In the event that damage is caused as a result of the Year 2000 problem, who will be responsible for compensating the victims of such damage? Should the developers, vendors or licensors of non-compliant software be held liable if their products do not continue to function correctly through the change in the millennium? Should those who provide "fixes" to the Bug which do not work properly be accountable for damage caused? Do end-users have a duty to ensure that their software is Year 2000 compliant? These questions, among others, will not be answered fully until the courts have had an opportunity to rule upon disputes which will no doubt arise. Other matters to be considered include the type of agreement that has been entered into between the parties, which rules will therefore apply and what defences, if any, may be available to the defendant. Insurance is also a big issue. Many insurance companies are stating that damage resulting from the Millennium Bug will not be covered by existing policies, and defences such as force majeure and act of God have been raised. What will happen when these issues come to litigation remains to be seen. This special issue of the "Comparative Law Yearbook of International Business" discusses the legal implications of the Millennium Bug in various countries. It describes the way in which agreements relating to software are viewed by different jurisdictions and the possible attribution of liability for damage caused by the Bug.

More and more, social security systems influence each other. Governments, policy makers and academics have become very interested in the way various social security systems approach particular problems, such as ageing of society and the policy to reintegrate recipients of social security benefits into the workforce. For this purpose a profound description and analysis of the legal aspects of the Dutch social security system should prove useful. This monograph aims to provide this information. Moreover, this book describes the Dutch system from an international perspective: it discusses the impact of ILO Conventions, Conventions of the Council of Europe and EU regulations and directives on the Dutch social security system. In this way it shows which impact international law has had on the Dutch system. This contributes to more insight of the meaning of international social security law on this particular system, and it also contributes to the general knowledge of the impact international law has on national social security law.

This comprehensive book offers a thoughtful survey of theories, issues and cases in order to reassess the present vision of contract law. Comparative refers both to the specific kind of methodologies implied and to the polyphonic perspectives collected on the main topics, with the aim of superseding the conventional forms of representation. In this perspective, the work engages a critical search for the fault lines, which crosses traditions of thought and globalized landscapes. Notwithstanding contract's enduring presence and the technicalities devoted to managing clauses and interpretation, the inquiry on the proper nature of contract and its status and collocation within private legal taxonomies continues to be a controversial exercise. Moving from a vast array of dissimilar inclinations, which have historically produced heterogeneous maps of law, this book is built around the genealogies of contractual theoretical thinking; the contentious relationship between private governance and normative regulations; the competing styles used to stage contract law; the concurring opinions expressed within the domain of other disciplines, such as literature and political theory; the tensions between global context and local frames; and the movable thresholds between canonical expressions and heterodox constructions. For its careful analysis and the wide range of references employed, Comparative Contract Law will be a tremendous resource for academics, legal scholars and interdisciplinary experts as well as judges and law practitioners. Contributors include: G. Bellantuono, B.H. Bix, D. Carpi, C.L. Cordasco, C. Costantini, S. Fiorato, J. Gordley, M. Granieri, A. Hutchison, M.R. Marella, G. Marini, P.G. Monateri, F. Monceri, P. Moreno Cruz, H. Muir Watt, F. Parisi, P. Pardolesi, G. Samuel

Most books about public power and the state deal with their subject from the point of view of legal theory, sociology or political science. This book, without claiming to deliver a comprehensive theory of law and state, aims to inform by offering a fresh reading of history and institutions, particularly as they have developed in continental Europe and European political and legal science. Drawing on a remarkably wide range of sources from both Western and Eastern Europe, the author suggests that only by knowing the history of the state, and state administration since the twelfth century, can we begin to comprehend the continuing importance of the state and public powers in modern Europe. In an era of globalization, when the importance of international law and institutions frequently lead to the claim that the state either no longer exists or no longer matters, the truth is in fact more complex. We now live in an era where the balance is shifting away from the struggle to build states based on democratic values, towards fundamental values existing above and beyond the borders of nations and states, under the watchful gaze of judges bound by the rule of law.

This yearbook is a compilation of thematically arranged essays that critically analyseemerging developments, issues, and perspectives across different branches of law. Itconsists of research from scholars around the world with the view that comparativestudy would initiate dialogue on law and legal cultures across jurisdictions. The themesvary from jurisprudence of comparative law and its methodologies to intrinsic detailsof specific laws like memory laws. The sites of the enquiries in different chapters aredifferent legal systems, recent judgements, and aspects of human rights in a comparativeperspective. It comprises seven parts wherein the first part focuses on general themesof comparative law, the second part discusses private law through a comparative lens,and the third, fourth and fifth parts examine aspects of public law with special focuson constitutional law, human rights and economic laws. The sixth part engages withcriminal law and the last part of the book covers recent developments in the field ofcomparative law. This book intends to trigger a discussion on issues of comparativelaw from the vantage point of Global South, not only focusing on the Global North.It examines legal systems of countries from far-east and sub-continent and presentsinsights on their working. It encourages readers to gain a nuanced understanding ofthe working of law, legal systems and legal cultures, adding to existing deliberationson the constituents of an ideal system of law.

Comparative constitutional law is a field of increasing importance around the world, but much of the literature is focused on Europe, North America, and English-speaking jurisdictions. The importance of Asia for the broader field is demonstrated here in original contributions that look thematically at issues from a general perspective, with special attention on how they have been treated in East Asian jurisdictions.The authors - leading comparativists from around the world - illuminate material from Asian jurisdictions on matters such as freedom of religion, constitutional courts, property rights, emergency regimes and the drafting process of constitutions. Together they present a picture of a region that is grappling with complex constitutional issues and is engaged with developments in the rest of the world, while at the same time pursuing distinctive local solutions that deserve close attention. This unique scholarly study will prove an important research tool for Asian scholars, constitutional lawyers within Asia and comparative constitutional scholars around the world. Contributors: T. Allen, J. Blount, J.A. Cheibub, S. Choudhry, R. Chowdhry, M. Clark, R. Dixon, T. Ginsburg, R. Hirschl, M. Khosla, F. Limongi, K. O'Regan, V.V. Ramraj, C. Saunders, A. Stone, M. Tushnet

This yearbook reviews significant legal developments in international commerce and offers an important forum for legal practitioners to address and compare practical legal issues of direct interest to their areas of specialization. Each volume of the yearbook features a comprehensive range of articles written for and by leading practitioners and advisers working within the international business sector. The topics covered in Volume 17, the new volume for 1995, range from the ethical issues for lawyers involved in cross-border transactions to insider trading. Several of the chapters make reference to the growing European Union (EU), with one chapter focusing particularly on the free movement of goods throughout the EU's Member States. Competition within the EU is also dealt with, the provisions of Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty of Rome being of particular relevance due to the large amount of recent case law in this area. There is a large section dealing with company law matters, including the emergence and development of new types of corporation, privatization and the westernization of companies in countries such as China. The recovery of monies and the enforcement of judgments in this respect are always issues of high priority in business. The volume thus discusses these matters in a separate section on debt recovery. The remainder of the book is divided into parts dealing with finance and mergers and acquisitions, together with a general commercial law section. This yearbook has been prepared by specialist practitioners from all corners of the world for the use of international business lawyers and their clients.

Liability law is expanding in many areas and many countries. This development is potentially worrisome. It may affect the availability of useful goods and services and has a negative impact on insurability. This calls for research into techniques to keep liability (law) within reasonable and sustainable limits. This book sheds light on the techniques used in the respective countries, highlighted on the basis of eight cases.

This new book in the Constitutionalism in Asia series considers the idea of origins, and of change and continuity in terms of 'constitution-making', which is an on-going process in the Northeast Asian states. The book examines the drafting, nature, core values, and roles of the first modern constitutions during the founding of the 8 modern states/territories in Northeast Asia: China (1949), Taiwan (1947), Hong Kong SAR (1997), Macau SAR (1999), Japan (1889), North Korea (1948 and 1972), South Korea (1948), and Mongolia (1924). The collection provides: - an exploratory description of the process and substantive inputs in the making of the first constitutions of these nations/territories; - analysis of the internal and external (including intra-regional) forces surrounding the making of these constitutions; and - theoretical construction of models to conceptualise the nature and role of the first constitutions (including constituent documents) in the founding of the modern nation-states/territories and their subsequent impact on state-building in the region.

Legal systems around the world vary widely in terms of how they deal with the transfer of and security interests in receivables. The aim of this book is to help international financiers and lawyers in relevant markets in their practice of international receivables financing. Substantively, this book analyses three types of receivables financing transactions, ie outright transfer, security transfer and security interests. This book covers comprehensive comparison and analysis of the laws on the transfer of and security interests in receivables of fifteen major jurisdictions, encompassing common law jurisdictions, Roman-Germanic jurisdictions and French-Napoleonic jurisdictions, as well as relevant EU Directives. To be more specific, this book compares and analyses the relevant legal systems of the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Korea, Japan, France, Belgium, England, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. Furthermore, in order to analyse those legal systems from the international perspective, this book compares relevant international conventions; it also proposes to establish an international registration system for the transfer of and security interests in receivables.

This book focuses on the most important implications of the "fair hearing" right for conducting civil proceedings. It provides a thorough and critical analysis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (the Strasbourg Court) regarding Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It puts forward a generally applicable framework for the analysis of the various procedural issues to which the "fair hearing" right may give rise, then applies that framework to discuss a selection of specific procedural issues. The book investigates several important questions of general scope in the context of ECHR Article 6, such as: What is the relevance of case law regarding criminal proceedings when the "fair hearing" right is applied to civil proceedings? How does the Strasbourg Court actually proceed when evaluating whether specific court proceedings have been "fair"? What are the roles of fundamental concepts such as the "margin of appreciation" and proportionality in this regard? In the subsequent discussion of specific procedural issues, the focus is on the balance that must be struck between procedural safeguards and the objectives of efficiency and economy. The book considers specific procedural issues such as: When must an oral hearing be held in order for civil proceedings to be "fair"? When will a refusal of specific evidence render civil proceedings unfair? When is a civil litigant entitled to le gal aid? As such, the book not only presents current case law; it also compares various strands of the case law regarding the "fair hearing" right, and argues that the Strasbourg Court's approach to various pertinent issues needs to become more consistent. Offering an in-depth examination of the Strasbourg Court's case law regarding ECHR Article 6, this book should be consulted by anyone interested in fundamental fair trial rights.

This remarkable and timely book draws together all the strands of law in this controversial area, both de facto and de jure. Its comprehensive coverage includes such eminently useful materials as the following:
- thirty actual company policies regarding on-line communications, from a wide variety of business sectors, with detailed analysis;
- texts of four company codes of practice;
- actual views of trade unions and employers organizations;
- analysis of relevant existing laws on access, monitoring, liability, sanctions, and the rights of employee representatives;
- two proposed model codes of practice, one for the individual user and one for employee representatives; and,
- appendices including Belgium's National Collective Agreement No. 81 and the regulatory bill and advisory opinions that led up to it.

This volume examines the important area of dispute resolution. Its main focus is upon those methods of resolving disputes which provide alternatives to the existing judicial system. Under discussion are the most prominent of these methods - arbitration, mediation and conciliation - as well as others, such as mini-trials, valuations and dispute review boards. The authors are eminent legal practitioners and scholars from countries spanning the five continents. Consequently, the volume consists of accounts relating to the use of alternative dispute resolution methods in these countries. The pros and cons of each method are examined, together with the procedures involved, their applicability to certain types of cases and their future development. This work also includes a chapter devoted entirely to International Fast-Trac Commercial Arbitration, which describes how fast-track clauses may be utilized in international commercial contracts to ensure that disputes are resolved rapidly and efficiently. The future for such clauses in individual countries is discussed and a comparative analysis given.

Through a comparison of the telecommunications sectors in four small EU-countries, an outstanding cast of contributors explore how regulatory authorities at international, EU-, national and regional level within and between sectors coordinate their regulatory decisions in order to provide coherent regulation of markets.

The constitutional entrenchment and protection of property rights has always been a difficult and controversial issue. This text is more than a collection of cases on constitutional property law, it is an in-depth comparison of constitutional property clauses in jurisdictions around the world. The book consists of three parts: the first chapter contains a general discussion of comparative, theoretical, and analytical issues. The second part consists of 18 chapters on jurisdictions where the property clause has generated substantial case law and jurisprudence, meriting extensive analysis and discussion. Among the countries discussed are Australia, Japan, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and South Africa. For easy reference the structure of these country-by-country chapters is identical. These chapters not only contain practical, useful legal information but also a normative interpretation of constitutional property clauses in their national and international context. The third and final part of the book contains a collection of 86 property clauses from jurisdictions not included in the country reports. The focus of the book is on comparison, and cross-references assist the reader in finding related cases and issues in other jurisdictions.

This book analyses the governance foundations of innovation, brands, inventions, secrets and expression, which are the keys to a century based on knowledge. They are reflected in legal rights that have been fermenting over centuries of national policy deliberations on intellectual property rights, constantly in flux in the face of new advances in science, but overall a trend towards greater protectionism. As countries are challenged by the strictures of international agreements, often extorted through imbalanced power relationships, they seek their own national means for beneficial differentiation from the new global norms, whilst complying with international obligations. This book deals with the outcomes of regional governance of intellectual property, which often creates ripples in the search for harmony in the laws that form the basis for the future of intellectual property. The work has contributions that come from developing and developed nations, showing a common theme of the struggle to find the balance in an area of law that often does not provide clearcut solutions to real world environments. There are many intellectual property struggles illustrated in this work: patent at the boundaries of nature and invention, the need for drug development, which is driven by profit based on the patent monopoly; copyright, the expression of original thought, seeking to maximise exposure facilitated by the internet, but a system that facilitates rampant copying; trade marks, supporting company branding, seeks to exploit global branding through naming domains names; and other areas concomitant to the globalisation of intellectual property governance, such as foreign direct investment. This book holds up a mirror to the issues of world governance of intellectual property rights in this century, asking whether the direction we are currently following is in the best interest of global citizens, and showing the divergence that constraints are stimulating on a national level.

This book gathers international and national reports from across the globe on key questions in the field of antitrust and intellectual property.The first part discusses the allocation of liability for infringement of antitrust laws between corporations and individuals. The book explores the criminal or administrative sanctions available against corporations, companies or group of companies, and individuals, such as employees or directors. A detailed international report explores the major trends and challenges in this field and provides an excellent comparative study of this complex and challenging subject. The second part examines whether intellectual property rights are sufficiently protected to ensure a fair return on investments made by manufacturers and distributors. This question comes at a time where distribution is facing deep and radical changes with the Internet. To what extent this is an opportunity or a threat to the sustainability of distribution systems of differentiated and IP protected goods is the question. This book brings together the current legal responses across a number of European countries and elsewhere in the world, all summarised and elaborated in an international report. The book also includes the resolutions passed by the General Assembly of the International League of Competition Law (LIDC) following a debate on each of these topics, which include proposed solutions and recommendations. The LIDC is a long-standing international association that focuses on the interface between competition law and intellectual property law, including unfair competition issues.

This volume takes a look at the status quo of whistleblowing in several jurisdictions from around the world. Covering a topic that draws the attention of a broad public and is gaining importance amongst legislators, practitioners and scholars all over the globe, the book examines the various aspects of whistleblowing. It looks at what kind of legal protection of whistleblowers is in force, who is protected, what kind of behaviour is protected, and what kind of behaviour whistleblowers are protected against. This is achieved by a combination of a general comparative report with country-specific reports that give information on whistleblowing in various jurisdictions. These countries include, amongst others, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the USA. A synopsis comprises information on whistleblowing in 23 countries in one tabula. The chapters of this book were originally prepared for the XIXth International Congress of Comparative Law (20th and 21 July 2014) of International Academy of Comparative Law in Vienna.

Chinese and Japanese trade unions may seem emasculated and weak when compared with their Western counterparts in that they do not stand up to management to protect the interests of workers. The author's analysis in this text probes the reasons for this difference, tearing down stereotypical notions about societies with a Confucian heritage, to examine the significant role of law in shaping industrial relations in modern China and Japan. Through a comparative analysis of their trade union laws, this work analyzes the role of law in shaping postwar industrial relations in China and Japan and the interplay amongst such elements as the State or the Party, management, and workers. The work focuses on industrial relations in commercial and industrial enterprises, addressing such issues as the performance or nonperformance of trade unions in China and Japan and possible explanations, and the prospects and limitations of using codified laws to effect change or control in the postwar industrial settings of these two countries. The work's features include: a comparative approach; the use of case studies to maximize objectivity and insight; a unified and clearly expressed thesis and conclusions including a summary of findings; footnotes and cross references; and concise explanations of the relevant legal provisions and the manner in which they have been applied. This work enables academics and international labour law practitioners to understand industrial relations in these two countries in light of their own particular circumstances, to ascertain whether their trade unions have fulfilled their role as representatives of workers, and to evaluate the efficacy of law as an agent of social change and/or social control. The book also seeks to achieve a broader purpose: breaking through stereotypes of East Asian peoples to promote international understanding, generate thought-provoking issues and insights, and stimulate more research.

This book focuses on the restructuring of distressed businesses, emphasizing the need for new financing during the restructuring process as well as during relaunch, and examines the role of law in encouraging creditor confidence and incentivizing lending. It describes two broad approaches to encouraging new finance during restructuring: a prescriptive one that seeks to attract credit using expressly defined statutory incentives, and a market-based one that relies on the business judgment of lenders against the backdrop of transaction avoidance rules. Securing new financing for a distressed business is a critical part of successful restructuring. Without such financing, the business may be unable to meet interim liquidity constraints, or to implement its restructuring plans. This book addresses related questions concerning the place of new financing as an essential component of restructuring. In general terms, the book explores how statutory interventions and the courts can provide support with contentious issues that arise from the provision of new financing, whether through new financing agreements or through distressed debt investors, who are increasingly gaining prominence as sources of new financing for distressed businesses. It argues that courts play a key part in preventing or correcting the imbalances that can arise from the participation of distressed debt investors. In this context, it critically examines the distressed debt market in emerging markets like Nigeria and the opportunity presented by non-performing loans, arguing that the regulatory pattern of market entry may dis-incentivize distress debt investing in a market that is in dire need of financing. The book offers a fresh and comparative perspective on restructuring new financing for distressed businesses by comparing various approaches (primarily from the US, UK and Germany) and drawing lessons for frontier markets, with particular reference to Nigeria. It fills an important gap in international comparative scholarship and discusses a living problem with both empirical and policy aspects.

This volume explores the sameness and difference between the United States and France in the matters of freedom of expression on the Internet. The United States and France are liberal democracies that are part of the Western family of nations. However, despite their many similarities, they have a number of cultural and ideological differences. The United States is generally France's ally in time of war and its cultural nemesis in time of peace. One of the reasons for this unusual relationship is that the United States and France are self-described "exceptional" countries. The United States and France are therefore two Western countries separated by different exceptionalist logics. Lyombe Eko uses this concept of exceptionalism as a theoretical framework for the analysis of American and French resolution of problems of human rights and freedom of expression in the traditional media and on the Internet. This book therefore analyzes how each county applies rules and regulations designed to manage a number of issues of media communication in real space, to the realities and specificities of cyberspace, within the framework of their respective exceptionalist logics. The fundamental question addressed concerns what happens when rules and regulations designed to regulate the media in clearly defined, national and regional geographic spaces, are suddenly confronted with the new realities and multi-communication platforms of the interconnected virtual sphere of cyberspace.

This book examines how law functions in a multitude of facets and dimensions. The contributions shed light on the study of comparative law in legal scholarship, the relevance of comparative law in legal practice, and the importance of comparative law in legal education. The book will particularly appeal to those engaged in the teaching and scholarship of comparative law, and those seeking to uncover the various significant dimensions of the workings of law. The book is organised in three parts. Part I addresses scholarship, with contributors examining comparative legal issues as critique and from a theoretical framework. Part II outlines practice, with contributors discussing the function of comparative law in such comparatively diverse areas as international arbitration, environment, and the rule of law. Part III appraises comparative law in education.

Basic freedoms cannot be abandoned in times of conflict, or can they? Are basic freedoms routinely forsaken during times when there are national security concerns? These questions present different conundrums for the legal profession, which generally values basic freedoms but is also part of the architecture of emergency legal frameworks. Unleashing the Force of Law uses multi-jurisdiction empirical data and draws on cause lawyering, political lawyering and Bourdieusian juridical field literature to analyze the invocation of legal norms aimed at the protection of basic freedoms in times of national security tensions. It asks three main questions about the protection of basic freedoms. First, when do lawyers mobilize for the protection of basic freedoms? Second, in what kind of mobilization do they engage? Third, how do the strategies they adopt relate to the outcomes they achieve? Covering the last five decades, the book focusses on the 1980s and the Noughties through an analysis of legal work for two groups of independence seekers in the 1980s, namely, Republican (mostly Catholic) separatists in Northern Ireland and Puerto Rican separatists in the US, and on post-9/11 issues concerning basic freedoms in both countries