Digital Commons Network^™

Brian H. Stuy (With Foreward By David Smolin), Open Secret: Cash And Coercion In China's International Adoption Program, Brian H. Stuy

David M. Smolin

Open Secret is a documentation and analysis of seriously abusive practices in China's intercountry adoption system. The article describes three kinds of abuses: baby-buying programs at Chinese orphanages, "confiscations" of children by population control officials, and "education" programs in which orphanages falsify the ages and family situation of teenagers in order to make them paper eligible for intercountry adoption. The article questions the effectiveness of the Hague legal regimen for intercountry adoption, particularly in the context of China. A brief foreward by David Smolin places Brian Stuy's extensively-researched article about adoptions from China in a broader context.

Desvelando Los Intereses Ocultos: Neoliberalismo En La Nueva "Defensa Posesoria Extrajudicial", Joshimar De La Cruz Aroni

Joshimar De la cruz Aroni

Visión crítica de la Nueva Defensa Posesoria Extrajudicial

Ensayo Sobre La Nueva Ley Universitaria 30220, Joshimar De La Cruz Aroni

Joshimar De la cruz Aroni

No abstract provided.

Comparative Law In A Time Of Globalization: Some Reflections, Thomas C. Kohler

Thomas C. Kohler

This piece discusses the tension between internationalization of legal ordering and the growing pressure against local and national ordering. Using Aristotle, Tocqueville, the Reception of Roman Law as forebears of the problem, I discuss three major European Court of Justice decisions (Laval, Viking and Schmidberger) as examples of the displacement of local ordering. I conclude that the task of comparative law is to focus on the importance of local ordering, keeping the human at the center and not vague principles generated by international bodies with no or little local ties.

The Time Has Not Yet Come To Repair The World In The Kingdom Of God: Israeli Lawyers And The Failed Jewish Legal Revolution Of 1948, Assaf Likhovski

Assaf Likhovski

At certain moments in Israel's legal history, Jewish lawyers were forced to choose between their commitment to the professional interests of their guild and their commitment to Jewish nationalism. This dilemma was especially apparent in the debates surrounding what can be called the failed Jewish legal revolution of 1948, when Israeli lawyers had to decide whether they wanted to maintain the legal status quo by retaining the legal system that Israel inherited from the British rulers of Palestine, or whether this legal system would be replaced by one that was connected in some way to Jewish law (the Halakha). What …

Relying On Government In Comparison: What Should The United States Learn From Abroad In Relation To Administrative Estoppel?, Dorit R. Reiss

Dorit R. Reiss

The United States’ Supreme Court had never upheld a claim of estoppel against the government. A citizen relying on government’s advice does that at her peril: if the government was wrong, if it misrepresented the statute or interpreted it wrongly, it can (by some interpretations, must) go back on its word and the citizen has no recourse. The Supreme Court provided many arguments for that position, but the core of them involves protection of what the Europeans refer to as “the principle of legality”: the executive does not have the ability to waive requirements from primary legislation or deviate from …

Sources Of Law And Pluri-Lingualism (In Greek), Nikitas E. Hatzimihail

Nikitas E Hatzimihail

This study (which replaces an earlier article published at the law journal Χρονικά Ιδιωτικού Δικαίου - Chronicles of Private Law, vol. 12 (2012)) examines issues arising from the translation of authoritative legal texts (constituting sources of law in the legal system under consideration), with an emphasis on legislation.

The first part of the article examines instances where authoritative texts of the same legal instrument co-exist in two or several languages, notably in the case of international uniform law instruments, such as the Vienna Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG).

The second part addresses instances of an instrument being …

A Preliminary Look At State Structures For Regulating Financial Services, Elizabeth F. Brown

Elizabeth F Brown

Within the past thirty-five years approximately fifty nations have consolidated their financial regulatory agencies into either a single integrated agency or into two semi-integrated agencies. The United States has resisted this trend, due in part to a concern that the costs of such significant consolidation would exceed its benefits. The existing studies that compare the costs of the consolidated regulators around the world with the United States regime have often been discounted because they have been unable to control for differences in culture and regulatory intensity between those other countries and the United States. This article attempts to address this …

Uganda’S New Sentencing Guidelines: Introduction, Initial Assessment And Early Recommendations, David B. Dennison

David Brian Dennison

In April of 2013 the Chief Justice of Uganda issued the Constitution (Sentencing Guidelines for the Courts of (Practice). In doing so Uganda joined a movement of criminal justice reform that cuts across anglophone jurisdictions. This article includes a general background on the emergence of sentencing guidelines and the two primary structural approaches to sentencing guidelines design.

This article’s primary purpose is to offer a preliminary critical assessment of Uganda’s Sentencing Guidelines. An overview of key features in the Sentencing Guidelines serves as a prelude to the analytical content.

Uganda’s Sentencing Guidelines are a commendable effort. They are more than …

The Political Question Doctrine In Uganda: A Reassessment In The Wake Of The Cehurd, David B. Dennison

David Brian Dennison

The political question doctrine protects certain governmental actions and decisions from judicial review. The doctrine emerged in the United States in the early 19th Century. It reached Ugandan jurisprudence in Ex parte Matovu in 1966. After Matovu, the doctrine existed in relative obscurity in Uganda. The doctrine made a dramatic resurgence in the Constitutional Court’s judgment in Centre of Health Human Rights & Development (CEHURD) and Three Others v. Attorney General.

In CEHURD, the Constitutional Court held that the political question doctrine prevented the court from reviewing government policy concerning the provision of maternal health care. The CEHURD judgment ruffled …

Surveillance, Speech Suppression And Degradation Of The Rule Of Law In The “Post-Democracy Electronic State”, David Barnhizer

David Barnhizer

None of us can claim the quality of original insight achieved by Alexis de Tocqueville in his early 19th Century classic Democracy in America in his observation that the “soft” repression of democracy was unlike that in any other political form. It is impossible to deny that we in the US, the United Kingdom and Western Europe are experiencing just such a “gentle” drift of the kind that Tocqueville describes, losing our democratic integrity amid an increasingly “pretend” democracy. He explained: “[T]he supreme power [of government] then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society …

Ex Ante Versus Ex Post Deliberations: Two Models Of Judicial Deliberations In Courts Of Last Resort, Mathilde Cohen

Mathilde Cohen

Responsabilidad Civil, Libertad De Procreación Y Derecho De Nacer Sano, Leysser L. Leon

Leysser L. León

El autor analiza críticamente la acaso primera sentencia de la administración de justicia peruana en un caso de responsabilidad civil por "wrongful life". En particular, ante la desestimación ligera de las pretensiones, se cuestiona la ausencia de un fundamento técnico frente a la temática de derechos de la personalidad, tutela resarcitoria y remedios contractuales vinculados con la controversia específica (demanda de resarcimiento formulada por una persona que padece osteogénesis imperfecta).

„Zuerst Schlichten, Dann Richten“: O Modelo Suíço De Solução De Litígios Pré-Processual É Adequado Para O Brasil?, Nelson Rodrigues Netto

Nelson Rodrigues Netto

Dieser Aufsatz analysiert die Schlichtung und die Mediation in der Schweizerische Zivilprozessordnung.

Hans Kelsen And The Logic Of Legal Systems, Michael S. Green

Michael S. Green

No abstract provided.

Au Revoir, Will Contests: Comparative Lessons For Preventing Will Contests, Margaret Ryznar, Angelique Devaux

Margaret Ryznar

American probate law has not yet managed to prevent will contests and not every will executed will be ultimately upheld. The most common grounds for will contests are undue influence, testamentary capacity, and fraud. These will contests have significant costs, which include failing to give effect to testator’s intent and high litigation and decision costs. In fact, the most significant challenge that exists in American probate law today is the frequent inability to honor testamentary intent due to will contests brought by disgruntled relatives. On the other hand, a legal system that has nearly eliminated will contests on the grounds …

Why Can't We Do What They Do? National Health Reform Abroad, Timothy Stoltzfus Jost

Timothy S. Jost

This article describes how other countries organize and finance their health care systems, and how the performance of those health care systems compares with that of the United States. It also examines why the United States, unlike all other developed countries, has failed to provide universal access to health care services.

Courtroom Drama With Chinese Characteristics: A Comparative Approach To Legal Process In Chinese Cinema, Stephen J. Mcintyre

Stephen J McIntyre

While previous “law and film” scholarship has concentrated mainly on Hollywood films, this Essay examines legal themes in Chinese cinema. It argues that Chinese films do not simply mimic Western conventions when portraying the courtroom, but draw upon a centuries-old, indigenous tradition of “court case” (gong’an) melodrama. Like Hollywood cinema, gong’an drama seizes upon the dramatic and narrative potential of legal trials. Yet whereas Hollywood trial films turn viewers into jurors, pushing them back and forth between the competing stories that emerge from the adversarial process, gong’an drama eschews any recognition of opposing narratives, centering instead on the punishment of …

The Regulation Of U.S. Money Market Funds: Lessons From Europe, Latoya C. Brown

Latoya C. Brown, Esq.

The recent financial crisis challenged long held perceptions of money market funds (“MMFs”) as stable and highly liquid instruments. Regulators in the US and in Europe now seek to impose additional rules on MMFs to avoid another significant failure as happened to the Reserve Fund. In the US, the debate is drawing even more media attention as question of which regulatory body - such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Treasury Department, and the Financial Stability Oversight Council – should lead the way has taken interesting twists and turns. This paper examines primary reform options being proposed in the …

Институт Парламентского Расследования В Российской Федерации И Зарубежных Странах: Сравнительно-Правовой Аспект, Leonid G. Berlyavskiy, Nickolay Taraban

Leonid G. Berlyavskiy

Legislative branch of the power, carrying out representative functions has the right to exercise own control of a condition of legality in the state. One of forms of such control is the institute of parliamentary investigation. Experience of world parliamentarism testifies to very large powers of parliamentary investigation doing by its very effective instrument of control over executive power

Do Social Ties Matter In Corporate Governance: The Missing Factor In Chinese Corporate Governance Reform, Yu-Hsin Lin

Yu-Hsin Lin

In the past decade, Asian countries have adopted various corporate governance measures with the hope that good law will facilitate capital market development. One of the measures adopted by Asian countries to revamp corporate boards is to enhance board independence by introducing the institution of the independent director. Empirical studies have shown that social ties could compromise independent directors’ monitoring capacity and, thus, do matter in corporate governance. Using theoretical and empirical studies, this article analyzes the effects that independent directors' social ties to corporate insiders can have on director efficacy and discusses how the United States, where the institution …

Ancient Hebrew Militia Law, David B. Kopel

David B Kopel

The history of the laws of warfare and of arms possession in the ancient Hebrew kingdoms.

Mexico's Gun Control Laws: A Model For The United States?, David B. Kopel

David B Kopel

This article explicates Mexico’s constitutional right to arms and Mexico’s main gun-control statute, the Federal Law of Firearms and Explosives (Ley Federal de Armas de Fuego y Explosivos). Along the way, the article notes various proposals to move U.S. gun laws in a Mexican direction.

Part II of this article is an English translation of the Mexican constitution’s guarantee of the right to arms, as well as predecessor versions of the guarantee.

Part III explains the operation of Mexico’s gun-control system and provides some historical and statistical information about gun ownership and gun smuggling in Mexico.

Part IV describes some …

Changing The United Kingdom Constitution: The Blind Sovereign, Richard Kay

Richard Kay

The traditional doctrine of the sovereignty of Parliament in the United Kingdom is being transformed. The change is the cumulative result of a series of legislative acts, judicial decisions, statements of officials and academic opinions. This paper is not directed to the extent or to the propriety of this change. It examines rather the process by which it has been effected. In most of the world, wholesale constitutional revision is an event. It takes place in a defined period of time and is the work of an identifiable group of people. The striking thing about the changes in the UK …

Time And Judicial Review: Tempering The Temporal Effects Of Judicial Review, Ittai Bar-Siman-Tov

Dr. Ittai Bar-Siman-Tov

This Article deals with a predicament inherent in judicial review: Under the traditional view, judicial declarations of unconstitutionality apply retrospectively, meaning that the law is treated as void from its inception — as if it was never enacted. This, however, means nullifying all the legal arrangements, rights, interests, and obligations that were established under its authority, which can have far-reaching ramifications for both public and private interests. The Article explores the Israeli Supreme Court's approach for dealing with potential negative consequences of retrospective voidance of statutes. It focuses on three main remedial strategies for tempering the temporal effects of invalidating …

Can't Escape From The Memory: Social Media And Public Sector Labor Law, William A. Herbert

William A. Herbert

The Web 2.0 communicative revolution is impacting many fields of law, including labor and employment law. This article focuses upon the application and impact of statutory and constitutional doctrines on the use of social media in public employment in the United States. As part of that analysis, it will compare and contrast developments under the National Labor Relations Act, state collective bargaining and tenure laws and the First Amendment concerning social media. Through this comparative analysis, the article will highlight the distinctions and similarities of public sector labor law and their implications for the future.

The Corrupting Influence Of The United States On A Vulnerable Intercountry Adoption System: A Guide For Stakeholders, Hague And Non-Hague Nations, Ngos, And Concerned Parties, David M. Smolin

David M. Smolin

This article provides an extensive analysis of the corrupting influence of the United States on the development and present workings of the intercountry/international adoption system. A context for this corrupting influence is provided through a careful analysis of the theoretical and practical vulnerabilities of the intercountry adoption system. The distinctive approaches of the United States to social work, adoption, human rights, children's rights, constitutional law and humanitarian intervention also provides careful analysis. The article is designed to be practical in providing both a clear guide to those interested in reforming the United States' approach to intercountry adoption and related matters, …

After Privacy: The Rise Of Facebook, The Fall Of Wikileaks, And Singapore’S Personal Data Protection Act 2012, Simon Chesterman

Simon Chesterman

This article discusses the changing ways in which information is produced, stored, and shared — exemplified by the rise of social-networking sites like Facebook and controversies over the activities of WikiLeaks — and the implications for privacy and data protection. Legal protections of privacy have always been reactive, but the coherence of any legal regime has also been undermined by the lack of a strong theory of what privacy is. There is more promise in the narrower field of data protection. Singapore, which does not recognise a right to privacy, has positioned itself as an e-commerce hub but had no …

Lobbying:The Italian Regulatory Framework Under The Comparative Perspective, Andrea Bortoluzzi

Andrea Bortoluzzi

The intention of the Author is to examine all the rules that the Italian legal system imposes on lobbying, in part for the purpose of limiting certain lobbying practices and in part to promote access to public decision-makers by establishing the requirement for transparency and trustworthiness in the relations between the lobbyist and the decision-maker. Lobbying is heavily dependent on the opportunities for the lobbyist to access the public decision-maker. The issue of access, however, viewed in terms of lobbying, relates not to the right to know the content of administrative documents but to the right to provide information to …

The Law Of Indicators On Women’S Human Rights: Unmet Promises And Global Challenges, Marta Infantino

Marta Infantino

Global indicators on human rights (HRs) aim to measure HRs scores against HRs standards. In other words, they aim to measure legal phenomena against legal benchmarks.

Despite HRs indicators’ reliance on legal knowledge, lawyers have so far neither made substantial contributions to their production, nor studied in depth the legal implications of their uses. The current state-of-the-art in the world of HRs indicators is the result of an ongoing process led by bureaucrats, economists, statisticians, and activists with limited legal training. It is these actors who are developing a new body of professional knowledge, and a new technology of governance …