Building sustainable free legal advisory systems: Experiences from the history of AI & law

The enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI) as a source of solutions to problems is not new. In law, from the early 1980s until at least the early 2000s, considerable work was done on developing ‘legal expert systems.’ As the DataLex project, we participated in those developments, through research and publications, commercial and non-commercial systems, and teaching students application development. This paper commences with a brief account of that work to situate our perspective.The main aim of this paper is an assessment of what might be of value from the experience of the DataLex Project to contemporary use of ‘AI and law’ by free legal advice services, who must necessarily work within funding and other constraints in developing and sustaining such systems. We draw fifteen conclusions from this experience, which we consider are relevant to development of systems for free legal advice services. The desired result, we argue, is the development of integrated legal decision-support systems, not ‘expert systems’ or ‘robot lawyers’. We compare our insights with the approach of the leading recent text in the field, and with a critical review of the field over twenty-five years. We conclude that the approach taken by the DataLex Project, and now applied to free legal advice services, remains consistent with leading work in field of AI and law.The paper concludes with brief suggestions of what are the most desirable improvements to tools and platforms to enable development of free legal advice systems. The objectives of free access to legal information services have much in common with those of free legal advice services. The information resources that free access to law providers (including LIIs) can provide will often be those that free legal advice services will need to use to develop and sustain free legal advisory systems. There is therefore strong potential for valuable collaborations between these two types of services providers.     

Achieving zero hunger: implementing a human rights approach to food security in Ethiopia

A human rights approach to food security seeks to empower vulnerable groups to claim their rights. It also reinforces a government’s obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food. Furthermore, it encourages the integration of the right to food into the design and implementation of food security policies. This article examines the human rights approach to food security, with specific reference to Ethiopia. It assesses the historical causes of Ethiopia’s food insecurity, and examines the legislative and policy measures that the country has adopted over the last three decades in order to achieve food security. Food insecurity in the country is largely explained by the absence of government accountability. In 1973 and 1984, the hunger caused by drought was transitioned to famine not because of overall unavailability of food in the country, but because the government failed to provide food aid to the starved people and concealed the occurrence of famines from the international donors. Despite designing some food security policies over the last three decades, the country has not yet adopted sufficient legislative and judicial measures to enforce the right to food. This article argues that Ethiopia should introduce a framework law on the right to food to end hunger in the context of achieving national food security.     

大力推进惩防腐败体系建设——基于山西省晋城市的实践

坚决惩治和有效预防腐败,关系人心向背和党的生死存亡。晋城市近年来惩防体系建设取得了一定的成效,教育防范重点突出,制度建设不断创新,监督制约形成机制,改革推动坚定有力,纠风矫正成效明显,惩治追究形成合力,科技防腐积极探索。但惩防体系建设目前还面临许多制约因素,反腐倡廉教育形式单一,失之于“弱”,制度落实执行难度大,失之于“虚”,监督渠道不畅缺乏手段,失之于“软”,领导干部作风建设问题突出,失之于“律”。为进一步加强惩防体系建设,必须强化反腐倡廉教育,增强教育效果;加强制度执行力,注重制度创新;改革和完善监督体制,拓宽监督渠道;继续利用科技手段,加强网络反腐。     

阳虚质和阴虚质特征比较研究

阳虚质、阴虚质是相互联系又相互对立的两种基本体质类型,两者在形态结构、生理功能、心理特点和反应状态4个方面具有差异性。这两种体质类型以"虚"为共同特点,表现为生理功能的低下、适应能力的减弱等,在此基础上,又表现出寒与热、静与动的对立特征。     

亚洲国家宪政发展的道路初探:五大国家的比较研究

作为亚洲五国的中国、印度、南北韩(韩国和朝鲜)、日本与印度尼西亚宪政发展道路各有不同。究竟源于西方社会的宪政模式是否在其发源地以外也具有普遍适用性?亚洲又是否存在特殊的宪政模式或政治体制?如果我们从宏观历史与比较研究的角度审视这五国自十九世纪末直到今天的发展,便可发现,在现代和当代时期,宪政主义在亚洲还是产生了深远的影响。但是,亚洲似乎没有产生特殊的"亚洲式"的宪政模式或政治体制,也没有足够证据显示亚洲的文化与价值观念与宪政主义难以相容。恰恰相反,宪政主义能否在某一国家或地区得以实施,似乎更多地取决于政治因素,以及战争、外国干预等具偶然性的历史事件的影响,而不是主要取决于文化与价值观念。     

一起建筑工地食堂食物中毒的行政处罚案例分析

目的通过对一起建筑工地食堂食物中毒处罚案例进行分析,探讨《中华人民共和国食品安全法》对食物中毒处罚的适用和可操作性。方法对一起建筑工地食堂食物中毒案例处罚过程进行分析讨论。结果当前缺乏对《中华人民共和国食品安全法》相关条款的司法解释,缺乏对"货值金额"等名词的定义,以及缺乏规范性文件对个别条款的补充。结论建议及时出台《中华人民共和国食品安全法》相关配套规范性文件及司法解释,增加法律的可操作性,有效遏制违法经营行为。     

Hong Kong's political influence over China: institutional,informative, and interactive dynamics of sovereignty

Abstract

This article explores how Hong Kong has exercised political influence on China since the transfer of sovereignty in 1997, and tries to comprehend such seemingly impossible influences by reinterpreting the concept of sovereignty. It argues that the British Hong Kong existed as a ‘reference society’ for China's modernization and helped to change Chinese perceptions of capitalism. As this resulted in Chinese recognition of the legitimacy of Hong Kong's colonial institutions, which were featured with political legacies of civic freedom and the rule of law, it also reveals the institutional dimension of sovereignty. Secondly, the information flow from Hong Kong to China reflects a communicative (in contrast to coercive) nature of sovereignty, which highlights Hong Kong's central position in the Chinese world of information. Thirdly, Hong Kong's ongoing democratization challenges Chinese authoritarianism through societal interactions that are beyond state control. Conceptually, in this article, state sovereignty is argued as being something fluid and constantly reshaped in everyday practice with institutional, informative, and interactive dynamics; practically, it attempts to find some remaining ‘silver lining’ to the growing authoritarian Chinese clouds above Hong Kong as reversing the logic of examining external factors in democratization.     

Between realism and idealism in Japanese security policy: The case of the ASEAN regional forum

Abstract

While ASEAN played the leadership role for erecting the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Japan generated positive impact on the historical trajectory leading to the birth of the ARF. This paper asks the following question: On what ideational foundation was Japan's support for the ARF based? Utilizing a conceptual framework based on the theoretical literature of multilateralism, the paper analyzes three major Japanese perspectives on the ARF in the inception years (1991–95) — Idealism, Realism, and Liberalism — while paying special attention to Liberalism, the perspective underlying Japan's actual policy. Liberalism, while leaning toward Realism, still incorporated some elements of Idealism. For Liberals, centering around the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ARF was a vehicle to foster a sense of trust, however fragile, on the basis of providing and sharing quality information about China, Japan, and the United States, without undermining the existing security arrangements including the US‐Japanese alliance.     

Professionalised Campaigning in Latin America

Abstract

This paper analyses the process of democratisation within Latin American by focusing on the nature of election campaigning in the region. Particular attention is paid to developments in three former military dictatorships, which now regularly hold elections. The states are Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, and consideration is given to the insights and limitations of applying the “Americanisation” or modernisation thesis in studying their distinctive media and political cultures. The elections held in each state during 1999 are used as case studies. What emerges is a complex pattern in which candidates and parties have simultaneously adopted some of the professional forms of electioneering whilst retaining and valuing the more traditional and interpersonal electioneering techniques. Furthermore, it was pointed out that there were marked differences in politicians' approaches to campaigning both between as well as within the three different political systems.