Law Commons^™

The New European Choice-Of-Law Revolution, Ralf Michaels

Faculty Scholarship

Conflict of laws in Europe was long viewed by outsiders as formalist, antiquated, and uninteresting. Now that the European Union has become more active in the field, things are changing, but most view these changes as a mere gradual evolution. This is untrue. Actually, and fascinatingly, we are observing a real European conflicts revolution—in importance, radicalness, and irreversibility comparable to the twentieth-century American conflicts revolution. European developments go beyond the federalization of choice-of-law rules in EU regulations. In addition, EU choice of law is being constitutionalized, in particular through the principles of mutual recognition and the country-of-origin principle, along with …

The French Subjective Theory Of Contract: Separating Rhetoric From Reality, Wayne Barnes

Faculty Scholarship

Most of the world, including Anglo-American jurisdictions, conforms to the objective theory of contract, which posits that contract formation is determined by reference solely to external evidence of manifestations of assent. On the other hand, France uniquely clings to the rhetoric of its “subjective” theory of contract, championing the freedom of the individual and the autonomy of the will. France’s association with a subjective theory of contract is widely recognized and assumed. One would initially assume that the French subjectivist philosophy would result in dramatically different outcomes in actual cases, when compared with the objectivist rules-based perspective that obtains in …

Electronic Tax Fraud - Are There 'Sales Zappers' In Japan?, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

Although there is no public acknowledgement - in the press, in a court case, though any announcement by the Japanese National Tax Administration, or in any academic studies or papers - that Zappers and Phantom-ware are a fraud problem in Japan, a number of factors suggest that Japan may be very fertile ground for technology-assisted cash skimming fraud. Those factors include: (1) a high concentration of small to medium sized businesses; (2) the fact that the retail economy is highly cash-based; and (3) the high level of technology acceptance in the Japanese retail sector - electronic cash registers (ECRs) and …

Foreign Affairs, International Law, And The New Federalism: Lessons From Coordination, Robert B. Ahdieh

Faculty Scholarship

Even after the departure of two of its most prominent advocates - Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor - the federalism revolution initiated by the Supreme Court almost twenty years ago continues its onward advance. If recent court decisions and congressional legislation are any indication, in fact, it may have reached a new beachhead in the realm of foreign affairs and international law. The emerging federalism in foreign affairs and international law is of a distinct form, however, with distinct implications for the relationship of sub-national, national, and international institutions and interests.

This article - prepared for …

International And Comparative Aspects Of Trademark Dilution, Mark D. Janis, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

Extract:

In the United States, trademark antidilution protection is back—maybe. Proposed by Frank Schechter in the 1920s, adopted in various incarnations in some states over the next few decades, and ultimately introduced in a slightly different form in federal trademark law in 1995, the dilution provisions drew a cool reception in the courts. By the late 1990s, an increasingly restive judiciary was constraining the federal dilution provisions in various ways, most notably by requiring mark owners to prove actual dilution in order to establish liability, a requirement endorsed by the United States Supreme Court in Moseley v. V Secret Catalogue, …

Tales Of Two Regimes For Regulating Limited Liability Law Firms In The Us And Australia: Client Protection And Risk Management Lessons, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

This essay contrasts the regimes that allow limited liability partnerships in the US and fully incorporated legal practices in Australia. The essay argues that Australia has taken advantage of an opportunity to develop innovative and necessary regulation of law firm ethical infrastructure with the introduction of incorporated legal practices, but the United States has not yet adequately addressed the consumer and ethical risks of limited liability partnerships. This essay raises the issue of whether Australia’s requirement that incorporated law firms should implement “appropriate management systems” to ensure ethical conduct is a model that could fruitfully be applied to all law …

Zappers And Phantom-Ware At The Fta: Are They Listening Now?, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

When the Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA) held a national Compliance and Education Workshop in Louisville, Kentucky (February 25-27, 2001) one of the invited speakers was Kevin Pratt, Manager, Underground Economy, Canadian Customs and Revenue Authority (CCRA). He spoke on Zappers.

To the best of anyone's present recollection, this was the first time zappers had been discussed with a large group of state-level US tax compliance professionals. However, most of the information that the CCRA presented to the FTA in 2001 was not its own - it was derivative. Zapper investigations were not an in-house specialty of the CCRA (although …

A Comparative Perspective On Immigration Law For Same-Sex Couples: How The United States Compares To Other Industrialized Democracies, James D. Wilets

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Mtic (Carousel) Fraud: Twelve Ways Forward; Two Ways 'Preferred' - Has The Technology-Based Administrative Solution Been Rejected?, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

In a May 31, 2006 Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, and the European Economic and Social Committee, the European Commission indicated a need to develop a co-ordinated strategy to improve the fight against fiscal fraud [COM(2006) 254 final]. Although the Communication considers fiscal fraud broadly (VAT, excise duties and direct taxes) the most pressing need seems to be for a VAT strategy that will effectively deal with MTIC (Missing Trader Intra-Community) or carousel fraud. To this end the Commission hosted a conference: Fiscal Fraud - Tackling VAT Fraud: Possible Ways Forward. The March 29, 2007 conference was constructed …

El Precia Del Agua [Pricing Water], Carlos Gómez-Ligüerre, Vanessa Casado-Pérez, Ignacio Marín-García

Faculty Scholarship

En España, como en otros muchos países, el agua es un recurso escaso que se asigna ineficientemente. El Estado es su propietario y la asigna a precios políticos e inadecuados. Mientras que la agricultura absorbe dos tercios de este preciado bien, los hogares y la industria consumen sólo el 18 y el 13 % respectivamente. Este trabajo propone la creación de un mercado de derechos sobre el agua controlado por una agencia estatal, pues los costes de transacción son tan elevados que el resultado alcanzado a través de la negociación libre entre las partes no sería eficiente.

In Spain, as …

Zappers: Tax Fraud, Technology And Terrorist Funding, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

"Zappers," or automated sales suppression devices, have brought unheard of efficiencies and economies of scale to a very simple tax fraud - skimming cash sales at point of sale (POS) terminals (electronic cash registers). Until recently the largest tax fraud case in Connecticut, also the "largest computer driven tax-evasion case in the nation," was a zapper case. Stew Leonard's Dairy in Norwalk Connecticut skimmed $17 million in receipts and hid the cash in St. Martin (a Caribbean island). Talal Chahine and his wife, Elfat El Aouar, owners of the La Shish restaurant chain in Detroit Michigan have the dubious honor …

It-Apas - Vertical Harmonization Of Transfer - Pricing Standards, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

The World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have begun considering the harmonization of transfer pricing norms among income tax, customs and VAT regimes. Two conferences have been organized in May of 2006 and 2007.

These conferences have concluded so far: (a) that more analysis is needed; (b) that harmonization will require adjustments on all sides; and (c) that pilot projects (real world statutory and administrative efforts to harmonize) or case studies in harmonization (hypothetical fact patterns) are needed to facilitate consideration. This paper assesses the three basic paths being pursued at the present …

Doctrines Without Borders: The New Israeli Exclusionary Rule And The Challenges Of Legal Transplantation, Binyamin Blum

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The President’S Question Time: Power, Information, And The Executive Credibility Gap, Sudha Setty

Faculty Scholarship

The rule of law depends on a working separation of powers and transparency and accountability in government. If information is power, the ability of one branch of government to control information represents the ability to control federal legislation, policy, and decision-making. The Framers of the United States Constitution developed the Madisonian model of separated powers and functions, and a system of checks and balances to maintain those separations, with this in mind. History has shown a progressive shift of the power to control information toward the executive branch and away from the Legislature. Particularly when unified, one-party government precludes effective …

Nota Sobre El Contracte De Col·Laboració Publicoprivada [Notes On The Public-Private Partnership Contract], Vanessa Casado-Pérez

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Learning From Difference: The New Architecture Of Experimentalist Governance In The Eu, Charles F. Sabel, Jonathan Zeitlin

Faculty Scholarship

This article argues that current widespread characterisations of EU governance as multi-level and networked overlook the emergent architecture of the EU's public rule making. In this architecture, framework goals (such as full employment, social inclusion, good water status, a unified energy grid) and measures for gauging their achievement are established by joint action of the Member States and EU institutions. Lower-level units (such as national ministries or regulatory authorities and the actors with whom they collaborate) are given the freedom to advance these ends as they see fit. But in return for this autonomy, they must report regularly on their …

Beyond Manson And Lukolongo: A Critique Of American And Zambian Eyewitness Law With Recommendations For Reform In The Developing World, Nicholas A. Kahn-Fogel

Faculty Scholarship

This article is a comparative analysis of U.S. and Zambian eyewitness law. I analyze the two countries' approaches to eyewitness law in the context of the longstanding debate on whether rules or standards best effectuate underlying social values. With regard to the United States, I conclude that either a rule or a standard for admission of eyewitness evidence could provide effective protection of defendants' due process rights while also promoting the societal interest in admitting reliable proof of guilt. I then conduct the first comprehensive analysis of Zambian eyewitness cases and conclude that Zambian eyewitness law is, in some ways, …

The Transatlantic Divergence In Legal Thought: American Law And Economics Vs. German Doctrinalism, The, Kristoffel Grechenig, Martin Gelter

Faculty Scholarship

Law and economics has become an integral part of U.S. legal scholarship and the law school curriculum. Ever since the legal realist movement, scholars mostly view the law from an external perspective. It may be surprising to many in the United States that European legal scholarship has been largely resistant to this development. Law is typically viewed "from the inside," that is as an autonomous discipline independent from the other social sciences. Most legal scholarship is doctrinal, meaning that legal scholars employ interpretative methods in order to systematically expose the law and to find out what the law is, frequently …

Separating The Sony Sheep From The Grokster Goats: Reckoning The Future Business Plans Of Copyright-Dependent Technology Entrepeneurs, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

In MGM v. Grokster, the U.S. Supreme Court established that businesses built from the start on inducing copyright infringement will be held liable, as judges will frown on drawing one's start-up capital from other people's copyrights. The Court's elucidation of the elements of inducement suggests that even businesses not initially built on infringement, but in which infringement comes to play an increasingly profitable part, may find themselves liable unless they take good faith measures to forestall infringements. This Article addresses the evolution of the U.S. judge-made rules of secondary liability for copyright infringement, and the possible emergence of an obligation …

Overcoming Cultural Blindness In International Clinical Collaboration: The Divide Between Civil And Common Law Cultures And Its Implications For Clinical Education, Philip Genty

Faculty Scholarship

This essay reflects upon the work that U.S. clinical teachers have done in helping to bring clinical methodology to law schools in European civil law jurisdictions. The essay examines some of the differences between the U.S. common law and European civil law systems with respect to the conception, teaching, and practice of law. The essay suggests that U.S. clinical teachers have not been sufficiently sensitive to these differences in legal culture. The essay describes five core differences between the two systems and their implications for effective clinical education in civil law systems. The essay concludes with recommendations for future cross-cultural …

Patent Judicial Wisdom, Srividhya Ragavan

Faculty Scholarship

This paper discusses the role of the Indian Judiciary vis-A-vis the patent regime, but carefully avoids creating an exhaustive wish list. Instead, this paper uses illustrations from the United States to draw valuable lessons. Importantly, the paper does not advocate that the Indian Judiciary emulate the United States judiciary. In fact, conventional wisdom dictates that copying the policies or precedents of the West does not always work in developing countries given the stark differences in ground realities like poverty, investments, infrastructure, and other such indicators. Instead, the judicial wisdom that characterizes each of the illustrations sets the common thread for …

Scandal, Sukyandaru, And Chouwen, Benjamin L. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

Jose Canseco's use of steroids, the sale of used girls' underwear in Japan, penile mutilation, and the moral failings of both Bill Clinton and former Japanese Prime Minister Sosuke Uno are not topics that often appear side by side, much less in a scholarly work of comparative law. And few law professors have the chance to publish a book whose jacket features a picture of a scantily clad woman. In Secrets, Sex and Spectacle, Mark West does both. He also does much more, unraveling the interplay of social and legal rules that influence the formation of scandal and spectacle …

Competing Legal Cultures And Legal Reform: The Battle Of Chile, James Cooper

Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores the competition that exists between U.S. and German legal cultures and examines Chilean legal reform efforts since the late 1990s as a case study of this competition. A country's legal culture is comprised of the self-governing rules and operations of national and regional bar associations, the format of legal education, the structure of the legal and judicial profession, the role of the judiciary, jurisprudential style, and the reputation of the legal sector according to the general public. The influence of predominant legal cultures on developing nations has been explored in a number of contexts, while the importance …

Proyecto Acceso: The Use Of Popular Culture To Build The Rule Of Law In Latin America, James Cooper

Faculty Scholarship

This article is about developing the rule of law in Latin America using popular popular culture and modeling the United States' experience.