La eximente de miedo insuperable (art. 20.6 CP)

La te si doctoral tracte d' una causa d' exempció de la responsabilitat penal reconeguda a l'article 20.6 del vigent codi penal: la por insuperable. L' objectiu principal de la tesi és donar un contingut a aquesta eximent per tal de que trobi l'adient reconeixement als tribunals, que tradicionalment han ignorat aquesta eximent. El primer capítol de la tesi tracta del seu fonament, és a dir, de la raó o raons que han portat al legislador a reconèixer la por insuperable com a una causa de exempció de la responsabilitat penal. L'anàlisi del fonament de la por insuperable s'estudia a l'àmbit de les doctrines de justificació del dret penal (teories de la pena). Partint d' aquestes doctrines de justificació trobem que la doctrina utilitarista no pot fonamentar sòlidament l'eximent de por insuperable, doncs aquesta eximent no té a veure amb la maximització de la felicitat col·lectiva sinó més aviat amb qüestions de responsabilitat personal. Per això, en la tesi el fonament de la por insuperable es situa al marc de les doctrines retribucionistes i mixtes. Per a aquestes doctrines el fonament de l'exempció de pena en el cas de la por insuperable és l'afecció a la voluntat o llibertat d'elecció que es dóna en les situacions de por insuperable. Però aquesta afecció de la llibertat d' elecció no es pot interpretar com una pèrdua de les facultats psíquiques de la persona, tal i com, erròniament interpreten els nostres tribunal s, doncs la persona que es veu amenaçada no perd les seves facultats per valorar la situació. Per tant, "insuperable" no vol dir insuperable psicològicament, sinó que amb aquest adjectiu el legislador està fent referència a una avaluació normativa: es tracta d'una situació en la que no es pot exigir a la persona que superi la por que pateix i s'enfronti al amenaça. A la tesi es defensa aquesta reconstrucció normativa de l'eximent, posant de relleu, però, que el fonament de l'exempció de pena és la preferència legítima pels propis interessos. La base del principi d'inexigibilitat o raonabilitat és la legitimitat d'una valoració parcial del conflicte en el que es troba la persona, quan l' amenaça afecta als seus bens o als d'aquells pels que se sent afectivament lligat. Al segon capítol s' analitza el problema de la naturalesa jurídica de l'eximent de por insuperable. El cert és que la doctrina penal majoritària considera que la por insuperable és una causa d'inculpabilitat, malgrat que no han tampoc faltat autors que hagin catalogat a aquesta eximent com una causa de justificació. A la tesi s'analitzen els arguments tradicionalment utilitzats per la doctrina penal per a concloure que la por insuperable pertany a la categoria de la culpabilitat, posant de relleu que aquests arguments no semblen convincents. Això no obstant, no vol dir que l'eximent de por insuperable sigui en realitat una causa de justificació, però cal trobar una explicació més solida pel fet que aquesta eximent es consideri una causa d'inculpabilitat. Aquesta explicació pren com a punt de partida la diferència entre la valoració imparcial d'un conflicte (és a dir, la valoració que faria una persona no implicada en el conflicte) i la valoració parcial (és a dir, la valoració que fa la persona que es troba en aquell conflicte) del mateix. A la tesi es defensa que en las situacions d'amenaça i conflicte de bens jurídics, quan ambdós es troben en la mateixa situació enfront el dret, la justificació de la conducta necessita una fonamentació més forta que la valoració parcial del conflicte, doncs a nivell d' antijuridicitat, on el legislador valora els conflictes, s' ha de donar el mateix valors als bens jurídics de tots els ciutadans, sense que es pugui aquí apel·lar a preferències personals. La valoració parcial del conflicte queda amb això reservada per a un altre nivell de la teoria del delicte: la culpabilitat, on no és tracte ja de valorar un conflicte d'interessos com de decidir si la persona mereix un càstig pel seu fet. El tercer capítol tracta de la qüestió relativa als requisits que cal exigir per poder aplicar l'eximent de por insuperable. Certament, la llei penal no demana cap requisit concret per aplicar l'eximent, però les exigències normatives es troben en realitat resumides en l'adjectiu "insuperable" que acompanya i defineix a la por. La doctrina penal ha utilitzat tradicionalment el paràmetre del "home mig en la posició de l'autor" per a determinar quan la por és insuperable. Però aquest criteri de determinació de la insuperabilitat de la por té greus problemes, que porten que a la tesi es rebutgi i en el seu lloc es presentin tota una sèrie de requisits normatius que han de servir per determinar quan es pot considerar que la por és (normativament) insuperable. Aquests requisits es poden dividir en dos grans grups: per una part els requisits referents al mal que amenaça a la persona. Es tracta aquí de determinar com ha de ser aquest mal per tal de que es pugui aplicar l'eximent. Per altra banda, en segon lloc els requisits referents a l'acció defensiva duta a terme per la persona. Per últim, el quart capítol de la tesi es dedica a la delimitació de la por insuperable davant la resta d' eximents reconegudes pel codi penal. Es tracta aquí de determinar si la por insuperable té un àmbit reservat d' aplicació que justifiqui el seu manteniment al codi penal. La dificultat d'aquest tema és que l'eximent de por insuperable té relacions amb tota la resta d'eximents penals. En primer lloc amb les causes d'inimputabilitat reconegudes a l'art. 20.1 del codi penal: alienació mental i trastorn mental transitori. Però aquests casos no pertanyen en realitat a l'eximent de por insuperable sinó a les eximents d'alienació o trastorn mental transitori En segons lloc, l'eximent de por insuperable està relacionada amb les causes de justificació de legítima defensa, estat de necessitat i exercici legítim de un dret, ofici o càrrec i compliment del deure. A la tesi es defensa que l'eximent de por insuperable només es podrà aplicar quan, per no donar-se tots el requisits necessaris per aplicar alguna d'aquestes eximents, no es pugui justificar la conducta, però, malgrat això, hi hagin raons per no castigar la conducta, considerant-la inculpable. A la tesi s'analitzen detingudament aquests supòsits. Amb tot es pot afirmar que l'eximent de por insuperable és una eximent necessària que pot complir el paper d'eficaç clàusula de tancament del sistema de causes d'exempció de la responsabilitat penal.

Edificio Lúdico de livre utilização: anti-edificio contemporâneo

A presente dissertação centra-se num estudo sobre, a conceção de um edifício lúdico, de utilização livre, sendo o projeto uma proposta atualizada e contemporânea de um edifício, relativamente utópico, que encontra no Fun Palace de Cedric Price o seu melhor antecedente. Apresenta-se uma breve referência a dois espaços sociais que sofreram influência deste anti edifício: o centro George Pompidou em Paris e Jaaga, na India. Os dois casos de estudo aqui apresentados, Downtowm Athletic Club em Nova Iorque e o pavilhão da Holanda em Xangai, revelam características relacionadas com o tema do dissertação – liberdade no espaço lúdico e enquanto locais onde o mote da sexualidade é integrado. O projeto resulta da análise das evoluções sofridas, desde 1960, no que diz respeito aos novos conhecimentos científicos que vieram contribuir para a geração de novas formas de apropriação de conceitos como é o caso do conceito da liberdade em espaços públicos e o da sexualidade. O conceito da sexualidade que evolui com os avanços que as neurociências atingem sobre o conhecimento do cérebro e das emoções e que se traduzem em novas demandas do viver contemporâneo

Clave del relato histórico de Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco: herencia colonial, Revolución liberal y mestizaje (Del Historiador y el Ensayista)

El autor analiza la perspectiva de Pareja sobre los problemas y logros del país hasta los años cincuenta, argumenta que es la de un republicano laico, socialista, modernizador y guayaquileño. Algunas valoraciones de Pareja se inscriben en el contexto de la inexistencia de un campo de saber historiográfico constituido en el Ecuador de esos años. Su perspectiva de la conquista tiene elementos de una visión hispanista del devenir histórico, que quiere reconciliarse con la búsqueda de una modernidad no alcanzada y afanosamente deseada. Respecto de la independencia, la libertad no se consagró en 1822, sino recién en 1895, con la Revolución liberal, que llevaría a la modernización del Estado, en ella jugaría un rol central el mestizo como actor colectivo. Finalmente, Pareja atribuye al mestizaje la posibilidad de incorporación del país a la dinámica civilizadora, de puesta al día con los valores de la democracia y el progreso.

Descalzos, cocolos y niñas de la caridad en Cuenca: cambios y continuidades en el régimen escolar, 1930-1945 (Estudios)

El artículo muestra cómo los postulados de libertad e igualdad, propuestos por el Estado nacional, fueron asimilados por las escuelas religiosas de la ciudad de Cuenca, en Ecuador. A través del análisis de dos fuentes: la literatura y los testimonios orales de quienes fueron alumnos de estas escuelas entre 1928 y 1946, el estudio muestra cómo en esta ciudad el liberalismo no fue percibido como obstáculo para que los niños pobres opten por la educación religiosa. En este contexto, la propuesta liberal chocó con los valores del antiguo régimen escolar. Si bien se mantenían las diversas prácticas de discrimen de una sociedad local estratificada, al mismo tiempo se observa que también se introdujeron cambios especialmente en la educación de las mujeres de origen popular.

La libertad personal y la pena privativa de la libertad desde la interculturalidad: una aproximación a los fines de la pena desde la interculturalidad

En la presente investigación sobre la interculturalidad de la libertad y la pena privativa de la libertad, existieron dificultades, por una parte, no encontramos literatura sea occidental o andina que se hayan preocupado por este diálogo; y, por otra, existen trabajos que ven a las dos filosofías en fase descriptiva. Por lo cual nuestro objetivo, en los dos primeros capítulos, fue efectuar una descripción y construcción, qué es y cómo se entiende la libertad y la pena en cada una de estas filosofías o culturas; nos encontramos con abundante construcción occidental frente a la escasa entrega de la construcción andina, es una de las dificultades, en consecuencia, los argumentos que se pudieron entregar se sustentan en las interpretaciones de los autores en su mayoría indígenas como Ilaquiche, Tibán, Llasag y en Catherine Walsh, Esther Sánchez Botero, Elisa Cruz y Joseph Estermann quienes justifican la existencia de la comunidad, del derecho indígena, los derechos colectivos, administración de justicia. Hacen un enunciado de una interculturalidad crítica, pero no profundizan como construir la misma. Una vez descritos los temas, en el tercer capítulo, fue realizar el diálogo, en todas las fuentes consultadas ninguna explicaba cómo hacerlo, excepto el maestro Boaventura de Sousa Santos con su hermenéutica diatópica. Con sus explicaciones y ejemplos propuestos, se hizo un esfuerzo que todavía no llena las expectativas, pero constituye en una breve aproximación al debate que significa el repensar nuestra forma de vivir, entender e interpretar el mundo en el cual vivimos con la existencia de varias culturas. La investigación sobre el tema propuesto llena un vacío de los tantos existentes en el campo de la bibliografía jurídica constitucional de nuestro país, y por lo pronto las líneas trazadas colaboran con el debate y la construcción de la interculturalidad.

El patrimonio cultural como derecho: el caso ecuatoriano (Tema Central)

When it comes to human rights, the first thoughts that come to mind are the rights to life, liberty or equality, among others, which possess the concept of being fundamental. Commonly, culture and heritage are not usually considered as rights; however, as well as there is the right to own legal identity, there is also the right to enjoy a cultural identity. This paper deals precisely with the study of culture and cultural heritage as a human right. Cultural heritage’s meaning concept is analyzed, its enclosure between fundamental rights and the way that it should be protected, essentially by the State. The Ecuadorian case is also analyzed around their legislation and cultural management, in order to assess the treatment that this right has been received in the country.

Access, equity and the role of rights in health care

Modern health care rhetoric promotes choice and individual patient rights as dominant values. Yet we also accept that in any regime constrained by finite resources, difficult choices between patients are inevitable. How can we balance rights to liberty, on the one hand, with equity in the allocation of scarce resources on the other? For example, the duty of health authorities to allocate resources is a duty owed to the community as a whole, rather than to specific individuals. Macro-duties of this nature are founded on the notion of equity and fairness amongst individuals rather than personal liberty. They presume that if hard choices have to be made, they will be resolved according to fair and consistent principles which treat equal cases equally, and unequal cases unequally. In this paper, we argue for greater clarity and candour in the health care rights debate. With this in mind, we discuss (1) private and public rights, (2) negative and positive rights, (3) procedural and substantive rights, (4) sustainable health care rights and (5) the New Zealand booking system for prioritising access to elective services. This system aims to consider: individual need and ability to benefit alongside the resources made available to elective health services in an attempt to give the principles of equity practical effect. We describe a continuum on which the merits of those, sometimes competing, values-liberty and equity-can be evaluated and assessed.

Effect of corn silage from an herbicide-tolerant genetically modified variety on milk production and absence of transgenic DNA in milk

Data from 60 multiparous Holstein cows were used in a 12-wk continuous design feeding trial. Cows were allocated to 1 of 4 experimental treatments (T1 to T4). In T1 and T2, the total mixed ration (TMR) contained either corn silage from the genetically modified (GM) variety Chardon Liberty Link, which is tolerant to the herbicide glufosinate ammonium, or its near isogenic nonGM counterpart, whereas the TMR used in T3 and T4 contained corn silage from the commercially available nonGM varieties Fabius and Antares, respectively. The objectives of the study were to determine if the inserted gene produced a marked effect on chemical composition, nutritive value, feed intake, and milk production, and to determine if transgenic DNA and the protein expressed by the inserted gene could be detected in bovine milk. The nutritive value, fermentation characteristics, mineral content, and amino acid composition of all 4 silages were similar. There were no significant treatment effects on milk yield, milk composition, and yield of milk constituents, and the dry matter (DM) intake of the GM variety was not significantly different from the 2 commercial varieties. However, although the DM intake noted for the nonGM near-isogenic variety was similar to the commercial varieties, it was significantly lower when compared with the GM variety. Polymerase chain reaction analyses of milk samples collected at wk 1, 6, and 12 of the study showed that none of the 90 milk samples tested positive, above a detection limit of 2.5 ng of total genomic DNA/mL of milk, for either tDNA (event T25) or the single-copy endogenous Zea mays gene, alcohol dehydrogenase. Using ELISA assays, the protein expressed by the T25 gene was not detected in milk.

Effect of corn silage from an herbicide-tolerant genetically modified variety on milk production and absence of transgenic DNA in milk

Data from 60 multiparous Holstein cows were used in a 12-wk continuous design feeding trial. Cows were allocated to 1 of 4 experimental treatments (T1 to T4). In T1 and T2, the total mixed ration (TMR) contained either corn silage from the genetically modified (GM) variety Chardon Liberty Link, which is tolerant to the herbicide glufosinate ammonium, or its near isogenic nonGM counterpart, whereas the TMR used in T3 and T4 contained corn silage from the commercially available nonGM varieties Fabius and Antares, respectively. The objectives of the study were to determine if the inserted gene produced a marked effect on chemical composition, nutritive value, feed intake, and milk production, and to determine if transgenic DNA and the protein expressed by the inserted gene could be detected in bovine milk. The nutritive value, fermentation characteristics, mineral content, and amino acid composition of all 4 silages were similar. There were no significant treatment effects on milk yield, milk composition, and yield of milk constituents, and the dry matter (DM) intake of the GM variety was not significantly different from the 2 commercial varieties. However, although the DM intake noted for the nonGM near-isogenic variety was similar to the commercial varieties, it was significantly lower when compared with the GM variety. Polymerase chain reaction analyses of milk samples collected at wk 1, 6, and 12 of the study showed that none of the 90 milk samples tested positive, above a detection limit of 2.5 ng of total genomic DNA/mL of milk, for either tDNA (event T25) or the single-copy endogenous Zea mays gene, alcohol dehydrogenase. Using ELISA assays, the protein expressed by the T25 gene was not detected in milk.

xero, kline & coma

xero, kline & coma is an artist run project space at 258 Hackney Road, London. It’s program, curated by Pil and Galia Kollectiv, focuses primarily on solo exhibitions by internationally established as well as emerging artists. Work by recent graduates King Conny Wobble and David Steans is being shown alongside projects like the Museum of American Art – Berlin, previously included in the Venice and Istanbul Biennales, Jeffrey Vallance, whose recent solo exhibition was at the Warhol Museum, and Plastique Fantastique, whose work has been shown at Tate Britain and the Pratt Manhatten Gallery, New York, with the aim of raising the profile of lesser known artists and allowing others to experiment with work that more institutional contexts don’t always permit. Some of the themes this program has explored have included fictional identities, a-chronological art histories and the mediation of ritual in time-based media. A commitment to critically engaged art is also central to the ethos of the space, and future shows include an exploration of unionism in art by Sophie Carapetian. As well as displaying new work, the gallery hosts events, talks and screenings. Most recently these have included meetings of the Political Currency of Art research group, a discussion and film screening dealing with the theme of ‘hostile objects’ led by Evan Calder Williams and Marina Vishmidt, a book launch for New Lines of Alliance, New Spaces of Liberty by Antonio Negri and Felix Guattari and an event dedicated to the theatre work of Slovenian art collective NSK, featuring a screening of unreleased documentation and a discussion about the future of total performance.

Hobbes, history, and non-domination

Pettit's and Skinner's stimulating books are open to historically-minded objections. Pettit's reading of Hobbes is Rousseauian, but he rejects the Hobbesian/Rousseauian belief that some modern people are driven by amour-propre/“glory”. If Hobbes is right, there is, in Pettit's sense, no “common good”. Skinner's treatment of the neo-Roman “theorists” over-estimates their self-consciousness and their consistency. Leviathan chapter 21 is not a response to neo-Romanism; it treats civil liberty as non-obligation, not as non-interference.

Legal outlier, again? U.S. felon suffrage: comparative and international human rights perspectives

The judiciousness of American felon suffrage policies has long been the subject of scholarly debate, not least due to the large number of affected Americans: an estimated 5.3 million citizens are ineligible to vote as a result of a criminal conviction. This article offers comparative law and international human rights perspectives and aims to make two main contributions to the American and global discourse. After an introduction in Part I, Part II offers comparative law perspectives on challenges to disenfranchisement legislation, juxtaposing U.S. case law against recent judgments rendered by courts in Canada, South Africa, Australia, and by the European Court of Human Rights. The article submits that owing to its unique constitutional stipulations, as well as to a general reluctance to engage foreign legal sources, U.S. jurisprudence lags behind an emerging global jurisprudential trend that increasingly views convicts’ disenfranchisement as a suspect practice and subjects it to judicial review. This transnational judicial discourse follows a democratic paradigm and adopts a “residual liberty��� approach to criminal justice that considers convicts to be rights-holders. The discourse rejects regulatory justifications for convicts’ disenfranchisement, and instead sees disenfranchisement as a penal measure. In order to determine its suitability as a punishment, the adverse effects of disenfranchisement are weighed against its purported social benefits, using balancing or proportionality review. Part III analyzes the international human rights treaty regime. It assesses, in particular, Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”), which proclaims that “every citizen” has a right to vote without “unreasonable restrictions.” The analysis concludes that the phrase “unreasonable restrictions” is generally interpreted in a manner which tolerates certain forms of disenfranchisement, whereas other forms (such as life disenfranchisement) may be incompatible with treaty obligations. This article submits that disenfranchisement is a normatively flawed punishment. It fails to treat convicts as politically-equal community members, degrades them, and causes them grave harms both as individuals and as members of social groups. These adverse effects outweigh the purported social benefits of disenfranchisement. Furthermore, as a core component of the right to vote, voter eligibility should cease to be subjected to balancing or proportionality review. The presumed facilitative nature of the right to vote makes suffrage less susceptible to deference-based objections regarding the judicial review of legislation, as well as to cultural relativity objections to further the international standardization of human rights obligations. In view of this, this article proposes the adoption of a new optional protocol to the ICCPR proscribing convicts’ disenfranchisement. The article draws analogies between the proposed protocol and the ICCPR’s “Optional Protocol Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty.” If adopted, the proposed protocol would strengthen the current trajectory towards expanding convicts’ suffrage that emanates from the invigorated transnational judicial discourse.

Parliamentary sovereignty, popular sovereignty, and Henry Parker's adjudicative standpoint

Discussions of popular sovereignty in early modern England have usually been premised upon a sharp distinction between ‘legal/constitutional’ forms of discourse (which merely interpret the law) and ‘political’ ones (which focus upon the right to make it). In such readings of the period, Henry Parker has a pivotal position as a writer who abandoned merely legalistic thinking. This chapter takes a different view. It argues that Parker’s major intellectual achievement was not so much to abandon legal/constitutional discourse as to offer a theorisation of its most distinctive features: he offered an account of a new kind of politics in which concern for ‘interests’ in property and in self-preservation replaced humanist concern with promotion of virtue. Parker drew upon ideas about representation best expressed by Sir Thomas Smith and ideas about law best expressed by Oliver St John. The theory he developed was not intended as a justification of legislative sovereignty, but of adjudicative supremacy. His picture of the two Houses as supreme adjudicators was meant to block the path to direct democracy. But the adjudicative standpoint they came to occupy presupposed that freeborn adults had ‘interests’ in life, liberty, and possessions. This had democratising implications.

Amor intellectualis diaboli

An essay on love and liberty in the writings of Gillian Rose, Marquis de Sade, Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, written in response to the following provocation: "Encore un effort. A banderole publicitaire carries the breathless descriptions of the new fashions for 1968, when anything goes and details place the accent on this or that part of the body and its adornment: a pair of shoes that come off in a struggle, for example, the heel of one snapped off; a striking checked shirt, with two buttons undone; a light-coloured trench coat (perfect for a May day); a blouson-style jacket that allows easy freedom of movement; place casual slacks worn with an ankle boot. Beauty is in the streets as fashion becomes democratic (or so say the houses of haute couture), while the philosopher of the boudoir extorts us once again to make an effort if we wish to be republicans. Here, to an assembled crowd of sensitive men and women, which petit-maitre or dangerous man of principles would suggest that the only moral system to reinforce political revolution is that of libertinage, the revenge of nature's course against the aberrations of society?"