Conflict of Laws Commons^™

Comparative Law And Private International Law, Ralf Michaels

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Wächter, Carl Georg Von, Ralf Michaels

Faculty Scholarship

Carl Georg von Wächter (1797-1880) was once considered 'one of the greatest German jurists of all times’, but was all but forgotten in the 20th century, despite an excellent dissertation on his work in private international law by Nikolaus Sandmann. In private international law, he is known mainly for his critique of earlier theories, in particular the theory of statutes. Positively, Wächter is mainly (and not accurately) known as a proponent of a strong preference for the lex fori and as such mainly presented in opposition to Friedrich Carl von Savigny’s theory (Savigny, Friedrich Carl von). Only recently has there …

Jurisdiction, Foundations, Ralf Michaels

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Joseph Story, Ralf Michaels

Faculty Scholarship

Joseph Story (1779-1845) was one of the greatest and most influential American lawyers of all time. Both as a Supreme Court Justice and as a professor at Harvard Law School, his work and thought were, and still are, of great importance. Today’s private international law would look different without him, both in the United States and in the rest of the world. At the same time, his approach to the field cannot be properly understood unless placed within his broader work on law, and the specific American background against which it was developed.

Breaking The Silence: The Veterinarian’S Duty To Report, Martine Lachance

Animal Sentience

Animals, like children and disabled elders, are not only the subjects of abuse, but they are unable to report and protect themselves from it. Veterinarians, like human physicians, are often the ones to become aware of the abuse and the only ones in a position to report it when their human clients are unwilling to do so. This creates a conflict between professional confidentiality to the client and the duty to protect the victim and facilitate prosecution when the law has been broken. I accordingly recommend that veterinarian associations make reporting of abuse mandatory.

The Hedgehog, The Fox, And Kozolychyk: The Practical And Philosophical Foundations Of Best Practices In Legal Harmonization For Economic Development, Antonio F. Perez

Scholarly Articles

This essay explicates Professor Boris Kozolchyk’s magnum opus, Comparative Commercial Contracts, as a vehicle for exploring the practical and philosophical foundations for effective efforts to promote international legal harmonization in private law. Its central thesis is that good practices are founded on the philosophical premises embedded in Kozolchyk’s work, which in turn are drawn from Kozolchyk’s practical experience. This experience yields a vision of practices reflecting those of the archetypal merchant, a bonus vir (a good man or person), and the conception of commercial justice as fairness and reasonableness made possible by practical guidance rooted in requirements of the bonus …

Implications For The Future Of Global Data Security And Privacy: The Territorial Application Of The Stored Communications Act And The Microsoft Case, Russell Hsiao

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Personal Jurisdiction Based On The Local Effects Of Intentional Misconduct, Allan Erbsen

William & Mary Law Review

Intentional misconduct frequently has extraterritorial consequences. Terrorist attacks, toxic pollution, civil rights violations, and other intentional torts can cause harm within a state despite originating outside the state. Those harms raise a vexing constitutional question: when do the local effects of intentional wrongdoing authorize personal jurisdiction over a defendant whose conduct occurred outside the forum? The answer has several significant implications. Granting or denying jurisdiction can support or undermine regulatory interests by allocating power between states, imposes burdens on the parties that can impede access to justice, and alters risk assessments that shape both socially desirable and socially destructive behavior.

Breach Of Agreement Versus Vexatious, Oppressive And Unconscionable Conduct: Clarifying Their Relationship In The Law Of Anti-Suit Injunctions, Wei Yao, Kenny Chng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Cases warranting the grant of an anti-suit injunction can be divided into three main categories: breach of agreement, vexatious, oppressive, or unconscionable conduct, and abuse of process. A series of Singapore cases have demonstrated that the boundaries between the first two categories are ambiguous in Singapore law. This ambiguity reflects a lack of clarity about the principles underlying anti-suit injunctions and creates uncertainty as to the applicable analysis for each category. This article argues that the two categories should be distinct in kind, with both categories remaining part of the court’s equitable jurisdiction. Such an approach will provide a good …

Rights Of State Prisoners - Federal Court Intervention In State Prison Administration; Jones V. Wittenberg, Ronald L. Collins

Akron Law Review

The path to federal court intervention into state prison administration has been a tortuous and rocky one.... Jones v. Wittenberg carries federal court intervention into state prison administration to new lengths. Until more basic and lasting changes are made on the part of society and the states, such intervention seems to be the best chance for ameliorating conditions in our state penal systems.

Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure; Statute Of Limitations; State Policy; Relation Back; Marshall V. Mulrenin, Gary I. Kruger

Akron Law Review

Some federal courts have followed the rule that amendments to correct misnomer or misdescription of a defendant will relate back where the proper defendant is in court. An amendment which substitutes or adds a new party, however, creates a new cause of action, and under such circumstances, there is normally no relation back to original filing for purposes of limitations.' Since the 1966 amendment of rule 15(c), however, a number of courts have permitted amendments substituting defendants after the statute of limitations has run.

Death Penalty; Cruel And Unusual Punishment; Individualized Sentencing Determination; Lockett V. Ohio; Bell V. Ohio, James C. Ellerhorst

Akron Law Review

“In Bell v. Ohio and Lockett v. Ohio the United States Supreme Court found the sentencing provisions of the Ohio capital punishment statute to be incompatible with the eighth and fourteenth amendments which prohibit cruel and unusual punishment. These two opinions represent the most recent attempt by the Supreme Court to explain what elements must be included in a constitutionally valid capital punishment statute.”

Commerce Clause; Privileges And Immunities Clause; State Hiring; Discrimination Against Nonresidents; Hicklin V. Orbeck, Donna N. Kemp

Akron Law Review

"In Hicklin v. Orbeck, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held' that Alaska's statute entitled "Local Hire Under State Leases"' violates the Constitution due to its discriminatory effect on nonresidents. Basing its decision on the Privileges and Immunities Clause,' the Court found that there was insufficient justification for the extensive discrimination against nonresidents required by the Act because the unemployment problem to be alleviated by the legislation was not due to a great influx of nonresident jobseekers. Rather, the Court attributed the problem to the fact that a large percentage of the unemployed in Alaska lack sufficient education and job …

In Rem Jurisdiction; Attachment Of Insurance Debts; State Statutes; O'Connorv. Lee-Hy Paving Corp., Eloise Lubbinge Mackus

Akron Law Review

The United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, in O'Connor v. Lee-Hy Paving Corp., upheld New York's insurance attachment procedure which serves as a vehicle for gaining personal jurisdiction over out-of-state defendants in causes of action that arise outside of New York. The court thereby determined that New York federal courts, in applying the procedures, had not violated defendant's due process because the minimum contacts requirement of the recent United Stated Supreme Court case, Shaffer v. Heitner, had been met.

Constitutional Federalism Revisited: Garcia V. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, Leslie Ann Iams

Akron Law Review

Constitutional federalism is the basis on which the United States government was created. However, the concept of constitutional federalism has not yet been clearly defined, and as a consequence, conflicting viewpoints on federalism have arisen. These conflicting viewpoints are best illustrated by the law concerning the commerce clause.

With the recent expansion of the commerce clause, the United States Supreme Court was faced with defining constitutional federalism, in order to evaluate the legitimacy of commerce clause legislation. The task of defining constitutional federalism, however, only served to create a dispute over federalism among the Supreme Court Justices. In 1985, the …

Forum Shopping For Stale Claims: Statutes Of Limitations And Conflict Of Laws, Sam Walker

Akron Law Review

This article, however, has a modest goal. It will not argue for rationality or for a new interests analysis, as some scholars have done, or for consistency or for the adoption of one or the other of the proposed solutions. It will review the interstate and international aspects of statutes of limitations and examine the unique role of statute "havens" focusing not on criticism, but prediction. The most recent decisions by the United States, New Hampshire and Mississippi Supreme Courts indicate that discussion of what will, or what could, happen may be more valuable than discussion of what should happen …

State Refusal Triggers Constitutional Crisis: Past Is Prologue On Energy And Infrastructure, Steven Ferrey

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

There is a new Constitutional “federalism” issue, pitting multiple states versus the federal government in a legal fight over control of competitive power supply as the U.S. moves to more renewable energy. In the new electric economy, while federal agencies mandate competition, several states have refused. FERC Order 1000 prohibits states' favoring monopolies via state “Rights-of-First-Refusal” to insist that all power movement be given to incumbent monopolies rather than competitively allocated. This invokes both the Supremacy Clause under Article 8 of the Constitution, as well as the Article I Commerce Clause.

State sustainable energy policy has endured 10 recent significant …

Shari'ah Law As National Security Threat?, Cyra Akila Choudhury

Akron Law Review

The Article proceeds in three parts: in Part II, the Article describes three anti-shari’ah measures. It describes Oklahoma’s Save Our State amendment to show how these laws target Islam. It also reviews the recent decision by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirming the grant of a preliminary injunction against the certification of Oklahoma’s constitutional amendment. It then describes Arizona’s law that targets shari’ah as well as other legal traditions. It also examines the original version of the Tennessee bill to illustrate the motivations behind the revised, watered down version that was eventually passed by the legislature. Part II concludes …

Defining The Wingspan Of The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Ashley R. Fiest

Akron Law Review

This Comment will focus on the widely different interpretations, applications, and enforcement of the MBTA and the consequences that will result if a concrete solution is not implemented soon. Part II will discuss the background, historically and legislatively, that led to the enactment of the MBTA and its current implementation. Part III will discuss the current conflict within the courts regarding how the MBTA is to be applied. In discussing this conflict, this section looks at the particular reasoning behind two of the most recent decisions on this issue and what led each of the courts to different interpretations. Part …

Preclusion Of Remedies Under Article 16(3) Of The Uncitral Model Law, Nata Ghibradze

Pace International Law Review

In search of actual consequences of (mis)use of the available remedies, Chapter II of the foregoing article starts by exploring whether the Model Law implies “choice of remedies” policy by examining its travaux préparatoires (hereinafter “travaux”). It also seeks to determine existence of “alternative system of defences” at cross-border level between remedies at the seat of arbitration and in the enforcement country. Chapter III engages in a determination of general framework of preclusions under the Model Law by analyzing specific provisions such as Article 4, 13 and 16(2).

Chapter IV, by analyzing the travaux, determines the primary purpose of the …

Conflict Of Laws In Arbitration Agreements Between Developed And Developing Countries, Mary Kathryn Lynch

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Traditional View Of Public Policy And Ordre Public In Private International Law, Kent Murphy

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Symposium - Conflicts Of Law In Contracts Between Developed And Developing Nations, Gabriel M. Wilner

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Solicitation Of Anticompetitive Action From Foreign Governments: Should The Noerr-Pennington Doctrine Apply To Communications With Foreign Sovereigns?, Ronald W. Davis

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Too Clever By Half: Reflections On Perception, Legitimacy, And Choice Of Law Under Revised Article 1 Of The Uniform Commercial Code, Mark Edwin Burge

William & Mary Business Law Review

The overwhelmingly successful 2001 rewrite of Article 1 of the Uniform Commercial Code was accompanied by an overwhelming failure: proposed section 1-301 on contractual choice of law. As originally sent to the states, section 1-301 would have allowed non-consumer parties to a contract to select a governing law that bore no relation to their transaction. Proponents justifiably contended that such autonomy was consistent with emerging international norms and with the nature of contracts creating voluntary private obligations. Despite such arguments, the original version of section 1-301 was resoundingly rejected, gaining zero adoptions by the states before its withdrawal in 2008. …

The Conflict Between Forum-Selection Clauses And State Consumer Protection Laws: Why Illinois Got It Right In Jane Doe V. Match.Com, Marty Gould

Chicago-Kent Law Review

To what extent can companies “contract out” of state consumer protection statutes through the use of choice of law and forum selection clauses in standard form adhesion contracts? The only court in Illinois to rule on the issue, a state court case dealing with Match.com, held that the Illinois Dating Referral Services Act (IDRSA) voids forum-selection clauses contrary to stated Illinois public policy, as declared by Illinois statutes. Outside of Illinois, however, federal courts have held that the exact same Match.com forum-selection clause was valid and enforceable despite being in direct conflict with similar statutes in other states. These cases …

Book Review: Private International Law In English Courts, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Although debates about cooperation versus competition make for good scholarly fodder, this issue actually has an important practical component, as demonstrated by Professor Adrian Briggs of the University of Oxford in his masterful new book, Private International Law in English Courts. Like all truly superlative texts, Professor Briggs's book is deceptively accessible. The prose is not only elegant and eloquent, it is peppered with the dry wit one would expect from an Oxford don.

Mining Investment In Brazil, Peru, And Mexico: A Practical Methodology, Gerald J. Pels

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The New Conflict Of Laws Code Provisions Of The Federal Republic Of Germany: Introductory Comment And Translation, Rainer Gildeggen, Jochen Langkeit

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

European Economic Community - Regulation Of Airfares - European Commission May Sanction Anti-Competitive Measures Of European Community And Possibly Foreign Airlines As Eec Expands Its Role In Air Transport Domain - "The Newest Frontiers", Richard S. Alembik

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.