Sovereignty Without Sovereignty: Derrida’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Declarations Of Independence</Emphasis>

This article questions the common assumptions in legal theory regarding Derrida’s well-known Declarations of Independence. Through a close reading of this text, well-known ground such as the relation between speech and writing, the notion of representation, speech act theory, the signature, and the proper name is covered. The contribution that this analysis makes in the present context lies in the additional ‘step’ that it takes. The article seeks to give an explanation of the laws at work in Derrida’s thinking in the above respects and to explain more specifically how they find expression in Declarations of Independence. The article in this regard also investigates the importance and role of the ‘notions’ of death, loss of meaning, loss of ownership, and loss of sovereignty in Derrida’s thinking. The contention is that if we take account of Derrida’s reading in Declarations of Independence, it is possible to view constitutions in a very different way, more specifically their ‘origins’, with inevitable implications for constitutional interpretation.

实质刑法解释合理实现的程序性论证规则

刑法解释是研究中国刑事法治形成的重要题域。以程序与议论为双轨的实质刑法解释论是超越主观主义解释论与客观主义解释论之争的第三条道路,它通过程序与议论、对话与论证在交谈意义的合理性上来实现刑法价值判断的客观性。取消最高人民检察院有权刑法解释主体的地位,废除《刑法》第306条规定的辩护人、诉讼代理人毁灭证据、伪造证据、妨害作证罪,取消法官错案追究制,建立判决书说理制度,都是围绕如何构造一个平等、自由、不受强制的议论场域而设计的程序规则,以保障实质刑法解释的合理实现。     

法律解释视角下的“电脑量刑”

电脑量刑之类的思想很早就有了,限制法官的法律解释活动和视司法为机械的操作活动的思想曾经在西方历史上很盛行,但这种思想最终被证明违反了法律解释原理。根据法律解释原理,司法活动是法官对法律的理解、解释和应用过程,电脑量刑是对这一原理的违背。电脑量刑在我国出现具有其特定的原因,推行下去会对司法活动产生不良的影响。除去对电脑等现代科技的迷信,我们可以利用它们为法官在司法活动中的法律解释服务。     

宪法学的教义化——德国国家法学方法论的发展

本文主要介绍了德国自19世纪下半叶以来的国家法学方法论的发展。从1871年开始,德国经历了三次政治上的转折,政治的变化同样反映到国家法学和宪法学的研究当中,在近一个半世纪的时间里,如何通过方法论努力科学地进行国家法和宪法的体系建构或者解释,一直是问题的重心。而德国国家法学和宪法学方法论的发展对于今天的中国而言也具有重要的借鉴意义。     

"卖淫"的刑法解释--以南京某演艺吧"组织男青年向同性提供性服务"案为例

刑法的适用需要解释,法官应是解释的主体。刑法的适用解释要受罪刑法定原则的制约,只能进行严格解释,但只要没有超出"文义的射程"或"国民的预测范围"就属于扩张解释而非类推,并不违背罪刑法定原则。     

罪刑法定、法律解释与机械执法

机械执法是一种错误的执法思想。对罪刑法定原则必须在实质上进行把握,法律词义原则上应从广义解释。刑法规定的内容应明确、具体,具有实体的合理性。法官对于法条解释的内容不得超出一般人的理解。     

Introduction: Authority Building in International Administered Territories

This introduction to the special section on “Authority Building in International Administered Territories” begins by summarizing the relevant literature on international administrations. To conceptualize authority building as an ongoing process in which international and local actors confirm – or refuse – authority claims, secondly, two types of authority are differentiated: ‘interpretative authority’ and ‘performing authority’. This sociological conceptualization of authority building allows, thirdly, a discussion on the restrictions and challenges that international administrations face in their attempts to establish authority on the ground. Finally, an overview of the section’s articles is provided.     

Use of an Automated System to Evaluate Feature Dissimilarities in Handwriting Under a Two-Stage Evaluative Process*†

The two-stage evaluative process is an established framework utilized by forensic document examiners (FDEs) for reaching a conclusion about the source(s) of handwritten evidence. In the second, or discrimination, stage, the examiner attempts to estimate the rarity of observations in a relevant background population. Unfortunately, control samples from a relevant background population are often unavailable, leaving the FDE to reach this determination based on subjective experience. Automated handwriting feature recognition systems are capable of performing both feature comparison and discrimination, yet these systems have not been subjected to empirical validation studies. In the present study, we repurposed a commercially available automated system to generate empirical distributions for ranking feature dissimilarity scores among pairs of handwritten phrases. The blinded results of this automated process were used to survey an international cohort of 36 FDEs regarding their strength of support for same- and different-writer propositions. The survey served to cross-validate FDE decision-making under the two-stage approach. Results from the survey demonstrated a clear pattern of response consistent with ground truth. Predictive regression analyses indicated that the automated feature dissimilarity scores and the log of their cumulative distribution functions accounted for 72% of the variability in FDE opinions. This study demonstrated that feature dissimilarity scores acquired using automated processes and their distributions are closely aligned with FDE decision-making processes supporting the heuristic value of the two-stage evaluative framework.     

案事件调查中视频证据的内容解析

案事件的调查中,常常需要专业人员出具书面的报告,对视频记载的事件过程进行描述和解释。实际案件中,视频内容的分析报告多采用时间顺序,以语言描述为主。本文提出视频内容解析的概念,综合运用图像处理、图像测量、现场实验等技术方法,对视频中人、车、物等状态及其相互关系进行定性和定量的分析。解析结果以文字与图表相结合的形式呈现,可以更清晰完整地表述视频中反映的事件过程,已在多起重特大案事件的现场视频分析中应用。对于持续时间较长、关键目标动作较复杂的案事件形成视频解析报告,有助于对事件过程的还原,提高了视频证据的证明能力。     

刑法解释限度论

刑法解释是刑法适用的基本途径。刑法解释应当遵循罪刑法定主义,应被限定为在国民可预测范围内的“文义射程”。刑法解释禁止超越文义,不得入罪重刑,也不得违反总体法秩序。刑法解释之改进需要适时修订刑法,规范立法解释;改进解释体制,清理司法解释;整理典型判例,形成判例指导。