Legislation

About: Legislation is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 62664 publications have been published within this topic receiving 585188 citations. The topic is also known as: law & act.

After Enactment: The Lives and Deaths of Federal Programs

Abstract: Whilemanyscholarshavefocusedontheproductionoflegislation,weexplorelifeafterenactment.Contrarytotheprevailing viewthatfederalprogramsareindissoluble,weshowthatprogrammaticrestructuringsandterminationsarecommonplace. In addition, we observe significant changes in programmatic appropriations. We suggest that a sitting congress is most likely to transform, kill, or cut programs inherited from an enacting congress when its partisan composition differs substantially. To test this claim, we examine the postenactment histories of every federal domestic program established between 1971 and 2003, using a new dataset that distinguishes program death from restructuring. Consistent with our predictions, we find thatchangesinthepartisancompositionofcongresseshaveastronginfluenceonprogramdurabilityandsize.Wethusdispel the notion that federal programs are everlasting while providing a plausible coalition-based account for their evolution. I f government’s fundamental task is, as Harold Lasswell famously asserted (1936), to decide “who gets what, when, and how,” then we should add, “and for how long.” While much recent scholarship has focused on the production of legislation, relatively little has considered what happens to a program once elected officials have enacted it. It is not enough to characterize the course that a particular group of policy makers initially set. Scholars need to identify the enduring effects of policy makers’ actions. We need to know whether their footprints were quickly washed away or left lasting imprints. Unfortunately,existingresearchyieldsfewandoftenmisleading conclusions about the trajectory of government programs. This article analyzes the durability and size of government programs, focusing on the effects of changes in the partisan composition of congresses over time. When the composition of the congress that enacted a program differs markedly from the congress that sits in its judgment, a program should be especially vulnerable to cuts, restructuring, or elimination. Conversely,

Euthanasia and Law in the Netherlands

Abstract: The Netherlands is the only country in the world in which euthanasia, under narrow-defined circumstances, is legally permissible. Considerable attention has been paid over a number of years to the problem of regulating it and information has been systematically collected concerning actual practice. Therefore the Dutch experience is of interest not only to the Dutch, but to anyone who is considering wether or not to make euthanasia a legal practice. This book is written for a reader without specific knowledge of law. The central focus of the book is on Dutch law pertaining to euthanansia, but it also considers the moral and legal principles that have played a role in the Dutch debate, the available evidence bearing on actual practice and on the effectiveness of legal control. It ends with some reflections on the problem of the 'slippery slope' and the question whether the Dutch experience is 'exportable'. It includes translations of the relevant legislation (including proposed reforms) and of three leading cases. This title is available in the OAPEN Library - http://www.oapen.org.

Supported Decision-Making: A Rights-Based Disability Concept and its Implications for Mental Health Law

Abstract: This article seeks to clarify the concept of supported decision-making and to consider its major implications for mental health law. It draws on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability as well as the broader literature on supported decision-making in order to distinguish some of its conceptual features and to provide an overview of relevant debate. Emerging examples of supported decision-making in legislation, policy and programming are drawn upon to demonstrate the variety of measures that might constitute practical supported decision-making in the mental health context.

The Relationship Between Independence and Judicial Review in Post‐Communist Courts

Abstract: Following the collapse of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, constitutional designers codified rules establishing independent judiciaries. To what degree do these constitutional and statutory guarantees of independence reflect the actual behavior of courts? Our analysis demonstrates that official judicial power does not predict expressions of judicial review—overturning legislation in whole or in part. Rather, exogenous factors, including economic conditions, executive power, identity of the litigants and legal issues, influence the likelihood that courts will nullify laws. Our findings should caution both scholars and institutional designers. Both formal and informal factors create the parameters in which courts operate. Although courts have become more powerful institutions in the post-communist era, they face a diverse set of constraints on independent action.