This book examines the origins of the controversial practice of plea bargaining, a procedure that appears to reward the guilty. Contrary to popular perception of plea bargaining as an innovation or corruption of the post-World War II years, this study shows that the practice emerged early in the American Republic. It argues that plea bargaining should be seen as part of a larger repertoire of techniques in the Anglo-American legal tradition through which law might be used as a vehicle of rule.

The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce has become an important forum for international commercial arbitration, with parties from more than 30 countries, especially Western European countries and increasingly Russia, other Eastern European Countries, and China. The author offers practitioners several background chapters on commercial arbitration in Sweden and a detailed analysis of each section of the Swedish Arbitration Act (SAA).
This is a ready-reference handbook analyzing Swedish arbitration- the SAA, the Rules, and cases-and also includes references and commentary with respect to international commercial arbitration in general. The author's intention is to help practitioners "in search of rapid guidance regarding the interpretation of a particular provision or who wish to solve a practical problem."
"This Third Edition of Commercial Arbitration in Sweden provides us all with a valuable and up-to-date understanding of the Swedish system in operation, and a comprehensive commentary on the SCC Rules, both new and existing. World business has the means, through this work, to see why Sweden and Stockholm are good choices for their international arbitrations."-- ? Phillip Capper, Head of International Arbitration, Lovells; Nash Professor of Engineering Law, King's College, University of London; former Chairman of the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford

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.

The most glamorous and even glorious moments in a legal system come when a high court recognizes an abstract principle involving, for example, human liberty or equality. Indeed, Americans, and not a few non-Americans, have been greatly stirred--and divided--by the opinions of the Supreme Court, especially in the area of race relations, where the Court has tried to revolutionize American society. But these stirring decisions are aberrations, says Cass R. Sunstein, and perhaps thankfully so. In Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict, Sunstein, one of America's best known commentators on our legal system, offers a bold, new thesis about how the law should work in America, arguing that the courts best enable people to live together, despite their diversity, by resolving particular cases without taking sides in broader, more abstract conflicts.
Sunstein offers a close analysis of the way the law can mediate disputes in a diverse society, examining how the law works in practical terms, and showing that, to arrive at workable, practical solutions, judges must avoid broad, abstract reasoning. Why? For one thing, critics and adversaries who would never agree on fundamental ideals are often willing to accept the concrete details of a particular decision. Likewise, a plea bargain for someone caught exceeding the speed limit need not--indeed, must not--delve into sweeping issues of government regulation and personal liberty. Thus judges purposely limit the scope of their decisions to avoid reopening large-scale controversies. Sunstein calls such actions incompletely theorized agreements. In identifying them as the core feature of legal reasoning--and as a central part of constitutional thinking in America, South Africa, and Eastern Europe-- he takes issue with advocates of comprehensive theories and systemization, from Robert Bork (who champions the original understanding of the Constitution) to Jeremy Bentham, the father of utilitarianism, and Ronald Dworkin, who defends an ambitious role for courts in the elaboration of rights. Equally important, Sunstein goes on to argue that it is the living practice of the nation's citizens that truly makes law. For example, he cites Griswold v. Connecticut, a groundbreaking case in which the Supreme Court struck down Connecticut's restrictions on the use of contraceptives by married couples--a law that was no longer enforced by prosecutors. In overturning the legislation, the Court invoked the abstract right of privacy; the author asserts that the justices should have appealed to the narrower principle that citizens need not comply with laws that lack real enforcement. By avoiding large-scale issues and values, such a decision could have led to a different outcome in Bowers v. Hardwick, the decision that upheld Georgia's rarely prosecuted ban on sodomy. And by pointing to the need for flexibility over time and circumstances, Sunstein offers a novel understanding of the old ideal of the rule of law.
Legal reasoning can seem impenetrable, mysterious, baroque. This book helps dissolve the mystery. Whether discussing the interpretation of the Constitution or the spell cast by the revolutionary Warren Court, Cass Sunstein writes with grace and power, offering a striking and original vision of the role of the law in a diverse society. In his flexible, practical approach to legal reasoning, he moves the debate over fundamental values and principles out of the courts and back to its rightful place in a democratic state: the legislatures elected by the people.

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.

Regulation and In-House Lawyers is a resource for SRA regulated lawyers working in-house for organisations which are not authorised by the SRA. This second edition has been updated to reflect the major regulatory changes introduced by the SRA Standards and Regulations in November 2019. The book explains the changes and their significance to in-house lawyers in particular, and provides guidance on regulatory compliance. It also covers key legislation such as the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, the Criminal Finances Act 2017, the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, as well as recent Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal decisions. Additional material has been added to this new edition which will help lawyers to demonstrate compliance in practice through systems, controls and policies, including templates which can be used by practitioners to create compliance manuals.

This book is the first South African work on this crucial new tool for the successful investigation and prosecution of crime.

It introduces readers to the biological principles of DNA and emphasises the importance of the chain of custody and pre-trial disclosure. It also looks at the process that a DNA-sample has to go through before a DNA test result can be produced, as well as an explanation of test result interpretation.

The meaning of a DNA match is explained, as well as aspects of population genetics, statistical calculations and DNA databases.

It has long been a fundamental norm of civilized legal systems that the administration of justice is conducted in full view of the public. In this topical new study, Joseph Jaconelli explores these issues and offers a critical examination of the reasons why justice is required to be carried out in the open, the values served by open justice, and the tensions that exist between it and the pressures of modern, mass media.

The European Union is unique amongst international organisations in that it has a highly developed and coherent system of judicial protection. The rights derived from Union law can be enforced in court, as opposed to other international organisations whereby enforceability is often far less certain. At the heart of the system of judicial protection in the European Union is the core principle of upholding the rule of law. As such, the stakes are high in the sense that the system of the judicial protection in the European Union must live up to its promise in which individuals, Member States and Union institutions are all guaranteed a route by which to enforce Union law rights. This book provides a rigorously structured analysis of the EU system of judicial protection and procedure before the Union courts. It examines the role and the competences of the Union courts and the types of actions that may be brought before them, such as the actions for infringement, annulment, and failure to act, as well as special forms of procedure, for example interim relief, appeals, and staff cases. In doing so, special attention is given to the fields of EU competition law and State aid. In addition it evaluates the relationship between the Court of Justice and the national courts through the preliminary ruling procedure and the interplay between EU law and the national procedural frameworks generally. Throughout, it takes account of significant institutional developments, including the relevant changes brought by the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and the amendments to the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice and the General Court. Previously published as The Procedural Law of the European Union, this thoroughly revised work will continue to be the first port of call for legal practitioners and academics seeking guidance on the system of judicial protection in the EU.

The relevance of lawyers and jurists in the process of state-building in nineteenth-century Latin America has been widely acknowledged. This collection of essays assembles a series of studies dealing with the interaction between the legal world and the wider political, economic, social and cultural processes in which the transition from colonial status to independent nationhood took place. Rather than viewing this transition as a radical transformation of judicial institutions and practices, emphasis has been put upon the continuities between those two phases. The chapters range from general overviews of both colonial and republican Spanish America to more detailed case studies of Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. contributors include: Linda Arnold, Virginia Tech; Osvaldo Barreneche, Universidad Nacional de la Plata, Argentina; Charles R. Cutter, Purdue University; Thomas H. Holloway, Cornell University; Victor M. Uribe, Florida International University.

The American legal system is experiencing a period of extreme stress, if not crisis, as it seems to be losing its legitimacy with at least some segments of its constituency. Nowhere is this legitimacy deficit more apparent than in a portion of the African American community in the U.S., as incidents of police killing black suspects - whether legally justified or not - have become almost routine. However, this legitimacy deficit has largely been documented through anecdotal evidence and a steady drumbeat of journalistic reports, not rigorous scientific research. This book offers an all-inclusive account of how and why African Americans differ in their willingness to ascribe legitimacy to legal institutions, as well as in their willingness to accept the policy decisions those institutions promulgate. Based on two nationally-representative samples of African Americans, this book ties together four dominant theories of public opinion: Legitimacy Theory, Social Identity Theory, theories of adulthood political socialization and learning through experience, and information processing theories. The findings reveal a gaping chasm in legal legitimacy between black and white Americans. More importantly, black people themselves differ in their perceptions of legal legitimacy. Group identities and experiences with legal authorities play a crucial role in shaping whether and how black people extend legitimacy to the legal institutions that so much affect them. This book is one of the most comprehensive analyses produced to date of legal legitimacy within the American black community, with many surprising and counter-intuitive results.

Professor Dickson has used the conference notes of Justices Brennan, Burton, Clark, Douglas, and to a lesser degree Frankfurter and Jackson to compile a list of conference notes for more than two hundred landmark cases from 1945- 1985. He has transcribed and heavily annotated notes to make them more accessible and meaningful to readers. The project draws out some of the patterns, tendencies, and personalities of the conference and answers some of the questions long asked about the Court: Do the Justices bargain with each other for votes? How do Chief Justices manipulate the conference and control opinion assignments? Do Justices come into the conference with their minds already made up? Who takes a leadership role in conference and with which cases? Who are the crucial swing votes?

With increased international trade transactions and a corresponding increase in disputes arising from those transactions, the application of the doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens - the discretionary power of a court to decline jurisdiction based on the convenience of the parties and the interests of justice - has become extremely relevant when determining which country's court should preside over a controversy involving nationals of different countries. Forum Non Conveniens: History, Global Practice, and Future Under the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements provides an in-depth analysis of the common law doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens as it has evolved in the four major common law countries (UK, US, Canada, and Australia), and looks at the similarities and differences of the doctrine among those four countries. It compares Forum Non Conveniens to the more rigid analogous doctrine of Lis Alibi Pendens found in civil law countries, which requires automatic deference to the court where a dispute is first filed and explains current initiatives for coordinating jurisdictional issues between the common law and civil law systems, the most important of which is the 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements. The authors explain how the Hague Convention provides a rational approach to the confluence of common law and civil law doctrines and how its application to international transactions is likely to temper judicial application of the doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens and provides greater predictability with respect to enforcement of private party choice of court agreements.
Forum Non Conveniens: History, Global Practice, and Future Under the Hague Convention on Choiceof Court Agreements is the only book to provide a complete explanation of Forum Non Conveniens in the context of global litigation, making it a very important resource and reference work.

The Supreme Court of Namibia: Law, Procedure and Practice, written by the Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Namibia and author of Namibia's first ever civil procedure title, covers all aspects of Namibia's apex court's procedure and practice. The Supreme Court of Namibia: Law, Procedure and Practice covers both the criminal and civil practice of Namibia's Supreme Court. The book is systematically organised, covering the background to the legal system, general principles related to civil and criminal practice and procedure, prosecution of an appeal, duties of parties to litigation, challenges experienced by courts during litigation as well as the granting of costs as a post-hearing order. The author provides practical examples of how the court's appellate, review and first instance jurisdictions are exercised.

The new constitutional order has brought about substantial changes to the application of property remedies in South African law. Property Remedies investigates the ways in which various property remedies have been developed by the courts. The book shows that the transformation of remedial possibilities needs to be informed by different contexts. The book argues that it is important to consider this jurisprudential challenge in developing property remedies that are suited to a new constitutional order based on a single system of law. Property Remedies covers the traditional common-law remedies used to protect property interests, such as the rei vindicatio, the actio negatoria, the mandament van spolie, the possessory action, the actio legis aquiliae, compensation for improvements, the prohibitory interdict and the declaratory order. The book also discusses constitutionally inspired property remedies such as compensation for expropriation, constitutional damages and non-expropriatory compensation for lawful state action. The book offers guidance on how to deal with the tension between preserving the existing common-law remedies, accommodating new statutory interventions and developing the current system of property remedies in line with the Constitution.

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.

The U.S. Supreme Court is a public policy battleground in which organized interests attempt to etch their economic, legal, and political preferences into law through the filing of amicus curiae ("friend of the court") briefs. In Friends of the Supreme Court: Interest Groups and Judicial Decision Making, Paul M. Collins, Jr. explores how organized interests influence the justices' decision making, including how the justices vote and whether they choose to author concurrences and dissents. Collins presents theories of judicial choice derived from disciplines as diverse as law, marketing, political science, and social psychology. This theoretically rich and empirically rigorous treatment of decision-making on the nation's highest court, which represents the most comprehensive examination ever undertaken of the influence of U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs, provides clear evidence that interest groups play a significant role in shaping the justices' choices.

Class Action Litigation in South Africa is the first book to be published in South Africa dealing with this area of the law. The book collects, describes and interrogates the first-class action judgments in South Africa, aiming to go beyond the existing and ground-breaking Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court judgments on class actions, and makes practical suggestions regarding the issues that are likely to arise for practitioners, judges and academics as they encounter class actions in South Africa. Class Action Litigation in South Africa seeks to ensure a home-grown understanding of class actions for our country, but also offers the reader first-hand exposure to lessons learnt from international experts in class action litigation. The book thus embraces contributions from around the world that are wide-ranging, straddling the fields of law, economics, social justice and politics. The book presents important and useful insights into class action litigation from local and international experts. The editors and the contributors have all been involved in the leading class action cases in South Africa and abroad.

A Practical approach to Criminal Procedure in Botswana explains the basic principles of the law of criminal procedure in Botswana in plain and concise language. Aspects of the law of criminal procedure are analysed with an emphasis on their practical application, and with reference to recent case law and legislation. The author also discusses the rights of the accused at each stage of the criminal justice process. A Practical approach to Criminal Procedure in Botswana provides comprehensive, analytical and up-to-date information for judicial officers, legal practitioners, law students, academics, law enforcement officers, researchers, paralegals and those involved in the administration of justice.