Law Commons^™

Accountability Of Transnational Corporations Under International Standards, Lea Hanakova

LLM Theses and Essays

Due to the process of globalization and rapid economic evolution in the last several years, transnational corporations have become extremely powerful. There is an evident disproportion between the numerous rights enjoyed by transnational corporations and the scarce obligations undertaken by them. Given their transnational nature, transnational corporations have been successfully avoiding national regulations of both their home and host states, and they are seeking to operate in countries with the lowest standards so as to increase their profits. This has resulted in the violation of basic human rights. Therefore, there is an increasing need for the creation of international instruments …

Laws Governing Bank Securities Activities In The United States, Hanning Zhang

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis analyzes the previous regulatory approach to bank investment activities in the United States and its effects on the banking industry, discusses regulatory changes that expanded banking powers, reviews the new legislation and potential problems in the current movement of financial reform, and suggests some solutions. Chapter II reviews previous statutory regimes on bank securities activities, including those separating traditional and investment banking under the Glass-Steagall Act and Bank Holding Company Act. The regulatory regime under the E.U. banking system is addressed to give an example of successful deregulation, by which universal banks may fully enjoy the rapid changing …

Derivatives And Risk Framework, Ravichandra Vasant Kini

LLM Theses and Essays

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the dynamics of the fast-growing international financial markets and to study in particular the risks associated with the different kinds of financial instruments. The Barrings Bank Crisis, Proctor and Gamble, Gibson Greetings cases against Bankers Trust, and the Orange County Bankruptcy has prompted regulatory authorities to focus on the risks involved in the derivatives markets. In this paper, the first chapter explains the basic working of the different kinds of derivative instruments especially concentrating on Swaps, Futures, and Options. The second chapter goes on to explain, the risks involved in the uses …

Legal Aspects Of International Transfer Of Technology, Anna Mikhailovna Otkina

LLM Theses and Essays

For any international law practitioner issues relating to technology and proprietary information can arise in a number of a different situation. For example, transactions involving foreign distribution and sales rights relating to domestic products are a common part of the day-to-day practice of anyone engaged in the multinational business arena. Many of those transactions involve a contractual agreement in the form of a license, which is intended to transfer to the licensee the technology and related information, and the legal rights therewith, necessary to complete successfully the objective of the transaction: the distribution and sale of the domestic product at …

Poison And Dead Hand Pills, Markets For Corporate Control, And Implications For An Emerging Market Like China, Shueiqing Zhou

LLM Theses and Essays

In the past twenty years, the Chinese government has been adopting open door and economic reform policies. Because of historical, economic, legal, and cultural traditions, a modern corporation system is far from being established in China. There are lots of things that need to do to establish a perfect corporate system. This thesis reviews diverse interpretations of the function of poison pills in light of recent judicial decisions and underlying empirical evidence. It also reviews recent judicial decisions regarding the new version of poison and dead hand pill. The author discusses the recent trend of by-law restrictions in an attempt …

Debt Instruments' Tax Treatment In Corporate Mergers And Acquisitions, Tae Oon Jang

LLM Theses and Essays

The increase of merger and acquisition(M&A) activity since 1992 has resulted mainly from a domestic economic recovery. The current M&A trend shows that M&A is still an important means of enhancing many corporations' competitive power and of stimulating growth in such areas as computer software and services, wholesale and distribution, miscellaneous services, banking and finance, and leisure and entertainment. Fundraising for mezzanine-fund financing, which reflects investors' foresight about current and future M&A trends, has also seen rapid growth. After the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and the repeal of the General Utilities doctrine, the elimination of the capital gain preference …

Are Tuna And Dolphins The Same? A Rule Of Reason Approach To Resolve The Trade And Environment Conflict, Anantha K. Paruthipattu

LLM Theses and Essays

Trade and environment are both primary values in an ecologically and economically interdependent world; unleashing trade without regard to environmental impact is as detrimental as guarding the environment at the expense of trade and development. Tuna and dolphins have come to symbolize the policy struggle between trade and environment. In early 1990, the United States banned the import of tuna from Mexico and other countries that were fishing in a manner that damaged dolphins in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean. Mexico challenged this ban before a GATT Panel, which ruled against the United States and held that the tuna ban …

Oppression Of Minority Shareholders In Close Corporations: The Dissolution And Buy Out Remedies, Alexis Wochenmarkt

LLM Theses and Essays

To understand the potentially dramatic consequences of oppression in a close corporation it is in the first instance necessary, to outline the specific characteristics of these corporations. This thesis concentrates on the peculiarities of close corporations. Most states enacted "oppression" as a generic ground for remedial action. This study evaluates the different standards emphasizing reasonable expectations. Reasonable expectations if properly limited appears to be an efficient tool to measure oppression. In other jurisdictions, mainly where oppression is not available as a ground for dissolution, courts encountered the needs of close corporations by enhancing the owed fiduciary duties. Thus, in some …

Developing A "Transnational" Law For International Sales: The Vienna Convention's Treatment Of Trade Usages, Ainhoa Veiga-Torregrosa

LLM Theses and Essays

The 1980 United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG or Vienna Convention), conceived for worldwide acceptance, sets forth a uniform set of rules aimed at regulating some of the issues that, in an international sales contract, are likely to arise between the parties to such international transaction. The extent to which the substantive solutions that the Vienna Convention provides with the aim of filling in gaps within international sales contracts, are to achieve the standing of a predictable, global, and uniform legal background for these contracts, is the question to be treated in this paper …

Investment Disputes And Jurisdiction Of The International Center For Settlement Of Investment Disputes (Icsid), Vakhid Yakubjanovitch Saparov

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis will analyze one of the ways in which disputes arising from developed countries' investment activities in the developing countries are decided. The issues of investment and disputes are of great importance to the developed countries as well as to developing countries. The scope of the issues gives rise to a multitude of questions of national and international law in an interdependent world economy. International investment attracts the close attention of international law because it brings the movement of people and financial resources from one country to another and such movement gives rise to a potential risk for conflict …

Double Taxation - Treatment Of Corporate Earnings Under American And German Law, Roland Schmidt

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis is going to describe the different ways the United States and Germany deal with the problem of double taxation in the legal context of corporate distributions to its shareholders in the form of dividends. Tax law is particularly one of the areas of laws that are subject to frequent and often substantial changes. This is true for the German as well as for the U.S. tax laws. Since some of the issues being discussed in the United States today in connection with the corporate tax law are similar if not identical to the issues discussed in Germany before …

Dumping And Anti-Dumping In International Trade Origins, Legal Nature, And Evolution Developments In Brazil And In The United States, Luiz Claudio Duarte

LLM Theses and Essays

Dumping is when an exporting country sells their goods in the foreign market for less than the price of the goods in their own domestic market. Dumping has a negative connotation because it threatens domestic industries in the importing country. In response to harmful dumping situations, mechanisms of defense have been developed to protect nations from unfair trade practices. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) recognizes in Article VI anti-dumping tariffs as a legitimate defense to protect domestic industries from foreign predatory pricing practices. This paper focuses on anti-dumping developments in international trade since the beginning of the …

The Issue Of The Legal Validity Of Using Economic Sanctions To Enforce Human Rights, Thomas Hailu

LLM Theses and Essays

The international legal regime as it pertains to human rights is neither as established nor as definitive as it appears. It suffers from many disadvantages, the first and most important of which is the fact that the international legal regime has never been capable of effectively enforcing its rules or instituting appropriate remedies for its breaches. Some states have attempted to make up for this inability on behalf of international law by undertaking an enforcement mechanism either unilaterally or multilaterally; economic sanctions are often regarded as valuable tools of enforcement to be used against countries which are allegedly engaged in …

Legal Aspect And Problems In International American Franchise Transaction In Indonesia, Veronika

LLM Theses and Essays

The Republic of Indonesia, a country in Southeast Asia, faced serious economic problems in 1966, the total debt was (U.S.) $2.3 billion and exceeded export earnings. The government encourages the private sector to take part in this economic development since the government itself faced a scarcity of fund. The government has tried to attract private investment either domestic or foreign investor by launching the deregulation program. The purpose of this thesis is to make an argument that Indonesian franchises need protection and that it is time now for the legislative body in Indonesia to enact a franchise law. The study …

Major Changes In Council Regulation 3283/94: Its Compatibility With The Uruguay Round Anti-Dumping Code, Sangsoo Son

LLM Theses and Essays

Dumping can be defined as exporting goods at prices below those charged on the domestic market or at prices insufficient to recover the cost of the goods sold. Dumping is considered an unfair trading practice because it interferes with free market economy principles. During the 1980s, anti-dumping measures were an important issue for a few developed countries that had attractive markets for foreign producers; these countries were the United States, the European Community, Canada, and Australia. The European Community (EC) has developed its own anti-dumping laws over the years; Article 113 of the EEC Treaty gives power to Community institutions …

The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Equitable Remedies And Other Types Of Non-Money Judgments In United States And French Courts: A Comparative Analysis, Noele Sophie Rigot

LLM Theses and Essays

Courts of industrialized nations are often faced with adjudication of cases which involve foreign components. It is common for those courts to be asked by individuals or legal entities from a transnational environment to adjudicate with regard to some elements already adjudged in a different legal system as if it were a local judgment. The question that arises is how effects should be given when dealing with prior adjudications. Most countries agree to recognize some effects determined by foreign jurisdictions, as long as those determinations meet standards that guarantee proper integration of the foreign decision into the domestic setting. These …

Choice Of Law Clauses In Consumer Contracts: A Comparative Study Of American And E.E.C. Law, Jean-Marie Henckaerts

LLM Theses and Essays

The selection of the law applicable to a certain relationship may seem to be the sole purpose of choice of law rules. However, it is questionable whether this choice should be made independent from the content of the various laws available. The selection of the most appropriate law cannot disregard the social, economic and political values that form the basis of substantive rules. In modern legal systems, social values such as consumer protection are recognized to a growing extent.

The present work explores the concept of choice of law – namely party autonomy with a focus on consumer contracts in …

Transnational Discovery In The Extraterritorial Application Of U.S. Antitrust Laws, Maria Eugenia Gimenez

LLM Theses and Essays

After World War II, there was a push for economic integration to promote growth and prevent conflict. Multinational corporations became key players, but their mobility and links to different countries created legal challenges, with nations seeking to assert their laws and policies over foreign entities. U.S. courts’ efforts to compel compliance with antitrust laws abroad can lead to conflicts with foreign jurisdictions, especially concerning the disclosure of evidence held by foreign entities. The “effects doctrine” allows U.S. antitrust laws to be applied to foreign conduct if they have intended economic effects in the U.S. Subsequent cases refined this doctrine, considering …

Choice Of Law Issues In International Sale Of Goods Contracts, Bayu Seto Hardjowahono

LLM Theses and Essays

The growing quality and quantity of today’s international sales of goods activities is unquestionably influential and vital to the shaping of current national economies throughout the world.

The present work will explore the issue of choice of law questions in international sale of goods contracts by examining the approaches of the Vienna 1980 Convention, the Hague 1955 Convention and the 1985 Draft Convention. The present work concludes by showing that it is advisable for a forum to use the 2^nd Restatement approach in such a situation because of the degree of flexibility it offers in international trade practices.