口头优先还是书面优先？——国际诉讼法协会（IAPL）2008年年会主题述评

国际诉讼法协会2008年年会的主题为“口头及书面程序：民事诉讼中的效率”。围绕该问题各国学者（主要是大陆法系学者）形成两派观点：一派强调书面程序能有效提高诉讼的效率;另一派则强调口头原则的重要性。两者背后的价值追求都是“如何提高程序效率”。此次会议主题反映出大陆法系民事诉讼在基本程序保障实现后,提高诉讼效率成为十分突出和急迫的问题。此次年会上,学者就相关理论问题展开讨论,如两种“诉讼目的观”的对立、有关书面和口头原则的“两个神话”的解构等。     

建国以来我国分配领域公平与效率实践的回顾与思考

建国以来,我国的收入分配制度发生了很大的变化,分配制度的变迁实际上就是一个不断探索效率与公平关系的过程。从＂平均主义＂到＂效率优先＂的探索,一定程度上有效地促进了经济发展和生产效率的提高,但也导致了收入分配差距迅速扩大,并影响到社会稳定和经济增长,从而导致公平正义问题凸现。反思建国以来收入分配制度变迁的过程,从效率公平的权衡到公平正义的诉求,将有助于深化分配制度改革,加快体制机制创新,推动社会的和谐发展。     

城乡统筹制度框架中的警察公共服务定位——兼评警务效能的提升

国务院批准成都为全国统筹城乡综合配套改革试验区,这为公安机关探索新形势下的警察公共服务定位问题提供了先行良机。成都市公安局锦江区分局以推进“三基”工程建设为契机,充分发挥公安机关的职能作用,大力服务成都“试验区”建设,并在此过程中推进自身公共服务定位的改革,形成独具特色的“锦江模式”。“锦江模式”的实质是在城乡统筹制度框架中实现警察公共服务定位的理念和方法创新。并带动警务效能的相应提高。     

破产法:美国的经验与启示

美国破产法经过长期的发展,于1978年确立了现行的制度架构。美国《破产法》关于公司破产的内容,主要体现在第7章和第11章中,也就是其中有关清算程序和重组程序的规定中。分析的结果显示,破产法面临内在的矛盾或冲突,不能同时消除"存伪"和"去真"两种错误,也不能同时实现事前效率和正确的投资与申请破产决策。从破产法的实际操作来看,无论清算还是重组,都会造成一定的价值损失。中国还处在从计划经济向市场经济转轨的过程中,为了解决预算软约束问题,需要严格的破产法。这样的破产法将是债权人导向的或者说对债权人友好的,将更多地运用清算程序。     

Using ninhydrin to detect gravesoil

Some death scene investigations commence without knowledge of the location of the body and/or decomposition site. In these cases, it is necessary to locate the remains or the site where the body decomposed prior to movement. We hypothesized that the burial of a mammalian cadaver will result in the release of ninhydrin reactive nitrogen (NRN) into associated soil and that this reaction might have potential as a tool for the identification of clandestine graves. Juvenile rat (Rattus rattus) cadavers were buried in three contrasting soil types in Australian tropical savanna ecosystems and allowed to decompose over a period of 28 days. Soils were sequentially harvested and analyzed for NRN. Cadaver burial resulted in an approximate doubling (mean = 1.7 +/- 0.1) in the concentration of soil NRN. This reaction has great potential to be used as a presumptive test for gravesoil and this use might be greatly enhanced following more detailed research.     

Politics and Corporate‐Sector Environmentally Significant Actions: The Effects of Political Partisanship on U.S. Utilities Energy Efficiency Policies

This study assesses the direct, indirect, and total impacts of political partisanship on state‐level utilities' investment in energy efficiency. This subject is of utmost importance because energy efficiency improvement has become a linchpin in worldwide efforts to combat climate change and other environmental challenges. Analysis of data on 51 electric utilities nested within 31 U.S. states indicates that political partisanship influences utilities' energy efficiency policies. There is strong evidence that electric utilities in states dominated by the Republican Party are less likely to invest in energy efficiency than those in states governed by the Democratic Party. This finding suggests that political partisanship may be shaping the policy and regulatory frameworks put in place by state governments to incentivize or compel the participation of private‐sector entities' in environmental management and/or resource conservation.     

论地方环境立法公正和效率价值的平衡

我国地域辽阔,域内自然环境差别较大,其决定了地方环境立法居于不可或缺的地位。地方环境立法应兼顾公正和效率价值平衡,并坚持"效率优先、实现公正"的立法价值取向。地方政府应当对当地新生环境问题结合当地经济、技术、自然实际情况及环境保护的需要及时立法,并对不适时的地方法规进行及时修改,实现地方环境法制系统公正和效率价值的最大化追求。     

关于完善我国刑事诉讼简易程序的思考

公正与效率是司法改革的重要价值取向之一,刑事诉讼简易程序的适用正是体现了这一价值取向。但我国现行刑事诉讼法规定的简易程序还存在一定的缺陷,为实现简易程序对效率与公正的双重追求,亟需在比较研究的基础上对其进行改革和完善,以促进刑事审判方式的改革。     

The Economic Evaluation of Policing Activity: An Application of a Hybrid Methodology

This paper advances a hybrid police cost function that synthesises the proactive/preventive and response/reactive methodologies from the criminology literature. The model presents a coherent estimation process that can help in the allocation of scarce resources to police forces and also enable economists, government organisations and criminologists to assess the scale and technical efficiency of forces. This hybrid model uses response survey data for a sample of English and Welsh police forces in which relative efficiency rankings are contrasted with relative performance measures produced by the Audit Commission. We find that there are considerable divergences in police force's scale and technical efficiency during 1997/98 and 1998/99 utilising non-parametric techniques.     

A Selection of Empirical Socio-Economic Research with Respect to the Functioning of Legal Rules and Institutions in Belgium and the Netherlands

In this paper some studies with respect to empirical socio-economic research which has been undertaken in Belgium and the Netherlands concerning the functioning of legal rules and institutions are discussed. The paper focuses on the domains of criminal law, civil procedure, liability and insurance. The paper argues that contrary to the overwhelming economic literature on liability and insurance, the empirical results in that domain are poor. More research is undertaken in the area of criminal law and apparently it is overwhelming in the area of civil procedure. The latter studies are, however, mainly undertaken by socio-legal scholars and less by economists. The general conclusion of the empirical studies discussed seems to be that while the empirical literature on the effect of changes in the decision making environment on rational actions in the legal system is rich and provocative, there is much less empirical testing of the effects of legal rules as such on allocational outcomes. The paper argues that much more effort should be devoted to the latter issue.