In this article, we analyze which aspects of performance theory and the procedural justice-based model are explaining the trust of shopkeepers in the police and local government. Utilizing a survey of 156 shopkeepers and 94 semi-constructed interviews with shopkeepers, which are located at the South Shopping Boulevard in Rotterdam (The Netherlands), the study finds that shopkeepers have a relatively high trust in the police and local government. This is surprising because various attempts in the past 30 years to revive the high street by the government have failed to improve its bad image, as dwindling visitor numbers, poor turnover, limited range of retailers, empty shops and high crime and offence levels show only too plainly. The findings also highlight that ethnic minority respondents have more trust in local government than Dutch shopkeepers. The explanation therefor is sought in the dual frame of reference theory.

This article examines the tension between the constitutional obligation of judges to uphold rules of positive law and possibly conflicting standards of conduct arising from professional-ethical values. The theoretical analysis will be illustrated by the case of Hungary, an EU member state experiencing rule of law challenges since 2010 and where the 2018-2019 criminalization of homelessness exemplifies the studied tension. Inspired by the theories of Philip Selznick and Martin Krygier, rule of law will be viewed as a value that requires progressive realization and context-specific implementation. By contextualizing the relevant Hungarian constitutional framework with the content of the judicial code of ethics and judicial practice, it will be shown how the legitimate space for Hungarian judges to distance themselves from legislation possibly in conflict with rule of law values is reduced. Theoretical suggestions for addressing such rule of law regressions will be made.

In the Netherlands, mayors are entitled to close public and non-public premises if drug-related activities are being conducted there. Using data from the case law of Dutch lower courts, published between 2008 and 2016, this article examines the relative success of different types of litigants, and the influence of case characteristics on drug-related closure cases. We build on Galanter’s framework of ‘repeat players’ and ‘one-shotters’, to argue that a mayor is the stronger party and is therefore more likely to win in court. We categorise mayors as ‘upperdogs’, and the opposing litigants as ‘underdogs’. Moreover, we distinguish stronger mayors from weaker ones, based on the population size of their municipality. Similarly, we distinguish the stronger underdogs from the weaker ones. Businesses and organisations are classified as stronger parties, relative to individuals, who are classified as weaker parties. In line with our hypothesis, we find that mayors win in the vast majority of cases. However, contrary to our presumptions, we find that mayors have a significantly lower chance of winning a case if they litigate against weak underdogs. When controlling for particular case characteristics, such as the type of drugs and invoked defences, our findings offer evidence that case characteristics are consequential for the resolution of drug-related closure cases in the Netherlands.

The maxim ‘law in books and law in action’ relays an implicit dichotomy, and though the constitutive nature of law is nowadays commonly professed, the reflex remains to use law in books as an autonomous starting point. Law however, it is argued in this article, has a storyline that commences before its institutional formalisation. Law as ‘a continuous process of becoming’ encompasses both law in books and law in action, and law in action encompasses timelines both before and after the formal coming about of law. To fully understand law, it is necessary to understand the entire storyline of law. Qualitative studies in law and society are well equipped to offer valuable insights on the facets of law outside the books. The insights are not additional to doctrinal understanding, but part and parcel of it. To illustrate this, an ethnographic case study of local bylaws regulating an ethnically diverse public space of everyday life is expanded upon. The case study is used to demonstrate the insights qualitative data yields with regard to the dynamics in which law comes about, and how these dynamics continue for law in action after law has made the books. This particular case study moreover exemplifies how law is one of many truths in the context in which it operates, and how formalised law is reflective of the power constellations that have brought it forth.

This paper starts by reviewing empirical research that threatens law and economics’ initial success. This research has demonstrated that the functioning of the law cannot be well understood based on the assumption of the rational actor and that policies which are based on this assumption are likely to be flawed. Subsequently, three responses to this criticism are discussed. Whereas the first response denounces this criticism by maintaining that the limitations attributed to the rational actor can easily be incorporated in rational choice theory, the second response welcomes the criticism as an opportunity to come up with an integrative theory of law and behavior. The third response also takes the criticism seriously but replaces the aspiration to come up with such an integrative theory by a context-sensitive approach. It will be argued that the first two responses fall short while the third response offers a promising way to go forward.

In this article the author reports on an ethnographic research conducted on the Collective Shopping Ban, a measure taken in the Netherlands in an effort to make shopkeepers co-responsible for maintaining safety and security. By describing the practice of the Collective Shopping Ban in The Hague, he investigates how the involved shopkeepers are dealing with offenses like theft, nuisance, intimidation, and vandalism. The author describes the sociological background of banning orders and what the banning of people means in terms of purification of public space.

In mid-August 2017, the Minister of Justice and Security prohibited the controversial preacher Jneid from exhibiting in the vicinity of ‘his’ bookshop, annex mosque in the Schilderswijk in The Hague. By means of this ban, the minister wanted to prevent Jneid from carrying out his ‘intolerant’ message any longer in an environment where many young people are susceptible to radicalization. The Temporary Act on Counterterrorism was supposed to provide an adequate basis for such a ban. This article argues that a measure restricting the freedom of movement with the aim of preventing someone from conveying his message is against the constitutional prohibition of censorship and may therefore not be imposed.

There are different types of banning orders (criminal, administrative and private banning orders) and also various procedures for imposing these orders. According to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (EctHR) it is unlikely that the private banning orders can be labelled as a criminal charge. The nature of the private banning orders is not punitive. These orders are to be regarded as recovery sanctions. However, applying the ‘Engel criteria’ will lead to the conclusion that some criminal banning orders are to be considered as a criminal charge. Accumulation between criminal and private law banning orders might be troublesome, but it is possible. It is recommended that the Public Prosecution Service is cautious when it comes to demanding a criminal banning order, when a private banning order has already been imposed.

The nexus between religion and law is an important subject of comparative law. This paper, however, finds that the majority of comparative theorists rely on the immanent frame; that legal legitimacy can and should be separated from any objective truth or moral norm. But the fact of the matter is many constitutional systems were founded based on a complicated mixture between the transcendent and immanent frame. Whereas in the immanent frame, human actions are considered self-constituting, in the transcendent frame, human actions were judged in light of their correspondence to higher, divine laws and purposes.
This article argues that it is not sufficient for comparative theorists to offer a perspective from the immanent frame. Comparative theorists in law and religion should understand at least basic religious doctrines and know how to systematize those doctrines. In other words, comparative theorist of law and religion should work within the transcendent frame. By using a transcendent frame, comparative theorists will be able to excavate the underlying structure of religion, and so they will understand better how theological ideas influence law. Furthermore, this paper will also present a thought experiment in applying the transcendent frame in comparative constitutional studies.

The concept of a ‘genuine and determining occupational requirement’ within the meaning of Article 4 of Directive 2000/78 does not cover subjective considerations, such as the willingness of an employer to take account of customers’ wishes.

Fighting outlaw motorcycle gangs is currently one of the top priorities of many governments around the world. This is due to the notion that outlaw motorcycle gangs do not consist solely of motorcycle enthusiasts. Numerous cases reveal that these clubs, or at least their members, are involved in (organised) crime. In order to tackle these clubs, the former Dutch Minister of Security and Justice announced a whole-of-government strategy towards outlaw motorcycle gangs in 2012. As part of this effort, authorities such as the Dutch National Police, the Public Prosecution Service, the Dutch Tax Authority and local governments aim to cooperate in order to disrupt and restrict outlaw motorcycle gangs by means of Criminal, Administrative and Civil Law. Part of this strategy is to hinder club-related events. This article discusses the latter strategy in light of the distinction between prevention and pre-emption. As the latter two concepts are often used interchangeably, this article attempts to use a more strict division between prevention and pre-emption. Thereby, it becomes apparent that outlaw motorcycle gangs are to some extent governed through uncertainty. The author suggests that maintaining the ‘prevention–pre-emption distinction’ can offer an interesting and valuable point of departure for analysing today’s crime policies.

In 2012, China revised its Criminal Procedure Law (2012 CPL). One of the major changes is its official approval of the use of victim-offender reconciliation, or ‘criminal reconciliation’ in certain public prosecution cases. This change, on the one hand, echoes the Confucian doctrine that favours harmonious inter-personal relationships and mediation, while, on the other hand, it deviates from the direction of legal reforms dating from the 1970s through the late 1990s. Questions have emerged concerning not only the cause of this change in legal norms but also the proper position of criminal reconciliation in the current criminal justice system in China. The answers to these questions largely rely on understanding the role of traditional informal dispute resolution as well as its interaction with legal norms. Criminal reconciliation in ancient China functioned as a means to centralise imperial power by decentralizing decentralising its administration. Abolishing or enabling such a mechanism in law is merely a small part of the government’s strategy to react to political or social crises and to maintain social stability. However, its actual effect depends on the vitality of Confucianism, which in turn relies on the economic foundation and corresponding structure of society.

This paper interprets the presumption of innocence as a conceptual antidote for sacrificial tendencies in criminal law. Using Girard’s philosophy of scapegoat mechanisms and sacrifice as hermeneutical framework, the consanguinity of legal and sacrificial order is explored. We argue that some legal concepts found in the ius commune’s criminal system (12th-18th century), like torture, infamy, or punishment for mere suspicion, are affiliated with scapegoat dynamics and operate, to some extent, in the spirit of sacrifice. By indicating how these concepts entail more or less flagrant breaches of our contemporary conception of due process molded by the presumption of innocence, an antithesis emerges between the presumption of innocence and sacrificial inclinations in criminal law. Furthermore, when facing fundamental threats like heresy, the ius commune’s due process could be suspended. What emerges in this state of exception allowing for swift and relentless repression, is elucidated as legal order’s sacrificial infrastructure.

Visual research methods aren’t magic. Yet, they do work. In this article, different reasons and methods are described, based on the author’s own experiences as well as on the literature. Visual methods refer to the visual as a data source, employing visuals in the data collection or using visuals when presenting and expressing social scientific knowledge. The reasons to use visual methods can be divided into two broad categories. First, visual methods enhance the data and the data collection and second, they can facilitate the participation of and collaboration with research participants. Examples of visual methods are presented, such as the use of photographs in interviews as well as some dilemmas a researcher (similar to legal professionals) can face when employing them. Visual methods are still developing, and the author concludes that there’s still a lot to learn.

In her reply to critics, Jean Cohen responds to some of the main criticisms and remarks raised by the respondents.

Dit is een verslag van het symposium over de knelpunten van de invoering van de beperkte gemeenschap van goederen, dat op 22 mei 2015 aan de Universiteit Utrecht werd gehouden. Het wetsvoorstel houdt - kort samengevat - in, dat voorhuwelijks vermogen, erfenissen en giften niet langer in de huwelijksgoederengemeenschap vallen. Op dit symposium werd het wetsvoorstel besproken en de daarop gerichte kritiek samengevat in 4 knelpunten. Ook werd het wetsvoorstel in internationaal perspectief geplaatst door sprekers uit Duitsland, Zweden en België. In internationaal opzicht is de algehele gemeenschap uniek en zowel in binnen- als buitenland wordt zij als ouderwets beschouwd.
Als probleem van het voorgestelde stelsel wordt ervaren dat men tijdens het huwelijk geen administratie bijhoudt en dat dat bij de afwikkeling na ontbinding problemen gaat opleveren. Echter, het huidige bewijsvermoeden, zoals dat is neergelegd in art. 1:94 lid 6 BW, blijft van kracht in het wetsvoorstel. De zaaksvervangingsregel van 1:95 lid 1 BW wordt ook gehandhaafd. Besproken is de Belgische oplossing voor mogelijke problemen, inhoudende dat een goed dat voor meer dan de helft van de prijs uit eigen vermogen is gefinancierd alleen dan buiten de gemeenschap valt als partijen dat verklaren bij notariële akte.
Het wetsvoorstel geeft een regeling om de echtgenoot mee te laten profiteren van het ondernemingsvermogen dat de ander buiten de gemeenschap opbouwt. De moeilijkheid hierbij is hoe de vergoeding jegens de niet-werkende echtgenoot berekend moet worden. Ten slotte is in het nieuwe wetsvoorstel geprobeerd tegemoet te komen aan het probleem dat een echtgenoot geconfronteerd wordt met schuldeisers van de andere echtgenoot. Om dit te bereiken zijn art. 1:96 BW en art. 61 Fw gewijzigd met als gevolg dat de positie van de schuldeiser tot normale proporties wordt teruggebracht.
Een grote meerderheid van de aanwezigen bleek positief te zijn over het nieuwe wetsvoorstel: ongeveer 90 procent was voor invoering in Boek 1 van het Burgerlijk Wetboek.
This is a conference report on a symposium held at the University of Utrecht on the 22nd of May on the legislative proposal for the introduction of a limited community of property in the Netherlands. The legislative proposal entails – in a nutshell – that pre-matrimonial property, inheritances and gifts no longer form a part of the community of property. During this symposium, the legislative proposal was discussed and the critique was summarized into four key issues. The legislative proposal was also placed in an international perspective by speakers from Germany, Sweden and Belgium. In the international perspective the Dutch community of property regime is unique and it is regarded as outdated in both the Netherlands and abroad. In the proposed new regime it is considered that spouses do not keep an administration of their assets during their marriage, which can cause problems after dissolution of the community. However, the rebuttal presumption of Article 1:94 para. 6 Dutch Civil Code, is upheld in the new proposal. The current rule of substitution as stated in Article 1:95 Dutch Civil Code is also maintained. The Belgian solutions to possible difficulties is discussed, in which property is only excluded from the community of property when more than half of the price has been financed by personal assets and this is declared in a notarial deed.Furthermore, the legislative proposal allows the non-working spouse to share in the profits of the business assets acquired by the work of the other spouse which are built up outside the community. The remaining difficulty is how the reimbursement claim should be calculated. Lastly, the legislative proposal attempts to prevent a spouse from being confronted by creditors of the other spouse. In order to achieve this, Article 1:96 Dutch Civil Code and Art. 61 Insolvency Law are amended in such a way that the position of the creditor is brought back tonormal proportions.A great majority of those present appeared to be positive about the legislative proposal; 90 percent voted in favour of incorporating it into Book 1 of the Dutch Civil Code.