Digital Platforms and Global Law focuses on digital platforms and identifies their relevant legal profiles in terms of transnational and international law. It qualifies digital platforms as private legal orders, which exercise the legislative, executive, and (para)jurisdictional power within them. Starting from this assumption, the author studies the relationship between these orders and state, transnational, and international orders. The book first explores the reasons for the inadequacy of the current regulatory matrix and goes on to detail the need for a new paradigm; a shift from the current matrix of market regulation to one of negotiation. The author then examines the lack of effectiveness of current tools and explores how better versions, tools of uniform law, are emerging. This unique exploration will appeal to governments, regulatory authorities, digital platforms, businesses, and students and will find further audience with policy makers and practitioners.

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) entered into force in November 1994. This insightful book offers in-depth appraisals of the contributions of jurisprudence to this major achievement of international law, tracing the impact that courts and tribunals have had on the development and clarification of various provisions of UNCLOS over the past quarter-century. Exploring the most pressing issues and recent developments concerning the oceans, leading authors discuss the influence of jurisprudence in fields ranging from fisheries to navigation and deep seabed mining, paying particular attention to the impact of dispute settlement in the law of the sea. While many questions remain unresolved, the specific case studies in this book show that courts and tribunals have made significant contributions to key legal concepts, as well as filling regulatory gaps left by UNCLOS. This authoritative and timely work will be of great interest to students and scholars working in public international law, and most particularly law of the sea. Its attention to statute will greatly benefit practitioners including judges, counsels and consultants in international litigation, and its practical approach will capture individuals working for relevant international organizations and NGOs. Contributors include: N. Bankes, L. Bautista, A. Chircop, R. Churchill, M.D. Evans, A. Jaeckel, O. Jensen, S. Lee, R. Lewis, M.L. Mcconnell, A. Serdy, K.E. Skodvin

This insightful and timely book provides a comparative assessment of selected legal issues emerging from the EU legal context which impact profoundly on the national legal systems. It argues that judicial interaction can answer complex legal questions relating to the implementation of the EU Charter. Featuring practical cases of judicial interactions between European and national courts, the contributions in this book analyse the multi-dimensional impact of a wide array of judicial interaction techniques such as the preliminary reference procedure, consistent interpretation, comparative reasoning, mutual recognition and disapplication. Constructed in an insightful manner, the book stimulates debate and dialogue across the boundaries of practice and academia, featuring exchanges of expertise and knowledge between legal practitioners and leading scholars. This timely book will be an invaluable resource for scholars and post-graduate students in courses on European fundamental rights, empirical research methods in law, EU litigation practice and judicial cooperation. It will also prove to be a useful guide for legal practitioners, providing practical and punctual analysis of the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

We had been there for over 12 hours. The man was still 30 feet up a tree, balancing on a branch directly over one of the main railway lines out of one of the busiest train stations in the country. He refused to talk to us, threatening to jump if we came too close. To him, we were the enemy. My job was to preserve his life. The most dangerous time in any negotiation is when you think you’re winning. From kidnappings to terrorist incidents, violent armed stand-offs to talking someone back from the ledge: all these make up the day-to-day life of Nicky Perfect’s job as a crisis and hostage negotiator. One of the first on the scene in situations that most would run from, Nicky is deployed to defuse the most volatile and fraught situations imaginable. After a decade on the frontlines, confronting the extremes of human behaviour, these are the stories and cases that have shaped a career spent on high alert, where life often hangs in the balance. It’s about finding yourself and following your passion, and of a life lived to help others.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Written by esteemed legal scholar Michael L. Perlin, this indispensable Advanced Introduction examines the long-standing but ever-dynamic relationship between law and mental health. The author discusses and contextualises how the law, primarily in the United States but also in other countries, treats mental health, intellectual disabilities, and mental incapacity, giving examples of how issues such as the rights of patients, the death penalty and the insanity defense permeate constitutional, civil, and criminal matters, and indeed the general practice of law. Key features include: unpacks key US Supreme Court decisions to focus on the issues that have been most significant in the development of the field explains the distortion of this area of law by biased and stereotypical social attitudes including sanism examines lesser-known cases that illuminate judicial attitudes, helping readers to better understand likely future developments in mental health law. Offering an insightful introduction to this field, the Advanced Introduction to Mental Health Law is an invaluable resource for students and newly qualified lawyers, and will appeal not only to those looking to understand the law in the United States, but how this contributes to the development of the field as a whole.

This extensive volume of the Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Law probes the essential concepts, contemporary research, and key elements of law at the intersection of international trade and international environmental law. Its succinct, structured entries provide a definitive and comprehensive assessment of the interactions between these fields, written by internationally renowned and recognized experts. Analysing the key legal issues and questions raised by the impact of trade on the environment, the volume offers a thorough overview of the relationship between the World Trade Organization and the rules of environmental law, sustainability, and climate change. Each entry constitutes a nuanced and lucid introduction to the major cross-cutting topics in these dynamic fields, including examinations of national and regional approaches, WTO disputes, and the interface between trade, environment and areas such as human rights, investment and development. Featuring 107 entries divided into seven thematic parts, this volume is a landmark reference work which will prove invaluable to academics, students and researchers in international trade and environmental law, as well as public international law more broadly. It will also be a key resource for practitioners, policymakers and government officials working in any aspect of trade and environment.

What happens when electric utility monopolies pursue their acquisition interests undisciplined by competition, and insufficiently disciplined by the regulators responsible for replicating competition? Since the mid-1980s, mergers and acquisitions of U.S. electric utilities have halved the number of local, independent utilities. Mostly debt-financed, these transactions have converted retiree-suitable investments into subsidiaries of geographically scattered conglomerates. Written by one of the U.S.'s leading regulatory thinkers--a litigating attorney, regulatory advisor, expert witness and law professor--this book combines legal, accounting, economic and financial analysis with insights from the dynamic field of behavioral economics. With a clear assessment of the 30-year march of U.S. electricity mergers, the author describes the economic losses that result when merger promoters and their transactions face neither the discipline of competition nor the rigors of regulation. This work is essential reading for regulatory practitioners, consumer advocates and investment advisors--as well as citizens concerned with concentration of economic power. The principles explored are relevant anywhere regulated utility monopolies have the legal right to merge, acquire or be acquired.

This illuminating book explores the theme of social constructionism in legal theory. It questions just how much freedom and power social groups really have to construct and reconstruct law. Michael Giudice takes a nuanced approach to analyse what is true and what is false in the view that law is socially constructed. He draws on accounts of European Union law as well as Indigenous legal orders in North America to demonstrate the contingency of particular concepts of law. Utilising evidence from a range of social and natural sciences, he also considers how law may have a naturally necessary core. The book concludes that while law would not exist without beliefs, intentions, and practices, it must always exist as a social rule, declaration, or directive; much, but not all, of law is socially constructed. This book will be a valuable resource for academics and students of law and philosophy as well as researchers interested in the intersections between analytical legal theory, socio-legal studies, and empirical legal studies.

Exploring the importance of the EU Services Directive (Directive 2006/123), this book provides an expansive insight into the controversial legislation regulating the internal market in services, whilst examining the challenges of positive harmonisation. In addition, by analysing the functioning and judicial interpretation of the directive, it considers EU trade regulation values and the broader significance of EU regulation in global regulatory standard setting. The book analyses the directive's contribution to the fundamental freedoms and to the completion of the internal market, with particular focus on the remit of EU and national regulatory autonomy and general interests protection in the context of positive harmonisation. Through the lens of the directive, the study evaluates the status of EU integration and appraises the resilience of the internal market regulatory paradigm, including the interaction between primary and secondary law and the effectiveness of administrative law reinforcement, for the governance of the modern economy, as well as exploring more broadly the import and international influence of EU trade regulation. The book considers a variety of policy themes, including the relationship between national autonomy and supranational competence; the interaction of economic advancement and related general interests, such as environmental and consumer protection; market harmonisation techniques and enforcement challenges, along with potential mechanisms for regulatory enhancement. Discussing a central legal and economic framework for the regulation of trade in services, from regulatory, constitutional and policy perspectives, this book will be of significant interest to students, academics, practitioners and officials on European Union policy and law, as well as to anyone interested more generally in business regulation in evolving technological contexts, international trade law and comparative market integration themes.

This book covers a broad range of legal topics relating to the fields of bioinformatics and medical informatics, which relate to the intersection of biomedical information and computer programming within the contexts of scientific research, product development and healthcare delivery. A number of usually distinct bodies of legal doctrine come together in this area, sometimes overlapping, sometimes colliding in unexpected ways. Key issues discussed in the book include: An overview of the current landscape of bioinformatics and medical informatics A focus on the legal issues arising from the development and acquisition of informatics tools for use in a laboratory or healthcare setting Developments in patent and innovation law that are important for informatics applications A discussion of institutions and collaborative arrangements in which informatics applications are developed and used today Data protection and privacy issues applicable to informatics applications in the U.S. and Europe. While no single work can cover the entire set of legal issues arising from large, dynamic and complex fields such as bioinformatics and medical informatics, this book strives to offer the reader insight into some of the major legal trends and considerations applicable to these fields today.

Pasture management in South Africa covers all major aspects of pasture production and management. Particular strengths are species selection, pasture establishment, fertilizer, grazing and forage management, and livestock related aspects of nutrient supplementation and feed budgeting. Pasture fertilizer practice is dealt with comprehensively. The range of regions and topics should make the title useful to students and practitioners beyond South Africa's borders.

This illuminating book offers an authoritative analysis of the legal issues relating to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. Taking a critical approach, it provides a unique insight into the impact of international and national law on the present and future safeguarding processes of intangible cultural heritage. Expert contributors draw on the results of an international study conducted in 26 countries to illustrate how domestic laws comprehend the notion of intangible cultural heritage. The book explores the relationship that these states maintain with the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage, and highlights challenging concepts, including the principle of participation and community and the nature of safeguarding. Through the analysis and synthesis of empirical data, the book also identifies new developments in cultural heritage law. This book will be an essential resource for scholars and students of cultural heritage law, as well as anthropology, ethnology, and cultural studies. Its panorama of national experiences will also be beneficial for persons involved in the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage, including policy makers and NGOs.

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

Institutional Credit Markets provides a framework for understanding the institutional funding markets that undergird the U.S. credit system. It traces the evolution of the depository bank model, its non-bank competitors, and the financial conglomerates that span credit and capital markets. As securitization introduced structured credit products that rezoned credit markets, federal reforms let banks venture into a wider range of financial services. After the Global Financial Crisis revealed cracks in the system, lawmakers affirmed pre-crisis products and business models while adding some guardrails. The post-crisis scheme subjected large financial conglomerates to enhanced supervision while adjusting the structure of banks by making them more liquid and stable. Through its stabilization activities, the Federal Reserve has morphed from bank regulator to arbiter of financial market structure, now using a more statist approach to monetary policy that relies to a greater extent on administered interest rates rather than those set by the market forces. This book explains post-crisis regulation in terms of its capitulation to financial capitalism. Financial law regulators and academics will benefit from this integrated account that considers banking, structured finance, capital markets, and money markets as parts of an institutional funding ecosystem. This book will also provide a more nuanced understanding of financial institutions and markets for financial law practitioners, sector analysts and journalists.

This Commentary is the first comprehensive work to analyse the revised EU Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II). SRD II sets a new agenda for engaged shareholders and sustainable companies in the EU, sparking a wider debate on the adoption of duties in company and capital markets law. By providing a systematic and thorough framework for analysis, this Commentary evaluates the purpose and aims of SRD II and further enriches the debate on the usefulness of the EU's drive to encourage long-term shareholder engagement. Key features include: article-by-article analysis of each of the provisions as adopted in the revised SRD II contribution to the ongoing discussions on shareholder rights and duties anticipated to be at the centre of debate for years to come detailed explanation by leading scholars in the field to ensure complete understanding of each SRD II provision for the reader exploration of the two pillars of shareholder engagement: the facilitation of shareholder rights and improved communication to bridge procedural gaps and implementation of transparency obligations applicable to companies, investors and service providers. This Commentary will be a key resource for legal practitioners, legislators, scholars and students alike, working in the fields of corporate governance, alternative dispute resolution and financial law.

As numerous jurisdictions implement emissions mitigation mechanisms that put a price on carbon, this incisive book explores the emerging emissions markets and their diverse and fragmented nature. It proposes an innovative model for connecting such markets, offering a significantly more successful and expeditious achievement of climate policy objectives. Justin D. Macinante proposes distributed ledger technology to foster fluid markets that price carbon emissions more effectively, achieve greater scale and efficiency, and are less susceptible to manipulation. He investigates the applicable regulatory frameworks, technology design issues and governance structures for the model proposed for networking emissions trading schemes within the context of the Paris Agreement. Providing a plausible and viable mechanism to achieve desired policy outcomes with economic, political and environmental benefits, Effective Global Carbon Markets will be a key resource for practitioners, policy makers and consultants alike, as well as being of value to scholars and students engaged with environmental and energy law, climate change and environmental economics.

In this thought-provoking book, Gunter Frankenberg explores why authoritarian leaders create new constitutions, or revise old ones. Through a profound analysis of authoritarian constitutions as phenomena in their own right, Frankenberg reveals their purposes, the audiences they seek to address and investigates the ways in which they fit into the broader context of autocracies. Frankenberg outlines the essential features of authoritarianism through a discussion of a variety of constitutional projects in authoritarian settings: the executive style of opportunist, informal governing, political power as private property, participation as complicity, and the cult of immediacy that is geared towards fantasies of a community of the followers and their leader. He also takes a comparative approach to authoritarian constitutions, drawing out the relationships between them, as well as providing a critique of the discourse around populism and authoritarianism. Authoritarianism will be critical reading for scholars of constitutional law, as well as political scientists, who will find its comparative analysis of political systems in this context invaluable. It will also be useful to students of comparative law and political science for its clear explanation of the characteristics of authoritarianism across regimes.

This innovative book explores forgotten disputes over intellectual property and the ways in which authors, inventors, publishers, courts, and sovereigns have managed these disputes throughout the centuries. With an eye on reform, it chronicles the resilience of legal rules and challenges the methodology behind traditional legal analyses. Disentangling lore from traditions, expert contributors incorporate contextual understandings that are rooted in history, sociology, political science, and literary studies into their analyses. They explore the context of particular cases to reveal the ramifications of specific doctrines for the evolution of intellectual property practices. Chapters illuminate the various facets of intellectual property lore: contract, authorship, common law, and wartime property. Utilising novel methods and previously unpublished materials on copyright, patent, and trademark law, the book examines legal history and developments from multiple perspectives. This rich and accessible book will prove to be a valuable resource for students, academics of intellectual property law, and legal historians. Its use of new materials and exploration of key cases will also be beneficial for intellectual property legal practitioners.

An authoritative source of reference on negotiable instruments often cited in judgments of all South African courts, Malan on Bills of Exchange, Cheques and Promissory Notes in South African Law has become an indispensable companion to practitioners within the commercial and banking sectors, and the lawyers who represent them. The fourth edition continues to provide practitioners and students with a comprehensive guide to this complex area of law, as well as incorporating valuable new elements.

This insightful book guides readers through the transformation of, and theoretical challenges posed by, the separation of powers in national contexts. Building on the notion that the traditional tripartite structure of the separation of powers has undergone a significant process of fragmentation and expansion, this book identifies and illustrates the most pressing and intriguing aspects of the separation of powers in contemporary constitutional systems. Chapters explore the social foundations of the doctrine of the separation of powers, its relationship to direct democracy, the role of constitutional courts and the rise of the administrative state. Expert contributors analyse power structures and the separation of powers across new constitutions in central Europe, examining the transformations of political parties and testing the limits of the doctrine alongside a reimagining of the judicial review process. This timely book concludes with a historical perspective on the doctrine and a case study considering a possible new separation of powers in North Africa and the Middle East. This unique book will be of interest to students and academics of comparative constitutional law, as well as constitutional and political theorists, lawyers and judges.

Large-scale adverse health and developmental outcomes related to tobacco affect millions of people across the world, raising serious questions from a human rights perspective. In response to this crisis, this timely book provides a comprehensive analysis of the promotion and enforcement of human rights protection in tobacco control law and policy at international, regional, and domestic levels. This thought-provoking book offers significant new insights to the topic, laying the foundations for a human rights based approach to tobacco control. Addressing the function of law as a tool to help combat one of the major public health challenges facing society, contributions by global scholars rebut human rights claims presented by the tobacco industry. Emphasis is instead placed upon the human rights of vulnerable individuals, children in particular, as a result of smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke. Illustrating ways in which the right to health can be advanced with regards to tobacco control, smoking and the use of e-cigarettes, this important book will be a vital resource for human rights and health law scholars and practitioners as well as policy makers in public health law. Contributors include: D. Barrett, D. Beyleveld, O.A. Cabrera, A. Constantin A. Garde, M.E. Gispen, L. Gruszczynski, J. Hannah, S. Karjalainen, L. Lane, S. Lierman, A.L. McCarthy, A. Mitchell, S. Negri, O. Nnamuchi, M. Roberts, A. Schmidt, M. Sormunen, A. Taylor, B. Toebes, M. van Westendorp, Y. Zhang