A Walk on the Wild Side with Yahweh: A Spatial Perspective on the Hebrew Deity in the National Epic

ABSTRACT

Although there is general agreement among biblical scholars that Chronicles developed an own historiography in contradistinction to the Deuteronomistic History, some scholars have started emphasizing the commonalities between these histories. The present contribution is an attempt to contribute to this investigation in Chronicles studies. The investigation particularly focuses on a disputed example from Chronicles, namely the legal reforms of King Jehoshaphat, in order to establish what the relationship is between Chronicles and the Deuteronomic legal traditions.     

Corruption,Legal Modernisation and Judicial Practice in Afghanistan

¹1. I am grateful to anonymous ASR reviewers for insightful comments. An earlier preliminary version of this work appeared as ‘Afghanistan: Corruption and injustice in the judicial system’. Further research and fieldwork has been undertaken within the framework of activities of the Fernand Braudel International Fellowship for Experienced Researchers (Paris) and Rechtskulturen Fellowship (Berlin). I discussed some of the ideas illustrated here in a presentation at the Faculty of Law of Humboldt University (Berlin) in January 2013.View all notesAfghanistan’s justice system is currently at a crucial and troubled stage of development that will determine its effectiveness. This article focuses on the phenomenon of corruption inside judicial institutions. By integrating the analysis of narratives of corruption with the observation of judicial practice and a critical approach to the reconstruction process, I argue that in Afghanistan, the phenomenon of corruption can be understood in terms of its “double institutionalisation”, whereby mechanisms of exchange and of compensation, both already affirmed at the level of social practice, find a possibility of reaffirmation (of re-institutionalisation) in the legal system itself. The creation of an economic system that depends on international aid, the consolidation of a state apparatus over-determined by warlordism and foreign influences, and the process of legal modernisation itself all play an important role in the re-institutionalisation and radicalisation of corruption. By taking into consideration this scenario, I adopt an ethnographic perspective to explore some of the effects of corruption on the work of judges and on the access to justice itself.     

At the End Returning to Questions of Beginnings

Abstract

This article engages directly with Jonathan Burnside and raises a set of further questions concerning how we read biblical law and the manner in which we might endeavor to teach it in the context of the critical and/or secular classroom. Respecting the wide-scope of Burnside’s approach and material covered, further attention to the historical and cultural contexts of biblical law, as well as a more transparent presentation of its complexity, allows us to be responsible readers of biblical law, appreciating its theological and legal sophistication.     

《归侨侨眷权益保护法》法律责任设置论析

论文针对《中华人民共和国归侨侨眷权益保护法》（简称《归侨法》）＂法律责任条款＂的制定及实施情况进行全面考察,认为法律责任条款设置与法律文本中的＂义务性条款＂设置应相对应,并且还要考虑与相关法律的协调。《归侨法》的法律责任条款设置存在一些技术缺陷,如与《归侨法》中义务性条款不对称、设置的重复性、与相关部门法脱节以及其他相关问题,在此基础上,对法律责任条款的修改与完善提出了具体的建议。     

TEACHING OLD DOGS NEW TRICKS: FOUR MOTIFS OF LEGAL CHANGE FROM EARLY MODERN EUROPE

In the past millennium, there have been thousands of polities in Europe and millions of laws. This article contributes to efforts by historians and sociologists to make some sense of this sprawl by constructing common types of law and legal change. Such types constitute distinctive patterns by which historical actors change names, ideas, and applications of rules of law under various circumstances. Three classic forms of change, namely legislation, mutation of custom, and judge‐made law, were described by Max Weber. To Weber's model I add four new types or motifs of change, which I dub legal deeds, voice‐supersession, legal fictions, and anthropological expansion. The major advance of the four motifs is that they each combine what could be called a semantic and a social view of legal change. That is, they take seriously the fact that law is often bound in a self‐conscious tradition of thought and practice. But each motif of change is also characterized by a typified social configuration of legal operators and legal subjects, who apply competing ideas to one another in distinctive ways. The paradigm of law in which the four motifs are embedded is evolutionary, pluralist, and liberal in that it posits creative social organization by multiple, independent, interacting individuals in society, weaving cumulative, complex orders. This theory makes several significant scholarly interventions. First, it attempts to reconcile outstanding semantic and social theories of legal change. Second, it historicizes legal pluralism while giving evolutionary theory a healthy dose of contingency. Third, the four motifs should also be serviceable to intellectual historians as tools for describing how historical actors interact with traditions generally. Tradition need not be viewed as conservative or even overwhelmingly static. This paradigm may help historians and social scientists assess how the force of the status quo balances against the power of individuals to innovate.     

张之洞与晚清法律教育

晚清国内新式外交和法律人才严重缺乏,张之洞积极倡导与推行近代法律教育,在新式学堂中开设西方法律课程与专业,派遣人员出国学习西方法律,创办与发行报刊介绍西方法律知识。虽然其深厚的儒家文化制约着他不能学习西方法律的民主精神,但其倡导近代法律教育的积极主张与各种实践却促进了晚清法律教育的发展与观念的转变,培养了一批新式外交和法律人才,推动着中国传统法律教育走向近代化。     

中国自然保护地立法模式探析

建立自然保护地是有效保护和合理利用自然资源的重要举措。法制建设是自然保护地建设和管理的重要基础与有力保障。自然保护地建设过程中发生的种种矛盾,归根到底是利益相关者之间的利益冲突,为此政府必须提供平衡各方利益的制度保障。中国现有的类型化部门立法与其他法律规范相结合的自然保护地立法模式存在立法层级低、法制协调性不足、立法体系封闭、保护对象不明确等缺陷。考虑到自然的整体性和调整利益冲突的有效性,我们应该选择综合性框架立法作为中国自然保护地立法的理想模式。     

依法执政:实现党先进执政方式的根本保证

在新的历史务件下,党必须完善自己的执政方式．执政方式可以有多种,但总少不了“依法执政”这个既传统又普遍的政党执政方式。党只有在宪法和法律的范围内,严格按照法律规范和程序规范去执政,才能提高党的执政能力,实现党的长期执政和国家的法治化。     

建国以来党坚持依法执政的基本经验

党坚持依法执政的历史始于建国执政之初。经过50多年坚持依法执政的探索和实践,中国共产党已避步清晰地认识到“什么是依法执政和怎样坚持依法执政”的这一重大命题。总结和汲取建国以来党坚持依法执政的基本经验,不仅有助于我们认识和把握坚持依法执政的基本规律,而且对于推劝党的依法执政能力建设具有重要的现实意义。     

日本国立大学的法人化改革

日本的国立大学法人化改革是日本行政改革和高等教育改革的重要组成部分,在日本教育史上具有划时代意义。通过大学法人化改革,日本官味十足的国立大学,改制成为大学法人,获得了办学自主权,也承担起了经营大学的重要责任。改革正使日本的国立大学焕发着生命力。虽然在改制中会遇到各种困难,但改革的方向是正确的,必将推动日本高等教育的进一步发展。