European Law Commons^™

Il Primo Scoglio Del Diritto Di Iniziativa Dei Cittadini Europei, Andrea Simoncini Prof.

Erik Longo

In the next few months the General Court of the European Union will rule on the issue of the admissibility of an European Citizens’ Initiative (hereinafter ECI) rejected on 6th September 2012 by the European Commission. This judgment is expected as one of the first assessment of the brand new instrument for participatory democracy introduced in the Lisbon Treaty (Article 11 of TUE). ECI is designed to allow the citizens to take an active role within the lawmaking process of the EU. One million citizens who fulfill a petition to call on the Commission have the right to propose a …

Economic Thought And Climate Disruption: Neoclassical And Economic Dynamic Approaches In The Usa And The Eu, Sanja Bogojevic, David Driesen

Sanja Bogojević

In this article we consider the economic ideas that have influenced climate disruption law both in the USA and the EU. Although economic thought has led to the adoption of ‘market-based’ mechanisms in both places, its impact has been different: it created regulatory inertia in the USA, and green leadership in the EU—at least with respect to responding to climate disruption. We argue that different culture-specific economic conceptions about appropriate policy and policy analysis may help explain this divergence, thereby illustrating both various economic ideas and their distinct impact on climate law, as well as the need for environmental lawyers …

Subsidiarity In The Tradition Of Catholic Social Doctrine, Patrick Brennan

Patrick McKinley Brennan

This chapter is an invited contribution to the first English-language comparative study of subsidiarity, M. Evans and A. Zimmerman (eds.), Subsidiarity in Comparative Perspective (forthcoming Springer, 2013). The concept of subsidiarity does work in many and varied legal contexts today, but the concept originated in Catholic social doctrine. The Catholic understanding of subsidiarity (or subsidiary function) is the subject of this chapter. Subsidiarity is often described as a norm calling for the devolution of power or for performing social functions at the lowest possible level. In Catholic social doctrine, it is neither. Subsidiarity is the fixed and immovable ontological principle …

The Mighty Work Of Making Nations Happy: A Response To James Davison Hunter, Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Patrick McKinley Brennan

This article is an invited response to James Davison Hunter’s much-discussed book To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World (Oxford University Press, 2010). Hunter, a sociologist at UVA and a believing Protestant, claims that law’s capacity to contribute to social change is “mostly illusory” and that Christians, therefore, should practice “faithful presence” in the public square rather than seek to influence law directly. My response is that it is, in fact, law’s stunning ability to alter and limit available choices that makes it an object of deservedly fierce contest. The wild …

Please Don't Be Our Guest: The Roma Expulsion From France Under European Union Law, Quinn Bennett

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

A House Divided: Exploring Implications Of Decentralized Regulation Of Genetically Modified Crops In The European Union, Kathryn M. Biszko

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

European Arrest Warrants In The Uk: What Can Britain Learn From American Due Process?, Andrei Vlad Ionescu

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

A Balancing Act? The Rights Of Donor-Conceived Children To Know Their Biological Origins, Brigitte Clark

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Reconciling Positivism And Realism: Kelsen And Habermas On Democracy And Human Rights, David Ingram

David Ingram

It is well known that Hans Kelsen and Jürgen Habermas invoke realist arguments drawn from social science in defending an international, democratic human rights regime against Carl Schmitt’s attack on the rule of law. However, despite embracing the realist spirit of Kelsen’s legal positivism, Habermas criticizes Kelsen for neglecting to connect the rule of law with a concept of procedural justice (Part I). I argue, to the contrary (Part II), that Kelsen does connect these terms, albeit in a manner that may be best described as functional, rather than conceptual. Indeed, whereas Habermas tends to emphasize a conceptual connection between …

The European Union And The Abolition Of The Death Penalty, Christian Behrmann, Jon Yorke

Pace International Law Review Online Companion

The European Union has become a leading regional force in the progress towards a world free of state sanctioned judicial killing in the form of the death penalty. This article investigates how the EU has evolved its abolitionist position. It analyzes the development of the region’s internal policy beginning in the European Parliament, to the rejection of the punishment being mandated as a Treaty provision, which evolves into an integral component of the external human rights project. The EU has now formulated technical bilateral and multilateral initiatives to promote abolition worldwide. This is most clearly evidenced in the EU playing …

Flawed Transparency: Shared Data Collection And Disclosure Challenges For Google Glass And Similar Technologies, Jonathan I. Ezor

Jonathan I. Ezor

Current privacy law and best practices assume that the party collecting the data is able to describe and disclose its practices to those from and about whom the data are collected. With emerging technologies such as Google Glass, the information being collected by the wearer may be automatically shared to one or more third parties whose use may be substantially different from that of the wearer. Often, the wearer may not even know what information is being uploaded, and how it may be used. This paper will analyze the current state of U.S. law and compliance regarding personal information collection …

The Crisis Of A Legal Framework: Protection Of Victims Of Human Trafficking In The Bulgarian Legislation, Vladislava Stoyanova

Vladislava Stoyanova

The Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings reported that in Bulgaria no adult victim of human trafficking received any assistance and that no adult victim was granted a reflection period. A close examination of the Bulgarian legislative framework could explain this unpromising picture. In this article, I develop three arguments in relation to the Bulgarian legislation on protection of trafficked persons. First, in some respects, Bulgaria has failed to fulfil its international obligations. Second, the national legal framework regulating the conditions under which trafficked person are assisted and protected is surrounded by legal …

Tackling Vat Fraud: Thirteen Ways Forward, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

In a May 31, 2006 Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, and the European Economic and Social Committee, the European Commission indicated a need to develop a coordinated strategy to improve the fight against fiscal fraud [COM (2006) 254 final]. Although the Communication considers fiscal fraud broadly (VAT, excise duties and direct taxes) the most pressing need seems to be for a VAT strategy that will effectively deal with carousel fraud.

This paper considers thirteen proposals that deal with missing trader intra-community fraud (MTIC):

(1) Common VAT (origin system) (2) Vanistendael’s foreign tax offices proposal (3) CVAT (Compensating VAT) …

A Psychology Of Choice Of Laws, Gary Low

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

There is certainly a lot of choice going around in the market for contract law. This is a good thing, since choice is key to self-determination and may help improve our laws. Yet there may be such a thing as choice overload, and the introduction of the Common European Sales law is a timely reminder to consider its effect for the market for contract law. This article does just that. It explains what choice overload is, why it comes about, and what can be done to ameliorate its effects. The conclusion is that CESL will not cause choice overload but …

A Psychology Of Choice Of Laws, Gary Low

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

There is certainly a lot of choice going around in the market for contract law. This is a good thing, since choice is key to self-determination and may help improve our laws. Yet there may be such a thing as choice overload, and the introduction of the Common European Sales law is a timely reminder to consider its effect for the market for contract law. This article does just that. It explains what choice overload is, why it comes about, and what can be done to ameliorate its effects. The conclusion is that CESL will not cause choice overload but …

Parenthood Meets Market-Functionalism: Parental Rights In The Labour Market And The Importance Of Gender, Jenny Julén Votinius

Jenny Julén Votinius

No abstract provided.

„Zuerst Schlichten, Dann Richten“: O Modelo Suíço De Solução De Litígios Pré-Processual É Adequado Para O Brasil?, Nelson Rodrigues Netto

Nelson Rodrigues Netto

Dieser Aufsatz analysiert die Schlichtung und die Mediation in der Schweizerische Zivilprozessordnung.

Social Movements As Constituent Power: The Italian Struggle For The Commons, Saki Bailey, Ugo Mattei

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The Italian commons (beni comuni) movement is a powerful example of the way in which social movements are emerging as the new pouvoir constituant serving not only to enforce the protections and guarantees of national constitutions but also, in the context of the declining power of the nation-state, as a counter hegemonic force against the neoliberal economic constitutionalism of the international economic institutions. The common goods social movement in Italy was born out of the concerted action of a number of civil society groups combatting neoliberal privatizations. This commons movement, as will be argued in this paper, is an instance …

Trying To Fit A Square Peg Into A Round Hole? Applying Air Law To Manned Commercial Spaceflight—The Case Study Of Curaçao, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

In appraising applicable legislation and regulation to various types of flights using various types of aircraft in Curaçao, it will become clear that it will not be easy to apply this regime without much further ado to sub-orbital flights. While perhaps on individual aspects certain definitions used may prima facie relatively easily apply or be made to apply, the extended details of almost all of those regimes at some point or other would likely go astray of what would make sense with respect to sub-orbital flights.

It is not accidental therefore, that the FAA has chosen to start from the …

Qu'ils Mangent Des Contrats: Rethinking Justice In Eu Contract Law, Daniela Caruso

Faculty Scholarship

The concern for justice in the context of EU contract law was central to a scholarly initiative that led, in 2004, to the publication of a Social Justice Manifesto. The Manifesto had the explicit goal of steering the Commission’s harmonization agenda away from purely neoliberal goals and towards a socially conscious law of private exchange. Contract law would be designed at the EU level so as to become (or remain, depending on the baseline of each member state) palatable to weaker parties. Today, in the many parts of Europe devastated by rising poverty, dire unemployment rates, and collapsing social safety …