Dieses essential vermittelt einen Einblick in die Grundlagen von Smart Contracts. Smart Contracts sind kleine Computerprogramme, die vor allem im Zusammenhang mit der Blockchain-Technologie zum Einsatz kommen. Mit ihnen lassen sich Vertrage digital abbilden, uberprufen und automatisiert vollziehen. Die damit verbundenen Potenziale sind bei weitem noch nicht ausgeschoepft, doch schon jetzt finden sich zahlreiche Anwendungsmoeglichkeiten. Allerdings werfen Smart Contracts auch eine Reihe rechtlicher Fragen auf. Die Autoren erlautern die Bedeutung und die Struktur von Smart Contracts und geben einen Einblick in deren rechtliche Handhabung.

This edited collection fills a significant gap in the literature by gathering contributions from the most prominent academics and practitioners of aid and procurement. It explores the economic, political and legal relationship between procurement and aid effectiveness in developing countries, and takes stock of current debates in the field. More specifically, the contributions analyse the failures and successes of current initiatives to foster effectiveness and streamline the aid procurement process, and address current themes emerging in the literature related to development, procurement and aid success. A pivotal and timely publication, Public Procurement and Aid Effectiveness will be of interest to a varied and multicultural international audience and a wide range of actors working on aid effectiveness, development, procurement and good governance initiatives in both donor and beneficiary countries.

In the wake of a series of corporate governance disasters in the US and Europe which have gained almost mythic status - Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Adelphia, HealthSouth, Parmalat - one question has not yet been addressed. A number of 'gatekeeping' professions - auditors, attorneys, securities analysts, credit-rating agencies - exist to guard against these governance failures. Yet clearly these watchdogs did not bark while corporations were looted and destroyed. But why not? To answer these questions, a more detailed investigation is necessary that moves beyond journalism and easy scapegoating, and examines the evolution, responsibilities, and standards of these professions. John C. Coffee Jr, world-renowned Professor of Corporate Law, examines how these gatekeeping professions developed, to what degree they failed, and what reforms are feasible. Above all, this book examines the institutional changes and pressures that caused gatekeepers to underperform or neglect their responsibilities, and focuses on those feasible changes that can restore gatekeepers as the loyal agents of investors. This informed and readable view of the players on the contemporary business stage will be essential reading for investors, professionals, executives and business academics concerned with issues of good governance.

Energiegenossenschaften erleben derzeit einen rasanten Zuwachs, denn sie sind starke Einkaufsgemeinschaften und bieten ihren Mitgliedern gunstige Tarife. Auf Grundlage des Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetzes (EEG) werden die Genossenschaften auch immer oefter selbst zu Energieproduzenten. Sie stellen jedoch zahlreiche Anforderungen an das Management sowie an die Rechts- und Steuerberatung. Dieses Buch begleitet Sie bei Grundung, Fuhrung und Beratung solch eingetragener Genossenschaften (eG). Es klart uber geeignete Tatigkeitsfelder, Finanzierung und Projektmanagement auf und bietet daruber hinaus praxistaugliche Checklisten und Fallbeispiele fur erfolgreiche Akteure auf kommunaler Ebene. Fur die 4. Auflage wurde das Buch aktualisiert und erweitert. Mit einem Geleitwort von Hans-Josef Fell.

This anthology discusses important issues surrounding environmental law and economics and provides an in-depth analysis of its use in legislation, regulation and legal adjudication from a neoclassical and behavioural law and economics perspective. Environmental issues raise a vast range of legal questions: to what extent is it justifiable to rely on markets and continued technological innovation, especially as it relates to present exploitation of scarce resources? Or is it necessary for the state to intervene? Regulatory instruments are available to create and maintain a more sustainable society: command and control regulations, restraints, Pigovian taxes, emission certificates, nudging policies, etc. If regulation in a certain legal field is necessary, which policies and methods will most effectively spur sustainable consumption and production in order to protect the environment while mitigating any potential negative impact on economic development? Since the related problems are often caused by scarcity of resources, economic analysis of law can offer remarkable insights for their resolution. Part I underlines the foundations of environmental law and economics. Part II analyses the effectiveness of economic instruments and regulations in environmental law. Part III is dedicated to the problems of climate change. Finally, Part IV focuses on tort and criminal law. The twenty-one chapters in this volume deliver insights into the multifaceted debate surrounding the use of economic instruments in environmental regulation in Europe.

Contributions from members of the German Association for Comparative Law will be among the papers presented at this summer's twentieth International Congress of Comparative Law, to be held for the first time in Asia at Fukuoka, Japan, in July. In a strong range of topics, one focus during the six-day congress will be on questions of multiculturalism and language that concern both comparative law methodology and other legal fields such as family law. Further dealt with will be matters particularly relevant to consumer protection, ranging from choice of court agreements to price control in contracts, duty of information, the regulation of crowd-funding, as well as leisure and travel contracts. Another focus will be on digitalisation's far-reaching economic, societal and legal implications, with questions of data protection in the realm of comparative law accentuated by contributions on the right to be forgotten or current national legal orders. Overall, the volume will reflect the present state of discussions within German jurisprudence. With contributions by: Christina Breunig, Moritz Brinkmann, Johanna Croon-Gestefeld, Anatol Dutta, Katharina Erler, Matthias Fervers, Stefan Grundmann, Beate Gsell, Dirk Hanschel, Wolfgang Hau, Leonhard Hubner, Luca Kaller, Jurgen Kuhling, Sebastian Mock, Joachim Munch, David Ruther, Anne Sanders, Bianca Scraback, Stefanie Schmahl, Martin Schmidt-Kessel, Boris Schinkels, Andreas Spickhoff, Klaus Tonner; Jan Thiessen, Tobias H. Troeger, Lars Viellechner, Marc-Philippe Weller, Matthias Weller, Bettina Weisser

The World Trade Organization's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) sets out a framework and rules for the liberalization of international trade in services. Paragraph 2(a) of the GATS Annex on Financial Services is generally known as the Prudential Carve-Out (PCO). Notwithstanding GATS obligations, it allows WTO Members to pursue prudential regulatory objectives. This book studies the GATS PCO in light of its negotiating history and economic rationale as well as PCOs in all preferential trade agreements notified to the WTO Secretariat up to the summer of 2017. The author clarifies the state of play of international cooperation on financial services regulation; provides a current understanding of the GATS PCO; analyses how PCOs are drafted in preferential trade agreements and, finally, he seeks to understand whether alternative approaches to the mainstream understanding of the PCO are possible and suggests options for reform.

Das vorliegende Kurzkompendium prasentiert einen breit gefacherten UEberblick uber den Berufsstand des Maklers. Neben einer historischen Nachzeichnung der Entwicklung des Berufsfeldes stehen vor allem ganz praktische Themenfelder wie etwa die Trennung von Handelsmakler und Zivilmakler, die Unterschiede einer Nachweis- und einer Vermittlungsleistung sowie die bestehenden rechtlichen Voraussetzungen zur Ausubung des Maklerberufs im Zentrum der Betrachtung. Eine Aufstellung der verschiedenen Ausgestaltungsformen von Maklervertragen und die daraus ableitbaren Voraussetzungen des Provisionsanspruchs komplettieren den angestrebten Gesamtuberblick.

This book explains the impact that some key legal decisions may have on your daily procurement practices: whilst it aims at being readable and at times amusing, it hopes to set some of the requirements of the Procurement Regulations into a practical context and help those tendering to navigate their way through what to some must at first seem like a legal minefield. It isn't, but it does demand thought and care. In addition, it will look at some of the more recent pieces of legislation, purely to help you keep abreast of any changes to your current practice that these new legal requirements may demand. Not only will the precedents and requirements explained herein guide you towards safer and more compliant procurement, it will also, hopefully, enable you to better understand the implications when someone names a case on which current good practice is based. It may even, dare I say, enable you to better participate in discussions on EU legislation at dinner parties and with your peers.