Aristotle’s understanding of natural objects as matter-form compounds raises important questions about how this hylomorphic view applies to living beings. More specifically:

1. (1) Is the form of living compounds ‘pure,’ that is essentially independent of matter, or ‘true-gritty,’ that is, essentially matter-involving?

2. (2) In his standard view, the form is prior to matter and the compound. But how can the form of living compounds meet this priority requirement if it is ‘true-gritty’?

3. (3) If, by contrast, the form of living compounds is ‘pure,’ how can it be the principle of material and changeable living compounds?

I argue that in De Partibus Animalium (PA), too, forms of living compounds are ‘true-gritty.’ They are also, however, prior to living compounds and their matter. PA offers evidence for a distinction between the type of matter that is essential to form and that of living compounds, which is not essential to but posterior to the form.

The chapter outlines the requirements for creating a valid pledge, including the necessity of an agreement and the transfer of possession.

The chapter then explores the concept of a lien, which grants a creditor the right to retain possession of a debtor’s property until the debt is satisfied. It explains the conditions under which liens arise, typically through the provision of services or materials that enhance the value of the property.

A significant portion of the chapter is dedicated to discussing the priority of claims. It explains how pledges and liens interact with other security interests and the legal rules that determine the priority of creditors’ claims. The chapter also details the enforcement mechanisms available to creditors, including the sale of the pledged or liened property and the distribution of proceeds.

By analyzing these aspects, the chapter provides a thorough understanding of the legal intricacies of pledges and liens, emphasizing their practical implications for securing and enforcing debts in China.

This chapter delves into the various types of properties that can be mortgaged, including residential, commercial and state-owned agricultural construction land. It also discusses the legal implications of mortgaging properties with existing encumbrances, such as habitation rights or easements, and how these affect the priority of claims.

Furthermore, the chapter explores foreclosure procedures, detailing the steps a mortgagee must take to enforce their security interest in the event of a default. It addresses the legal protections available to mortgagors, such as redemption rights and anti-deficiency laws.

Finally, the chapter examines the priority of mortgage claims in relation to other creditors, explaining how Chinese law determines the ranking of competing interests. By providing a comprehensive analysis of mortgage law, this chapter equips readers with the knowledge to navigate the complexities of securing and enforcing mortgage interests in China.

The theories of Darwin and Wallace were similar, both seeing evolutionary change coming about as a function of a differential reproduction fueled by the pressure to succeed in the struggle for existence.  Darwin and Wallace came to their thinking independently.  The behavior of both men, in what could have been a tense situation, was exemplary.  Wallace sent his paper to Darwin, a postal journey from the Far East to England that took far longer than people expect.  This has led to beliefs that Darwin sat unfairly on the paper, perhaps using it to burnish his own work.  In truth, upon its receipt, Darwin quickly contacted his senior friends Lyell and Herschel, offering to let Wallace have full priority.  Lyell and Hooker arranged for Wallace’s paper and unaltered, pertinent abstracts of Darwin’s earlier writings to be published together in the journal of the Linnaean Society.  Both Darwin and Wallace always felt that matters had been dealt with speedily and honorably.  That said, there were significant differences in the thinking of Darwin and Wallace.  The latter was never comfortable with the metaphor of selection, he always embraced group selection in opposition to Darwin’s determined individual selectionist thinking, and most famously – notoriously – Wallace turned to spiritualism to explain human evolution, spurring Darwin to give an entirely naturalistic explanation is his Descent of Man.

This chapter assesses priority arguments against intervention in nature. First, on the Exclusion Approach, intervention is not a priority because equality and priority reasons simply do not apply to wild animals. Second, on the Deflation Approach, since nonhuman animals have a lower capacity for well-being, increasing wild animal well-being produces less value than increasing human well-being. Third, on the Perfectionist Approach, increases in nonhuman well-being cannot compensate for the loss of “the best things in life,” only attainable by human activity. We should, thus, give priority to increases in human well-being that ensure the existence of excellent goods. It is argued that all approaches have highly unacceptable results, particularly on the negative scale of well-being. Finally, the chapter considers the Domesticated Animals First objection, according to which priority should be given to alleviating the harms suffered by domesticated animals. It is argued that taken either as a substantive or as a strategic objection, it cannot soundly succeed.

This chapter looks at the tools and procedures that programmes use to assess claims. Assessing a redress claim involves deciding which injuries to redress and how much money to pay. Those judgements are difficult. Since people will reasonably disagree, good procedure is essential. Enabling survivors to choose how the programme will assess their claims can help protect survivors’ privacy and well-being and make programmes more effective and efficient.

This chapter looks at the tools and procedures that programmes use to assess claims. Assessing a redress claim involves deciding which injuries to redress and how much money to pay. Those judgements are difficult. Since people will reasonably disagree, good procedure is essential. Enabling survivors to choose how the programme will assess their claims can help protect survivors’ privacy and well-being and make programmes more effective and efficient.

This essay focuses on a concept that plays a central role in Duns Scotus’s metaphysics—essential order. It starts by considering Duns Scotus’s presentation of essential order in the De primo principio, where essential order is said to obtain between two beings, x and y, where x is essentially prior to y and y is essentially posterior to x. But Duns Scotus makes use of essential order in several other contexts as well, including his hylomorphism, chemistry, action theory, metaethics, and even ecclesiology. In these other contexts, the notion of essential order is not clearly defined, and it is not always obvious how its deployment is supposed to map onto the canonical definition of essential order offered in the De primo principio. This essay takes a step toward this systematization by analyzing Duns Scotus’s use of essential orders outside of the De primo principio, letting the De primo principio discussion both inform and be informed by these other contexts.

This chapter provides some economic, social, legal and technical context to development projects and their interfaces with indigenous peoples’ rights to land and the focus of this book. Situating development projects within historical precedents from colonial times, it identifies some important new features of the modern development project landscape. These include the increasing proximity of international economic arrangements and transnational financial transactions such as project finance and its underlying documentary network with issues of indigenous land connection, survival and precarity. Against this background, the book’s objective is to consider how, under the conditions of a development project and its contractual framework and safeguarding policy architecture, private entities and judicial and non-judicial mechanisms frame, conflict with and informally delegate out the recognition and implementation of rights to land for indigenous people. In responding to this objective, I lay out the core themes that repeat throughout: fragmentation, invisibility, power(lessness), priority, delegation, (un)predictability and the integration of public and private remedies.