Data Protection: An Opening Door?

Swedish public law has incorporated a general rule of public access to documents, and to information in the wider sense, since the Freedom of the Press Act of 1766. On the Community level, the relationship between Regulation (EC) 45/2001 on data protection and Regulation (EC) 1049/2001 on public access to documents exemplifies the tension between the public's interest in scrutinising the administration carried on in its name, and the integrity of the individual. However, a similar tension exists between Sweden's Personal Data Act of 1998, implementing Directive 95/46, and the Freedom of the Press Act. A misuse model of data protection law, by seeking to concentrate on serious rather than technical infringements of privacy, might serve to ease the tension. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and are not attributable to any Community institution. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

IMPROVING THE ENFORCEMENT OF RESTRAINING ORDERS AFTER CASTLE ROCK V. GONZALES*

After the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Castle Rock, reliance on domestic violence restraining orders does not offer the solution in and of itself. Our legal system needs to provide greater protection for victims of domestic violence. This note explores ways to use risk assessment tools to augment restraining orders, in addition to examining integrated domestic violence courts that take a proactive approach to aiding victims of abuse.     

论植物人的法律人格及权利行使和保护

Although human vegetables lose their capacities of will and do not have the intrinsic attribute of civil subjects, they still have legal personalities and the status of civil subjects. The law has not provided for defects of their legal personalities, and thus civil law shall include human vegetables as objects of guardianship. The system of adult guardianship shall be constructed to supplement and correct the legal personalities of human vegetables. When human vegetables enter into a permanent vegetative state or state of brain death, law may declare the termination of legal personalities of the human vegetable. Due to the unique life state and capacity of act of human vegetables, the exercise of their civil rights faces a series of legal difficulties and challenges, mainly involving important issues such as the right of treatment for life rescue, marital right and reproductive right. The civil law shall ensure that the civil right of human vegetables can be fully enjoyed and effectively protected. Zhang Li, associate professor in civil and business law at Fujian Normal University, and also an invited researcher on civil law, international economic law and international private law, co-operated with Law School of Renmin University of China. Till now, she’s already released 23 theses in law journals and a monograph of the Survey of International Private Law. In addition, she was a member in doing studies (2006) on the legislation of Chinese tort law and presides over the researching (2007) of the legal personality and rights of disabled persons.     

Democracy, rule of law and human rights protection under gradually developed constitutionalism

With the shifting of the economic pattern and the developing of administrative law, the modern constitutionalism of China has adopted a progressive development process. Over 20 years, the development of democracy, the rule of law and the human rights protection clearly illustrate this point. For the gradually developing constitutionalism, the theory of limited rational is a theoretical basis, the stability of society is a social basis, the changing economic system is a economic basis, and Confucianism is a cultural basis. Constitutionalism of China should continue to go in such an active, steady and gradual way. Wang Zhuojun, Professor and Director of Administrative Affairs of Soochow University (till now) and as a visiting scholar in the Department of Government & Politics, University of Maryland, USA (1996.1–1997.1), whose research focuses on culture, politics and science of law. So far, his publications are “The Political System in the Perspective of Culture”, “A History of Epistemology”, “A Study of the External Economy of China’s Universities”, and his translations include “Introduction to Culture and Anthropology”, “Challenge to Culture from Science and Technology”, etc. Moreover, He has presided several research projects sponsored by The Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the Education Department of Jiangsu Province, China.     

文化多样性的弘扬与知识产权保护

保护和弘扬文化多样性对于人类社会的发展具有极为重要的作用.文化多样性与知识产权保护存在着密切的联系.适度的知识产权保护会促进文化多样性的形成,片面的知识产权保护则会破坏文化多样性.反过来,文化多样性为知识产品的创作提供了源泉,为知识产权的产生提供了客观的物质基础.我们应当充分认识到二者之间的密切关系,通过改革现有的知识产权制度来维持和弘扬文化的多样性,以促进我国社会的和谐发展.     

区域性人权保护制度对全球性国际人权保护的启示

尽管目前已存在为数不少的国际人权公约,国际社会成员也越来越多地加入这些公约,但全球范围内国际人权保护的效果并不明显。相比而言,区域性人权保护制度更具可行性。区域性人权保护制度在人权保护中取得了显著成绩,对全球性国际人权保护有重大启迪作用。     

中国参与大湄公河次区域合作的进展、障碍与出路

大湄公河次区域合作对中国和东南亚5国的经济发展都有着重要的经济意义和社会意义。在过去的若干年里,这一合作已经取得了巨大成果,但是也出现了许多问题和矛盾,以至于这些问题和矛盾严重阻碍了进一步的合作与发展。为了解决这些障碍,文章提出了一些新的思考,希望突破目前的困境。     

全球化环境中的知识产权保护——全球化与知识产权保护国际会议综述

全球化环境下知识产权保护存在很多值得探讨的问题。由中国政法大学民商经济法学院举办、中国政法大学民商经济法学院知识产权法研究所承办、美国Kenyon&Kenyon LLP和National Economic Research Associates,Inc.提供赞助的全球化与知识产权保护国际会议于2007年1月20—21在北京召开,近二百名国内外知识产权专家学者探讨了全球化环境下知识产权保护的一系列问题。本次会议对于推动国内外知识产权理论与实践问题的研究具有深远意义。     

完善我国未成年人犯罪司法保护制度

未成年人犯罪是一种特殊的犯罪类型,它在犯罪的成因与认定、刑罚的适用、诉讼的方式及犯罪的预防等方面都具有与成年人犯罪不同的特点,从而形成了相对独立的未成年人犯罪法律制度。从我国未成年人犯罪呈现的几大特点来看,现行未成年人犯罪法律制度存在着诸多不尽完善的地方,而且也越来越不能满足现实的要求。因此我们有必要加以重新审视,以进一步提高对未成年人的司法保护水平,完善中国的未成年人司法制度。     

农民工权益法律保障机制研究

在法治社会,对农民工权益的保护最终要上升为法律问题。从立法的层面来看,我们认为,应当综合考虑各种因素,在明确农民工特殊性的同时,将其纳入劳动者的范畴并加以法律保护。农民工现象的特点决定了对其法律保护的双层次性:宏观上,宪法恢复公民迁徙自由的权利,为农民工获得主流劳动者地位铺平道路、扫除障碍;劳动基本法明确将农民工作为保护主体,赋予农民工作为一般城镇劳动者应享有的各种基本劳动权利。微观上,制定劳动保障法规和规章,确保农民工作为劳动者所缺失的具体权利的逐步回归。最终达到对农民工和其他劳动者一体保护,逐步构建一套适应市场经济发展和法治社会要求的劳动法律制度与社会保障制度,进而提升所有劳动者的政治经济权利与文化权利的法律保护水平。