Balancing Justice Needs and Private Property in Constitutional Takings Provisions: A Comparative Assessment of India, Australia, and the United States

This Article explores the relationship between justice needs and private property in the constitutional takings provisions of the Indian, Australian, and American constitutions. Building upon established scholarship, it develops a theoretical framework within which to consider the way in which a state balances the requirement to provide minimal levels of justice for its citizens through the re-distribution of goods and resources with the need to protect the private property of individuals. We summarize this framework in what we refer to as the “Justice Needs-Protection of Private Property Continuum.” Using the framework developed, the Article provides an outline of the takings provisions found in the Indian, Australian, and American constitutions. Part I examines Article 300A of the Constitution of India, which contains the scope of the power of compulsory acquisition exercised by the Indian state. Part II assesses Section 51(xxxi) of the Australian Constitution which, unlike its American and Indian counterparts, operates as both a grant of power to the federal government, as well as a limitation imposed upon that power, which may, it seems, operate so as to provide some minimal protection for individual private property interests. Part III considers the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution which, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, provides perhaps the most robust means among the three jurisdictions considered for protecting the individual private property interests as against state takings. The Conclusion offers comparative reflections on the nature of the takings provision found in each jurisdiction.Krithika Ashok, Paul T. Babie, & John V. Ort

Volume dependence of light hadron masses in full lattice QCD

The aim of the GRAL project is to simulate full QCD with standard Wilson fermions at light quark masses on small to medium-sized lattices and to obtain infinite-volume results by extrapolation. In order to establish the functional form of the volume dependence we study systematically the finite-size effects in the light hadron spectrum. We give an update on the status of the GRAL project and show that our simulation data for the light hadron masses depend exponentially on the lattice size.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, Lattice2003(spectrum

Not Child’s Play: A Constitutional Game of Pass the Story in \u3ci\u3eDobbs\u3c/i\u3e, \u3ci\u3eShurtleff\u3c/i\u3e, and \u3ci\u3eKennedy\u3c/i\u3e

This Article suggests that in the effort to find fixed standards for rights, working with vague, indeterminate, silent text, the Supreme Court engages in a constitutional game of pass the story. No one outcome concludes the story; it merely adds another chapter, to which the next set of judges will add their own installment. The quest for standards never ends. The Court’s decisions in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Shurtleff v. City of Boston, and Kennedy v. Bremerton School District are merely the latest installments in stories that began with the founding. And as with any such story, what happens next cannot be predicted at the outset. This ongoing quest, though, comes with a cost: certainty. Adding to a story might be a good literary device to keep a listener or reader interested, but it is of little use in a system that at least pays lip service to stare decisis and the rule of law

A High Precision Study of the QQ(bar) Potential from Wilson Loops in the Regime of String Breaking

For lattice QCD with two sea quark flavours we compute the static quark antiquark potential V(R) in the regime where string breaking is expected. In order to increase statistics, we make full use of the lattice information by including all lattice vectors R to any possible lattice separation in the infrared regime. The corresponding paths between the lattice points are constructed by means of a generalized Bresenham algorithm as known from computer graphics. As a results we achieve a determination of the unquenched potential in the range .8 to 1.5 fm with hitherto unknown precision. Furthermore, we demonstrate some error reducing methods for the evaluation of the transition matrix element between two- and four-quark states.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Flavour singlet pseudoscalar masses in N_f = 2 QCD

We perform a lattice mass analysis in the flavour singlet pseudoscalar channel on the SESAM and TXL full QCD vacuum configurations, with 2 active flavours of dynamical Wilson fermions at beta = 5.6. At our inverse lattice spacing, a^-1 = 2.3 GeV, we retrieve by a chiral extrapolation to the physical light quark masses the value m_eta' = 3.7(+8)(-4) m_pi. A crude extrapolation from (N_f = 3) phenomenology would suggest m_eta' \approx 5.1 m_pi for N_f = 2 QCD. we verify that the mass gap between the singlet state eta' and the pi flavour triplt state is due to gauge configurations with non-trivial topology.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure

No Amendment? No Problem: Judges, Informal Amendment, and the Evolution of Constitutional Meaning in the Federal Democracies of Australia, Canada, India, and the United States

This article considers the way in which judges play a significant role in developing the meaning of a constitution through the exercise of interpretive choices that have the effect of “informally amending” the text. We demonstrate this by examining four written federal democratic constitutions: those of the United States, the first written federal democratic constitution; India, the federal constitution of the largest democracy on earth; and the constitutions of Canada and Australia, both federal and democratic, but emerging from the English unwritten tradition. We divide our consideration of these constitutions into two ideal types, identified by Bruce Ackerman: the “revolutionary” constitutions of the United States and India, and the “adaptive establishmentarian” constitutions of Canada and Australia. In this way, we show that judicial informal amendment changes constitutional meaning in both revolutionary and adaptive settings. We conclude that whatever the origins of a federal democratic constitution, be it revolutionary or adaptive establishmentarian, and whatever the background of the judges and the text with which they work, in the absence of formal amendment, judges use an image of the constitution to give and to change the meaning of a written text over time. This allows a constitution to adapt to changing social, economic, and political conditions where formal amendment, for whatever reason, proves difficult. But, in some cases, it might also leave a federal democracy with a constitution which the Framers did not intend. Whatever the outcome, though, the judges play a central role in the evolution of constitutional meaning over time, for good or for ill

No Amendment? No Problem: Judges, “Informal Amendment,” and the Evolution of Constitutional Meaning in the Federal Democracies of Australia, Canada, India, and the United States

This article considers the way in which judges play a significant role in developing the meaning of a constitution through the exercise of interpretive choices that have the effect of “informally amending” the text. We demonstrate this by examining four written federal democratic constitutions: those of the United States, the first written federal democratic constitution; India, the federal constitution of the largest democracy on earth; and the constitutions of Canada and Australia, both federal and democratic, but emerging from the English unwritten tradition. We divide our consideration of these constitutions into two ideal types, identified by Bruce Ackerman: the “revolutionary” constitutions of the United States and India, and the “adaptive establishmentarian” constitutions of Canada and Australia. In this way, we show that judicial informal amendment changes constitutional meaning in both revolutionary and adaptive settings. We conclude that whatever the origins of a federal democratic constitution, be it revolutionary or adaptive establishmentarian, and whatever the background of the judges and the text with which they work, in the absence of formal amendment, judges use an image of the constitution to give and to change the meaning of a written text over time. This allows a constitution to adapt to changing social, economic, and political conditions where formal amendment, for whatever reason, proves difficult. But, in some cases, it might also leave a federal democracy with a constitution which the Framers did not intend. Whatever the outcome, though, the judges play a central role in the evolution of constitutional meaning over time, for good or for ill

Mitochondrial cristae remodelling is associated with disrupted OPA1 oligomerisation in the Huntington's disease R6/2 fragment model

There is evidence of an imbalance of mitochondrial fission and fusion in patients with Huntington's disease (HD) and HD animal models. Fission and fusion are important for mitochondrial homeostasis including mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) maintenance and may be relevant for the selective striatal mtDNA depletion that we observed in the R6/2 fragment HD mouse model. We aimed to investigate the fission/fusion balance and the integrity of the mitochondrial membrane system in cortex and striatum of end-stage R6/2 mice and wild-type animals. Mitochondrial morphology was determined using electron microscopy, and transcript and protein levels of factors that play a key role in fission and fusion, including DRP1, mitofusin 1 and 2, mitofilin and OPA1, and cytochrome c and caspase 3 were assessed by RT-qPCR and immunoblotting. OPA1 oligomerisation was evaluated using blue native gels. In striatum and cortex of R6/2 mice, mitochondrial cristae morphology was abnormal. Mitofilin and the overall levels of the fission and fusion factors were unaffected; however, OPA1 oligomerisation was abnormal in striatum and cortex of R6/2 mice. Mitochondrial and cytoplasmic cytochrome c levels were similar in R6/2 and wild-type mice with no significant increase of activated caspase 3. Our results indicate that the integrity of the mitochondrial cristae is compromised in striatum and cortex of the R6/2 mice and that this is most likely caused by impaired OPA1 oligomerisation

Minimal-invasive anterior approach to the hip provides a better surgery-related and early postoperative functional outcome than conventional lateral approach after hip hemiarthroplasty following femoral neck fractures

Introduction Femoral neck fractures (FNF) are one of the most frequent fractures among elderly patients and commonly require surgical treatment. Bipolar hip hemiarthroplasty (BHHA) is mostly performed in these cases. Material and methods In the present retrospective study geriatric patients with FNF (n=100) treated either by anterior minimal-invasive surgery (AMIS; n=50) or lateral conventional surgery (LCS; n=50) were characterized (age at the time of surgery, sex, health status/ASA score, walking distance and need for walking aids before the injury) and intraoperative parameters (duration of surgery, blood loss, complications), as well as postoperative functional performance early (duration of in-patient stay, radiological leg length discrepancy, ability to full weight-bearing, mobilization with walking aids) and 12 months (radiological signs of sintering, clinical parameters, complication rate) after surgery were analyzed. Results Patients in the AMIS group demonstrated a reduced blood loss intraoperatively, while the duration of surgery and complication rates did not difer between the two groups. Further, more patients in the AMIS group achieved full weightbearing of the injured leg and were able to walk with a rollator or less support during their in-patient stay. Of interest, patients in the AMIS group achieved this level of mobility earlier than those of the LCS group, although their walking distance before the acute injury was reduced. Moreover, patients of the AMIS group showed equal leg lengths postoperatively more often than patients of the LCS group. No signifcant diferences in functional and surgery-related performance could be observed between AMIS and LCS group at 12 months postoperatively. Conclusions In conclusion, geriatric patients treated by AMIS experience less surgery-related strain and recover faster in the early postoperative phase compared to LCS after displaced FNF. Hence, AMIS should be recommended for BHHA in these vulnerable patients