Journals

Modular argumentation for modelling legal doctrines in common law of contract

Abstract  To create a programming environment for contract dispute resolution, we propose an extension of assumption-based argumentation
into modular assumption-based argumentation in which different modules of argumentation representing [...]

Is the consumer directive advantageous for the consumers?

Abstract  According to the EU Consumer Protection Directive a purchaser has the right to ask for either repair or replacement of a defect
product, whereas before in some member countries only one of these remedies were available. It seems to be taken for granted
in the Directive and in Green Papers that such a reform is an advantage to the consumers. An analysis of a case at the Supreme
Court of Norway demonstrates that the opposite might be true. It will be argued that both purchasers and vendors will be better
off if the Directive is interpreted in accordance with economic theory. Harmonization of consumer protection across EU countries
might be counterproductive. The analysis is of general interest in the sense that it demonstrates that mandatory changes in
rights and obligations among contracting parties may have distributive effects different from what is commonly assumed.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • DOI 10.1007/s10657-009-9111-0
  • Authors
    • Erling Eide, University of Oslo Department of Private Law Pb. 6706 St. Olavs Plass 0130 Oslo Norway


Michael Thomson, Endowed: Regulating the Male Sexed Body

Michael Thomson, Endowed: Regulating the Male Sexed Body
Content Type Journal ArticlePages 237-238DOI 10.1007/s10691-009-9125-6Authors
Steve Robertson, Leeds Metropolitan University Centre for Men’s Health, Faculty of Health Leeds LS2 8AJ [...]

Coercion, Consent and the Forced Marriage Debate in the UK

Abstract  An examination of case law on forced marriage reveals that in addition to physical force, the role of emotional pressure is
now taken into consideration. However, in both legal and policy discourse, the difference between arranged [...]

Vanessa Munro, Law and Politics at the Perimeter: Re-evaluating Key Debates in Feminist Theory

Vanessa Munro, Law and Politics at the Perimeter: Re-evaluating Key Debates in Feminist Theory
Content Type Journal ArticlePages 229-231DOI 10.1007/s10691-009-9123-8Authors
Joanne Conaghan, University of Kent Kent Law School, Eliot College [...]



Tsachi Keren-Paz, Torts, Egalitarianism and Distributive Justice

Tsachi Keren-Paz, Torts, Egalitarianism and Distributive Justice
Content Type Journal ArticlePages 239-240DOI 10.1007/s10691-009-9117-6Authors
Wade Mansell, University of Kent Kent Law School Canterbury CT2 7NS UK

Journal Feminist Legal [...]

Constitutional judicial review and political insurance

Abstract  Considering constitutional judicial review of policy, the power of courts to annul legislation, as a political insurance mechanism
to protect against losses from adverse election outcomes, the paper analyzes three questions: First, under what circumstances
a political ruler, who wins an election and the right to propose measures of policy, subjects those measures to the checking
powers of an independent judiciary. Second, the net expected gains of a political ruler from granting binary choice to the
reviewing judiciary rather than open choice. Third, the equilibrium degree of policy review power granted to the judiciary.
Differences in the policy preferences of competing politicians, the judiciary and the status quo, the probability of winning
an election and the probability that the judiciary confirms legislation passed by the incumbent emerge as the main determinants
of judicial review and its political independence.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • DOI 10.1007/s10657-009-9112-z
  • Authors
    • George Tridimas, University of Ulster School of Economics Shore Road, Newtownabbey Co. Antrim BT37 0QB UK

Part-time employment: a comparative analysis of Spain and the Netherlands

Abstract  Most industrialized countries have seen part-time employment as a percentage of total employment increasing in the last decade.
This paper presents the results of a comparative study of part-time employment in Spain and the Netherlands. The project comprises
a legal comparative study of the effectiveness of the normative solutions provided by the Dutch and Spanish legal orders regarding
the protection of part-time workers and the promotion of part-time employment, with special attention paid to the gender dimension
of part-time work in both countries; and an analysis, based on data extracted from the European Community Household Panel
(1995–2001), of the determinants of part-time employment in both countries and an examination of the extent to which part-time
jobs are used as stepping-stones to full-time positions. We have found significant country differences regarding females’
decisions to take part-time jobs. We also have found that, in general, Dutch females are not less likely than their male counterparts
to increase the number of hours they work. However, this applies only to those females who are part of a couple or have children
younger than 12 years. In Spain, females are 2.6 times less likely than their male counterparts to switch from a part-time
to a full-time job.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • DOI 10.1007/s10657-009-9109-7
  • Authors
    • Maite Blázquez Cuesta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Departamento de Análisis Económico: Teoría Económica e Historia Económica Madrid Spain
    • Nuria Elena Ramos Martín, Universiteit van Amsterdam/Hugo Sinzheimer Instituut, University of Amsterdam AIAS Amsterdam The Netherlands

Predicting Recidivism Amongst Sexual Offenders: A Multi-site Study of Static-2002

Abstract  
The predictive accuracy of Static-2002 (Hanson & Thornton, Notes on the development of Static-2002 (Corrections Research User
Report No. 2003-01), 2003) was examined in eight samples of sexual offenders (five Canadian, one U.S., one U.K., one Danish;
total sample of 3,034). Static-2002 showed moderate ability to rank order the risk for sexual, violent and general (any) recidivism
(AUCs of .68, .71, and .70, respectively), and was more accurate than Static-99. These findings support the use of Static-2002
in applied assessments. There were substantial differences across samples, however, in the observed sexual recidivism rates.
These differences present new challenges to evaluators wishing to use actuarial risk scores to estimate absolute recidivism
rates.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • Category Original Article
  • DOI 10.1007/s10979-009-9180-1
  • Authors
    • R. Karl Hanson, Public Safety Canada Corrections Research 340 Laurier Ave West, Ottawa Ontario K1A 0P8 Canada
    • Leslie Helmus, Public Safety Canada Corrections Research 340 Laurier Ave West, Ottawa Ontario K1A 0P8 Canada
    • David Thornton, Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Centre Mauston WI USA

‘Exploding the Limits of Law’: Judgment and Freedom in Arendt and Adorno

Abstract  In Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt struggled to defend the possibility of judgment against the obvious problems encountered in attempts to offer
legally valid and morally meaningful judgments of those who had committed crimes in morally bankrupt communities. Following
Norrie, this article argues that Arendt’s conclusions in Eichmann are equivocal and incoherent. Exploring her perspectival
theory of judgment, the article suggests that Arendt remains trapped within certain Kantian assumptions in her philosophy
of history, and as such sees the question of freedom in a binary way. The article argues that Adorno’s philosophy of freedom
provides the resources to diagnose and overcome Arendt’s shortcomings. Adorno’s position provides a way of embracing the antinomical
character of judgment, by emphasising the need for elements of reason and nature in the phenomenon of freedom. In Adorno’s
lights, judgment becomes an attempt to express a ‘spirit of solidarity’ with the tragic status of the potentially free but
actually unfree subject of modernity.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • DOI 10.1007/s11158-009-9088-0
  • Authors
    • Craig Reeves, King’s College London School of Law Strand London WC2R 2LS UK