Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

The Code Napoléon, Buried But Ruling In Latin America, M C. Mirow

Faculty Publications

Following Maitland's famous observation on the place of the forms of action in English law at the beginning of the twentieth century, this essay argues that the Code Napoleon has had a similar effect on Latin American law. It examines various factors that have served to bury the Code and those that have served to continue its rule in Latin America. For Latin America, the author paraphrases Maitland to assert that the Code Napoleon we have buried, but it still rules us from its grave.

Mediating Norms And Identity: The Role Of Transnational Judicial Dialogue In Creating And Enforcing International Law, Melissa A. Waters

Scholarship@WashULaw

This article proposes a new theory for understanding the emerging transnational judicial dialogue among the world's domestic courts, as well as U.S. courts' potential participation in that dialogue. Existing scholarship has focused almost exclusively on the role of domestic courts in internalizing international legal norms into domestic legal systems. I argue that the relationship between international and domestic legal norms is in fact a co-constitutive, or synergistic, relationship in which domestic courts are becoming active participants in the dynamic process of developing international law. Under this view, transnational judicial dialogue is the engine by which domestic courts collectively engage in …

Watchdog Or Demagogue? The Media In The Chinese Legal System, Benjamin L. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

Over the past decade, the Chinese media have emerged as among the most influential actors in the Chinese legal system. As media commercialization and increased editorial discretion have combined with growing attention to social and legal problems, the media have gained incentives to expand their traditional mouthpiece roles in new directions. As a result, the media have emerged as one of the most effective and important avenues of citizen redress. Their role in the legal system, however, has also brought them increasingly into conflict with China's courts.

This Article examines the implications of the media's roles in the Chinese legal …

The Trust And Distrust Of Intellectual Property Rights, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

In the past, intellectual property issues were considered complex, obscure, and highly technical; they were only of interest and concern to intellectual property attorneys, legal scholars, technology developers, and rightsholders. Thanks to the Internet and new communications technologies, however, intellectual property has now begun to play a more significant role in society.

In December 2003, the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was held in Geneva. While the conference affirmed the importance of intellectual property rights and free access to information and knowledge, the resulting Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action fail to address …

Contemplating A Civil Law Paradigm For A Future International Commercial Code, Wayne R. Barnes

Faculty Scholarship

The international community has worked toward a global law of contracts for the last century. These efforts include the Uniform Law on the International Sale of Goods, the Uniform Law on the Formation of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, the Principles of European Contract Law, and the Vienna Convention for the International Sales of Goods (CISG). These texts are all tremendous achievements in their own right. However, they reflect a delicate juxtaposition of the two primary legal systems of the world --- the civil law and the common law. A consequence …

Occupation Failures And The Legality Of Armed Conflict: The Case Of Iraqi Cultural Property, Mary Ellen O'Connell

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Working Paper Series

US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld dismissed the looting of the Iraqi National Museum in April 2003 by remarking, “stuff happens.” In doing so, he gave an early indication that in planning to invade Iraq, the Bush Administration failed to take seriously the legal obligations of an occupying power. Occupying powers have a variety of binding legal obligations, including obligations to stop looting, protect cultural property, and protect persons in detention. Yet, the Administration sent a wholly inadequate force to fulfill those obligations, and, more seriously, the force received no direct and imperative orders to do so. As a result, …

The New Canon: Using Or Misusing Foreign Law To Decide Domestic Intellectual Property Claims , Edward S. Lee

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Working Paper Series

This Article provides the first in-depth analysis of the use of foreign authorities to resolve issues related to domestic statutes, particularly focusing on intellectual property (IP) statutes. The study of IP statutes provides a fertile area of research because of the increased pressures for international protection of IP. The Article criticizes the current approach U.S. courts have taken to using foreign authorities in this area, which can best be described as ad hoc. The Article then sets forth a framework by which U.S. courts can decide, more systematically, when to rely on foreign authorities in IP cases. The Article fills …

Restructuring Legal Education In Guatemala: A Model For Law School Reform In Latin America?, Steven E. Hendrix

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Global Changes In Regulating Corporate Auditors: A Comparative Assessment, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

Auditor independence was a global concern of financial regulators in the 1990's. Some observers saw this in a positive light, a natural development. Adjusting auditor independence rules was a manifestation of global convergence in corporate governance structures. New rules, especially rules leaning toward a harmonized system were welcome.

There was a more sobering view. This view held that global regulators were less concerned with convergence than they were with a sense of impending disaster. Things had gone too far. Significant, maybe even radical change was needed. The independence of corporate auditors had eroded; trust had been fundamentally compromised in the …

Sodomy And Prostitution: Laws Protecting The “Fabric Of Society”, Nicole A. Hough

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Throughout history many people have viewed sodomy and prostitution as moral evils, because sex has often been linked to sin and, therefore, to immorality and guilt. For example, in ancient Hebrew, a sodomite was known as a qadhesh, a male temple prostitute who was associated with heathen deities and impure forms of worship. The female version of qadhesh, qedheshah, is translated directly as prostitute. This archaic view of labeling prostitution and sodomy as impure has been challenged over time, and both topics are still a source of great controversy. […]

This note is a comparative analysis of sodomy and …

Between Dialogue And Decree: International Review Of National Courts, Robert B. Ahdieh

Faculty Scholarship

Recent years have seen dramatic growth in the number of international tribunals at work across the globe, from the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, to the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Claims in Switzerland and the International Criminal Court. With this development has come both increased opportunity for interaction between national and international courts and increased occasion for conflict. Such friction was evident in the recent decision in Loewen Group, Inc. v. United States, in which an arbitral panel constituted under the North American Free Trade Agreement found …

On The Design Of Efficient Priority Rules For Secured Creditors: Empirical Evidence From A Change In Law, Clas Bergström, Theodore Eisenberg, Stefan Sundgren

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article assesses the effect of a reduction in secured creditor priority on distributions and administrative costs in liquidating bankruptcy cases by reporting the first empirical study of the effect of a priority change. Priority reform had redistributive effects in liquidating bankruptcy. As expected, average payments to general unsecured creditors were significantly higher after the reform than before the reform and payments to secured creditors decreased. Reform did not increase the size of the pie to be distributed in bankruptcy. Nor did it increase the direct costs of bankruptcy.

Balancing Representation: Special Representation Mechanisms Addressing The Imbalance Of Marginalized Voices In African Legislatures, Stephanie L. Kodish

ExpressO

This report focuses on four different mechanisms designed to provide marginalized groups in Africa with improved legislative representation at the national level. These special representation mechanisms include: proportional representation, guaranteed minority seating, advisory bodies and affirmative gerrymandering . These tools appear a beneficial means through which nations may eliminate discrimination, better safeguard the interests of marginalized people, boost opportunity for political expression and place each member of society on equal footing.

To situate this discussion in its proper context, this paper explores relevant international law, the case for and against special representation and the myriad problems that arise in attempting …

Private Law And Public Stakes In European Integration: The Case Of Property, Daniela Caruso

Faculty Scholarship

In European legal discourse, the old public/private divide is experiencing a revival and a transformation. Member States used to claim autonomy in private law matters. Now private law is subsumed into a functionalist logic and can presumptively be harmonised if so demanded by the goal of market integration. States or local constituencies can only resist harmonisation by highlighting the connection between their private laws and those ‘public’ matters still immune from Europeanisation. Property law can effectively illustrate this phenomenon. The written pledge of non-interference with States’ property systems, restated both in the TEC and in the draft Constitution, cannot be …

Regionalism, Fisheries, And Environmental Challenges In The Pacific, Jon M. Van Dyke

San Diego International Law Journal

The Pacific, the world's largest ocean, contains many of the world's smallest countries. Most of these isolated islands were under colonial domination from the mid-19th century (or earlier) until about the 1970s, when they became independent. New Zealand (Aotearoa) and Australia participate in many Pacific regional organizations and activities. They are viewed as partners but play separate and different, while still important, roles because of their larger size and differences in culture and history.

Marine Ecosystem Management & (And) A Post-Sovereign Transboundary Governance, Bradley Karkkainen

San Diego International Law Journal

This paper argues that for purposes of managing transboundary environment problems in general, and marine ecosystems in particular, the role of international law as traditionally understood is somewhat overrated. Binding international legal obligations owed by states to other states often turn out to be a good deal less important in environmental problem solving than is commonly supposed by many international lawyers, legal scholars, and environmental NGOs (non-governmental organizations). Specifically, this paper argues that emphasis on binding multilateral environmental agreements among sovereign states is often misplaced and possibly even counterproductive, insofar as it threatens to divert attention from more promising strategies …

Section 4: International Law At The U.S. Supreme Court, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

No Way To Deal With Slums, Bernadette Atuahene

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Cuba And Good Governance, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

UF Law Faculty Publications

The idea of “good governance” embraces the concept that economic success is inextricably linked to democratic and just governance. This essay explores how Cuba fares in light of good governance standards. At the outset, an overall observation is appropriate: if one considers the traditional criteria, to talk about Cuba and good governance might simply be an impossible task-- indeed an oxymoron--if we use as the starting point of analysis the existing definitions of governance. Therefore, in order to engage this thesis, I will deconstruct the idea of good governance into two parts--processes and outcomes. First, I explore the theoretical origins, …

Looking For Law In China I: Themes And Issues In Western Studies Of Chinese Law, Stanley B. Lubman

Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies

I have been studying Chinese law since the early 1960s – some have said that I began before there was any. The field has expanded so far beyond its narrow scope at that time that this overview will illustrate an old Chinese saying: "riding a horse and looking at flowers." I will first review the growth of this scholarly field, because it is necessary to understand that there are layers of scholarship that reflect first the paucity of formal legal institutions in Maoist China, then the appearance of first shoots of new or rebuilt institutions, and only recently the publication …

Looking For Law In China Ii: China’S Legal Reforms After Mao: Accomplishments And Future Prospects, Stanley B. Lubman

Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies

In this talk I intend to summarize major accomplishments of Chinese law reform since 1978; and speculate on the future of Chinese law reform

• In the course of this talk, I will note where China began when legal reform was first undertaken in 1979, and the enormous size and scope of the task that was undertaken.
• I hope to give an indication both of the progress China has made, and of major obstacles to future reforms;
• I have chosen one area to emphasize because it may light the way for further meaningful reforms: administrative law
• I have also noted influences …

Looking For Law In China Iii: How Foreign Investors And Business Have Faced Legal Uncertainty In China, Stanley B. Lubman

Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies

This last of the three talks I will have given here at Oxford looks at yet another aspect of what I have called "looking for law in China." Today I will look at Chinese law from the perspective of foreign investors that have had to cope with the uncertainty of a business environment in which legal institutions have been vague, incomplete and weak. I speak to you today from under two hats, that of a scholar and that of practicing lawyer, since for over thirty years I have combined those two careers. My observations here, then, are not just those …

Whither The Udrp: Autonomous, Americanized, Or Cosmopolitan?, Laurence R. Helfer

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article explores the future trajectory of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), outlining three potential evolutionary pathways: an autonomous UDRP distinct from national laws, an Americanized UDRP aligned with U.S. legal frameworks, or a cosmopolitan UDRP influenced by diverse national laws. Each pathway has significant implications for the UDRP's role in resolving domain name disputes globally.

Providing Access To Generic Antiretroviral Drugs To People Living With Hiv/Aids In Developing Countries: An Examination Of Legal Obligations, Cheluchi Onyemelukwe

LLM Theses

The HIV/AIDS epidemic is a devastating medical, social and economic problem in many developing countries. Presently, the only therapeutic remedies for the disease are antiretroviral drugs, which do not cure HIV/AIDS but are effective in restoring the health of people living with HIV/AIDS. Unfortunately, these drugs are unavailable to many people living with the disease in developing countries. This has been attributed to the exorbitant prices resulting from the patent rights of multinational pharmaceutical companies over the drugs. Legal literature has therefore focused principally on intellectual property rights as obstacles to access to antiretroviral drugs in developing countries. This thesis, …

The Hollowness Of The Harm Principle, Steven D. Smith

University of San Diego Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series

Among the various instruments in the toolbox of liberalism, the so-called “harm principle,” presented as the central thesis of John Stuart Mill’s classic On Liberty, has been one of the most popular. The harm principle has been widely embraced and invoked in both academic and popular debate about a variety of issues ranging from obscenity to drug regulation to abortion to same-sex marriage, and its influence is discernible in legal arguments and judicial opinions as well. Despite the principle’s apparent irresistibility, this essay argues that the principle is hollow. It is an empty vessel, alluring but without any inherent legal …

Grutter's First Amendment, Paul Horwitz

University of San Diego Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series

Most of the reaction to the Supreme Court's decision affirming the law school affirmative action policy at issue in Grutter v. Bollinger has focused on its Fourteenth Amendment implications. But Grutter also raises significant First Amendment issues. By reaffirming a First Amendment value of "educational autonomy," the Grutter Court raised a host of questions with implications not only for the constitutional law of academic freedom, but for First Amendment jurisprudence generally. This article therefore puts the Fourteenth Amendment to one side and provides a detailed analysis of the First Amendment implications of Grutter.

Some of the consequences of the Court's …

Generic Constitutional Law, David S. Law

University of San Diego Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series

This paper seeks to articulate and explore the emerging phenomenon of generic constitutional law, here and in other countries. Several explanations are offered for this development. First, constitutional courts face common normative concerns pertaining to countermajoritarianism and, as a result, experience a common need to justify judicial review. These concerns, and the stock responses that courts have developed, amount to a body of generic constitutional theory. Second, courts employ common problem-solving skills in constitutional cases. The use of these skills constitutes what might be called generic constitutional analysis. Third, courts face overlapping influences, largely not of their own making, that …

Creating Rights In The Age Of Global Governance: Mental Maps And Strategic Interests In Europe, Francesca Bignami

ExpressO

This Article takes a first step towards developing a positive theory of rights in institutions of global governance through a study of the European Commission, one of the oldest and most powerful international organizations in existence today. I draw on the extensive political science theory on the European Union, in particular historical institutionalism, to explain the constellation of rights that European citizens are guaranteed today in their relations with their executive branch. Rights against government were created in three phases, each of which was the product of a strategic move by one or more European institutions to preserve authority in …

Pride And Prejudice: Results Of An Empirical Study Of Sexual Orientation Fairness In The Courts Of England And Wales, Todd Brower

Buffalo Women's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Case Study In The Banning Of Political Parties: The Pan-Arab Movement El Ard And The Israeli Supreme Court, Ron Harris

ExpressO

Attempts to outlaw political groups that are alleged to approve the use of violence, to limit the expression of views that challenge the core values of democratic nation-states, and to ban radical, separatist, or religious political parties are more widespread in recent years than at any other time since 1945. They gave rise in the last few years to litigation in Constitutional Courts and Supreme Courts in Spain, Germany, Turkey, France, Israel, and Latvia, as well as in the European courts.

The present article tells the story of the encounter in the years 1959-1965 between the Pan-Arab national movement El …