludes that state officials must take the claims of both groups of potential victims equally serious, and that such conditions allow applying a consequentialist calculus (“save the greater number”) because it is the only way out of a genuine dilemma.     

Challenges and Changes in Dutch Family Law

Since the “Divorce Challenge” in the Netherlands, a lot of initiatives have been taken on a political level, from the judiciary and in practice, to improve the situation for children of separation. Experimental legislation is on its way to enable the development of new court procedures. One of its ideas is to introduce a so‐called family's representative. This new professional, a lawyer or mediator, can represent both parents in court or coordinate the entire divorce process, both before and after the court procedure.     

An Improved Protection for the (Mentally Ill) Trans Parent: A Queer Reading of AP,Garçon and Nicot v France

The European Court of Human Rights has been deciding cases concerning LGBT rights since the early 1980s. Its case law on trans rights has changed drastically over time, imposing upon the states of the Council of Europe certain minimum standards regarding the legal recognition of gender identity. In its recent judgment of April 2017 the Court laid down a new rule to be adopted by domestic legislation; namely, that the legal recognition of gender transition cannot be made conditional upon pursuing medical or surgical procedures which have (or are likely to have) sterilising effects. This article analyses the judgment from a critical perspective grounded in queer theory, noting both the positive and the negative elements of the Court's decision.     

A generalization of the obligation to prevent: From genocide convention to racial discrimination convention

The decision of the International Court of Justice in the case concerning the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (“Genocide Convention”) highlights states’ obligations under the Convention, especially the obligation to prevent. When it comes to the case concerning the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (“Racial Discrimination Convention”), the decision of the Court indicating provisional measures seemingly purported to generalize its jurisprudence in the Genocide Case. By elaborating this kind of new jurisprudence, the Court echoed to the responsibility to protect, as well as to Article 48 and Article 54 of the Draft Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (“Draft Articles of State Responsibility”). It appears that each State Party should have an obligation to intervene in the coming genocide incidence, perhaps as well as in the coming racial discrimination cases. Nevertheless it is unclear in what manner a state could implement it effectively.