Banking and Finance Law Commons^™

From Systemic Risk To Financial Scandals: The Shortcomings Of U.S. Hedge Fund Regulation, Marco Bodellini

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In the recent past, hedge funds have demonstrated that they can pose and spread systemic risk across the financial markets, and that their managers can use them to commit fraud and misappropriation of fund assets. Even if the first issue now seems to be considered a serious one by the U.S. legislature, which in 2010, as a legislative response to the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, enacted the Dodd-Frank Act Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), the current regulation still appears inconsistent and inappropriate to prevent and face it. By contrast, the second issue is not always considered …

A Bridge Too Far: A Critical Analysis Of The Securities And Exchange Commission's Approach To Equity Market Regulation, John Polise

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Using the framework articulated by Thomas S. Kuhn in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, this Article traces the evolution of equity market regulation in terms of its epistemological foundations and operative paradigms. It examines the SEC’s growth from a more passive partner with the securities industry to being an aggressive and perhaps overly intrusive arbiter of equity market operations. This Article identifies two distinct paradigms of securities regulation—the “Self-Regulatory Paradigm” and the “Micro-Intervention Paradigm.” The Self-Regulatory Paradigm and the Micro-Intervention Paradigm are not compatible, and this Article explains how the intellectual dissonance between them ultimately allowed the Micro-Intervention …

Full Disclosure: Moving Beyond Disclosure Regulations To Affirmative Regulation Of Executive Compensation, Christopher Saverino

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In the period following the financial crisis of 2008, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), which compelled the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to engage in substantial rulemaking. The Dodd-Frank mandate in Section 953(b) required the SEC to promulgate a rule, which it eventually finalized and is currently known as Pay Ratio Disclosure. Historically, SEC rulemaking has received great deference when rules are judicially challenged. However, following the passage of Dodd-Frank, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has begun to grant less deference to SEC rulemaking where it has found that the SEC has …

Accountability In Corporate Governance In China And The Impact Of Guanxi As A Double-Edged Sword, Andrew Keay, Jingchen Zhao

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Accountability is an essential aspect of corporate governance and it has been argued that the “wenze” system of accountability in China comes very close to the accountability systems developed in Anglo-American corporate governance. This Article examines the role of cultural factors, namely guanxi and its derivatives, in corporate governance in China to determine what effect, if any, these cultural factors have on the operation and development of the “wenze” system in large listed companies. The Article specifically considers whether the cultural elements affect accountability, and if so, how and to what extent. It also explores whether these cultural factors are …

Challenging Nonbank Sifi Designations: Ge, Metlife, And The Need For Reform, Drita Dokic

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act created, among other things, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), an entity within the U.S. Department of the Treasury tasked with assessing and mitigating financial risk. Financial institutions with over $50 billion in assets are automatically deemed “systemically important.” However, under the Dodd-Frank Act, FSOC has the authority to designate non-bank companies engaged in financial activity as systemically important as well. Once designated as a systemically important financial institution (SIFI), these companies are subject to enhanced regulation and supervision by the Federal Reserve. Because the costs associated with such enhanced regulation …

Ceo Side Payments In Mergers And Acquisitions, Brian Broughman

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In addition to golden parachutes, CEOs often negotiate for personal side payments in connection with the sale of their firms. Side payments differ from golden parachutes in that they are negotiated ex post in connection with a specific acquisition proposal, whereas golden parachutes are part of the executive’s employment agreement negotiated when she is hired. While side payments may benefit shareholders by countering managerial resistance to an efficient sale, they can also be used to redistribute merger proceeds to management. This Article highlights an overlooked distinction between pre-merger golden parachutes and merger side payments. Similar to a legislative rider attached …

Brother, Can You Spare A Dollar? Designing An Effective Framework For Foreign Currency Liquidity Assistance, Dan Awrey

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The core principles of financial crisis management call upon central banks to lend freely, against good quality collateral, and at a penalty rate of interest, to solvent but illiquid banks and other financial institutions during periods of widespread panic and instability. While often taken for granted, these principles were designed for a world in which central banks have the capacity to create money denominated in the same currency as the one in which domestic banks and other financial institutions issue deposits and other short-term liabilities.

Unfortunately, this is not the world in which we live. The application of these principles …

Are Bank Fiduciaries Special?, Robert C. Hockett

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

A growing body of post-crisis legal and economic literature suggests that future financial crises might be averted by tinkering with the internal governance structures of banks and other financial institutions. In particular, contributors to this literature propose tightening the fiduciary duties under which officers and directors of the relevant financial institutions labor. I argue in this symposium article that such proposals are doomed to failure under all circumstances save one - namely, that under which the relevant financial institutions are in whole or in part treated as publicly owned.

The argument proceeds in two parts. I first show that the …

Consumer Credit In America: Past, Present, And Future, Pamela Foohey, Jim Hawkins, Creola Johnson, Nathalie Martin

Faculty Scholarship

We began organizing this symposium at the start of 2016 with the recognition that consumer credit and financial services were in a state of flux prompted in significant part by the Great Recession. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act brought with it the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB’s creation marked the most significant moment in modern American consumer law. Consumers gained an advocate charged with protecting them through researching, monitoring, and regulating the providers of consumer financial products and services, enforcing federal consumer financial protection laws, and, as importantly, empowering consumers.

การใช้มาตรการบรรเทาภาระภาษีมูลค่าเพิ่มซ้ำซ้อนให้กับเกษตรกรรายย่อย, ธนันท์เศรษฐ์ ศรีวิชัย

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

วิทยานิพนธ์ฉบับนี้ มุ่งศึกษาแนวทางและหลักการของมาตรการบรรเทาภาระภาษีมูลค่าเพิ่มซ้ำซ้อนของเกษตรกรรายย่อยในกลุ่มสหภาพยุโรปและประเทศสมาชิก เพื่อนำมาปรับใช้กับปัญหาการยกเว้นภาษีมูลค่าเพิ่มของเกษตรกรในประเทศไทย ตามมาตรา 81 (1) (ก) และ (ข) แห่งประมวลรัษฎากร โดยในปัจจุบัน สหภาพยุโรป (European Union) ซึ่งเป็นกลุ่มประเทศที่มีการประกอบกิจการเกษตรกรรมเป็นจำนวนมาก ได้กำหนดมาตรการเงินส่วนเพิ่มอัตราคงที่สำหรับเกษตรกร (The Flat Rate Scheme For Farmer) ซึ่งเป็นมาตรการเฉพาะทางภาษี (Special-Scheme) ไว้ในกฎหมาย The VAT Directive ของสหภาพยุโรป เพื่อให้ประเทศสมาชิกสามารถนำไปประยุกต์ใช้กับกฎหมายภายในของตนเองได้ ดังนั้นจึงมีความจำเป็นอย่างยิ่งที่จะต้องทำการศึกษามาตรการบรรเทาภาระภาษีดังกล่าว เพื่อหาแนวทางแก้ไขและบรรเทาปัญหาภาระภาษีมูลค่าเพิ่มซ้ำซ้อนของเกษตรกรรายย่อยในรูปแบบอื่นเพื่อนำมาเป็นแนวทางประกอบการปรับปรุงกฎหมายภาษีมูลค่าเพิ่มของประเทศไทยต่อไป จากการศึกษาพบว่ามาตรการเงินส่วนเพิ่มอัตราคงที่สำหรับเกษตรกรของสหภาพยุโรป ประเทศอังกฤษ ประเทศฝรั่งเศส และประเทศเยอรมนี นั้นมีความเหมาะสมที่จะนำมาใช้เป็นรูปแบบหรือทางเลือกหนึ่งในการแก้ไขปัญหาภาวะการเสียภาษีซ้ำซ้อนและการผลักภาระในรูปแบบของภาษีซื้อแอบแฝงของเกษตรกรรายย่อยได้ เนื่องจากมาตรการดังกล่าวถือเป็นการชดเชยภาษีซื้อในทอดก่อนหน้าที่เกษตรกรไม่สามารถเครดิตภาษีซื้อคืนได้ในรูปแบบของเงินส่วนเพิ่มอัตราคงที่ (Flat Rate Addition) ซึ่งจะช่วยบรรเทาภาระทางภาษีมูลค่าเพิ่มให้แก่เกษตรกรที่ได้รับยกเว้นภาษีมูลค่าเพิ่มจากการซื้อขายสินค้าเกษตร อีกทั้งยังเป็นการลดภาระในการปฏิบัติตามกฎหมายภาษีมูลค่าเพิ่ม เช่น ไม่มีหน้าที่ต้องยื่นแบบแสดงรายการขอคืนภาษีซื้อ หรือจัดทำบัญชีเพื่อตรวจสอบความถูกต้องของการจัดเก็บภาษี ซึ่งจะก่อให้เกิดต้นทุนในการบริหารและควบคุมกิจการ (Compliance Cost) เพียงแต่เกษตรกรจะต้องออกใบกำกับภาษีเงินส่วนเพิ่มอัตราคงที่เท่านั้น นอกจากนี้ผู้ซื้อและลูกค้าของเกษตรกรรายย่อยสามารถนำใบกำกับภาษีเงินส่วนเพิ่มอัตราคงที่ดังกล่าวมาขอคืนเงินส่วนเพิ่มอัตราคงที่ที่ตนได้เสียให้แก่เกษตรกรรายย่อยได้ อันเป็นการส่งผลให้เกิดความสมดุลและเสริมสร้างระบบภาษีมูลค่าเพิ่มในภาพรวมให้มีประสิทธิภาพยิ่งขึ้น

มาตรการทางกฎหมายในการกำกับการทำธุรกรรมระหว่างบริษัทประกันภัยกับบุคคลที่เกี่ยวข้อง, นครินทร์ บุตรภักดีธรรม

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

วิทยานิพนธ์ฉบับนี้ มีวัตถุประสงค์ในการศึกษาปัญหาของการทำธุรกรรมที่ทำระหว่างบริษัทประกันภัยกับบุคคลที่เกี่ยวข้อง แนวคิด ทฤษฎี และมาตรการทางกฎหมายในการกำกับของประเทศไทยและต่างประเทศ จากการศึกษาพบว่าการทำธุรกรรมระหว่างบริษัทประกันภัยกับบุคคลที่เกี่ยวข้องซึ่งมีอิทธิพลในการตัดสินใจหรือมีอำนาจในการควบคุมกิจการของบริษัท สามารถถูกใช้เป็นเครื่องมือในการผ่องถ่ายผลประโยชน์ออกจากบริษัทประกันภัย เพื่อแสวงหาประโยชน์ส่วนตนของผู้มีอำนาจในการควบคุมกิจการ
อย่างไรก็ตาม มาตรการทางกฎหมายของไทยในการกำกับดูแลการทำธุรกรรมระหว่างบริษัทประกันภัยกับบุคคลที่เกี่ยวข้องยังไม่เพียงพอ เนื่องจากยังไม่กำกับครอบคลุมประเภทของธุรกรรมซึ่งมีนัยสำคัญทุกประเภท ไม่ครอบคลุมบุคคลที่มีอิทธิพลต่อการตัดสินใจหรือมีอำนาจในการควบคุมกิจการที่มีนัยสำคัญทุกประเภทบุคคล ไม่มีกฎหมายกำหนดมาตรฐานเงื่อนไขข้อตกลงและราคาของธุรกรรมที่ทำกับบุคคลที่เกี่ยวข้อง และไม่มีกฎหมายกำหนดให้บริษัทประกันภัยมีหน้าที่รายงานความสัมพันธ์กับบุคคลที่เกี่ยวข้องและรายงานการทำธุรกรรมกับบุคคลที่เกี่ยวข้องที่มีนัยสำคัญต่อฐานะทางการเงินให้หน่วยงานกำกับดูแลทราบ ทำให้หน่วยงานกำกับดูแลไม่ทราบข้อมูลการทำธุรกรรมและไม่สามารถเข้ากำกับได้ในเวลาที่เหมาะสม
วิทยานิพนธ์ฉบับนี้จึงเสนอแนะว่า ควรกำหนดหลักเกณฑ์การกำกับการทำธุรกรรมระหว่างบริษัทประกันภัยกับบุคคลที่เกี่ยวข้อง ไว้ในกฎหมายประกันภัยเพื่อให้เป็นมาตรฐานเดียวกัน โดยกำหนดนิยามของธุรกรรมกับบุคคลที่เกี่ยวข้องให้ครอบคลุมความสัมพันธ์ของการมีอิทธิพลในการตัดสินใจหรือมีอำนาจในควบคุมกิจการ และให้ครอบคลุมธุรกรรมที่มีนัยสำคัญทุกประเภท โดยพิจารณาความมีนัยสำคัญทั้งเชิงคุณภาพและเชิงปริมาณ รวมทั้ง กำหนดนิยามบุคคลที่เกี่ยวข้อง โดยพิจารณาจากลักษณะการมีอิทธิพลต่อการตัดสินใจหรือมีอำนาจในควบคุมกิจการ นอกจากนี้ ควรกำหนดมาตรฐานของเงื่อนไขข้อตกลงและราคาของธุรกรรม ให้มีระดับไม่ต่ำกว่าเงื่อนไขข้อตกลงและราคาตามตลาด โดยไม่ต่ำกว่ากรณีที่บริษัททำธุรกรรมในลักษณะเดียวกันกับบุคคลที่ไม่ใช่บุคคลที่เกี่ยวข้อง และควรกำหนดให้มีบริษัทประกันภัยมีหน้าที่รายงานการทำธุรกรรมกับบุคคลที่เกี่ยวข้องต่อผู้กำกับดูแลธุรกิจประกันภัยโดยตรง

Conceptualizing Cryptolaw, Carla L. Reyes

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Sweden transfers its real property recording system to the blockchain, a software protocol that enables public, cryptographically secure transaction verification without reliance upon a trusted third party. Dubai plans to issue blockchain-based government documents. The United States Department of Health and Human Services investigates blockchain-based systems for managing health data. Illinois explores blockchain-based applications for use in the Illinois government. News of governments and public-private partnerships developing blockchain-based legal applications increasingly splash across the headlines; however the law-makers using blockchain and other Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) systems to implement legal processes do not systematically consider the broader implications of their …

Distributed Governance, Carla L. Reyes, Nizan Geslevich Packin, Bejamin Edwards

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Distributed ledger technology enables disruption of traditional business organizations by introducing new business entities without the directors and officers of traditional corporate entities. Although these emerging entities offer intriguing possibilities, distributed entities may suffer significant collective action problems and expose investors to catastrophic regulatory and governance risks. Our essay examines key considerations for stakeholders and argues that distributed entities must be carefully structured to function effectively.

This essay breaks new ground by critically examining distributed entities. We argue that a distributed model is most appropriate when DLT solves a unique corporate governance problem. We caution against ignoring the lessons painstakingly …

Comment On "Error And Regulatory Risk In Financial Institution Regulation", Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

I agree with just about everything Jonathan Macey (2017) says in his symposium contribution. His claim that bureaucratic tendencies toward regularity—specifically, treating like cases alike—generate errors in categorization seems appropriate to me. His explanations of the pathologies in financial regulation should fall in the category of essential or required reading for anyone who chooses to write on the topic. Where I differ from Macey is in the choice of framework, or perspective from which to view the pathologies. Whereas Macey adopts an “error cost” framework, which is clearly appropriate for this symposium, I would build explicitly on a “public choice” …

Ancillary Agreements In Real Estate Transactions, Andrew R. Berman, Barry Hines, Everett Ward

Other Publications

This article discusses certain ancillary but important documents in the context of two common real estate transactions: mortgage loan financings and acquisitions of income-producing real estate. In particular, the article analyzes current case law and drafting considerations relating to estoppel certificates, certified rent rolls and subordination, non-disturbance agreements (SNDAs). In addition, the article examines due diligence issues for the lender and buyer. Note: This article was co-authored with Barry Hines, Partner, Frost, Brown, Todd LLC and Everett Ward, Partner, Quarrels & Brady LLP and initially presented at the Spring Meeting of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL).

The Puzzle Of Pdvsa Bond Prices, Paolo Colla, Anna Gelpern, Mitu Gulati

Faculty Scholarship

Market reports in the summer of 2016 suggest that Venezuela is on the brink of default on upwards of $65 billion in debt. That debt comprises of bonds issued directly by the sovereign and those issued by the state-owned oil company PDVSA. Based on the bond contracts and other legal factors, it is not clear which of these two categories of bonds would fare better in the event of a restructuring. However, market observers are convinced — and we agree — that legal and contractual differences would likely impact the payouts on the bonds if Venezuela defaults. Using a comparison …

The Remaking Of Wall Street, Andrew F. Tuch

Scholarship@WashULaw

This Article critically examines the transformation of the financial services industry during and since the Financial Crisis of 2007–2009. This transformation has been marked by the demise of the major investment banks and the related rise of a set of powerful players known as private equity firms or alternative asset managers – pools of assets structured as private funds. First, this Article argues that private equity firms now mirror investment banks in their mix of activities; ethos of entrepreneurialism, innovation, and risk-taking; role as “shadow banks”; and overall power and influence.

These similarities might suggest that private equity firms pose …

The Eurozone Debt Crisis And The European Banking Union: Hard Choices, Intolerable Dilemmas, And The Question Of Sovereignty, Emilios Avgouleas, Douglas W. Arner

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Information Gaps And Shadow Banking, Kathryn Judge

Faculty Scholarship

This Article argues that information gaps – pockets of information that are pertinent and knowable but not currently known – are a byproduct of shadow banking and a meaningful source of systemic risk. It lays the foundation for this claim by juxtaposing the regulatory regime governing the shadow banking system with the incentives of the market participants who populate that system. Like banks, shadow banks rely heavily on short-term debt claims designed to obviate the need for the holder to engage in any meaningful information gathering or analysis. The securities laws that prevail in the capital markets, however, both presume …

The Importance Of "Money", Kathryn Judge

Faculty Scholarship

In a provocative new book, The Money Problem: Rethinking Financial Regulation, Professor Morgan Ricks argues that the government should reclaim control over money creation. Money, Ricks argues, is not just the cash in your pocket or the balance in your checking account. Instead, at least for purposes of financial stability policy, money is best equated with short-term debt. For most of the twentieth century, such debt was issued primarily by regulated commercial banks and insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), resulting in a fairly stable financial system. As a result of financial innovation, however, much of today's short-term …

Using A Shield As A Sword: Are International Organizations Abusing Their Immunity?, Daniel D. Bradlow

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The starting point for this paper is that IOs are as subjects of international law. Since IOs do not control territory or a population and so always operate within the jurisdiction of one of their member states, they are vulnerable to interference by their member states. In order to mitigate this risk, IOs have been granted qualified immunity, usually referred to as functional immunity, from the jurisdiction of their member states. For most of the twentieth century, this grant of functional immunity made sense for two reasons.

First, the founding states envisaged that IOs would have limited capacity to act …

Ask The Professor: Will The Recent Supreme Court Case In Salman Result In More Cftc Enforcement Actions Charging Insider Trading?, Ronald H. Filler, Jerry W. Markham

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Calling On The Cfpb For Help: Telling Stories And Consumer Protection, Pamela Foohey

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Since it began operating in 2011, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has handled more than a million complaints regarding consumer financial product and services. Beginning in June 2015, the CFPB began publishing consumers’ narratives submitted with their complaints. This Article analyses a random sample of 5,000 of these narratives to assess how people engage with the complaint mechanism in light of the CFPB’s role in processing complaints. I find that people predominately use the complaint function for two distinct purposes: to express their anger and frustration about companies’ practices, or to express sadness and fear about how companies’ practices …

The Importance Of Being Standard, Anna Gelpern

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Contract standardisation in the sovereign debt market saves time and money in preparing documents and endows widely-used terms with a shared public meaning, which in turn saves investors the costs of acquiring information, facilitates secondary market trading and reduces the scope for mistakes in the judicial interpretation of contract terms. Sovereign debt issuers and investors claim to value standardisation and list it as an important contractual objective. Issuers generally insist that their bond contracts are standard and reflect market practice. Variations from past practice and market norm must be explained in disclosure documents and through market outreach. Standardisation is not …

Rethinking Corporate Governance For A Bondholder Financed, Systemically Risky World, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

This Article makes two arguments that, combined, demonstrate an important synergy: first, including bondholders in corporate governance could help to reduce systemic risk because bondholders are more risk averse than shareholders; second, corporate governance should include bondholders because bonds now dwarf equity as a source of corporate financing and bond prices are increasingly tied to firm performance.

Contractual Arbitrage, Stephen J. Choi, Mitu Gulati, Robert E. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

Contracts are inevitably incomplete. And standard-form or boilerplate commercial contracts are especially likely to be incomplete because they are approximations; they are not tailored to the needs of particular deals. Not only do these contracts contain gaps but, in an attempt to reduce incompleteness, they often contain clauses with vague or ambiguous terms. Terms with indeterminate meaning present opportunities for strategic behavior well after a contract has been concluded. This linguistic uncertainty in standard form commercial contracts creates an opportunity for “contractual arbitrage”: parties may argue, ex post, that the uncertainties in expression mean something that the contracting parties, ex …

The Financial Crisis And Credit Unavailability: Cause Or Effect?, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

Although the relationship between credit availability and financial decline leading to the global financial crisis was somewhat interactive, a loss of credit availability appears to have caused the financial crisis more than the reverse. The potential for credit unavailability to cause a financial crisis suggests at least three lessons: (i) because credit availability is dependent on financial markets as well as banks, regulation should protect the viability of both credit sources; (ii) diversifying sources of credit might increase financial stability if each credit source is robust and does not create a liquidity glut or inappropriately weaken central bank control; and …

Variation In Boilerplate: Rational Design Or Random Mutation?, Stephen J. Choi, Mitu Gulati, Robert E. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

Standard contract doctrine presumes that sophisticated parties choose their terminology carefully because they want courts or counterparts to understand what they intended. The implication of this “Rational Design” model of rational behavior is that courts should pay careful attention to the precise phrasing of contracts. Using a study of the sovereign bond market, we examine the Rational Design model as applied to standard-form contracting. In NML v. Argentina, federal courts in New York attached importance to the precise phrasing of the boilerplate contracts at issue. The industry promptly condemned the decision for a supposedly erroneous interpretation of a variant of …

Controlling Systemic Risk Through Corporate Governance, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

Most of the regulatory measures to control excessive risk taking by systemically important firms are designed to reduce moral hazard and to align the interests of managers and investors. These measures may be flawed because they are based on questionable assumptions. Excessive corporate risk taking is, at its core, a corporate governance problem. Shareholder primacy requires managers to view the consequences of their firm’s risk taking only from the standpoint of the firm and its shareholders, ignoring harm to the public. In governing, managers of systemically important firms should also consider public harm. This proposal engages the long-standing debate whether …

Sovereign Debt Restructuring And English Governing Law, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

The problem of sovereign indebtedness is becoming a worldwide crisis because nations, unlike individuals and corporations, lack access to bankruptcy laws to restructure unsustainable debt. Decades of international efforts to solve this problem through contracting and attempted treaty-making have failed to provide an adequate debt-restructuring framework. A significant amount of outstanding sovereign debt is governed, however, by English law. This Article argues that the U.K. Parliament has the extraordinary power to help solve the problem of unsustainable country debt by changing English law to facilitate fair and consensual debt restructuring. This Article also proposes modifications to English law that Parliament …