Making sense of the case law on Ombudsman schemes

This article analyses the case law on ombudsman schemes in the UK, with the purpose of identifying some of the key trends that underpin this branch of law pre-the first Supreme Court decision in this area, JR55 v Northern Ireland Commissioner for Complaints. While the law on ombudsman schemes remains based on legislation and the various grounds of administrative law available in judicial review, distinct bespoke principles have also been relied upon. These principles are beginning to provide consistent guidance on how the law should be used and interpreted in cases involving an ombudsman scheme. One task of the Supreme Court in JR55 will be to confirm these principles, or rationalize any departure from them.     

《刑法修正案(十一)》中法定刑的调整与适用

《刑法修正案(十一)》共调整了18项个罪的自由刑以及9项个罪的财产刑。落实产权平等保护精神并不意味着刑法一定要将非国家工作人员受贿罪、职务侵占罪、挪用资金罪与受贿罪、贪污罪、挪用公款罪的法定刑配置保持一致或均衡。对非法集资犯罪法定刑的加重并不可取。相较无限额罚金制,倍比罚金制是更优的立法选择。将集资诈骗罪的三档法定刑压缩为二档是囿于立法技术的无奈之举,原刑法规定的第三档量刑幅度并未被取消,而是并入修正后刑法规定第二档法定刑中。追诉时效制度属于实体法规定,应当根据刑法从旧兼从轻的溯及力原则,结合具体犯罪的法定刑变化情况确定追诉时效期限。     

Sub-surface characterisation of latest-generation identification documents using optical coherence tomography

The identification of individuals, particularly at international border crossings, coupled with the evolving sophistication of identity documents are issues that authorities must contend with. Particularly, the ability to distinguish legitimate from counterfeit documents, with high throughput, sensitivity, and selectivity is an ever-evolving challenge.Over the last decade, an increasing number of security features have been introduced by authorities in identification documents. The latest generation of travel documents (such as passports and national ID cards) forego paper substrates for several layers of polycarbonate, allowing security features to be embedded within the documents. These security features may contain information at either the superficial and sub-surface levels, thus increasing the document’s resilience to counterfeiting.As the documents become harder to forge, so does the sophistication of forgery detection. There appears to be an unmet and evolving need to identify such sophisticated forgeries, in a non-destructive, high throughput manner.In this publication, we report on the application of optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging on assessing security features in specimen passports and national ID cards. OCT allows sub-surface imaging of translucent structures, non-destructively enabling quantitative visualisation of embedded security features.     

国家所有权行使的理论逻辑

国家所有权的行使,是国家所有权的权利主体通过代表人的积极行为,支配特定的客体,从而使所有权的利益得到实现的行为。国家所有权的行使是有权主体代表国家行使所有权,经济学界的委托—代理理论不适合大陆法传统的当代中国。国有财产有多种类型,应当根据其性质和功能确立国有财产所有权行使的多元机制。国务院以外的机构代表国家行使所有权,尤其是地方政府代表国家行使土地、矿产资源所有权,应当有法律的明文授权。国家所有权的行使者必须接受人民的监督。     

德国《著作权法》中报酬请求权制度及其启示

为适应新技术发展和国际著作权法发展的要求，德国《著作权法》对包括报酬请求权在内的许多内容进行了修订。报酬请求权是德国《著作权法》中一项重要而又颇具特色的内容，对当前我国著作权法的完善具有重要的借鉴意义。比较其与我国著作权法上获得报酬权的不同，可以总结其对我国著作权法改革的借鉴意义。即增加关于基于提供复制机会的法定报酬请求权的规定，并辅之以版权补偿金制度和完善的著作权集体管理组织制度。     

Analysis about the Trouble and Way of Establishing China＇s Case Guidance System

案例指导制度是一项既区别于英美法系判例法制度又不同于大陆法系判例制度的中国特色产物，是我国司法观念变革与制度变革相结合的一项新制度，是一种能够体现中国特色、并顺应世界两大法系逐渐融合发展大趋势的制度变革措施。本文指出了消除相关障碍是建构案例指导制度的前提，论证了案例指导制度在我国建构的必要性和可行性，同时从指导案例的选择标准与要求、指导性案例的产生程序、案例指导制度的监督机制、案例指导制度的修缮机制等四个角度，提出了构建刑事案例指导制度的具体路径。     

竞争倡导研究

竞争倡导是反垄断执法机构实施的除执法以外所有改善竞争环境的行为，具有促进和补充反垄断执法、推进竞争政策有效实施和推动竞争文化建设的重要作用。反垄断执法针对私人限制竞争，竞争倡导关注政府干预限制竞争的风险，故所倡导的竞争应围绕干预的适当性、主导权及期望实现的目标来界定。分析各国竞争倡导的制度路径，借鉴其成功经验并结合我国现实诉求，我国竞争倡导制度构建的重点在于引入立法优先咨询制度、推动准入管制的放松、逐步缩减反垄断除外适用范围、健全对管制的竞争评估、帮助企业进行合规制度建设，以形成多样化的倡导工具。     

浅论英语中的语篇衔接与连贯

在大学英语语篇分析中,衔接与连贯是很重要的因素。它影响着英语教学中的阅读,写作和翻译等各方面的问题。连贯是语篇的主要特征之一,衔接是实现语篇连贯的重要手段。本文从探讨衔接手段出发分析语篇的衔接与连贯。     

Assessing Public Procurement of Innovation as a Cross‐Domain Policy: A Framework and Application to the Chinese Context

Despite the fact that public procurement of innovation (PPI) has become an increasingly popular policy tool, there has been a lack of holistic approaches to assessing policies promoting PPI. This article attempts to address this gap by proposing a framework which links the multiple levels and aspects related to the design and implementation of PPI policies. By adopting a systemic understanding of “public procurement” as well as “innovation policies,” this article positions PPI as a cross‐domain policy which is inherently a mix of procurement and innovation‐related interventions. The article develops an assessment framework using “vertical coherence” and “horizontal coherence” as criteria. It then illustrates the use of the framework by applying it to PPI policies in China. The framework can aid the conduct of ex ante as well as ex post assessment of PPI policies, which can further inform policy design, implementation, and learning.     

Reflections on variability in the blood–breath ratio of ethanol and its importance when evidential breath-alcohol instruments are used in law enforcement

Variability in the blood–breath ratio (BBR) of alcohol is important, because it relates a measurement of the blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) with the co-existing breath-alcohol concentration (BrAC). The BBR is also used to establish the statutory BrAC limit for driving from the existing statutory BAC limits in different countries. The in-vivo BBR depends on a host of analytical, sampling and physiological factors, including subject demographics, time after end of drinking (rising or falling BAC), the nature of the blood draw (whether venous or arterial) and the subject’s breathing pattern prior to exhalation into the breath analyzer. The results from a controlled drinking study involving healthy volunteers (85 men and 15 women) from three ethnic groups (Caucasians, Hispanics and African Americans) were used to evaluate various factors influencing the BBR. Ethanol in breath was determined with a quantitative infrared analyzer (Intoxilyzer 8000) and BAC was determined by headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC). The BAC and BrAC were highly correlated (r = 0.948) and the BBR in the post-absorptive state was 2 382 ± 119 (mean ± SD). The BBR did not depend on gender (female: 2 396 ± 101 and male: 2 380 ± 123, P > 0.05) nor on racial group (Caucasians 2 398 ± 124, African Americans 2 344 ± 119 and Hispanics 2 364 ± 104, P > 0.05). The BBR was lower in subjects with higher breath- and body-temperatures (P < 0.05) and it also decreased with longer exhalation times into the breath-analyzer (P < 0.001). In the post-absorptive state, none of the 100 subjects had a BBR of less than 2 100:1.