bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Impact of maternal HIV infection on pregnancy outcomes in southwestern China – a hospital registry based study
Authors: Yang M. , Wang Y. , Chen Y. , Zhou Y. , Jiang Q.
Published: March 2019

Globally, human immune deficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) continues to be a major public health issue. With improved survival, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS is increasing, with over 2 million among pregnant women. Investigating adverse pregnant outcomes of HIV-infected population and associated factors are of great importance to maternal and infant health. A cross-sectional data collected from hospital delivery records of 4397 mother–infant pairs in southwestern China were analysed. Adverse pregnant outcomes (including low birthweight/preterm delivery/low Apgar score) and maternal HIV status and other characteristics were measured. Two hundred thirteen (4.9%) mothers were HIV positive; maternal HIV infection, rural residence and pregnancy history were associated with all three indicators of adverse pregnancy outcomes. This research suggested that maternal population have high prevalence in HIV infection in this region. HIV-infected women had higher risks of experiencing adverse pregnancy outcomes. Rural residence predisposes adverse pregnancy outcomes. Findings of this study suggest social and medical support for maternal-infant care needed in this region, selectively towards rural areas and HIV-positive mothers.
Comparison of 3-day and 7-day recall periods for food consumption reference values in foodborne disease outbreak investigations
Authors: Morton V. K. , Thomas M. K. , Ciampa N. , Cutler J. , Hurst M. , Currie A.
Published: March 2019

Investigations into an outbreak of foodborne disease attempt to identify the source of illness as quickly as possible. Population-based reference values for food consumption can assist in investigation by providing comparison data for hypothesis generation and also strengthening the evidence associated with a food product through hypothesis testing. In 2014–2015 a national phone survey was conducted in Canada to collect data on food consumption patterns using a 3- or 7-day recall period. The resulting food consumption values over the two recall periods were compared. The majority of food products did not show a significant difference in the consumption over 3 days and 7 days. However, comparison of reference values from the 3-day recall period to data from an investigation into a Salmonella Infantis outbreak was shown to support the conclusion that chicken was the source of the outbreak whereas the reference values from a 7-day recall did not support this finding. Reference values from multiple recall periods can assist in the hypothesis generation and hypothesis testing phase of foodborne outbreak investigations.
A central limit theorem for additive functionals of increasing trees
Authors: Ralaivaosaona Dimbinaina , Wagner Stephan
Published: March 2019

A tree functional is called additive if it satisfies a recursion of the form$F(T) = \sum_{j=1}^k F(B_j) + f(T)$, whereB1, …,Bkare the branches of the treeTandf(T) is a toll function. We prove a general central limit theorem for additive functionals ofd-ary increasing trees under suitable assumptions on the toll function. The same method also applies to generalized plane-oriented increasing trees (GPORTs). One of our main applications is a log-normal law that we prove for the size of the automorphism group ofd-ary increasing trees, but other examples (old and new) are covered as well.
Variation in the food environment of small and non-traditional stores across racial segregation and corporate status
Authors: Winkler Megan R , Lenk Kathleen M , Caspi Caitlin E , Erickson Darin J , Harnack Lisa , Laska Melissa N
Published: March 2019

Objective

We examined differences in consumer-level characteristics and structural resources and capabilities of small and non-traditional food retailers (i.e. corner stores, gas-marts, pharmacies, dollar stores) by racial segregation of store neighbourhood and corporate status (corporate/franchise-v. independently owned).

Design

Observational store assessments and manager surveys were used to examine availability-, affordability- and marketing-related characteristics experienced by consumers as well as store resources (e.g. access to distributors) and perceived capabilities for healthful changes (e.g. reduce pricing on healthy foods). Cross-sectional regression analyses of store and manager data based on neighbourhood segregation and store corporate status were conducted.

Setting

Small and non-traditional food stores in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN, USA.

Participants

One hundred and thirty-nine stores; seventy-eight managers.

Results

Several consumer- and structural-level differences occurred by corporate status, independent of residential segregation. Compared with independently owned stores, corporate/franchise-owned stores were more likely to: not offer fresh produce; when offered, receive produce via direct delivery and charge higher prices; promote unhealthier consumer purchases; and have managers that perceived greater difficulty in making healthful changes (P≤0·05). Only two significant differences were identified by residential racial segregation. Stores in predominantly people of colour communities (<30 % non-Hispanic White) had less availability of fresh fruit and less promotion of unhealthy impulse buys relative to stores in predominantly White communities (P≤0·05).

Conclusions

Corporate status appears to be a relevant determinant of the consumer-level food environment of small and non-traditional stores. Policies and interventions aimed at making these settings healthier may need to consider multiple social determinants to enable successful implementation.
Dietary calcium intake and the risk of metabolic syndrome: evidence from observational studies
Authors: Cheng Lixiao , Hu Danqing , Jiang Wenjie
Published: March 2019

Objective

Epidemiological investigations evaluating the association of dietary Ca intake with metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk have yielded controversial results. Therefore, a meta-analysis was conducted to quantitatively summarize the association between dietary Ca intake and the risk of MetS.

Design

PubMed, Embase and Web of Science were searched for relevant articles published up to October 2018. The pooled OR and 95 % CI were calculated with a random-effects model.

Setting

Meta-analysis.

Participants

Nine cross-sectional studies.

Results

A total of nine articles with fifteen studies for dietary Ca intake were finally included in the meta-analysis. The combined OR with 95 % CI of MetS for the highest v. lowest category of dietary Ca intake was 0·80 (95 % CI 0·70, 0·91). For dose–response analysis, a non-linear relationship was found between dietary intake of Ca and risk of MetS (Pnon-linearity<0·001). The threshold for dietary Ca intake was 280 mg/d (OR=0·87; 95 % CI 0·82, 0·93), reducing the risk of MetS by 13 %.

Conclusions

The present meta-analysis suggests that dietary Ca intake might reduce the risk of MetS, which needs to be further confirmed by larger prospective cohort studies.
Perceptions of water and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption habits among teens, parents and teachers in the rural south-western USA
Authors: Hess Julia Meredith , Lilo Emily A , Cruz Theresa H , Davis Sally M
Published: March 2019

Objective

The present research aimed to describe perceptions and behaviours around the consumption of water and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) by youths.

Design

A formative, qualitative study which conducted four focus groups. Transcripts were analysed and themes related to reasons youths drink SSB and water, and conversely do not drink SSB and water, were analysed to reveal thematic clusters around sensory factors, environment and policy, access, marketing and role model influences, and health risks.

Setting

A rural, tri-ethnic community in New Mexico, USA.

Participants

Middle- and high-school students, parents and teachers.

Results

Although youths and adults were aware of the health risks of soda, they did not translate this information to other SSB, including sports drinks and sweetened tea. Moreover, their perceptions of risks of dyes outweighed their concern with sugar. Youths and adults were aware of water’s health benefits, but they focused on short-term benefits. Youths and adults perceived water as unappealing. Adults were also concerned with water safety and access.

Conclusions

This formative research has implications for decreasing SSB consumption and simultaneously increasing water intake among youths in rural communities. Addressing unique access and safety concerns related to water in rural communities, as well as increasing awareness of the risks of all types of SSB, can work together in a positive feedback loop to change perceptions and behaviours with long-term health consequences. Specific policy suggestions include strengthening school policies to restrict all types of SSB and water promotion efforts that address access, safety and health benefits.
Searching for Bright Lines in the Trump Presidency
Authors: Carey John M. , Helmke Gretchen , Nyhan Brendan , Sanders Mitchell , Stokes Susan
Published: March 2019

Is American democracy under threat? The question is more prominent in political debate now than at any time in recent memory. However, it is also too blunt; there is widespread recognition that democracy is multifaceted and that backsliding, when it occurs, tends to be piecemeal. To address these concerns, we provide original data from surveys of political science experts and the public measuring the perceived importance and performance of U.S. democracy on a number of dimensions during the first year-and-a-half of the Trump presidency. We draw on a theory of how politicians may transgress limits on their authority and the conditions under which constraints are self-enforcing. We connect this theory to our survey data in an effort to identify potential areas of agreement—bright lines—among experts and the public about the most important democratic principles and whether they have been violated. Public and expert perceptions often differ on the importance of specific democratic principles. In addition, though our experts perceive substantial democratic erosion, particularly in areas related to checks and balances, polarization between Trump supporters and opponents undermines any social consensus recognizing these violations.
Igorot Squatters and Indian Wards: Toward an Intra-imperial History of Land Dispossession
Authors: McKenna Rebecca Tinio
Published: March 2019

This essay considers two land disputes that took place in the first decade of U.S. rule in the Philippines and that reached the U.S. Supreme Court:Cariño v. Insular Government(1909) andReavis v. Fianza(1909). In arguing their cases, litigants were forced to reckon with the property rights regime of the former Spanish empire. In this regard, the cases affirm the import of inter-imperial frameworks for understanding colonial problems of land ownership and sovereignty. When arguing over the rightful owners of Philippine lands, parties to these cases also drew on the history and legal bases of land dispossession and settler colonialism in the American West. Further, in later decades, the arguments made in one of these cases would figure into legal conflicts over Native American lands. These cases thus suggest the value of also examining intra-imperial relationships, the emphasis of this essay. They demonstrate how histories and legal structures of settler-driven “expansion” and extra-continental colonialism informed, even constituted, each other.
Freedom, Security and (the) Public(ity): Notes on the 2008 Heidelberg Conference of German-speaking Public Law Assistants
Authors: Koetter Matthias
Published: March 2019

In the last week of February 2008, the University Assistants of Public Law from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland came together in Heidelberg for their annual conference to discuss “Security, Freedom and (the) Public(ity).” A better date for the meeting could not have been chosen; on the day the conference started, the German Constitutional Court declared online searches by German intelligence agencies to be unconstitutional and came up with a new dimension of human rights protection for the privacy of computer network systems. This pathbreaking jurisprudence was omnipresent at the conference; it had already been in the opening-speech by Justice Brun-Otto Bryde (Gießen), a member of the First Senate of the Constitutional Court, which was to render its decision the very next day. It was brought up in numerous discussions during the conference and it was the main topic on the panel discussion with Paul Kirchhof (Heidelberg), a former Justice in the same Senate who was known as the “Professor from Heidelberg” during Angela Merkel's 2006 election campaign, and Fredrik Roggan, a Berlin lawyer and chairman of the civil rights association “Humanistische Union,” who argued the case before the Court. Perhaps it was all a coincidence, but questions of freedom and security have remained on the everyday agenda, in a political context as well as constitutional debates, ever since September 11, 2001.
Legal Questions of Excluding Participants from Internet Discussion Groups: On the Guaranteeing of Freedom of Communication through ‘Network- Adapted' Private Law
Authors: Ladeur Karl-Heinz
Published: March 2019

The development of media law in recent years is – following a brief stage of calm in the course of establishing the ‘dual broadcasting system' – being affected by new dynamism sparked particularly by the rise of the Internet. The increasing multiplicity of forms and possibilities of communication, in particular of ‘hybrid' coupling of elements of individual and mass communication (e.g. individual exchange of pieces of music by a generally accessible procedure such as Napster and Gnutella, Internet discussion groups among people who do not know each other, Video-on-Demand etc.) has brought broadcasting regulation within a ‘positive order' oriented towards ‘pluralism' under pressure. New hybrid services can no longer be sharply distinguished from broadcasting, nor simply classified with traditional individual communication. The content too may be disseminated in various contexts: for instance, the same film may be disseminated as a full programme, a side programme or part of a media service. Can the difference in context then justify, say, differentiation of legal requirements relating to advertising?
Shareholder Loans in Corporate Insolvency – A New Approach to an Old Problem
Authors: Verse Dirk A.
Published: March 2019

The treatment of shareholder loans in corporate insolvency is a controversial issue in many jurisdictions. On both sides of the Atlantic, lawmakers and courts have struggled to answer the question if and under what circumstances shareholder loans should be treated differently from loans granted by outsiders. In particular, the difficulties turn on three issues: (i) whether shareholder loans should rankpari passuwith the claims of outside creditors or whether they should be subordinated; (ii) whether the repayment of shareholder loans should be subject to specific restrictions, particularly in the vicinity of insolvency; and (iii) whether specific restrictions should apply to secured shareholder loans.
Regulating Minority Issues through Standard-Setting and Mediation: The Case of the High Commissioner on National Minorities
Authors: Farahat Anuscheh
Published: March 2019

On 17 February 2000 the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) submitted a recommendation to the Senate of the Babes-Bolyai University (BBU) in Romania. In this recommendation he formulated inter alia: “It is important for the staff of a University to reflect the University's multi-cultural character […] Therefore, an Equal Opportunity Commission should be established within the university to encourage the hiring of minority and female staff – on the basis of academic credentials – regulate guidelines on the recruitment and promotion of staff in this context and monitor performance against clear and transparent success/failure criteria.”
Legal Challenges of Nonbinding Instruments: The Case of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries
Authors: Friedrich Jürgen
Published: March 2019

Faced with the reluctance of states to transfer sovereign powers to the international level, traditional international organizations often resort to voluntary instruments when attempting to respond to pressing issues of public concern such as sustainable development. One salient example is the attempt of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to improve the dire state of global fisheries resources by means of the nonbinding Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF). After years of extensive and dynamic development of fishing capacities in response to an increasing demand from a growing world population, the worldwide production of fisheries seems to have now reached its ceiling. The FAO estimates that three quarters of fish stocks are either fully exploited (50 percent) or overexploited and depleted (25 percent). Any solution to this state of affairs faces complex regulatory challenges. The regulation of collective goods, in this case including the global common space of the high seas, goes beyond mere coordination problems as analyzed by other case studies in this volume. It requires cooperation across jurisdictional zones by a multitude of different actors with various economic and social interests in a subject area marked by fierce economic competition. Free riding must be prevented through monitoring and enforcement at sea. Further, it is now understood that long-term sustainable use largely depends on the protection of the living and non-living environment of the resource, from which derives the need for an ecosystem approach. Uncertainty over reproduction levels and impact of environmental degradation makes a precautionary approach to fisheries management indispensable for successful regulation. The complexity and high level of uncertainty additionally calls for a highly flexible and adaptable regulation.
Flexibility and Legitimacy - The Emissions Trading System under the Kyoto Protocol
Authors: Láncos Petra Lea
Published: March 2019

In the field of environmental law, be it on the domestic or the international level, it is especially difficult to develop effective regulatory systems and systems for sanctions to enforce obligations. The legal solutions employed under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as the Kyoto Protocol, constitute a fascinating attempt to address these problems, providing “a huge testing ground for the legal instruments of environmental policy, at the international as well as on the lower levels,” mirroring “enormous creativity in the design of regulatory approaches.” Even though the Kyoto Protocol, “if fully implemented, will not … avert or even slow climate change,” it serves as a fine example of emerging international composite administrations, where multiple actors participate in transnational institutions of a multilevel system, serving the common goal of mitigating climate change. The climate change regime's unique regard to flexibility in fulfillment is particularly prominent. This is complemented by especially stringent and complex compliance mechanisms, which have no parallel in other international forms of cooperation. A further significant characteristic of the system is the high degree of legitimacy enjoyed by its institutional organization, its procedures and procedural outcomes. Thus, the international cooperation under the framework of the Kyoto Protocol is a landmark: it achieves not only flexibility but also a high degree of legitimacy and represents a morematureexample of the exercise of public authority by international institutions.
International Administration of Holocaust Compensation: The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC)
Authors: Less Steven
Published: March 2019

The most important change in public international law over the past century has been a re-direction of its focus exclusively on states to a broadened scope of subjects including, most importantly, individual human beings. This shift in the status of individuals may be directly traced to the widely acknowledged need, in the aftermath of the Second World War, for a more adequate response to the Holocaust and other large-scale atrocities than that offered by traditional international law. Substantive concerns led to the development of human rights law. Victims' demands for compensation or restitution for the material injuries caused by genocidal Nazi persecution spurred a parallel procedural revolution. The innovation lay in national and international recognition of individuals' rights to assert such claims on their own behalf against their own governments, foreign states and foreign private entities.
The WTO Committee on Trade in Financial Services: The Exercise of Public Authority within an Informational Forum
Authors: Windsor Joseph
Published: March 2019

The Committee on Trade in Financial Services (hereinafter, Committee or CTFS) is a committee subsidiary to the Council for Trade in Services (CTS), which itself reports to the General Council of the WTO. Shortly after the WTO Agreement entered into force, the CTS established the Committee in its Decision on Institutional Arrangements for the General Agreement on Trade in Services (Institutional Decision). The Committee acts primarily as a forum for dissemination of regulatory information specific to the often opaque financial services sector. This permits a meeting of national finance ministers and experts, as opposed to (mere) trade negotiators and representatives, who may not be in a position to understand the unique nature of national financial regulation. Fundamentally, a state's finance sector underlies all other sectors of international trade, since any transaction for goods or services requires compensation, usually monetary, thereby making the financial sector function as a sort of central nervous system for global trade. The financial services sector, therefore, is peculiar among WTO trade sectors. Indeed, the regulatory constellation for financial services within WTO law is unique: it includes two annexes to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and two Protocols to GATS, negotiations extended well beyond the Uruguay Round and the Marrakesh Agreement's entry into force, and there is asui generisset of heightened commitments called the Understanding on Commitments in Financial Services. The Committee also acts as a monitoring body, overseeing both the implementation of legal commitments under the relevant Protocols and the specific progress of China under the Protocol on the Accession of the People's Republic of China.
The Enforcement Authority of International Institutions
Authors: Röben Volker
Published: March 2019

One of the most striking features of international institutional law that emerges from the several cases studies collected in this issue is that enforcement authority is now vested in international institutions alongside the more familiar types of public authority almost as a matter of course. Enforcement of international law by international institutions needs to be distinguished from other closely related concepts of public authority that are in turn the subject of closer studies collected in this issues. As discussed by von Bogdandy, Dann and Goldmann, international institutions often dispose of an implementation authority which in turn is subject to a branch of international institutional law. The responsibilities and indeed the authority of international institutions do not stop at the mere implementation of their legal base. However, enforcement involves a categorically different exercise of public authority. It concerns the interaction with another subject of law. Insofar as enforcement essentially empowers an international institution to confront States it deeply interferes with the sovereign's conduct, and its very existence may seem counterintuitive.
The Internationalization of Administrative Relations as a Challenge for Administrative Law Scholarship
Authors: Schmidt-Aßmann Eberhard
Published: March 2019

One does not approach a challenge with a backward view. Rather, we take on challenges by looking forward. In scholarship, taking a forward view is known asresearch.Law schools define themselves by their research. Scholarly work is what garners prestige from without and solidarity from within. Without a doubt, teaching itself also ranks highly, but excellent teaching begins with proper research. The connection between research and teaching is indispensable. Teaching flourishes where students are gradually introduced to the processes of research, giving them a feeling for the excitement of scholarly work. This forms the nexus between the older and younger generations of academics, continually opening and reopening their perspectives to innovation and the undiscovered.Semper apertusreads the seal of the University of Heidelberg from 1386.
The Brand New Version of Article 301 of Turkish Penal Code and the Future of Freedom of Expression Cases in Turkey
Authors: Algan Bülent
Published: March 2019

Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TPC), much debated at both national and international levels, has recently been subject to an amendment aimed at clarifying its meaning and averting more distressing cases related to freedom of expression. It should be noted that the former article 301 was an amended version of article 159 of the former TPC of 1926. As Türkan Sancar rightly states in her comprehensive book on both articles 159 and 301, article 159 is an article which has been revised many times. It was amended seven times after coming into effect in 1926 (in 1936, 1938, 1946, 1961, twice in 2002, and 2003). The new TPC was introduced as a package of penal-law reform prior to the opening of negotiations for Turkish membership of the European Union, and came into effect on 1 June 2005. Article 301 stated the following:

1.

A person who publicly denigrates Turkishness, the Republic or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, shall be sentenced a penalty of imprisonment for a term of six months to three years.

2.

A person who publicly denigrates the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the judicial bodies of the State, the military or security organizations, shall be sentenced to a penalty of imprisonment for a term of six months to two years.

3.

Where denigrating of Turkishness is committed by a Turkish citizen in another country, the penalty to be imposed shall be increased by one third.

4.

Expressions of thought intended to criticize shall not constitute a crime.
Judicial Services for Global Commerce – Made in Germany?
Authors: Calliess Gralf-Peter , Hoffmann Hermann B.
Published: March 2019

International business disputes rarely go to court, but sometimes they do. By virtue of the internationally accepted principle of party autonomy, business partners involved in cross-border transactions are entitled to select their forum of choice for any dispute which may arise from their commercial relationship. Party autonomy entails the right to opt out of the nation state's court systems. In fact, arbitration clauses often refer disputes to a non-state institution for commercial arbitration such as the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC in Paris. In a choice of court agreement, however, parties may also choose between the different forums for dispute resolution provided by the nation states. In the era of economic globalization when the demand for cross-border dispute resolution services is growing, the provision of legal services for international commerce becomes big business. As a result, national business lawyers develop a natural interest in channeling international disputes to their domestic courts. A very effective way to broaden their market share is to submit as many contracts as possible to their own national law. Once a choice of law clause, English law for example, is agreed on, a corresponding choice of court agreement comes quasi naturally, since the courts of other nations have a lack of experience in applying foreign law. Thus, when international business transactions are negotiated, the involved lawyers engage in what is appropriately described as a ‘fight for the applicable law'.
Through the Funhouse Looking Glass: Europe's Ship of States
Authors: Leibfried Stephan , Gaines Susan M. , Frisina Lorraine
Published: March 2019

La vingtièrne siècle ouvrira I'ére de fédérations ou l'hurnanité recornrnençera un purgatoire de mille ans.

The twentieth century will herald the age of federalism, or humanity will enter another thousand years of purgatory.

(Pierre- Joseph Proudhon [1809-1865] 1863: 108)

Der tiefste Grund für den Aufstieg wie auch für die Gefährdung Europas liegt vielleicht in dieser imrnerwährenden Suche nach der verlorenen, der geahnten und gehofftenaurea aetas, die stets gleich hinter dem Horizont beginnt.

The most profound reason for Europe's ascent, as well as for its perilous position, lies in this never-ending search for the lost, the anticipated and hoped for “golden age” that always begins just over the horizon.

(Hagen Schulze [born 1943] 1999: 24)

Europe cannot and should not be a “superstate”; nor can it be a kind of revival of the European nation state which is threatened by globalisation. Even less can it be a community of post-national deliberators as Jürgen Habermas would have it. Europe should be constructed as an entity of its own which responds to the heterarchical relational logic of fragmentation which characterises postmodernity and globalisation of which it is a part. It cannot be its counterpart. Europe does not need a “constitution”, and it does not need a “people” either.

(Karl Heinz Ladeur [born 1943] 2008: 147)

It is no semantic accident that the wordgovernmentderives from the Latin word,gubernarewhich means to steer or pilot a ship, and thatgubernarederives from the Greek word for rudder,kybernaei. The ship as pictorial and linguistic metaphor for the state dates back to at least the fifth century B.C., when we find explicit reference to the “whole ship of thepolis” in Aristophanes' (ca. 445–388 B.C.) playThe Wasps, and seems to have maintained a place in the collective Western psyche throughout the millennia.
Law's Knowledge and Law's Effectiveness: Reflections from Legal Sociology and Legal Theory
Authors: Zumbansen Peer
Published: March 2019

With considerable regularity, the established and functioning scientific apparatus is able to reshape itself, to confirm or change its course and the respective lenses of observation through the rationalization of themes, trends and through the identification of individuals and groups of scholars who are being associated with these developments. This exercise, leaving its traces in conferences, edited volumes and the formation of scientific associations, is largely centred around the formulation, assessment and defence of scholarly projects and tasks. The importance of such undertakings lies, however, in their ability to never let the forces of institutionalization, formalization and bureaucratization take the upper hand over the continuing diversity and curiosity that reigns beneath their surface. The awarding of academic honours and prizes themselves are part of the institutionalization of scholarly projects, but they come with the calming realization that, despite all the festivity, it is clear to everyone that there is no one who deserves the prize. There is in fact no prize recipient. What remains is the constantly nagging doubt whether curiosity and critical inquiry still govern our search, whether ears and eyes continue to be open.
The Network of Networks: Karl-Heinz Ladeur's Theory of Law and Globalization
Authors: Viellechner Lars
Published: March 2019

The process which is commonly called “globalization” in social sciences seems to shatter the very foundations of law and legal thinking. Yet while legal scholarship, for the most part, is still grappling with identifying the problem, Karl-Heinz Ladeur is already offering a solution. He may therefore count among the avant-garde in the debate on law and globalization.
The Interpretation of Community Law by the European Court of Justice
Authors: Itzcovich Giulio
Published: March 2019

In the legal literature on European integration there is a rather stereotyped tendency to constantly discover new elements of rupture with the past. In the legal domain, at every step we are confronted with some revolutionary novelty arising from European institutions and practices; on a regular basis, we face innovations which are said to mark significant developments in respect of the traditional forms of international governance as well as in respect of the traditional forms of national federalism. The vast literature on the interpretative criteria adopted by the European Court of Justice (hereafter the “ECJ”) only partially escapes this tendency. Surely the experience of European legal integration does not lack revolutionary ruptures and, also from the viewpoint of legal argumentation, it is true that the interaction between jurists coming from different legal experiences has produced some novelties: for example, an increasing hybridization and crossover effect (“Europeanisation”) between patterns of legal reasoning which are characteristic of different national legal cultures. However, this phenomenon has been largely tempered by the typically French syllogistic judicial style of ECJ's rulings. Moreover, despite the novelties identified, the literature on Community law interpretation cannot deny the apparent fact that the interpretative criteria and, more generally, the legal argumentation techniques of the ECJ are essentially the same ones which are familiar to the national legal contexts. It would be surprising if this were not the case, since the judges of the ECJ are trained within the national legal systems and the judgments of the Court are generally expected to be implemented by the national courts. Their grounds must thus be perceived as being legally sound, and not merely political or evocative.
Delimitation of EU-Competences under the First and Second Pillar: A View BetweenECOWASand the Treaty of Lisbon
Authors: Eisenhut Dominik
Published: March 2019

Since the European Union (EU) agreed upon the extension of its activities to the fields of foreign, security, and criminal policy in the Maastricht Treaty, the question of the delimitation of those new areas of EU competence towards the “classical” policies under the Treaty of the European Community (TEC) has been present. The broad and rather vague scope of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) in the so-called second pillar of the EU and the area of political cooperation covered by the third pillar presents several uncertainties. One such uncertainty is the relationship between the supranational legal order under the TEC and the more intergovernmental and diplomacy-based cooperation under the Treaty on the European Union (TEU). Although the EU was organized within a single institutional structure, the substantial differences with regard to voting procedures, competences of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the role of the European Commission rendered a clear separation of competences under the different pillars compulsory: CFSP remains beyond the jurisdiction of the ECJ; the Commission and the European Parliament have only marginal rights of participation; and the legal obligations under the second pillar cannot claim supremacy over national law or direct effect.
Turning the Curriculum Upside Down: Comparative Law as an Educational Tool for Constructing the Pluralistic Legal Mind
Authors: Husa Jaakko
Published: March 2019

As is well known, comparative law enters the curriculum normally only after some substantive law has been learned. The traditional approach first takes the law student's national legal system, with the comparison or foreign law element only coming later as a form of supplement to the standard curriculum. This paper offers some thoughts concerning the teaching and learning of law in a world in which pluralistic and/or transnational elements are commonplace. These plural features stem from the declining authority of the nation state as well as from the strengthening of various forms of sub-national law being in tension with the central system of the state. These developments also include growth of supranational or transnational legal regimes (e.g. EU). The growth of the significance of human rights, especially the considerable growth of the system of the European Convention on Human Rights, has caused national and international legal spheres to overlap. This paper is based on a belief according to which future legal education ought to respond more seriously to the globalisation of law. However, the argument here is preliminary and it offers merely a sketch of essential features with scarce details i.e. this paper is of a somewhat rough design. The theme itself, i.e. transnational law and its effects, is most certainly somewhat fashionable these days.
The Lisbon Case of 30 June 2009 - A Comment from the European Law Perspective
Authors: Niedobitek Matthias
Published: March 2019

In its 30 June 2009 judgment on the Treaty of Lisbon, the German Federal Constitutional Court stated that “there are no decisive constitutional objections to the Act Approving the Treaty of Lisbon,” but only as long as “the provisos that are specified in the grounds” are taken into account. Thus, in conformity with the terms of the judgment, the Court has made the constitutionality of the Act Approving the Lisbon Treaty dependent on an amendment of the Act Extending and Strengthening the Rights of the Bundestag (German Federal Parliament) and the Bundesrat (German Federal Council of States) in European Union Matters. One could also put it another way: The Act Approving the Lisbon Treaty is unconstitutional as long as the constitutional concerns specified in the judgment are not met.
The ESM and the European Court's Predicament inPringle
Authors: Borger Vestert
Published: March 2019

On 27 November 2012, the European Court of Justice (“the Court”) rendered its judgment in thePringlecase. Sitting as a plenum, which is extremely rare, the Court did what had been expected. Just as theBundesverfassungsgericht(German Federal Constitutional Court orBVerfG) had done two months earlier, it gave the go-ahead for the euro area's permanent emergency instrument, the European Stability Mechanism (“ESM”). With this decision, the possibility of granting assistance to financially distressed euro area Member States has now been secured for the future.
Innovative Governance in EU Regional and Monetary Policy-Making
Authors: Tömmel Ingeborg , Verdun Amy
Published: March 2019

The European Council of Lisbon (December 2000) formally adopted the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) as a means to implement the Lisbon Strategy, a package of policies aimed at promoting economic and social innovations in the member states. The Open Method of Coordination is a means of governance based on the cooperation of member states. The formal introduction of the OMC, based on policy coordination at European level in order to induce change in national policies, triggered a lively scholarly debate on the role of new modes of governance in the EU. New modes of governance are roughly defined as non-hierarchical forms of political steering that rely on policy coordination among a multitude of institutional actors and across government levels. Scholars have coined a variety of terms to capture the characteristics of these governance modes, such as soft modes of governance, network governance, multilevel governance, experimental governance or, as we call it here and elsewhere, innovative governance. Despite the wide variety of terms, scholars hold several assumptions in common. Thus, most scholars assume that new modes of governance have only recently emerged. Furthermore, they assume that such modes of governance particularly emerge in policy areas where the Union lacks competences, while some form of common action is needed. Finally, many scholars take it for granted that non–hierarchical modes of governance result in weak impacts.
Ending the Honeymoon: Constructing Europe Beyond the Market
Authors: Hartmann Moritz , de Witte Floris
Published: March 2019

In Greek mythology, King Sisyphus becomes a prisoner of inevitability, existentially condemned to roll a boulder up a hill for the sake of seeing it roll back down immediately. His sense of desperation and futility is reminiscent of Europe today. It has become a prisoner of the circularity of stabilizing inherently unstable markets. And each cycle exacerbates the dominance of the economic over the political, the erosion of democratic paradigms, the indifference of citizens, and the divorce between social reality and its political translation. Political discourse is suspended while “technocrats” redistribute societal resources and aspirations in the name of economic necessity. And we, the Europeans, are sidelined and numbed by the repetitive talk of austerity and economic stability, EFSF and ESM, financial leverage and institutional reforms. All presented as inevitable for the health of the market, as a bitter medicine required to cease the pain. Needless to say, it will not; the pain is systemic.
The Democratic Function of the Public Sphere in Europe
Authors: Peters Mayte
Published: March 2019

Democratically legitimized European integration calls for developments in culture and society—which arise naturally in the scope of on-going political, economic and institutional European Union (EU) integration—to be publically debated so they may be politically processed. The space where this happens is the public sphere, or, in the context of the EU, the European public sphere. The latter complements national public spheres. Successful integration among EU Member States is made possible by adhering to a common set of values at the same time as respecting the national identities of the Member States and fostering cultural diversity. By way of Union citizenship rights, individuals are able to make use of and actively promote the Europeanization of societies and cultures. Yet citizens are affected by Europeanization to differing degrees, with only a minority of citizens actively partaking in transnational exchange. In order to account for European integration democratically, the EU treaties hold provisions allowing for a close institutional interdependence of national and European democracy.
Activation of theUltra ViresReview: TheSlovak PensionsJudgment of the Czech Constitutional Court
Authors: Anagnostaras Georgios
Published: March 2019

It is now almost two decades since the German Constitutional Court proclaimed inMaastrichtits capacity to review whether the Union institutions respect the limits of their conferred competences and to pronounce inapplicable at national level all legal instruments adopted by them in transgression of these boundaries. Thisultra viresdoctrine inspired the case law of several other constitutional courts, which announced their intention to operate in exceptional circumstances as anultima ratioagainst the violation by the Union institutions of the principle of conferral. The German Constitutional Court itself emphatically reaffirmed on various occasions its role as the ultimate protector of constitutionality against theultra viresintroduction and interpretation of Union law, most prominently in its eminentLisbonruling. Until recently though, there was no actual precedent of a national court proclaiming a Union act asultra vires.Even when a constitutional court reviewed the contested act onultra viresgrounds, it eventually concluded that it complied with the principle of conferred powers.
The Impact of Legal Systems on Constitutional Interpretation: A Comparative Analysis: The U.S. Supreme Court and the German Federal Constitutional Court
Authors: Arshakyan Mher
Published: March 2019

The central purpose of this paper is to show that there are no major differences in the methods of constitutional interpretation in countries with varying degrees of judicial review. Despite the fact that legal culture and traditions, underlying political theories, and values all affect methods of interpretation, there is no big gap in constitutional interpretation in practice in view of wide interpretive discretion. Obviously all legal systems require compliance with some fundamental interpretive standards irrespective of the legal system, and in a democratic society judicial decisions should be justified at least to avoid arbitrariness. The question is what are the limits beyond which judges cannot go in constitutional democracies? Hence, the style and method of legal argumentation that are used to justify the decision may differ in the countries belonging to different legal systems. Whether there are significant differences between the common law and civil law, constitutional interpretation will be assessed through the comparative analysis of the United States Supreme Court and the German Federal Constitutional Court.
(Political) Constitutions and (Political) Constitutionalism
Authors: Scott Paul
Published: March 2019

This paper responds to the conceptual inflation of constitutionalism in recent years by considering the relationship between constitutions and the specific concept of constitutionalism, seeking to establish the limits to the identification of the latter outside its traditional province. It considers both constitutions and constitutionalism in general terms, but seeks in particular to elucidate the relationship between the political constitution and political constitutionalism. This task requires an explanation of the law/politics divide and the paper argues for an institutional distinction between the two concepts, as opposed to one based upon the supposedly distinctive rationalities associated with law and politics. It grafts these categories onto a concept of constitutionalism characterized by a specific functional logic, whereby the same mechanisms that constitute power also limit that power. As such, it argues that to identify constitutionalism in contexts in which constitution and limitation occur separately—as in different layers of a multi-layered constitutional order—is mistaken. Constitutionalism is defined by this distinctive dualism, which in turn grants it its legitimating potential.

In light of this definition of constitutionalism, the paper considers the relationship between law and politics within the constitutional order, offering three potential accounts of the connection between them. Amongst these, it endorses the idea that law and politics are necessarily linked: Within the democratic constitution, each frames the other such that legal requirements are the outcome of a political process which itself takes a form determined by law. The two phenomena are therefore inseparable; in a certain sense, all law is politics and all politics is law. The piece ends by suggesting that this claim is true where, and only where, the conditions laid down for constitutionalism hold true. Constitutionalism is a dualist phenomenon which, where it occurs, brings with it a highly particular melding of the legal and the political.