5. International law and environmental protection

Author(s):  
Stuart Bell ◽  
Donald McGillivray ◽  
Ole W. Pedersen ◽  
Emma Lees ◽  
Elen Stokes

This chapter describes the development, scope, and application of international environmental law, which has expanded significantly since the late 1960s. The focus is on international treaties relating to environmental protection. The chapter is restricted to discussing public, rather than private, international law—that is, the law between states, rather than the conflict of legal systems. International law has often been regarded as something rather closer to international relations due to the fact that there is no single body with the power to make and enforce law against states, companies, or individuals effectively. In the UK, international law does not necessarily have a direct impact on domestic law or on individuals. Treaties need to be given effect to through national legislation and are concerned with the action of states, not individuals within states—with some notable exceptions, such as the law on war crimes.

Author(s):  
Geoff O’Dea ◽  
Julian Long ◽  
Alexandra Smyth

This new guide to schemes of arrangement draws together all of the elements of the law and practice concerning both creditor and member schemes. Member schemes of arrangement have become the preferred method of implementing takeovers in the UK. Creditor schemes of arrangement are increasingly used in restructuring matters and the trend in their usage in foreign companies is likely to continue as many credit documents across Europe are arranged and underwritten in London under English law. The book considers the effect given to an English scheme in foreign jurisdictions, and other Private International Law issues. A major issue for those considering a scheme for creditors is whether a scheme or CVA (Company Voluntary Arrangement) is more appropriate and this book assists the reader by including an analysis of the pros and cons of schemes and CVAs. There are very few sources of information on schemes of arrangement and the area takes much of its substance from case law. This book, addressing the law and practical issues faced by practitioners on a day-to-day basis, is a first in the field.


2021 ◽  
pp. 19-21
Author(s):  
Н.Д. Эриашвили ◽  
Г.М. Сарбаев ◽  
В.И. Федулов

В представленной статье рассмотрены проблемы коллодирующих привязок в международном частном праве и особенности их правовой регламентации в законодательстве Российской Федерации. Автором проанализированы особенности нормативного закрепления данного типа привязок в системе международных договоров, а также механизм имплементации этих норм в национальном законодательстве различных государств. На основе сложившейся практики применения коллодирующих привязок национальными органами государственной власти обоснована необходимость учета публичных интересов государства в данных правоотношениях. The present article examines the problems of collodizing links in private international law and the peculiarities of their legal regulation in the legislation of the Russian Federation. The author analyzed the peculiarities of this type of binding in the system of international treaties, as well as the mechanism for implementing these norms in the national legislation of various states. On the basis of the established practice of applying collodial links by national authorities, the need to take into account the public interests of the State in these legal relations is justified.


Author(s):  
Chan Anayansy Rojas ◽  
París Mauricio

This chapter assesses Costa Rican perspectives on the Hague Principles. Costa Rica does not have a systematic and codified system that regulates conflicts of law, usually known in Costa Rica as private international law (PIL). Instead, the main sources of PIL in Costa Rica are: (i) international treaties; (ii) the Civil Code, the Code of Civil Procedures, and other domestic laws; and (iii) the Law on International Commercial Arbitration. In general, Costa Rica’s private international law regime, applicable to international commercial contracts, allows for parties to select the law of their choice as long as it does not breach public policy or harm a third party’s interest. According to Article 5 of the Organizational Law of the Judiciary, courts cannot excuse themselves from exercising their authority or from ruling in matters of their competence for lack of a rule to apply and they must do so in accordance with the written and unwritten rules. Unwritten rules refer to the general principles of law, usages and practices, and case law, according to the hierarchical order of their legal sources. Such rules serve to interpret, integrate, and delimit the field of application of law. Therefore, the local courts have limited themselves to only apply domestic law and have consequently restrained themselves from applying the Hague Principles or other soft law instruments as a persuasive authority source.


Author(s):  
Bälz Kilian

This chapter presents Emirati perspectives on the Hague Principles. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) are a federal State that was established in 1971. Private international law, civil procedure, and arbitration all are federal matters that are covered by federal laws. Private international law is codified in a section of the UAE Civil Code (Federal Law No 5 of 1985) that deals in Articles 10 to 28 with ‘The application of the law regarding the place’. The section also contains the conflict of law rules applicable to international commercial contracts. The statutory provisions of the Civil Code are, in practical terms, the most important source of law when determining the law applicable to an international contract in the UAE. According to Article 22 of the Civil Code, international treaties, to the extent they apply, override the provisions of municipal law. Moreover, Article 23 of the Civil Code provides that in the absence of any statutory provision, ‘the [general] principles of private international law’ shall apply. This provides the UAE courts with the option to make reference to international standards such as the Hague Principles.


Author(s):  
Iryna Dikovska

Part of the legal aid treaties between Ukraine and other states contains rules concerning conflict of laws. Where those that determine the law applicable to contractual obligations, family, and hereditary relations are not in line with current approaches to determining the law applicable to the specified groups of relations. The purpose of the paper is to uncover the differences between the regulation of conflict of laws in private relations in the legal aid treaties between Ukraine and some EU countries and the modern approaches to the regulation of conflict of laws in such relations, contained in other sources of private international law; an explanation of how to solve conflicts between legal aid treaties and other international treaties; outlining the main areas of improvement of rules concerning conflict of laws in legal aid treaties. The methods of the study were comparative, dialectical, and Aristotelian, which allowed to identify the problems of regulation of conflict of law in legal aid treaties and to draw conclusions for their elimination. Application of these methods allowed to find out that lex loci contractus is most often used to regulate contractual obligations in the absence of an agreement of the parties on the choice of applicable law. The agreement between Ukraine and Romania does not provide for the choice of the law for contractual obligations. Legal aid treaties imperatively determine the law applicable to the property relations of the spouses. They apply a dualistic approach to determining the right to inherit. It has been established that competition between the rules of this Convention and the rules of legal aid treaties between Ukraine and Poland and Ukraine and Estonia should be decided in favour of the Hague Convention. It is proposed to amend the legal aid treaties concluded between Ukraine and the EU Member States: the rules concerning conflict of laws, which define the law applicable to contractual, family, and hereditary relations should be revised using the relevant EU regulations as a model.


Author(s):  
Lydmyla Dobroboh

The article deals with study of the impact of globalization on the development of a complex branch of environmental law. A significant development of science and technology in the modern world, the relative "development of the planet" and globalization processes necessitate the solution of qualitatively new scientific and applied problems and, in particular, the need to take into account the intensive development of world industry, limited natural resources and environmental requirements. and social mobility. The author has analyzed the most important historical events, implementation of international norms on environmental protection to national legislation. A particular attention has been paid to the development of the idea of environmental protection in European law in the second half of XX century and the separation within it of European environmental law. Recently, such important issues as the management of genetically modified organisms, the management of waste and hazardous chemicals, the reduction of harmful emissions into the atmosphere and water pollution have been regulated. This state of legal regulation of environmental relations at the level of international law has a positive impact on the national legislation of the Member States of the European Union and other states that have taken the European direction of development, including Ukraine. One of the important areas of cooperation between the European Union and Ukraine is the joint solution of problems in the field of environmental management and environmental protection. It has been concluded that the international legal regulation of environmental relations is a system of purposeful actions of subjects of international law, aimed at the rational use of nature and environmental protection in order to preserve it for present and future generations. The green economy is a priority for the European Union.


Author(s):  
Mark Thomas ◽  
Claire McGourlay

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. This chapter discusses the effect of EU and international law. The UK is a signatory to multiple international institutions. Each of these institutions sets a framework for the UK to operate within, granting certain rights, benefits, and obligations. The most prominent institutions are the EU, the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), and the United Nations. Although the UK’s continued involvement in these institutions will have a direct impact on the operation of UK law, relations with other states, whether they be good or bad, will also shape the face of the English legal system. The chapter then studies international law, considering basic matters such as the meaning of international law, the doctrine of state sovereignty, and the distinction between public and private international law.


Author(s):  
Mark Thomas ◽  
Claire McGourlay

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. This chapter discusses the effect of EU and international law. The UK is a signatory to multiple international institutions. Each of these institutions sets a framework for the UK to operate within, granting certain rights, benefits, and obligations. The most prominent institutions are the EU, the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), and the United Nations. Although the UK's continued involvement in these institutions will have a direct impact on the operation of UK law, relations with other states, whether they be good or bad, will also shape the face of the English legal system. The chapter then studies international law, considering basic matters such as the meaning of international law, the doctrine of state sovereignty, and the distinction between public and private international law.


2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 505-527
Author(s):  
Marcus Teo

AbstractThe UK Supreme Court's decision in Belhaj v Straw defined foreign affairs non-justiciability and unearthed its constitutional foundations. However, two decisions since Belhaj—High Commissioner for Pakistan v Prince Muffakham Jah and The Law Debenture Trust Corpn plc v Ukraine—have called Belhaj into doubt, narrowing non-justiciability to give effect to ordinary private law rights. This article analyses these decisions and argues that their general approach of subjecting issues involving transactions between sovereign States to private international law's framework is desirable, because the constitutional foundations of non-justiciability identified in Belhaj are shaky. Yet, it is suggested that private international law itself may require courts to exercise judicial restraint on these issues, given its goal of upholding the efficient resolution of international disputes in appropriate fora.


2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-173
Author(s):  
Máire Ní Shúilleabháin

AbstractThe Steinfeld and Keidan campaign for ‘equal civil partnerships’ is focussed on English domestic law. However, it also has profound implications from a private international law perspective. If the UK parliament extends civil partnership to include different-sex couples, this will close a long-standing gap in English private international law. If, on the other hand, it was decided to abolish civil partnership, this would extend the existing lacuna in English private international law, and might generate further collisions with human rights norms. This article explores these lacunae and associated human rights concerns—and suggests possible solutions.


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