Judiciaries as crucial actors in Southern regulatory systems: A case study of Indian telecom regulation

This article addresses regulatory reforms in the Indian telecommunications sector and emphasizes the role of the Indian judiciary. Our claim is that when confronted with a series of disputes relating to the nascent telecom regulatory landscape, the Supreme Court of India sought to make a constructive contribution to both the actual disputes as well as the overall regulatory framework. Our reading of these cases suggests that in the sphere of telecom, the Supreme Court has been less interested in stamping its own authority on issues, and has instead sought to bolster the authority and legitimacy of the recently constituted telecom regulatory institutions. We seek to draw attention to the role of the Indian judiciary as marking an exceptional feature of evolving regulatory systems in the Global South. Conventional wisdom in the regulatory jurisprudence that has evolved in the Global North suggests that judiciaries should have little or no role to play in regulatory systems. We suggest that to overcome the special challenges that regulatory systems in the Global South confront, more established institutions and actors might have to lend credibility and legitimacy to enable nascent regulatory actors to develop over time. At least in the Indian case, this is one way to understand the Indian judiciary's interventionist actions in the sphere of telecom regulation.     

社会舆情与刑法运作互动问题研究

随着信息传播的便利,社会舆情可以对刑事裁判的整个过程产生影响。在社会舆情和刑事司法发生冲突的案件中,社会舆情"屡战屡胜",表面上看好似是"公意的胜利",而实质上依然是"正义的胜利"。因为被推翻的刑事判决本身,在法律依据、诉讼程序、定案证据等方面存在各种各样的瑕疵或错误。为了实现刑事司法的公众认同,维护刑事司法的权威性,刑事司法应当做到三点:坚守刑事司法的正当性;加强判决书说理;增强对社会公意的理解。     

Public confidence in the judiciary: the interaction between political awareness and level of democracy

Apart from the studies that focus on public attitudes toward higher courts in advanced democracies, we know little about the factors that can explain public confidence in the judiciary in a comparative setting. In this regard, the goal of this study is to explain whether, and to what extent, the country's level of democracy moderates the impact of political awareness on public confidence in the judiciary. This study uses hierarchical linear models to analyse the interaction between individual and country level factors by using the World Values Survey (2005–2009) data for 49 countries and various other data sources. Our empirical results show that in advanced democracies political awareness variables like education and political participation have a positive impact on public confidence in the judiciary, whereas in countries with weak levels of democracy higher political awareness leads to increased cynicism about the judiciary. These results suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach to explain confidence in the judiciary is not possible when we are dealing with a wide range of societies that vary in terms of many characteristics, both institutional and cultural.     

晚清司法发展分析--以严复的司法理论为分析对象

严复的司法理论为分析晚清司法发展提供了一条有利的线索,他的理论一方面具有分析上所要求的代表性和典型性,另一方面具有分析上所要求的连续性。他的宪政理论中对专制政体的批判,对权力分立理论的论述为晚清的司法发展提供了必要的前提。他对司法独立、刑讯制度以及司法中立问题的关注和论述丰富了晚清时期司法理论。而他以民权为基础所构建的具有集体主义倾向的宪政理念则深刻影响了晚清时期司法发展的走向。     

常识与理性(十):司法技术与司法政治之法理及其兼容

司法之政治性与其技术性一样,都是司法本身所固有的基本秉性。其中,技术性体现着司法的职业理性,它构成了司法过程的客观方面;政治性折射出司法的价值关怀,它构成了司法过程的主观方面。任何司法过程都包含主客观两个方面,因而也是政治性与技术性的有机统一。基于此,中国司法改革既要避免"泛政治化"倾向,又要反对"去政治化"主张。     

风险时代的秩序重建与法治信念——以“能动司法”为对象的讨论

转型时期中国社会呈现高风险状态。在民众中确立新的共同价值观和实现社会治理模式的规则之治是风险控制与秩序重建的两个基点。能动司法的出现回应了转型时期风险控制、秩序重建的需要,因而获得高度的政治合法性。能动应有之意包括:通过裁判确立风险社会的法治信念,重建社会共享价值体系;通过始终如一的适用法律,实现社会治理模式向规则之治转型;完善民众参与司法机制,让司法成为第一块公共领域。能动司法应当建立在对司法的本质属性与时代使命的准确把握基础上,在政治功能与审判职能之间保持必要的张力和平衡。     

以公关机制破解舆论对司法的负面影响

舆论对司法公正的影响已经成为当今社会共同关注的问题。在我国,部分公众对司法不信任、不依赖、不服从。公众通过发达的大众传媒冲击司法,甚至左右司法,致使司法公信力降低,司法信任危机加重。公关技术具有化解矛盾、增强互信的效能。把公关机制引入司法领域,建立舆情感知与分析制度,重塑司法品牌,可成为破解当前司法困境的有效途径。     

Families in need of supervision

Abstract

Even judiciaries that do not have histories of serious or pervasive corruption need to be watchful lest what I refer to as judicial corrosion occurs. Drawing on studies of institutional entropy, I identify some of the external and internal sources of such corrosion and comment briefly on challenges that face its prevention or repair within the judicial realm.     

媒体与司法之间的良性互动

舆论监督对司法独立的影响分为两步：一是新闻媒体通过报道或是对案件的评价让公众了解案件的前因后果;二是公众依据所收到的报道对这类事件产生看法和意见。在这两个阶段中,媒体不仅扮演着媒介的角色,也扮演着＂引导者＂的角色。在媒体的＂引导＂下,公众的情绪就构成社会舆论,它会直接影响执法者对案件的审判,从而影响司法独立。