In recent years, judicial elections have undergone a transformation: races once characterized by low levels of competition, interest and participation are now comparable, in some states, to races for governor or senator. Elections for the bench as a whole are now more expensive, competitive and politicized than ever before. Arguably the most influential change in the last ten years has been the emergence of independent expenditures by political action committees and other groups in races for seats on state supreme courts. Despite the growth of this type of spending, our understanding of independent expenditures is rather limited, as the distinction between independent expenditures and direct contributions to candidates is rarely made clear.I address this in this dissertation by examining the patterns of independent spending in states with elected supreme courts. In doing so, I develop a theoretical framework to explain the decision of individual groups to support a judicial candidate independently. I argue that this decision is shaped largely by the campaign regulations imposed on judicial candidates and their potential supporters. Expectations from this theory are tested throughout the remainder of the dissertation using an original set of data drawn directly from state disclosure records. I find that independent expenditures have been concentrated in only a few states in recent years and that campaign regulations are influential in shaping this aggregate behavior. Contribution limits, in particular, redirect money from candidates' campaigns to independent expenditures. This is particularly significant due to the unique nature of judicial elections and the role of a judge in American politics. The results of the statistical and case study analyses should give pause to participants in the normative debates regarding campaign finance and judicial reform as they suggest that regulations can have unintended, but important consequences.

The Southeast Order has been milk deficit for over ten years and because of this milk has to be brought in from other orders to meet processor’s demand. Transportation credits provide processors with help to cover transportation costs to bring outside milk into the order. To help keep Class I utilization and support milk prices, relative to orders in the North, Order 7 has low diversion limits. As milk produced within Order 7 has been on a downward trend, milk brought into the order has not increased as consistently. In 2000 milk pooled from farms within the order made up an average of 66% out of the total amount pooled compared to a 2012 average of 43%. The objectives of this paper are to review the history of the federal milk marketing system, describe the structure of milk pricing, examine the unique features of the southern orders, and estimate the impact of the amount of milk diverted and the amount paid in transportation credits on Order 7’s uniform price. The results showed that only Class II diverted pounds had a statistically significant impact on the uniform price.

A major goal of evolutionary biology and ecology is to understand why species richness varies among clades. Previous studies have suggested that variation in richness among clades might be related to variation in rates of morphological evolution among clades (e.g., body size and shape). Other studies have suggested that richness patterns might be related to variation in rates of climatic-niche evolution. However, few studies, if any, have tested the relative importance of these variables in explaining patterns of richness among clades. Here, we test their relative importance among major clades of Plethodontidae, the most species-rich family of salamanders. Earlier studies have suggested that climatic-niche evolution explains patterns of diversification among plethodontid clades, whereas rates of morphological evolution do not. A subsequent study stated that rates of morphological evolution instead explained patterns of species richness among plethodontid clades (along with "ecological limits" on richness of clades, leading to saturation of clades with species, given limited resources). However, they did not consider climatic-niche evolution. Using phylogenetic multiple regression, we show that rates of climatic-niche evolution explain most variation in richness among plethodontid clades, whereas rates of morphological evolution do not. We find little evidence that ecological limits explain patterns of richness among plethodontid clades. We also test whether rates of morphological and climatic-niche evolution are correlated, and find that they are not. Overall, our results help explain richness patterns in a major amphibian group and provide possibly the first test of the relative importance of climatic niches and morphological evolution in explaining diversity patterns.

Limits of freedom of expression in the light of case-law of the European Court of Human Rights This diploma thesis deals with the freedom of expression and its permissible limits as those declared in Article 10 od the European Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter referred as "Convention"). Freedom of expression is guaranteed to everyone. However freedom of expression is not absolute, restrictions on freedom of expression by the intervention of the national authorities to individual freedoms is permissable in case of existence any justifiable targets pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article 10. We named this procedure by test legality, legitimacy and proportionality. So, in other words, the measures used against a person must be established legal standards, must pursue achieving a legitimate aim and be necessary in a democratic society. European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter "the Court") applies this test whenever it finds existing interference with freedom of expression. It focuses on case law precedents, set by the European Court's of Human Rights (hereinafter referred as "Court"), in cases of complaints for violation of the freedom of expression concerning the admissibility of the use of legitimate aim clauses by national authorities applying law. The structure of the contents of this thesis...

1 Abstract THE CONCEPT AND LEGAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LIMITS OF SELF-DEFENCE AND NECESSITY As the name suggests, this Master's thesis examines the concept and legal consequences of transgression of the limits of self-defence and necessity. Self-defence and necessity, together with other circumstances excluding illegality, belong to the fundamentals of criminal liability. If all their conditions are fulfilled by some action, which would otherwise give raise to criminal liability, then these legal institutions exclude not only criminal liability, but also illegality of such action (i.e. such action is considered lawful). The purpose of the paper is to provide complex and understandable analysis of these two crucial legal institutions. The analysis is mainly focused on conditions of these legal institutions, which form their limits; determination of conditions which, if not met, constitute the transgression of the limits of self-defence or necessity, and content and cases of fulfilment or failure to fulfil these conditions. (Thus, the cases of the transgression of the limits of self-defence and necessity are examined.) After the analysis of such excesses, the thesis addresses specific issues connected with their legal consequences. The thesis is based on Czech legal regulation, namely the...

The concept and types of public procurement contracts The title of the thesis is "The concept and types of public procurement contracts". The thesis is based on current legislation of public procurement law (Act No. 137/2006 Coll., on Public Contracts), which is heavily influenced by European Union legislation. The basic purpose of public procurement law is to regulate the effective distribution of public funds. The basic aim of this thesis is an analysis and evaluation of some basic legal institutes of public procurement law. The thesis is divided into four chapters: The first chapter can be considered as an introduction. This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part includes a short definition of the law on public procurement. Public procurement law is divided into two main areas (1. awarding public contracts; 2. revision of the awarding process). Finally, this part describes the position of public procurement law in the Czech legal system. Part Two deals with the legal sources of this type of law (national, international, European Union) and its development on the national level. In the third part are defined the basic principles of procurement law: principle of transparency, principle of equal treatment and non-discrimination principle. The second chapter is divided into two parts....

As mentioned above, this master thesis is focused on some processes which an election campaign is affected by. In the first place, it analyses processes and trends which are typical for the legal regulation of election campaigns in the Czech Republic. My approach to this topic is centered on restrictive parameter limits which influence election campaigns. The core of the master thesis is naturally aimed at the field of law. The aim of the master thesis is to present basic knowledge of the matter which is still topical in the Czech society based on the fact that elections are held quite often. The master thesis can therefore serve as a source of information for further analysing election campaigns whose main purpose is to win the biggest voters' support. The master thesis is divided into four chapters. The first one concerns a theoretical background of election campaigns. The second one examines an election campaign itself, its legal regulation de lege lata respectively. The third chapter studies general principles relative to conducting an election campaign. The final chapter reflects the current situation in the Czech Republic as regards the direct presidential election.

-1- Abstract Counsel in the Criminal Proceedings: The objective of our Diploma Thesis is to analyze the currently valid law governing the counsel's position in the criminal proceedings, to evaluate its sufficiency or insufficiency and to provide views and proposals in the sense of 'de lege lata' and 'de lege ferenda', focusing more in detail upon some partial aspects which are closely related to the counsel's position during the criminal proceedings. Good quality law system relating to the counsel's position in the criminal proceedings, his/her process rights and obligations is an assumption for meeting the criminal proceedings purpose and is reflected in the possibility to provide to the accused efficient legal counselling and thus meet the accused person's right of defence and fair trial (process) which is guaranteed by the Constitution. The counsel as an actor operating in the criminal proceedings plays a significant role in enforcing the rights and justified interests of the accused. The counsellor masters the legal argumentation, strategy and tactics of the defence, is able to better formulate ideas, to draw ideas from the experience gained in former law suits, whilst for the accused person his/her position is entirely new and unknown, many time it is the first experience in life. The competent counsel...

1 Abstract This thesis deals with the principles of good morals and public order focusing on their role function as limits restricting the autonomy of the will. Although both principles are vague legal concepts, this thesis doesn't seek to define exactly not even cover all the practical possibilities of their application. The aim of the thesis was to bring the possible content of these principles and to highlight their importance in assessing the validity of legal actions or to specify further consequences of legal conduct, which would be contrary to these principles. The view on this topic is primarily from the Czech law perspective. On exemplary and a limited number of legal institutes, this thesis tries to capture the possibilities of using good manners and public order as correctives of autonomy of will. The thesis is divided into eight chapters. The theme of the first chapter is the principle of autonomy of the will and its position in the Czech legal order. Such introduction was begun for the purpose primarily for understanding the whole thesis and to highlight the importance of this principle for the functioning of a democratic society. The second chapter deals with the principle of good morals. Different opinions on the content of this term are closer specified. Furthermore, this section discusses...

The work is centered on the study of dimensionally reduced vector effective field theories from the point of view of soft scalar limits using the spinor-helicity formalism. The Dirac-Born-Infeld model is singled out by its enhanced soft limit at the level of four and six-point amplitudes. In the process, the spinor-helicity formalism is outlined and its use illustrated on explicit examples. The remainder of the work is focused on the corresponding questions in six dimensions. The rel- evant version of spinor-helicity formalism is presented, followed by a discussion of little group invariants and of the (im)possibility of their use on characteriza- tion of theories. Lastly, attempts at formalizing the process of taking the soft limit are made, with inspiration from the four-dimensional case. 1