This book introduces students to the distinct legal traditions that make up the South African legal system.

This accessible textbook provides an introductory guide to tort law, with a structured explanation of the key concepts and doctrines. Using a comparative approach, the discussion is illustrated with case law and provisions from three key jurisdictions: England, France and Germany. With liberal reference to other codes and cases from around the world, the book gives readers a contextual understanding and will appeal to classes with a global outlook. Key Features: Examples of different solutions show how tort law is implemented in a variety of jurisdictions Direct comparison of legal systems helps readers to match different kinds of property or damage in civil and common law systems Translated provisions from codes and statutes facilitate access to the systems of French and German law in particular Clarification of corresponding concepts and terminology, as well as guidelines and examples to help readers find their way in a legal environment that is not restricted to a single jurisdiction Introductory guidance to tort law systems outside Europe Providing readers with a working knowledge of major tort law systems as well as a greater understanding of the main concepts in tort law, this textbook will be an important resource for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

International Law in the U.S. Legal System provides a wide-ranging overview of how international law intersects with the domestic legal system of the United States, and points out various unresolved issues and areas of controversy. Curtis Bradley explains the structure of the U.S. legal system and the various separation of powers and federalism considerations implicated by this structure, especially as these considerations relate to the conduct of foreign affairs. Against this backdrop, he covers all of the principal forms of international law: treaties, executive agreements, decisions and orders of international institutions, customary international law, and jus cogens norms. He also explores a number of issues that are implicated by the intersection of U.S. law and international law, such as treaty withdrawal, foreign sovereign immunity, international human rights litigation, war powers, extradition, and extraterritoriality. This book highlights recent decisions and events relating to the topic, including various actions taken during the Trump administration, while also taking into account relevant historical materials, including materials relating to the U.S. Constitutional founding. Written by one of the most cited international law scholars in the United States, the book is a resource for lawyers, law students, legal scholars, and judges from around the world.

Equality has been seen as the core of any quest of justice since Aristotle's Nicomachian Ethics. Reaching not only situational equality, but equality in status, however, had not been achieved until modern times. The father of ethics and his systematic enquiry into the concept of justice did not have any problems with foreigners without rights, women as second-class citizens and enslaving people - nor did antiquity at large, medieval era or even the high renaissance. While suum cuique (treating equal issues equally and unequal issues unequally) had been in place since antiquity and Cicero, personal status still had to wait to be recognised as a target of equality concerns. Related to this, no agenda was designed for achieving a paradigm reaching beyond mere formal equality, which only implies treating same things formally the same, and the material quest for equality has come to the fore as a vision only very recently. This book explores these issues - from general equality to equality also in personal status, hence also anti-discrimination, and the change from formal to material concepts of equality - in time and in theoretical approaches. In time, it describes firstly how the equality of indigenous people in Latin America was originally developed as a postulate on the basis of the Bible (all men are similar to God) and from that also as a postulate of equality in law. It further describes how this postulate became a rule of natural law and then a powerful political value, also for the masses and daily reality, in the French Revolution (and in the US), then as posited law. In the theory and history of philosophical thought, two questions are discussed in particular. The first is how and whether 'more material protection' cannot only be conceived for freedom at all, but as well for equality, even if it is so contingent in times and diverse societies ('what is equal')? The second is whether - beyond personal status - an absolute equality right exists nowadays, namely absolutely equal dignity for human beings? This discussion is followed by how to integrate equality into economics, so targeted towards differentiation in all matters, and efficiency of selection. It is further followed by how sociology's prime quest nowadays might well be the very core of the question: the search for more material protection, namely against systemic discriminations, and such a search even in the toughest contexts such as digitalization.

This is the definitive book on the legal and fiscal framework for civil society organizations (CSOs) in China from earliest times to the present day. Civil Society in China traces the ways in which laws and regulations have shaped civil society over the 5,000 years of China's history and looks at ways in which social and economic history have affected the legal changes that have occurred over the millennia.
This book provides an historical and current analysis of the legal framework for civil society and citizen participation in China, focusing not merely on legal analysis, but also on the ways in which the legal framework influenced and was influenced in turn by social and economic developments. The principal emphasis is on ways in which the Chinese people - as opposed to high-ranking officials or cadres -- have been able to play a part in the social and economic development of China through the associations in which they participate.
Civil Society in China sums up this rather complex journey through Chinese legal, social, and political history by assessing the ways in which social, economic, and legal system reforms in today's China are bound to have an impact on civil society. The changes that have occurred in China's civil society since the late 1980's and, most especially, since the late 1990's, are nothing short of remarkable. This volume is an essential guide for lawyers and scholars seeking an in depth understanding of social life in China written by one of its leading experts.

This book provides an introduction to the American legal system for a broad readership. Its focus is on law in practice, on the role of the law in American society, and how the social context affects the living law of the United States. It covers the institutions of law creation and application, law in American government, American legal culture and the legal profession, American criminal and civil justice, and civil rights. Clearly written, the book has been widely used in both undergraduate and graduate courses as an introduction to the legal system; it will be useful, too, to a general audience interested in understanding how this vital social system works. _ This new edition, which keeps the same basic structure of earlier editions, has been revised and brought up to date, reflecting the way the legal system has adapted to the complex new world of the twenty-first century.

The Limits of Criminal Law shines light from the outer edges of the criminal law in to better understand its core. From a framework of core principles, different borders are explored to test out where criminal law's normative or performative limits are, in particular, the borders of crime with tort, non-criminal enforcement, medical law, business regulation, administrative sanctions, counter-terrorism and intelligence law.The volume carefully juxtaposes and compares English and German law on each of these borders, drawing out underlying concepts and key comparative lessons. Each country offers insights beyond their own laws. This double perspective sharpens readers critical understanding of the criminal law, and at the same time produces insights that go beyond the perspective of one legal tradition.The book does not promote a single normative view of the limits of criminal law, but builds a detailed picture of the limits that exist now and why they exist now. This evidence-led approach is particularly important in an ever more interconnected world in which different perceptions of criminal law can lead to profound misunderstandings between countries. The Limits of Criminal Law builds picture of what shapes the criminal law, where those limits come from, and what might motivate legal systems to strain, ignore or strengthen those limits. Some of the most interesting insights come out of the comparison between German systematic approach and doctrinal limits with English laws focus on process and judgment on individual questions.

This work provides an analysis of how foreign law should be pleaded and dealt with in the litigation process of another country. What weight should the trial court give to the relevant foreign law, and how should it decide what the foreign law actually is? The way foreign law is procedurally treated in court indicates to a certain extent the degree of tolerance of a legal system towards foreign ideas. The book compares how these issues are handled in different national systems, with particular focus upon civil litigation rules in the US, UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

One of the most ambitious legacies of the 20th century was the universal commitment to ensure freedom from want as a human right. How far have we progressed; to what extent are countries across the world living up to this commitment? This book charts new territory in examining the extent to which countries meet their obligations to progressively realize social and economic rights - the rights to education, food, health, housing, work and social security. States have long escaped accountability for these commitments by claiming inadequate resources. The authors develop an innovative evidence based index, the Social & Economic Rights Fulfillment (SERF) Index and Achievement Possibilities Frontier methodology, making possible for the first time apples-to-apples comparisons of performance across very differently situated countries and over time. The book provides an overall global picture of progress, regress and disparities amongst and within countries and explores the factors influencing performance - including whether treaty and legal commitments, gender equity, democracy/autocracy, and economic growth, explain good performance - revealing surprising results. The data provide empirical evidence to resolve some long standing controversies over the principle of 'progressive realization'. The book concludes by observing how the SERF Index can be used in evidence based social science research, policy making and accountability procedures to advance social and economic rights. By defying the boundaries of traditional research disciplines, this work fundamentally advances our knowledge about the status of and factors promoting social and economic rights fulfillment at the dawn of the 21st century.

A book series devoted to the common foundations of the European legal systems. The Ius Commune Europaeum series includes comparative legal studies as well as studies on the effect of treaties within national legal systems. All areas of the law are covered. The books are published in various European languages under the auspices of METRO, the Institute for Transnational Legal Research at Maastricht University. This book discusses the impact of EU law on selected national legal systems. The authors analyse how the civil procedure system of their country has reacted to increasing Europeanisation and influence of EU law. They identify significant changes and disseminate the reasons for particular developments and the further implications of EU law on the civil procedure.Europe is in a period of increasing Europeanisation of civil procedure. Procedural elements of EU law are based on decentralised enforcement, leaving enforcement and procedural issues to the Member States. Consequently, there is vast amount of EU case law that is relevant for national procedural law. The supremacy of EU law and, inter alia, the requirements of effectiveness and equivalence may be relevant for several topics of national civil procedural law, for example ex officio application of EU law, enforcement, insolvency proceedings, evidence, etc. Both EU legislation and doctrinal changes in EU case law touch upon various topics of the procedural law of the Member States. In a concluding chapter, a more comprehensive comparison between the countries represented in the book is made. Which doctrines, which pieces of legislation or features in legislation pose problems for national civil procedure? Are some legal systems or topics more prone to integrate European rules, and are others more resistant to changes? This book displays the Europeanisation of national civil procedure law and helps to understand this development from the perspective of Member States.

Reflecting the most recent changes in the law, the third edition of this popular textbook provides a fully updated, comparative introduction to the law of contract. Accessible and clear, it is perfectly pitched for international students and courses with a global outlook. Jan Smits' unique approach treats contract law as a discipline that can be studied on the basis of common principles and methods without being tied to a particular jurisdiction or legal culture. He puts contract law in context by discussing empirical and economic insights. Notable updates include the consequences of Brexit, the implementation of new European directives 1999/770 and 2019/771 as well as coverage of the effect of COVID-19 on contracts. Key features of the third edition include: Introduces key principles by comparing solutions from different jurisdictions, illustrating for students the international nature and substance of contract law Draws from a wide variety of sources including German, English, French and Dutch law, European and international instruments, and examples from Central and Eastern Europe and Islamic contract law, making this an ideal textbook for students across Europe and beyond Focuses on legal method as well as substantive law Attractive and accessible design with text boxes, colour and graphics to help students navigate easily and identify key information. With its innovative approach and engaging design, this textbook has proved an essential companion to introductory courses on contract law across a multitude of jurisdictions.

Equality is an ideal to which we all aspire. Yet the more closely we examine it, the more its meaning shifts. How do we explain how equal treatment can in effect lead to inequality, while unequal treatment might be necessary in order to achieve equality? The apparent paradox can be understood if we accept that equality can be formulated in different ways, depending on which underlying conception is chosen. In this highly readable yet challenging book, Sandra Fredman examines the ways in which discrimination law addresses these questions.
The new edition retains the format of the highly successful first edition, while incorporating the many new developments in discrimination law since 2002, including the Equality Act 2010, human rights law, and EU law. By using a thematic approach, the book illuminates the major issues in discrimination law, while at the same time imparting a detailed understanding of the legal provisions. The comparative approach is particularly helpful; by examining comparable law in the US, India, Canada, and South Africa, as well as the UK, the book exposes common problems and canvasses differing solutions. As in the previous edition, the book locates discrimination in its wider social and historical context. Drawing on the author's wide experience of equality law in many jurisdictions, she creates an analytic framework to assess the substantive law.
The book is a thought-provoking and accessible overview of the way in which equality law has adjusted to new and increasingly complex challenges. It concludes that progress has been evident, but uneven. Those dedicated to equality still face an exacting, but ultimately deeply rewarding, task.

This is a study of the law governing the bank-customer relationship pertaining to the disposition of funds by cheques and credit transfers, covering both paper-based and electronic payments. The work addresses, with various degrees of detail, common law, civilian, and `mixed' jurisdictions, particularly, Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland and the United States. In addition to the description of the law in these jurisdictions, the book contains an in-depth analysis of the common issues and the responses to them, in light of desired policies. Accordingly, an evaluation of the various rules and proposals for reform are integral parts of the study.

This concise primer offers an introduction to U.S. law from a comparative perspective, explaining not only the main features of American law and legal culture, but also how and why it differs from that of other countries. Gerrit De Geest initially focuses on the core characteristics of American law, such as the predominance of judge-made law, the significance of state law and the vital role that juries play in the legal process. De Geest then moves on to provide a succinct analysis of U.S. legal culture, before summarizing the principal differences in law and legal cultures around the world. Key features include: A thorough introduction to the main elements of U.S. law for international students A concise, accessible style illustrated with lively anecdotes and discussion of relevant foundational cases Explanation of the historical and cultural roots of law in the U.S. and other countries to provide context for differences. Students beginning LLM programs in the U.S., in particular international students, will find this primer invaluable reading. It will also be of interest to pre-law and comparative law students.

Contract as Promise is a study of the philosophical foundations of contract law in which Professor Fried effectively answers some of the most common assumptions about contract law and strongly proposes a moral basis for it while defending the classical theory of contract. This book provides two purposes regarding the complex legal institution of the contract. The first is the theoretical purpose to demonstrate how contract law can be traced to and is determined by a small number of basic moral principles. At the theory level the author shows that contract law does have an underlying, and unifying structure. The second is a pedagogic purpose to provide for students the underlying structure of contract law. At this level of doctrinal exposition the author shows that structure can be referred to moral principles. Together the two purposes support each other in an effective and comprehensive study of contract law. This second edition retains the original text, and includes a new Preface. It also includes a substantial new essay entitled Contract as Promise in the Light of Subsequent Scholarship-Especially Law and Economics which serves as a retrospective of the work accomplished in the last thirty years, while responding to present and future work in the field.

This indispensable book offers a concise comparative introduction to international commercial arbitration. With reference to recent case law from leading jurisdictions and up-to-date rules revisions, International Commercial Arbitration provides a comparative analysis of the issues raised in arbitration, from the time of drafting of the arbitration clause to the rendering of the arbitral award and the post-award stage. Combining perspectives from both practice and academia, Franco Ferrari, Friedrich Rosenfeld and Consultant Editor John Fellas examine all the key points of international commercial arbitration. After introductory remarks on the applicable normative framework, the book covers arbitration agreements and their enforcement, the initiation of proceedings and the constitution of the tribunal, the taking of evidence, issues arising in complex arbitrations, as well as the award and the post-award regime. Scholars and students of international commercial arbitration across the globe will find this book invaluable for its comparative analysis. It will also be most useful for arbitration practitioners and judges interested in learning how jurisdictions differ in their approaches to arbitration proceedings.

This revised second edition of Comparative Tort Law offers an updated and enriched framework for analysing and understanding the current state of tort law around the world. Using a critical comparative methodology, it examines common issues such as causation, economic and non-economic damages, product and professional liability, and the relationship between tort law and crime, insurance and public welfare schemes. Featuring contributions from international experts, this book also provides a comprehensive comparative assessment of tort law cultures, contextualising them within the legal systems and societies that sustain them. Chapters cover many jurisdictions often overlooked in the mainstream literature, and explore illuminating case studies from tort systems in Europe, the US, Latin America, Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, including new chapters specifically discussing tort law in Brazil, India and Russia. Comparative Tort Law is a critical tool for students, scholars and academic researchers, especially those specialising in tort and comparative law. It will also be useful to policymakers, practitioners and judges, in particular those dealing with differing tort law systems.

Foundations of Public Contracts undertakes an in-depth survey of the foundations of public contracts in three legal systems: American, French, and Brazilian. The comparison of these three systems highlights the legal phenomenon's historical, philosophical, and social origins. The book transcends the functional commonalities to penetrate into how American, French, and Brazilian lawyers think about the essence of government contracts law, the phenomenon of exceptionalism: preferential treatment that public procurement law provides to the state in its contractual dealing with private entities. Comparative public law professors and students will find great value in this exploration of the material sources of public contracts, an area that has heretofore received little attention in legal academia.

With the transfer of ever more tasks and competences to the European level the EU's administration has become increasingly complex, with 'agencification' as the most visible sign of this differentiation. This book offers a much-needed analytical overview of the field, with the aim of improving our understanding of administration at the European level, and indeed of improving the administration itself. Importantly, the book takes a comparative approach, examining the parallels and differences with the US law of administrative organization - and demonstrates that it is not sufficient to consider the respective laws of important Member States in isolation. Using this comparison as a vehicle, the book provides a rounded conceptualization of the law of administrative organization of the EU. This includes a reasoned proposal for a reformed Art. 298 TFEU to address deficiencies in the EU's administrative organization and to enhance administrative legitimacy in the EU. Legal scholars undertaking research in the field of European and administrative law and civil servants working for Member States or European institutions will appreciate the scholarly thoroughness of this book.

This thought-provoking book combines analysis of international commercial and investment treaty arbitration to examine how they have been framed by the twin tensions of "in/formalisation" and "glocalisation". Taking a comparative approach, the book focuses on Australia and Japan in their attempts to become regional hubs for international arbitration and dispute resolution services in the increasingly influential Asia-Pacific context as well as a global context. Interweaving historical, empirical and doctrinal research from over two decades of work in the field, Luke Nottage provides an interdisciplinary perspective on the shifting state of arbitration over this period. Chapters incorporate empirical findings on topics such as case disposition times for arbitration-related court proceedings, media coverage of arbitration and Arb-Med patterns in Japanese arbitrations. The book also makes normative arguments for more concerted bilateral and regional efforts to maintain global approaches and to encourage renewed informalisation in international arbitration. This book will be an invaluable read for both scholars and practitioners of international commercial arbitration and dispute resolution, particularly those in or involved with the Asia-Pacific region. Government policy-makers and investment treaty negotiators will also find its insights useful.

Comparing the structures and challenges of democratic constitutionalism in India and the European Union, this book explores how democracy is possible within vastly diverse societies of continental scale, and why a constitutional framework is best able to secure the ideals of collective autonomy and individual dignity. It contributes to an emerging comparative discussion on structures of power, separation of powers and a comparative law of democracy, which has been long neglected in comparative constitutional studies. This timely and invigorating book showcases a novel comparative approach termed "slow comparison" counters the conceptual focus on nation-states in comparative studies and develops a broader understanding of democratic constitutionalism. In the context of the contemporary crisis of constitutional democracy, triggered by populism, majoritarianism and authoritarianism, chapters continue older ongoing debates about multiculturalism, identity politics and democratic equality that hold important insights for both India and the EU to deal with contemporary challenges. This book will be an important read for scholars of comparative constitutional law and theory. It will also benefit those studying EU law and Indian constitutional law.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Drawing on historical, normative, theoretical, and economic methodologies, Pier Giuseppe Monateri offers a fresh critical analysis of various dimensions of comparative law methods. Comprehensive and engaging with a multidisciplinary approach, this Advanced Introduction spans the fields of comparative legal studies, law and finance and global law. Key features include: uses analysis of current issues to offer a genuinely advanced perspective use of theory for evaluating methods and approaches in comparative law a comprehensive treatment of the main themes and approaches in comparative law discussions. This insightful Advanced Introduction will be an excellent resource for both law students and scholars alike. It will also be a useful guide for those working in international law, as well as law clerks and legal advisors. Professor Emeritus, Kent Law School, UK

As public infrastructure, health and other services are being delivered more frequently through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and concessions, this timely book explores these complex contractual arrangements involving cooperation between public and private sectors. It considers how PPPs have become increasingly prevalent following the 2008 financial crisis and examines the applicable legal regimes that are still, to a large extent, unclear to many. Containing in-depth investigation into EU law and comparative national experiences in relation to PPPs and concessions in 7 EU Member States and the UK, the contributions in this incisive book address the weak points in the current legal regime. Chapters analyse the risks faced by contracting authorities in connection to PPPs and concessions while highlighting good practices from different countries that may be considered for wider adoption across the EU. Public-Private Partnerships and Concessions in the EU will be a key resource for scholars and students of public administrative law and businesses seeking to procure contracts to create PPPs, as well as being of value to practitioners and policy makers at both EU and national levels. Contributors include: P. Bogdanowicz, K. Bonsignore, R. Caranta, P. Cerqueira Gomes, A. Christidis, M.E. Comba, D.C. Dragos, N. Gabayet, C. Kroenke, P. Patrito, C. Risvig Hamer, P. Telles, P. Valcarcel Fernandez, R. Vornicu