Law Commons^™

Federal Constitutions, Global Governance, And The Role Of Forests In Regulating Climate Change, Blake Hudson

Indiana Law Journal

Federal systems of government present more difficulties for international treaty formation than perhaps any other form of governance. Federal constitutions that grant subnational governments virtually exclusive regulatory authority over certain subject matter may constrain national governments during international negotiations—a national government that cannot constitutionally bind subnational governments to an international agreement cannot freely arrange its international obligations. While federal nations that grant subnational governments exclusive regulatory control obviously place value on stringent decentralization and the benefits it provides in those regulatory areas, the difficulty lies in striking a balance between global governance and constitutional decentralization in federal systems. Recent scholarship …

Let's Talk About Text: Contracts, Claims, And Judicial Philosophy At The Federal Circuit, Andrew T. Langford

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

Will The Rotterdam Rules Be Accepted? A Liner Cargo Interest Perspective, Mary Brooks, Jason Mackey

Dalhousie Law Journal

The paper begins with some background on modern liner shipping and cargo interest perspectives before considering the Rotterdam Rules 2008 (The Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea), which could ultimately replace Canada's existing carriage of goods legislation. The authors explore the key issues arising from the implementation of the Rules, and discuss why, from a manufactured goods perspective, there will likely be limited acceptance by cargo owners. They conclude that the gains made in the areas of electronic documentation and greater clarity on delay, as well as altered limits of liability do …

Access To Consumer Remedies In The Squeaky Wheel System , Amy J. Schmitz

Pepperdine Law Review

This article explores the “Squeaky Wheel System” (“SWS”) in business-to-consumer (“B2C”) contexts, referring to merchants’ reservation of purchase remedies and other contract benefits for only the relatively few “squeaky wheel” consumers who have the requisite information and resources to persistently seek assistance. The article uncovers how this system fosters contractual discrimination and hinders consumers’ awareness and access with respect to contract remedies. It also adds empirical insights from my recent e-survey, and offers suggestions for using the internet to empower consumers of all economic and status levels with efficient and accessible means for learning about their purchase rights and asserting …

Cyberinfants , Cheryl B. Preston

Pepperdine Law Review

Teens have emerged as a significant market segment, especially with respect to online goods and services. This increased market presence is likely to foreground the contract infancy doctrine, which permits a person under age eighteen to void a contract with a few exceptions. This article provides solid foundations for a discussion of where the doctrine fits in the face of a rising youth market and the digital revolution. Part II covers the general parameters of the infancy doctrine and dispels the notion that the doctrine will not be applicable to online services. This part critiques the one case that has …

Devil In The Bidding Detail, Lisa E. Sachs, Jacky Mandelbaum, Perrine Toledano

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In light of the recent boom in natural resource prices, India is one of them many countries facing heightened scrutiny of the allocation and terms of their resource deals. In India, that scrutiny has uncovered a multi-billion dollar controversy over coal block allocations that has gridlocked Parliament. More generally, citizens in resource-producing countries around the world are asking whether the public is getting a fair value for their countries resources, or whether investors and politicians are walking away with the prize. Finally, the important questions are being asked: how should resources be managed to ensure that they benefit the citizenry, …

Reisurance: The Silent Regulator?, Aviva Abramovsky

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

Abstract This Essay suggests that a discussion on insurance regulation should include a consideration of the effect reinsurance may have on the behavior of insurers. The Essay reviews the traditional types of reinsurance, and considers the ability of private reinsurance contracts to produce insurer action. This essay suggests if reinsurance is not included in a holistic examination of the field, its realities have the capacity to misdirect insurance regulatory assumptions. Moreover, reinsurance works as a source of independent and often unexamined contractual influence on insurer activity, and as a potential source of interference with regulatory proposals. Even though reinsurance is …

Contract Law's Inefficiency, David M. Driesen

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

Neoclassical economic theory seems to aptly characterize contract law’s essence. Contracts enable two parties to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, thereby facilitating economically efficient transactions. It would seem to follow that the achievement of economic efficiency serves as contract law’s major goal. This article, however, examines an alternative hypothesis, that contract law is about enforcing inefficient bargains in order to provide enough security to facilitate cooperation among economic actors over long periods of time. On this account, contract law manages change over time, rather than achieves static efficiency. While recognizing that parties execute contracts in order to realize an efficient …

The Rise And Fall Of Crossmann: The South Carolina Supreme Court's Double Take On Whether A Cgl Insurance Policy Covers Progressive Property Damage Resulting From Faulty Workmanship, John C. Bruton

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Promise And Private Law, Nathan B. Oman

Faculty Publications

This essay was part of a symposium on the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of Charles Fried's Contract as Promise and revisits Fried's theory in light of two developments in the private-law scholarship: the rise of corrective justice and civil-recourse theories. The structural features that motivate these theories-the bilateralism of damages and the private standing of plaintiffs-are both elements of the law of contracts that Contract as Promise sets out to explain. I begin with the issue of bilateralism. Remedies--in particular the defense of expectation damages--occupy much of Fried's attention in Contract as Promise, and he insists that this particular …

Paper On The Business Case For Transparency, Perrine Toledano

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

CCSI strongly supports the transparency of contracts and tax flows. CCSI shares the belief of many stakeholders that transparency is essential to leverage extractive industries for sustainable development and is in the mutual interest of all stakeholders. However, some industry players continue to voice the concern that increased transparency would be harmful for their business. Therefore, CCSI is working to also establish the business case for transparency.

In one such case, some industry players have been lobbying against the regulations developed by the Security and Exchange Commission to implement the mandatory disclosure provisions of the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform …

Then I Saw The Contract, Now I'M A Believer: Why "Concept Groups" Are "Works For Hire" And Cannot Invoke Statutory Termination Rights After 2013, Daniel Porter

Northern Illinois University Law Review

The year 2013 will mark the first opportunity for musicians to exercise the copyright assignment termination rights granted by § 203 of the Copyright Act of 1976. In theory, exercising these termination rights will allow artists to reclaim the rights to their songs and albums which they had to assign to the various record companies as a means of recording, publishing, and selling their music. Artists that invest their creativity, musical talent, and time into making a successful record deserve to ultimately reap the benefits that flow from that success. On the other hand, artists that merely record songs written …

Contract Law Walks The Plank: Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc. V. Shute, Charles L. Knapp

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Vol. 3 No. 2, Spring 2012; Illinois Supreme Court: Overturn Thompson V. Gordon And Protect Design Professionals From Unbargained-For, Extra-Contractual Obligations, Daniel Nunney

Northern Illinois Law Review Supplement

This Note addresses how Illinois courts conduct contract interpretation and define the scope of contractual duties for design professionals. It discusses how the appellate court in Thompson v. Gordon improperly interpreted the contract in question, and how the court incorrectly followed applicable Illinois precedent when defining the scope of contractual duties for an engineer. It addresses the short- and long-term practical impacts of the Thompson decision, and also addresses a number of policy considerations associated with the majority's ruling. In sum, this Note advocates that it was necessary for the Illinois Supreme Court to overturn the Thompson decision.

Contracting Around Ruaa: Default Rules, Mandatory Rules, And Judicial Review Of Arbitral Awards, Christopher R. Drahozal

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

By specifying that its provisions generally are default rules and listing particular exceptions, the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act (“RUAA”) provides much needed certainty and avoids unnecessary litigation, at least compared to the Federal Arbitration Act, which does not always identify which of its provisions are default rules. In one important respect, however, RUAA jettisons that valuable certainty. The RUAA drafters left open (or at least sought to leave open) the question whether parties can contract to expand the grounds for judicial review of arbitration awards beyond those set out in the statute. In other words, the drafters purported not to …

Assessing Exclusion Clauses: The Supreme Court Of Canada's Three Issue Framework In Tercon Contractors Ltd V British Columbia (Transportation And Highways), Shannon O'Byrne

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Supreme Court of Canada's 2010 decision in Tercon Contractors Ltd v British Columbia (Transportation and Highways) concerned the enforceability of a broadly drafted exclusion clause in the context of public procurement tendering. It is noteworthy for several reasons. First, the decision unanimously articulated a three-issue framework for determining the enforceability of exclusion clauses. Second, and on a more theoretical front, Tercon offered competing visions as to how contracts are to be interpreted. Though the Supreme Court was unanimous that parties to a contract should-of course-generally be bound by its terms, the majority and dissent followed significantly different paths for …

After Class: Aggregate Litigation In The Wake Of At&T; Mobility V Concepcion, Myriam E. Gilles, Gary Friedman

Articles

Class actions are on the ropes. Courts in recent years have ramped up the standards governing the certification of damages classes and created new standing requirements for consumer class actions. Most recently, in Wal-Mart v Dukes, the Supreme Court articulated a new and highly restrictive interpretation of the commonality requirement of Rule 23(a). But all of this pales in comparison to the Court's April 2011 decision in AT&T Mobility v Concepcion, broadly validating arbitration provisions containing class action waivers. The precise reach of Concepcion warrants close scrutiny. Our analysis suggests that following Concepcion, some plaintiffs will be able to successfully …

The Limits Of Limiting Liability In The Battle Of The Forms: U.C.C. Section 2-207 And The "Material Alteration" Inquiry, Colin P. Marks

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Contracts Hb 30, Georgia State University Law Review

Georgia State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Contracts Course Survey, Mark L. Roark

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Alumni Association Of The Arab Orthodox School In Haifa V. Minister Of Finance, Miriam Naor, Dorit Beinisch, Eliezer Rivlin

Translated Opinions

Facts: The Budget Elements Law was amended in 2011 to include a new section 3b, which provided that if an entity that receives support or budgeting from the government incurs an expense that falls within any of several listed categories, the Minister of Finance can reduce the entity’s budget or support by an amount no greater than three times the size of the said expense. Of the categories listed, the petitioners focused their challenge on two of them: the first, sub-section 3b(b)(1), referring to an expense which was “in essence” a negation of the values of the State of Israel …

The Anti-Shari'a Movement And Oklahoma's Save Our State Amendment-Unconstitutional Discrimination Or Homeland Security?, Robert E. Michael

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

Legislation by statute or state constitutional amendment prohibiting the application in state courts of an ill defined "Shariah Law" and/or "international law" has passed or is in the process in over twenty states.'

Empirical Studies Of Contract, Zev J. Eigen

Faculty Working Papers

Since the mid 2000s, a cottage industry has slowly blossomed of empirical research dedicated to advancing accounts of contracts "on the books"--accounting for what contracts tend to purportedly obligate signers to do, and contracts "in action"--accounting for how contracting parties tend to behave. This article reviews this literature, which spans several disciplines, most notably law, economics, and management, identifying eight categories of empirical questions in common across all disciplines, highlighting key findings, points of consensus, and noting areas most pressingly in need of additional research.

Good Faith In International Arbitration, Bernardo M. Cremades

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Contract Theory And Some Realism About Employee Covenant Not To Compete Cases, Daniel P. O'Gorman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Legal Ethics For The Millennials Avoiding The Compromise Of Integrity, Helia Garrido Hull

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Independence And Impartiality Of Arbitrators: 3 Issues, Dominique Hascher

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Dog That Didn't Bark: Private Investment Funds And Relational Contracts In The Wake Of The Great Recession, Robert C. Illig

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

In the aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis, the contract rights of numerous hedge funds and venture capital funds were breached. These contracts were complex and sophisticated and had been negotiated at great time and expense. Yet despite all of the assumptions of neo-classical contracts theory, nothing happened. Practically none of these injured parties sued to enforce their rights. Professor Illig uses this dearth of litigation to conduct a form of natural experiment as to the value of contract law. Discrete market participants contracted before the crash and then pursued their rights in court afterwards, while relational market participants contracted …

Private Transfer Fees: Developer Exploitation Or Legitimate Financing Vehicle, Burke T. Ward, Jamie P. Hopkins

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

A private transfer fee (PTF) is typically created when a developer or homeowner decides to attach a covenant to the title of the home. This covenant, the PTF covenant, attaches the PTF to the real property. These covenants require payment of a fee—typically stated as one percent of the property's sale price—upon each resale or transfer of the property and often survive for a period of ninety-nine years. The recipients or owners of the PTF (PTF beneficiaries) can be almost anyone, including property developers, PTF developers, home owner associations (HOA), private investors, state governments, and non-profit charities. Usually, the PTF …

Access To Consumer Remedies In The Squeaky Wheel System, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

This article explores the “Squeaky Wheel System” (“SWS”) in business-to-consumer (“B2C”) contexts, referring to merchants’ reservation of purchase remedies and other contract benefits for only the relatively few “squeaky wheel” consumers who have the requisite information and resources to persistently seek assistance. The article uncovers how this system fosters contractual discrimination and hinders consumers’ awareness and access with respect to contract remedies. It also adds empirical insights from my recent e-survey, and offers suggestions for using the internet to empower consumers of all economic and status levels with efficient and accessible means for learning about their purchase rights and asserting …