Vexatious Claims: Challenging the Case for Employment Tribunal Fees

Since July 2013, recourse to Employment Tribunals in the United Kingdom has attracted fees of up to £1,200 for single claimants. The impact of this reform has been dramatic: within a year, claims dropped by nearly 80 per cent. This paper suggests that this fee regime is in clear violation of domestic and international norms, including Article 6(1) ECHR and the EU principle of effective judicial protection. Drawing on rational choice theory and empirical evidence, we argue that the resulting payoff structures, negative for the majority of successful claimants, strike at the very essence of these rights. The measures are, furthermore, disproportionate in light of the Government's stated policy aims: fees have failed to transfer cost away from taxpayers, have failed to encourage early dispute resolution, and have failed to deter vexatious litigants. The only vexatious claims, we find, appear to be those which motivated the reforms in the first place.     

当代西方政府信任危机透析

民众对于政府的支持与信任是任何政权合法性的重要基础,也是任何政体正常运转的重要保障。20世纪末以来,西方民主国家中政府的公信力下降已经演化为一股国际性的趋势,成为各国政府面临的严峻问题。西方人民对政府的不信任是众多因素长期混合和交互作用的结果,包括政治选举、政府本身、利益集团、社会文化以及大众传媒等方面的原因。为了提高公民对政府的信心和满意度,巩固政权的正当性和合法性,西方国家采取了多样的手段,开始了塑造“公民性政府”的历程。我国在社会经济改革加速前进的过程中也伴生了一些严重影响政府信任的现象,在这方面,西方国家政府信任危机的内在症结及其解救的经验措施,对于我们提高政府公信力无疑具有重要的启示和借鉴意义。     

原发性高血压患者颈动脉粥样硬化与中医证型的关系

目的:探讨原发性高血压患者颈动脉粥样硬化程度与中医辨证分型的关系。方法:用高频(11.4 MHz)彩色多普勒超声检测了130例原发性高血压及心脑血管并发症患者的颈动脉,与37例非高血压心脑血管病患者作对照。结果:高血压各组颈动脉内中膜厚度及斑块检出率均高于对照组,以合并脑血管疾病组内中膜厚度高于单纯高血压组。高血压中医证型之间比较,以痰湿壅盛型内中膜厚度明显高于其他证型,斑块检出率以阴虚阳亢和痰湿壅盛型明显高于其他证型。结论:高血压是引起颈动脉内中膜厚度增加的重要因素。颈动脉粥样硬化程度可作为预测心脑血管病存在的参考指标。动脉硬化的病因病机与痰、瘀密切相关。     

“I didn't Know You were Fighting So Hard for me”: Attorneys' Perceptions of Youth Participation in Child Dependency Proceedings

This study examined attorneys' perceptions of youth participation in child dependency proceedings. Surveys and semi‐structured interviews were conducted with attorneys who represent adolescents in child dependency proceedings. Three dimensions of participation were identified: receiving information, providing information, and self‐advocacy. Barriers to youth participation included individual‐level factors, such as the youth or the attorney not wanting the youth to attend, and system‐level factors, such as the scheduling of court hearings, large caseloads, long waits, and cases being adjourned multiple times. Recommendations for enhancing youth participation in child dependency proceedings are presented.     

Does public criticism Erode trust in the police? The case of Jari Aarnio in the Finnish news media and its effects on the public’s attitudes towards the police

A significant part of the general public’s observations and image concerning the police comes through the mass media. It has been assumed that one factor affecting the level of trust is the way the media handles the police. This article describes the media uproar that arose in Finland in November 2013 about police misconduct, and its effects on the public trust in the police. Two hypotheses were tested in the study: (a) negative publicity always decreases trust, and so, too, in this case; and (b) a change in trust is affected by the public’s independent interpretation of the publicity battle, in which case criticism might also increase trust. The study materials comprise the news coverage concerning the uproar and four opinion surveys collected after it occurred. The first survey was conducted immediately after the press conference of the case in week 48/2013 and the other ones in three-week intervals. The results show that following the uproar, compared to the earlier results of the European Social Survey, trust in the police did not decrease—on the contrary, it increased slightly. Our results suggest that in this case a large part of the audience has taken, to use the term of Stuart Hall, the oppositional position when interpreting negative news about the police.     

Anti‐Corruption Watchdog Accountability: The Limitations of Judicial Review's Ability to Guard the Guardians

Anti‐corruption watchdogs form an important part of integrity measures in Australia's system of government. Integrity theory places anti‐corruption watchdogs in a fourth branch of government and as a part of a national integrity system as a way of understanding how they detect and prevent corruption and promote integrity. Integrity theory claims that an important part of the oversight of watchdogs occurs through judicial review of watchdog decisions by the courts. However, it fails to recognise the unique limitations when undertaking judicial review of watchdog decisions. This article submits that it is important to recognise these limitations to properly assess the effectiveness of a national integrity system and a fourth branch of government. The article explores the unique limitations of the court's ability to hold watchdogs to account and offers suggestions for managing these limitations.     

Personalizing solidarity? The role of self-tracking in health insurance pricing

Can data-driven innovations, working across an internet of connected things, personalize health insurance prices? The emergence of self-tracking technologies and their adoption and promotion in health insurance products has been characterized as a threat to solidaristic models of healthcare provision. If individual behaviour rather than group membership were to become the basis of risk assessment, the social, economic and political consequences would be far-reaching. It would disrupt the distributive, solidaristic character that is expressed within all health insurance schemes, even in those nominally designated as private or commercial. Personalized risk pricing is at odds with the infrastructures that presently define, regulate and deliver health insurance. Self-tracking can be readily imagined as an element in an ongoing bio-political redistribution of the burden of responsibility from the state to citizens but it is not clear that such a scenario could be delivered within existing individual private health insurance operational and regulatory infrastructures. In what can be gleaned from publicly available sources discussing pricing experience in the individual markets established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010 (ACA), widely known as ‘Obamacare’, it appears unlikely that it can provide the means to personalize price. Using the case of Oscar Health, a technology driven start-up trading in the ACA marketplaces, I explore the concepts, politics and infrastructures at work in health insurance markets.     

论父母责任的构造--对父母责任制度的反思与重构

父母责任的构造 ,指父母责任的构成要素以及各要素之间的相互关系。其以主观性价值———保护未成年子女的利益与父母自由权 ,与客观性价值———损害填补与预防损害 ,两者的统一 ,以及合理的归责原则———过失责任原则构成价值要素 ,将责任严格建立在父母违反事实存在的监督义务基础之上 ,在未成年子女致人损害行为客观存在并造成他人损害时 ,父母作为整体就自己的过失负责。我国现行立法、《草案》、及学者《建议稿》等理论学说强调对损害的填补 ,着眼于父母子女关系而采严格责任原则 ,其合理性值得反思 ,逻辑上也存在矛盾 ,父母责任制度势必要求整体重构。     

去甲斑蝥素-泊洛沙姆407缓释制剂局部注射治疗原发性肝癌25例

探讨去甲斑蝥素－泊洛沙姆４０７缓释剂局部注射治疗肝癌的疗效。方法：选择２５例原发性肝癌患Ｂ超引导下经皮肝穿刺瘤内注射去甲斑蝥素－泊洛沙姆４０７例释制剂治疗，并与２９例肝动脉化疗栓塞治疗作疗效对照。结果：两组在抑制肿瘤生长，降低ＡＦＰ水平和延生长存在期等方面并无差别（Ｐ〉０．０５），而去甲斑蝥素－泊洛沙姆４０７缓释制剂局部注