Obtaining redress for abuse of office in Russia: The Soviet legacy and the long road to administrative justice

This article examines the options for redressing abuse of office available to citizens in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. I consider the courts, the procuracy, and the complaint mechanism as sites for citizens to lodge claims against abuse of office in late-Soviet and post-Soviet times. After the collapse of the Soviet system there was an attempt to overcome the Soviet legacy, to strengthen legal institutions and establish administrative justice. Analysis of Soviet and post-Soviet normative documents and statistical data allows us to argue that opportunities for Russian citizens to combat service crimes in the courts have improved substantially. However, the system for coping with abuse of office remains imperfect, and retains features of the Soviet legacy despite vague legislation about administrative justice and dual ways of coping with abuse through legal and quasi-legal mechanisms. The re-establishment of the complaint mechanism in the conditions of contemporary Russia exacerbates this imperfection. Overall, the complaint mechanism occupies a significant place in people's options for making claims against officials, especially claims against high-ranking officials.     

试论英格兰盎格鲁-撒克逊时期的原始民主遗风

英国是宪政文明的发祥地。在英国宪政形成的诸多因素中，盎格鲁一撒克逊时期的原始民主遗风是人们关注的焦点之一。盎格鲁一撒克逊时期英格兰国家的起源方式的特殊性使“王在法下”、政治协商和珍视个人自由权利等日耳曼原始遗风得以保留。更为重要的是，英格兰原始民主遗风的保留使王权没有发展成为压倒一切的力量，有力地推动了日后英格兰宪政的生成。     

The Turkish Republic's Jihad? Religious symbols,terminology and ceremonies in Turkey during the Korean War 1950–1953

On 25 July 1950, a month after the beginning of the Korean War, the newly elected Democratic Party (DP) in Turkey announced that a brigade would be sent to assist South Korea as part of the UN mission led by the United States. The main argument of this article is that although the DP regime is considered a secular and Kemalist one, the state continued the Ottoman tradition and practice of using Islam to gain support for the war and to mobilize the Turkish nation. To do so, the article will show the similarity of both the means and the content of religious propaganda used in the Korean War to those used in the Ottoman jihad in the First World War. This article suggests that parts of the public understood the war as a religious conflict and not just as an ideological one thus indicating the success of the religious messages and their efficiency.     

‘Til death do us part’: surviving spouses,civil partners and provision on intestacy in Ireland

The Succession Act 1965 brought, it was said, a ‘revolutionary change’ in the law of succession to Ireland (Re Urquhart [1974] IR 197 at 208). However, despite the enormous impact it has had on citizens, in the 50 years since its enactment, the Act has never been subject to a comprehensive review or reform. This lack of legislative engagement in Ireland stands in marked contrast to a number of other common law jurisdictions. In the past decade alone, the Law Commission for England and Wales, the Scottish Law Commission, the New South Wales Law Reform Commission and the British Columbia Law Institute have each placed their respective succession law regimes under the microscope. Responding to this gap in the literature, this article considers the extent to which surviving spouses or civil partners are adequately protected on intestacy, specifically, in Ireland. Highlighting the potentially serious shortcomings of the Irish fractional share approach, and drawing on the experience of a number of common law jurisdictions, the article presents a proposal for reform. In this regard, it places a particular focus on the need to strike an appropriate balance between the competing interests of spouses/civil partners and children in the distribution of an intestate estate.     

Racial history,legacy and economic development

For more than a century, white communities across the United States employed strategies to remain all-white, including violent acts, forcibly driving minorities out of town, and racist local ordinances. One particularly widespread and effective approach used by many towns to exclude certain groups of people from living there was the creation of a ‘sundown town’: towns that purposely signalled to African Americans and other non-white groups that they were not welcome within the city limits after dark. Crowe and Ceresola seek to understand how historical racial policies affect present-day community life and, in particular, one component of community with which many towns currently struggle: economic development. In exploring the effect of cultural legacy on perceptions of race and economic development in five mid-sized communities in central and southern Illinois—two former sundown towns and three without histories of racial exclusion—their study uses interviews, observation and content analysis to examine how historical legacy can carry over to the present and affect economic development. Overall, the findings suggest that the values and beliefs passed down through a community's legacy influences current local economic development.     

论苏联解体后的“核遗产”及核扩散危机

苏联解体后其庞大的核武库也一分为四,在核武器系统、核材料、核科学家及核技术等三个层次都出现了失控的核扩散危机。以美国为首的国际社会从各个方面给予了大力援助,使前苏联庞大的"核遗产"得到了妥善的处理。因苏联解体而一度出现的核国家增多的问题得以解决,核扩散危机也基本得到消除。这不仅有效地捍卫了国际核不扩散体制,而且在实践上也是对国际核不扩散机制的补充和发展,对人类社会的和平与安全也是重大的贡献。当朝鲜和伊朗核问题屡成危机而长期困扰国际社会时,我们重温这段历史,也具有深刻的现实意义。     

侵权死亡赔偿制度中遗产的确定

侵权死亡赔偿制度在我国民法理论界和具体立法规定中一直存有争议，当这一制度和遗产继承问题发生交集时，更加剧了司法实践的困惑。侵权死亡赔偿的各个项目是否属于遗产，取决于主张损失赔偿的权利主体．如果是针对死者的相关损失的赔偿．则应作为遗产由其继承人继承，如果赔偿的对象是死者的近亲属或其他人，则不属于遗产，不应按继承处理。     

Obama's Legacy The Foreign Policy of the Late-Term Obama Administration

The year 2014 was a tipping point for the Barack Obama Administration-that was the year when it strove to forge a legacy of the Obama era but came up against challenges arising from major changes that were taking place internationally and domestically.The Administration was then focused on maintaining a fragile balance between creating this legacy and responding to these challenges.Obama stuck to his fundamental principles when dealing with overseas affairs,but he also came up with new responses.The dynamic balance struck between these two formed the basis of the global strategy of the late-term Obama Administration.The Administration's focus at this time highlights the dilemma it faced in forging a legacy.Further,the foreign policy of Obama and Trump are actually not so different;they both supported some degree of isolationism with a focus on domestic issues.     

在“奴隶是会说话的工具”错译背后——论罗马私法中的Instrumentum

"奴隶是会说话的工具"的错译基于对拉丁法律术语Instrumentum的理解错误,该词在本文的语境内并非"工具"的意思,而是"伴当"的意思,既包括无生命者,也包括有生命者。在农业经济的条件下,拉丁作者把土地看作中心物,把帮助土地发挥效用的诸要素看作土地的伴当,在遗嘱人有明示表示的情况下,土地应与其伴当一同移转,以此保持其生产力。在相反的情形,两者分别移转。罗马私法中还有职业性的Instrumentum、经营场所的Instrumentum、生活资料性的Instrumentum。Instrumentum概念在罗马私法中的存在表明,罗马人早就具有系统论的观念,认为各物并非孤立存在,而是相互关联存在或系统存在,而且人依赖一定的物而存在,因此以系统的方式处理中心者与其伴当的关系。