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The article responds to the common perception that the English system of criminal procedure is ‘accusatorial’ whilst those in continental Europe are ‘inquisitorial’ and that these categories are distinct. On closer inspection, what were different traditions have been modified on both sides, so that pure systems no longer exist. The position on the United Kingdom is further confused in public discussion by equating the European Convention on Human Rights and the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union, with the latter especially being seen in some circles as an unwelcome force for harmonisation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous research suggests that individuals from countries that adopt an adversarial legal system, such as Canada or United Kingdom, mentally associate "law" more strongly with concepts related to competition than concepts related to cooperation. We examined whether people from a country with a non-adversarial legal system show similar mental associations. Participants from Spain and the UK completed a Single-Category Implicit Association Test. Spanish participants mentally associated the law with competition less strongly than participants from the UK (the average D-score was significantly greater than zero in the predicted direction, t(189) = 8.16, p < .001; d=1.18). Exploratory analysis also suggested that this difference between the countries was stronger among participants who believed that the method of legal practice in their own country was more adversarial. Moreover, perceiving the legal system as adversarial predicted automatic associations between law and competition for UK but not for Spanish participants. These findings suggest that legal system plays a relevant role in shaping not only individuals' actions, but their cognitive processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A longitudinal study of U.K. journalism undergraduates records how their attitudes on societal roles of the news media changed during university education. Students became more likely to endorse an adversarial approach toward public officials and businesses as extremely important. Yet students did not support these roles as strongly as an older generation of U.K. journalists did. Students also became less likely to support the role of giving "ordinary people" a chance to express views. This may indicate a "generation gap" in attitudes that journalism educators need to understand. The authors also are concerned that the U.K. journalism workforce--now including many students from such programs--has become more socially elite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Adversarial Map-Making in Pre-Reformation Lancashire'. A map in the National Archives dated to 1531 showing part of the Fylde in Lancashire has been published on several occasions; but its relationship to another map in the National Archives has not previously been recognised. These two maps were made by the opposing parties in a dispute before the court of the Duchy of Lancaster, and may be the earliest examples of adversarial map-making in a case before an equity court. The case concerned land which had apparently long been regarded as intercommon, but which was now being claimed to be in exclusive ownership. The newly recognised map was made to illustrate recently acquired documentary evidence as to the ownership of the land in question. This map appears broadly trustworthy, and was accepted as such by the court; but the defence map seems rather to have been designed to mislead. In recent years the defence map has been regarded as evidence for the appearance of the locality concerned in the 1530s, but this study shows that it was in fact regarded by the court as unreliable, thus highlighting the need to treat all maps other than those actually commissioned by the courts themselves as partial and therefore suspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The publication of Working Together to Safeguard Children (DoH, 1999b) and the new Assessment Framework for Children in Need (DoH, 1999) pose considerable challenges for inter-agency work in the child protection field. This paper explores the core themes and objectives of these two policy frameworks. A number of critical tensions within these policy documents are identified particuarly with regards to the definition of 'children in need' and the quality of inter-agency working outside the child protection system. The paper explores the challenges for the inter-agency community of making the shift to a more needs-led approach. A key theme in managing this change is the inter-relationship of three domains of partnership: partnerships with service users, partnerships between agencies/disciplines, and partnerships within agencies/disciplines. Using an adapted version of Howe's (1992) matrix of partnership, these inter-relationships are examined. It is argued that increasing the levels of co-ordination between agencies will only reap benefits if this is based on intra-agency clarity and commitment to child welfare work. The paper concludes by identifying eight implementation issues for Working Together to Safeguard Children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]