Volumen 8 (2015): Heft 1 (June 2015)

As a case study contributing to empirical and inductive specifications of the jus post bellum principle for reparations, the author conducts an analysis of a provision of the Treaty of Peace with Japan that mandates that Japan make reparations from attached Japanese assets in neutral and ex-Axis countries to compensate the Allied prisoners of war. This study’s findings elucidate the legal significance of the provision that war reparations can be qualitatively alleviated by virtue of substituting assets for pecuniary reparations, hence presenting inductive substantiation for implementing the jus post bellum principle for reparations.

In this article we analyse professional police and community policing in view of professionalism, strategy and structures. We aim to find ways for synthesizing these models that are usually seen as incompatible. Unlike many earlier studies of police organizations or strategies, we view strategies in the organization at the corporate, functional and operational levels, and argue that by combining them with functional and divisional principles of structuring, it is possible to place professional strategy at the core of policing, while using the community policing strategy mainly as a component part of the strategy in the framework of divisional organization. This way it is possible to avoid the risk of alienating police from the community and to ensure the successful implementation of corporate strategy through providing professional police units that perform the narrow functions, with quick and adequate information from the community.

Given Winston Churchill’s influence and achievement as a writer, historian, adventurer, soldier, artist, and politician, his participation in the European integration process is crucial to understanding the entire scope of the project in its origins. Churchill was a fundamental voice promoting the Franco-British Union, a promoter of the European Communities, and an active participant of the Congress of Europe, embryo of the Council of Europe. This article analyzes Churchill’s view of European integration through his political speeches, in particular those delivered in Zurich and in The Hague, his ideas about the League of Nations and the United Nations, his understanding of the British Empire, and the special relations between the UK and the USA. His participation in the process of uniting Europe in its early stages provides us with essential information about the original plans for the creation of a united Europe and understanding the traditional British approach to the EU, including the current position of the conservative government led by Cameron.

Employing systematic document analysis and other methods, this article analyses a long-standing and still relevant issue related to the interpretation and application of the law regulating relationships in the field of European Union criminal justice within the framework of the national criminal proceedings that are taking place in EU member states. The article places special emphasis on the explanation and application of the principle of mutual recognition within the framework of one of the newest instruments of international cooperation in the European Union criminal proceedings meant to prevent conflicts of exercise of jurisdiction and to solve issues arising between two or more member states. The analysis of conflicts of exercise of jurisdiction provided in this paper is not limited to a mere explanation of the concept as such, but includes an essential analysis of other related issues, such as the principle of mutual recognition, its influence on the recognition of criminal proceedings as parallel proceedings, and including other aspects related to the matching of the form of national criminal proceedings with the criminal proceedings taking place in another member state. Finally, significant attention is given to one of the objectives in terms of prevention and solution of conflicts of exercise of jurisdiction, namely, the ne bis in idem principle and its application in case of parallel criminal proceedings taking place in two or more member states. One of the key conclusions offered here is that in order to eliminate conflicts of exercise of jurisdiction, positive law in the process of conflicts of jurisdiction must become an effective measure in criminal justice; however, only on the condition that at least a minimum likelihood in the form of criminal proceedings adopted by different EU members states is ensured as a precondition necessary to enable a smooth application of the principle of mutual recognition.

The educational system of Lithuania has undergone transformation conditioned by the radical change of the political situation in the region after the restoration of independence on March 11, 1990. The new educational system was gradually developed, changing and denying the former Soviet educational framework. The main goal of the new educational system is to provide education compatible with the newly applicable international standards and create an effective network of schools. The article aims to present an overview of the reform of the institutional system of general education of Lithuania that began in 1988 and was to be completed in September 2015; however, the completion of the reform was recently postponed until September 2017. The article also reviews key challenges to the reform implementation and discusses the compatibility of the reform with societal expectations and standards of international educational law.

The neglect of lawyer ethics in legal education, including in continuing legal education for lawyers and judges, is an enduring Soviet legacy in post-Soviet countries. Partially because of this neglect, many people in post-soviet countries do not trust lawyers. Their mistrust often is for good reason—too many lawyers are unethical. Yet, unethical lawyers do more than alienate others and cast the legal profession in disrepute. Unethical lawyers waste resources by unnecessarily prolonging disputes and inflaming antagonisms by provoking unjustifiable confrontations. Worse, they corrupt the legal system by bribing judges, suborning perjury, and using other illegal means to achieve their ends. Thus, they contribute to an all-too-common failure in post-Soviet countries—the failure to achieve the rule of law.

The academic literature is replete with commentary about the place of ethics in legal education. Some argue that ethics instruction is unnecessary. They claim that allusions to ethics in other courses, the law school culture, and the ethics learned earlier in life is sufficient. Others posit that ethics are too important to omit from the law school curriculum. They often add, however, that legal ethics instruction in law school commonly involves little more than demanding that law students memorize rules or codes of conduct.

This article discusses whether the ethics education of future lawyers in post-Soviet countries is adequate. Concluding that it is not, this article proposes suggestions for the content of an Eastern European legal ethics course and methods for teaching law students to internalize ethical norms as a part of their legal education.

This article analyzes and discusses the objectives of the sanctions implemented by the European Union against Russia and Russian countermeasures against EU member states in 2014-2015, by comparing the official aims with the options expressed in theoretical debates and experiences gained from historical lessons. In principle, the study seeks an answer to the question: what could be realistically achieved as a result of the current form of restricted sanctions and what stays beyond their reach. Methodologically, this article focuses on the evaluation of the ability of theoretical models to explain the logic of anti-Russian sanctions and debates the options of the outcomes of current formation of sanctions in light of theoretical models.

This article contains four book reviews. The reviewed books are: Squatting in Europe: Radical Spaces, Urban Struggles (2013), by Squatting Europe Kollektive; Securitization of Property Squatting in Europe (2013), by Mary Manjikian; Barcelonan Okupas: Squatter Power!, by Stephen Luis Vilaseca; and, The Squatters’ Movement in Europe. Commons and Autonomy as Alternatives to Capitalism (2014), by Squatting Europe Kollektive, edited by Claudio Cattaneo and Miguel Martìnez Lòpez.