Unifying and Harmonizing Substantive Law and the Role of Conflict of Laws

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 755-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEILA NADYA SADAT ◽  
JARROD M. JOLLY

AbstractThis article draws on well-established understandings of international treaty interpretation and the role of the judicial function to propose seven canons of treaty construction that may serve as the basis of a principled interpretation of the substantive law of the Rome Statute. This interpretative framework is then applied to the seemingly intractable debate within the Court and among scholars over the correct interpretation of Article 25, on modes of liability. The seven canons provide guidelines that may enable the ‘Rorschach blot’ of Article 25, capable of many divergent interpretations, to become uniformly and consistently understood and interpreted.


Author(s):  
David J. Gerber

European competition law is the other central player in the competition law world, so an entire chapter is devoted to understanding how it works and how to deal with it. Virtually all firms operating beyond their own national boundaries need to pay attention to it, many regimes use it as a model and reference point, and its institutions have broad and often deep influence on many others. Some aspects of the substantive law are similar to US antitrust, but the similarities are sometimes misleading. For example, EU law uses economic analysis in ways that often differ from how it is used in the US. Procedural and institutional arrangements are often complicated. They represent multiple voices, as national and EU institutions function together to create, apply, and enforce competition law. The chapter reveals how this system functions and what factors guide decisions in it. It looks, in particular, at the institutional arrangements between the EU and its member states, including the role of the European Competition Network.


Author(s):  
David J. Gerber

US antitrust law has long influenced all who deal with competition law—sometimes as a model, sometimes as a source of experience and insights, and sometimes as a surrogate for an “international standard.” It also has great practical importance in international business. This chapter provides information and insights necessary for understanding its roles and engaging with its rules and procedures. The chapter explains its institutional structures, basic principles of substantive law, and the central role of economic analysis in deciding cases. In particular, it throws light on the unique way in which judicial decisions (case law) guide decisions in all institutions and on the central significance of the categories of “rule of reason” and “per se treatment.” It also provides insights into the dynamics of the regime—the factors that drive antitrust decisions. It also sketches the ways in which it exercises influence on other competition law regimes.


2019 ◽  
pp. 172-194
Author(s):  
Adrian Briggs

This chapter examines of the role of the lex fori in English private international law before proceeding to examine the rules of the conflict of laws applicable in an English court. Issues for which the rules of the conflict of laws select the lex fori as the law to be applied include grounds for the dissolution (as distinct from nullity) of marriage, even if the marriage has little or nothing to do with the United Kingdom; or settlement of the distribution of assets in an insolvency even though there may be significant overseas elements. Where the rules of the conflict of laws select a foreign law, its application, even though it is proved to the satisfaction of the court, may be disrupted or derailed by a provision of the lex fori instead. The remainder of the chapter covers procedural issues; penal, revenue, and public laws; and public policy.


Author(s):  
Giuseppe B. Portale

The article tackles the issues related to the use of comparative law a source of substantive law in a specific legal system, with specific regard to corporate law. Expanding on previous studies on the general role of comparative law in the framework of sources of law (§ 1), the study argues that the comparative argument may be used to regulate purely domestic cases and as well as a play a crucial role in interpreting internal laws (§§ 1.1, 1.2) and analyzes the theoretical foundations of such process (§ 1.3) as well as the problems caused by the application of foreign law by a domestic judge (§ 2). Subsequently, two examples of such usage of the comparative legal argument are provided, drawn from the Italian corporate law experience (§ 3): on the one hand, the introduction of a specific regulation of a simplified private company (società a responsabilità limitata semplificata), representing a circulation of German (Unternehmergesellschaft- UG) and Belgian (société privée a responsabilité limitée starter) models (§ 3.1); on the other hand, the use of comparative law by in the interpretation of the organization structure in the Italian dualistic system (§ 3.2).


Legal Studies ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shael Herman

When the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community in 1973, the English bench and bar must have perceived only dimly the challenges before them. Like contemporary descendants of Noah, they dropped into a Babel of languages and legal terms indispensable to the operation of the European Commission and the Court of Justice. Membership in the European Economic Community entailed the substantive harmonisation of English laws with those of other member states, and England's common law tradition could not have made the process easy. But the scope of the harmonisation task reached beyond substantive law to deeply rooted judicial attitudes toward the role of legislation and techniques of interpretation. In a recent editorial, Dr C. D. Ehlermann, Director of Legal Services for the European Commission, offered reasons for the English judiciary's potential resistance towards harmonisation of interpretative techniques.


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