Trusts for Religious Purposes and the Question of Public Benefit

It is a well‐established principle that no trust may be regarded as charitable in law unless carrying out its purposes will benefit the public. Trusts for religious purposes have traditionally been presumed by courts to be for the public benefit. However, the presumption of public benefit will be removed from the law in early 2008 when section 3(2) of the Charities Act 2006 comes into force. At that time, two questions are likely to attract interest. First, to what extent, and in what ways, has the application of a presumption of public benefit assisted courts up to now? Secondly, without the assistance of the presumption, how might courts go about ascertaining whether the public will benefit in future cases? The article takes up these two questions with respect to trusts for religious purposes.     

中美探视权法律制度比较

中美由于社会政治制度、民族传统和习俗的差异,两国的探视权制度在主体、强制执行、实现方式、中止等方面均存在异同。反映了各自不同的立法目的和价值取向。我国的探望权应当从“扩大探望权主体范围;规定探望权受阻可成为变更抚养关系的法定诉讼理由;确立精神损害赔偿制度;探望权纠纷案例为非讼事件,适用特别程序,不得上诉;适用拒不执行生效判决文书罪”等方面加以完善。     

刑事法反恐若干问题探析

反恐需要国际、国内多种形式、全方位的介入,但作为最严厉的法律手段,无疑刑事法应首当其冲。对于什么是“恐怖主义”、什么是“参加恐怖组织罪”、如何完善恐怖犯罪的罪名和刑罚、如何兼顾反恐与人权的保护和主权的维护等问题,皆值得我们进行深入、全面的研究。     

寻找构建和谐社会的"阿基米德支点"

社会主义和谐社会有着丰富的内涵,建立社会主义和谐社会需要在政治、经济、法律和社会等方面进行多方面的努力.尊重和保护人权是构建和谐社会的"阿基米德支点",对此,可从三个方面加以说明,即尊重和保障人权是构建和谐社会的基础,是构建和谐社会的重要主题,是构建和谐社会的基本价值取向.     

Gauging support for innovative farmland preservation techniques

Given growing concerns about the loss of farmland in the US, governmental and nonprofit groups are seeking innovative, cost-effective methods to preserve lands that will elicit additional landowner participation. This article describes four innovative farmland preservation techniques and derives implications for the policy process through interviews of key stakeholders: program administrators, lawmakers, and landowners. Experts on farmland preservation were also interviewed to ensure stakeholder perceptions substantively inform the policy process. Four techniques were selected for assessment from approximately 30 novel techniques. Reactions to these policy options reflect stakeholder perceptions of a baseline condition; the perceptions help evaluate which options are likely to survive the policy process and what attributes will lead to their acceptability because few of these techniques have yet become policy. Although the stakeholders may have more limited experience with the policy process, land preservation experts validated many of the results and the possibility of success in the “rough and tumble” of the policy process. Of the four investigated techniques rights of first refusal was the most favored, although respondents thought effective implementation would require careful targeting and a dedicated funding source. Experts agreed this technique was most likely to survive in the political arena. Agricultural conservation pension was also viewed favorably, though it was considered administratively difficult to implement. Several experts thought that, though inchoate, the pension plan could potentially be more cost effective than rights of first refusal. Land preservation tontines were perceived to be an interesting concept, but confusing, difficult to implement, and ill-defined. Term conservation easements were viewed unfavorably because they did not preserve land permanently.

权利的实现与“有限侵害性”的社会权力——从贫困治理出发的思考

如何实现、保障和发展公民所拥有的法律上的权利?对这一问题的研究不应该再继续局限于国家与市民社会两分法这样一种简单化的理论框架。因为在当前,这一理论框架只是驱使研究者关注国家权力如何从社会中退出,关注国家权力对社会自治的侵害,而忽视了对社会权力的有限侵害性特点的研究。社会权力的有限侵害性最鲜明地体现在公民社会基本权利的保障和实现中,也即对贫困的治理。     

Security,privacy and freedom and the EU legal and policy framework for biometrics

The adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon and the granting to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the same legal force as the Treaty has lent a new impulse to the consideration of fundamental human rights by the European Union (EU). The question remains, however, as to how this legal discourse, centred upon human rights, is actually shaping the EU regulatory framework in specific policy domains. The aim of this paper is to critically appraise the ways that the fundamental rights of security, privacy and freedom guaranteed by the Charter are being construed in the context of EU law and policy on biometrics, an ethically and morally sensitive security technology whose development and use are being actively promoted by the EU. We conclude that the interpretation of the pertinent rights, as well as their balancing, owes a great deal to the goals of EU policies for research and development, and under the auspices of Freedom, Security and Justice, shaped largely by political and economic considerations. These considerations then tend to prevail over ethically or morally-based legal claims.     

Rights in Criminal Law in the Light of a Will Theory

The will theory of rights has so far been considered incapable of capturing individual rights under criminal law. Adherents of the will theory, therefore, have defended the claim that criminal law does not assign rights to individuals. In this article I argue first, that criminal law does assign individual rights and second, that the will theory of rights may enhance our understanding of these rights. The two major implications of the account are: a volenti non fit iniuria principle for criminal law, and a theoretical framework for an idea of punishment as restitution.     

论法院对基本权利的保护

为公民基本权利提供保护,是现代国家合法性的重要来源。普通法院在基本权利保护中发挥着重要作用。德国虽然设立了宪法法院,但保护公民基本权利的职责仍主要由其他法院承担。在没有设立宪法法院的国家,通过普通法院更是为基本权利提供司法保护的唯一途径。我国法院应当通过三种方式为基本权利提供司法保护:如果法律有保护基本权利的具体规定,法院应当直接适用法律;如果法律对基本权利的保护只作了抽象规定,法院应当对有关抽象立法进行合宪解释之后予以适用;如果法律没有作出保护基本权利的任何规定,法院可以直接适用宪法的基本权利条款。     

泰国曼谷民办非全日制华文教育的现状与特色

民办非全日制华文教育是泰国华文教育的两大体系之一。其基本特征为:产权私立,以补习学校为主要办学形式;商业化运作,以社会需求为导向,重视信用培育、品牌塑造、市场开发和公众评价;规模较大,生源多样化;师资性别年龄学历学缘结构趋于合理,年轻化、专业化和职业化倾向明显。相对优越的教学条件、较为严谨的教学规范、灵活的班级与课程设置以及注重华语交际能力的培养模式,使其在华教领域呈现多方面的优势。民办非全日制华文教育的发展,将华教触角从学校延伸到社会,从学生扩大到所有人群,既增加了受众,也深化了层次,提升了华文教育的效率、质量和社会影响力,促进了华文教育的推广和中泰文化交流。