European Law Commons^™

The Venice Commission’S Impact Regarding The Fight With Democratic Backsliding And Rule Of Law Recovery: Reflections Of The Polish Example, Adam Bodnar

Human Rights Brief

The Article examines the role of the Venice Commission — the expert body affiliated with the Council of Europe — in addressing democratic backsliding and supporting the restoration of the rule of law, using Poland as a case study. It places the Venice Commission within the broader system of European constitutional governance and discusses its role when Poland moved, after 2015, towards the system of illiberal democracy. Opinions of the Venice Commission were significant in the evaluation of reforms affecting the Polish Constitutional Court, judicial independence, the prosecution service, and surveillance powers. They had impact on policies of the European …

Beyond Borders: Transnational Repression As A System Of Authoritarian Control In Russia, Kazakhstan, And Kyrgyzstan, Jasmine D. Cameron

Human Rights Brief

This Article examines transnational repression, state-sponsored persecution of citizens, human rights defenders, journalists, members of diaspora, and critical voices located outside physical borders, as a systemic tool of political control employed by Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Based on analysis of legislation, published reports, UN Special Rapporteur findings, and case files, this Article provides three case studies that demonstrate different stages of an escalating trend towards transnational repression systems. From Kyrgyzstan, where the government has started to develop and implement harmful practices to persecute its citizens abroad, to a more established system in Kazakhstan, where numerous incidents of transnational repression showed …

B.T. And B.K.Cs. V. Hungary: Separating Roma Children From Their Mothers Before Births, Sara Apostol

Human Rights Brief

In June of 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in favor of a Roma mother, B.T., and her son after bringing a lawsuit against the Hungarian government for wrongfully violating their right to family life. The Hungarian government ordered the placement of B.T.’s unborn child into State care based on insufficient and dubious evidence used to justify such state action. This case focused on the prejudiced system that places Roma children into the State’s guardianship immediately after birth without evidence of imminent harm or other valid justification. Rather, it is based on the child’s ethnic and socio-economic …

Stability And Accountability In Nagorno-Karabakh And The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict, Callum Heath

Human Rights Brief

I. Introduction

On August 8, 2025, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia were hosted at the White House by U.S. President Donald Trump to announce the Agreement on Establishment of Peace and Inter-State Relations (the Agreement) in a Joint Declaration. The Agreement sets out to end the decades-long conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Armenian ethnic enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan, and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan, which is separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by Armenia. While the White House hails the Agreement as a “historic peace deal,” the reality is more …

“Durable Solutions” Revisited: Italy’S Train-To-Hire Pathway Under The Cutro Decree As Alternative Refugee Protection, Tim Streit

Human Rights Brief

I. Introduction

If the average person were asked to imagine a refugee, they might conjure the image of a migrant fleeing war or persecution, showing up at the border of a new country with a few belongings in hand, and asking not to be sent back to the dangerous place from which they came. In fact, it is not only the hypothetical “average person” who pictures this scenario. The international refugee protection system, developed after World War II through the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention) and its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees …

Ten Commandments Cases: Learning From Reformation Coercion, Paul E. Mcgreal

Michigan Law Review Online

The Supreme Court’s recent embrace of “historical practices and understandings” in interpreting the Establishment Clause has emboldened states to challenge forty-five years of precedent prohibiting Ten Commandments displays in public schools. Yet, these states advance a version of history that mistakenly ignores European religious persecution that shaped how the Founders understood the establishment of religion. This Essay remedies that error through a novel historical analogy: sixteenth-century Catholic processions that forced Protestants to choose between betraying their conscience or marking themselves for persecution. Like modern students confronting state-mandated religious texts, Reformation-era dissenters faced orchestrated tests of faith designed to identify and …

Regulating Ai Beyond Product Liability, Shruti Trikanad

Michigan Technology Law Review

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used by governments across the world to enforce regulatory mandates, adjudicate benefits and privileges, predict and analyze risks, and much more. Although this has significant potential to increase efficiency and responsiveness, it also comes with several risks of transparency, government accountability, and the amplification of discrimination and bias. It is crucial we oversee and regulate these AI systems effectively. This essay argues against the models that current regulatory frameworks are adopting to govern AI use: those resembling product liability.

Through the lens of the European Union's AI Act and Liability Directive, it highlights the unsuitability …

Control Capture And Competition, D. Daniel Sokol, Robert J. Rhee

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Essay identifies an emerging problem in antitrust law and policy, particularly in the technology industry. Antitrust doctrine has historically revolved around internal control of firm, i.e., equity acquisition. It focuses on the capture of internal control. Mergers and acquisitions trigger regulatory review. In these deals, the locus of anticompetitive behavior lies in ownership and internal governance. However, one can capture control through various ways. An emerging problem in antitrust law is external exertion of control through contract. Competition can be stifled, and thus price, non-price, and innovation factors can be controlled or manipulated through the levers of control existing …

Fading Prestige: A Comparative Analysis Of Trademark Dilution's Impact On Luxury Fashion Brands In The United States And European Union, Pravalika Surakanti

IP Theory

The paper focuses on the concept of trademark dilution in relation to luxury fashion brands in international markets. Focusing on the United States and the European Union, it will look at the different approaches these regions take and how certain holdups in dilution law affect fashion companies’ global brand protection strategies. The paper looks at the application of the Federal Trademark Dilution Act, the EU Trademark Directive, and other essential laws to their respective jurisdictions’ cases to determine the trends of trademark dilution claims. It is found that both regions provide luxury fashion houses with substantial protection; however, the European …

Sustainable Mobility In International, European And National Law: A Perspective From Europe, Lando Kirchmair

Journal of Law and Mobility

This Article develops a European perspective on sustainable mobility, a concept still underexamined in legal scholarship, and argues that meeting today’s mobility needs while preserving ecological foundations for future generations will not occur without deliberate regulatory intervention. After clarifying the evolution of the core concepts of sustainability, mobility, and sustainable mobility, the Article shows how international, European, and Austrian law have progressively incorporated sustainability goals in the transport sector. It then proposes a taxonomy of financial incentives–from subsidies and tax breaks to behavioral nudges—and evaluates their effectiveness, emphasizing the need for flexible, context-specific regulatory instruments. Applying these insights to self-driving …

The Protection Of Geographical Indications Under Comparative Lens: Whether Law Artificially Creates Scarcity Of Goods, Domenico Di Micco

FIU Law Review

The economic principles of supply and demand dictate that market prices are contingent on the conditions under which supply and demand converge. Within this theoretical framework, the concepts of scarcity and abundance assume paramount significance. When goods are scarce, prices tend to escalate, while in cases of abundant supply, prices tend to decline. But what factors determine scarcity and abundance? In many cases, scarcity is inherent to the nature of the commodity (for example, diamonds are rarer than common stones). In other cases, such as geographical indications, scarcity is constructed through the legal denomination associated with the commodity, thereby creating …

Legislative Support Of Religious Policy In Ukraine Under Martial Law, Volodymyr Karpunets, Andrii Shevchuk, Oleksandr Bilchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article examines the legislative framework of Ukraine's religious policy under the conditions of martial law caused by the full-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation. The constitutional foundations of state-confessional relations are analyzed, particularly the provisions of Article 35 of the Constitution of Ukraine on freedom of conscience and religion, as well as Article 64, which provides for the possibility of temporary restrictions on religious rights under martial law. Key legislative acts are reviewed: the Laws of Ukraine "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations" (1991, with amendments in 2018 and 2019), "On the Legal Regime of Martial Law" …

Law Library Blog (January 2026): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Does It Matter What People Lie About?, Stefanie Jung, Peter Krebs, Monika Leszczynska

Faculty Scholarship

We investigate whether people’s moral judgments of lies in pre-contractual negotiations differ from their views on whether such lies should give the deceived party a legal right to rescind the contract, and whether these judgments depend on the content of the lie. In a vignette study with 832 German students and 885 participants from Germany, Italy, and the United States, respondents evaluated a range of common negotiation lies. Across samples, participants were generally more likely to deem a lie immoral than to believe it should justify rescission, but the size of this gap varied depending on the lie’s subject. Lies …

Zmiany W Przepisach Dyrektywy Mcd – Postulaty De Lege Ferenda W Zakresie Ochrony Konsumenta-Kredytobiorcy Hipotecznego, Piotr Gałązka, Weronika Tołściuk

internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (internet Quarterly on Antitrust and Regulation)

The object of this article is to assess the functioning thus far of Directive 2014/17/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 February 2014 on consumer credit agreements relating to residential immovable property and amending Directives 2008/48/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 (Mortgage Credit Directive, MCD) in the mortgage market in the European Union, in light of calls for consumer protection of mortgage credit services made by representatives of consumer organisations, lenders, supervisors of financial market institutions, and EU institutions. The Directive has generally led to an increase in the level of consumer protection acting …

How Design Law Is Taking Shape In The United States And European Union, Christine Haight Farley

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This Essay uses a comparative framework to show that sophisticated design rights holders in both the United States (U.S.) and the European Union (EU) increasingly sidestep specialized design regimes in favor of more expansive trademark and copyright doctrines. Although both jurisdictions now operate cumulative intellectual property (IP) systems for industrial design, they have taken sharply divergent paths in confronting the proliferation of “design dupes”—replicas that trade on the appeal of sought-after designs. In the United States, rights holders rely chiefly on trademark law, and especially trade dress, to convert cultural recognition into legally cognizable source indication, a move facilitated by …

Influencing The Meteoric Rise Of Ai: Centering Ethics, Law, And Society In Urgent Policy Reform, Erin L. Shah Mspm, Heath A. Clark Mba, Xarlene B. Choi Bs, Garrett K. Chan Phd

The Guardianship Journal

Artificial intelligence (AI) represents a transformative technological advancement with the potential to yield extraordinary societal benefits while simultaneously introducing significant potential harms to individuals, governments, and society. The adoption of AI has outpaced the ability of society to collectively and cohesively respond through the implementation of adequate regulatory guardrails. While AI presents novel benefits and challenges, the broader dynamic of responding to new, uncharted technologies has historical precedence. The article's methodological approach employed empirical research using law articles and policies. As such, the article explores the benefits, challenges, and actual or potential harms in three business sectors: business and finance, …

Zasada Minimalizacji A Zakres Wymiany Danych Ubezpieczeniowych Klienta W Projekcie Rozporządzenia W Sprawie Ram Dostępu Do Danych Finansowych (Fida), Bartosz Bigaj

internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (internet Quarterly on Antitrust and Regulation)

The purpose of the article is to critically assess the provisions on the scope of customer financial data exchange contained in the draft Financial Data Access Framework Regulation (FIDA) published by the EC on June 28, 2023, in the context of the principle of minimalism regulated by the GDPR Regulation. The author focuses on the potential benefits and risks of sharing customer information in the insurance market, including consumers in particular. The article provides a general analysis of the concepts of “open finance,” “open banking” and “open insurance,” as well as the principle of data minimalism from the RODO. Due …

Legal Considerations On Predictive Policing Based On Italian ‘Algorithmic Administration’ Principles, Stefano Rossa

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

In Beck’s current risk society, the State is faced with a dilemma. To fail before the risk but to keep the sphere of citizens’ rights intact; or not to fail but to restrict fundamental rights? This payoff turns out to be the main issue that juridical reflections on the use of predictive technology tools in the public sector must consider. Policing is an administrative function that is mainly composed of acts of a preventive nature. By using ICT, it is possible to employ AI systems with a very high rate of certainty to ‘predict’ future crime scene. But is it …

National Values Matter For Ai: Comparative Analysis Of Ai Regulations In The Us, The Eu, And China, Kaori (Furuya) Kawaguchi

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve rapidly, governments worldwide face increasing pressure to regulate it. This Article focuses on regulatory approaches to AI in the United States, the European Union, and China, examining the underlying rationales: why have they taken these approaches? Each jurisdiction’s unique political institutions, historical preferences, and strategic priorities shape its approach to governance. In particular, the values the jurisdiction expects in technology shape its regulation. The US adopts a decentralized, innovation-friendly model rooted in reliance on market and self-regulation in industries with its strong trust in laissez-faire philosophy; the EU asserts global leadership in regulations …