Law Commons^™

When Does Some Federal Interest Require A Different Result?: An Essay On The Use And Misuse Of Butner V. United States, Juliet Moringiello

Juliet M Moringiello

Thousands of judges and scholars have relied on the statement in the 1979 Supreme Court opinion in Butner v. United States that “property interests are created and defined by state law...unless some federal interest requires a different result.” Often, they cite to the statement as a policy constraint that elevates state property law over federal bankruptcy law. This Essay, written for the American Bankruptcy Institute – University of Illinois Symposium on Chapter 11 Reform, posits that the Butner rule is not as broadly applicable as commonly believed. To do so, the Essay surveys some notable uses and misuses of the …

Dirty Debts Sold Dirt Cheap, Dalie Jimenez

Dalie Jimenez

More than 77 million Americans have a debt in collections. Many of these debts will be sold to debt buyers for pennies, or fractions of pennies, on the dollar. This Article details the perilous path that debts travel as they move through the collection ecosystem. Using a unique dataset of 84 consumer debt purchase and sale agreement, it examines the manner in which debts are sold, oftentimes as simple data on a spreadsheet, devoid of any documentary evidence. It finds that in many contracts, sellers disclaim all warranties about the underlying debts sold or the information transferred. Sellers also sometimes …

Deal Protection Devices: The Negotiation, Protection, And Enforcement Of M&A Transactions (Forthcoming), Megan Shaner

Megan Wischmeier Shaner

No abstract provided.

Are "Legal" Marijuana Contracts "Illegal"?, Luke M. Scheuer

Luke M Scheuer

The “Legal” Marijuana Industry's Challenge For Business Entity Law, Luke M. Scheuer

Luke M Scheuer

In recent years many states have legalized the use and sale of marijuana for medical or even recreational purposes. This has led to the booming growth of a “legal” marijuana industry. Businesses openly growing and selling marijuana products to the consuming public are faced with some unusual legal hurdles. Significantly, although the sale of marijuana may be legal at the state level, it is still illegal under federal law. This article explores the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws from a business entity law perspective. For example, managers owe a fiduciary duty of good faith to their businesses and …

El Ilícito Antitrust, Guido Alpa

Carlos Augusto Acosta Olivo

No abstract provided.

Super Liens To The Rescue? A Case Against Special Districts In Real Estate Finance, Christopher K. Odinet

Christopher K. Odinet

In a time of limited resources and sluggish economic growth, competition between cities has become palpable, and the race for new investment often dictates the public agenda. To that end, the explosive growth of public-private partnerships between local governments and private investors has resulted in the creation of a myriad of special taxing districts, the purposes of which are limited only by the imagination. Of particular concern has been the growth of certain real estate development-related districts. Although first conceived to fund critical improvements where conventional credit was not available, in more recently years these special districts have been used …

The Failure Of Corporate Internal Controls And Internal Information Sharing: A Conceptual Framework For Taiwan, Chang-Hsien Tsai

Chang-hsien (Robert) TSAI

Although East Asian jurisdictions such as Taiwan have been adopting similar models of Anglo-American independent directors and audit committees in recent years, we can find that common issues are failure of internal controls, in general, and dysfunctional internal information-sharing mechanisms, in particular. To accommodate Taiwan’s reform trend towards furthering the adoption of independent directors and audit committees, this paper offers a roadmap for conceptual solutions which are harmonic with each other as prerequisites to enable monitors of management to have the incentives and means to exercise their oversight. First, the board’s duty to monitor should be reiterated while being transplanted …

Defectos Y Virtudes Del Proyecto De Reforma Del Código Civil. El Caso De La Representación En Los Negocios Jurídicos., Fort Ninamancco Córdova

Fort Ninamancco Cordova

No abstract provided.

The Challenge Of Co-Religionist Commerce, Michael A. Helfand, Barak D. Richman

Michael A Helfand

This Article addresses the rise of “co-religionist commerce” in the United States—that is, the explosion of commercial dealings that take place between co-religionists who intend their transactions to achieve both commercial and religious objectives. To remain viable, co-religionist commerce requires all the legal support necessary to sustain all other commercial relationships. Contracts must be enforced, parties must be protected against torts, and disputes must be reliably adjudicated.

Under current constitutional doctrine, co-religionist commercial agreements must be translated into secular terminology if there are to be judicially enforced. However, religious goods and services often cannot be accurately translated without religious terms …

Desconsideração Da Personalidade Jurídica Em Favor De Credores Comerciais, Bruno Meyerhof Salama, Alberto Barbosa Jr.

Bruno Meyerhof Salama

The Impact Of The Future Trade Secrets Directive On The Food Sector, Luis González Vaqué, Isabel Segura Roda

Luis González Vaqué

Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of undisclosed know-how [COM(2013) 813 final de 28 November 2013]. We have explicitly chosen to analyse the proposal’s impact because, with regard to food production, we consider that careful consideration must be given to the extent to which the proposal affects areas such as information about food composition, the functioning of rapid alert systems, methods of traceability, the application of the precautionary principle, and different means of document access. We also believe it is important to acknowledge the intangible nature of the know-how used in …

Litigating In The Qatar International Court / لتقاضي في محكمة قطر الدولية, Gerald Lebovits

Hon. Gerald Lebovits

No abstract provided.

En El Do De La Unión Europea: Registro De Denominaciones De Origen Protegidas, Indicaciones Geográficas Protegidas, Etc., Luis González Vaqué, Cristina Vidreras Pérez

Luis González Vaqué

No abstract provided.

The Merchants Of Wall Street: Banking, Commerce, And Commodities, Saule T. Omarova

Saule T. Omarova

This Article explores the legal, regulatory, policy, and theoretical aspects of an ongoing transformation of large U.S. banking organizations into global merchants of physical commodities and energy. In the absence of detailed and reliable information, it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions as to the social efficiency and desirability of allowing this transformation to continue. What we can already ascertain about U.S. financial institutions' physical commodity assets and activities, however, raises potentially serious public policy concerns that must be addressed through a fully-informed public deliberation. Even if big U.S. FHCs were, in fact, to scale down their physical commodity operations …

Beyond Finance: Permissible Commercial Activities Of U.S. Financial Holding Companies, Saule T. Omarova

Saule T. Omarova

!is essay explains the legal basis for, and examines public policy implications of, recent expansion of large U.S. financial holding companies’ non-financial business activities. Despite its potentially significant impact on economic growth and systemic stability, this phenomenon of financial conglomeration beyond finance remains poorly understood. Yet, any truly comprehensive and effective reform of financial services regulation must address public policy issues that arise when “too-big-to-fail” banks grow even bigger and more systemically significant by combining finance with commerce.

Insource The Shareholding Of Outsourced Employees: A Global Stock Ownership Plan, Robert C. Hockett

Robert C. Hockett

With the American economy stalled and another federal election campaign season well underway, the “outsourcing” of American jobs is again on the public agenda. Latest figures indicate not only that claims for joblessness benefits are up, but also that the rate of American job-exportation has more than doubled since the last electoral cycle. This year’s political candidates have been quick to take note. In consequence, more than at any time since the early 1990s, continued American participation in the World Trade Organization, in the North American Free Trade Agreement, and in the processes of global economic integration more generally appear …

Bretton Woods 1.0: A Constructive Retrieval For Sustainable Finance, Robert Hockett

Robert C. Hockett

Global trade imbalance and domestic financial fragility are intimately related. When a nation runs persistently massive current account deficits to maintain global liquidity as has the United States now for decades, its central bank effectively relinquishes exchange rate flexibility to become a de facto central bank to the world. That in turn prevents the bank from playing its essential credit-modulatory role at home, at least absent strict capital controls that are difficult to administer and have long been taboo. And this can in turn render credit-fueled asset price bubbles and busts all but impossible to prevent, irrespective of the nation's …

The Macroprudential Turn: From Institutional “Safety And Soundness” To “Systemic Stability” In Financial Supervision, Robert C. Hockett

Robert C. Hockett

This Working Paper is no longer available. The published version of this article is available at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/facpub/1405/ Since the global financial dramas of 2008-09, authorities on financial regulation have come increasingly to counsel the inclusion of macroprudential policy instruments in the standard ‘toolkit’ of finance-regulatory measures employed by financial supervisors. The hallmark of this perspective is its focus not simply on the safety and soundness of individual financial institutions, as is characteristic of the traditional ‘microprudential’ perspective, but also on certain structural features of financial systems that can imperil such systems as wholes. Systemic ‘financial stability’ thus comes to supplement, …

An Empirical Survey Of Price Fixing Conspiracies, George A. Hay, Daniel Kelley

George A. Hay

This paper reports on a study of recent Antitrust Division horizontal price fixing cases. The objective of the study was to determine if there has been a specific set of characteristics associated with the product or product markets that have been the subjects of price fixing. If such a pattern exists, it might provide empirical insight into some aspects of oligopoly behavior. From a policy point of view, any pattern that is found could be used in a positive enforcement program designed to investigate the "most likely" areas of price fixing. Section I reviews the academic literature which has dealt …

Import Controls On Foreign Oil: Reply, George A. Hay

George A. Hay

The position of Ryan Amacher, Robert Tollison, and Thomas Willett (ATW) can be summarized as follows: Assuming that the domestic industry behaves like a profit-maximizing monopoly, if the quota on imported crude oil is replaced by a tariff that is by assumption set so as to achieve the same domestic price of crude oil, the market power of the dominant domestic firms is "severely constrained." In response I would contend that 1) their assumption about the level of the tariff differs from what I had assumed; 2) their conclusion about the market power of the dominant firms is subject to …

The Meaning Of "Agreement" Under The Sherman Act: Thoughts From The "Facilitating Practices" Experience, George A. Hay

George A. Hay

While the Economic Policy Office was involved in a number of interesting and important matters during the six years I was Director (1973–1979), for the most part my involvement in individual investigations and cases was vicarious, i.e., supervising, supporting, and advising the staff economists assigned to the particular matter. The one major exception – a matter in which I became personally involved in an intensive way – was the General Electric (GE)-Westinghouse price signaling matter. In what follows, I provide a brief summary of what transpired in the GE-Westinghouse matter and then trace through some of the longer term consequences …

La Escasa Significación De Los Registros Públicos, Daniel Echaiz Moreno

Daniel Echaiz Moreno

No abstract provided.

La Elusión Tributaria: Análisis Crítico De La Actual Normatividad Y Propuestas Para Una Futura Reforma, Daniel Echaiz Moreno

Daniel Echaiz Moreno

No abstract provided.

¿Cabe La Impugnación Y/O La Nulidad De Los Acuerdos Del Directorio?, Daniel Echaiz Moreno

Daniel Echaiz Moreno

No abstract provided.

Class Actions Suits Vs. Arbitration Clause (Mexico), Jorge E. De Hoyos Walther

Jorge E De Hoyos Walther

On September 24, 2014, the Mexican Supreme Court (SCJN) issued a landmark decision in the world of arbitration and class action suits. In summary, SCJN upheld that it is possible to file a class action suit, even though an arbitration clause is included in the agreement that governs the business relationship

Activist Compensation Of Board Nominees & The Middle Ground Response, Adam Prestidge

Adam Prestidge

Shareholder activism has taken an increasingly high-profile and polarizing role in investing and corporate governance. Moves by shareholder activists, and the policy behind those moves, constantly appear in corporate headlines. One of shareholder activists’ primary methods of enacting changes in companies is to nominate directors to the board, and often those director nominees are highly-compensated by the shareholder activist itself. Some in the corporate world oppose this practice, arguing that it creates a significant conflict of interest and can damage the company in the short term, while others argue that the practice is a necessary tool for investors that may …

The Pitfalls Of The (Perfect) Market Benchmark: The Case Of Countervailing Duty Law, Wentong Zheng

Wentong Zheng

Markets have long been used as benchmarks for economic value in various areas of law. However, a crucial question has received less than adequate attention: what type of market should be used in the market benchmark? More specifically, given all the imperfections one typically finds in day-to-day markets, how perfect does a market have to be in order to qualify as a benchmark for economic value? This Article discusses this question using countervailing duty law as a case study. Countervailing duty law allows the United States to impose countervailing duties on imported merchandise to offset subsidies conferred by foreign governments …

Enforcement Of Noncompete Agreements: Protecting The Public Interest Through An Entrepreneurial Approach, Griffin Toronjo Pivateau

Griffin Toronjo Pivateau

Enforcement of Noncompete Agreements: Protecting the Public Interest Through an Entrepreneurial Approach

The enforcement of noncompete agreements is variable, differing between courts, between states, and between contexts. Analysis of a noncompete agreement tends not only to be fact-dependent, but location-dependent as well. Some states enforce virtually all noncompete agreements; other states refuse to enforce any noncompete agreements. Courts determine reasonableness without regard to the terms of the agreement. A noncompete agreement is a unique type of contract, as the normal contract standard of mutual agreement supported by consideration falls to the wayside. Instead, reasonableness becomes the key to enforceability.

To …

Comparing The Equivalency Of The New Crs, Bba, And Us Ben Owner Reporting Forms, What’S A Financial Institution To Do?, William Byrnes

William H. Byrnes

No abstract provided.