法学文论 · LEGAL STUDIES

雅各布、波特:《仇恨犯罪:刑法与身份政治》

社会思想译丛 ★ 新书讯

仇恨犯罪

詹姆斯·雅各布(James B. Jacobs)、吉姆伯利·波特(Kimberly Potter):《仇恨犯罪:刑法与身份政治》(Hate Crimes: Criminal Law & Identity Politics),王秀梅译,北京大学出版社2010年。ISBN: 9787301176450. @豆瓣@小组

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内容简介

自20世纪80年代中期以来,美国联邦政府以及大多数州仇恨犯罪法的出台并非因为刑法在这方面尚付阙如,或者因为一些骇人听闻的犯罪不能依照现有法律充分受到起诉和处罚。刑法的缺失或者不当的宽缓并不是令美国政府头疼的一个问题,执法人员当然拥有起诉那些实施杀人、强奸、伤害或其他犯罪的恰当方法,无论这些犯罪是否以偏见为动机。20世纪90年代初期,法学家们开始使用“仇恨犯罪”和“偏见犯罪”的术语。

作者通过追溯仇恨犯罪的起源、界定仇恨犯罪的定义及对仇恨犯罪立法价值的分析,对仇恨犯罪的泛滥展开了社会属性、政治属性及其正当性的解释。在进一步分析仇恨犯罪法执行、仇恨犯罪与宪法、仇恨犯罪与身份政治的冲突与碰撞后,作者指出,刑法及其执行在创造一个更加宽容的和谐社会中发挥的作用非常有限。建立一个更加和谐的社会至关重要的是,警察和其他刑事司法机构在执法中,既要公正对待犯罪行为的被害人,也要公正对待犯罪行为人。厘清广泛存在特殊犯罪背景下的偏见可能发生在不同团体成员之间毫无意义,相反,它很可能导致分化,产生冲突并造成相反的社会和政治效果。

NYT: Is Law School a Losing Game?

By DAVID SEGAL

IF there is ever a class in how to remain calm while trapped beneath $250,000 in loans, Michael Wallerstein ought to teach it.

Here he is, sitting one afternoon at a restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, a tall, sandy-haired, 27-year-old radiating a kind of surfer-dude serenity. His secret, if that’s the right word, is to pretty much ignore all the calls and letters that he receives every day from the dozen or so creditors now hounding him for cash.

“And I don’t open the e-mail alerts with my credit score,” he adds. “I can’t look at my credit score any more.”

Mr. Wallerstein, who can’t afford to pay down interest and thus watches the outstanding loan balance grow, is in roughly the same financial hell as people who bought more home than they could afford during the real estate boom. But creditors can’t foreclose on him because he didn’t spend the money on a house.

He spent it on a law degree. And from every angle, this now looks like a catastrophic investment.

Read the full article.

西奥多·齐奥科斯基:《正义之镜:法律危机的文学省思》

社会思想译丛 ★ 新书讯

正义之镜

西奥多·齐奥科斯基(Theodore Ziolkowski):《正义之镜:法律危机的文学省思》(The Mirror of Justice: Literary Reflections of Legal Crises),李晟译,北京大学出版社2011年。ISBN: 9787301182420. @豆瓣@小组

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内容简介

本书研究了从古典时代直至当代的反映出西方法制进化历程的主要文学作品。其所引用的杰作包括《善好者》、《列那狐》、《安提戈涅》、《威尼斯商人》以及《审判》等等。西奥多·齐奥科斯基运用人类学关于法律进化的理论将这些作品置于其所处时代的法律语境之中,将法律的进化过程抽象为简约的理想类型,,梳理了法律与道德在数十个世纪当中的逐渐分离。从而以一种原创的视角将这些作品联系在一起并加以阐释,为法律与文学的研究贡献了一个新的维度。

不同于主流的“法律与文学”研究,《正义之镜》提出的是“文学与法律”的进路,强调的是历史语境而非理论命题,重视的是讨论“事”而不是“词”,突出文学而不是法律。本书将法律史作为理解文学文本及其冲突的不可或缺的工具,而不是引证文学作品来举例说明关于现代法律的论辩。核心是发现文学作品中所映照出的法律危机,尤其是那些属于全体公民而非少数法律人的关系到整个社会生活秩序的重大危机。

书评

我深深的痴迷于书中的每一个章节。作者赋予‘法律与文学’以令人惊喜的新用途。他是如此学富五车而又文风平易近人。他奇迹般的将关于历史、文学以及法律的复杂知识融为一体。《正义之镜》必将成为一部重要作品,并为进一步的学术研究和写作提供源泉。——丹尼尔·科恩斯坦(Daniel J. Kornstein)

《正义之镜》是一本出色的著作,充满了令人惊叹的丰富知识,包含了细腻的文学分析和对司法历史的清晰阐释。——维吉尔·尼莫埃诺(Virgil Nemoianu)

一项深刻且有价值的研究……西奥多·齐奥科斯基运用他广博的跨学科知识和深刻洞察力展开了这一开阔的研究。——罗伯特·霍普曼(Robert Hauptman),《当代世界文学》

关于法律、文学与历史的一部恢宏而引人入胜的指南。——罗伯特·巴斯基(Robert E. Barsky),《文学研究/外国文学》

充满睿智的创见与渊博的学识……这一充满挑战并且迷人的研究对于学者、教师和学生都大有收益。——《选择》

苏力主编:《法律和社会科学》第七卷

《法律和社会科学》第七卷
法律和社会科学》[Law and Social Sciences] 第七卷,苏力主编,刘思达执行主编,法律出版社 2010年。

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主题讨论:法律实证研究方法在中国

中国法律经济学的实证研究:路径与挑战 / 陈若英
中国法律社会学的历史与反思 /刘思达
中国行政法经验研究:回顾与展望 /汪庆华
乡村法制研究的现状与前瞻 /陈柏峰
“地方性知识”在法学语境中的使用 /李 耕

论文

实效主义法学纲要 / 柯华庆
中国治理刑讯逼供六十年的经验 /何永军
预防刑事冤案中的制度失灵 / 雷振斌
法律实践中俗民的“冤屈感”:一个解释框架 /邢朝国
北庄矿难:社区突发事件中的“理”与“情” / 袁长庚
农地流转纠纷中的政治与法律:鄂中个案研究 / 陆 剑
中国土地产权制度:基于宪法第10条的分析 / 程雪阳

批评

法院执行研究为什么难

跨越个案 / 苏力
评《法院执行为什么难》 /刘忠
执行既难,研究不易 / 戴昕
计量方法与因果关系 / 张巍

沈明:搜索引擎引发的版权危机

原载《法律和社会科学第六卷苏力主编,法律出版社 2010年。

一、问题及其意义
二、搜索引擎的法律属性与“安全港”立法
三、“安全港”法律在应用于搜索引擎时所存在的问题
四、中国的“安全港”立法及其与美国立法的比较
五、文字与图片搜索的版权问题
六、音乐文件搜索的版权问题
七、影视文件搜索的版权问题
八、搜索引擎网页快照的版权问题
九、结语

阅读全文,请下载 PDF 文档

The Decline and Fall of the American Republic by Bruce Ackerman

The Decline and Fall of the American RepublicThe Decline and Fall of the American Republic by Bruce Ackerman. Harvard University Press 2010. ISBN-10: 0674057031; ISBN-13: 9780674057036.

Review

In The Decline and Fall of the American Republic, Bruce Ackerman, one of our nation’s most thoughtful and most influential constitutional theorists, sounds the alarm about the dangers posed by our ever-expanding executive authority. Those who care about the future of our nation should pay careful heed to Ackerman’s warning, as well as to his prescriptions for avoiding a constitutional disaster.
–Geoffrey R. Stone, University of Chicago Law School, author of Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime: From the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism

Alarmist or alarming, The Decline and Fall of the American Republic, is a serious attention-getter. Bruce Ackerman has adroitly woven recent changes in our institutional arrangements into a provocative argument that the expanding powers of the 21st century presidency have put our constitutional order at risk.
–Joyce Appleby, UCLA, author of The Relentless Revolution: A History of Capitalism

At once audacious and plain spoken, Ackerman offers a fierce critique of democracy’s most dangerous adversary: the abuse of democratic power by democratically elected chief executives.
–Benjamin R. Barber, author of Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World and Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole

Product Description

Bruce Ackerman shows how the institutional dynamics of the last half-century have transformed the American presidency into a potential platform for political extremism and lawlessness. Watergate, Iran-Contra, and the War on Terror are only symptoms of deeper pathologies. ­Ackerman points to a series of developments that have previously been treated independently of one another—from the rise of presidential primaries, to the role of pollsters and media gurus, to the centralization of power in White House czars, to the politicization of the military, to the manipulation of constitutional doctrine to justify presidential power-grabs. He shows how these different transformations can interact to generate profound constitutional crises in the twenty-first century—and then proposes a series of reforms that will minimize, if not eliminate, the risks going forward.

The book aims to begin a new constitutional debate. Americans should not suppose that Barack Obama’s centrism and constitutionalism will typify the presidencies of the twenty-first century. We should seize the present opportunity to confront deeper institutional pathologies before it is too late.

About the Author

Bruce Ackerman is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University.

Law’s Allure: How Law Shapes, Constrains, Saves, and Kills Politics, by Gordon Silverstein

Law's Allure: How Law Shapes, Constrains, Saves, and Kills PoliticsLaw’s Allure: How Law Shapes, Constrains, Saves, and Kills Politics, by Gordon Silverstein. Cambridge University Press 2009. ISBN-10: 0521721083; ISBN-13: 9780521721080.

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Winner of the C. Herman Pritchett Prize for the best book published in the field of law and courts in 2009 from the Law & Courts Section of the American Political Science Association.

Frontmatter [PDF]; Excerpt [PDF]

Review

Law’s Allure is a masterful treatment of the causes and consequences of the juridification of American politics. Beautifully written and displaying Silverstein’s encyclopedic knowledge of American constitutional law and practice, the book helps us understand how the courts can both enable and disable our politics under different circumstances. Silverstein integrates both abstract principle and bare-knuckle politics into the account, resulting in a volume that is at the same time profound and accessible. A major contribution that will enlighten both scholars and the informed public.”
— Tom Ginsburg, The University of Chicago Law School

“Professor Silverstein provides an original and compelling analysis of the complex relationships between law and politics. His insights that juridification in the United States is on the rise, that juridification is more than government by judiciary, and that escaping from politics has numerous hidden costs are interesting, important and likely to provoke a good deal of conversation both within and without political science.”
— Mark Graber, University of Maryland

“Gordon Silverstein has given us a superb analysis of juridification, the messy interaction of supposedly objective legal rules with partisan interests that often produce public policy. Through both general reasoning and close studies of specific cases, he demonstrates how these forces noisily, and sometimes angrily, engage to create not a seamless web but a jig-saw puzzle whose jagged pieces never fit neatly together. Neither students of public law nor public policy can afford to miss this splendid book.”
— Walter F. Murphy, Princeton University

Law’s Allure is a breathtakingly good book. Tracing through a substantial number of important case studies ranging from abortion and school desegregation through campaign finance and environmental litigation to the tobacco cases and more, Gordon Silverstein gives us a new paradigm for thinking about the role of courts in American politics, one that is more complete, convincing, and persuasive than we have ever had before in a single volume.”
— Kim Lane Scheppele, Princeton University

“A valuable contribution to the next generation of studies on constitutional politics. With well-chosen case studies and a useful analytical framework, Gordon Silverstein helps identify the whys, hows, and so-whats of interactions between politicians and judges in shaping public policy.”
— Mark Tushnet, Harvard Law School

Law’s Allure: How Law Shapes, Constrains, Saves and Kills Politics provides an original and compelling analysis of the complex relationships between law and politics. Professor Silverstein’s insights that juridification in the United States is on the rise, that juridification is more than government by judiciary, and that this escape from politics has numerous hidden costs are interesting and important. The case studies are well written and informative, the research is solid, and the conclusions likely to provoke a good deal of conversation both within and without political science…Professor Silverstein provides a far more nuanced account of the relationship between law and politics than found in the existing political science literature.”
— Mark Graber, Balkinization blog

Religion in Legal Thought and Practice, by Howard Lesnick

Religion in Legal Thought and PracticeReligion in Legal Thought and Practice, by Howard Lesnick. Cambridge University Press 2010. ISBN: 052113448X; 9780521134484.

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Table of contents; Preface [PDF]; Excerpt [PDF]

Product Description

This book examines moral issues in public and private life from a religious but not devotional perspective. Rather than seeking to prove that one belief system or moral stance is right, it undertakes to help readers more fully understand the effect of religious beliefs and practices on ways of conceiving and addressing moral questions, without having to accept or to reject any specific religious outlook. It shows how the similarities between religions and the differences within any one religion are more important than the reverse. The book asks
• Where do moral imperatives come from, and how do the answers found in religion and law interact?
• How does the fact that a moral norm is grounded in religion affect our thinking about it?
• What is the significance of the differences (and similarities) between religious and secular sources of moral norms?

Book Description

This book examines moral issues in public and private life from a religious but not devotional perspective. Rather than seeking to prove that one belief system or moral stance is right, it undertakes to help readers more fully understand the effect of religious beliefs and practices on ways of conceiving and addressing moral questions, without having to accept or to reject any specific religious outlook.

The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires, by Tim Wu

The Master Switch哥伦比亚大学法学院吴修铭教授的新作,隆重推荐:

The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires, by Tim Wu.
Knopf, 2010. ISBN-10: 0307269930. ISBN-13: 9780307269935

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From Publishers Weekly

According to Columbia professor and policy advocate Wu (Who Controls the Internet), the great information empires of the 20th century have followed a clear and distinctive pattern: after the chaos that follows a major technological innovation, a corporate power intervenes and centralizes control of the new medium–the master switch. Wu chronicles the turning points of the century’ s information landscape: those decisive moments when a medium opens or closes, from the development of radio to the Internet revolution, where centralizing control could have devastating consequences. To Wu, subjecting the information economy to the traditional methods of dealing with concentrations of industrial power is an unacceptable control of our most essential resource. He advocates not a regulatory approach but rather a constitutional approach that would enforce distance between the major functions in the information economy–those who develop information, those who own the network infrastructure on which it travels, and those who control the venues of access–and keep corporate and governmental power in check. By fighting vertical integration, a Separations Principle would remove the temptations and vulnerabilities to which such entities are prone. Wu’ s engaging narrative and remarkable historical detail make this a compelling and galvanizing cry for sanity–and necessary deregulation–in the information age.

Review

“An explosive history that makes it clear how the information business became what it is today. Important reading.”
—Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More and Free: How Today’s Smartest Businesses Profit by Giving Something for Nothing; editor of Wired Magazine

“Wu’s book is both a masterful media history and an outline for the future of the digital age. The Master Switch brilliantly describes the never-ending tension between open and closed media, as it has effected everything from the printing press to the web, and details ways society might be able to prevent the disastrous closing down of digital freedoms currently threatening the open internet.”
—Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organization and Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age

“Every now and then a book changes the way we understand the world. The Master Switch is such an achievement; it is a rigorous, imaginative and enthralling history of the Twentieth Century struggle among utopian innovators, profit-maximizing monopolists, and their often-hapless regulators. Wu has convincingly reinterpreted our media past, and by doing so, he has illuminated the risks to open media and Internet-enabled innovation that confront us in the present.”
—Steve Coll, President, New American Foundation and Pulitzer Prize winning author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001

“A masterpiece.”
Lawrence Lessig, Director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics and Professor of Law, Harvard University

“Ranging from the early days of Theodore Vail’s AT&T to the current battle between Google and Apple, Tim Wu’s work is a must read for those who want to know about the future of the Internet. The Master Switch is brilliant, with a distinctive voice that comes through on every page.”
—Josh Silverman, CEO, Skype

“A free and open Internet is not a given. Indeed, corporate interests are working feverishly to seize control of it. Drawing on history, The Master Switch shows how this could easily happen and why we are at risk of losing the freedom we now take for granted. A must-read for all Americans who want to remain the ones deciding what they can read, watch, and listen to.”
—Arianna Huffington

苏力:关于能动司法与大调解

一、引论

尽管需要进一步界定(特别是“能动司法”,我会在最后一节讨论),我还是能理解目前法律界和司法界关于能动司法和大调解的基本含义,及其在当下中国的政治社会意义。

在当代中国语境中,所谓能动司法,大致是指,法官不应仅仅消极被动地坐堂办案,不顾后果地刻板适用法律;在尚处于形成进程中的中国司法制度限制内,法官可以并应充分发挥个人的积极性和智慧,通过审判以及司法主导的各种替代纠纷解决方法,有效解决社会各种复杂地纠纷和案件,努力做到“案结事了”,实现司法的政治效果、社会效果和法律效果的统一。[1]

而所谓大调解大致是指人民调解、行政调解(协调)和司法调解的整合和联动。[2]大调解是替代性纠纷解决方式(ADR),但不等同。大调解更注意综合利用当代中国解决纠纷的各种制度资源,它也比ADR 或替代纠纷解决方式等说法朴实和简短,容易为普通中国人理解。此外,在大调解中,法院和法官始终以司法身份出现,于其中扮演核心角色,积极主动解决纠纷,因此不仅与传统的调解不同,甚至与外国法官以非司法身份展开的调解也有重大区别。[3]但关于替代纠纷解决方式,世界各国并没有、也不大可能有、甚至不应当有统一模式;而调解是写入了中国的民事诉讼法的,[4]已经是当代中国司法制度的必要程序和重要构成部分。

问题是,为什么在中国司法改革启动10年并取得不少进步之后,[5]中国司法制度日益正式化、程序化,法官日益职业化、专业化,为什么要关注和研究能动司法和大调解?这个问题,仅仅站在法学理论和法律职业圈内,看不清楚,也很难理解。“功夫在诗外”。它既针对了中国社会的某些问题,也针对了只有从社会角度才能看出的司法的某些问题。就前者而言,它针对的是近年来中国社会纠纷剧增、涉法和涉诉上访人数上升以及案件执行难等社会现象。[6]这种现象容易让人感觉司法未能充分实现社会对它的期待,也没实现司法改革曾经对社会的允诺。执政党要求法院积极运用各种纠纷解决方法来实现司法的政治和社会职能,因此有了近年来强调的“社会主义法治理念”[7]和“三个至上”。[8]就司法制度的改革而言,自1990年代以来,中国司法改革的基本导向是职业化和专业化,突出审判和审判方式改革,强调法官消极和中立,律师扮演积极角色,取得了重大进展,但也留下了许多不能不面对的问题——这种司法模式在许多地方,特别是农村基层社会,缺乏适用性和有效性,[9]在宏观层面需要适度调整。有鉴于此,从宏观层面看,我认为能动司法和大调解的实验和推广是必要的,有积极意义。若放在中国的经济社会发展的整个过程中看,这其实既是中国司法改革的延伸,也是司法改革的调整。尽管对习惯了改革后的司法制度和习惯了西方经典司法观念的一些法官和法学人来说,能动司法,注重司法调解和大调解,不大习惯,甚至会心存疑惑。

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