An important read for academics and policy-makers alike, Hard Choices, Soft Law asserts that voluntary standards, or 'soft' law, are an important supplement to international law in a number of areas. This key work firstly outlines the approach taken to combining soft and hard law and trade, environment and labour values in the WTO and NAFTA, and in the prospective Millennium Round. Then, using the forestry sector - a realm where formal international law remains largely absent - the book provides a detailed examination of the role of soft law in action. It demonstrates how soft and hard law can be combined to promote trade, environmental and social cohesion, in ways that also permit sustainable development. The book presents a wealth of knowledge from a range of contributors familiar with the work of the G7/G8, the OECD, the Biodiversity Convention and the Codex Alimentarius.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) are the two major international organisations that are involved in the regulation of international communications. The ITU deals with electronic communications including radio. The UPU deals with mail. As such, both organisations are of major importance in modern life. This volume provides an up-to-date analysis of their development from inception to the present as they have responded to technical and political change. It also makes suggestions for the future. The volume will be an invaluable resource for researchers and students, policy-makers, government officials and administrators, and legal staff in telecommunication and postal organisations.

This book tracks the phenomenon of international corporate personhood (ICP) in international law and explores many legal issues raised in its wake. It sketches a theory of the ICP and encourages engagement with its amorphous legal nature through reimagination of international law beyond the State, in service to humanity. The book offers two primary contributions, one descriptive and one normative. The descriptive section of the book sketches a history of the emergence of the ICP and discusses existing analogical approaches to theorizing the corporation in international law. It then turns to an analysis of the primary judicial decisions and international legal instruments that animate internationally a concept that began in U.S. domestic law. The descriptive section concludes with a list of twenty-two judge-made and text-made rights and privileges presently available to the ICP that are not available to other international legal personalities; these are later categorized into 'active' and 'passive' rights. The normative section of the book begins the shift from what is to what ought to be by sketching a theory of the ICP that - unlike existing attempts to place the corporation in international legal theory - does not rely on analogical reasoning. Rather, it adopts the Jessupian emphasis on 'human problems' and encourages pragmatic, solution-oriented legal analysis and interpretation, especially in arbitral tribunals and international courts where legal reasoning is frequently borrowed from domestic law and international treaty regimes. It suggests that ICPs should have 'passive' or procedural rights that cater to problems that can be characterized as 'universal' but that international law should avoid universalizing 'active' or substantive rights which ICPs can shape through agency. The book concludes by identifying new trajectories in law relevant to the future and evolution of the ICP. This book will be most useful to students and practitioners of international law but provides riveting material for anyone interested in understanding the phenomenon of international corporate personhood or the international law surrounding corporations more generally.

Providing perspectives from a range of experts, including international lawyers, political scientists, and practitioners, this book assesses current theory and practice of economic sanctions, discussing current legal and political challenges faced by the international community. It examines both the implementation of sanctions by major powers - the United States, the European Union, and Japan - as well as assessing the impact of those sanctions through case studies of Russia, Iran, Syria, and North Korea. Balancing theoretical analysis of legal considerations with national and regional level empirical analysis, it also includes coverage of sanctions issues by the UN Security Council and the EU, as well as the extraterritorial application of sanctions. A valuable reference for academics and practitioners, Economic Sanctions in International Law and Practice will be useful to those working in the fields of international law, diplomacy, and international political economy.

The book gathers the general report and the national reports presented at the XXth General Congress of the IACL, in Fukuoka (Japan), on the topic "Debating legal pluralism and constitutionalism: new trajectories for legal theory in the global age". Discussing the major contemporary changes occurring in and problems faced by domestic legal systems in the global age, the book describes how and to what extent these trends affect domestic legal orderings and practices, and challenges the traditional theoretical lenses that are offered to tackle them: constitutionalism and pluralism. Combining comparative law and comparative legal doctrine, and drawing on the national contributions, the general report concludes that most of the classic tools offered by legal doctrine are not appropriate to address most of today's practical and theoretical global legal challenges, and as such, the book also offers new intellectual tools for the global age.

The legal institutions of the short-lived Qin dynasty (221-207 BCE) have been vilified by history as harsh and draconian. Yet ironically, many Qin institutional features, such as written statutory law, were readily adopted by subsequent dynasties as the primary means for maintaining administrative and social control. This book utilizes both traditional texts and archeologically excavated materials to explore how these influential Qin legal institutions developed. First, it investigates the socio-political conditions which led to the production of law in written form. It then goes on to consider how the intended function of written law influenced the linguistic composition of legal statutes, as well as their physical construction. Using a function and form approach, it specifically analyses the Shuihudi legal corpus. However, unlike many previous studies of Chinese legal manuscripts, which have focused on codicological issues of transcription and translation, this book considers the linguistic aspects of these manuscripts and thus their importance for understanding the development of early Chinese legal thought. Writing Chinese Laws will be useful to students and scholars of Chinese Studies, as well as Asian law and history more generally.

Transnational tendencies have led to a pluralistic legal environment in which emerging and established legal actors, regulatory levels and types of legal norms co-exist, compete and interact in complex ways. This challenges and changes not only how legal norms are created, applied and enforced but also when these actors, norms and processes are considered legitimate. The book investigates how states and non-state actors interact in transnational settings and pays attention to the understudied question of what effect transnational tendencies have on the legitimacy of legal actors, norms and processes. It seeks to confront three fundamental questions: Has legitimacy significantly changed? Who creates norms and with which consequences for legal procedures and norms? The book considers the question of legitimacy from a broad range of legal perspectives, including environmental law, human rights law and commercial law. It maps out the contours of legitimacy today with an emphasis on the reactions of central actors like states and courts to transnational tendencies. The book thereby provides a conceptually powerful structure within which to further debate the complexity of transnational tendencies in law and proposes innovative approaches to problem solving while designing pathways for further reflection on the development of law in a transnational context.

This book explores the methods through which international law and its associated innovative global governance mechanisms can strengthen, foster and scale up the impacts of treaty regimes and international law on the ability to implement global governance mechanisms. Examining these questions through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the book looks at environmental, social and economic treaty regimes. It analyses legal methodologies as well as comparative methods of assessing the relationship between the SDGs and treaty regimes and international law. Contradictions exist between international treaty regimes and principles of international law resulting in conflicting implementation of the treaty regimes and of global governance mechanisms. Without determining these areas of contest and highlighting their detrimental impacts, the SDGs and other efforts at global governance cannot maximize their legal and societal benefits. The book concludes by suggesting a path forward for the SDGs and for international treaty regimes that is forged in a solid understanding and application of the advantages of global governance mechanisms, including reflections from the COVID-19 pandemic experience. Addressing the strengths, gaps and weaknesses related to treaty regimes and global governance mechanisms, the book provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of this increasingly important topic. It will be of interest to students, researchers and practitioners with an interest in sustainability and law.

Anthropocene is the proposed name for the new geological epoch in which humans have overwhelming impact on planetary processes. This edited volume invites reflection on the meaning and role of law in light of changing planetary realties. Taking the concept of the Anthropocene as a starting point, the contributions to this book address emerging legal issues from a transnational environmental law perspective. How law interacts with, and how law governs, global environmental problems is a challenge that legal scholars have approached with vigour over the last decade. More recently, the concept of the Anthropocene has become a topic that researchers have also begun to grapple with by engaging with disciplines beyond legal scholarship. One avenue of research that has emerged to address global environmental problems is transnational environmental law. Adopting 'transnational law' as a lens or framework through which to analyse environmental law takes a broader approach to the ways in which law may be assessed and deployed to meet planetary challenges. The chapters within this book provide a timely intervention into the theoretical and practical approaches of transnational environmental law in a time of significant uncertainty and environmental and human crises. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Transnational Legal Theory.

In this era of globalization, International Law plays a significant role in facing rapid development of various legal issues. Cultural preservation has emerged as an important legal issue that should be considered by States. This book consists of academic papers presented and discussed during the 9th International Conference of the Centre of International Law Studies (9th CILS Conference) held in Malang, Indonesia, 2-3 October 2018. The title of the book represents the major theme of the conference: "Culture and International Law." It is argued that along with globalization, cultural preservation is slowly ignored by States. Various papers presented in the book cover five topics: cultural heritage; cultural rights; culture and economic activity; culture and armed conflict; and a general topic. The authors of the papers are outstanding academics from various countries, Lithuania, United States of America, Australia, Thailand and Indonesia. The conference was organized by Universitas Indonesia in collaboration with Brawijaya University. This book aims to give a useful contribution to the existing literature on International Law, specifically focussing on cultural issues from the perspective of cultural heritage and rights, economic as well as armed conflict.

This edited volume presents the work of academics from the Global South and explores, from local and regional settings, how the legal order and people's perceptions of it translates into an understanding of what constitutes "criminal" behaviors or activities. This book aims to address the gap between criminal law in theory and practice in the Global South by assembling 11 chapters from established and emerging scholars from various underrepresented regions of the world. Drawing on research from Singapore, the Philippines, Peru, Indonesia, India, the Dominican Republic, Burma, Brazil, Bangladesh, and Argentina, this book explores a range of issues that straddle the line between social deviance and legal crimes in such societies, including extramarital affairs, gender-based violence, gambling, LGBT issues, and corruption. Issues of inclusivity versus exclusivity, modernity versus tradition, globalization of capital versus cultural revivalism are explored. The contributions critically analyze the role politics and institutions play in shaping these issues. There is an urgent need for empirical studies and new theoretical approaches that can capture the complexity of crime phenomena that occur in the Global South. This book will provide essential material to facilitate the development of new approaches more suitable to understanding the social phenomena related to crime in these societies. This book will make an important contribution in the development of Southern criminology. It will be of interest to students and researchers of criminology and sociology engaged in studies of sentencing and punishment, theories of crime, law and practice, and postcolonialism.

The concept of 'organised crime' is constructed and mobilised by a milieu of complex factors and discourses including a politics of law and order, and international insecurity, combined with the vested interests and priorities of scholars, politicians, government officials, and policing authorities. This book challenges existing assumptions and accepted understandings of organised crime, and explores the ways in which it is amplified and reconstructed for political purposes. This book critiques how the constitution of the 'organised crime problem' in academic and political discourse provides the conditions necessary for the development of an extensive and international architecture of law, policing, surveillance and intelligence. It examines emerging challenges and future directions including the impact of technology on new problems, and for transnational policing, such as the ease with which the Internet enables crime to be committed across borders, and for electronic communications to be protected with strong encryption hampering interception. No other text presents an integrated and comprehensive study of both the politicisation and policing of organised crime, while questioning the outcomes for society at large. Drawing on international fieldwork and interviews with senior national and supranational policing personnel, this book compares and contrasts various narratives on organised crime. It will be of interest to students and researchers engaged in studies of criminology, criminal justice, organised crime, policing, and law.

This volume offers different perspectives on judicial practice in the European and American contexts, both arguably characterized in the last decades by the emergence of novel normative and even policy arguments by judges. The central question deserving the attention of the contributors concerns the degree in which judicial exercises in practical reasoning may amount to forms of judicial usurpation of the legislative function by courts. Since different views as to the nature and scope of legal reasoning lead to different degrees of tolerance regarding what should be admissible to courts, that same nature and scope is thoroughly debated. The main disciplinary approach is that of general jurisprudence, but the contributions take stock of other disciplines in which judicial activism has been addressed, namely positive theories of judicial behavior. Accordingly, the book also explores the development of interdisciplinary dialogue about the theme.

This book critically analyses the World Trade Organization's approach to "special and differential treatment" (SDT) to argue that it is founded on seeking exemptions from WTO obligations, instead of creating an enabling environment for developing countries to integrate fully into the multilateral trading system. Through six key sections: United States Proposal on Special and Differential Treatment Responses to United States Proposal The Evolution of Differential Treatment Failure of the Current Approach to Differential Treatment Complications Created by China's Emergence in the Global Economy An Alternative Approach to Differential Treatment this book explores how, by adopting a new evidence-based, case-by-case approach to SDT, the development of the poorest countries can best be advanced, while at the same time ensuring that advanced developing countries carry their weight in the organization. It will be of interest to scholars and students of international trade law and political science, as well as trade practitioners such as lawyers, diplomats, and analysts.

New innovations are created every day, but today's business leaders are focused on finding disruptive innovations which are cheaper and lower performing than upmarket technologies. They create new markets, and challenge the status quo of existing technological thinking creating uncertainty both in the future of the innovation and the outcome of the market upheaval. Disruptive innovation is an influential innovation theory in business, but how does it affect the law? Several of these technologies have brought new ways for individuals to deal with copyright works while disrupting existing market expectations, while their ability to spawn social norms has presented challenges for legislation. Considering disruptive innovation as a class, this book examines innovations that have impacted copyright in the past, what lessons can be learned from how the law interacted with them, and how the law can successfully deal with them going forward. Creating comprehensive guidance that can be used when faced with disruptive innovations with the aim of more successful legislation, it considers whether copyright law itself has been disrupted through these innovations. Exploring whether disruptive innovations as a class have unique properties that necessitate action by legislators and whether these properties have the possibility to disrupt the law itself, this book theorises how the law should deal with disruptive innovations in general, going beyond a discussion of the regulation of specific innovations to develop a framework for how law makers should deal with disruptive innovations when faced by one.

This book analyses the institution and concept of dictatorship from a legal, historical and theoretical perspective, examining the different types of dictatorship, their relationship to the law, as well as the analytical value of the concept in contemporary world. In particular, it seeks to codify the main theories and conceptions of 'dictatorship', with the goal of unearthing their contradictions. The book's main premise is that the concept of dictatorship and the different types of the dictatorial form have to be assessed and can only be understood in their historical context. On this basis, the elaborations on dictatorship of such diverse thinkers as Carl Schmitt, Donoso Cortes, Karl Marx, Ernst Fraenkel, Franz Neumann, Nicos Poulantzas, and V. I. Lenin, are discussed in their historical context: 'classical and Caesaristic dictatorship' in ancient Rome, 'dictatorship' in revolutionary France of 1789 and counterrevolutionary France of 1848, 'fascist dictatorship' in Nazi Germany, and 'dictatorship of the proletariat' in Russia of 1917. The book contributes to the theory of dictatorship as it outlines the contradictions of the different typologies of the dictatorial form and seeks to explain them on the basis of the concept of 'class dictatorship'. The book's original claim is that the dictatorial form, as a modality of class rule that relies predominantly on violence and repression, has been essential to the reproduction of bourgeois rule and, consequently, of capitalist social relations. This function has given rise to different types and conceptualisations of dictatorship depending on the level of capitalist development. This book is addressed to anyone with an interest in law, political theory, political history and sociology. It can serve as core text for courses that seek to introduce students to the institution or theory of dictatorship. It may also serve as a reference text for post-graduate programs in law and politics, because of its interdisciplinary and critical approach.

The question of how genetic resources ought to be owned and controlled has become a controversial international political issue. The authors examine this issue from a normative perspective, discussing the four principles that govern the debate over genetic resource control. These four principles are proprietarian intellectual property rights (the dominant principle, reflecting Western influences); communitarian intellectual property rights (a principle bound up with the rights of indigenous peoples); national sovereignty (the principle at the heart of international law); and common heritage of mankind (the most recent principle reflecting Third World demands).

Emerging Pathogens at the Poles: Disease and International Trade Law explores the applicability and possible complicating issues of the SPS Protocol to the Polar Regions in light of emerging pathogeneses and unknown host and environmental susceptibility and resilience. It examines the current literature on emerging pathogeneses in the Arctic and Antarctic and the relationship pathogeneses has with human development and movement of goods and people in spreading pathogens in the Polar Regions. Given the endemic nature of the Polar environment and the increasing interest in these regions for tourism and industry, this topic is important to address. The major component of the work is on the relevance of the SPS Protocol and the GATT 1994 Article XX(b) exception on human, animal and plant health as a barrier to trade which is examined in the context of its application to the Arctic and Antarctic. This book is an introduction to the interdisciplinary thinking required, across both science and law, in order to appreciate the significance of global trade barriers in reducing disease transmission and spread. The spread of pathogens across boundaries has become an important geopolitical issue and the provisions of international trade law may prove decisive in limiting or exacerbating the spread of disease. Academics and students with initial knowledge of the international trade regime, or those with initial studies in health or Polar medicine, will find this cross-over a useful introduction to the complications of food, trade and disease.

This book discusses the designs and applications of the social systems theory (built by Niklas Luhmann, 1927-1998) in relation to empirical socio-legal studies. This is a sociological and legal theory known for its highly complex and abstract conceptual apparatus. But how to change its scale in order to study more localised phenomena, and to deal with empirical data, such as case law, statutes, constitutions and regulation? This is the concern of a wide variety of scholars from many regions engaged in this volume. It focuses on methodological discussions and empirical examples concerning the innovations and potentials that functional and systemic approaches can bring to the study of legal phenomena (institutions building, argumentation and dispute-settlement), in the interface with economy and regulation, and with politics and public policies. It also discusses connections and contrasts with other jurisprudential approaches - for instance, with critical theory, law and economics, and traditional empirical research in law. Two decades after Luhmann's death, the 21st century has brought countless transformations in technologies and institutions. These changes, resulting in a hyper-connected, ultra-interactive world society bring operational and reflective challenges to the functional systems of law, politics and economy, to social movements and protests, and to major organisational systems, such as courts and enterprises, parliaments and public administration. Pursuing an empirical approach, this book details the variable forms by which systems construct their own structures and semantics and 'irritate' each other. Engaging Luhmann's theoretical apparatus with empirical research in law, this book will be of interest to students and researchers in the field of socio-legal studies, the sociology of law, legal history and jurisprudence.

This book comprehensively discusses the main features of the Chinese patent law system, which not only legally 'transplants' international treaties into the Chinese context, but also maintains China's legal culture and promotes domestic economic growth. This is the basis for encouraging creativity and improving patent law protection in China. The book approaches the evolution of the Chinese patent system through the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius's classic principle, offering readers a fresh new way to understand and analyze Chinese patent law reforms, while also outlining how Confucian insights could be used to improve the enforcement of patent law and overall intellectual property protection awareness in China. It examines ancient Chinese innovation history, explores intellectual property from a Confucian perspective, and discusses the roots of Chinese patent law, as well as the past three amendments and the trends in the ongoing fourth amendment. In addition to helping readers grasp the mentality behind the Chinese approach to patent law and patent protection, the book provides an alternative research methodology and philosophical approach by demonstrating Confucian analysis, which provides a more dynamic way to justify intellectual property in the academic world. Lastly, it suggests future strategies for local industries in the legal, cultural and sociological sectors in China, which provide benefits for domestic and overseas patent holders alike. The book offers a valuable asset for graduate students and researchers on China and intellectual property law, as well as general readers interested in Asian culture and the philosophy of law.

This book deals with Law of Waqf (Muslim Endowment Law) and its judicial response in India. The volume covers several jurisprudential and historical aspects of Waqf, which include Doctrines of Waqf; Essential Requisites of Waqf; Valid Objects of Waqf; Historical Account of Waqf; Emergence of Waqf Law in India; and Constitutional Validity of Waqf in India. The chapters then go on to discuss the Waqf Act 1995 and Waqf Amendment Act 2013. The legal perspectives of each Section of Waqf Act and its amendments are elucidated with references under Reflections. The case-law has been analysed and cited under each Section of Waqf Act, wherever applicable. This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of law and legal studies. It will be of interest to practitioners of Waqf Jurisprudence in India, the managers of Waqf Institutions and officials involved in Waqf Administration.

This book analyzes the specifics of corporate governance of China's State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and their assessment under EU merger control, which is reflected in the EU Commission's screening of the notified economic concentrations. Guided by the going global policy and the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese SOEs have expanded their global presence considerably. Driven by the need to acquire cutting edge technologies and other industrial policy considerations, Chinese SOEs have engaged in a series of corporate acquisitions in Europe. The main objective of this book is to demonstrate the conceptual and regulatory challenges of applying traditional merger assessment tools in cases involving Chinese SOEs due to the specifics in their corporate governance and the regulatory framework under which they operate in China. The book also explores the connection between the challenges experienced by the merger control regimes in the EU and the recent introduction of the EU foreign direct investment screening framework followed by a proposal concerning foreign subsidies. The book will be a useful guide for academics and researchers in the fields of law, international relations, political science, and political economy; legal practitioners dealing with cross-border mergers and acquisitions; national competition authorities and other public bodies carrying out merger control; policy makers, government officials, and diplomats in China and the EU engaged in bilateral economic relations.

China Japan and South Korea's international relations are shaped by the fact that all three countries are significant importers of resources. This book brings together work on specific aspects of the politics of resources for each of these countries, regionally and internationally. There are some similarities in the approaches taken by all these three. For example, their development assistance shares a focus on infrastructure building and reluctance to purposefully influence domestic politics. However, there are also significant differences due in large part to the individual nature of the states as international actors. China has significant domestic supplies of resources while Japan and Korea are net importers. China's size also marks it out as different, as does its state socialist history and continuing authoritarian state. One of the key issues to understanding contemporary resource politics in Northeast Asia is that Western dominance of the world order is currently declining. In some cases Northeast Asian approaches to resources are seen as being mercantilist. In other cases Northeast Asian powers are seen as replacing Western powers in exploiting resource-rich developing countries. This book gives readers an informed view of this very important issue in contemporary international relations. This book was published as a special issue of Asian Studies Review.

There is an urgent need to better understand the legal issues pertaining to alternative dispute resolution (ADR), particularly in relation to mediation clauses. Despite the promotion of mediation by dispute resolution providers, policy makers, and judges, use of mediation remains low. In particular, problems arise when parties lack certainty regarding the legal effect of a mediation clause, and the potential uncertainty regarding the binding nature of agreements to pursue mediation is problematic and threatens the growth of ADR. This book closely examines the importance and complexity of mediation clauses in commercial contracts to remedy this persistent uncertainty. Using comparative law methods and detailed empirical research, it explores the creation of a comprehensive framework for the mediation clause. Providing valuable insight into the process of ADR and mediation, this book will be of interest to academics, law makers, law students, in-house council, lawyers, as well as parties interesting in drafting enforceable mediation clauses.

As the publishing, film and music industries are dominated by Big Media conglomerates, there is often recourse to simplistic ideological and conspiratorial readings of industry dynamics. Copyright, Creativity, Big Media and Cultural Value: Incorporating the Author explains why copyright is much more than a creator's private property right or a mechanism through which corporations control cultural production and influence mass consumption choices. The volume is grounded in extensive, painstakingly detailed and colourful original archival research into business histories of major successful artists including Conan Doyle, Hall Caine, Margaret Atwood, Dame Nellie Melba, Radiohead and Banksy, and the industries and genres that grew up around their activities. Chapters address big questions about how copyright generates income and how distributions of profits are allocated in the publishing, film and music industries. It includes discussion of the creation of new formats, the interplay between old media and new technologies, international copyright reform and cross-industry relations. Copyright, Creativity, Big Media and Cultural Value is a wide-ranging and important resource for students and practitioners of law and policy, media studies, cultural studies and literary history.