This trend has existed ever since the Enron and WorldCom scandals (and the subsequent Sarbanes-Oxley law) and probably relates to the desire of executives to avoid being sued or prosecuted.

ECONOMIST: Companies are buying back their own shares at a record rate

While ordering the city to "cease and desist from maintaining a vehicular ticket quota, " the ruling didn't address setting numeric minimums on quality of life summonses, though a subsequent change in state law made setting quotas for those summonses illegal.

WSJ: NYPD Chief Set 'Goals' for Officers

An overwhelming majority of oil and natural gas producers supported this law and the subsequent rulemaking at the Railroad Commission.

FORBES: Clearing The Air On Hydraulic Fracturing Laws In Texas

Of the many bad consequences of the TARP (bank bailout) scheme of 2008 and subsequent passage of the Dodd-Frank law (2010), one was the set of invasive new regulatory restrictions on executive pay, dividend-paying, and capital adequacy at U.S. banks.

FORBES: An Overleveraged Fed Punishes Better-Capitalized Banks

In effect, the new law was made redundant by a subsequent government bill to introduce a new system of debt collection - warrant sales by another name, argued Sheridan.

BBC: The rise and fall of Tommy Sheridan and the left

The subsequent Pemberton Homicide Review formed the pilot for new domestic violence legislation which became law in April.

BBC: Julia Pemberton

The greater worry is that, in trying to legislate good behaviour, the bill may make business decisions subject to subsequent review in court, says Adrian Levy, a partner at Clifford Chance, a law firm.

ECONOMIST: A proposed new bill would invite judges into the boardroom

Even under missouri law I can petition the sentencing court to be removed from the registry after having registered (without a subsequent conviction of sexual crime) for ten years.

FORBES: So Which Social Networking Sites Can Sex Offenders Actually Use?