香港民事诉讼制度改革之回顾与前瞻

香港的民事司法改革历时十年,彰显了民事司法理念的深度变迁,对民事司法制度的发展具有里程碑意义。新规则自2009年4月2日正式施行以来进展大致顺利,在克服诉讼拖延、促进和解、发展调解等方面取得了一定的成效,但改革终究不是一蹴而就的纸面化改造。在新制度与旧观念相互碰撞又各自发挥作用的时期,如欲推翻法律职业者乃至普通民众的思维定势,变革深埋于制度底层的文化样态,其中的困难同样是显而易见的。     

欧盟过境货物知识产权保护最新态势——兼评欧洲法院“NOKIA”案和“PHILLIPS”案

自2008年10月以来,在欧盟一些海关屡屡发生过境货物遭到扣押的事件,尤其是荷兰海关屡次扣押印度等国的过境药品,引起国际社会的极大关注.英国和比利时法院分别在审理“NOKIA”案和“PHIILIPS”案过程中对过境货物是否扣押产生疑问,并向欧洲法院提出咨询.近期欧洲法院对两案合并审理,做出一项里程碑意义的判决,厘清了过境货物、 “虚拟制造”理论等基本问题,对欧盟海关的知识产权执法和法院司法都有很好的指导作用,对于我国政府和企业也不无裨益.     

社会转型时期的法治发展规律研究

社会转型是一个价值更替、秩序重构和文明再生的过程,是一个国家和民族承继以往优秀传统、解决当前现实问题、规划未来发展方向的关键时期。西方国家在社会转型过程中法治的发展既呈现出鲜明的个性色彩。又包含着基本的共性特征;既植根于各国的传统和国情,又遵循了基本的法治规律。我国当前正处于急剧的社会转型过程中。西方国家社会转型时期法治建设的共性特征、基本经验和一般规律给我们以诸多启迪与借鉴,也有助于我们预测和把握我国法治的未来发展趋势。     

技术创新的外部效应与生态化转向研究

技术创新的外部效应是导致环境污染与生态恶化的诱因之一。在市场条件下,通过征收庇古税等方法,虽然可以纠正这种外部效应,但没有从根本上解除环境污染与生态恶化等问题。实现技术创新生态化,使技术创新朝有利于可持续发展的方向发展是解决技术创新外部效应的必然选择,也是根本出路。     

New Approaches to Age Estimation Using Palatal Suture Fusion

Palatal suture fusion has seen little testing and/or application due in part to an inadequately described relationship to formal age ranges. This study presents a modified scoring method that examines fusion on samples of modern documented adult males and compares two Bayesian approaches to age estimation. In the first analysis, American and Portuguese collections were used to derive univariate and multivariate transition analysis (TA) parameters, which combined with an informative prior, estimated age in a sample of modern Americans and Portuguese. For the second analysis, a Bayesian multiple linear regression (BMLR) used indicator statuses as the independent variables with age as the dependent variable. Highest posterior density regions (HPDRs) and highest posterior density intervals (HDI) were calculated for a holdout sample. Final age estimates for the methods were tested for accuracy using cumulative binomial tests at 75% and 90% coverages. The HPDRs from multivariate TA captured age better for younger individuals, but consistently underaged. The cumulative binomial tests on the BMLR results indicated the prediction intervals performed as expected, and we show they are narrower (more precise) and/or more accurate than the corresponding HPDR. The modified method presented here formally links palatal suture obliteration to age using two different approaches, one of which (BMLR) is new to the aging literature. The BMLR provided results free from bias and more reasonable age ranges while maintaining accuracy. We present a look-up table and a free, simple R file for users to download and run their own estimates with BMLR.     

金融危机下中东欧转型模式再评估

新兴市场国家经济与政治体制转型是转型问题研究的焦点,而中东欧国家的转型模式也作为一个范例持续得到来自理论和实证研究上的关注.本研究以金融危机发生、演化为背景,旨在检测金融危机背景下中东欧国家的整体经济表现与金融市场表现,并通过分析对国际学术界公认的"转型优等生"中东欧国家的转型模式进行再评估和反思.     

伦理失范向经济犯罪转化的原因分析

以伦理失范向经济犯罪转化的原因为主线,从法经济学、心理学和社会环境等多个角度剖析伦理失范向经济犯罪转化的潜在诱因,为遏制伦理失范进一步转化为经济犯罪提供理论支持.     

Sectoral linkages at the beginning of the 21st century: The role of Polish economy in global production structures

This paper provides a first attempt in analyzing the role of Polish economy in the production structure of the global economy in the early years of the 21st century. For the purpose of this analysis, we propose a new approach in which two most important aspects of interindustry linkages in a global input-output model are examined. Contrary to previous studies focused on output-oriented key sector analyses in post-communist CEE economies, we focus on a fundamental policy target variable – income per gross output. In order to analyze the issues in question in a dynamic framework, the empirical results are based on the 2000 and 2014 global intercountry input-output tables for the 28 EU countries as well as 15 other major countries in the world.     

Community forestry,labor migration and agrarian change in a Nepali village: 1980 to 2010

This paper follows forest conditions, agricultural practices, and livelihoods in a Nepali village between 1980 and 2010. A survey was administered to all village households in 1980, 1990 and 2010; semi-structured interviews were also conducted. Tree species frequency, density and dominance were determined for eight forest patches during each survey. Over this period the population of the village remained stable; the number of children decreased, and the number of people over 50 increased. Famers keep significantly fewer livestock, and have become less dependent on farming and more engaged in commercial activities. In 1980 the number of out-migrants was so few that they were not recorded; by 2010, 29 percent of the adult male population was engaged in migration. Nepal initiated an acclaimed Community Forestry program in the early 1990s; by 2010 about half the village’s forests showed improved tree density and size. Contrary to expectations and published literature, the study found that forest conditions in half of the village’s forests were not improved; and while livelihoods appeared to be better in 2010 than in 1980, they are not more secure as they are increasingly dependent on remittance incomes and hence at the whims of the international labor market.     

Book reviews

During the past two decades agrarian (‘land and farm’) reforms have been widespread in the transition economies of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA), following earlier ones in Asia (China and Vietnam). However, independent family farms did not become the predominant sector in most of Eastern Europe. A new dual (or bi-modal) agrarian structure emerged, consisting of large farm enterprises (with much less social functions than they had before), and very small peasant farms or subsidiary plots. The paper compares five case studies, looking at agrarian actors, property rights, state influence, and rural poverty. These are Russia, Armenia, Moldova and Uzbekistan in the EECCA region, and China's Xinjiang province in Asia. The paper concludes that state influence is still substantial, property rights regimes are quite diverse and rural poverty remains medium to high. State-led agrarian reform, in particular where a redistributive (or restitution-based) land reform was implemented led in some cases to land-based wealth redistribution, but policies and institutions were lacking to support the individual farm sector. More often the outcome was a rapid transfer of land in the hands of corporate farm enterprises, reversing the initial process of ‘re-peasantization’. It seems that the old ‘Soviet dream’ of mega-farm enterprises in the ‘transition to capitalism’ has regained prominence, with huge agro-holdings ‘calling the shots’, providing an insecure future for agricultural workers, peasants and farmers.