Regional International Courts in Search of Relevance: Adjudicating Politically Sensitive Disputes in Central America and the Caribbean

The Central American and the Caribbean Courts of Justice (CACJ and CCJ) are hybrid judicial institutions. While their Member States envisioned them as EU-style regional economic courts, they have explored the whole extension of their formally delegated functions and have developed peculiar expertise in matters relating to freedom of movement, human and fundamental rights, and other politically fraught issues. The article explains how two International Courts (ICs) seemingly established to build common markets have come to adjudicate high-stakes political disputes, which, ostensibly, have little to do with regional economic integration. The article posits that the scholarship on delegation to ICs is only partially able to provide an answer to this question. It, hence, suggests an alternative theoretical framework by relying on transnational field theory and reflexive sociology. The article demonstrates that, despite the rhetoric of their founding documents, both the CACJ and the CCJ were only partially established to pursue regional economic integration. Instead, both Courts were fashioned at the crossroads of several—and at times even conflicting-forms of legality, power battles, professional interests, and visions of the world that shaped the Central American and Caribbean legal fields over time. Seen through the diachronic lens of the interests, ideologies, professional practices, and visions of the world of the actors inhabiting the Central American and Caribbean legal fields, the involvement of the two Courts in politically sensitive issues becomes less surprising, and-the article argues-it constitutes part of a strategy of the judges to legitimize the two Courts vis-à-vis their peculiar institutional, political, and social environments

An adaptive evolutionary behaviour for the demand-led growth adjustment

Investment activity produces effects on two different economic variables. On the one hand, it adds to the existing productive capacity, on the other, it represents a component of demand. What is required for demand may not be required for accumulation, and viceversa. As a consequence different adjustment mechanisms have been put forward in the economic literature to make the two aspects of investment compatible to each other. In all cases, a distinction has been made between the fundamentally macroeconomic nature of the demand aspect, and the fundamentally microeconomic nature of the capacity-augmenting aspect. This paper tries to discuss the foundations of a non-perverse adjustment mechanism based on the internalisation of the demand aspect of investment. The adjustment mechanism discussed earlier is based on investment reacting to positive or negative excess aggregate demand. Once it is shown that a collectively efficient equilibrium can be reached even on an entirely arbitrary basis, one may set out to show that a behaviour which gets selected in a small population can be easily extended to a large one.Investment; demand; capacity-aumenting; coordination rule; evolutionary analysis

On the theory of solitons of fluid pressure and solute density in geologic porous media, with applications to shale, clay and sandstone

In this paper we propose the application of a new model of transients of pore pressure p and solute density \r{ho} in geologic porous media. This model is rooted in the non-linear waves theory, the focus of which is advection and effect of large pressure jumps on strain (due to large p in a non-linear version of the Hooke law). It strictly relates p and \r{ho} evolving under the effect of a strong external stress. As a result, the presence of quick and sharp transients in low permeability rocks is unveiled, i.e. the non-linear Burgers solitons. We therefore propose that the actual transport process in porous rocks for large signals is not the linear diffusion, but could be governed by solitons. A test of an eventual presence of solitons in a rock is here proposed, and then applied to Pierre Shale, Bearpaw Shale, Boom Clay and Oznam-Mugu silt and clay. A quick analysis showing the presence of solitons for nuclear waste disposal and salty water intrusions is also analyzed. Finally, in a kind of "theoretical experiment" we show that solitons could also be present in Jordan and St. Peter sandstones, thus suggesting the occurrence of osmosis in these rocks

Association of endometrioid ovarian carcinoma arising from endometriosis, endometrioid endometrial carcinoma, and high-grade undifferentiated endometrial sarcoma. a case report

Endometriosis is a chronic disease that affects women of reproductive age. Malignant transformation in endometriosis is considered to be an unusual event, only occurring in 0.7-0.1% of cases. However the association between endometriosis and endometrial cancer is not well defined. Also in literature, rare cases of uterine sarcoma, about 3% of all uterine malignancies, associated with endometriosis have been reported. The authors report a case of a 47-years-old Italian woman with histologic diagnosis of endometrioid ovarian carcinoma arising from endometriosis, endometrioid endometrial carcinoma, and undifferentiated endometrial sarcoma. Therefore there have been few studies addressing the relationship between endometrial stromal sarcomas (ESS), and endometriosis. Novel scientific findings are necessary to investigate a possible common pathway and an effective treatment, although complete tumor resection can reduce the recurrence rate

Considerations about the Marriage Regulations of Canon Law and the Apostolic Penitentiary in Late Middle Ages

A causa de que el Derecho canónico ha sido entendido a menudo como una colección homogénea de normas, que habrían sido interpretadas de forma similar a lo largo de la cristiandad, se han estudiado poco las diferencias en la interpretación de las normas del Derecho canónico. El propósito de este artículo es determinar la comprensión de las regulaciones canónicas medievales del matrimonio entre cristianos, especialmente desde la perspectiva de si (y cómo) fueron aplicadas e interpretadas de manera diferente en las distintas partes del Occidente cristiano en la Edad Media tardía. La fuente material para este estudio se basa en las peticiones presentadas ante la Penitenciaría Apostólica -uno de los principales oficios de la Curia papal, especialmente en la Edad Media tardía-, durante el pontificado de Pío II (1458-1464), casi 4.200 casos en total. ------ Because of that Canon Law is often understood as a homogeneous collection of norms that were interpreted similarly throughout Christendom and, therefore, the differences in interpreting the norms of Canon Law have been studied too little. The aim of this article is to determine the understanding of medieval marriage regulations of Canon Law among Christians, especially from the view point if (and how) they were applied and interpreted differently in diverse parts of the Christian West in the late Middle Ages. The source material for this study is based on petitions submitted to the Apostolic Penitentiary -one of the most important offices within the papal curia, especially in the Late Middle Ages- during the pontificate of Pius II (1458-1464), altogether almost 4,200 cases

More means Worse – Asymmetric Information, Spatial Displacement and Sustainable Heritage Tourism

This paper analyses the market transformations in heritage tourism destinations when excessive tourism demand determines the emergence of a class of excursionists among visitors. Building on the approach of Keane (1997) and Shapiro (1983), our model highlights some important dimensions of sustainable tourism development. The lesser capacity of excursionists to learn the true quality of the tourist goods increases the convenience for producers to cut back on quality. To continue to serve high quality goods and keep up the reputation of the destination as demand continues to grow, producers need to gain a mark-up on price that might not be sustained in a competitive market. Hence the decline in “high-paying” demand segments which are increasingly susbstituted by visitors with lesser quality expectations. In the end, the dynamics explained with this approach are consistent with – and represent an economic reinterpretation of – the class of evolutionary models known as “destination life cycle”, when they are applied to heritage cities. The regulator achieves a sustainable growth if it could enforce quality or information standards. However, the process should be managed at a spatial level that is rarely matched by formal administrative competencies. Traditional tourism strategies are seldom successful when they try to prevent excessive growth by discouraging daily visits. This model helps to identify alternative and more appropriate policy instruments