英国社区法律咨询服务概述

英国社区法律咨询服务，是英国法律援助制度之一的社区法律服务的重要组成部分，在英国法律服务委员会提供的专项资金支持下，社区法律咨询服务与独立的法律咨询组织和律师合作，为广大经济困难的英国居民提供丰富的、保密且独立的免费法律咨询服务。在我国加大法律援助宣传教育工作之际，十分值得我国借鉴。     

城乡规划中“公共福祉”的判定研究——一则著名美国案例的分析及其对中国的启示

对于美国城市规划判例中的著名案件"劳雷尔山Ⅰ案"判决的解读,可以分析得出:城市规划中"公共福祉"的判断不应仅限于规划所辖地域范围内的利益考虑,还应考虑受规划影响的地域和人群;人的基本住房需求是"公共福祉"的绝对要素,当公共福祉的各要素间冲突时,要素的重要性以及手段和目标之间的不可替代性成为在具体情况下公共福祉判断的关键;"公共福祉"实现需要私人和公共行为共同作用。以上结论对于我国城乡规划制定中应考虑的利益范围的确定及其考量因素冲突的选择,提供了启示。     

银监会法律性质研究

2003年中国银监会的成立是我国金融监管机制步向专业化与法治化的一个重要举措。但银监会＂国务院直属正部级事业单位＂的现有定位广受诟病。＂事业单位＂的定性使国务院组成部门、直属机构和事业单位的界限变得模糊不清;＂正部级＂的冠名使得行政级别的设置进一步强化;＂国务院直属＂的设置模式无法保证银监会监管的独立性。从银监会的专业性、独立性、权力混合性及其履行职责的性质来看,其应当定性为国家经济调制机关。     

Market structures,political surroundings,and merger remedies: an empirical investigation of the EC’s decisions

This paper aims to build and empirically evaluate a discrete choice model of merger remedies as a basis for policy analysis. The database consists of 229 merger cases accepted in Phase I or Phase II of the European merger process between 1990 and 2005. We focus on the following question: Which merging firms’ characteristics lead the European Commission to decide whether to require conditional acceptance? Although a lot of empirical studies have been carried out these last years, ours is distinguished by at least two original features. First, we explore determinant factors of the Commission’s decisions with a neural network model differentiating cases accepted with or without remedies (either structural or behavioral). Secondly, we implement three multinomial logit models. We find that variables related to high market power lead more frequently to a remedy outcome, no matter the phase. Innovative industries such as energy, transportation and communications positively affect the probability of a behavioral remedy. Lastly, former Competition Commissioner Mario Monti’s policy appears to be pro-remedy, i.e. seeking concessions from merging parties.     

Money Matters: The Financing of the Conservative Party

The article examines the financing of the Conservative Party in the aftermath of the 2001 general election. An examination of the party's income and expenditure shows that pre-2001 patterns remain - the Conservatives are the poorer of the two main parties but continue to be the principal recipient of corporate and in-kind donations. However, the article also demonstrates that income rose sharply in the aftermath of the change of leadership in 2003, suggesting that this change may have stimulated donations. Also, as for other parties, questions of probity continue to arise following larger donations but, like Labour, the Conservatives oppose any caps on political giving.     

Trusting in Trust(s): TheFamily Home and Human Rights

In July 2002, the U.K. Law Commission published its Discussion Paper No.287 on home-sharing. The conclusion drawn by the Law Commission was that it would not be possible to devise a statutory scheme for the resolution of family property disputes which is both workable and flexible enough to deal with the wide range of personal relationships that exist. It further took the view that, with appropriate changes to the way in which trusts principles are currently interpreted and applied by the courts, these trusts principles are sufficiently flexible and coherent to deal with the question of ascertaining and quantifying property rights over the family home. The aim of this paper is to examine the implications of these particular conclusions drawn by the Law Commission for both the law of trusts and the resolution of family property disputes between cohabitants. In particular, the paper will consider the extent to which trusts law remains a workable and desirable option and whether any mileage may be gained by drawing on the human rights culture that is emerging in U.K. legal and political discourse. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Collaborative leadership in EMU governance: a matter of cognitive proximity

Abstract

Collaborative leadership has stood at the heart of European politics since its inception. Yet EU scholars have only recently started to examine the concept and mainly from an institutional perspective. This article conceptualises the phenomenon of collaborative leadership from an actor-centered perspective. It explores a central condition for successful collaborative leadership identified in the literature: the existence of shared beliefs among the leaders involved. To do this, the article focuses on four events in the history of European Economic and Monetary Union. Using the method of cognitive mapping, the study establishes the extent of congruence in the beliefs on European integration and fiscal and monetary policy of the four leadership trios overseeing these events. On the basis of a survey of leading experts in the field, the article reveals that the level of cognitive proximity in leaders’ beliefs aligns with the perceived success with which the trios exerted collaborative leadership.     

Leaking,leak prevention,and decoupling in public administrations: the case of the European Commission

Abstract

The European Commission is frequently faced with leaks, much like other public administrations in Western democracies. While executive leaders often criticise the practice of leaking as an unwanted breach of confidentiality and secrecy, leak prevention is usually not taken seriously compared to the scale of the phenomenon. This article discusses leaking and leak prevention more broadly and analyses the efforts of the European Commission to prevent leaks. It finds that leaking and leak prevention were regularly discussed at the highest level of the EU’s executive between 2006 and 2015. However, few Commission officials have been sanctioned for leaking in that period, and mostly for leaks that appear unrelated to the substance of those discussed at the political level. This mismatch is explained by a decoupling of talk and action regarding leak prevention, allowing the European Commission and other public administrations to manage inconsistencies in competing internal and external demands for openness and confidentiality.     

规划性变迁视角下的农民工走向与对策

社会作为一切人和社会关系的总和,无时无刻不在发生变迁。农民工是中国从传统农业社会向现代工业社会转变时期的产物,反映了社会变迁的特性。社会变迁有两种类型:一种是放任主义的自然变迁,一种是体现人的意志的规划性变迁。将农民工纳入规划性变迁中,有助于改善其生存状况,使之成为社会变迁的有机组成部分。纵观改革开放以来的历次五年规划/计划,农民工在规划性社会变迁中由消极限制到积极保障,一方面反映了农民工为我国现代化建设做出了巨大贡献,另一方面也要求通过国家规划创造条件,逐步实现农村转移人口市民化,使农民工作为一个特有的过渡性社会群体最终趋于消失。     

The logic of regulatory impact assessment: From evidence to evidential reasoning

Agencies involved in generating regulatory policies promote evidence-based regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) to improve the predictability of regulation and develop informed policy. Here, we analyze the epistemic foundations of RIAs. We frame RIA as reasoning that connects various types of knowledge to inferences about the future. Drawing on Stephen Toulmin's model of argumentation, we situate deductive and inductive reasoning steps within a schema we call the impact argument. This approach helps us identify inherent uncertainties in RIAs, and their location in different types of reasoning. We illustrate the theoretical section with impact assessments of two recent legislative proposals produced by the European Commission. We argue that the concept of “evidence-based regulatory impact assessment” is misleading and should be based on the notion of “regulatory impact assessment as evidential reasoning,” which better recognizes its processual and argumentative nature.