Prosecutorial regulation in the Global South: Environmental civil litigation by prosecutors in China compared to Brazil

Brazil's successful prosecutorial civil action against polluters could be a regulatory example for the Global South. This paper analyses whether such regulation could also develop without the major political, institutional, and legal reforms that spurred it in Brazil. To do so, it analyzes China, where similar reforms have so far not occurred, but where prosecutors have recently started to initiate civil litigation against polluters. It finds that prosecutorial civil litigation in China has only a limited regulatory effect or potential. Prosecutors in China are influenced by conflicting incentive structures that reward one‐off lower level test cases with an innovation bonus, while structurally stimulating a focus on general crime fighting. Ironically, as a result of such incentives, the recent legal reform, toward providing standing for prosecutors in public interest litigation, will, in contrast to Brazil, decrease rather than increase the regulatory effect of these cases. These findings have implications for understanding how the interaction between regulatory independence, legal reform, and regime type shapes possibilities for regulatory innovation in the Global South.     

Environmental Harm or Natural Hazard? Problem Identification and Adaptation in U.S. Municipal Climate Action Plans

A number of cities in the United States have devised climate action plans (CAPs) to mitigate the effects of climate change. However, few of these plans address strategies to adapt to the long term effects of climate change that will occur in the near and distant future. The research presented in this article examines why cities choose to embed adaptation provisions in their CAPs. Our study codes the content of CAPs for all cities (N = 98) in the United States with populations greater than 50,000. We find cities that frame problems associated with climate change in the language of hazards are more likely to include adaptation strategies in their CAPs than cities that focus on other types of environmental harm. Our findings suggest that more robust efforts to plan for climate change will require the activation of communities of interest beyond those that have been instrumental in setting the current climate agenda.     

NAFTA本田汽车原产地规则案再探——兼论对中国区域合作的启示

北美自由贸易区在本田汽车原产地认定方面,强调了在像汽车这种由很多重要部件和次要部件经常在多数国家中组装而成的产品原产地问题的重要性。本田案件提出的根本问题在计算中如何衡量非本土材料在组件的本地含量,加工成本是否可以囊括在当地含量之内,进而通过重新定义的净成本方法解决该问题。该案对中国区域合作中海关在原产地认定方面也具有...     

环境犯罪的客体要件——环境权之本体研究

将环境权作为环境犯罪的客体要件，已是必然趋势。基于当今社会的现实情况，诺顿的弱人类中心主义伦理观是可取的。奠立于该伦理观之上，环境权的主体就只能局限于人类，包括自然人、单位、社会和国家；环境权有单独存在的必要性和可行性，只要是环境法主体享有在安全和舒适的环境中生存和发展的权利，无论是实体的还是程序的、无论是开发环境方面的还是利用环境资源方面、也无论是自然人的还是社会的抑或是国家的等都属于环境权大家庭的一员。各个具体环境权元素因不同的权利主体而不同。     

法律规范与生活逻辑:失火民事赔偿责任衍进的本土叙事

在中国传统社会,对于失火之法律责任,国家法律通常只明确了刑事制裁而无民事赔偿的规定;在民间的习惯法层面,失火人亦往往不担赔偿之责。不过在中国近代大规模继受西方民法的进程中,这一固有法的常态性规范渐被外来的侵权行为规则所排斥。中国近代的侵权行为立法,最终确立了失火行为的民事赔偿责任,且不对过失程度作出任何限定。不过社会实证经验又同样证明,失火毋需赔偿之固有法规范虽被旁置,但内嵌其中的社会文化性内容则在一定程度上被积淀下来,并以一种生活逻辑的形式潜移默化地影响着人们的思维,支配着人们的行为方式。     

Australian Rural Local Governments and Environmental Sustainability: An Evaluation of Progress

Local government is often characterised as being well-placed to enact a successful agenda for environmental sustainability because of its closeness to both people and the environment. The purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which this assumption is correct in terms of local government environmental policies and programs in rural Australia. Using case studies with eight local government authorities in Queensland and New South Wales, the article documents three different positions on a continuum of environmental engagement. These are 'disengaged', 'moving towards engagement' and 'engaged'. The article concludes by arguing that the resource constraints facing rural local councils limit their capacity to engage with environmental management.     

Lingering environmental pessimism and the role of government in Hong Kong

Based on data from two opinion surveys conducted in 2000 and 2008, this study shows that Hong Kong people have been consistently highly aware of the seriousness of different environmental problems and relatively pessimistic about the future resolution of these problems. Such pessimism is arguably related to their lack of confidence in the government's enforcement of environmental protection. Through an analysis of the environmental policy‐making and enforcement agency and three selected enforcement cases, the study further finds that the people's lack of confidence can be traced to the government's failure to bring about a comprehensive, integrated, far‐sighted environmental strategy with sophisticated institutional support and detailed enforcement mechanisms. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parties, rules and government legislative control in Central Europe: The case of Poland

A distinguishing feature of Central European polities is a strong policy-shaping role of parliaments. This article demonstrates how party political and procedural factors set the scene for the executive's loss of legislative control in Poland. Parties undermine the governmental grip because of their limited internal cohesion and competitive coalitional strategies. Parliamentary rules reinforce such party effects. The executive can shield its bills from amendments by relying mainly on partisan controls, not formal privileges. But, as an analysis of over 300 bills shows, when party discipline and coalition cooperation are in short supply, partisan controls are ineffective as instruments of legislative control.     

环境法理念初探

法律的价值取向是法律制度设计的精神家园。从全面把握自然属性的视角出发 ,本文详细阐述了环境法的一系列基本理念 ,将一些传统法的理念予以重新定位 ,以适应环境法的革命性需求。文中分析了可持续发展与环境法的互动 ,探索了环境安全在环境法价值体系中的地位 ,提出了构建人与自然相和谐的环境秩序 ,并追求跨越种际、代际的环境正义。     

刑事非法实物证据的定义及分类

构建刑事非法实物证据的排除规则是当下法学界一个热点问题，不同学者对此有着不同见解。造成学界在构建排除规则不统一的原因主要为：对刑事非法实物证据的定义认识不统一以及对构建刑事非法实物证据排除规则的理论基础没有全面认识。对造成上述状况的原因之一即刑事非法实物证据的定义进行尝试，并对刑事非法实物证据作一个分类，可以为学界在构建刑事非法实物证据排除规则时提供参考。