Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

Establishing Deliberative Democracy: Moving From Misery To Poverty With Dignity, Irwin P. Stotzky

Articles

No abstract provided.

Unenumerated Constitutional Rights And Unenumerated Biblical Obligations: A Preliminary Study In Comparative Hermeneutics, Samuel J. Levine

Scholarly Works

In his 1986 Yale Law Journal article, Robert Cover wrote of an explosion of legal scholarship placing interpretation at the crux of the enterprise of law. As part of the continuing emphasis on hermeneutics in constitutional interpretation, a body of literature has emerged comparing constitutional textual analysis to Biblical hermeneutics. This scholarship has been based on the recognition that, like the Constitution, the Bible functions as an authoritative legal text that must be interpreted in order to serve as the foundation for a living community. Levine looks at a basic hermeneutic device common to both Biblical and constitutional interpretation, the …

1998 And Beyond In New Caledonia: At Freedom's Gate?, Alan Berman

Washington International Law Journal

This article examines the upcoming 1998 referendum on self-determination in New Caledonia through the larger contextual lens of French historical involvement in the territory. The article addresses the impact French colonization has had on Kanak culture, legal institutions, social organization and economic livelihood. The historical policies of the French government are canvassed by exploring the manner in which France manipulated the legal process and political institutions it created in New Caledonia to entrench colonial control. The article concludes that the process of decolonization is unlikely to be completed in the near future. Finally, the article discusses the potential consequences for …

Striking The Rock: Confronting Gender Equality In South Africa, Penelope Andrews

Articles & Chapters

This Article analyzes the status of women's rights in the newly democratic South Africa. It examines rights guaranteed in the Constitution and conflicts between the principle of gender equality and the recognition of indigenous law and institutions. The Article focuses on the South African transition to democracy and theinfluence that feminist agitation at the international level has had on South African women's attempts at political organization. After dissecting the historical position of customary law in South Africa and questioning its place in the new democratic regime, the author argues that, although South African women have benefited from the global feminist …

Preliminary Comments On Dark Numbers: Research On Domestic Violence In Central And Eastern Europe, Isabel Marcus

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Instituting Environmental Protection: From Red To Green In Poland, Daniel H. Cole

Books & Book Chapters by Maurer Faculty

Under socialism, Poland suffered tremendous environmental devastation. After socialism, Poland's environmental performance has improved remarkably. This book explains that system-specific institutions of socialism undermined environmental protection by creating regulatory conflicts of interest that led the Party/state to soften budget and law constraints on polluters. Those problems have diminished in post-Communist Poland as socialist legal, political and economic institutions have been replaced by liberal-democratic institutions and competitive markets. The analysis carries important implications for an institutional theory of environmental protection.

Comparative Law In Action: Promissory Estoppel, The Civil Law, And The Mixed Jurisdiction, David Snyder

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Children's Rights And Family Autonomy In The South African Context: A Comment On Children's Rights Under The Final Constitution, Tshepo L. Mosikatsana

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article investigates the nature and extent of the protection granted to children's rights in the South African Constitution. It concludes that the child-centered approach of the Constitution entitles children, as independent actors, to certain fundamental rights. Acknowledging both the parent-centered nature of the existing South African legal framework and the entrenched support for practices, many rooted in indigenous law and tradition, that contribute to the oppression of children, the author argues that the constitutionalization of these rights will contribute to the betterment of children in South Africa, proving to be more than mere moral exhortation. Under apartheid in South …

Spain Returns To Trial By Jury, Stephen C. Thaman

All Faculty Scholarship

In 1995, the Spanish Parliament reenacted trial by jury in criminal cases by implementing a mandate of the 1978 post Franco Spanish Constitution. This article discusses the 17 year dispute, following the ratification of the democratic post-Franco Spanish Constitution, on whether Article 25 mandated the reintroduction of lay participation in the criminal trial, and, if so, whether in the form of the classic jury or a continental European style court with lay assessors. This article analyzes the Law on Trial by Jury and its implementation in the first year of trials, and references Spain’s experience with trial by jury in …

The American "Adversary System"?, William T. Pizzi

Publications

No abstract provided.

"Lit. Theory" Put To The Test: A Comparative Literary Analysis Of American Judicial Tests And French Judicial Discourse, Mitchel De S.-O.-L'E. Lasser

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The formalism/policy dichotomy has structured American jurisprudential analyses of judicial decisionmaking for most of the twentieth century. In this Article, Professor Lasser analyzes and compares American multi-part judicial tests and French civil judicial discourse to demonstrate that the dichotomy reflects and informs the ways in which judicial decisions are written. Drawing on the works of Roman Jakobson, Roland Barthes, and Paul de Man, he constructs a literary methodology to analyze American and French judicial discourse. Professor Lasser contends that the formalism/policy dichotomy is part of a larger process by which the American and French judicial systems justify how they produce …

Domestic Subsidies Under The Wto Agreement On Subsidies And Countervailing Measures And Their Treatment In Section 771 Of The Tariff Act Of 1930, Cecil Carl-Erich Kramer

LLM Theses and Essays

Governments provide subsidies for a variety of reasons and they are an important tool "to promote important objectives of national policy. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is comprised of industrialized countries, all of which are Members of the OECD Convention also have shown a steady rise in the provision of subsidies. The policy behind the fact that subsidies are addressed in international agreements is that they create a distortion in international trade and that they can quickly and destructively spread from nation to nation. They create a disparity between the actual costs incurred in producing a particular …

The Transboundary Movement Of Hazardous Waste A Comparative Analysis, Els Reynaers

LLM Theses and Essays

An analysis of the transboundary movement of hazardous waste requires a comparative examination of three main regulatory entities. First, the international Basel Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal will be covered. More particularly, an inquiry of its raison d'etre, will be followed by a critical examination of its goals and mechanisms. The relationship the United States has with the Convention and its national approach towards the export of hazardous waste will be covered next. A brief investigation of the real situation impacts of the Basel Convention will finalize this chapter. The second …

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 …

The Tragedy Of The Anticommons: Property In The Transition From Marx To Markets, Michael A. Heller

Articles

Why are many storefronts in Moscow empty, while street kiosks in front are full of goods? In this Article, Professor Heller develops a theory of anticommons property to help explain the puzzle of empty storefronts and full kiosks. Anticommons property can be understood as the mirror image of commons property. By definition, in a commons, multiple owners are each endowed with the privilege to use a given resource, and no one has the right to exclude another When too many owners hold such privileges of use, the resource is prone to overuse - a tragedy of the commons. Depleted fisheries …

Comparative Law In The New European Community, George Bermann

Faculty Scholarship

As a member and leader of America's immediate post-war generation of comparative lawyers, Rudolf Schlesinger viewed the then European Economic Community (Community) as an unprecedentedly important arena for the theory and practice of comparative law. He was right in doing so. As we know, the Community initially faced the prospect, among other things, of harmonizing the laws of six continental European countries, representing distinct branches of the European civil law tradition. Then, within a dozen years, the Community expanded to pick up members that stood on the outskirts of the European civil law tradition (Denmark) and squarely within the common …

Islamic Law As A Source Of Constitutional Law In Egypt: The Constitutionalization Of The Sharia In A Modern Arab State, Clark B. Lombardi

Articles

No abstract provided.

‘Mixed’ Constitutions: Product Of An East-Central European Constitutional Melting Pot, Rett R. Ludwikowski

Scholarly Articles

Part I of this Article discusses the difficulties involved in attempting to classify the new constitutions using traditional criteria. Part II examines the processes involved in the adoption of the various components of existing constitutional models into the constitutions of the East-Central European states, including separate analysis of the distributions of power, the structures of the legislatures, the electoral systems, the systems of governance and mechanisms of judicial enforcement provided by these instruments. Finally, Part III makes observations and draws conclusions regarding the processes examined in Part II.

U.S. “Methods Awareness” (Methodenbewußtsein) For German Jurists, James Maxeiner

All Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this contribution is to help develop Methods Awareness in German jurists unfamiliar with American law. It shows how distant from German understanding present-day American practice is. It proceeds from Fikentscher's thumbnail sketch of German Prevailing Teaching: "this method starts from norm-thinking, therefore thinks in rules, that are applied to the case at hand." It refers to the core elements of this teaching, namely the place of the legal norm (Rechtssatz) in the legal order (Rechtsordnung) and its application to a particular set of facts (i.e., subsumption), and discusses the significance of these concepts in American law. It …

The Jury Returns To Continental Europe: Russia And Spain Return To The Classic Jury As A Catalyst In A Move To A More Adversary Form Of Criminal Trial, Stephen C. Thaman

All Faculty Scholarship

This paper briefly compares the provisions of the Russian Jury Law of 1993 and the Spanish Jury Law of 1995 and their application in the first trials, with special attention to the effect of the re-injection of a classic jury. Citations in regard to Russia rely on the author’s exhaustive study of the legislative history of the new Russian Jury Law, its provisions, and its application in the first 114 trials in the years 1993-1994. The Spanish discussion relies on information gathered by the author on the first trials held in Spain since the law went into effect, and delves …

Are Criminal Defendants In Japan Truly Receiving Trials By Judges, Daniel H. Foote

Articles

Since my initial appointment as an assistant judge in April of 1950, I have served as a judge for over 39 1/2 years. For most of that time, over 30 years, I have handled criminal trials. Thus, one might say that I personally represent a living history of the current Code of Criminal Procedure. Human beings, however, inevitably tend to idle their time away; and I have been kept busy day in and day out handling cases and up until now have never had the chance to sit back and reflect dispassionately on the actual state of criminal trials. That …

Book Review Of From Occupation To Interim Accords: Israel And The Palestinian Territories, Linda A. Malone

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Autonomy Through Separation?: Environmental Law And The Basic Law Of Hong Kong, Benjamin L. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

One hundred days after taking office as Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong SAR) of the People's Republic of China, Tung Chee-hwa pledged both to take steps to improve Hong Kong's environment, and to increase coordination of environmental policy with officials in neighboring Guangdong Province. Tung's comments marked a rhetorical shift from environmental policy in British Hong Kong: eight years earlier, the Hong Kong government's first White Paper on environmental policy, Pollution in Hong Kong – A Time to Act, made only passing mention of China. Yet the White Paper was not alone in …

Class Action Litigation In China, Benjamin L. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

Class struggle has moved to China's courtrooms. Since the passage of China's 1991 Civil Procedure Law (CPL), which explicitly permits class action litigation, multiplaintiff groups have brought suits seeking compensation for harm caused by pollution, false advertising, contract violations, and securities law violations. Although administrative bodies continue to resolve most disputes in China, the increasing prevalence of class actions is one aspect of an explosion in civil litigation over the past decade. Class action litigation has the potential to alter the role courts play in adjudicating disputes, increase access to the courts, and facilitate the independence of the legal profession. …

Kann Das Deutsche Verfassungsrechtsdenken Vorbild Fur Die Vereinigten Staaten Sein?, Donald P. Kommers

Journal Articles

Mein Thema läßt sich am besten als Frage formulieren: Was können wir Amerikaner von der Erfahrung der Deutschen mit dem Grundgesetz lernen? Diese Frage wurde für gewöhnlich in der anderen Richtung gestellt, näm lich: Was haben die Deutschen vom amerikanischen Verfassungsrecht ge lernt oder was sollten sie von ihm lernen?

Reflections In A Distant Mirror: Japanese Corporate Governance Through American Eyes, Ronald J. Gilson

Faculty Scholarship

For the last ten years, Japanese corporate governance has served as a distant mirror in whose reflection American academics could better see the attributes of their own system. As scholars came to recognize that the institutional characteristics of the American and Japanese systems were politically and historically contingent, other countries' approaches became serious objects of study, rather than just way stations on the road to convergence. One learned about one's own system from the choices made by others.

As it came to be conceived, the Japanese corporation of the 1980s represented quite a different method of organizing production. Styled the …

The Issue Of European Civil Codification And Legal Scholarship: Biases, Strategies And Developments, Ugo Mattei

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Introduction, Ugo Mattei

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

An Opportunity Not To Be Missed: The Future Of Comparative Law In The United States, Ugo Mattei

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Functions Of Trust Law: A Comparative Legal And Economic Analysis, Ugo Mattei

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.