Crisis teams from waterauthorities want to have insight into the current risks for the area. The ‘Continuous insight’-method is used by them to monitor the risks of drought and high water and to draw up what-if scenarios for training and exercise. Various cases have now shown that Expert Judgment can be used to gain a clearer picture of the effectiveness of measures and to take a more balanced decision. The Expert Judgment method has been tested and applied by a group of international experts as part of the EU project DRIVER +. During an extreme situation, the crisis team may encounter dilemmas. The engaged group of experts follows a fixed procedure to provide advice to reduce flood risk evacuate to prevent loss of life.
Each expert makes his own assessment of the effect and impact of the measure envisaged. Each expert provides an explanation of the individual assessment. Then, under the guidance of a process supervisor, the experts discuss individual assessments and exchange arguments. This can lead to new insights. Each expert makes his own assessment again. The result is a probability distribution of estimates and an expected value. This expert assessment of the measure is taken to the crisis team, so that the chance of success and the assessment of the consequences of the proposed measure can be adjusted. The crisis team can take the decision immediately afterwards.
By following this procedure risk information is made visible. By linking expert knowledge with observations, a better substantiated expectation can be drawn up. According to the participants in the international meetings, the Expert Judgment method in combination with ‘Continuous insight’ helps to make better informed and faster choices. The method fits within the existing crisis management structure. The next step is to implement this method in the day-to-day affairs of crisis management.

Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp is the auctor intellectualis of the 1818 Dutch constitution. It was his sketch for a new constitution that was used as a starting point for the deliberations of its original drafting committee. Van Hogendorp justifies his constitution as a restoration of the Burgundian constitution that applied before the Dutch Republic. In recent literature Van Hogendorp’s restorational argument is presented as an invention of tradition. In this article an alternative explanation is presented, namely that it is part of a form of classicist political thought that was common during the ancien régime. Van Hogendorp describes his constitution as a moderate monarchy, in which the three principles of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy are properly balanced. And he mainly defends this mixed regime by pointing out that it is a restoration of the old Burgundian constitution of the Netherlands. This way of reasoning is, as will be shown, typically classicistic.

Zowel in de praktijk als in de literatuur leeft de vraag of de digitale aandeelhoudersvergadering als volwaardig alternatief kan dienen voor de klassieke (fysieke) algemene vergadering. In dit artikel concludeert de auteur dat dit slechts bij een kleine groep beursvennootschappen het geval is. Deze vennootschappen waarborgen namelijk dat ieder aandeelhoudersrecht behouden blijft wanneer digitaal wordt vergaderd.

In maart 2020 is een wetgevingsproces ten behoeve van een verbod op zwijgcontracten in de zorg gestart. In deze bijdrage analyseert de auteur de (betwiste) toegevoegde waarde van de voorgestelde nietigheidsbepaling in het licht van bestaande remedies in het BW. Met het oog op de heterogeniteit van typen zwijgbedingen wordt de meerwaarde van het zwijgcontractenverbod bepleit.

In deze bijdrage wordt ingegaan op de Belgische federale wetswijziging van 15 december 2020 die ervoor moet zorgen dat in meer gevallen dan voorheen in België over zogenoemde roerende schenkingen schenkbelasting wordt voldaan. Door de in beginsel verplichte registratie van roerende schenkingen in België wordt de invulling van het fiscale woonplaatsbeginsel meer van belang.

In 1922 Honing gave a speech for the Society for the Moral Improvement of Prisoners, in which he advocated renewal in the prison system: for the sake of rehabilitation the system of solitary confinement should be replaced by a prison system in which prisoners actually share facilities and live together. His proposal for reform is theory driven and accompanied by a plan to experiment with the joint confinement before implementing it. This is in sharp contrast with contemporary prison reforms, which impair the possibilities for rehabilitation of prisoners.

In the 1980s there was a lot of discussion about whether monitoring special conditions should be a probation task, and whether this can be combined with offering help and assistance. The authors show that this discussion has been settled by introducing a specific knowledge base for probation work. They outline a number of important developments in recent decades: the focus on risk and the enforced framework, and the great influence of new technology. Nevertheless, an important basis for probation remains unchanged: the quality of the contact between probation officer and client.

Meer dan vijf jaar geleden verscheen het kritische advies van de Afdeling advisering van de Raad van State over de rechtsbescherming bij bestuurlijke boetes. In deze bijdrage wordt allereerst in grote lijnen de ontwikkeling van boetebevoegdheden en wetgeving geschetst. Vervolgens wordt het advies van de Afdeling advisering van de Raad van State besproken Ten slotte wordt een aantal wetswijzigingen besproken die naar het oordeel van de auteurs noodzakelijk zijn.