Law Commons^™

The European Alternative To Uniformity In Corporation Laws, Alfred F. Conard

Michigan Law Review

Although the European Communities chose many patterns of business law that were parallel to the American, they deliberately rejected the American freedom of each state to frame its corporation law to suit itself. They decided to impose not complete uniformity, but a degree of "coordination" of "equivalent safeguards" that they deemed appropriate to the existence of an economic union. Leading commentators have described the process as "harmonization."

The decision to coordinate stimulates reflection on the relative merits of the American system of giving states a free choice of corporation regimes, restricted only marginally by federal securities regulation, and the European …

The Second Circuit's Role In Expanding The Sec's Jurisdiction Abroad, Roberta S. Karmel

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

L'Harmonie Dissonante: Strict Products Liability Attempted In The European Community, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

International Securities Regulation: London's "Big Bang" And The European Securities Markets, Roberta S. Karmel

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Privatization And Foreign Investment In Czechoslovakia: The Legal Dimension, Vratislav Pechota

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Essay is intended to outline the legal developments in Czechoslovakia since the November 1989 revolution, which ended forty-one years of Communist domination. The new era, inaugurated by the revolution, began with a painstaking search for a political and constitutional model and for a strategy of socio-economic development that would make the country's transition to democracy and prosperity as smooth and painless as possible.

Rebirth Of A Nation: The Difficulties Of Transition In Eastern And Central Europe, J. French Hill

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The 1980s will go down in history as the Decade of Democracy. Latin America, Europe, and even parts of Africa saw remarkable gains in political pluralism and individual freedoms, but nowhere was this more pronounced than in central and eastern Europe and the Balkans.

As Timothy Garton Ash chronicled in his inspiring essays, The Magic Lantern, the movements of a people from totalitarianism to freedom were remarkably peaceful. Once started, the speed was breathtaking. This dash toward freedom is epitomized in Ash's quip made famous by playwright, turned President, Vaclav Havel: "In Poland it took ten years, in Hungary ten …

Investing In Czechoslovakia, Richard Sumann

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Students once asked the famous British Professor John Maynard Keynes about the long-term effects of his regulatory policies. His answer was that in the long run, we are all dead. We have quite a different philosophy. In the long run, we want to be all better off. And we understand that to be better off, it means the introduction of a market economy and a free, democratic society. Converting the rigid, centrally planned economies of Central and Eastern Europe into flexible, efficient, motivated, market-oriented economies and societies may affect your future. In fact, it will affect Europe and the world …

Eastern Europe: Observations And Investment Strategies, Marek Wierzbowski

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

It is my impression that right now an American lawyer has no problem getting acquainted with East European laws concerning foreign investment. There are so many translations now in this country that almost every new law is immediately translated into English. The American lawyer can get to this text at almost the same time as the East European lawyer can get to it.

So it is very easy to get acquainted with legal texts of the most important laws from the point of view of foreign investors, but there are some traps. And it is my impression that when lawyers …

A Changing Europe, Joe M. Rodgers, Ambassador

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Those of you who have been here all day have heard some people that really understand what is going on in Eastern Europe, people from those countries, and experts in those subjects. I am going to take a little different approach. I am going to talk about Europe, and why I think it is at the real leading edge of global change today as we know our economic and political systems. There are four things happening in Europe today, any one of which would have an impact, or will have an impact, on the future as you young people know …

Observations Of A Latvian Practitioner, Valentin Blueger

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

After having heard so many distinctive speakers, I thought of what might be of interest more specifically on a few issues. You can certainly understand that there is a lot in common among all of the countries of Eastern Europe right now. There are a few topics that were mentioned in every speech. There is privatization, the monopolization of the economy, and the transformation of the system into a free market society.

In the Soviet Union, there has been a very contradictive process going on within the last six months. Everything said before in terms of changing the system appears …

A Duty To Warn: One American View Of The Ec Products Liability Directive, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Short V. The Kingdom Of The Netherlands: Is It Time To Renegotiate The Nato Status Of Forces Agreement?, Steven J. Lepper

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Major Lepper examines an apparent irreconcilability between the NATO Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as reflected in the recent Dutch High Court decision of Short v. The Kingdom of the Netherlands. Staff Sergeant Short, a member of the United States Air Force, was charged with the murder of his wife. Under the SOFA, the Netherlands was obligated to surrender Short to the United States. It refused, basing its actions on its adherence to the ECHR and its concerns about the possible implementation of the death penalty in the United States.

The ECHR …

United States Punitive Damage Awards In German Courts: The Evolving German Position On Service And Enforcement, Klaus J. Beucher, John B. Sandage

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article addresses the problems United States plaintiffs may face when seeking enforcement of United States court awards of punitive damages in German courts. The authors show the close relationship between service of process and subsequent enforcement procedures in Germany. The analysis focuses on two recent German court decisions that provide indications of how German courts might respond to requests to serve process and to enforce judgments in actions seeking punitive or multiple damages. The fundamentally different approaches to punitive damages taken by the German and the United States legal systems create the difficulties encountered when these two systems intersect. …

Books Received, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Books Received

GOOD FAITH IN ENGLISH LAW

By J.F. O'Connor

Brookfield, Vermont: Dartmouth Publishing Company, 1990. Pp. 148.

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LAW AND ISLAM IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Edited by Daisy Hilse Dwyer

New York, New York: Bergin & Garvey, 1990. Pp. 168.

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INTERNATIONAL SECURITIES REGULATION

By Norman S. Poser

Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown and Company, 1991. Pp. 799.

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COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL FEDERALISM

Edited by MarkTushnet

Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1990. Pp. 157.

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ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AND U.S. TRADE

By Michael P. Melloy

Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown and Company, 1990. Pp. 752.

European Community Competition Law And National Competition Laws, Joachim Zekoll

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines conflicts between the European Community (EC or Community) competition rules and the corresponding laws of the Federal Republic of Germany in three case categories. Professor Zekoll first discusses situations in which corporate practices or agreements violate EC law, but are considered legal under German law. He then analyzes frictions that may arise when both EC and German laws are violated. In both of these case categories, Community law prevails over conflicting solutions under German law. However, considerable doubt exists about the primacy of Community law with respect to the third category involving practices that violate German law, …

The Pursuit Of Television Broadcasting Activities In The European Community, Timothy M. Lupinacci

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In October 1989, the foreign ministers of the European Community (EC or Community) approved a Directive governing the "pursuit" of trans-European television broadcasting beginning in 1992. Controversial article 4 of the Directive requires Member States to devote a majority of their television air time to European-produced programs. Although the Community Council maintains that the quota is merely "a political commitment" intended to preserve Europe's cultural heritage, the United States challenges the legality of the quota as economic protectionism under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and section 301 of the United States Trade Act, as amended by the …

Green Law-Making: A Primer On The European Community's Environmental Legislative Process, Michael S. Feeley, Peter M. Gilhuly

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The birth of the European Common Market marks a new era of multistate environmental regulation that will radically affect commercial activity. This Article examines the European Community's (EC) background, institutions, and legislative process to elucidate how this environmental regime is developing. Following a brief introduction, Part II sets forth the EC's background, presenting its history and the general framework in which its law applies. Part III describes the EC's major institutions. Part IV discusses forms of EC legislation, with an emphasis on the use of directives. Part V considers legislative processes by which the EC enacts laws, including the new …

Changing The World Economies: A Model For Applying United States Countervailing Duty Law To Exported Products From A Unified Germany, 25 J. Marshall L. Rev. 81 (1991), Charles P. Romaker

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Privatization In Eastern Europe: Impractical, But Not Impossible, Andrzej Rapaczynski

Faculty Scholarship

The most important thing that must be understood by anyone thinking about Eastern European privatization is that the word "privatization," although correct, is somewhat misleading. It is misleading because it brings to mind the operations performed in many other countries where state-owned companies have been sold to private individuals. It is very important to understand that the significance of privatization and the practicality of privatization in Eastern Europe are quite different. The most important thing is that the main task of privatization is not to transfer ownership from one party to another-like that successfully done in England-but rather to create …

Article 235 Of The Treaty Establishing The European Economic Community: Potential Conflicts Between The Dynamics Of Lawmaking In The Community And National Constitutional Principles, Franziska Tschofen

Michigan Journal of International Law

The purpose of this essay is to analyze the extent to which the present interpretation and application of article 235 of the Treaty appears to be incompatible with basic national constitutional safeguards such as the principles of democracy, the "Rule of Law," sovereignty and federalism and to discuss ways to reconcile potential incompatibilities. To this end, Part I will explore the scope of the authority of EEC organs under article 235 as delimited by the European Court of Justice and legal scholars. Part II will analyze potential conflicts between Community powers exercised pursuant to article 235 of the Treaty and …

German Unification: Constitutional And International Implications, Albrecht Randelzhofer

Michigan Journal of International Law

A discussion about the legal problems of German unification, taking into account the realms of German constitutional law, public international law, and the law of the European Communities.

German Constitutionalism: A Prolegomenon, Donald P. Kommers

Journal Articles

This essay sets out to describe the main features of German constitutionalism, and it concludes by drawing some comparisons with the United States. The term "constitutionalism," however, suffers from the vice of vagueness. As Gerhard Casper has written, "it is neither clearly prescriptive nor clearly descriptive; its contours are difficult to discern; its historical roots are diverse and uncertain." Any attempt to explore the contours and roots of German constitutionalism in the global sense suggested by Casper's comment would be a major undertaking extending far beyond the limits of this study. As used here the term shall be limited to …

Constitutional Politics In Poland: A Report On The Constitutional Committee Of The Polish Parliament, Andrzej Rapaczynski

Faculty Scholarship

This Article is neither a comprehensive historical account of the work of the Constitutional Committee of the Polish Parliament nor a theoretical synthesis of recent constitutional developments in Poland. Rather, it is a mixture of theory, anecdote, and personal reminiscence that I feel at this point most capable of providing. As will be seen, the work on the new Polish constitution has in some ways been overtaken by events that unfortunately have always lurked in the background of the drafters' work and influenced their decisions. In fact, it is not clear that Poland will enact anything resembling the draft prepared …

1992: The Case Of Financial Services, Caroline Bradley

Articles

No abstract provided.

Competitive Deregulation Of Financial Services Activity In Europe After 1992, Caroline Bradley

Articles

No abstract provided.

Introduction, George A. Bermann

Faculty Scholarship

As recent pages of this journal and and any other number of indicators would suggest, legal developments in the European Community (EC or Community) have sparked unprecedented interest on the part of the American legal profession. That this journal, five or ten years ago, would have devoted an entire issue to these developments, while not unimaginable, was unlikely. Today, however, changes in the world legal community's focus make the choice of topic seem quite obvious. The question now seems not to be whether or even when to address the Community, but rather what specific areas to address and how to …