bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Relationships between Resource Configurations and Launch Strategies in Taiwan's IC Design Industry: An Exploratory Study
Authors: Hsieh Ming‐Hung , Tsai Kuen‐Hung , Jan Hultink Erik
Published: April 2006

Within the last decade, the link between launch strategies and new product performance has been widely investigated. However, the relationship between resource configurations and launch strategies has received little attention. This study endeavors to fill that void by examining the relationships between resource configurations and launch strategy selections. In addition, this study investigates the moderating effects of market growth and competitiveness on the relationship between resources and launch strategies. Drawing on contingency theory and strategic studies, this study proposes that resource contingencies affect changes in launch strategies. This study also suggests that market characteristics play a contingent role in the relationships between the configurations of resources and launch strategy choices. Based on extensive studies reporting on market characteristics and their links to strategies, this study proposes that two market characteristics—market growth and competitiveness—are relevant for launch strategy decision making. Taiwan's integrated circuit (IC) design industry has been used as the analytical sample, as it has been identified as a promising sector for new product development. Based on the result of investigating 90 firms, four resource configurations are identified: (1) strategic and organizational abilities; (2) technological capabilities; (3) societal assets and goodwill; and (4) physical assets. Furthermore, two different launch strategies—innovative and product advantage and cost oriented—also are discovered. The results from a seemingly unrelated regression model reveal that technological capabilities and societal assets and goodwill contribute to the variation in the firms' choices of launch strategies. This study further conducted the simple slope analysis to observe the effect of the technological capabilities on the innovative and product advantage strategy under different levels of the market growth rate. The results interestingly showed that firms with technological capabilities demonstrated different degree of tendencies in employing this strategy in alignment with various market growth rates. The finding sheds some lights on the moderating role market characteristics play on the relationships between resource configurations and launch strategy selections. Academic implications and suggestions for practitioners also are provided.
Book Reviews
Authors: Smith Preston G.
Published: April 2006

Books reviewed in this issue:

Getting It Right the First Time: How Innovative Companies Anticipate Demand

Why People Buy Things They Don't Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior

The Chinese Century

Doing Business in the New China: A Handbook and Guide

Multinational Enterprises, Innovative Strategies and Systems of Innovation
Etched (carnelian) beads from northeast and southeast Arabia
Authors: Waele An De , Haerinck Ernie
Published: April 2006

Etched beads from northeast and southeast Arabia are usually not cited in connection with east‐west trade, because they remain unknown to most scholars. There is ample evidence, however, from sites on the Arabian shores of the Persian Gulf that the region participated in active trade during several periods. Etched beads are one of the commodities testifying to the existence of maritime links. A high percentage of the etched beads found belong to the Early Bronze Age and the Pré‐islamique récent (PIR)‐period, although other periods are also represented.
Defining the dopamine transporter proteome by convergent biochemical and in silico analyses
Authors: Maiya R. , Ponomarev I. , Linse K. D. , Harris R. A. , Mayfield R. D.
Published: April 2006

Monoamine transporters play a key role in neuronal signaling by mediating reuptake of neurotransmitters from the synapse. The function of the dopamine transporter (DAT), an important member of this family of transporters, is regulated by multiple signaling mechanisms, which result in altered cell surface trafficking of DAT. Protein–protein interactions are likely critical for this mode of transporter regulation. In this study, we identified proteins associated with DAT by immunoprecipitation (IP) followed by mass spectrometry. We identified 20 proteins with diverse cellular functions that can be classified as trafficking proteins, cytoskeletal proteins, ion channels and extracellular matrix‐associated proteins. DAT was found to associate with the voltage‐gated potassium channel Kv2.1 and synapsin Ib, a protein involved in regulating neurotransmitter release. An in silico analysis provided evidence for common transcriptional regulation of the DAT proteome genes. In summary, this study identified a network of proteins that are primary candidates for functional regulation of the DAT, an important player in mechanisms of mental disorders and drug addiction.
Spatial learning induces predominant downregulation of cytosolic proteins in the rat hippocampus
Authors: Henninger N. , Feldmann R. E. , Fütterer C. D. , Schrempp C. , Maurer M. H. , Waschke K. F. , Kuschinsky W. , Schwab S.
Published: April 2006

Spatial learning is known to depend on protein synthesis in the hippocampus. Whereas the role of the hippocampus in spatial memory is established, the biochemical and molecular mechanisms underlying this process are poorly understood. To comprehend the complex pattern of protein expression induced by spatial learning, we analyzed alterations in the rat hippocampus proteome after 7 days of spatial learning in the Morris water maze. Forty Wistar rats were randomized into two groups. Animals of group A learned to localize a hidden platform in the water maze. Animals of group B served as controls and spent exactly the same time in the water maze as animals of group A. However, no platform was used in this test and the rats could not learn to localize the target. After the last trial, hydrophilic proteins from the hippocampus were isolated. A proteome‐wide study was performed, based on two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. Compared with non‐learning animals, 53 (70%) proteins were downregulated and 23 (30%) proteins were upregulated after 7 days in rats with spatial learning. The overall changes in protein expression, as quantified by the induction factor, ranged from −1.62 (downregulation to 62%) to 2.10 (upregulation by 110%) compared with controls (100%). Most identified proteins exhibit known functions in vesicle transport, cytoskeletal architecture, and metabolism as well as neurogenesis. These findings indicate that learning in the Morris water maze has a morphological correlate on the proteome level in the hippocampus.
The calcium‐binding domain of the stress protein SEP53 is required for survival in response to deoxycholic acid‐mediated injury
Authors: Darragh Joanne , Hunter Mairi , Pohler Elizabeth , Nelson Lenny , Dillon John F. , Nenutil Rudolf , Vojtesek Borek , Ross Peter E. , Kernohan Neil , Hupp Ted R.
Published: April 2006

Stress protein responses have evolved in part as a mechanism to protect cells from the toxic effects of environmental damaging agents. Oesophageal squamous epithelial cells have evolved an atypical stress response that results in the synthesis of a 53 kDa protein of undefined function named squamous epithelial‐induced stress protein of 53 kDa (SEP53). Given the role of deoxycholic acid (DCA) as a potential damaging agent in squamous epithelium, we developed assays measuring the effects of DCA on SEP53‐mediated responses to damage. To achieve this, we cloned the human SEP53 gene, developed a panel of monoclonal antibodies to the protein, and showed that SEP53 expression is predominantly confined to squamous epithelium. Clonogenic assays were used to show that SEP53 can function as a survival factor in mammalian cell lines, can attenuate DCA‐induced apoptotic cell death, and can attenuate DCA‐mediated increases in intracellular free calcium. Deletion of the highly conserved EF‐hand calcium‐binding domain in SEP53 neutralizes the colony survival activity of the protein, neutralizes the protective effects of SEP53 after DCA exposure, and permits calcium elevation in response to DCA challenge. These data indicate that the squamous cell‐stress protein SEP53 can function as a modifier of the DCA‐mediated calcium influx and identify a novel survival pathway whose study may shed light on mechanisms relating to squamous cell injury and associated cancer development.
Neuropeptide Y‐family receptors Y6and Y7in chicken
Authors: Bromée Torun , Sjödin Paula , Fredriksson Robert , Boswell Tim , Larsson Tomas A. , Salaneck Erik , Zoorob Rima , Mohell Nina , Larhammar Dan
Published: April 2006

The peptides of the neuropeptide Y (NPY) family exert their functions, including regulation of appetite and circadian rhythm, by binding to G‐protein coupled receptors. Mammals have five subtypes, named Y1, Y2, Y4, Y5and Y6, and recently Y7has been discovered in fish and amphibians. In chicken we have previously characterized the first four subtypes and here we describe Y6and Y7. The genes for Y6and Y7are located 1 megabase apart on chromosome 13, which displays conserved synteny with human chromosome 5 that harbours the Y6gene. The porcine PYY radioligand bound the chicken Y6receptor with aKdof 0.80 ± 0.36 nm. No functional coupling was demonstrated. The Y6mRNA is expressed in hypothalamus, gastrointestinal tract and adipose tissue. Porcine PYY bound chicken Y7with aKdof 0.14 ± 0.01 nm(mean ± SEM), whereas chicken PYY surprisingly had a much lower affinity, with aKiof 41 nm, perhaps as a result of its additional amino acid at the N terminus. Truncated peptide fragments had greatly reduced affinity for Y7, in agreement with its closest relative, Y2, in chicken and fish, but in contrast to Y2in mammals. This suggests that in mammals Y2has only recently acquired the ability to bind truncated PYY. Chicken Y7has a much more restricted tissue distribution than other subtypes and was only detected in adrenal gland. Y7seems to have been lost in mammals. The physiological roles of Y6and Y7remain to be identified, but our phylogenetic and chromosomal analyses support the ancient origin of these Y receptor genes by chromosome duplications in an early (pregnathostome) vertebrate ancestor.
Inhibitory and activatory KIR gene frequencies in the Polish population
Authors: Łuszczek W. , Majorczyk E. , Nowak I. , Pawlik A. , Jasek M. , Wiśniewski A. , Kuśnierczyk P.
Published: April 2006

Killer cell immunoglobulin‐like receptors (KIRs) present on natural killer cells and minor subpopulations of T cells recognize class I human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules on the surface of target cells. Human individuals differ by the presence or absence of some KIR genes on their chromosomes (haplotypic polymorphism). As KIRs (especially two‐immunoglobulin‐domain‐like containing, or KIR2D, molecules) are important for the outcome of tissue (particularly for haematopoietic stem cell) transplantation and possibly for pregnancy, the knowledge of KIR gene distribution in a given human population is of practical value. Therefore, we tested 175 healthy individuals from Poland for the presence or absence of these KIR genes which show haplotypic polymorphism and are expressed. Results were compared with those published for other human populations, showing close relations with other Caucasoids.
Strategic Sourcing: An Empirical Investigation of the Concept and Its Practices in U.S. Manufacturing Firms
Authors: Kocabasoglu Canan , Suresh Nallan C.
Published: April 2006

The purpose of this study is to enhance understanding of strategic sourcing and to discuss the challenges in adopting strategic sourcing. First, a literature review is undertaken to identify the key, characterizing elements of strategic sourcing. This is followed by an analysis of the relationships between different elements of strategic sourcing using data from 140 U.S. manufacturing companies. Results indicate that strategic sourcing is based on the status of the purchasing function within the firm, the level of internal coordination of purchasing with other functions within the firm, information sharing with key suppliers and development of key suppliers.
Supply's Growing Status and Influence: A Sixteen‐Year Perspective
Authors: Johnson P. Fraser , Leenders Michiel R. , Fearon Harold E.
Published: April 2006

The recent completion of a major survey of large North American supply organizations in 2003 permits a longitudinal perspective on supply roles and responsibilities over a 16‐year period. The latest survey complements two earlier studies in 1987 and 1995. All three surveys counted at least 280 responding large North American supply organizations, thereby providing a valuable opportunity to examine trends and changes over time. Major areas of investigation for respondents in both the manufacturing and services sectors include supply organizational structure, supply chain responsibilities, and chief purchasing officer (CPO) reporting line, title and background. This research provides solid evidence that in both manufacturing and services, today's CPOs have greater responsibilities, report higher in the organization and carry more significant titles than their predecessors. The conclusion is that, at least in large North American companies, supply has grown substantially in corporate status and influence since 1987, a particularly welcome discovery.
INMATE FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH HIV TRANSMISSION IN PRISON*
Authors: KREBS CHRISTOPHER P.
Published: April 2006

Research Summary:

The prevalence of AIDS infection is approximately four times higher in state and Federal prisons than among the general U.S. population. It is also apparent that high‐risk HIV transmission behaviors occur inside prison; however, data that validly document cases of HIV transmission in prison are rare. This study uses data from a large sample of state prison inmates and logistic regression to determine what inmate characteristics are associated with contracting HIV inside prison. Findings indicate that inmates who are nonwhite and younger and who have been convicted of sexual crimes and have served longer sentences are more likely to contract HIV inside prison.

Policy Implications:

Documenting that HIV is transmitted inside prisons justifies the need for additional research and effective prevention strategies. Modeling what types of inmates might be at risk for contracting HIV inside prison can help public and correctional health researchers and officials improve their current prevention practices and ultimately reduce or prevent HIV transmission both inside and outside prison.
OREGON'S GET TOUGH SENTENCING REFORM: A LESSON IN JUSTICE SYSTEM ADAPTATION
Authors: MERRITT NANCY , FAIN TERRY , TURNER SUSAN
Published: April 2006

Research Summary:

Oregon's Measure 11, a mandatory minimum sentencing policy passed in 1994, had fewer negative system impacts than had been anticipated by many state and local criminal justice administrators, due largely to the fact that prosecutors exercised the discretion provided them under the law to selectively prosecute cases. Consequently, fewer Measure 11‐eligible cases were sentenced under the relevant statues than before passage of the measure, and more were sentenced to lesser related offenses. At the same time, incarceration rates and sentence lengths increased for both Measure 11 and lesser related offenses. Trial rates increased for two years after Measure 11 took effect before reverting to previous levels.

Policy Implications:

The “unintended consequences” that Measure 11 produced should not have been unexpected. Our research indicates that the entire system will quickly adapt to mitigate the more draconian outcomes predicted by those who assume a simplistic implementation, which underscores the importance of understanding system dynamics and inter‐relationships before implementing reform, as well as the pitfalls of designing legislation for either symbolic appeal or formal logic rather than for actual effect.
Aortic Arch Atheroma
Authors: Zavala Jorge A. , Amarrenco Pierre , Davis Stephen M. , Jones Elizabeth F. , Young Dennis , Macleod Malcolm R. , Horky Laura L. , Donnan Geoffrey A.
Published: April 2006

Severe atheroma of the aortic arch has now been established as an important risk factor and mechanism for stroke and peripheral embolism. The odds ratio for stroke or peripheral embolism in patients with severe arch atheroma is greater than four, and for mobile atheroma it is greater than 12. The prevalence of severe arch atheroma among patients presenting with acute ischaemic stroke, at over 20%, is in the same order as that of atrial fibrillation and carotid atherosclerosis. In patients with ischaemic stroke for which no cause has been identified, it is reasonable to determine as to whether they have severe arch atheroma by performing a transoesophageal echocardiogram. Recurrent stroke is common in patients with aortic arch atheroma that are thicker than 4 mm or with mobile components, particularly in the elderly, cigarette smokers, and those with hypertension or diabetes. Patients found to have severe atheroma are at high risk of recurrent events (14·2% per year) and may, therefore, need an aggressive secondary prevention strategy. Currently, there is uncertainty as to what this should be, but either combination antiplatelet therapy (aspirin plus clopidogrel) or anticoagulation with warfarin (target INR 2·0–3·0) are commonly used. Which of these is most effective will be evident after the completion of the aortic arch related cerebral hazard trial.
Tasks for labour law research
Authors: Hepple B.A. , Brown W.A.
Published: April 2006

What are the prospects for research in the area of labour law in the 1980s? This article argues that the main concern of research should be with legislative intervention in labour relations and should address itself to two inter-related questions: what lies behind the legislation? and how does the legislation function? We make some suggestions about the methodologies and theoretical perspectives of this research.

The urgent need to focus upon legislation requires little justification in view of the fundamental changes in the content of labour law in the last 17 years, particularly since 1971.
Breach of confidence and legal privilege
Authors: Matthews Paul
Published: April 2006

The equitable doctrine of breach of confidence has been much publicised recently: not only in the news, one might say, but of it, as the legal peg upon which the British Steel Corporation hung their attempt to discover the source of a leak in their own organisation by claiming discovery of that source as an unknown wrongdoer. This is, ironically, a case of the biter bit, for it was not so long ago that it was suggested that journalists’ sources might be protected by the doctrine of breach of confidence. The purpose of this article is to question the validity of that assertion, by attempting to show that breach of confidence operates in a field entirely independent of the rules of evidence.
Law, morality and positivism
Authors: MacCormick D. N.
Published: April 2006

‘The existence of law is one thing; its merit or demerit another. Of all the sayings of John Austin, none seems to make a simpler appeal to the plain fact of the matter than that one. We can argue for days about the merits or demerits of the Income Tax Acts or the latest effusion of trade union legislation. That such enactments are however laws is not a subject for lengthy nor inconclusive debates.

As to income tax, some may agree with Robert Nozick. They may think that state-imposed taxes on income are equivalent to slavery. The individual who is forced to pay two fifths of his earned income in tax is working as a slave two days in every week, for the fruits of his labours on those days are compulsorily exacted from him and paid over to other people in cash or in kind.
Order in the indictment
Authors: Munday Roderick
Published: April 2006

The joinder by the prosecution of two or more co-accused in the same indictment is of common occurrence in criminal trials. Where offences they have committed are linked one to another or are a product of joint concert, it makes both economic and practical sense to try the defendants jointly. In those cases where joint trial would cause serious injustice to one or more of the parties, the judge may order separate trials. However, severance of indictments in such cases is governed by rules which, perhaps uncharacteristically, would seem to favour the prosecution rather than the defence and defence applications for separate trials are seldom successful. The initiative, therefore, lies principally with the prosecution when it comes to deciding whether or not defendants will be tried jointly. In addition, it should be added that it is the prosecution which decides in which order co-defendants' names appear in the indictment. Although at first sight this may appear a purely routine matter, this decision, too, can have important repercussions on the course of the trial for, although the trial judge retains a residual discretion to order matters in his court as he thinks proper, Halsbury informs us that:- ‘If there are more defendants than one, they address the jury, cross-examine witnesses and give evidence in the order in which their names appear on the indictment’.
Quot judices tot sententiae: A study of the English reaction to continental interpretive techniques
Authors: Herman Shael
Published: April 2006

When the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community in 1973, the English bench and bar must have perceived only dimly the challenges before them. Like contemporary descendants of Noah, they dropped into a Babel of languages and legal terms indispensable to the operation of the European Commission and the Court of Justice. Membership in the European Economic Community entailed the substantive harmonisation of English laws with those of other member states, and England's common law tradition could not have made the process easy. But the scope of the harmonisation task reached beyond substantive law to deeply rooted judicial attitudes toward the role of legislation and techniques of interpretation. In a recent editorial, Dr C. D. Ehlermann, Director of Legal Services for the European Commission, offered reasons for the English judiciary's potential resistance towards harmonisation of interpretative techniques.
The value of truth: fact scepticism revisited
Authors: Bankowski Zenon
Published: April 2006

In his book Courts on Trial Jerome Frank suggests that we might turn our attention, when studying law, to the trial rather than the appellate courts. It is what goes on there that should inform us when talking of justice. Frank was worried over the unsatisfactory state of fact gathering in these courts and the book is not just a critique of what happens but also suggests many reforms. In this paper I am going to be concerned with his slashing attack on adversarial methods of trial in a chapter in the book revealingly entitled ‘The Fight Theory vs the Truth Theory’.
Recklessness: the House of Lords and the criminal law
Authors: McEwan Jenny , Robilliard St. John
Published: April 2006

‘The House of Lords has a dismal record in criminal cases. All too often their lordships’ decisions have to be reversed by legislation…the present decision could well be another'.

In two recent criminal appeals of major importance on the meaning of mens rea, Caldwell and Lawrence, the House of Lords has departed so far from the academically accepted deffition of ‘recklessness’, that Professor Smith is driven to ask, ‘Can we really afford the House of Lords as an appellate criminal court?’. Such desperation surely indicates that their Lordships have got things badly wrong and it is our purpose in this article to examine whether this is indeed the case.
Intention and recklessness again
Authors: Williams Glanville
Published: April 2006

The article by Jenny McEwan and St. John Robilliard ((1981) 1 LS 267) is entitled ‘Recklessness’, but the argument makes it plain that the authors not only are staunch supporters of the extended meaning now given by the House of Lords (under the leadership of Lord Diplock) to the notion of recklessness, but give their approval also to the extended meaning that Lord Diplock would like to give to the notion of intention. While most of those who are concerned with the criminal law would now like to see its severity alleviated, if only to reduce the pressure on the prisons, Lord Diplock and his two academic allies want to notch criminal liability up a degree (or to keep it notched up) in two respects. They want foresight of probability without purpose to be placed or kept within the notion of intention (instead of within the notion of recklessness), and they want part of inadvertent negligence to be placed or kept within the notion of recklessness (instead of within the notion of negligence).
The antinomies of legal theory: An introductory survey
Authors: Goodrich Peter
Published: April 2006

Any discipline or body of knowledge operates within the confines of a set of criteria as to what constitutes its object and equally as to how that object is to be known. The two sets of criteria, of object and method, are obviously interrelated. How we know an object is in large part constitutive of what that object is taken to be. At the same time, if there is in some sense an object external to how we come to know it, this presupposed or preconstructed object is going to act as a powerful limit upon what can be knowledge of it, without at some point transgressing the boundaries of the common sense of the object. There comes a point, in other words, when divergent statements are no longer concerned with the same object. It is my contention here that positivist jurisprudence, a certain tradition of statements about what law ‘is’, has already arrived at this point.
The relevance of defences to accident liability in nervous shock cases
Authors: Bailey T. I.
Published: April 2006

For the first time in nearly 40 years the House of Lords has examined the basis for liability for negligently inflicted nervous shock. The primary conclusion of their Lordships in Mcbughlin v O’Brian, that liability depends upon foresight of shock in the absence of considerations relevant to negative the duty of care, confirms the earlier approach of the House in Bourhill v Young, but the decision for the plaintiff makes it clear that the known scope of the tort of negligence has undoubtedly been expanded. Mrs McLoughlin was two miles away when the accident in which her family was injured occurred and the shock she suffered came not from seeing the accident but from coming upon its after math sometime later at the local hospital. In no other English case had there been liability where there was such a separation of time and places’.
Unlawful interference with trade
Authors: Carty Hazel
Published: April 2006

In Torquay Hotel Co Ltd v Cousins Lord Denning MR asserted: ‘I have always understood that if one person deliberately interferes with the trade or business of another, and does so by unlawful means … then he is acting unlawfully, even though he does not procure or induce any actual breach of contract’. Although during the parliamentary debate over what became the Employment Act 1980, Lord Hailsham stated that no such tort existed, Lord Wedderburn replied that ‘a student of today must be affected by legal myopia if he did not understand the existence of this tort’. The purpose of this article is to examine the existence and scope of this tort – which I shall refer to as unlawful interference with trade – to place it in the context of the known economic torts, to discover its common law background and to outline its present and possible future role in commercial and industrial law.
The rise of legal formalism; or the defences of legal faith
Authors: Goodrich Peter
Published: April 2006

‘Just as in religion, so long as there is a religion, there must be a dogmatic theology, which cannot be replaced by any religious psychology or sociology, so, as long as there is a law, there must be a normative theory of law.’ H. Kelsen

In terms of the history of the social sciences, the latter quarter of the nineteenth century was characterised in no uncertain manner by neo-Kantianism. The revival in question was aimed at rehabilitating the Kantian concept of science as a system, unified essentially by the idea of a system rather than by any more realistic or historical classification of its subject matter. The most notable and far-reaching effects of this revival were to be the constitution of the sciences of linguistics and of law. In both cases the major portion of the nineteenth century had been dominated by attacks upon the received orthodoxies of universal grammar and of exegetical legal studies, respectively, and their displacement by the uncertainties of creationist and historical methodologies.
International law 1908–1983
Authors: Gray Christine
Published: April 2006

In 1908 international law governed relations between ‘civilised states’ only. It applied exclusively to those states within the Family ofNations - 45 fully sovereign states according to the first edition of Oppenheim's International Law. These 45 included the six ‘Great Powers’, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Russia, various lesser European states, the United States of America and 20 Latin American states. In Africa ‘The Negro Republic of Liberia and the Congo Free State were the only real and full members ofthe Family of Nations’, in Asia only Japan. The position ofsuch states as Persia, Siam, China, Korea and Abyssinia was doubtful; ‘These states are certainly civilised states, and Abyssinia is even a Christian state.
Twentieth century developments in commercial law
Authors: Goode R. M.
Published: April 2006

In the 75 years since the Society of Public Teachers of Law came into being there has been a revolution in the conduct of business operations. Methods of transport have been transformed; commercial transactions have increased vastly in size, in number and in complexity; a whole range of new contract structures and financing techniques has evolved; and the receipt, storage and transmission of information and instructions have been completely changed by new technology.

If it be right that commercial law is rooted in the customs and practices of merchants we could reasonably expect to find a parallel transformation in English commercial law, a reappraisal of fundamental concepts, a wholesale jettisoning of nineteenth century statutes and case law. It is a matter for some astonishment that this has not occurred.
Liability for omissions in the criminal law
Authors: Smith J. C.
Published: April 2006

Common lawyers have long shown a remarkable reluctance to impose criminal liability for omissions. Such liability, it has recently been said, is ‘uncongenial’ — and this seems to be right. Even where the law does, in reality, impose liability for omissions we find courts and writers trying to explain the phenomenon on some other ground. The feeling seems to be that, because the imposition of liability for an omission implies a duty to act it is an interference with the liberty of a person who wishes only to mind his own business and let others get on with minding theirs. Moreover omissions do not cause evil results in the same obvious sense as acts.
Law in action or living law? Back to the beginning in sociology of law
Authors: Nelken David
Published: April 2006

Sociology of law often seems to be marked by a form of intellectual apartheid. Whilst social theorists refine their conceptual frameworks, those with more practical concerns robustly set out to investigate the ‘law in action’. Mixing of the two approaches is thought likely to impede their necessary separate development. One recent survey of the field concluded that:

‘The trend is likely to be a continuing divergence between its theoretical and practical branches: the theoretical consisting mainly of re-analyses of old sociological approaches to law, and the practical continuing with its problem-solving approach without confronting the theoretical problems implicit in what it accepts as problems and solutions’.
Roman law and modern capitalism
Authors: Samuel Geoffrey
Published: April 2006

The tendency of lawyers these days is to deny much of a place to Roman Law and this is reflected not only in a widely held view that since the eighteenth century legal innovation has been so great as to have left the Corpus Juris Civilis a ‘mere antiquarianism’: it is also reflected in the fact that fewer and fewer law schools in the West insist on Roman law as a compulsory subject. Indeed, the number of law faculties or departments in England offering the subject as even an optional course can probably now be counted on the fingers of, if not one hand, then two.
The Political offence exception in the extradition law of the United Kingdom: a redundant concept?
Authors: Young J.R.
Published: April 2006

It is a familiar principle of the law of extradition that a fugitive should not be surrendered to a requesting State if his alleged offence is of a political character. Yet in recent years this exception to extradition has been the subject of criticism. With the increase in political violence in Europe in the 1970's it was feared that fugitive terrorists might be able to shelter behind the political offence exception. In the United Kingdom some politicians have been particularly disturbed by the application of the political offence exception by the courts of the Republic of Ireland to prevent cxtradition of alleged terrorists.
Legal science between natural and human sciences
Authors: Villa Vittorio
Published: April 2006

In this paper I will offer some methodological reflections on legal science and its relations with the natural and human sciences. The first part of the paper (sections 2-4) deals with the relation between legal science and the natural sciences. The thesis I put forward is drawn from my book Teorie della scienza giuridica e teorie delle scienee naturali. Modelli e analogie, and restates the main points of my argument there against approaches founded on neopositivism and in favour of a post-positivist approach. The second part (sections 5-7) deals with some aspects of the relations between legal and human sciences, and develops some rather more tentative ideas which go beyond the conclusions reached in the book.
Involuntary manslaughter in Commonwealth Law
Authors: Peiris G L
Published: April 2006

It has been aptly observed that ‘Of all crimes manslaughter appears to afford most difficulties of definition’. More recently, the Court of Criminal Appeal in England has made the comment: ‘There has never been a complete and satisfactory definition of manslaughter.’

The complexity of definition is associated with a peculiar feature of manslaughter, in that the essential mental requisite consists of the accused's state of mind in relation to his physical act rather than to a particular consequence of the actus reus. The crime of manslaughter postulates mew Tea only in the special sense of intention to commit the act which brings about the consequence of death, even though this consequence may not have been desired or even foreseen by the accused. Thus, the intention to cause death or serious injury is not necessarily a requirement of liability for manslaughter.
Unjust enrichment as the basis of Restitution — an overworked concept
Authors: Hedley Steve
Published: April 2006

The proposition that ‘Restitution is based on unjust enrichment’ is usually the first that a student of Restitution is presented with. It is a claim at several different levels: as to the terminology we should use in discussing Restitution; as to the sort of rules the subject contains; and as to the way these rules have been developing or should develop in the future. Nor is this confusion of claims particularly surprising. Much of the work of the academic lawyer consists of interpreting the judgements of the higher courts; it is not really very odd when those courts’ ambivalent approach to whether they are making the law, or simply applying it, rubs off. ‘Restitution is based on unjust enrichment’ is really a collection of subsidiary propositions about Restitution; and it is clear that, of those who believe that Restitution is so based, not all would subscribe to every one of the subsidiary propositions.
Legal protection of human rights: the contemporary Canadian experience
Authors: Peiris G.L.
Published: April 2006

The incorporation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the Constitution Act, 1982, marks a decisive development in the legal entrenchment of human rights in Canada. This contemporary experiment in the protection of fundamental rights by the constitutional limitation of legislative power, and in particular the social priorities established by the Charter and the delicate balancing of interests and values inherent in its provisions, offer useful insights into the viability of mechanisms associated with an enforceable bill of rights within the framework of a modern federal state. Of even greater interest, in the context of multi-racial and multi-religious communities in the modern Commonwealth, is the recent body of case law in the shaping of which Canadian judges have shown perception in imparting effectiveness to guarantees embodied in the Charter, while being acutely aware of the risk of exacerbating tensions with the legislative and administrative organs of government.
Legal implications of ineffective sterilization
Authors: Rogers W. V. Horton
Published: April 2006

Sterilisation (vasectomy in the case of the male and tubal ligation or laporoscopy or other variants in the case of the female) is a common method of contraception. It is perceived as having none of the practical and aesthetic disadvantages of ‘mechanical’ methods and none of the health risks associated with oral contraception. It seems to be generally assumed that these procedures are one hundred per cent effective. Indeed, they probably are the most effective methods available, but there are at least two possible sources of failure. First, the procedure may not be performed correctly, though in the case of vasectomy this does not present a very serious problem if, as is normal vasectomy practice in this country, fertility tests are carried out over a fairly extended period before the patient is advised that he may rely upon the operation.
Markets and the common law
Authors: Hill Jonathan
Published: April 2006

The law relating to markets illustrates the extent to which the English legal system bears the indelible stamp of its historical origins. Despite a mass of legislation during the last one hundred and fifty years, the common law of markets has retained much of its significance. Although aspects of the common law dating from the Middle Ages are singularly ill-adapted to contemporary social and economic conditions pressure on parliamentary time and the rigid application of the doctrine ofstare decisis combine to preserve this distinctly anachronistic area of the law.
Is law reform too important to be left to lawyers?
Authors: North Peter
Published: April 2006

It is always a good idea to start with a text. Where better for a lawyer to find his than in a speech by Lord Wilberforce. During the debate on the Bill which became the Law Commissions Act 1965, the Act which established the two Law Commissions in London and Edinburgh as full time law reform agencies, Lord Wilberforce said: ‘law reform is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to lawyers’. What I should like to try to do in this paper is to give some consideration to the role of lawyer and layman (especially legislators) in the process of reforming our law. By ‘reform’ I mean improvement of the law. Mere change should not be confused with useful reform.
Taking law less seriously – an anarchist legal theory
Authors: Bradney A.
Published: April 2006

There is, it seems, a revival of interest in anarchist theories of law. But then there is always a revival of interest in anarchist theories of law. In the 1960s Wortley began his text, Jurisprudence, with a study of anarchism, and the early 1980s saw a succession of papers and articles on anarchist critiques of law. Despite this, discussion of anarchist legal theory has rarely moved beyond the introductory stage. Basic tenets have been outlined but detailed analysis eschewed. Part of the reason for this may lie in basic difficulties of definition. The concern has been with ‘anarchist theories of law’, but what is anarchism?

Most writers, whether they be anarchist theorists or academic commentators, begin with the proposition that the word anarchism is derived from the Greek anarchos and means either ‘no government’ or ‘no ruler’. Such etymology cannot take the place of definition but, beyond the bare fact that anarchism involves the rejection of rulers, no further definition seems possible.
The Democratic Intellect and the law
Authors: MacCormick Neil
Published: April 2006

The occasion of the publication of a survey of jurisprudence teaching in the law schools of the United Kingdom is a good occasion for reflecting upon the point of jurisprudence teaching in a law school. There are indeed other good occasions for such reflection, and in fact this paper was initially prepared for such an other occasion. By the invitation of the Editor, it now appears in this Journal in revised form as an outrider to Barnett and Yach's survey ofjurisprudence teaching in the United Kingdom.

One cannot but compliment the authors on the thoroughness of their survey work and on the richness of detail of their report. This comment will not seek to rival that richness.
Innocuously dipping into trust funds
Authors: Williams Glanville
Published: April 2006

The well-known disadvantages of having an undefined requirement of dishonesty in theft have caused some writers to propose that the requirement should be more precisely stated. Section 2(1) of the Theft Act 1968 specifies cases where the defendant is declared not to have been dishonest (belief in right, belief that onc would have the owner's consent, belief that the owner cannot be discovered), and an obvious way of clarifying the law would be to abolish thc general issue of dishonesty but to allow a defence in these specific cases (together with such other specific cases as might be determined).

The only difficulty in the way of this solution, as I see it, is to decide what is to be done about people who abstract money from a fund intending to repay, or intending and also being presently able to repay. In the past, opinions have been sharply divided between what may be called the orthodox and the lenient approach.
Reporting case law: unreported cases, the definition of a ratio and the criteria for reporting decisions
Authors: Andrews N. H.
Published: April 2006

An efficient system of law reporting is beneficial in a number of ways. First, accurate reports are necessary if the principle that like cases should be decided alike is to be achieved. Secondly and relatedly, a strict system of precedent, which renders most decisions binding on courts, requires all decisions which have precedential value to be recorded. Thirdly, full reports of what judges say, including dissents, enable subsequent courts to consider the complex of normative and practical arguments which has been articulated in previous decisions. This both adds to the richness of material guiding lawyers and citizens at large and improves the quality of judicial decision-making. Fourthly, reporting courts’ reasons for reaching a decision is important since it exposes judges to scrutiny by fellow judges, practitioners, academics and the public at large. Reporting therefore serves the principle of accountability.
Sanctions for contempt by a trade union
Authors: Kidner Richard
Published: April 2006

The relationship between trade unions and the courts has always been a sensitive one, and no less so when the issue is how to deal with a union’s refusal to obey court orders. During most of this century enforcement has not been a serious problem because the nature of trade dispute law has meant that the courts have rarely had to establish their authority over trade unions; but during the era of the Industrial Relations Act 1971 and also since 1980 the situation has been rather different. This is because statute has drastically curtailed the ambit of lawful industrial action, and has also rendered unions directly liable, thus making conflict between unions and the courts inevitable.
Protection of foreign business names and marks under the tort of passing off
Authors: Coleman Allison
Published: April 2006

Trade marks, business names and get-up, like products, can be important commercial assets, carefully chosen for the appropriate image and impact, projected by advertising and capitalised through goodwill. As such, they represent a significant investment for which businesses expect adequate legal protection. In these days of worldwide travel, communications and media exposure the reputation acquired by a name or mark may transcend national boundaries and even precede commercial activities in a particular country. The temptation to cash-in on the reputation of another business through imitation of a name, mark or get-up has never been greater and piracy has reached epidemic proportions.
Arrest, charge and prosecution
Authors: Sanders Andrew
Published: April 2006

Part I of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 has established a Crown Prosecution Service for the whole of England and Wales. The Service is, inter alia, responsible for the conduct of all police prosecutions (except minor motoring matters) following the institution of proceedings by the police. Police officers no longer present their own cases in court, but the new Service is not intended merely to replace them with professional advocates. The White Paper on which the Act is based declared that an independent prosecution service should be established. This was in order to give crown prosecutors complete freedom to veto, or to modify, the initial decison of the police to prosecute.
Acts of state: Lord Diplock's curious inconsistency
Authors: Wesley-Smith Peter
Published: April 2006

Most of the cases laying down the act of state doctrine, S.A. de Smith observed, were decided ‘in the heyday of imperial expansion, when judges often seemed to be as executive-minded as the Executive.’ Morris and Read, after analysing African cases adjudicating upon preexisting rights in ceded territories, conclude: ‘Those brought up in the traditional view of the judiciary as being the bulwark against any danger of autocratic behaviour on the part of the exeuctive may find all this somewhat susprising.’ Yet Lord Diplock, who could not fairly be described as executive-minded or reluctant to oppose executive autocracy, recently described as an ‘elementary fallacy’ the suggestion that a treaty transferring territory to the Crown can guarantee inhabitants' property rights before the municipal courts.
Legal positivism and the philosophy of language: a critique of H.L.A. Hart's ‘Descriptive Sociology’
Authors: Edgeworth Brendan
Published: April 2006

Some years ago, a state-of-play review of the study of Law and Society in Britain by Colin Campbell and Paul Wiles contained the almost rueful comment that ‘analytical jurisprudence and legal positivism… have proved of intimidating endurance as archetypes. As another commentator, Peter Goodrich, has noted recently, Neil MacCormick, one leading authority in the field, rejoined that ‘to confirm or confute these accounts it is necessary to take up some position in analytical philosophy and the philosophy of language. Goodrich's review of linguistics and contemporary legal philosophy indicated that this gauntlet has not been systematically taken up either by legal philosophers or even by those sociologists of law who have been most critical of the general features of legal positivism and the substantive theories legal positivists have themselves proposed.