Sponge City Policy and Sustainable City Development: The Case of Shenzhen

The massive construction of buildings has changed the city’s aquatic ecological environment. The aquatic ecological condition of the city has been deteriorated with serious water issues. To coordinate various departments to jointly build the sponge city and improve the water environment, the Shenzhen government formulated the policy note on “Interim Measures for the Construction Management of Shenzhen Sponge City”. This article discusses the impact of the policy note on Shenzhen’s construction of sponge cities. The result shows that the policy is effective from the perspective of the environment. However, in the face of a complex water ecological environment, there are still some deficiencies in the policy. We therefore put forward policy suggestions for the Shenzhen municipal government to better manage its construction of sponge city in the future.

Rieter, E. R., Zwaan, K., Urgency and Human Rights : The protective potential and legitimacy of interim measures, T.M.C. Asser Press, 2021, 319 pp.

<p>Recensión del libro titulado “URGENCY AND HUMAN RIGHTS : THE PROTECTIVE POTENTIAL AND LEGITIMACY OF INTERIM MEASURES”.</p>

Theoretical and Practical Features of the Compensation for Harm Consideration by Filing a Civil Claim in Criminal Proceedings

The paper examines the types of harm provided for by domestic legislation, their procedural features in a criminal case by filing a civil claim. The author argues that there is a need to amend the existing normative legal acts regulating the issues of compensation for harm caused by a crime, in particular, presents some arguments about the disclosure and legislative consolidation of the concept of “harm” in the framework of criminal proceedings. The author analyzes the gaps associated with compensation for property damage, in terms of the difficult simultaneous compensation for property and moral damage, as well as the lack of opportunity in the criminal procedure to recover lost profits. Some features of compensation for moral damage in relation to individuals and legal entities are investigated, for example, the issue of applying the rules for compensation for moral damage when a civil claim is filed by a legal entity. The process of proving the damage caused and the gaps in the issues of awarding compensation amounts in civil claims for compensation for damage, taking into account judicial practice, are considered. The author expresses her opinion on the matter of interim measures application in relation to the property of tortfeasor and imposing on the judge the obligation to render a decision in case of such a need, and not the right. Some differences between a civil claim for damages in criminal proceedings and civil proceedings are given, for example, the possibility of indexing the amounts subject to compensation has been analyzed. The analysis of some regulatory acts and the study of the procedure for compensation for harm caused by a crime in the UK. The author presents an argument about the development of scientifically grounded methodological recommendations that would fully reveal the existing gaps and problems in compensation for various kinds of harm caused by a crime.

How Does Digital Finance Affect Carbon Emissions? Evidence from an Emerging Market

The existing literature finds that finance has a significant impact on carbon emissions, but there is a lack of theoretical explanation on whether and how digital finance, an important new financial form, affects carbon emissions. This paper uses balanced panel data at the provincial level in China from 2011 to 2018 as a sample to empirically test the relationship between digital finance and carbon emissions and introduces three exogenous events to test the impact of policy shocks. The results show that digital finance has a significant inhibitory effect on carbon emissions; the implementation of the policies of ‘G20 High-Level Principles for Digital Financial Inclusion’, ‘Environmental Protection Tax Law of the People’s Republic of China’, and ‘Interim measures for the management of greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction’ strengthens the suppression of carbon emissions by digital finance, and the robustness test also supports the protection of digital finance. The research conclusions of this article provide theoretical evidence for understanding the relationship between digital finance and other new financial formats and carbon emissions and provide an empirical basis for policy-makers to promote the development of digital finance to reduce carbon emissions.

ECONOMIC APPROACH TO LAW

Recent legal and economic research has shown that the legal system, its doctrines, procedures and institutions, are influenced by concerns about economic efficiency. From the point of view of foreign researchers, the rules of property rights assumption and the determination of liability, the procedure for the settlement of legal disputes, limitations, methods of calculating damages and the definition of interim measures, as well as other important elements of the legal system are best understood as attempts to promote the effective allocation of resources. Contrary to the idea of normative self-sufficiency, it can be observed that if the legal system were systematically and effectively developed to maximize economic efficiency, the level of strategic planning of legislative activity was much higher.