Law Commons^™

The Role Of Offshore Jurisdictions In The Development Of The International Trust, David Brownbill

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The trust is a common law invention, the product of experience over many years. But the more it is reduced to legislation, the more formalistic it becomes, and the less able it will be to respond to new situations and challenges. The quasi-code approach--and, to a much lesser extent, the targeted approach--also results in a fragmenting of the trust law. The trust has benefited immensely from the relative uniformity of most general principles throughout the Commonwealth and other common law countries. This has enabled developments, in the form of judicial pronouncements, in one country to be freely adopted in others. …

The Trust Offshore, Antony G.D. Duckworth

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

I was not present at the birth of the offshore financial centers or of their trust business, but I am told that the mother was taxation. Perhaps that is an oversimplification, but I do not doubt that taxation was the major influence. The typical settlor was a taxpayer from one of the major common law countries, and his primary motive for going offshore was tax avoidance. But there were also a few settlors from other places, some motivated by estate planning considerations (the trust allowing them to make property arrangements which could not be made at home), some by fear …

Learning To Live With The New Foreign Nongrantor Trust Rules, Carlyn S. Mccaffrey, Elyse G. Kirschner

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 (the 1996 Act) was intended to deal a heavy blow to the appeal of foreign trusts to U.S. persons. The results were mixed. On the one hand, the 1996 Act imposes an array of reporting requirements, imposes harsh penalties on failures to comply with these requirements, increases the interest charge imposed on taxes paid on distributions of accumulated income from foreign trusts, treats loans of cash from foreign trusts as distributions, and expands the kinds of gifts that can be treated as indirect transfers from foreign trusts. On the other hand, curiously, …

Self-Settled Spendthrift Trusts: Should A Few Bad Apples Spoil The Bunch?, Gideon Rothschild, Daniel S. Rubin, Jonathan G. Blattmachr

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

It is unfortunate, but perhaps not terribly surprising, that the first two reported cases to consider the application of conflict of laws principles to self-settled spendthrift trusts both involved "bad facts" from an asset protection planning standpoint. In this regard, the adage "bad facts produce bad law" is not a slight on the courts, but rather an acknowledgment of a court's primary duty to do substantial justice to the parties immediately before it. However, in an effort to do substantial justice to the parties immediately before them, the Portnoy and Brooks courts have forged what may well become the first …

Law For Sale: Alaska And Delaware Compete For The Asset Protection Trust Market And The Wealth That Follows, Amy L. Wagenfeld

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

For years, U.S. citizens have looked to offshore jurisdictions to create trusts that protect a settlor's assets from the claims of creditors, yet allow the settlor to be named as a beneficiary. United States law and public policy have long been against the idea of allowing a person to enjoy benefits from assets that are simultaneously shielded from creditors' claims. However, despite this existing public policy, Alaska and Delaware have enacted statutes that attempt to do just that. Essentially, these statutes claim to make what used to be possible only offshore, now possible in the United States.

This Note seeks …

Roundtable Discussion, David Aronofsky, Barry S. Engel, Eric Henzy, Gideon Rothschild, Jeffrey A. Schoenblum

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Welcome to the Roundtable panel discussion. Each of the speakers is going to open with a few minutes statement. And then we're going to pose some questions to open discussion, so it will take people through the whole asset protection route from beginning to end, hopefully. And then, any questions you may have we believe we'll have sufficient time to ask those questions and have them answered. You may get very different views. And then we've just decided that the jury will decide whether asset protection trusts are a good thing or a bad thing. Okay. So pay attention.

Montana's Foreign Capital Depository Act, David Aronofsky

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In 1997, Montana attracted national and world financial attention when Montana Governor Mark Racicot signed into law Senate Bill 83, the Foreign Capital Depository Act (Act), creating the first U.S. state-chartered financial entity designed solely for attracting non-U.S. capital. Depicted by skeptics as an unworkable "Panama without the Canal," "Switzerland of the Rockies" and "Rocky Mountain High," Montana is nonetheless pursuing a creative approach to increased state revenues that capitalizes on the state's unique privacy laws as well as innovative statutory drafting. The Act warrants attention from offshore assets owners and managers who seek U.S. stability in a state committed …

Offshore And "Other" Shore Asset Protection Trusts, Eric Henzy

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Portnoy, Brooks, and Lawrence cases demonstrate that under the right facts and circumstances, courts can and will enter orders finding spendthrift provisions of asset protection trusts invalid. These cases and this Article discuss a path that a bankruptcy court may follow to find that property transferred to an asset protection trust is property of a bankruptcy estate. Such a finding may lead to effective remedies for creditors, such as denial of a discharge to a debtor, orders compelling a debtor to direct a trust trustee to transfer assets, with contempt orders if the debtor fails to comply, and, possibly, …

English Fiduciary Standards And Trust Law, David Hayton

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article will focus on two major areas of inquiry in contemporary English trust law: fiduciary standards and substantive trust law. In Part II it will cover the trustees' exercise of managerial discretions and of distributive discretions, before considering the role and duties of protectors in relation thereto. In Part III it will focus upon spendthrift and other protective trusts, the termination of trust rules, the hesitancy to invoke public policy to invalidate conditions imposed by settlors, and difficulties in ascertaining whether a proper valid trust has been created.

Anticipatory Humanitarian Intervention In Kosovo, Jonathan I. Charney

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The intervention by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Kosovo during the spring of 1999 aroused controversy at the time and still provokes questions about the legality of the action, its precedential effect, and procedures for developing new international law. The participants faced a legal and moral dilemma between international law prohibitions on the use of force and the goal of preventing or stopping widespread grave violations of international human rights. This commentary seeks to chart a course for the future in light of the current legal and moral environment.

Many individuals on all sides of the Kosovo crisis …

On The Threshold Of The Adoption Of Global Antibribery Legislation, Barbara C. George, Kathleen A. Lacey, Jutta Birmele

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article will (1) briefly discuss domestic U.S. anti-corruption efforts through a review of the substantive content of the 1977 FCPA and its 1988 amendments; (2) evaluate indicators of changes in domestic attitudes and policies toward business corruption as evidenced by the breadth and scope of recent increased enforcement activities of DOJ and the SEC; (3) analyze the factors causing recent changes in international attitudes and policies toward business corruption; and (4) examine the resulting international efforts to combat business corruption by governmental and non-governmental organizations, financial standard setting organizations, and financial institutions.

The Inevitability Of Nimble Fingers? Law, Development, And Child Labor, Katherine Cox

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines development issues that are raised in a legal analysis of international human rights law relating to child labor. In so doing it highlights some of the weaknesses of the present legal approach to the problem. In order to demonstrate better the weaknesses of the system, India is used as an example of a developing country where some of the development issues raised in the legal analysis arise. The second Part of this Article defines the concept of child labor. It undertakes a comprehensive analysis of international legal instruments that deal with the topic of child labor and …

The Evolution Of The Fresh-Start Policy In Israeli Bankruptcy Law, Rafael Efrat

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A fresh-start policy in bankruptcy provides the honest but financially troubled individual some form of financial relief in an attempt to provide him with an opportunity to productively reintegrate into the economy and society. While some countries today provide broad financial relief to individuals who resort to bankruptcy protection, many countries have retained a largely limited as well as punitive fresh-start policy.

This Article explores the evolution of the fresh-start policy in Israel. While it briefly examines the attitudes and practices adopted towards financially troubled individuals historically in the Jewish tradition, it focuses on tracing those attitudes and practices to …

The Sky Is Falling (Or Is It?): International Contracts And The Y2k Problem, Mark B. Baker

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Y2K problems at this point in time are reasonably foreseeable due to the amount of attention given the subject. Contracting parties should examine potential Y2K problems arising internally and address them before January 1, 2000. Yet the extent of Y2K problems, be they widespread or solitary occurrences, remains unforeseeable and unpredictable. Even those parties having adequately addressed internal Y2K problems can experience difficulties due to external parties having failed to become Y2K-compliant. This "second tier" of unforeseeability supports the use of excused performance, but the "first tier" foreseeability that Y2K problems potentially exist prevent viable use of the defense. In …

Where's The Beef? Mad Cows And The Blight Of The Sps Agreement, Ryan D. Thomas

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note will first outline the SPS Agreement itself--specifically, Part II attempts to present the relevant articles in a manner providing the necessary background for understanding the WTO dispute panel and Appellate Body decisions. Next, Part III discuss and critique, the dispute panel and Appellate Body decisions, specifically, noting the shortcomings of these decisions in the context of the SPS Agreement and its utility as a precedent of international dispute resolution in the area of international regulation of drugs and feedstuffs. Next, I will addresses the likely effect of these decisions upon a possible WTO resolution of the SRM dispute …

The Rise Of The International Trust, Jeffrey A. Schoenblum

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

With considerable acuity, Carlyn S. McCaffrey and Elyse G.Kirschner explore the maze created by the new Code and treasury regulation provisions. In addition to affording a fascinating roadmap through the maze, their article, Learning to Live with the New Foreign Nongrantor Trust Rules, demonstrates the difficulty of addressing legislatively the multitude of trust arrangements that can be devised in the struggle between grantors worldwide and the U.S. tax authorities. The article also exposes the inevitable generation of unintended consequences, including new loopholes, that are a product of such legislation.

In a second tax article, Respect for "Form" as "Substance" in …

Liberty Of Expression In Ireland And The Need For A Constitutional Law Of Defamation, Sarah Frazier

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Judicial and constitutional conservatism have allowed Irish defamation law to remain remarkably close to its English common law origins. But the common law of defamation was not designed for a modem democracy with a free press, and Ireland's libel laws have a profound effect upon freedom of expression. If Ireland is to be a modern democracy, as its constitution asserts that it is, and the European Convention on Human Rights demands, it must protect a core area of free expression in order to allow the press (without the fear of repercussion) to keep the public informed about matters of concern. …

Illuminating The Possible In The Developing World: Guaranteeing The Human Right To Health In India, Sheetal B. Shah

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note argues that the recognition of the social right to health offers a step forward in empowering individuals to gain control over their social environments in the developing world. Part II discusses the potential of social human rights to alleviate suffering in the developing world. Social human rights recognize that the state must provide individuals with the basic social conditions necessary to live with human dignity. Part III explores the legal obligations of social rights and their current status in human rights jurisprudence. It also discusses the most pressing challenges facing implementation of social rights at the national level. …

Significant Trends In The Trust Law Of The United States, Edward C. Halbach, Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In examining significant trends in American trust law, several observations are worth mentioning at the outset. First, trust law in the United States is primarily a matter of state law; thus, the trends discussed below may appear in some states but not in others. Second, procedural merger of law and equity in this country has been substantially accomplished in nearly all states, but this should not be understood as eliminating the importance of equitable doctrine and remedies. Third, without abandoning the basic definition of a trust as a fiduciary relationship, there appear to be subtle but practically significant departures from …

Respect For "Form" As "Substance" In U.S. Taxation Of International Trusts, Donald D. Kozusko, Stephen K. Vetter

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

...we might decide that the attribution rule should not be applied so broadly, or so automatically. But how would such a system be devised by regulation? The attribution rule could be applied to trusts in which the discretion of the trustee is very limited and the beneficial interests so clearly ascertainable that the trust is, for all practicable purposes, transparent. That is, however, only a small universe of cases. This leads to the further conclusion that the attribution rule has to be applied based on a facts and circumstances determination of the beneficial interest in each case. Yet that seems …

A Comparison Of New Zealand Taxpayers' Rights With Selected Civil Law And Common Law Countries, Adrian J. Sawyer

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This article seeks to ascertain the breadth of rights that taxpayers enjoy in New Zealand in comparison with their counterparts in a number of common law and civil law jurisdictions. Such a comparison enables the wealth of experience that codification of rights in civil law countries can provide in comparison to the traditionally lower reliance on statutory protection in common law jurisdictions. From this comparative analysis common themes are distilled, as well as differences between New Zealand and various civil law and common law nations with respect to the legal position and state of taxpayers' rights. The author mounts a …

International Recognition And Adaptation Of Trusts: The Influence Of The Hague Convention, Adair Dyere

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The process of bringing English-style trusts into systems that do not have a similar device is fraught with difficulties. This is especially true with respect to efforts directed towards the creation of a domestic trust law within such a system, but it is also true about the adaptation of legal institutions that is necessary in order to recognize trusts created under foreign law, in accordance with Article 11 of the Hague Trusts Convention. Thus far, it can be said that no country that did not have trusts before the Hague Trusts Convention has reacted to the Convention by adopting a …

The Civil Law Trust, Maurizio Lupoi

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

It is generally held that trusts are incompatible with the basic assumptions of civil law systems. In order to discuss this statement one would have to inquire, first, what is meant by the term "trusts"; second, what assumed common characteristics of the civil law systems are being envisaged and declared to bein compatible with trusts; and third, why those characteristics should be incompatible with trusts. It is also commonly held that the Hague Convention of 1984 on the law applicable to and the recognition of trusts concerns only those trusts that are foreign to the jurisdiction in which the rules …

Recent Developments In Anti-Money Laundering And Related Litigation Traps For The Unwary In International Trust Matters, Bruce Zagaris

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In 1998, governments and international organizations continued their active efforts to increase regulatory and criminal enforcement of various laws to stem the tide of transnational crime. These efforts were reflected in the criminalization of various business and financial transactions, the imposition of new due diligence measures on the private sector and the concomitant weakening of privacy and confidentiality laws, strengthened penalties for non-compliance with regulatory efforts, and new law enforcement techniques, such as undercover sting operations, wiretapping, expanded powers to search homes and businesses, and controlled deliveries. So obtrusive are many of the law enforcement techniques and the privatization of …

The Dichotomy Between Standards And Rules, Mary C. Daly

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The differences in perception between U.S. and foreign lawyer codes of conduct is more than simply a matter of academic interest or curiosity. It is only a matter of time until the WTO turns its attention to the codes, examining whether and to what extent they create illegitimate regulatory barriers to trade in legal services. As the participants in the Forum on Transnational Legal Practice have come to realize, if the legal profession is to play a meaningful role in cross-border regulation, it must seize the initiative, much as the CCBE did in 1988 with the adoption of the CCBE …

The Role Of Legal Doctrine In The Decline Of The Islamic Waqf: A Comparison With The Trust, Jeffrey A. Schoenblum

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The starting point of this article is that the same impulses present in societies with Western legal systems to manage family wealth over time have been present in Islamic societies as well. But unlike other legal regimes regulating such impulses, waqf law has been largely unresponsive, especially in light of changing typologies of wealth and socio-economic conditions. A number of factors explain the failure of legal doctrine to respond. The first of these is the religious or divine grounding of waqf law, making it difficult for the law to evolve in a responsive and uncontroversial manner, one that does not …

Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't? The Oecd Convention And The Globalization Of Anti-Bribery Measures, Christopher F. Corr, Judd Lawler

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This article explores the efforts of the international community to battle corruption by focusing on the recently promulgated Organization of Economic and Cooperative Development (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. For many years the United States battled corruption by prohibiting its domestic businesses from bribing foreign officials. Other countries, however, generally viewed U.S. policy as a form of unilateral commercial disarmament and declined to pass their own anti-bribery legislation. The Convention, therefore, marks a recent shift by the international community, as it requires signatories to enact laws to punish domestic corporations for bribes …

United We Stand: The Anti-Competitive Implications Of Media Ownership Of Athletic Teams In Great Britain, Jonathan E. Bush

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note analyzes the increasing integration of the sports and broadcasting industries and the British framework for evaluating the permissibility of transactions furthering such integration. In the context of the recent attempted takeover of British football club Manchester United by Rupert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting, the Note examines how the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) was uniquely poised to fully consider the ramifications of this developing nexus of sports and media and evaluates the significance of the MMC's decision on the future of both industries.

A diverse array of domestic, international, political, and economic issues and implications face any court …

Leveling The Playing Field For Religious "Liberty" In Russia:, Afina Lekhel

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The purpose of this Note is to present a more comprehensive framework for analyzing the status of religious human rights in Russia after the enactment of the new law. Following the insights of an eminent scholar on law and religion, Prof. Harold J. Berman, the topic may be evaluated with a view to positive law (Zakon), moral theory (Pravo), and Russian historical experiences. Generally, positive law refers to domestic legal norms. Moral theory also stems primarily from domestic supra-legal sources, but it may connote global human rights principles where a state subscribes to monism, as Russia currently does. Historical contingencies …

Emerging Leader Of The Tax Avant-Garde, Andrzej J. Burba

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In 1998, Poland's Minister of Finance Leszek Balcerowicz unveiled a plan to restructure the tax system. His fiat tax proposal promises numerous benefits to individual and corporate taxpayers with significant reduction in tax rates for both groups. The new plan offers to further strengthen Poland's growing economy--a consequence that is especially significant in light of the country's aspiration to join the European Union. It provides a remedy for virtually every ailment plaguing the current tax system and, most importantly, the reform offers to finance itself This Note argues that the plan should be adopted immediately for the following reasons: (1) …