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Management of Legal Information in an International Context: A Conundrum of Challenges and Opportunities
Joan Howland, Chang Wang
Front Law Chin. 2011, 6 (2): 165-179.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11463-011-0123-7
Evolving technologies have created many exciting opportunities to increase the availability of legal information, and to facilitate the organization and publication of this information. With the globalization of almost all legal issues, increased access to primary and secondary resources in electronic format across jurisdictional lines has been a welcomed development by academics, lawyers, international business entities, and others. However, the myriad of legal systems and approaches to maintaining legislative and judicial records has led to a host of challenges in regard to coherent and efficient management of legal information. Focusing on development of legal information systems in China and the United States, this paper will open with a summary of the exciting current and emerging technological advances in legal research methodologies and in the electronic publication of cases, statutes, regulations and other critical resources. The paper will then analyze corresponding challenges, including authenticity, accuracy, currency and consistency. The analysis will include discussion of the varying quality of legal information resources proliferating in the Internet, as well as the host of issues surrounding electronic publishing of legal information by government entities and commercial enterprises. The paper will conclude with a prospective analysis of the manner in which emerging technologies can enhance knowledge management of legal information and strengthen legal systems in both common law and civil law jurisdictions.
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The ASEAN-China Investment Agreement: A Regionalization of China’s BITs
Jun Xiao
Front Law Chin. 2011, 6 (2): 241-258.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11463-011-0127-3
This paper analyzes the provisions of the Agreement on Investment of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (the “ASEAN”), especially those on the scope of application, national treatment, Most Favored Nation (MFN) treatment, expropriation, and investor-state dispute resolution. The paper then compares the new agreement with other international investment agreements concluded by China or ASEAN. In comparison with existing Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) between China and individual ASEAN member states, there are significant changes in the Investment Agreement which provides a higher standard of investment protection. Such an investment protection is common in the new generation of Chinese BITs, which were signed by China since 2000. However, unlike some other investment agreements in free trade arrangements, the Investment Agreement rarely touches upon the investment liberalization, although the Framework Agreement of ASEAN-China FTA provides for creating a liberal investment regime. This paper concludes that negotiating an investment agreement in China’s Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) is regarded as an opportunity to update its old BITs, but China is not yet prepared to undertake investment liberalization in its FTAs. The ASEAN-China Investment Agreement is, rather, an extension of China’s BITs at the regional level, which is a demonstration of China’s growing influence at this level.
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Research on the Judicial Review and Variation of Sentence for the Death Penalty with a Suspension of Execution in Chinese Criminal Law
Haiyan Wang
Front Law Chin. 2011, 6 (2): 316-331.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11463-011-0130-8
The imposition of a death penalty with a suspension of execution (DPSE) for two years, and the procedure for judicial review of the DPSE both demonstrate the Chinese policies of “reduction in use of the death penalty,” “cautious application of the death penalty,” and “tempering justice with mercy.” In recent years, the number of cases in which the defendant was sentenced to death and immediately executed has declined, whereas the number of cases in which a DPSE sentence was given has increased. In China, judicial theory and practice generally emphasize the importance of the judicial review procedure in cases where the sentence is a death penalty with immediate execution. However, less attention has been paid to the procedures for review and variation of sentence in DPSE cases. Judicial review for DPSE sometimes exists in name only, and is sometimes overlooked altogether, which is inappropriate for a penalty of this severity. There are also serious shortcomings in the laws regulating the review procedure for the DPSE, which lack provisions specifying the consequences for serious violations of due process during trial, nor do they completely reflect the principle of in dubio pro reo. In the procedure for variation of the DPSE sentence, the relevant laws do not adequately uphold the defendant’s right to a defense or participation in the process. There are also difficulties regarding the time limits on ruling on a commutation of sentence. In order to make the procedure more reliable and guarantee the substantive rights of defendants sentenced to the DPSE, the relevant laws require a number of modifications and improvements.
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