Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 16 of 16
Full-Text Articles in Law
How Asian Should Asian Law Be? – An Outsider’S View, Ralf Michaels
How Asian Should Asian Law Be? – An Outsider’S View, Ralf Michaels
Faculty Scholarship
Is there an Asian identity of Asian law, comparable to European identity and therefore similarly useful as a justification for unification projects? If so, what does it look like? And if so, does this make Asia more like Europe, or less so? Or is this question itself already a mere European projection?
This chapter tries to address such questions. In particular, I look at a concrete project of Asian law unification—the Principles of Asian Comparative Law—and connect discussions about its Asian identity with four concepts of Asia. The first such concept is a European idea of Asia and Asian law, …
U.S. War Powers And The Potential Benefits Of Comparativism, Curtis A. Bradley
U.S. War Powers And The Potential Benefits Of Comparativism, Curtis A. Bradley
Faculty Scholarship
There is no issue of foreign relations law more important than the allocation of authority over the use of military force. This issue is especially important for the United States given the frequency with which it is involved in military activities abroad. Yet there is significant uncertainty and debate in the United States over this issue — in particular, over whether and to what extent military actions must be authorized by Congress. Because U.S. courts in the modern era have generally declined to review the legality of military actions, disputes over this issue have had to be resolved, as a …
Comparative Law And Private International Law, Ralf Michaels
Comparative Law And Private International Law, Ralf Michaels
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Jurisdiction, Foundations, Ralf Michaels
The European Union: A Comparative Perspective, Ernest A. Young
The European Union: A Comparative Perspective, Ernest A. Young
Faculty Scholarship
This chapter, to be included in the Oxford Principles of EU Law volume, compares the federalisms of Europe and the United States. It argues that Europe can be sensibly viewed from both federal and intergovernmental perspectives, and that particular aspects of the European Union’s structure fit each model. In particular, the EU is federal—that is, integrated to a comparable degree to the U.S.—with respect to its distribution of competences and the sovereignty attributed to EU law and institutions. But it is intergovernmental—that is, it preserves a center of gravity within the individual member states—with respect to the allocation of governmental …
Cultural Paradigms In Property Institutions, Taisu Zhang
Cultural Paradigms In Property Institutions, Taisu Zhang
Faculty Scholarship
Do “cultural factors” substantively influence the creation and evolution of property institutions? For the past several decades, few legal scholars have answered affirmatively. Those inclined towards a law and economics methodology tend to see property institutions as the outcome of self-interested and utilitarian bargaining, and therefore often question the analytical usefulness of “culture.” The major emerging alternative, a progressive literature that emphasizes the social embeddedness of property institutions and individuals, is theoretically more accommodating of cultural analysis but has done very little of it.
This Article develops a “cultural” theory of how property institutions are created and demonstrates that such …
Transnationalizing Comparative Law, Ralf Michaels
Transnationalizing Comparative Law, Ralf Michaels
Faculty Scholarship
Comparative law will not die in the 21st century, but nor can it remain unchanged. Comparative law as we have it today still retains its roots in 1900: it is focused on states, on positive law, and on a scientific approach. Comparative law in the age of transnationalism will have to transnationalize: it must move beyond the state, it must move beyond positive law, and it must endorse cultural approaches. We must retain our critique of legal nationalism, but we must add our critique of uncritical legal universalism.
Up In The Air Over Taxing Frequent Flyer Benefits: The American, Canadian, And Australian Experiences, Lawrence A. Zelenak
Up In The Air Over Taxing Frequent Flyer Benefits: The American, Canadian, And Australian Experiences, Lawrence A. Zelenak
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Social Hierarchies And The Formation Of Customary Property Law In Pre-Industrial China And England, Taisu Zhang
Social Hierarchies And The Formation Of Customary Property Law In Pre-Industrial China And England, Taisu Zhang
Faculty Scholarship
Comparative lawyers and economists have often assumed that traditional Chinese laws and customs reinforced the economic and political dominance of elites and, therefore, were unusually “despotic” towards the poor. Such assumptions are highly questionable: Quite the opposite, one of the most striking characteristics of Qing and Republican property institutions is that they often gave significantly greater economic protection to the poorer segments of society than comparable institutions in early modern England. In particular, Chinese property customs afforded much stronger powers of redemption to landowners who had pawned their land. In both societies, land-pawning occurred far more frequently among poorer households …
“One Size Can Fit All” – On The Mass Production Of Legal Transplants, Ralf Michaels
“One Size Can Fit All” – On The Mass Production Of Legal Transplants, Ralf Michaels
Faculty Scholarship
Law reformers like the World Bank sometimes suggest that optimal legal rules and institutions can be recognized and then be recommended for law reform in every country in the world. Comparative lawyers have long been skeptical of such views. They point out that both laws and social problems are context-specific. What works in one context may fail in another. Instead of “one size fits all,” they suggest tailormade solutions.
I challenge this view. Drawing on a comparison with IKEA’s global marketing strategy, I suggest that “one size fits all” can sometimes be not only a successful law reform strategy, but …
Transplanting The European Court Of Justice: The Experience Of The Andean Tribunal Of Justice, Laurence R. Helfer, Karen J. Alter, Osvaldo Saldias
Transplanting The European Court Of Justice: The Experience Of The Andean Tribunal Of Justice, Laurence R. Helfer, Karen J. Alter, Osvaldo Saldias
Faculty Scholarship
Although there is an extensive literature on domestic legal transplants, far less is known about the transplantation of supranational judicial bodies. The Andean Tribunal of Justice (ATJ) is one of eleven copies of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), and the third most active international court. This article considers the origins and evolution of the ATJ as a transplanted judicial institution. It first reviews the literatures on legal transplants, neofunctionalist theory, and the spread of European ideas and institutions, explaining how the intersection of these literatures informs the study of supranational judicial transplants. The article next explains why the Andean …
Comparative Law As A Bridge Between The Nation-State And The Global Economy: An Essay For Herbert Bernstein, Richard M. Buxbaum
Comparative Law As A Bridge Between The Nation-State And The Global Economy: An Essay For Herbert Bernstein, Richard M. Buxbaum
Faculty Scholarship
Professor Richard M. Buxbaum delivered the Fourth Annual Herbert L. Bernstein Memorial Lecture in Comparative Law in 2005 and this article is based on his remarks. The article is included in the inaugural volume of CICLOPs that collects the first six Bernstein lectures. In this paper, Richard Buxbaum is primarily concerned with the potential of comparative law as a method to bridge the disparities between the laws of nation-states and the needs of the globalized economy. Buxbaum investigates three separate roles for comparative law in closing this gap: First, he discusses the potential uses of comparative law with regard to …
Comparing Judicial Selection Systems, Lee Epstein, Jack Knight, Olga Shvetsova
Comparing Judicial Selection Systems, Lee Epstein, Jack Knight, Olga Shvetsova
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Pure Comparative Law And Legal Science In A Mixed Legal System, Lawrence G. Baxter
Pure Comparative Law And Legal Science In A Mixed Legal System, Lawrence G. Baxter
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Property And Tort In Nuclear Law Today, Kazimierz Grzybowski, William Dobishinski
Property And Tort In Nuclear Law Today, Kazimierz Grzybowski, William Dobishinski
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
American Lawyer Looks At Civil Jury Trial In Scotland, Paul Hardin Iii
American Lawyer Looks At Civil Jury Trial In Scotland, Paul Hardin Iii
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.