Conceptions Of Liberty Deprivation

This article adopts a theoretical and comparative perspective on the prisoner's legal status in England and Wales. Applying the principles of human rights, legality and proportionality, it argues that the prisoner's legal status must rest on a divisible conception of liberty. Such a conception must distinguish clearly between the liberty lost, and the rights restricted, by the imposition of the custodial sentence as opposed to the administration of prisons (the key distinction). In order for this to be achieved, the conception of the prisoner's legal status must also establish the purpose or purposes of the custodial sanction as distinct from the purpose of prison administration. Through comparison with Germany, the article demonstrates that the common law concept of the prisoner's legal status is unstable. Vacillating between a divisible and indivisible conception of the prisoner's liberty, the English conception of the prisoner's legal status lacks a foundation firm enough to satisfy the principles of human rights, legality and proportionality.     

Fleeting fame under the Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006

Legal context: When Congress enacted the Federal Trademark Dilution Act in1996, it intended to create a uniform federal cause of actionfor trade mark dilution. Unfortunately, the statutory languageselected by Congress created certain ambiguities, includinghow famous a trade mark had to be to merit dilution protectionunder the statute. Confusion developed as to whether a markmerely needed renown in a limited geographic area or industry—aconcept that became known as ‘niche fame’—orwhether it needed national renown to qualify as a ‘famousmark’. Key points: In 2006, Congress enacted the Trademark Dilution Revision Actand therein provided a concrete definition for a famous markthat ostensibly removed the ability to qualify for dilutionrelief where the mark was famous only within a particular niche.It was uncertain how courts that had previously favoured theniche fame theory would apply Congress's new definition. However,a district court in the Ninth Circuit, one of the strongestproponents of niche fame, recently held that niche fame is nolonger a viable theory under the Lanham Act or California statelaw as a result of the 2006 amendment. Practical significance: This decision portends that courts will fall in line with Congress'samendment and will deny dilution relief under federal law toparties whose marks are famous only in a particular geographicarea or industry. Additionally, the decision provides some guidanceand predictability as to how states may interpret the viabilityof niche fame under their respective dilution statutes in lightof Congress's 2006 amendment.     

The Impact of the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban on Gun Markets: An Assessment of Short-Term Primary and Secondary Market Effects

The reactions of the gun market, including those of producers, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers, play an important role in shaping the potential impact of gun control policies on gun crime. As a case in point, this paper examines the federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which bans a group of military-style semiautomatic firearms (i.e., assault weapons). Using a variety of national and local data sources, we assess the short-term (1994–1996) impact of the assault weapons ban on gun markets, examining trends in prices and production of the banned weapons in legal markets and assessing the availability of the banned weapons in illicit markets as measured by criminal use. Prices of assault weapons rose substantially around the time of the ban's enactment, reducing the availability of assault weapons to criminal users in the very short run. However, a surge in assault weapon production just before the ban caused prices to fall in the months following the ban. Implications of the findings for assessing this and other gun control policies are discussed.     

在互联网上刊载淫秽图片行为之定性

目前在互联网上刊载淫秽图片的情形日趋严重,不仅影响着我国良好的社会风气,毒害着青少年身心健康甚至被引入歧途,而且也使一些不法之徒利用其实施犯罪,然而我国目前的法律法规对在互联网上刊载淫秽图片行为的规定还不十分明确,因此出现了对这种行为规制不力的局面。欲对该行为合理有效规制,必须对淫秽图片本身的属性界定为有害信息,才能对在互联网刊载淫秽图片行为认定为违法行为。只有这样,才能确切把握其性质,在实践中对遏制黄毒泛滥起到应有的作用。     

由侵权行为反思隐私权保护

伴随着世界经济的发展和人们权利价值意识的提高,隐私权保护问题受到愈来愈多的关注,特别是科学技术的发展,使得侵害隐私权的行为更为隐蔽和多样化,从而引发隐私权保护的危机。面对纷繁复杂的侵权行为,文章试以剖析侵害隐私权的行为为起点,反思隐私权保护问题,并提出相关立法建议。     

循环经济法的建构与实证分析

循环经济法是一部环境友好型经济法,是具有可操作性的专项法,与现行其他法律互为补充。循环经济法的调整范围主要包括清洁生产、资源综合利用、资源的再使用、废物再生利用与处置、绿色消费等五个方面的内容。法律基本原则可以概括为减量化、再利用、资源化原则(3R原则);政府引导、市场调节、企业实施相结合原则;扶持与强制相结合原则;公众参与原则和鼓励技术创新原则。我国循环经济法的框架建议按照循环经济实施的过程予以设计,在各个环节中贯彻3R原则的要求。循环经济法可以确立规划制度,鼓励、限制、禁止名录制度,循环经济标准与指标体系制度,生产者延伸责任制度,经济扶持制度等五项基本法律制度。     

The Case for a Rational Reconstruction of Consent in Criminal Law

This article argues for consistency in criminal law and the need for 'rational reconstruction' of the law where necessary to achieve this. It focuses Parliament's failure to respect the need for consistency by passing a statutory definition of consent in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which appears to apply only to sexual offences. As a result, the law on consent risks being a patchwork of statute and ad hoc case law, without any overarching principle to deal with new situations and different offences. The consequent lack of certainty, accessibility, predictability and fairness is compared to the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights. The statutory definition of consent in the context of the sexual offences is assessed critically as a model which could be used in offences against the person and property offences. The article concludes that until Parliament responds to the need for certainty and consistency by legislating on consent, there can be no rational reconstruction of consent under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.     

Discipline, Punishment And The Homosexual In Law

This article examines the creation and legacy of the 1957 Wolfenden Report, arguing that current trends to simplistically address the Report, along with a long standing academic focus on Foucault and the nineteenth century, have disregarded the productive and revolutionary nature of its recommendations enacted in the Sexual Offences Act 1967. Contrary to the common emphasis placed on Victorian medical discourse, and the 1895 trials of Oscar Wilde, it was the Wolfenden Report and the twentieth century that created the homosexual identity in law – an identity created not with a view to freedom, as is regularly assumed, but with the objective of the control of recalcitrant bodies in the forms of men's homosexual sex, and women's prostitution. Dr.Kate Gleeson is Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Thanks to Helen Pringle for the heads-up on Discipline and Punish. And thanks to Aleardo Zanghellini for helping me to clarify this argument.     

法学发展的“十字现象”——以物权行为制度与《合同法》第51条为说明主体

由于我国法学发展忽略“十字现象”,民法典不采物权行为制度似已成定论,并决定采用意思主义辅之以交付、登记制度;惟此一制度确有窒碍难行之处,是否即应采用,兹事体大,仍值再予辨证。本文论述不限于理论,并提出数例说明;此外《合同法》第51条规定之误,亦一并叙之。文中分别介绍不采物权行为制度的主要见解,及本文对其之评释;并分举数例以说明不同制度的优劣;同时探讨意思主义下的物权变动模式,其内容涉及法国民法模式、日本民法模式,与我国学者所创设的模式;最后并以法律经济分析法,探究是否应采用物权行为制度与《合同法》第51条规定的交易成本辨析,以为我国民法典立法应采用物权行为制度之佐证。     

审判公开思想与修订《民事诉讼法》的几个基本关系定位

审判公开不仅具有向社会公开的要求,更具有向当事人作实质性公开的内涵,正是这一反秘密审判、促进诉讼民主的本质内涵,使之应当成为我国修订《民事诉讼法》的指导思想和基本原则。以此为前提,审判公开思想对于修订《民事诉讼法》的具体指导作用和意义表现在三个方面:一是促进对当事人诉讼权利和诉讼义务规定的完善;二是促成对辩论原则法律地位、作用重新定位和对辩论原则具体内容的完善;三是促进民事诉讼程序按照审判公开的理念予以完善。