Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

Taxing Consumption And Other Sins, James R. Hines Jr.

Articles

Federal and state governments in the United States use income and payroll taxes as their primary tools to collect revenue. In the rest of the world, governments also use income and payroll taxes, but rely much more heavily than does the United States on taxing consumption. Consumption taxes take many forms, including general sales taxes, value-added taxes, and excise taxes on the consumption of specific items including gasoline, alcohol, tobacco products, firearms, air travel, telephone communication, and others. The U.S. government does not use a value-added tax, making the United States unique among high-income countries and a rarity in the …

Gitano Legal Codes: Social Change, Ngo's, And External Legal Systems' Influence On Governance Of Spanish Roma Communities, Jennifer Hu Corriggio

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Gitanos are the Roma, otherwise known as Gypsies, of Spain that are predominantly concentrated in the southern province of Andaluda. Although the Roma are Europe's largest transnational minority, very little efforts have been made to understand their legal systems. Additionally, due to their long histories of oppression in Europe and internal legal codes that discourage sharing details of their legal systems with outsiders, their legal systems are particularly difficult to understand and for the most part, remain enigmatic and misunderstood. This Article analyzes the historical factors affecting the development of the Gitano legal system by using a horizontal axis metaphor, …

A Cuban Connection: Edwin F. Atkins, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., And The Former Slaves Of Soledad Plantation, Rebecca J. Scott

Articles

Edwin F. Atkins and Charles Francis Adams, Jr., stand out on this stage not as major players but as a particularly intriguing Boston connection. Among the truly major players, planters like Juli?n Zulueta and the Count of Casa More owned hundreds of slaves and shaped Spanish policy. On the Cuban nationalist side, few could equal the impact of Antonio Maceo, the mulato insurgent general who insisted on full emancipation at the end of the 1868-1878 war, or the thousands of rebels who fought under the orders of rebel generals Maceo and Maximo Gomez. As the master of some ninety-five patrocinados …

Public Rights And Private Commerce: A Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Creole Itinerary, Rebecca J. Scott

Articles

Tracing the history of a family across three generations, from enslavement in eighteenth-century West Africa through emancipation during the Haitian Revolution and subsequent resettlement in New Orleans, then France, then Belgium, can shed light on phenomena that are Atlantic in scope. A business letter written in 1899 by the cigar merchant Edouard Tinchant to General Máximo Gómez in Cuba frames an inquiry that opens out onto a family itinerary that spanned the long nineteenth century. Rosalie Vincent’s achievement of freedom in the shadow of slavery in Saint-Domingue in 1793–1803 can be seen as linked to her grandson Edouard Tinchant’s participation …

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 …

Custody, Maintenance, And Succession: The Internalization Of Women's And Children's Rights Under Customary Law In Africa, Allison D. Kent

Michigan Journal of International Law

In this Note, the author examines the process of international human rights norm internalization into areas traditionally governed exclusively by customary law, and the resulting evolution of customary law. Assuming, arguendo, that customary law is to be modified, I argue that a societal norm internalization approach is the most effective means to bring customary law into conformity with international human rights law. After a brief discussion of the fieldwork on which I rely, this Note describes the historical influence of colonialism on the development of customary law in Africa, with a particular focus on the repugnancy clauses of the …

Untying The Knot: An Analysis Of The English Divorce And Matrimonial Causes Court Records, 1858-1866, Danaya C. Wright

ExpressO

This paper is an analysis of the petitions, answers, affidavits, and court docket for the first nine years of the English divorce and matrimonial causes court. It examines in detail the child custody, alimony, gender, and class components of the court’s first nine years. After analyzing the petitions and court docket along gender lines for the different causes of action (divorce, separation, annulment, and restitution of conjugal rights), and their success rate by gender and by age of the marriage, it then breaks down marriages by age and speculates on a variety of causes for the different results and considers …

The Provincial Archive As A Place Of Memory: The Role Of Former Slaves In The Cuban War Of Independence (1895-98), Rebecca Scott

Book Chapters

Prof. Scott focuses on the study of the role of former slaves in the Cuban War of Independence, in light of the avoidance of the theme of race within this war in Cuban historiography. She discusses reasons for the silence on race issues, and for the historic construction of the "myth" of racial equality in this era.

The Islamic Roots Of Democracy, Ali Iyad Yakub

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Federalism In Brazil, Keith S. Rosenn

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Territotiality Inquiry Under The Act Of State Doctrine: Continuing The Search For An Appropriate Application Of Situs Of Debt Rules In International Debt Disputes, Ariel Oscar Diaz

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

Recent economic downturns in Argentina, Uruguay, and Venezuela, to name a few Latin American states among others in various parts of the world, have once again raised serious concerns regarding the ability of international lenders or creditors to recover on the sovereign and private debt instruments that they hold

Traditional Hindu Law In The Guise Of 'Postmodernism:' A Review Article, Donald R. Davis Jr.

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of Hindu Law: Beyond Tradition and Modernity by Werner F. Menski

Land And Liberation: Lessons For The Creation Of Effective Land Reform Policy In South Africa, Hasani Claxton

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Based upon the premise that land reform is essential to creating socio-economic equality, easing racial tensions and stemming the tide of violence in South Africa, this note will provide suggestions for effective land reform policy. To accomplish this, this Note will examine the paths taken by several other transitional African governments in land reform policy. It will attempt to extract practical lessons from their experiences and apply them towards the development of effective land redistribution policy in South Africa. Part I of this note will provide a historical overview of colonialism and land law in Africa. Part II will examine …

Tres Vidas, Una Guerra Rafael Iznaga, Bárbara Pérez Y Gregoria Quesada Entre La Emancipación Y La Ciudadanía, Rebecca Scott

Book Chapters

In this article, Scott takes a microhistorian approach as she looks at the ways in which three Cubans of color (Rafael Iznaga, Bárbara Pérez and Gregoria Quesada), from the same rural neighborhood, sought to define and attain citizenship during and immediately after the Cuban War of Independence from 1895-1898. Juxtaposing oral and written sources, Scott shows how such evidence can be both complementary and contradictory, and how each source should be examined in light of the others.

Rafael Iznaga fought in the war as a soldier of the Liberation Army, and returned with prestige and status. While his life can …

Review Of Explaining The English Revolution: Hobbes And His Contemporaries, Donald J. Herzog

Reviews

The explosion of primary texts from seven- teenth-century England continues to trigger an explosion of scholarly treatments today. For good reason, too: Lots of the primary texts are amazing, and not just those tired old warhors- es, Hobbes's Leviathan and Locke's Second Treatise. As fun and challenging as the primary texts are, you are forgiven a touch of skepticism if you wonder just what the latest author has to add to our understanding. You might redouble your skepticism if you just glance at Mark Stephen Jendrysik's table of contents, offering chapters on Winstanley, Milton, Cromwell, Filmer, and Hobbes, and zeroing …

Festo: A Case Contravening The Convergence Of Doctrine Of Equivalents Jurisprudence In Germany, The United Kingdom, And The United States, Katherine E. White

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Despite differences in patent law jurisprudence in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, the fundamental principles underlying each system serve the same basic purpose: to encourage technological innovation and dissemination of knowledge. In granting exclusive patent rights, it is important that the scope of patent protection not be so broad as to remove existing knowledge from the public domain. The scope of protection should strike a balance between granting adequate patent rights while preserving the public's ownership in the public domain or the prior art. To encourage innovation patentees must attain significant exclusive rights, while potential infringers receive …

No Black Names On The Letterhead? Efficient Discrimination And The South African Legal Profession, Lisa R. Pruitt

Michigan Journal of International Law

Although there have long been black lawyers in South Africa, during apartheid only a handful joined the ranks of the country's large commercial firms. Now, in the post-apartheid period, these firms are keenly aware of a range of economic and political incentives to hire black attorneys, and most are doing so at a record pace. Very few black attorneys, however, are enduring the path to partnership in these firms. Based on more than seventy-five interviews conducted in South Africa in 1999 and 2000, this Article both documents and critically examines the reasons for black attrition. While firms' incentives to integrate …

A Pope, Two Presidents And A Prime Minister, Ivana Shearer

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

The modem history-the tragic history-of the people of East Timor can be said to have begun in 1493

Building A Strong Subnational Debt Market, Paul S. Maco

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

Decentralization of responsibility for finance and growing infrastructure needs are two trends that are expected to stimulate a growth in government borrowing at the sub-national level. Statistics for the first half of 2000 show a significant increase in sub-national debt volume, with global public finance, excluding Canada and the United States, more than doubling that of the first half of 1999.

German Mdps: Lessons To Learn, Laurel Terry

Faculty Scholarly Works

This article is the third of four major articles or book chapters that I have written about MDPs. This article focuses on German multidisciplinary partnerships (MDPs) between lawyers and accountants. The German MDP experience is important because Germany is one of the few jurisdictions that expressly permits MDPs and because conferences about World Trade Organization's General Agreement on Trade in Services (the GATS) have cited to Germany when suggesting that other countries' MDP bans may be unnecessarily restrictive. After introducing common MDP regulatory issues, this article focuses on Germany. The article explains Germany's current regulation of MDPs and provides a …

Franco's Spain, Queer Nation?, Gema Pérez-Sánchez

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article discusses how, through its juridical apparatus, the Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco sought to define and to contain homosexuality, followed by examples of how underground queer activism contested homophobic laws. The Article concludes by analyzing a literary work to illustrate the social impact of Francoism's homophobic law against homosexuality.

Querying A Queer Spain Under Franco, Peter Kwan

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

There should be more articles in the legal journals such as Professor Gema Pérez-Sánchez's. In Franco's Spain, Queer Nation?, Professor Pérez-Sánchez has done a great service to legal scholarship in four respects. Firstly, she has written an appropriately far-ranging piece. In a discipline that has as one of its central missions the broadening of critical legal discourse, LatCrit can sometimes appear to suffer from symptoms of parochialism in its understandable emphasis on the Latina/o experience within American borders, or on the experience of its Latina/o immigrants once they have reached these shores. To be sure, this is not a problem …

Hegemony, Coercion, And Their Teeth-Gritting Harmony: A Commentary On Power, Culture, And Sexuality In Franco's Spain, Ratna Kapur, Tayyab Mahmud

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Professor Gema Pérez-Sánchez's article, Franco's Spain, Queer Nation? focuses on the last years of Francisco Franco's fascist dictatorship and the early years of the young Spanish democracy, roughly from the late 1960's to the early 1980's. The centerpiece of her article looks at how, through law, Franco's regime sought to define and contain what it considered dangerous social behavior, particularly homosexuality. She traces how the state not only exercised hegemonic control over definitions of gender and sexuality, but also established well-defined roles for women and drew clear lines between what constituted legitimate and illegitimate sexualities, namely, the line between heterosexuality …

In Defense Of Revenge, William I. Miller

Book Chapters

One of the risks of studying the Icelandic sagas and loving them, is, precisely, loving them. And what is one loving when one loves them? The wit, the entertainment provided by perfectly told tales? And just how are these entertaining tales and this wit separable from their substance: honor, revenge, individual assertion, and yes, some softer values, too, like peacefulness and prudence? Yet one suspects, and quite rightly, that the softer values are secondary and utterly dependent on being responsive to the problems engendered by the rougher values of honor and vengeance. Is it possible to study the sagas and …

The Limited Public Offer In German And U.S. Securities Law: A Comparative Analysis Of Prospectus Act Section 2(2) And Rule 505 Of Regulation D, David B. Guenther

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note examines the "limited circle of persons" exception in section 2(2) of the Prospectus Act in comparison to similar provisions of U.S. federal securities law, particularly Section 3(b) of the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act") and Rule 505 of Regulation D ("Rule 505"). Comparison of the Prospectus Act to U.S. securities law seems both warranted and useful. Certain aspects of German securities law are broadly modeled on U.S. precedents. U.S. securities laws reflect more than sixty-five years of experience defining (and re-defining) public and limited public offers and private placements. U.S. securities regulators have also displayed in …

Convergence And Competition: The Case Of Bank Regulation In Britain And The United States, Heidi Mandanis Schooner, Michael Taylor

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article consists of four main parts. Part I introduces the convergence by competition model as it applies to the regulation of financial institutions and sets the stage for the test case application of the model to the regulatory systems in the United States and United Kingdom. Part II provides a comparative history of bank regulation in Britain and the United States. Central to our argument is the proposition that, even in the presence of globalized financial markets and the opportunities for rule competition brought in their wake, the bank regulatory systems of the United States and Britain continue to …

Enlightenment, Donald J. Herzog

Articles

It's a curious broadside, a work of austere graphics and polite prose far removed from the mischievous engravings and bawdy ballads usually appearing on such sheets. Drawn from an address that 345 printers had signed and 138 had presented to the queen, the original text was committed to parchment "and accompanied by a Copy surperbly printed on white Satin, edged with white Silk Fringe, backed with purple Satin, and mounted in an Ivory Roller with appropriate Devices." Even in the published version, the arch is full of intricately detailed work. The printers took pride in their craftmanship: "This Specimen of …

Language Of Lullabies: The Russification And De-Russification Of The Baltic States, Sonia Bychkov Green

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article argues that the laws for promotion of the national languages are a legitimate means for the Baltic states to establish their cultural independence from Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Law And Religion In Israel And Iran: How The Integration Of Secular And Spiritual Laws Affects Human Rights And The Potential For Violence, S. I. Strong

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part I of this article provides a brief sketch of the principles of the two majority religions at issue in this discussion and an overview of the history of both Israel and Iran. It explains why each nation has chosen to structure itself as it has and why the imposition of U.S.-style secularism would be an inappropriate method of dealing with the religio-legal conflict in the two societies. Part II compares the fundamental or constitutional laws of the two nations by analyzing the provisions, policies, and practices most influenced by religion. After identifying and analyzing the laws themselves in Part …

Accountability For Past Abuses, Juan E. Mendez

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.