Criteria for Evaluating Constitutional Judicial Argumentation

The problem of international constitutionalism is the central challenge faced by international philosophers in the twenty-first century. Introduction This is a book about constitutional practice – and constitutional discourse – at transnational sites of governance. For some readers, this may seem an odd topic. As a historical matter, constitutional discourse has predominantly – but not exclusively – occurred in the domestic legal setting. However, as described in the essays in this volume, recent years have witnessed an intensification of constitutional discourse in many sites of transnational governance. In response, a rapidly growing body of scholarship explores the existence and implications of international constitutions. Drawing on insights from scholarship in international relations, international law, and global governance, the essays in this volume extend earlier efforts and describe, analyze, and advance international constitutional debates. To do so, these chapters examine the conceptual coherence and normative desirability of constitutional orders beyond the state and explore what is at stake in debates over global constitutionalism. This is a particularly auspicious time to undertake such a project. As discussed below, the enhanced salience of debates over constitutional orders beyond the state reflects, in part, larger trajectories in international relations, including the increased density and reach of international norms, the increasing importance of new legal actors in international legal processes, and the rise of new topics of international legal regulation – along with an increasing sense that some of these developments threaten elements of domestic constitutional structures.

In response to the challenges of the epoch, “nuclear” laws currently regulate safety issues related to handling of nuclear materials, nuclear facilities operation, related transactions, nuclear waste processing and disposal, state control over the nuclear energy use, and international cooperation in the nuclear sphere. One of the most important institutions of the “nuclear” regulation system in Russian law is the institution of ownership of nuclear materials, understood by the modern legislator as materials containing, or capable of reproducing, fissile (fissionable) nuclear substances. Consolidating the rules of nuclear materials ownership, the legislator further formulates requirements for nuclear materials control and accounting, transactions procedure, and safe operation of nuclear facilities, as well as introduces liability for violation of such requirements. Today, many aspects related to the legal status of nuclear materials owners and the notion of handling nuclear materials deserve a deep legal analysis, since the current legal regulation has gaps and contradictions. The legal writing method used to word such norms, structures, and basic notions must meet the criteria of clarity, unambiguous interpretation, and absence of regulatory gaps, that is why the system of legal regulation of the institution of nuclear materials ownership needs further improvement.

People without a background in argumentation theory possess several criteria to distinguish strong from weak arguments. The fact that people have these criteria does not imply that they will use them to objectively assess an argument's quality. Research on motivated reasoning suggests that people take a more critical stance toward arguments that go against their own opinions compared to arguments that are in accordance with these opinions. In this study, the question was addressed whether people employ criteria to evaluate arguments in a biased way. Forty participants were told that they would take part in a debate and either had to defend the claim that mixed schools were desirable (that is, schools attended by children with different ethnic backgrounds) or that they had to attack this claim. All participants received sixteen (strong and weak) arguments and were asked to prepare themselves for the debate while thinking aloud. Analysis of the think aloud protocols showed that people used criteria to boost the quality of arguments supporting their claim while disqualifying arguments that went against it. These results provide important insights into the nature of motivated reasoning because it studied the extent to which people actually use evaluation criteria while manipulating both the quality of the arguments provided and the claim that needed to be defended.

How can we understand the meaning and effects of recent modifications of material surfaces of public sites in Bulgaria? The series of interventions at the Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia and the transformations of a crowd-control fence installed in front of the Parliament building during the 2013-2014 anti-government protests offer the points of departure for this thesis. Their complex processes of both alignment with the dominant traits of the post-1989 regime in the country but also destabilisation of and challenges to its logic, complicate the possibility of a simple opposition between conformity and subversion. The analysis of the operations of these surfaces and the ways, in which they enter into relations with environments and other surfaces, necessitates the development of a conceptual framework capable of accounting for their dynamism and processual character. The notion of a “surface-machine” proposed here explicates the produced and productive character of surfaces, while challenging their reduction to the visual plane or their assignment to a subsidiary role in relation to what as surfaces, they are said to “contain”. By developing a theoretical understanding of surface-machines, this thesis seeks to propose a novel way of thinking surfaces and their spatio-temporal productivity, while taking them seriously as a terrain of political articulation. The examination of two surface-machines – of the crowd-control fence and the Monument – goes hand in hand with the investigation of the social context within which they are situated: that of Bulgarian post-communism. The thesis explores various features of this condition, such as a logic of belatedness, an adoption of anti-communist and pro-European discourses, and examines how these contribute to the solidification of a “recording surface” – a term derived from the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari to describe the constitution of a social surface that obfuscates its own conditions of production. Conceptually, the dissertation is indebted to the work of these two authors, while drawing on Donna Haraway’s writings to develop a method of storytelling to account for the material-semiotic operations of surface-machines.

ANAS Quality Evaluation Management System

The subject of research.The issue of reliability (unreliability) of information (data) included in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities has increased after the amendments made to the Russian Civil Code in 2013 and to the Russian legislation on state registration of legal entities in 2015. The legislation, introducing the principle of public reliability of information included in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities does not clearly define what is meant by such reliability. Accordingly, the question arises about what is meant by “unreliability” of information. Although legal norms contain the concept of “error”; the legislation does not contain a single legal regime of “error”. This is expressed in the presence of several independent cases described in the legislation, including, among other things, an independent procedure for correcting an error. It is also not clear how the presence of an “error” correlates with the requirements for the reliability of the data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. The author shows the evolution of the concepts of “error” and “technical error” in the legislation on state registration of legal entities, as well as ways to eliminate it for the first time in the Russian doctrine.The purpose of the articleis to: (a) analyze the current regulation and qualify various cases of “errors” in the information included in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities; (b) specify the objectives of regulation in each identified case of “errors”; (c) identify the main contradictions in the regulation; (d) form a new model of the reliability of the information included in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and specific legal decisions based on the goals of the legislator to “whitewash” the Russian economy, strengthen the principle of good faith, and ensure the certainty of legal norms. The scientific hypothesis is that the “error” in the information included in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, whatever its cause, is a special case of unreliability of information. Accordingly, all cases of “error” should be settled within the framework of the general model of reliability of information included in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. The current regulation does not provide real public reliability of the information; in fact, such public reliability today is nothing more than an illusion. Approaches to determining the reliability (unreliability) of information included in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities do not provide such reliability.Description of research methods and methodology. The research is based on a systematic and teleological interpretation of normative material (legal norms, explanations of a normative nature, judicial legal positions). Information about the main scientific results. Conclusions. The conducted research fully confirmed the correctness of the proposed scientific hypothesis. Systematic proposals for changing existing approaches to regulation and specific legal solutions are formulated. Conclusions. It is noted that the current regulation regarding the criteria for the reliability/unreliability of information (data) of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities is confusing and creates uncertainty in the legal regulation. The necessity of changing the norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and other federal laws, the abolition of the most odious explanations of a regulatory nature, the foundations of a new regulatory model and proposals for reforming the existing regulatory framework are formulated.

The current regulations allow specific categories of entities to lodge an application to convert the right of perpetual usufruct of these properties into property right. This entitlement is, in principle, payable. The legislator provided an exception to this principle by introducing the possibility of transforming the right of perpetual usufruct into a right of ownership free of charge. The legislator linked this right with a specific group of entities, justifying this by obtaining the perpetual usufruct right in exchange for expropriation or taking over the property for the benefit of the State Treasury. While this premise does not raise any doubts, much of the controversy arises from the notion of successor of authorized entities, used in art. 5 of the Act. The purpose of this article is to present current legal regulations related to the administrative and legal possibility of transforming the right of perpetual usufruct into the property right. The catalog of entities entitled to request a free transformation of the right of perpetual usufruct into the property right was analyzed, with particular reference to legal successors of authorized entities.

In the context of the rapid development of information and communication technologies and the proclamation of the constitutional right of everyone to freely search, receive and disseminate information, it is becoming increasingly difficult to restrict access to information of various kinds. Meanwhile, the confidential information at the disposal of the employer, access to which he restricts either in his own interests (commercial secret), or in the public interest or in the interests of third parties (information that has a secret regime, personal data of individuals) needs protection. The subject of the study is the provisions of the legislation, including labor legislation, which allow the employer, as the owner of confidential information, to build a system of limited access to it and take measures against employees who violate the established rules for protecting information. An analysis of the relevant norms leads to the conclusion that in the rapidly developing information society, which provides ample opportunities for the instant transmission (distribution) of a significant amount of information, the current legal regulation does not fully meet the requirements for balancing the rights and legitimate interests of the employee and the employer, since it allows the employer to stop the employee's access to protected information only by dismissing him on a disciplinary basis, which forces the employer to make such decisions even in cases where there are no grounds for this fixed by law (disclosure), thereby violating the rights of the employee. In this regard, it is proposed to introduce a legal mechanism for depriving an employee of access to confidential information when he commits actions that create a threat of its dissemination, which, on the one hand, will exclude him from working with such information, and on the other hand, will allow him (under certain conditions) to continue work for this employer. Such a mechanism, being aimed at optimal reconciliation of the interests of employers and employees, will ensure the right of the employer to the protection of information and at the same time will not allow excessive restriction of the rights of the employee.

Consistent individual differences in behaviour, or ‘personality’, are likely to be influenced by development, social context, and species ecology, though few comparative, longitudinal studies exist. Here, we investigated the role of development and social context on personality variation in two identically reared, social corvids: common ravens and carrion crows. We repeatedly presented subjects with a variety of novel food and objects, while alone and in a primarily sibling subgroup, from fledging to sub-adulthood. We predicted that consistent individual differences would emerge later in development, and that conspecific presence would facilitate behavioural similarities. In contrast to our predictions, we found that individuals of both species were highly inconsistent in their behavioural responses throughout the development period. In line with our predictions, though in the ravens only, conspecific presence promoted behavioural similarities as individuals were strongly shaped by their subgroup, and it is likely that these effects were driven by social context rather than relatedness. We discuss these findings in relation to developmental steps and the role of social relations in these species. Overall, our findings highlight that these two species are highly adaptable in their behaviour, and the ravens in particular are strongly influenced by their social environment, which may facilitate cooperation and social learning.

This paper examines how objectives of the European Union in the field of climate change affect the legal regulation of products and what impacts they also have on some connected issues. The current ecodesign legal regulation is based on the Ecodesign Directive and the particular requirements on products are then set in regulations following the Ecodesign Directive. The paper primarily focuses on the changes in ecodesign product regulation brought by the new Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation proposal. The issue of the proposed legal regulation connected with environmental claims is also addressed in the text as it is an important complement to the sustainable products legal regulation.

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has become as one of the most influential marketing tools in social media. The purposefulness of this study is to investigate the relationship between eWOM and purchase intention in Chinese social media context. The article also differentiates the risk-taking attitude between genders. Numerous studies have strived to elaborate eWOM phenomenon but little effort has done to explore its determinants. The results confirmed that argument quality, source credibility, and involvement are key determinants of eWOM in social media that positively influence customers purchase intentions. Furthermore, risk-taking propensity sounds more strongly in males than females, and it significantly and positively moderates the relationship of eWOM with purchase intentions. Findings of this study have important practical implications for marketing practitioners in Chinese social media environment. Marketers should devise the comprehensive distinct marketing plan for customers to get them involved in spreading eWOM that would enhance their purchase intentions.

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has become as one of the most influential marketing tools in social media. The purposefulness of this study is to investigate the relationship between eWOM and purchase intention in Chinese social media context. The article also differentiates the risk-taking attitude between genders. Numerous studies have strived to elaborate eWOM phenomenon but little effort has done to explore its determinants. The results confirmed that argument quality, source credibility, and involvement are key determinants of eWOM in social media that positively influence customers purchase intentions. Furthermore, risk-taking propensity sounds more strongly in males than females, and it significantly and positively moderates the relationship of eWOM with purchase intentions. Findings of this study have important practical implications for marketing practitioners in Chinese social media environment. Marketers should devise the comprehensive distinct marketing plan for customers to get them involved in spreading eWOM that would enhance their purchase intentions.

It has been established that scholars’ interest in the phenomenon of “legal construction” as a universal legal category is due to its ability to integrate and structure legal norms, giving them internal unity, functionality, legal certainty, and adequacy in reflecting socio-legal realities. Contemporary legislative activity, both in Ukraine and in other legal systems, requires the modernization of legislative terminology, the universalization of concepts, the improvement and updating of legal techniques, and the application of various methods of legal regulation in order to simplify law enforcement. One such legal means is legal constructs as methods of legal regulation of various types of social relations. Doctrinal approaches to defining the characteristics and functions of legal constructs are presented. It has been proven that legal constructs are a necessary and stable element of the structure of law and the legal system and reflect the structure of certain homogeneous legal phenomena and are a means of rule-making technique that ensures the construction of normative and legal material and, at the same time, is a method of cognition and interpretation of legal norms. The characteristics of legal constructs as ideal models of legal phenomena are also characteristic of fiduciary constructs. The growing popularity of fiduciary relationships draws attention to the legal constructs of the same name, which are actively used in various legal systems in the field of both contractual and other civil law relationships. It has been established that the term “fiducia” applies to all types of relationships in situations where the essence of the agreement establishing such relationships is based on mutual trust between its participants. The element of trust plays an important role, since it is thanks to trust that fiduciary relationships arise and are fulfilled, and in case of loss of trust, the relationship is terminated. With the development of civil law, fiduciary structures have not lost their relevance and continue to be used in one form or another by participants in civil legal relations. Despite the insufficient development of the theory of fiduciary relations and the existing conflict between their normative and legal regulation, they play an important role in civil legal relations.

The article emphasizes the unprecedented growth of the role and importance of monetary relations in the formation of the market component of society, by supplementing it – the financial market and financial services markets, non-bank financial institutions professionally engaged in large-scale financial transactions. In this regard, monetary relations in their interaction with legal norms give rise to financial legal relations, which simplifies and disciplines the understanding and perception of monetary relations as an object of financial and legal regulation. It is stated that the regulatory impact on monetary relations in the activities of non-bank financial latter in market relations goes beyond public finance, expanding due to corporate and private finance, their market component, and the volume of private and commercial monetary resources in such conditions are one of the parties to the financial and credit relations. The environment for the implementation of modern monetary policy is formed by many factors, which together create extremely difficult conditions and reduce the effectiveness of monetary policy in achieving its goals. However, the most significant is the spread of the global financial crisis, to overcome which Ukraine needs to improve the legal framework for monetary regulation and apply market mechanisms to regulate the credit system. From a legal point of view, it is important when considering monetary relations (especially the forms of their expression) to understand the substantial nature of the financial mechanism as a whole. It is not the institutions of the financial system such as commercial banks, insurance companies, pension funds, investment funds or other institutions that generate credit as such, but, on the contrary, the existence of monetary relations generates the relevant institutions. And this is not just a scholastic play on words or manipulation of scientific concepts, but a legal fact. Thus, despite the rather intensive formation, the non-banking financial sector has not yet become the main and convenient mechanism for providing the real sector of the economy with the necessary financial resources. They are going through the initial period of their formation, their development remains little dynamic, sometimes even chaotic, which is why it is important to further study their legal nature, activities, functions they perform in the economy of the state and so on. In order to minimize the risks that may result from the lack of stability, transparency and competitiveness of the non-banking financial sector, it is necessary to strengthen the institutional and financial capacity of bodies regulating the financial services market and create an effective system for preventing crimes committed by non-banking financial institutions. Public policy in the non-banking financial sector should be aimed at: creating a system of risk identification, monitoring and ongoing analysis of the financial services market in order to ensure opportunities to take precautions to ensure financial security; strengthening transparency and openness in the activities of financial institutions and the body that carries out state regulation and supervision of such institutions; increasing the solvency and financial stability of non-bank financial institutions; ensuring proper protection of consumers of non-banking financial services; preventing the use of non-bank financial institutions for unproductive withdrawal of capital abroad.

El acto de argumentar - sintetizado por Plantin (2006:23) como “el pasaje de la credibilidad de un hablante a otro”- es un fenómeno muy complejo y difícil de agotar desde una sola perspectiva de análisis. Actualmente existe un renovado interés por los estudios argumentativos, basados especialmente en abordajes no formales, tendientes a dar solución a aspectos generalmente no resueltos por la lógica tradicional. En efecto, el enfoque de la lógica tradicional conduce a una mirada despersonalizada, descontextualizada, que evalúa los razonamientos por su validez formal, lo que supone una sola respuesta válida a cada cuestión en conflicto. Nada más lejos de la realidad cotidiana de las interacciones argumentativas diarias. Nuestro interés se ha centrado en actualizar nuestro conocimiento sobre las nuevas teorías de la argumentación, a partir del rastreo de sus objeciones a los planteos tradicionales y consiguiente reconceptualización de las nociones básicas. El objetivo final está dirigido a replantearnos un ajuste, modificación y actualización de los contenidos disciplinares en enseñanza media, en vistas de optimizar una mejor y más realista secuenciación de contenidos, diseño de estrategias didácticas y criterios de evaluación. Este proyecto está focalizado en examinar los aspectos que atraviesan estas nuevas teorías, que nos servirán de marco para proponer un esbozo de construcción interteórica, en la que se articulan las correspondencias y se patentizan las diferencias. En las conclusiones finales damos a conocer nuestra propuesta, aún provisoria, que reúne las reflexiones inspiradas por los resultados de nuestro trabajo de análisis, comparación, cotejo e intento de integración de las diferentes teorías.