Law Commons^™

Troubled Waters Between U.S. And European Antitrust, D. Daniel Sokol

Michigan Law Review

Review of The Atlantic Divide in Antitrust: An Examination of US and EU Competition Policy by Daniel J. Gifford and Robert T. Kudrle.

Improving Patent Quality Through Post-Grant Claim Amendments: A Comparison Of European Opposition Proceedings And U.S. Post-Grant Proceedings, Jennifer Turchyn

Michigan Law Review

Congress enacted the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act to encourage innovation, strengthen U.S. patents, and achieve greater uniformity with foreign patent systems. The America Invents Act introduced two new post-grant patent validity proceedings: inter partes review and post-grant review. The new U.S. proceedings are similar to European opposition proceedings, but there are significant differences in the extent of the patent owner’s ability to amend claims, the patent’s claim construction, the patent owner’s evidentiary burden, and the procedural requirements. The U.S. proceedings result in a very limited opportunity for amendment and a high percentage of invalidated patents. In contrast, European opposition proceedings …

Foreword: Fault In American Contract Law, Omri Ben-Shahar, Ariel Porat

Michigan Law Review

The basic rule of liability in tort law is fault. The basic rule of liability in contract law is no fault. This is perhaps one of the most striking divides within private law, the most important difference between the law of voluntary and nonvoluntary obligations. It is this fault line (speaking equivocally) that the present Symposium explores. Is it a real divide-two opposite branches of liability within private law-or is it merely a rhetorical myth? How can it be justified? As law-and-economics scholars, this fault/no-fault divide between contract and tort is all the more puzzling. In law and economics, legal …

The Fault Principle As The Chameleon Of Contract Law: A Market Function Approach, Stefan Grundmann

Michigan Law Review

This Article begins with a comparative law survey showing that all legal systems do not opt exclusively for fault liability or strict liability in contract law, but often adopt a more nuanced approach. This approach includes intermediate solutions such as reversing the burden of proof, using a market ("objective") standard of care, distinguishing between different types of contracts, and providing a "second chance" to breaching parties. Taking this starting point seriously and arguing that it is highly unlikely that all legal systems err, this Article argues that the core question is how and when each liability regime should prevail or …

The Myth And The Reality Of American Constitutional Exceptionalism, Stephen Gardbaum

Michigan Law Review

This Article critically evaluates the widely held view inside and outside the United States that American constitutional rights jurisprudence is exceptional. There are two dimensions to this perceived American exceptionalism: the content and the structure of constitutional rights. On content, the claim focuses mainly on the age, brevity, and terseness of the text and on the unusually high value attributed to free speech. On structure, the claim is primarily threefold. First, the United States has a more categorical conception of constitutional rights than other countries. Second, the United States has an exceptionally sharp public/private division in the scope of constitutional …

Sox And Whistleblowing, Terry Morehead Dworkin

Michigan Law Review

The language of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ("SOX") leaves no doubt that Congress intended whistleblowing to be an integral part of its enforcement mechanisms. The Act attempts to encourage and protect whistleblowers in a variety of ways, including providing for anonymous whistleblowing, establishing criminal penalties for retaliation against whistleblowers, and clearly defining whistleblowing channels. Unfortunately, these provisions give the illusion of protection for whistleblowers without effectively providing it. There is increasing evidence that virtually no whistleblower who has suffered retaliation and pursued remedies under SOX has been successful. Additionally, social science research and studies of whistleblowing laws indicate that SOX is …

The Settlement Of Disputes In Early Medieval Europe, David A. Westrup

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Settlement of Disputes in Early Medieval Europe Edited by Wendy Davies and Paul Fouracre

Trade Restrictions, Federalism, And The Judiciary: Comparative Perspectives, Mackenzie Stuart

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Courts and Free Markets: Perspectives From the United States and Europe edited by Terrance Sandalow and Eric Stein

European Merger Control: Legal And Economic Analyses On Multinational Enterprises, Volume 1, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of European Merger Control: Legal and Economic Analyses on Multinational Enterprises, Volume 1 edited by Klaus Hopt

The Criminal Liability Of Corporations And Other Groups: A Comparative View, L. H. Leigh

Michigan Law Review

Briefly, three positions concerning corporate liability may be identified. First, there are systems of full corporate criminal liability, such as those in England and the United States. Second, there are systems that recognize only partial corporate criminal liability, for example Denmark, Belgium, and France. Finally, some systems do not permit such liability at all, or permit it only under the guise of administrative offenses. Italy and West Germany afford examples of this restrictive view of corporate liability.

This Article will sketch each of these positions in some detail, beginning, in Part I, with those systems that authorize full liability. Part …

International Antitrust, James A. Rahl

Michigan Law Review

A Review of United States, Common Market and International Antitrust: A Comparative Guide by Barry E. Hawk

Jus Non Scriptum And The Reliance Principle, Stanley L. Paulson

Michigan Law Review

On the Continent, a general theory of customary law has been developed-what I term the Continental theory; it identifies formation and validity as the central issues in the analysis of custom and customary law. Yet the Continental theory, notwithstanding its longevity and continuing favorable reception among international lawyers, is ridden with problems. In particular, as I argue in the following section, the theory fails for want of a coherent position on the formation issue. In the course of my argument, I suggest a classification of the norms of customary law in terms of a generic category broader in scope than …

Social And Political Aspects Of Civil Procedure--Reforms And Trends In Western And Eastern Europe, Mauro Cappellitti

Michigan Law Review

It is my intention first to analyze the reforms accomplished in Europe in the relatively recent past. I shall then turn to the principal current problems and trends of reform. Finally, I will reflect on the intellectual and socio-political background of such reforms, problems, and trends. This approach will also give us the opportunity to discuss what kind of scholarship in the field of civil procedure is demanded today, at least in Europe but probably elsewhere as well, in order to meet the changed needs of our time.

Smit, Ed: International Co-Operation In Litigation: Europe, Vittorio S. Denti

Michigan Law Review

A Review of International Co-operation in Litication: Europe edited by Hans Smit

Stein & Hay: Cases And Materials On The Law And Institutions Of The Atlantic Area, Homer G. Angelo

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Cases and Materials on the Law and Institutions of the Atlantic Area Edited by Eric Stein and Peter Hay.

Judicial Review In Europe, Gottfried Dietze

Michigan Law Review

The years following the Second World War witnessed a wave of constitution making in Europe. In East and West alike, popular government was instituted through new basic laws. But whereas the constitutions of Eastern Europe established a Rousseauistic form. of democracy through the creation of an omnipotent legislature, those of the West, while reflecting a belief in parliamentary government, to a larger or smaller degree limited the power of the legislature through the introduction of judicial review. This acceptance of judicial review can be attributed mainly to two factors. It sprung from a distrust of a parliamentarism under which, during …

On Amending The Treaty-Making Power: A Comparative Study Of The Problem Of Self-Executing Treaties, Lawrence Preuss

Michigan Law Review

The current furor concerning the treaty-making power of the United States has been aroused by the apprehension that this country might become a party to certain multilateral treaties in the social and economic fields, and, notably, the draft Covenants on Human Rights, the Genocide Convention and the Convention on Political Rights of Women. The plethora of proposed constitutional amendments now before the Congress merely marks an intensification of the controversy, recurrent throughout our history, concerning the legal effect of Article VI, Section 2, of the Constitution of the United States. Problems concerning the relative authority of treaties and other international …

International Law-Effect Of War On Bilateral Treaties-Comparative Study, J. G. Castel

Michigan Law Review

The effect of war upon existing bilateral treaties of belligerents is one of the unsettled problems of international law. The problem is to determine whether a bilateral treaty (between nations at peace) which does not provide for the eventuality of war, will be suspended or annulled by a subsequent war between them. The idea that war is a complete destruction of the international intercourse which was represented by the treaty logically would lead to the conclusion that the treaty ends ipso facto when war comes. But this is too hasty a conclusion; international practice proves that some treaties are only …

Finer: America's Destiny, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of AMERICA'S DESTINY. By Herman Finer.

Expatriation Of American Minors, Lester B. Orfield

Michigan Law Review

The United States Supreme Court in May, 1939, handed down a vitally significant decision on the expatriation of American minors. Prior to that date, one was forced to deduce the law from conflicting decisions of the lower federal courts and of state courts, rulings by the departments of state, labor, and justice, and views of writers. This, therefore, seems an appropriate time at which to discuss the problems which have been raised and the solutions which have been offered.

A Comparison Of Continental And American Legal Education, Stefan Riesenfeld

Michigan Law Review

Legal education in the United States has become more and more a part of university education and the activity of the American university law school is a matter which invites comparison with the law schools of foreign universities. This is true particularly because the system of university legal education has recently also become a "problem" in this country. In 1930 Abraham Flexner published his instructive, but possibly not altogether unbiased, book on universities in which he pictured American, English and German universities. The author gave all his attention to the teaching of science, however, and did not discuss law schools, …

Review: The International Mandates. By Aaron M. Margalith, Quincy Wright

Michigan Law Review

A Review of THE INTERNATIONAL MANDATES. By Aaron M. Margalith

New Avenues To Freedom, Edwin D. Dickinson

Michigan Law Review

Lay opinion regards the law of nations as a weak and ineffective system. It is the fashion to deplore the inefficacy: of its precepts and to regard it as a sort of benevolent code unsupported by any forces which can really compel observance. There is a good deal of loose talk about providing sanctions. The truth is, however, that few systems of law are so infested with tyrannies. It is not sanctions which are needed so much as opportunities for growth. It is not the buttressing of existing dogmas which is required so much as new avenues to freedom.