Legal reforms appropriate for cohabitants and LATs

Cohabitants and LATs (couples who “live apart together”) do not fit the traditional categories and rules of our family law system. This article describes what we know about both cohabitants and LATs in the U.S., compares the two institutions, and makes recommendations about legal reforms with respect to each. For cohabitants the reforms would assimilate cohabiting couples to marriage after the passage of time, based on the evidence of their economic interdependence and the probability that there are children in their households. As to LATs, the reforms proposed are limited to those that would support the caretaking functions LATs perform for each other, resulting in benefits to society as a whole.     

Can Minimum Wage Standards Reduce Wage Inequality in China？

Along with rapid economic growth over the past several decades in China, wage and income inequalities have also widened over time. This paper analyzes the relationship between the labor market institutions and the labor market outcomes by focusing on the effects of China＇s compulsory minimum wages on wage inequality. The study chooses the year of 2004 as a starting point in consideration of the fact that the new regulation of minimum wages begun to implement in 2004. The main purpose of the study is to utilize quantitative methods to investigate whether the new regulation played a role in preventing wage inequality from further widening. The results show that, without the increases of minimum wages from 2004, the overall wage inequality could further widen in 2006. This observation holds true for male and female workers and for different regions. The paper concludes that China＇s compulsory minimum wages might raise the wages of poor-paid workers, but the system itself is only one instrument in helping poor-paid workers. To a large extent, the rise of workers＇ wages depends on tripartite collective wage bargaining. For China, where the real function of trade union has been questioned, solving the issues of widening wage and income inequalities still has a long way to go.     

资本制度变革下的资本法律责任——公司法修改的理性解读

公司法资本制度的重大变革并未否定资本制度的基本原理和与之相关的股东出资义务和责任。取消最低资本额,改变的只是股东出资义务的范围或数额,而非股东出资义务本身。公司资本从有限制的认缴制到无限制的认缴制,改变的只是股东履行出资义务的期限,股东以其认缴而非实缴的出资额为限对公司债务负责,资本的"认而不缴"并不免除股东的出资义务或责任。认缴资本的采用也不能终结或取代实缴资本的独特作用。资本真实的法律要求不因取消法定最低资本额和实行完全的认缴资本制而改变,取消验资的特定法律程序,决非否定资本真实性的法律要求,而只是改变资本真实的实现方式。     

Comparative Analysis of Insect Succession Data from Victoria (Australia) Using Summary Statistics versus Preceding Mean Ambient Temperature Models

Minimum postmortem interval (mPMI) can be estimated with preceding mean ambient temperature models that predict carrion taxon pre‐appearance interval. But accuracy has not been compared with using summary statistics (mean ± SD of taxon arrival/departure day, range, 95% CI). This study collected succession data from ten experimental and five control (infrequently sampled) pig carcasses over two summers (n = 2 experimental, n = 1 control per placement date). Linear and exponential preceding mean ambient temperature models for appearance and departure times were constructed for 17 taxa/developmental stages. There was minimal difference in linear or exponential model success, although arrival models were more often significant: 65% of linear arrival (r² = 0.09–0.79) and exponential arrival models (r² = 0.05–81.0) were significant, and 35% of linear departure (r² = 0.0–0.71) and exponential departure models (r² = 0.0–0.72) were significant. Performance of models and summary statistics for estimating mPMI was compared in two forensic cases. Only summary statistics produced accurate mPMI estimates.     

Poor communities as corporate stakeholders: A bottom-up research approach

Abstract

This article strives to provide an understanding of salient issues affecting the daily lives of participants from various developing communities in the country, and within the bigger picture, discuss some implications for organisations that affect or are affected by such communities. A key implication is that the process of constant connectivity and dialogue, including dissent, with communities as corporate stakeholders, may be more important in establishing trust and earning accountability, than the outcomes of well-planned corporate social responsibility campaigns. The study is based on qualitative research undertaken between 2006 and 2008 in 35 South African rural and township communities in Limpopo Province, North-West and Gauteng. A bottom-up research approach was proposed by the researchers, which, instead of evaluating the effects of corporate communication campaigns on communities, was to begin at a grassroots level with communities themselves, by exploring top-of-mind issues. From the findings it was apparent that a vicious cycle of extreme and endemic poverty was the focal area that occupied community members’ minds. This study provides a linkage between certain aspects of corporate social responsibility, normative stakeholder theory, strategic communication and stakeholder dialogue, in an attempt to provide organisations with guidelines to evaluate and respond to the challenges of poor communities, and offer a perspective on the way strategic communication with poor communities should take place.     

完善最低生活保障制度的路径选择

政府在低保政策的制定、低保对象的认定及低保对象的管理和服务等问题上发挥着至关重要的作用.随着最低生活保障制度实践的开展,低保责任主体的责任划分、相关职能部门自身能力建设以及各项制度的衔接等问题对政府的低保工作提出了挑战.为此,各级政府为完善最低生活保障制度做出了有益探索.     

Modernization theory and the Cold War

In this article the structural, political and intellectual context in which a specific discourse of development emerged is examined. In the context of the Cold War, the prolonged effort of American intellectuals in advising and attempting to redirect the process of development in India and its consequences for a particular version of modernization theory is analyzed. A general sociology of knowledge approach is deployed to examine the complex configuration of events that contributed to a specific discoursed that owes its intellectual lineage to the Comtean vision of social science.     

国际海底区域生物资源法律属性探析

国际海底区域生物资源具有极高的科研价值和商业价值,但作为晚近发现的资源,现有的国际法尚未对其法律属性做出明确规定。国际社会基于各自利益考量,形成了两种截然不同的主张。从各国的争议出发,分析公海自由原则和人类共同继承财产原则的历史发展和内容,并结合国际海底区域生物资源本身的特征,对该资源的法律属性进行论证,同时为中国如何应对该资源的开发提出建议,以期在该资源开发利用争夺战中,取得与中国地位相符的一席之地。     

The size principle and the strategic basis of an alliance: Formalizing intuitions

At the end of the Cold War, attention is keenly turned towards predicting alliance behavior in the international system. As such the lessons from past history are important in helping us guide our expectations. One recent lesson, Schweller (1993), argued that the strategic basis of a coalition was decisive in determining the size of coalitions; offensive coalitions would be minimum winning while defensive coalitions would be maximal. We show that by formalizing in game theoretic terms what ‘seems reasonable,’ in fact does not yield these predictions. We find no support for the strategic basis of a coalition being determinate in predicting the size of a coalition. As such, formalizing the intuitions from the lessons of the past help guide us in our search for usable lessons in alliance formation.     

死刑替代位阶上无期徒刑的改良

死刑替代措施就是在不适用死刑的情况下应该采取的、用来代替死刑的刑罚方法。死刑替代措施应以现行刑罚体系为基础,以废除或限制死刑实际适用为前提进行考察,选择能够直接担当"最严厉"法定刑角色,保持足够的威慑力的刑种。死缓不是刑罚种类意义上的死刑替代措施;不得假释的终身监禁不符合"人总是可以改造的"的基本理念;无期徒刑是中国刑罚体系中仅次于死刑的刑种,蕴含有较强的威慑力,通过适当改良,能够产生足够的类似于死刑的威慑力。作为替代死刑的方法,设置无期徒刑先予关押期是上乘选择。考察无期徒刑在有期徒刑与死刑中的衔接地位,借鉴国外实际执行无期徒刑的经验,确定10年的先予关押期较为适宜。