The French Contract Law Reform and the Political Process

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bénédicte Fauvarque-Cosson

AbstractThis paper provides an overview of the political process which led to the adoption of one of the most important reforms of the Code civil since 1804. This major revision of the French Code civil took place by way of an ‘ordonnance’ (delegated legislation). That, in itself, was highly controversial. As regards substance, the most controversial points related to the need to strike a new balance between contractual justice and legal certainty in French contract law to make it better suited to economic and social life in the twenty-first century. The French contract law reform began at the instigation of President Chirac, was continued under Sarkozy’s presidency and was finally completed while François Hollande was the President of France. This background might suggest that, from a political standpoint, the new provisions of the Code civil successfully struck the right balance between legal certainty and contractual justice; if only political life were so simple. As will be shown in the second part of this paper, many questions remain open. The first part recounts the story behind the reform, from its origins to its completion. The second part gives some further insight into some emblematic new provisions of the Code civil.

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (15) ◽  
pp. 372-387
Author(s):  
Zeynep Tuğçe ÖZTÜRK ◽  
Nurgün KOÇ

In Turkish modernization, important steps were taken under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk so that women could reach the level of contemporary civilized peoples. For this purpose, women who have lagged behind the society in education, training and social life, especially gender equality, have been granted political rights before some European countries. Turkish women, who obtained the right to vote and be elected in 1934, were included in the political life, and they went to the polls for the first time in the elections held in 1935. For many years, the place of women in political life has decreased due to many reasons such as the fact that political parties do not allow quotas for female deputies, democracy cannot be fully ensured within political parties, sexism, politics are seen as men’s work, women’s education problem, while the women’s movements have increased in the period from the 1980s to the present. Its power has increased due to reasons such as quota implementation based on changes in electoral systems. Although the number of women in politics has not reached a sufficient level even today, as the sexist approach in society and the obstacles placed in front of women are overcome, the effectiveness and success of Turkish women in political life will increase. Although it is difficult for women to take part in the male-dominated structure in politics, it is seen that women are not willing enough and they struggle less. It is possible to say that women have made important strides in the political arena in the Turkish society led by a female prime minister, Professor Tansu Çiller.


2019 ◽  
pp. 21-32
Author(s):  
Nadiia STENGACH

Among the regulatory and communicative mechanisms of power establishment in the Ukrainian Cossack state is the leading propensity for legal solution of social and political issues — both in the environment of the elite and between the elite and subordinate strata. In the context of court proceedings, it is necessary to highlight the tendency to ensure adversarial process between the plaintiff and the defendant, to create the respondent’s conditions for defense, to direct the court’s work not only to punish, but also to restore justice, to judge impartially and collectively. All this meant rejection of Russian legal norms, which legitimized the «right of the strong». The focus on the impassive legal process was extrapolated to manifestations of both domestic and foreign policy. First of all, this was reflected in the rejection of political actions based on military pressure and coercion, which were recognized as illegitimate ones. In the domestic political aspect, there was the emphasized trend towards constitutional methods of regulating public life. In particular, state institutions purposefully created legal norms in those spheres of public activity where tradition was no longer able to regulate them. In the political and cultural life of the Cossacks’ elite, we also see a clearly defined tendency to regulate legally relations between the participants of the political process. The views formed within such limits denied arbitrariness as a method of solving social and legal problems. However, it should be noted that within the framework of judicial and legal practice of the time, such notions were practically not implemented. The institutional mechanisms of state decision making evolved from the General Council to the Council of General Officer Staff, and then to the representative institution of Ukrainian society — the Sejm. In the evolution of mechanisms for administrative positions, there is a clear tendency to oust the election process and replace it with kinship and clientela relations within the Cossacks’ elite. Nevertheless, the electorate tendencies in the Cossack class remained at the lowest levels of the administrative hierarchy until the decay of the Ukrainian Cossack state. This was due to the fact that the political elite of Hetmanshchyna resisted Russian attempts to interfere with the filling of state posts in Left Bank Ukraine, as well as due to the confrontation of officer groups for dominance over local governments. With the acceptance of ideas of the nobles’ republic by the General Officer Staff, we observe a new strengthening of the electorate institution. Asserting power among representatives of their own social class, the Cossacks’ elite tended to maintain a balance between encouragement and punishment. As for the subordinate classes, the propensity to use punishment and coercion was much more pronounced. There was, however, a marked tendency towards the legislative regulation of the force use. At the political and cultural level, arbitrariness had never been recognized as the lawful actions. Besides, it was not necessary for the Cossacks’ elite to resort to violence to persuade; the pressure of public opinion often was enough.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Rudman ◽  
Theodora Mkali

Against the background of recent political developments in Malawi, this article provides a gender perspective on Malawian women’s participation in political life. It focuses on the position of women as candidates for political office and explores what determines women’s positioning, the hurdles that exist in their path when entering the political domain and, correspondingly, the obligations that the state has to level the playing field to overcome such hurdles. As a point of departure, it is proposed that Malawi, which since the coming into force of the 1994 Constitution is democratically organised, cannot be deemed fully democratic and legitimate if women and men do not have an equal opportunity to serve their communities through parliamentary representation. Malawi has ratified the African Charter, the Maputo Protocol and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. Therefore, it is bound by a multitude of international provisions which promote and protect democracy and women’s rights to political participation. The objective of this article is to analyse how effective the Malawian government has been in implementing women’s political rights as guaranteed under regional human rights law. Using the method of positionality to unveil discrimination and disadvantage, the authors’ arguments presented in this article depart from the idea that internal change can be grounded on legal interventions which implement the legal obligations set out in the African Charter, the  Maputo Protocol and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.


2019 ◽  
pp. 220
Author(s):  
BÉNÉDICTE FAUVARQUE-COSSON ◽  
FRANÇOIS ANCEL

The ordonnance of 10 February 2016 for the reform of contract law, of the general regime and of proof of obligations came into force on 1 October 2016. Further changes were made by the legislator in 2018. This reform modifies one of the most important part of the Code civil: the provisions on contracts and obligations The reform aims at giving more accessibility and clarity to French contract law, and it undeniably has already made it more attractive internationally. In this paper, we explain why, in an international world where contracting parties can chose the law applicable to their contract, we believe that a codified law is very important to overcome the void left by the contract and to resolve the difficulties that have arisen during its existence. Besides, it brings legal certainty, accessibility and visibility. We also explain why we think that a modern general law of contracts is a unique opportunity to propose a base of legal provisions considered as “minimal” and to affirm a specific legal policy. If it is clear, that practitioners and judges should not conceive contract law as the expression of a contractual public order (ordre public contractuel), it is sometimes difficult to know to what extent contracting parties can set aside some provisions of the governing law. Finally, we explain how, after having been for nearly two centuries the instruments of a certain legal nationalism, national codifications have become the cement of European private law. Indeed, the French contract law reform, which was built on the diversity of Europe, drew much inspiration from various European and international models. In turn, it has attracted a great deal of interest abroad, was translated into several languages and is extensively commented.


Author(s):  
Yangiboeva Dilnoza Uktamovna ◽  

The article describes the influence of the Russian Empire on the socio-political life of the Emirate of Bukhara in the late XIX - early XX centuries during the reign of Mangit emirs Muzaffar (1860-1885), Abdulahad (1885-1910) and Alimkhan (1910-1920). There were many people who looked at this country, which has beautiful nature, fertile soil and rich in minerals. The Central Asian khanates, which were part of a constantly changing world, did not undergo renewal, despite their obsolescence. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, when the Emirate of Bukhara became politically and economically full of the policy of the Russian Empire and officially became its vassal, many historical events took place in its social life.


Inner Asia ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-171
Author(s):  
Hildegard Diemberger

AbstractIn this paper I follow the social life of the Tibetan books belonging to the Younghusband-Waddell collection. I show how books as literary artefacts can transform from ritual objects into loot, into commodities and into academic treasures and how books can have agency over people, creating networks and shaping identities. Exploring connections between books and people, I look at colonial collecting, Orientalist scholarship and imperial visions from an unusual perspective in which the social life and cultural biography of people and things intertwine and mutually define each other. By following the trajectory of these literary artefacts, I show how their traces left in letters, minutes and acquisition documents give insight into the functioning of academic institutions and their relationship to imperial governing structures and individual aspirations. In particular, I outline the lives of a group of scholars who were involved with this collection in different capacities and whose deeds are unevenly known. This adds a new perspective to the study of this period, which has so far been largely focused on the deeds of key individuals and the political and military setting in which they operated. Finally, I show how the books of this collection have continued to exercise their attraction and moral pressure on twenty-first-century scholars, both Tibetan and international, linking them through digital technology and cyberspace.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamall Ahmad

The flaws and major flaws in the political systems represent one of the main motives that push the political elite towards making fundamental reforms, especially if those reforms have become necessary matters so that: Postponing them or achieving them affects the survival of the system and the political entity. Thus, repair is an internal cumulative process. It is cumulative based on the accumulated experience of the historical experience of the same political elite that decided to carry out reforms, and it is also an internal process because the decision to reform comes from the political elite that run the political process. There is no doubt that one means of political reform is to push the masses towards participation in political life. Changing the electoral system, through electoral laws issued by the legislative establishment, may be the beginning of political reform (or vice versa), taking into account the uncertainty of the political process, especially in societies that suffer from the decline of democratic values, represented by the processes of election from one cycle to another. Based on the foregoing, this paper seeks to analyze the relationship between the Electoral and political system, in particular, tracking and studying the Iraqi experience from the first parliamentary session until the issuance of the Election Law No. (9) for the year (2020).


Discourse ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 143-161
Author(s):  
V. N. Matveeva ◽  
N. V. Stepanova

Introduction. The present study examines the pragmastilistic potential of migration discourse based on the speeches of modern British politicians. The relevance of the chosen topic lies in the acute social specifics of migration discourse and its manipulative component. In today’s world, migration processes have become global and their impact on the development of the host culture is becoming increasingly evident. There is still no established strategy for the integration of migrants into the new society, which creates a conflict environment and determines the hostility of the indigenous population towards migrants. Migration discourse as one of the directions of policy discourse becomes an effective tool for managing public opinion. Various persuasive tactics are incorporated in the speech of politicians using linguistic means, the use of which in the British migration discourse is considered in this article.Methodology and sources. The key tasks of the study are to identify specific discursive tactics, by means of which the persuasive strategy is implemented in the British migration discourse, and to analyze the stylistic techniques used to design the discovered tactics. During the study, pragmastilistic analysis was used, the application of which involves referring to the following methods of linguistic research: the method of continuous sampling, quantitative, descriptive and comparative methods, the method of stylistic analysis, discursive analysis. The material of the study was the speeches of modern British politicians from 2004 to 2021. Results and discussion. The analysis of migration discourse based on the texts of speeches by modern British politicians allows to talk about the stylistic saturation of the material and the main means of expressiveness used in the framework of the discourse under consideration. The main tactic of opponents of free migration is the comparison of “good/bad” migrants, which is actualized using antithesis. As for the lexical stylistic means, the use of the epithet should be specified, which is also a way of actualizing opposition tactics. Thus, this tactic is implemented both at the lexical and syntactic level. Similar tactics are also relevant in the framework of pro-migration rhetoric, namely, when comparing the local elite and the visiting population, which performs all the work necessary for the functioning of society. In most cases the main stylistic technique for tactics actualization is antithesis (or the convergence of antithesis and epithet). Proponents of pro-migration policies also use metaphor (tactics for describing the political process) and syntactic parallelism (tactics for describing the benefits of migration). Finally, the most common tactic inherent in both poles of migration discourse is the tactic of generalization. It consists in equating the speaker with his audience, their “fusion”, and is most often actualized using hyperbola.Conclusion. Migration discourse is characterized by an ideological orientation, which is actualized using certain speech techniques, tactics and strategies. Migration discourse, as a multifaceted entity, can also serve to harmonize social life by facilitating the integration of migrants into the host culture. Migration discourse is a powerful ideological weapon that can be used both to contribute to integration and to incite ethnic hatred. Stylistic tools play a key role in the implementation of a persuasive strategy, which is actively used both in migration and in political discourse in general. The main tactics of the migration discourse of modern British politicians are opposition and generalization, used both in pro- and anti-migration rhetoric. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-309
Author(s):  
Mitja Kovac

Frustration of purpose remains one of the most ill-defined concepts in the English law of contracts. The same problem has also recently attracted the attention of the French legislature in its modernization of the Code Civil. The French reform entitles courts with broad powers to adjust the contract when unforeseen contingencies have made the bargain unduly costly. This article argues that the introduction of an economically inspired adjustment rule in English contract law should be re-considered to maintain its current superior commercial position. If implemented, then the ‘ex ante division of surplus’ should be the governing principle in adjusting contract price, because such a remedy will not affect the agreed-upon division of the surplus. Moreover, this paper suggests that the recent French reform is indeed a long-awaited step toward a more effective regulation of the notorious ‘unforeseen contingencies’ phenomena, but also suggests that further improvements might be needed. Furthermore, it offers a set of arguments suggesting that the English law in its current form might still be the preferred option in the world of international business transactions. The international commercial attractiveness of English contract law, although being challenged by the new French Civil Code, remains undisputed.


Author(s):  
Liubov Prokopenko

The article examines the problem of growing politicization in some religious confessions, primarily Christianity, in the process of democratization that began in Zambia in the early 1990s. Zambia is one of the African countries whose religious leaders have played a prominent role in social life throughout their history. It is especially noted that the proclamation of Zambia a Christian nation in 1991 by President Frederick Chiluba contributed greatly to the strengthening of mutual influence between politics and religion. In modern Zambia religious organizations adhere generally to neutrality, the liberal part of all confessional groups seeing their task in solving primary social problems. In recent decades there have been no pronounced ethnic and religious contradictions in the country which could contribute to an emergence of open bloody conflicts threatening internal security and stability. The article shows that with Edgar Lungu’s (Patriotic Front, PF) coming to power in 2015, Zambia was proclaimed a Christian nation again, which was enshrined in the new edition of its Constitution. The campaigns for presidential elections in 2015 and for general elec-tions in 2016 have shown that “religion-politics” discourse has become relevant in the political process, regarding primarily multiple rela-tionships between religion, ethnicity and politics. The country is on the eve of new general elections due in August 2021. In a difficult economic situation, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemics, Zambian government and Church officials are calling on voters to ensure peaceful electoral process.


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