Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

Privatization And Public Law Values: A View From France, Manuel Tirard

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This article uses a comparative approach to explore privatization and its consequences on public law values. It discusses the French model for protecting these values, which limits the scope of privatization and applies a legal regime within which public law norms play an active role. While it does not suggest that this model can or should be applied in the United States, it does express that the French experience can enrich American debates on the subject.

Democracy and the Transnational Private Sector, Symposium. Indiana University School of Law – Bloomington, April 12-13, 2007.

Discrimination At Will: Job Security Protections And Equal Employment Opportunity In Conflict, Julie C. Suk

ExpressO

The conventional wisdom amongst scholars and advocates of employment discrimination law is that the success of Title VII is significantly hampered by the enduring doctrine of employment at will. As long as employers have broad discretion to fire employees for any reason, no reason, or a bad reason, employers can easily get away with terminating or refusing to promote racial minorities and women as long as some credible nondiscriminatory reason, such as personal animosity, can be presented. This account feeds the widely accepted view that employment at will and the goals of Title VII, namely equal employment opportunity, are at …

Review Of Napoleon And The British, Donald J. Herzog

Reviews

Was he fascinating or repulsive? The bold courier of republican liberty under law or the scabrous carrier of lethal Jacobin corruption? Heaven-sent deliverer or providential scourge? Even his name was up for grabs: was it Bonaparte or Buonaparte? One need only dip into contemporary sources to realize that the British were obsessed with Napoleon. Stuart Semmel has done a first-rate job combing through those sources and using them to illuminate political culture. (Semmel does not offer the primary quotations I will use here. I offer them for fun, or to pile on with glee, and not at all to reproach …

Internalizing Gender: Why International Law Theory Should Adopt Comparative Methods, Darren Rosenblum

Faculty Publications

This Article uses the example of international women 's political rights to examine the value of comparative methodologies in analyzing the process by which nations internalize international norms. As internalized in Brazil and France, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women suggests possibilities for (and possible limitations of) interdisciplinary comparative and international law scholarship. Indeed, international law scholarship is divided between theories of internalization and neorealist challenges to those theories. Comparative methodologies add crucial complexity to internalization theory, the success of which depends on acknowledging vast differences in national legal cultures. Further, comparative methodologies expose …

Money Talks: The Influence Of Economic Power On The Employment Laws And Policies In The United States And France, Carole A. Scott

San Diego International Law Journal

Money talks. Money changes everything. There is nothing money cannot buy. These are all familiar phrases used to describe the desirable, and undesirable, effects of money. Money can also mean power, and more specifically, economic power. Indeed, economic power is becoming an increasingly important concept for a wide range of academic disciplines. For example, the concept of economic power has heavily influenced a new theory of international relations, namely globalization. Many globalization theorists argue that economic power is replacing military power in global politics. Other scholars contend that globalization is creating a new world order where economics are the central …

Parity/Disparity: Electoral Gender Inequality On The Tightrope Of Liberal Constitutional Traditions, Darren Rosenblum

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

To force an end to the seemingly interminable war with Sparta, Lysistrata, the title character in Aristophanes’ comedy, exhorts the women of Athens to achieve peace by arousing their husbands’ desires while refusing them any gratification. This political act would force the men to end the war: “[d]oesn’t matter what they threaten to do — even if they try to set fire to the place — they won’t make us open the gates except on our own terms.”

Two thousand three hundred years later, democracy and gender still have a tortured relationship. Although most democracies provided women with the …

Reforming Retirement Systems: Why The French Have Succeeded When Americans Have Not, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In order to understand why the American Social Security system has been so resistant to change while the retirement systems in other countries have been amended, this Article analyzes why one country, France, was able to reform its retirement system significantly in 2003. The Article begins by briefly describing the French retirement system prior to 2003. It then provides an overview of the most significant changes wrought by the reform enacted in 2003. It then analyses why, after years of inaction and failed attempts to reform the French retirement system, the government succeeded in reforming the retirement system in 2003. …

La Responsabilisation De L'Economie: What The United States Can Learn From The New French Law On Consumer Overindebtedness, Jason J. Kilborn

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article on the French law continues a study of European consumer debt-relief systems, which the author began previously in an article on the German system. With rapid legal and practical developments in consumer debt-relief law, Europe provides an excellent comparative legal laboratory for observing the potential benefits and pitfalls of consumer bankruptcy reforms. In particular, French and German experiences with long-term payment plans shed useful light on the great debate raging in the United States over similar plans.

Can The Sauvegarde Reform Save French Bankruptcy Law?: A Comparative Look At Chapter 11 And French Bankruptcy Law From An Agency Cost Perspective, Robert Weber

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note will attempt to explain the intersection of agency costs and bankruptcy law, looking first to general agency problems involved when firms are insolvent and moving next to discussions of how U.S. Chapter 11 and French bankruptcy laws attempt to address these problems. First, I will attempt to articulate the relationship between agency costs and (1) debtor control over the firm during Chapter 11 reorganizations and (2) deviations from the absolute priority rule in Chapter 11. Specifically, I will argue that creditors voluntarily accede to plans proposed by management that impair the same creditors' legal entitlements, and that this …

Introduction To Comparative Legal Cultures: The Civil Law And The Common Law On Evidence And Judgment (Oral Presentation Of The Book By Antoine Garapon & Ioannis Papadopoulos, Juger En Amerique Et En France : Culture Judiciaire Française Et Common Law, Ioannis Papadopoulos

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

This book is the fruit of a basic idea, namely that comparative law is meaningless if it is regarded as the sole study of juxtaposed legal systems, regardless of their cultural dimension. The book’s main aim is to identify and analyze the basic cultural differences between the two great legal traditions of the West, the Continental and the Anglo-American one, through a thorough examination of the trial, and of judicial institutions more widely, as these are organized in France and the United States. For that purpose, after an introduction to the concept of legal culture and the basic notions of …

Lessons From The French Funding Debate, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The French retirement system, like the American social security system, is facing long-term funding difficulties. As a result, the French are debating whether to expand the role of pre-funded retirement plans. The economic arguments presented in this debate are virtually identical to the economic arguments presented in the American debate on whether the American social security system should be partially privatized.

The French and American debates, however, diverge once history and ideology are considered. The French have a history of failed funded pensions in contrast to the United States where the failure of prominent underfunded pension led to the enactment …

Why Europe Rejected American Judicial Review - And Why It May Not Matter, Alec Stone Sweet

Michigan Law Review

In this Article, I explore the question of why constitutional review, but not American judicial review, spread across Europe. I will also argue that, despite obvious organic differences between the American and European systems of review, there is an increasing convergence in how review actually operates. I proceed as follows. In Part I, I examine the debate on establishing judicial review in Europe, focusing on the French. In Parts II and III, I contrast the European and the American models of review, and briefly discuss why the Kelsenian constitutional court diffused across Europe. In Part IV, I argue that despite …

A Solution To The Yahoo! Problem? The Ec E-Commerce Directive As A Model For International Cooperation On Internet Choice Of Law, Mark F. Kightlinger

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In May 2000, a French court decided that a French law banning the display of Nazi materials for sale applies to an auction website hosted by the California-based company Yahoo! Inc. The following year, at the request of Yahoo! Inc., a U.S. District Court declared that the French judgment was unenforceable in the United States because enforcing it would violate an important public policy-the First Amendment. These two cases have attracted considerable attention because they crystallize a difficult problem. The Internet is global. Every website potentially reaches every home on the planet. Thus, website content or activity that may be …

Approaches To Statutory Interpretation And Legislative History In France, Claire M. Germain

UF Law Faculty Publications

In France, Justice Jackson's question about where to look for the meaning of a statute would be phrased in broader terms and would not be limited to the question of whether to look only at the words of a statute or also at the legislative intent. French law starts from the premise that statutes and codes are the foundations of the legal system in the same way that cases are the foundation of the common-law system. Because of the primacy of written law in France, statutory interpretation lies at the heart of French law. Statutory interpretation is very flexible, and …

Bijuralism In Legal Education: A French View, Xavier Blanc-Jouvan

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

The Best Of Times And The Worst Of Times: Lessons From Recent Reforms Of The French Retirement System, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Principally because of increasing life expectancy and the fact that the baby boom generation is reaching retirement age and is followed by a much smaller generation, the American social security system is facing a long-term funding deficit. The Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors and Disability Trust Funds predicts that unless corrective action is taken, social security benefits will exceed dedicated tax revenues by the year 2016, and the social security system will become insolvent, that is, unable to pay benefits in full, by the year 2038.

The United States is not alone in facing these circumstances. …

International Joint Ventures Between France And The United States, Alexis Desreumaux

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis focuses on two markets: France and the United States. Although these markets are competitive in several areas, sometimes some cooperation is needed in order to achieve a successful venture. The focus of this thesis is on two major issues. First, how can an American company, with a French partner, venture in France? And, second, how can a French company "invade" the U.S. market, with the help of a local company? To narrow the focus of this thesis, these " multipartite" joint ventures are to be dealt with. The thesis concerns the joint ventures made from two corporations, one …

Punishment And Procedure: A Different View Of The American Criminal Justice System, William T. Pizzi

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Fourth Amendment Protection Against Unreasonable Searches And Seizures And The French Experience, Florence Sophie Boreil

LLM Theses and Essays

Under the American approach to criminal justice, freedom of the individual is of the utmost importance. The American criminal justice system reflects a distrust of abuse of power and an emphasis on protection of personal freedom. However, the French take a contrary approach; under French law, freedom is achieved through the State. This paper examines the protection of individuals’ rights in American and French criminal procedure. Focus will be given to tracking the police investigatory powers in each country through searches and seizures, and the impact that those powers have on individuals’ rights. This paper will assert that the police …

The Emerging International Consensus As To Criminal Procedure Rules, Craig M. Bradley

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article will demonstrate that these general claims, as well as certain observations about specific countries, were, with one significant exception, substantially wrong when they were written. More importantly, due to significant developments in several countries in the years since those reports came out, they are even more wrong now. That is, not only have the U.S. concepts of pre-interrogation warnings to suspects, a search warrant requirement, and the use of an exclusionary remedy to deter police misconduct been widely adopted, but in many cases other countries have gone beyond the U.S. requirements.

Understanding Prosecutorial Discretion In The United States: The Limits Of Comparative Criminal Procedure As An Instrument Of Reform, William T. Pizzi

Publications

No abstract provided.

Obtaining Evidence In France For Use In The United States, Elena Del Valle

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

French Insider Trading Law: A Survey, Robert B. Irving

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Beginning Of The Constitutional Era: A Bicentennial Comparative Study Of The American And French Constitutions, Rett R. Ludwikowski

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article is intended only to be introductory. The author is quite aware that the period surrounding the creation of the American Constitution has been profoundly studied; thorough analysis has been provided concerning both the origin and historical development of the American Constitution, as well as the intellectual background of the "founding generation." Characteristically, these studies have focused on the "American constitutional tradition," which means that they have been limited to little more than two centuries of colonial experience. This essay follows a different vein of inquiry. The author's purpose is not to add another article to the numerous works …

Forum Shopping In Products Liability Actions: A Comparison Between The United States, France And Germany, Lothar W. Baum

LLM Theses and Essays

The goal of this research is to state the current situation concerning products liability in the United States, the Federal Republic of Germany and more briefly, France and to compare the different systems. Emphasis will be given to the substantive laws, in particular to the new EC Directive and its adoption in the Federal Republic of Germany. Also, it will discuss the current German law, since this will be valid for all claims initiated before the enactment of the new ProdHaftG. Further, based on the previous analysis, it will be shown where a consumer is in the most favorable position …

The Triumph Of Justice, Stephan Landsman

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Affair: The Case of Alfred Dreyfus

A House Of Lords' Judgment, And Other Tales Of The Absurd, Alan Watson

Scholarly Works

In this paper I want to look at four approaches to deciding a case in different societies-contemporary England, uncodified civil or 'mixed' law systems (with an example from 17th century Scot-land and another from early 20th century South Africa), 19th century France after codification, 15th century Germany with a glance at 13th and 14th century Spain-where the attempt is made each time to reach the correct decision by applying the mental process thought most appropriate. None of the approaches examined here is result-oriented, and to outsiders, especially to lawyers brought up in a different legal culture, the mental process seems …

The Large Civil Aircraft Industry: Applying Legal Policy-Making Tools To Accommodate A Changing Industry, Dennis G. Terez

Michigan Journal of International Law

This note first examines the emergence of Airbus Industrie (Al or Airbus) and identifies some of the legal and policy instruments which the European governments have employed to make Al a successful competitor. After a brief discussion of the growing difficulties with subsidy policies, the note considers European Community legislation for a common European industrial policy and the creation of a European Export Bank as possible alternative solutions for maintaining Al's competitiveness. The note finally argues that international industrial agreements are necessary legal tools for effective regulation of the manufacture and sale of large civil aircraft. International agreements currently in …

The Role Of Planning Contracts In The Conduct Of French Industrial Policy, Saul Estrin, Peter M. Holmes

Michigan Journal of International Law

The French have a long history of state economic planning, of comprehensive industrial policy, and of contractualised relations between the state and firms, though the links between them have not always been close. In the following section we review the relevant history of French planning and industrial policy. We focus in the second section on the development of contractual relations between corporations and the state in postwar France until the Socialists took office in 1981. In the third section we discuss recent developments, and we conclude with a theoretical appraisal of the experience.

Industrial Policy And The Rights Of Labor: The Case Of Foreign Workers In The French Automobile Assemble Industry, Mark J. Miller

Michigan Journal of International Law

The foreign labor which made possible Western Europe's postwar economic growth has become a permanent, if belatedly recognized, component of the region's labor markets. Technological change and new industrial policies stressing efficiency, skilled labor, and rationalization threaten foreign workers, raising complex and important issues of law and social policy in the debate over labor's role in industrial policy. These changes already have resulted in grave problems which make agreement and clarification of the rights of foreign workers in national and international law a matter of considerable urgency.