Mechanism Design and the Law

Author(s):  
Werner Güth

Mechanism design is the game theoretic jargon for institutional design and the even older tradition (in German) of ‘Ordnungspolitik’ (institutional design policy). When implementing institutions or mechanisms (or simply rules of conduct) such regulation should usually be codified by complementing the law appropriately. This article first derives and discusses legal rules as traditionally justified and implemented legally. This is then confronted with game theoretic mechanism design, relying on Dominance Solvability or the Revelation Principle. It is argued that the Revelation Principle is very useful for welfaristic or, more generally, consequentialistic explorations of what is attainable but offers no practical basis for legal mechanism design due to its unrealistic common knowledge restrictions.

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Güth

AbstractAfter demonstrating that institutional design based on the rational choice approach is hardly ever applicable, we suggest a procedural alternative and demonstrate its applicability with a focus on the supply side of public authorities, i.e., on the “productive state.” Whereas the former approach, based on unrealistic common knowledge assumptions, is consequentialistic, procedural fairness relies on appealing requirements of non-arbitrariness and equal treatment. In our view, game theoretic mechanism design is useful to explore the consequentialistic – e.g., welfaristic – potential but is, except for specific situations, not implementable. Compared to this, procedural fairness is in line with actually used procedures and legal traditions. Although game theoretic mechanism design can be informative, its unrealistic assumptions justify the procedural approach, which can be rigorously defined by intuitive fairness requirements.


2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-348
Author(s):  
Yong Zhou

AbstractThe Chinese regional national autonomy (RNA) is stated as an institutional arrangement for safeguarding the specific rights of certain minority nationalities living concentrated in their inhabited areas. The combination of 'regional autonomy' and 'national autonomy', which is claimed to be the significant feature of this institution, has not yet been discussed in terms of the institutional design and legal techniques used. Taking a group rights perspective on the institutional arrangement of RNA, the paper explores the legal difficulties inherent in the combination of the two kinds of autonomy as suggested by the terms 'regional' 'national' 'autonomy'. This research exposes the conditions and limits of the existing legal mechanism under RNA and shows that the alleged right combination of two kinds of autonomy is difficult to logically expound from a group rights perspective. It discloses the problems of institutional design in addition to the faulty implementation of the Law on the Regional National Autonomy as the reason for the malfunction of RNA to achieve its stated purpose.


Global Jurist ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rossella Esther Cerchia

Abstract In today’s society, a dense network of laws and regulations presides the actions of all people. And it is so extensive that any number of activities – including the formation of contracts – is capable of breaking the law. This is why it is even more important, nowadays, to reconsider the issue of contracts that violate legal rules. The trend in favor of flexible remedies reveals that the rigidity of the more traditional solutions might not be the best choice in this day and age.


2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-305
Author(s):  
Paula Giliker

AbstractThe law of tort (or extra or non-contractual liability) has been criticised for being imprecise and lacking coherence. Legal systems have sought to systemise its rules in a number of ways. While civil law systems generally place tort law in a civil code, common law systems have favoured case-law development supported by limited statutory intervention consolidating existing legal rules. In both systems, case law plays a significant role in maintaining the flexibility and adaptability of the law. This article will examine, comparatively, different means of systemising the law of tort, contrasting civil law codification (taking the example of recent French proposals to update the tort provisions of the Code civil) with common law statutory consolidation and case-law intervention (using examples taken from English and Australian law). In examining the degree to which these formal means of systemisation are capable of improving the accessibility, intelligibility, clarity and predictability of the law of tort, it will also address the role played by informal sources, be they ambitious restatements of law or other means. It will be argued that given the nature of tort law, at best, any form of systemisation (be it formal or informal) can only seek to minimise any lack of precision and coherence. However, as this comparative study shows, further steps are needed, both in updating outdated codal provisions and rethinking the type of legal scholarship that might best assist the courts.


2003 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 431-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Koremenos ◽  
Duncan Snidal

We reply to John Duffield's critique of the Rational Design project, a special issue of International Organization that explains the features of international institutions from a game-theoretic perspective. The project was deliberately limited to the analysis of explicit and observable institutional arrangements, and focused on the specific institutional properties of centralization, membership, scope, control, and flexibility. Its empirical contribution relies on case studies, but it is significantly amplified by the tight connections provided by a common theoretical perspective that is oriented toward testing a set of specific conjectures about institutional design. The results raise further issues of measurement and cross-case comparisons that provide valuable lessons for future work on institutional design. Although all of these research design choices are worth revisiting and questioning, as Duffield does, the initial results of the Rational Design project show that it provides a good basis from which to explore alternative research design decisions.


Author(s):  
Anne C. Dailey

This chapter describes the contribution contemporary psychoanalysis has to make in three specific areas: legal theory, legal doctrine, and adjudication in the courtroom. Psychoanalysis improves the law’s theoretical foundations by modifying its foundational presumption of rationality. Psychoanalysis also helps to reform legal doctrine by identifying those particular subject matter areas, primarily family law and criminal law, where the law’s presumption of rationality leads to unjust legal rules. With domestic violence as its example, this chapter shows how psychoanalysis offers a body of practical knowledge that humanizes the law by bringing legal rules into line with actual, everyday lived experience. And finally, psychoanalysis reveals the deep tension between the law’s focus on individual moral responsibility for behavior and the law’s objective methods of proof in the courtroom. Psychoanalytic insights into the art of proving what really happened in a case can move law in the direction of a more empathic and forgiving model of judging. Overall, the psychoanalytic study of the law unveils the damaging consequences of the law’s rationalist assumptions about who we are as human beings, and offers an alternative, humanistic perspective in line with law’s foundational ideals of individual freedom and systemic justice.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (20) ◽  
pp. 77-81
Author(s):  
N. Yu. Veselov

Problem setting. Legal regulation is an integral component of the administrative and legal mechanism for ensuring the functioning of juvenile justice, through which the state regulates relevant social relations through law and the totality of legal means. Recent research and publications analysis. The following Ukrainian scientists tried to conceptually solve these issues: Ya. Kvitka, V. Levchenko, O. Maksimenko, N. Lesko, I. Ishchenko, O. Navrotsky. Paper objective. The purpose of the study is to obtain scientific and applied results on the presentation of options for legislative support of juvenile justice in other countries and to formulate proposals for improving the administrative and legal regulation of juvenile justice in Ukraine. Paper main body. The analysis of the legislation of other countries indicates that there are several conditional models of legal regulation of the peculiarities of ensuring the rights of the child in the exercise of juvenile justice. This division is based on the following criteria, such as the existence of a law in the country that establishes the general principles of the judicial and extrajudicial, administrative and legal protection of children’s rights; the existence of a separate law on juvenile justice, which codifies all the rules of law that determine the peculiarities of criminal proceedings against children; the existence of a separate law on juvenile justice, but which establishes the general principles of the operation of juvenile justice, public administration in this area, prevention of offenses, etc. Conclusions of the research. The expediency of adopting the Law on Juvenile Justice in Ukraine, which, in its content, will mainly be an act of administrative and legal nature, the Law «On Ensuring the Rights of the Child in Ukraine», the Law «On the Ombudsman of Ukraine» is substantiated. Keywords: child, minor, legal regulation, administrative law, juvenile justice, justice.


Author(s):  
Maksymilian Pazdan

The position of the executor of the will is governed by the law applicable to succession (Article 23(2)(f) of the EU Regulation 650/2012), while the position of the succession administrator of the estate of a business of a physical person located in Poland is subject to the Law of 5 July 2018 on the succession administration of the business of a physical person (the legal basis for such solution is in Article 30 of the EU Regulation 650/2012). However, if the court needs to determine the law applicable to certain aspects of appointing or functioning of these institutions, which have a nature of partial or preliminary questions, these laws will apply, as determined in line with the methods elaborated to deal with partial and preliminary questions in private international law. The rules devoted to the executors of wills are usually not self-standing. In such situations, the legislators most often call for supportive application of the rules designed for other matters existing in the same legal system (here — of the legis successionis). This is referred to as the absorption of the legal rules.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-45
Author(s):  
Nadiia Kobetska ◽  
Lesia Danyliuk

European integration processes in Ukraine have led to the approximation of national legislation to European standards, including pet handling. The first and currently the only ratified European convention in Ukraine on protection and ensuring animal welfare is the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals. The article describes the major doctrinal, legislative and practical aspects of implementing this Convention into Ukrainian law. The legal regulation of the humane treatment of domestic animals in Ukraine is based on the Law of Ukraine on the protection of animals from cruel treatment, its provisions being of a general nature, and detailed solutions are found in other laws and regulations. Detailed rules for dealing with pets are determined by municipalities and they are implemented in the relevant administrative and territorial units. The concept of “animal rights”, despite its proclamation in the preamble to the Law of Ukraine on the protection of animals from cruel treatment, has no formal legal representation and reflection in Ukrainian legislation. Nevertheless, Ukrainian legal academic doctrine, legislative process and law enforcement practice are currently embodying the concept of animal welfare. The development and implementation of a coherent legal mechanism for pet handling is the major contributing factor in achieving pet welfare, therefore Ukraine needs a clear strategy to improve its legal regulation.


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