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Transnational Law-Making: Assessing The Impact Of The Vienna Convention And The Viability Of Arbitral Adjudication, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Transnational Law-Making: Assessing The Impact Of The Vienna Convention And The Viability Of Arbitral Adjudication, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

Questions concerning the future orientation of the process are more pressing and demand a definition of the international mission and role of arbitral adjudication. Nations share the perception that national economies are no longer autonomous, that they must function within a larger global framework. The question then becomes not whether a uniform international law of sales is needed, but rather how it is to be achieved. The transnational preeminence that arbitration has gained as a remedial mechanism makes it a likely vehicle for elaborating a common law of international contracts. This article assesses the impact of the Vienna Convention upon …


The Rise In Judicial Hostility To Arbitration: Revisiting Hall Street Associates, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

The Rise In Judicial Hostility To Arbitration: Revisiting Hall Street Associates, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

When the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Hall Street Associates,LLC v. Mattel, Inc., commentators expected the Court to resolve the split among the federal circuits regarding the validity and enforceability of 'opt-in' agreements.Since the late 1990s, these agreements had become a means through which contracting parties could obtain enhanced judicial supervision of arbitral awards by providing for judicial review of the merits of arbitrator rulings. While commentators got a resolution to the split, they received a great deal more than they had been promised. Stylistic opacity made the opinion in Hall Street somewhat inaccessible. In fact, as rendered, …


The Reform Of The French Procedural Law On Arbitration: An Analytical Commentary On The Decree Of May 14, 1980, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

The Reform Of The French Procedural Law On Arbitration: An Analytical Commentary On The Decree Of May 14, 1980, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

Prior to May 1980, the French domestic law on arbitration had not been subject to any substantial legislative reform since the early nineteenth century. The procedural part of that law, which contained practically all of the French legislative provisions applying to arbitration, was out of date and in need of reconsideration. Despite the considerable French procedural law reforms enacted in 1975, articles 1005 through 1028 of the Nouveau Code de procédure civile had not been revised to any significant extent since the enactment of the Code de procédure civile in 1806. The basic intention of the new legislative text is …


The Survival Of Civil Law In North America: The Case Of Louisiana, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

The Survival Of Civil Law In North America: The Case Of Louisiana, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

There are legitimate historical reasons for speaking seriously about a civil law heritage in Louisiana. French and Spanish civilian influences permeated the Louisiana Civil Code when it was first enacted in 1808. The current status of the civil law in Louisiana, however, is problematic; the American common law methodology has made significant inroads into the operation of the current legal system. Separated from its parenting source by geography, time, and culture, Louisiana civil law has become an ill-defined civilian entity that, in reality, is more of a common law process with civil law trappings. The civil law nonetheless has a …


The Revolution In Law Through Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

The Revolution In Law Through Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

My subject is arbitration. I explore how its re-emergence during the last forty years has revolutionized the thinking about, and the practice of, law. The development of a "strong federal policy favoring arbitration" cast aside traditional acceptations about law and adjudication. The rule of law-the human civilization associated with law and the legal process-has been profoundly, perhaps irretrievably, altered by the rise of arbitration. The landmark cases in labor and employment arbitration- Alexander v.Gardner-Denver Company (the "old time religion") and Gilmer v. Interstate/JohnsonLane Corporation (the "new age" thinking)- attest to the enormous distance that separates past and present concepts of …


The French Legal Studies Curriculum: Its History And Relevance As A Model For Reform, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

The French Legal Studies Curriculum: Its History And Relevance As A Model For Reform, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

This article attempts to describe and analyze those events which fostered the historical metamorphosis of the French legal studies curriculum. The predominance of a broad academic approach to law and the concomitant absence of a narrow "trade school" mentality in the French law schools might be attributed to the general organization of higher education in France. One of the primary contentions of this article is that the fundamental character of French legal education, which emphasizes the educating of jurists as opposed to the training of lawyers, is the product of a set of factors which are deeply rooted in French …


The Elaboration Of A French Court Doctrine On International Commercial Arbitration: A Study In Liberal Civilian Judicial Creativity, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

The Elaboration Of A French Court Doctrine On International Commercial Arbitration: A Study In Liberal Civilian Judicial Creativity, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

The task of the present article is to examine the historical evolution and current status of the French judicial doctrine on international commercial arbitration. It endeavors to compare the international doctrine with the French domestic law on arbitration and to illustrate briefly its conformity to the provisions of the international conventions on arbitration to which France is a party. Its chief design, however, is to concentrate upon the court decisions themselves, underscoring their progressive quality and pointing to their systemic implications.


Tax Liability And Inarbitrability In International Commercial Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Andrew W. Sheldrick Apr 2016

Tax Liability And Inarbitrability In International Commercial Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Andrew W. Sheldrick

Thomas Carbonneau

This essay engages in a narrow but crucial inquiry into the limits the inarbitrability defense may now impose upon the exercise of arbitral jurisdiction. While it is assumed that matters relating directly to status and capacity, testamentary dispositions, and title to immovable property fall outside the jurisdictional reach of international arbitrators, the question becomes whether any national regulatory laws, such as tax laws, benefit from the same status of inviolability.


Terrorist Acts – Crimes Or Political Infractions? An Appraisal Of Recent French Extradition Cases, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Terrorist Acts – Crimes Or Political Infractions? An Appraisal Of Recent French Extradition Cases, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

This article examines the progression of French jurisprudence on the extradition of transnational terrorists, focusing upon the issue of whether terrorist acts can be considered legally to be political offenses and hence exempt from extradition. The analysis of this issue integrates French judicial decisions into the general context of international practice – beginning with an assessment of extradition procedures and proceeding to a discussion of the special problems raised by the application of the political offense exception. A survey of international extradition decisional law reveals that the tribunals of various countries have elaborated a series of tests by which to …


The Ballad Of Transborder Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

The Ballad Of Transborder Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

International commercial arbitration (ICA) is many things positive. Because business transactions cannot take place without a functional system of adjudication,ICA has enabled parties to engage in and pursue international commerce. As a result, it has had an enormous impact upon the international practice of law, the structuring of a de facto international legal system, and the development of a substantive world law of commerce. In a word, ICA has been a vital engine in the creation of a transborder rule of law. Furthering this design, the arbitral "method"has even been applied to the unruly political problems that attend international trade …


The Convergence Of The Law Of State Responsibility For Injury To Aliens And International Human Rights Norms In The Revised Restatement, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

The Convergence Of The Law Of State Responsibility For Injury To Aliens And International Human Rights Norms In The Revised Restatement, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

The now celebrated (infamous to some) section 711 of the Restatement of Foreign Relations Law of the United States (Revised) is meant to replace the allegedly dated and obtuse black-letter content of sections 178 through 183 of the Restatement (Second) of Foreign Relations Law of the United States with more contemporary, subtle, and economical provisions. This Article briefly assesses the significance of these disclaimers against the unmistakable "new look" of section 711. Even upon initial perusal, the divergence in content and presentation between the existing provisions and the recommended formulation of the law of state responsibility for injury to aliens …


The 1976 Terrorism Amendment To The Foreign Assistance Act Of 1961, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Richard Lillich Apr 2016

The 1976 Terrorism Amendment To The Foreign Assistance Act Of 1961, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Richard Lillich

Thomas Carbonneau

Key to any successful attempt to combat international terrorism is the elimination of sanctuary and safe-haven for terrorists. The United States has pressed consistently for international agreements – the anti-hijacking conventions and the Internationally Protected Persons Convention being examples – requiring States either to prosecute or extradite international terrorists found within their borders. Because its efforts to establish a "basic extradite-or-prosecute obligation" have not met with general success, the U.S. has had to consider, among other alternatives, various unilateral responses to help curb terrorist activities. One obvious response, drawing upon a wealth of domestic precedents, involves the possible invocation of …


The Exercise Of Contract Freedom In The Making Of Arbitration Agreements, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

The Exercise Of Contract Freedom In The Making Of Arbitration Agreements, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

A universal principle of contemporary arbitration law is that contract plays a vital role in the governance of arbitration. The vitality of that role can vary by legal system, court,statute, or treaty. Nonetheless, party agreement often provides the most significant rules for regulating arbitrations and conducting arbitral proceedings. This is especially true in international commercial arbitration. There, the lack of a functional transborder legislativeand adjudicatory process made contract the principal source of law for internationalcommercial transactions and arbitrations. Although law-making is more possible withinindividual national legal systems, the rule of contract freedom is also firmly established inmatters of domestic arbitration. …


Linguistic Legislation And Transnational Commercial Activity: France & Belgium, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Linguistic Legislation And Transnational Commercial Activity: France & Belgium, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

For French and francophonic people, the continued vitality of their linguistic heritage is an integral part of their sense of national identity and cultural cohesiveness. The truth of this statement has been corroborated recently by legislative enactments in France and in Belgium which prescribe and/or recommend the use of French in certain private commercial and governmental activity taking place within these countries. This legislation represents an attempt to provide a partial remedy to what has been perceived generally as the syntactical and lexical "contamination" of the French language resulting from the dominance of English or, more precisely, American English, in …


Judicial Experimentation With A Strict Products Liability Rule: A Comparison Of The Law In The United Kingdom, Louisiana, And United States' Common Law Jurisdictions, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Catherine Garvey Apr 2016

Judicial Experimentation With A Strict Products Liability Rule: A Comparison Of The Law In The United Kingdom, Louisiana, And United States' Common Law Jurisdictions, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Catherine Garvey

Thomas Carbonneau

Since the mid-nineteenth century, products liability law has undergone significant modifications. The applicable doctrine has oscillated between contract and tort theories; fault and no-fault liability schemes have competed for predominance. Despite attempts to create an internationally accepted liability norm, different legal systems continue to espouse differing perceptions of the liability formula in the products area. In addition, even in jurisdictions in which courts adhere to identical liability theories, there is disagreement as to the application and implications of the same standard. This article attempts to set the shifting doctrinal character of products liability analysis into a comparative perspective principally between …


Introduction: The Internationalization Of Law And Legal Practice, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Introduction: The Internationalization Of Law And Legal Practice, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

The Eason-Weinmann Colloquium entitled "The Internationalization of Law and Legal Practice," held in March 1988, addressed the challenges posed to conventional legal practice and rules of law by the evolution of the international marketplace. In light of the increasingly international character of commercial transactions, could or should disputes in transnational business ventures be adjudicated exclusively within national processes and according to domestic strictures? Does the character of these transactions portend the creation of a new genre of lawyering? Are current academic curricula adapted to the molding of this new breed of lawyers? Is a functional international bar possible? Do we …


Rendering Arbitral Awards With Reasons: The Elaboration Of Common Law Of International Transactions, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Rendering Arbitral Awards With Reasons: The Elaboration Of Common Law Of International Transactions, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

With the growth of international trade, arbitration has emerged as the preferred remedy for resolving private international commercial disputes. In fact, among major Western legal systems such as those of England, the United States and France, statutory and decisional law developments indicate a nearly complete acceptance of international arbitral adjudication. This recognition of arbitral procedure and the enforcement of awards, which are given uniform legal recognition and enforcement by domestic legal systems, either as provisions in international conventions or as principles of national statutory or decisional law. These rules, in effect, represent an international consensus on arbitration and constitute a …


Judicial Approbation In Building The Civilization Of Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Judicial Approbation In Building The Civilization Of Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

This article describes and assesses the work of three national courts in regard to arbitration. The English experience demonstrates that judicial diffidence toward arbitration and concomitant reverence for the cohesion of substantive law can hamper the acceptance and function of arbitration within the legal system. The French and American experiences attest to a contradistinctive use of judicial authority in regard to arbitration. In both legal systems, the courts have been instrumental to the elaboration of a receptive and accommodating law on arbitration. In these legal systems, legislative enactments are used as a springboard for developing a judicial policy and decisional …


Commercial Peace And Political Competition In The Crosshairs Of International Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Commercial Peace And Political Competition In The Crosshairs Of International Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

This article examines the mixed effect of arbitration upon the generation of international law norms; in particular, how arbitration can generate private law norms so effectively and yet still face strong resistance in public international law processes and controversies. The work of arbitration for international commercial litigation has been nothing less than spectacular. In both the private international and domestic civil contexts, arbitration has provided viable remedial solutions and functional adjudication when the law was either nonexistent or incapacitated. It has supplied a workable and adaptable trial system, which-on the international side-could also generate substantive legal norms. Arbitration thereby has …


Debating The Proper Role Of National Law Under The New York Convention, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Debating The Proper Role Of National Law Under The New York Convention, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

One of the many consequences of the progressive development of globalization apparently has been to incite a vigorous debate among leading members of the international arbitral community about the role of national law in implementing the enforcement regime of the New York Arbitration Convention (Convention). The debate was provoked by federal court rulings in two recent cases: Chromalloy Aeroservices v. Arab Republic of Egypt (Chromalloy) and Alghanim & Sons v. Toys"R" Us (Toys "R" Us). Prior to these opinions, there appeared to have been an implicit consensus in the international community regarding the "anational"character of …


Cartesian Logic And Frontier Politics: French And American Concepts Of Arbitrability, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Francois Janson Apr 2016

Cartesian Logic And Frontier Politics: French And American Concepts Of Arbitrability, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Francois Janson

Thomas Carbonneau

This comparative essay represents an attempt to introduce a measure of counterpoise in a growing and much-heralded development in the world law of arbitration. Recent decisional law in the United States, France, and other countries have challenged the strategic significance of the concept of arbitrability in the legal regulation of arbitration. The essay seeks, first, to clarify the function of arbitrability in the law of arbitration and, second, to argue against its judicial deconstruction in either the international or domestic context. The key objective of the analysis is to demonstrate the vital role of demarcation that arbitrability plays between state …


Arguments In Favor Of The Triumph Of Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Arguments In Favor Of The Triumph Of Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

Arbitration is not just another trial procedure. It epitomizes a practical understanding of the purpose and value of adjudicatory procedures. It poses a substantial challenge to adversarial litigation by exposing its underlying irrationality and its destructive impact upon society. It guarantees the rule of law domestically and internationally through affordable access, expedited proceedings, expertise, and bridging the gap between national legal systems. It is a valuable institution that should not become a pawn in the tired and unimaginative political discourse that substitutes 'talking points' for genuine reflection and debate. The gravamen of the current attack on arbitration is not the …


Balzacian Legality, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Balzacian Legality, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

The study of law and literature is an area of growing interest to legal scholars in the United States. Honore de Balzac incorporated in his works a panoramic view of the social reality of nineteenth century France. In this context, the fidelity of Balzac's plots and characters to their external models has been well-documented in a number of fields, including sociology, commerce, and finance. In addition to this penchant for realism, however, Balzac laced his novels with an equally evident moral content. This commitment to accuracy and morality also influenced Balzac's novelistic treatment of the law and lawyers. Balzac's work …


Introduction To Symposium: Achieving Justice In Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Introduction To Symposium: Achieving Justice In Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

This symposium attests to the depth of scholarship that now surrounds the law of arbitration and to arbitration's widening adjudicatory mission in matters international and domestic. Authored by senior and emerging scholars who share a commitment to professional excellence, the various contributions not only assure continuity in arbitral scholarship, but also underscore the growing sophistication of arbitral practice and illustrate the complexity of the relationship between arbitration and the legal process. This symposium represents an inquiry into the convergence and divergence of legal and arbitral adjudicatory values and what impact these similarities and differences might have upon the functioning and …


Freedom And Governance In U.S. Arbitration Law, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Freedom And Governance In U.S. Arbitration Law, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

Arbitration has long served as a contractual substitute for judicial litigation. It provided a workable and effective form of adjudication in ancient societies and among religious groups, much as it does in contemporary times. Its long-standing appeal resides in enabling parties to choose a private adjudicatory mechanism based upon expertise and expedition that delivers fair, affordable, and enforceable outcomes. Arbitral adjudication effectively intermediates between the need for functional trial procedures and the imperative of safeguarding legal rights. Rights cannot be vindicated if the applicable hearing mechanisms are inaccessible and inefficient. The protracted puffery of lawyers is not a feasible solution …


Arbitral Law-Making, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Arbitral Law-Making, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

Diversity--of a cultural, economic, religious, and political kind—exists not only among nation-states and in the sources and interpretation of international law, but also among the group of commentators who study the interactions of transborder actors and institutions. For example, sociologists interested in the global community seek to identify emerging entities and activities and to elaborate conceptual models that explain the new differentiations within the traditional pattern. Some of them have a mounting interest in the fashioning of transborder commercial justice by international arbitrators and private arbitral institutions. Who are these new players? How did they acquire their mandate? Further, how …


Introduction - Denver Journal Of International Law And Policy, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Introduction - Denver Journal Of International Law And Policy, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

The reconciliation of national law with a transborder standard is at the heart of the European enterprise to create an integrated legal process. Such reconciliation is also necessary to establish a unified political community with common core values. The various cases that are analyzed in this issue address critical questions of law and policy, and demonstrate the court’s progress in elaborating a communitarian practice in the various subject areas. In the cases that are studied, the ECJ rendered preliminary rulings on previously unresolved issues of Community law. The ECJ has the power under Article 177 ofthe EC Treaty to issue …


Arbitration And The U.S. Supreme Court: A Plea For Statutory Reform, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Arbitration And The U.S. Supreme Court: A Plea For Statutory Reform, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

This Article argues for stabilizing and preserving arbitration's necessary and valuable vocation in dispute resolution. It outlines the basic stages in the evolution of the American law of arbitration and studies the underlying motivation of each of its historical phases. It attributes vital significance to the legislative and decisional law developments that led to an early rehabilitation of arbitration in American law, beginning with the enactment of the United States Arbitration Act (FAA) in 1925 and continuing with the ratification of the New York Arbitration Convention and the elaboration of a "hospitable" federal caselaw. Eventually, these developments gave rise to …


Building The Civilization Of Arbitration - Introduction, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Building The Civilization Of Arbitration - Introduction, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

The U.S. Supreme Court's work product has generated a large and growing arbitration bar. It also has finally begun to stimulate a greater volume of academic activity on the topic of arbitration. The work of legal practitioners and academics,along with the courts' decisional law, are "Building a Civilization of Arbitration" that codifies advances and grapples with the controversial aspects of law-in-the making.The Penn State Dickinson School of Law takes great pride in welcoming a distinguished group of lawyers and law teachers to the pages of its Law Review.They are the leaders in the field of arbitration. Their contributions identify the …


Balzacian Legality: A Proposal For Natural Law Juridicial Standards Of Legality, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Balzacian Legality: A Proposal For Natural Law Juridicial Standards Of Legality, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

The task of the present article is twofold. First, it represents an attempt to make an original English language contribution to the continuing interdisciplinary inquiry, begun in France, into the presence of law in Balzac's The Human Comedy, by focusing upon themes and novels that have not been the subject of previous individual study. Second, it seeks to contribute to an area of growing interest to legal scholars in the United States – the study of law and literature – by providing an example of the insights one French novelist with legal training and experience had into questions that forever …