The use and abuse of taxonomy

Legal Studies ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelvin FK Low
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Professor ◽  
Untimely Death ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common

The late Professor Birks made an immense contribution to the study and development of the common law in devising his taxonomy, derived from the Roman classification of Justinian's Institutes. The utility of the taxonomy has always been the subject of controversy and its value has been increasingly questioned since his untimely death. Some of the criticisms are undoubtedly valid but it is seriously arguable that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. This paper seeks to highlight the common abuses of the taxonomy and demonstrate that, even taking account of its limitations, the taxonomy continues to be a useful device for our study and development of the common law.

Jewish Law of Warranties: Some Comparative Aspects

1975 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-130
Author(s):  
Irwin H. Haut
Keyword(s):  
Jewish History ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Great Part ◽  
The Other ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Interested Reader ◽  
Extensive Discussion ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
Case Basis

Aspects of Jewish Sales Law which may be referred to as the law of warranties are the subject of this article. Only the sale of personalty is dealt with and comparison is made with parallel developments in American Sales Law.The temptation to engage in extensive discussion of the sources of Jewish Law and of its nature and developments has been resisted and only some brief preliminary remarks concerning Jewish Law have been included but the interested reader is referred elsewhere for further discussion of these matters.Unlike the Common law, which developed on a case to case basis, Jewish law developed along several lines. Jewish law developed in part on a case to case basis as exemplified by Talmudic discussions and expositions; in part in an enormous and still growingResponsaliterature; and in the decisions of Rabbinical Courts throughout Jewish history. On the other hand, the development of Jewish law depended in great part on various Codes, the most important for our purposes being those of Maimonides, Asherides and Karo.

Having discovered this fact, the defendant refused to deliver. A majority of the court held that the parties had contracted on the understanding that that the cow was incapable of breeding. Accordingly, there had been a mistake not merely as to quality, but as to the very nature of the thing sold. It was thought that there was as much difference between an ox and a cow as there was between the animal the plaintiff bought and the one which both parties believed to be the subject matter of the contract. The difficulty with Sherwood v Walker when compared with the reasoning employed in Bell v Lever Bros is that the former looks suspiciously like a case in which the court has rectified what amounts to little more than a bad bargain. One way of viewing the difference between Sherwood and Bell is that the cases reveal a policy conflict in the way different judges approach the issue of risk allocation. On the one hand, there is a market-individualist approach to cases of mistake which seeks to uphold the sanctity of contracts and will therefore result in only the smallest number of cases in which the courts will upset a bargain on the ground of a shared mistake. On the other hand, there are cases in which the courts are more prepared to consider notions of fairness and justice in determining whether a mistake invalidates an agreement. It is not surprising that this alternative approach has developed in equity rather than at common law, as a simple glance at the form of relief granted in each case reveals a substantial difference. The common law answer in cases of shared fundamental mistake is that the contract is void ab initio – the contract is treated as if it never existed. In contrast, the equitable solution is to order rescission of the contract, but on terms that attempt to do justice between the parties. Thus, it is possible in equity to order rescission of the contract but then to add a rider to the effect that there should be a renegotiation of the contract on terms which take account of the fact in respect of which the parties were mistaken. In Solle v Butcher, the defendant leased to the plaintiff a flat. Both parties believed that the relevant property was not covered by the provisions of the Rent Restriction Acts, with the result that the defendant could charge a rent of £250 per annum. However, it later transpired that the relevant legislation was applicable with the result that the maximum rent payable was only £140. Such a mistake would not have been operative at common law, but the court held that the contract was voidable in equity, provided there was a fundamental mistake and no fault on the part of the person seeking relief: Solle v Butcher [1950] 1 KB 671, CA, p 690

1995 ◽  
pp. 324-330
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Risk Allocation ◽  
Policy Conflict ◽  
Relevant Property ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One

Codification and Consolidation of the Law at the Present Time

1979 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Tallon
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Common Law ◽  
German Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Jeremy Bentham ◽  
Historical School ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common

Law reform is now under consideration in most countries of the world and practically everywhere, the problem of the instruments of this reform arises: should the reform be carried out by the decisions of judges or by statute, and if by statute, must such law be codified?Common law countries are both attracted and at the same time frightened by codification. This may well be the situation here in Israel, where the common law tradition is still deeply rooted but where there is also a certain tradition in favour of codification.At any rate, the subject cannot be treated today as it would have been a century ago. The old controversies about the usefulness of codification in the abstract are out of fashion. In England, the fierce attacks of Jeremy Bentham against the common law—“dog law”—have had no influence on the development of English law. On the continent, Savigny and the German Historical School did not prevent the progressive codification of German law nor the adoption in the other countries throughout the nineteenth century of codes inspired by the French model.

The Common Law in Australia: Its Nature and Constitutional Significance

2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Zines
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Federal Law ◽  
Contemporary Debate ◽  
Policy Paper ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
National University ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common

This article originally was published as a Law and Policy Paper. The Law and Policy Papers series was established in 1994 by the Centre for International and Public Law in the Faculty of Law, the Australian National University. The series publishes papers contributing to understanding and discussion on matters relating to law and public policy, especially those that are the subject of contemporary debate. In 1999 the papers were published jointly by the Centre for International and Public Law and The Federation Press. This article is reproduced in the Federal Law Review with the permission of the original publishers.

The Trade Mark, Other Product Designations, and Goodwill

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justine Pila
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Trade Mark ◽  
Geographical Indication ◽  
Passing Off ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Essential Properties ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter considers the meaning of the terms that appropriately denote the subject matter protectable by registered trade mark and allied rights, including the common law action of passing off. Drawing on the earlier analyses of the objects protectable by patent and copyright, it defines the trade mark, designation of origin, and geographical indication in their current European and UK conception as hybrid inventions/works in the form of purpose-limited expressive objects. It also considers the relationship between the different requirements for trade mark and allied rights protection, and related principles of entitlement. In its conclusion, the legal understandings of trade mark and allied rights subject matter are presented as answers to the questions identified in Chapter 3 concerning the categories and essential properties of the subject matter in question, their method of individuation, and the relationship between and method of establishing their and their tokens’ existence.

Common Lawà l'americaine

1966 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 562-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Apelbom
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
British Occupation ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
The Common ◽  
English Law ◽  
Considerable Body ◽  
Clear Line

Eighteen years after attaining independence Israel remains essentially a common law country. Introduced by the British Mandatory administration to supplement the Ottoman legislation in force at the time of the British occupation of Palestine, the common law has been retained by the Israeli legislator, so far as not modified or replaced by local legislation. But this common law, far from being residual only, also embraces a considerable body of interstitial law developed by two generations of judges, British, Palestinian and Israeli, in the process of applying and interpreting statute law—whether Ottoman, Mandatory or Israeli—according to common law methods. On the other hand the importation of common law institutions was neither wholesale nor systematic and in a number of fields no clear line of demarcation can be drawn between domestic and English law.

Classifying precontractual liability: a comparative analysis

Legal Studies ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Dietrich
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
Tort Law ◽  
Contract Law ◽  
Common Elements ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Unjust Enrichment ◽  
The Common ◽  
Initial Focus

The common law has solved questions of liability arising in the context of precontractual negotiations by resort to a range of different doctrines and approaches, adopting in effect ‘piecemeal’ solutions to questions of precontractual liability. Consequently, debate has arisen as to how best to classify or categorise claims for precontractual work and as to which doctrines are best suited to solving problems arising from anticipated contracts. The purpose of this article is to consider this question of how best to classify (cases of) precontractual liability. The initial focus will be on the ongoing debate as to whether principles of contract law or principles of unjust enrichment can better solve problems of precontractual liability. I will be suggesting that unjust enrichment theory offers little by way of explanation of cases of precontractual liability and, indeed, draws on principles of contract law in determining questions of liability for precontractual services rendered, though it does so by formulating those principles under different guises. Irrespective, however, of the doctrines utilised by the common law to impose liability, it is possible to identify a number of common elements unifying all cases of precontractual liability. In identifying such common elements of liability, it is necessary to draw on principles of both contract and tort law. How, then, should cases of precontractual liability best be classified? A consideration of the issue of classification of precontractual liability from a perspective of German civil law will demonstrate that a better understanding of cases of precontractual liability will be gained by classifying such cases as lying between the existing categories of contract and tort.

XXIII. On the water-barometer erected in the hall of the Royal Society

1832 ◽  
Vol 122 ◽  
pp. 539-574 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Physical Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Metallic Tube ◽  
French Academy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Made In

I have for some time entertained an opinion, in common with some others who have turned their attention tot he subject, that a good series of observations with a Water-Barometer, accurately constructed, might throw some light upon several important points of physical science: amongst others, upon the tides of the atmosphere; the horary oscillations of the counterpoising column; the ascending and descending rate of its greater oscillations; and the tension of vapour at different atmospheric temperatures. I have sought in vain in various scientific works, and in the Transactions of Philosophical Societies, for the record of any such observations, or for a description of an instrument calculated to afford the required information with anything approaching to precision. In the first volume of the History of the French Academy of Sciences, a cursory reference is made, in the following words, to some experiments of M. Mariotte upon the subject, of which no particulars appear to have been preserved. “Le même M. Mariotte fit aussi à l’observatoire des experiences sur le baromètre ordinaire à mercure comparé au baromètre à eau. Dans l’un le mercure s’eléva à 28 polices, et dans Fautre l’eau fut a 31 pieds Cequi donne le rapport du mercure à l’eau de 13½ à 1.” Histoire de I'Acadérmie, tom. i. p. 234. It also appears that Otto Guricke constructed a philosophical toy for the amusement of himself and friends, upon the principle of the water-barometer; but the column of water probably in this, as in all the other instances which I have met with, was raised by the imperfect rarefaction of the air in the tube above it, or by filling with water a metallic tube, of sufficient length, cemented to a glass one at its upper extremity, and fitted with a stop-cock at each end; so that when full the upper one might be closed and the lower opened, when the water would fall till it afforded an equipoise to the pressure of the atmo­sphere. The imperfections of such an instrument, it is quite clear, would render it totally unfit for the delicate investigations required in the present state of science; as, to render the observations of any value, it is absolutely necessary that the water should be thoroughly purged of air, by boiling, and its insinuation or reabsorption effectually guarded against. I was convinced that the only chance of securing these two necessary ends, was to form the whole length of tube of one piece of glass, and to boil the water in it, as is done with mercury in the common barometer. The practical difficulties which opposed themselves to such a construction long appeared to me insurmount­able; but I at length contrived a plan for the purpose, which, having been honoured with the approval of the late Meteorological Committee of this Society, was ordered to be carried into execution by the President and Council.

Latviešu metālmūzikas albumu nosaukumi

2021 ◽  
pp. 361-369
Author(s):  
Ingars Gusāns
Keyword(s):  
Current Situation ◽  
Creative Work ◽  
Distinctive Character ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
The Third ◽  
Metal Music ◽  
Local Character ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common

The aim of the study is to describe the titles of Latvian metal music albums, from the perspective of content, by identifying the common and distinctive character of the metallic music tradition, and perhaps even the local one. Of 241 album titles (data on Dec. 31, 2019), most are in English, some in French, Latin, Russian, some consisting of digits, and 69 titles in Latvian. These titles are the subject of the research. The main source is Encyclopaedia Metallum (www.metal-archives.com), which still does not reflect the current situation concerning Latvian metal music. Album titles in this study are viewed separately from album designs and song titles and are analysed from the perspective of content. The album title is an important part of the work that has been issued because it is an element that makes the audience/buyer pay attention to the album because it must not be forgotten that today the album is also an item that you want to sell. In general, it can be concluded that Latvian metal musicians, with their album titles in Latvian, are mostly following world trends, as evidenced by the integration in the researcher Deena Weinstein’s classification of Dionysian discourse and discourse on chaos. Most titles are more relevant to the discourse on chaos because the thematic circle of chaos is wider. Latvian mythology, along with history, is an up-to-date source for the creative work of bands that is responsible for the local feeling of the titles. A large enough number are titles that are difficult to fit in the Weinstein’s division and form the third group with philosophical titles and simply all sorts of titles. If the philosophical titles follow the world’s trends, the simple titles include the names of the events, tributes, and the titles of literary works, which give them a local character.

NEUROECONOMICS, NEUROPHYSIOLOGY AND THE COMMON CURRENCY HYPOTHESIS

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Landreth ◽  
John Bickle
Keyword(s):  
Rational Choice ◽  
Dopamine Release ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
The Other ◽  
Common Currency ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Electrophysiological Methods

We briefly describe ways in which neuroeconomics has made contributions to its contributing disciplines, especially neuroscience, and a specific way in which it could make future contributions to both. The contributions of a scientific research programme can be categorized in terms of (1) description and classification of phenomena, (2) the discovery of causal relationships among those phenomena, and (3) the development of tools to facilitate (1) and (2). We consider ways in which neuroeconomics has advanced neuroscience and economics along each line. Then, focusing on electrophysiological methods, we consider a puzzle within neuroeconomics whose solution we believe could facilitate contributions to both neuroscience and economics, in line with category (2). This puzzle concerns how the brain assigns reward values to otherwise incomparable stimuli. According to the common currency hypothesis, dopamine release is a component of a neural mechanism that solves comparability problems. We review two versions of the common currency hypothesis, one proposed by Read Montague and colleagues, the other by William Newsome and colleagues, and fit these hypotheses into considerations of rational choice.

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