[{"id":128,"title":"Building a Climate Change Litigation Database","sha":"14f8f943b33c6e9ddd2323313630170a","user_id":391,"state":"published","body":"Recently, The Guardian reported on a case brought by a Peruvian plaintiff against German energy company RWE over fears of effects of climate change (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/16/peruvian-farmer-demands-climate-compensation-from-german-company) in which the energy company is brought to court as a polluter. With this case, German courts will enter new territory and it remains to be seen if German law actually allows such claims to be successful. One problem in this context will be to prove causality. German law will hardly be alone with this and related problems as climate change-related damage will often not be covered by existing rules of tort law. By engaging in successful litigation against polluting companies, the price of doing business which is harmful for the climate can be increased. It will therefore be useful to collect cases on domestic climate change litigation.","created_at":"2015-03-25T19:41:54.054Z","updated_at":"2015-03-30T07:29:55.149Z","zenodo_id":25711,"doi":"http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16371","subject":null,"tags":["climate","climate change","law","court","litigation","database","peru","germany"],"vote_count":1,"view_count":1,"score":1.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":false,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null},{"id":634,"title":"Bayesian Judges","sha":"84f00f5c7a87ced32e5784f89eb7caae","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"Building on Eric Posner and Adrian Vermeule’s valuable insights about the Bayesian nature of the judicial process (see their paper \"The Votes of Other Judges\"), I propose a simple method for improving judicial decision-making, a method I have previously christened \"Bayesian voting\" in honor of Frank Ramsey and Bruno de Finetti. Under this method of voting, judges would not only state the reasons for their decisions; they would also express their degrees of belief in their decisions by \"scoring\" the strength of the moving party's legal arguments, i.e. by assigning a numerical score reflecting their relative degrees of belief in what the proper outcome of an issue or case should be (depending on whether the judge is engaged in outcome-voting or issue-voting). By way of example, a judge’s degree of belief could be expressed in numerical terms anywhere in the range from 0 to 1 or some other uniform scale, such as 0 to 10. The higher the judge's score, the greater the judge’s degree of belief. A score below 0.5 would mean that the party with the burden of persuasion is not expected to prevail; a score above 0.5, by contrast, would indicate that the party is expected to prevail; while a score of 0.5 means the judge is undecided about which party should prevail.","created_at":"2019-12-28T01:44:25.392Z","updated_at":"2021-11-17T23:31:52.243Z","zenodo_id":3660057,"doi":"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3660057","subject":null,"tags":["bayesian voting","judges","law"],"vote_count":1,"view_count":1,"score":1.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null},{"id":404,"title":"Is it necessary to liberalize genetic paternity tests in France?","sha":"07fd37437a391bb7c8a84109370c2e5d","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"There is a real ethical problem with genetic paternity research In France. And first of all, a great hypocrisy: such test can be carried out on national territory only by court decision (at risk of being illegally for the subject and the analysis laboratory). However, many peripheral states (mainly Belgium, Holland and Spain) carry out this test in a liberal and commercial way: thus, it is possible to divert the law and send by mail a sample that will be analyzed abroad.\r\nWhy not authorize such paternity research in France outside any legal control? What is the risk? Cannot this liberalization be decided in the name of equal opportunities in access to information (intimate in this case): currently, only the richest have access to it, creating a double injustice (judicial and economic).\r\nThis liberalization finds its place in the current modification of the meaning of the family: to the traditional or rather historical family (in the Roman sense, then the Code Napoleon: those who live together under the same roof), the all-powerful reign of science (and, in the present case, molecular biology) is creating a new meaning for the family: to share the same genetic heritage. We are right here in the \"biopower\" of Michel Foucault, which radically changes the way we are responsible for access to information that is specific to us and that connects us to others, beginning with our close parents... supposedly and up to now proof of the contrary!","created_at":"2017-09-19T22:35:17.882Z","updated_at":"2017-09-20T06:01:23.562Z","zenodo_id":896958,"doi":"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.896958","subject":null,"tags":["medical anthropology","forensics","medical ethics","international law","law"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":false,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null},{"id":130,"title":"Violent Computer Games / Movies as Triggers for Violent Real Life Crimes: Is Comparative Post-Crime Influence Research Useful?","sha":"07ecda1a4916b4787999343322857743","user_id":391,"state":"published","body":"The question if violent computer games lead to more violence in real life has long been controversial. While it seems clear that some perpetrators are influenced by what they have seen on tv or in computer games, the vast majority of gamers does not commit crimes. It is therefore necessary to understand mechanisms of game-influence on those who actually commit violent crimes. \r\nPredisposition to use violence and the legal and factual accessibility of weapons, in particular firearms (these would be separate issues worth of investigation), being equal: are violent computer games more likely to impact players’ real life-behavior if the weapons and mode of violent in game-behavior is unlikely to be realized in real life? In other words: are more realistic computer games more likely to lead to real life-violence? \r\nSuch research could be undertaken by looking at pre-crime gaming behavior of violent offenders in different jurisdictions (different weapons laws) but also different factual circumstances regarding access to firearms. This will require a global outlook but could help law enforcement and the computer gaming industry to better understand the impact of computer games. Parallel studies should be undertaken with regard to violent movies etc.","created_at":"2015-03-26T05:48:21.963Z","updated_at":"2015-03-27T06:00:34.151Z","zenodo_id":25715,"doi":"http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16373","subject":null,"tags":["computer games","movies","crimes","firearms","weapons","crime","law","behavior","real life","influence"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":false,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null},{"id":92,"title":"International Law Challenges of Liability Regulation for Space Elevator Tourism ","sha":"711826afae9025361fab74142ebe7fc3","user_id":391,"state":"published","body":"A Space Elevator raises a number of issues from the legal perspective. Below an altitude of 100km  national law and international air law apply. Above, international space law would govern the elevator. Choosing a base station on land or at sea adds an other level of complexity to this issue. Is the elevator one structure to which different legal rules apply in different parts of the structure? Or is the transport unit which rides along the elevator line a spacefaring vessel and to simple to be treated no different from the way international law treated the Space Shuttle? \r\nFor passengers, this will raise a number of questions. In 2014 the Athens Convention, which regulates insurance requirements for passenger ships on international trips. What will be necessary from the perspective of passengers will be similar liability rules. But while passenger shipping has been around for centuries prior to the introduction to such rules, strict liability rules and insurance obligations are likely to make it even more difficult for start ups to enter the market. This problem might be relatively small given the overall costs and efforts associated with building and operating a space elevator but it needs further investigation.","created_at":"2015-02-24T10:29:58.961Z","updated_at":"2015-02-25T06:00:25.402Z","zenodo_id":23412,"doi":"http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15633","subject":null,"tags":["space","space elevator","space tourism","tourism","law","international law","liability","start up","insurance"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":false,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null}]