Agency Commons^™

Do Ais Dream Of Electric Boards?, Robert J. Rhee

Northwestern University Law Review

When artificial intelligence (AI) acquires self-awareness, agency, and unique intelligence, it will attain ontological personhood. Management of firms by AI would be technologically and economically feasible. The law could confer upon AI the status of legal personhood, as it did upon traditional business firms in the past, thus dispensing with the need for inserting AI as property within the legal boundary of a firm. As a separate and distinct entity, AI could function independently as a manager in the way that legal or natural persons do today: i.e., AI as director, officer, partner, member, or manager. Such a future is …

A New Era Of Accountability? The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act’S Pursuit Of Regulatory Equality, Robert Ruelas

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper discusses the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA) as a response to the long-standing regulatory disparities between U.S. and foreign firms listed on U.S. stock exchanges, with particular regard to foreign firms from China. The HFCAA requires that any firms listed on U.S. stock exchanges be subject to inspections by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) or face delisting, aiming to eliminate historic regulatory disparities. The paper begins by highlighting the historic regulatory gap in oversight resulting from China’s lack of cooperation with U.S. regulators and continues by discussing the investor harm from various scandals that could …

Without Unnecessary Delay: Using Army Regulation 190–8 To Curtail Extended Detention At Sea, Meghan Claire Hammond

Northwestern University Law Review

This Note analyzes instances of U.S. detention of suspected terrorists while at sea as an alternative to Guantánamo, and how this at-sea detention fits in the interplay of U.S. statutory law, procedural law, and applicable international law. Of particular interest is the dual use of military and civilian legal regimes to create a procedural-protection-free zone on board U.S. warships during a detainee’s transfer from their place of capture to the U.S. court system. The Note concludes that U.S. Army Regulation 190–8 contains language of which the purpose and intent may be analogized to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure requirements …

The Bayh–Dole Act & Public Rights In Federally Funded Inventions: Will The Agencies Ever Go Marching In?, Ryan Whalen

Northwestern University Law Review

For over thirty years, the Bayh–Dole Act has granted federal agencies the power to force the recipients of federal research funding to license the resulting inventions to third parties. Despite having this expansive power, no federal agency has ever seen fit to utilize it. This Note explores why Bayh–Dole march-in rights have never been used, and proposes reforms that would help ensure that, in the instances when they are most required, the public is able to access the inventions it bankrolled.

There have been five documented march-in petitions since the Bayh–Dole Act was passed into law. Each petition was dismissed …

Agency Rulemaking And Political Transitions, Anne Joseph O'Connell

Northwestern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Fda For Financial Innovation: Applying The Insurable Interest Doctrine To Twenty-First-Century Financial Markets, Eric A. Posner, E. Glen Weyl

Northwestern University Law Review

The financial crisis of 2008 was caused in part by speculative investment in complex derivatives. In enacting the Dodd–Frank Act, Congress sought to address the problem of speculative investment, but it merely transferred that authority to various agencies, which have not yet found a solution. We propose that when firms invent new financial products, they be forbidden to sell them until they receive approval from a government agency designed along the lines of the FDA, which screens pharmaceutical innovations. The agency would approve financial products if they satisfy a test for social utility that focuses on whether the product will …

Cross-Country Adoption: A Call To Action, Anthony D'Amato

Faculty Working Papers

Although a free press is an integral part of democratic governance, intercountry adoption is one case in which the media makes it virtually impossible for governments to send children abroad for adoption. A country (State A) which gives up a child for intercountry adoption should receive a "credit" for that child which will entitle any other family within State A that may want to adopt a child to priority on the list at the Vatican. The second major function for the Intercountry Adoption Agency might be called the "annual report" function. All adoptive parents who take a child from the …

The International Art Auction Industry: Has Competition Tarnished Its Finish, Brenna Adler

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

I argue that a stronger, more cohesive international regulation specially tailored to the auction industry is required in order to keep auction houses from committing unlawful behavior. Auction houses should not be considered merely businesses. Rather, special regulations are needed--regulations that take into account the unique goods that auction houses sell. Part I of this comment will describe auctioneers' duties to sellers under the law. I will compare and contrast the laws of the United States, the Netherlands, and France and focus on an American case that discusses the breach of an auctioneer's duty to the seller. Part II will …

Agency Law In The Arabian Peninsula And North Africa, Paul Homsy

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This article examines the agency laws of Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. These countries were chosen because they are representative of the different legal approaches to the regulation of agents in the Middle East. For example, Algeria and Iraq, which have state controlled economies, severely restrict the use of agents. Egypt has significantly relaxed state controls on its economy during the last decade and, in general permits the use of agents while retaining few restritions on their use in the sale of certain commodities. Saudi Arabi's free enterprise economy is dominated by public …

The Termination Of Agency And Distributorship Agreements: A Comparative Survey, A.H. Puelinckx, H.A. Tielemans

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The termination of agency agreements in most EEC Member States is regulated by statute, while the termination of distributorship agreements, with the exception of Belgium, is governed by case law. Messrs. Puelinckx and Tielemans first survey the state of the law governing the termination of agency and distributorship agreements in the EEC Member States and then discuss the efforts of the EEC to harmonize the national laws of the Member States in the area of commercial representation. The authors conclude by supporting the EEC harmonization effort relating to the laws regulating agency agreements and by calling for further efforts to …