'Dedicating' Copyright to the Public Domain

This article explores whether authors can dedicate their copyright to the public domain. Such dedications are becoming increasingly relevant as authors now see the expansion of the public domain as value in itself. This is facilitated by organisations providing pro forma documents for dedicating works to the public domain. However, there has been no real consideration of what, if any, legal effect a dedication to the public might have. This article suggests that such dedications are no more than copyright licences which, in English and US law at least, can be revoked at will. This means that users of such works must rely on estoppel alone to enforce any dedication to the public domain.     

政府公开的原则与例外——论美国信息自由制度

信息公开是美国《联邦行政程序法》的重要组成部分,也是美国对世界行政法治的一大贡献。在简要总结了美国信息公开制度的历史进程和最新发展之后,还需详细探讨信息公开原则及其例外的司法适用,并深入分析信息公开和个人隐私之间的复杂关系诸问题。由于信息公开与透明度在行政程序中发挥着特别重要的作用,美国的经验应能对中国相关制度的完善提供有益的启示。     

Judicial Review,Irrationality, and the Legitimacy of Merits-Review

The definition of the irrationality ground of judicial review recognises the constitutional principle of the separation of powers, in allowing for judicial control of the executive only very rarely. The author in a previous article in this study found that the courts, on occasions, had intervened in circumstances where administrative decisions arguably were not irrational. To this end, the purpose of this article is to assess the constitutionality of these seemingly low standards of irrationality. The author does so by reference either to the manner of review employed—the use of the proportionality principle, for example—or the context of the administrative decision under scrutiny, such as the infringement of the applicant’s fundamental rights. The author finds that the cases from the previous article where low standards of irrationality were arguably adopted were, in fact, legitimate according to these chosen methods of evaluation. However, this is an interim conclusion because, for reasons of word length, the author is unable to complete a full assessment here. It is therefore proposed that a subsequent article will continue to examine the constitutionality of these cases. Furthermore, the author will also try and establish a zone of executive decision-making, for reasons of democracy, where the courts are excluded from irrationality review. If the author is unsuccessful in this regard, the final conclusion of this study will inevitably be that low standards of judicial intervention exist without limit—a clear assault on the constitutional principle stated above.

专利授权行为的法律性质

专利制度需要改革,譬如我国的专利无效程序因其环节多等原因而颇受学者非议。然,专利制度改革需要理论的支持。专利授权行为的性质是专利法中的重要课题,对专利制度的选择具有重要意义。否弃行政许可行为理论,重构专利授权行为理论,认定其为司法性行政行为,这对专利制度改革和实践具有重要意义。     

南非难民保护制度研究——对难民地位、权利和义务的分析

南非难民保护制度建立在南非《宪法》的基本价值基础之上,国家现行难民立法的概念明显向移民法转移。《难民法案》重构先前压制性的难民制度,代之以人权文化为基础的难民法,其颁布标志着国际法和国内法的有意识的融合,是与其宪政体制相符的。本文着眼于当前各种难民法规关于难民权利和自由的细节规定,如《联合国难民地位公约》和非洲统一组织的难民定义,重点讨论难民地位的定性、难民地位的确定和难民的权利与义务问题,并强调对难民法或者权利的任何解释都必须推进开放和民主社会下有关人格尊严、平等和自由的价值观。     

再议我国公务员法中的抗命权问题

《中华人民共和国公务员法》第54条明确规定了公务员在执行公务时具有抗命权,但在实际运行中抗命权具有不确定性。公务员的抗命权应得到充分的法律保障,才能提高其行政能力,才能促进公务员法在运行中不断完善与发展。     

Recognising Family Diversity: the ‘Boundaries’ of <Emphasis Type="Italic">RE G</Emphasis>

In Re G, the Court of Appeal awarded a joint residence order to the appellant, who was the lesbian ex-partner of the child’s full biological mother. The award also indirectly vested the appellant, a social parent, with parental responsibility and extended a body of case law to same-sex couples, which had until now only been applied to heterosexual couples. The initial purpose of this note is to outline the legal issues of the case in the context of the framework of parental responsibility set out in the Children Act 1989, putting forward a test of ‘parental fitness’ (which focuses on active ‘care’ as its central consideration) for social parents who must appeal to the court’s discretion to obtain parental responsibility. Secondly, the note offers at once a positive reading of Re G while highlighting a number of reservations centring upon continued legal preference for the ‘sexual family’. It is argued that while the legal recognition of ‘family diversity’ and parenthood remains modelled on this ‘sexual family’, the relaxation of family ‘boundaries’ (despite legal victories such as Re G) will remain limited. Re G (Children) [2005] E.W.C.A. (Civ.) 462     

对公安基层领导的领导行为的几点思考

领导者拥有的权力是领导行为的前提和基础,但能否最大限度地发挥权力的作用,还要看领导者的人格魅力、领导者对"非权力中心"的把握、领导者对下属的感情投入及其对下属的激励方式等等.     

经上级机关批准的行政行为的被告确定问题再研究——也谈《若干问题解释》第19条规定的适用

由于行政管理的复杂性与行政实体法律法规规定的不完善,批准一词在实践中往往在多种意义上被使用,《若干问题解释》第19条仅以署名与否为标准确定经上级机关批准的行政行为的被告不尽符合行政法理论。科学的做法是,对需要批准的行政行为先从行政职权与法律后果的角度区别所谓的批准究竟是内部审批行为还是行政许可行为,在此基础上分别情形结合署名标准确定被告。     

警察治安权之扩、限、控——以治安管理处罚法之规定为例

《治安管理处罚法》是一部系统规定治安管理处罚主体、程序、执法监督等内容的法律,是公安机关办理治安案件的基本程序规范。这部法律在维护社会治安秩序、保障公民治安权益、规范公安机关和人民警察依法行使治安职权、依法处理治安案件、依法处罚治安相对人等方面,都具有广泛而深远的意义。在这部法律审议和修订过程中,对警察权的规范和控制一直是被关注的事,这正是由于警察权的大小直接关系着公民合法权益的实现与否。