Legal Fictions in Private Law

Legal fictions are falsehoods that the law knowingly relies on. It is the most bizarre feature of our legal system; we know something is false, and we still assume it. But why do we rely on blatant falsehood? What are the implications of doing so? Should we continue to use fictions, and, if not, what is the alternative? Legal Fictions in Private Law answers these questions in an accessible and engaging manner, looking at the history of fictions, the theory of fictions, and current fictions from a practical perspective. It proposes a solution to what to do about fictions going forward, and how to decide whether they should be accepted or rejected. It addresses the latest literature and deals with the law in detail. This book is a comprehensive analysis of legal fictions in private law and a blueprint for reform.

Wpływ ideologii totalitarnych na konstrukcje prawne stosowane w zakresie ograniczania autonomii woli jednostki na przykładzie modeli wiązania wzorców umownych

The paper aims to examine the influence of totalitarian ideologies on the issue of the mechanism of binding contractual standard forms. Although totalitarian ideologies mainly influence the situation of an individual through the norms of criminal law and administrative law (public law in its broadest sense), private law — especially in its theoretical aspect involving accepted legal constructs — is also influenced by the political doctrines dominant at a given time. As it seems, this also applies to such a technical and far-from-political model as that of contractual binding. It turns out that also in this area totalitarian concepts found room for restricting the scope of individual freedom. This is indicated by a certain correlation between the development of views on the nature of contractual forms and the mechanism of their binding and the intensification or weakening of totalitarian tendencies. Such a conclusion can be derived from the historical analysis of the views represented by the main representatives of French and German doctrine from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century.

Practice of applying international principles in private law relations

National and international courts are increasingly turning to generally recognised international legal principles to regulate private law relations. This is necessitated, in particular, by the fact that the issues and disputes that modern participants in private law relations address to the courts are becoming more widespread. Thus, the practice of international justice and justice in Ukraine demonstrates that such international principles as the principle of justice, equality, non-discrimination, evolutionary interpretation, proportionality, legal certainty, and the rule of law are increasingly used in dispute resolution. This study investigated the application of international principles in private law relations. Based on the general legal research methods, the nature of international legal principles was analysed, the study considered their application in the above-mentioned Ukrainian court cases to the European Court of Human Rights, as well as the Constitutional and Anti-Corruption Courts of Ukraine. The study investigated the judicial practice of the European Court of Human Rights, whose decisions raise the issue of violation of rights and fundamental freedoms stipulated in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and non-compliance with basic international legal principles, as well as highlighted the main trends of these disputes. Based on the results of the analysis, the study identified an insufficient level of the content specification regarding the principle of the rule of law and its features in the current legislation of Ukraine, which must be properly observed by both state authorities and citizens of Ukraine. Based on the conducted research, the authors formulated their scientific positions and conclusions aimed at improving the system of principles of private law relations

Private liability without wrongdoing

Rights-based theories of private law tend to be wrongs based and defendant focused. But many private law wrongs do not seem like genuine wrongs, at least when the background distribution of resources is unjust. A very poor person, for example, may be held legally liable for breaching a one-sided contract with a very rich person. When such a contract reflects and reproduces existing injustice, it is hard to view the poor person’s breach of such a contract as a genuine wrong against the rich person. Conversely, some obvious moral wrongs do not generate legal liability. There is, for example, no private law duty of rescue in the absence of a prior relationship in many situations in which most would agree that there is a moral duty of rescue. Thus, private legal liability seems not to track moral wrongdoing in significant respects, raising the question what instead justifies such liability. Instead of justifying private liability in terms of the defendant’s wrongdoing, as corrective justice and civil recourse theorists do, we should seek a justification in terms of the plaintiff’s moral permission to enforce her apparent rights. Switching our gaze from the defendant’s wrongdoing to the plaintiff’s moral permission to enforce her rights will not be normatively consequential if the plaintiff’s moral permission arises when and only when the defendant has wronged her. But, I argue, background injustice can drive a wedge between genuine wrongdoing and the plaintiff’s moral permission. Thus, by reconceptualizing private liability in terms of a plaintiff’s moral permission to enforce her apparent rights, private law may be justified by the essential role it plays in constituting non-ideal political morality.

Liability under Anti-Doping Law in Public Law Domain

In Poland, the Act of April 21, 2017 on Combating Doping in Sport is in force. The new law raises new questions. One of the questions is whether, the combating doping in sport belongs to private law or public law. The dualistic division of law itself is problematic. The legal regulation of doping has undergone a process similar to criminal law, i.e. from private law to public law. A breakthrough in combating doping was the establishment of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 1999.The new Polish act followed this path. The Act on Combating Doping in Sport provided the legal basis for the existence of the Polish Anti-Doping Agency (POLADA), as a state legal entity. POLADA is therefore a body governed by public law, which establishes anti-doping rules, controls and oversees compliance, authorises the use of prohibited substances or methods, and conducts disciplinary action for violation of anti-doping rules.

Surrogacy in international private law and public law aspects

The proposed article is devoted to the issue of surrogacy in its international private law and public law aspects. The complexity and multidimensionality of issues, the emergence of which is due to the birth of children as a result of agreements on surrogacy, have been investigated. Taking into account the three main approaches to the problem of surrogacy existing in the world, namely: the first is a number of states and organizations that categorically deny the very possibility of trade in the context of surrogate motherhood, noting that the child is not talking about any deal; the second approach is that a significant number of stakeholders express concern about the potential merger of surrogate motherhood and child trafficking, which could lead to the criminalization of surrogate mothers and future parents, as well as possible violations of the right to sexual and reproductive health; the last group is a number of states and organizations that have spoken out in favor of a complete prohibition of surrogacy without any restrictions, the consequences of such approaches have been analyzed. Within the framework of this article, the author considers it appropriate to cite the position of the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children and the sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and the production of other materials on sexual abuse of children, the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, as well as the European Court of Justice on human rights on the issues considered. The article draws a number of conclusions. First of all, compliance with the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur requires the adoption of urgent measures to prevent violations of the rights of all participants in a surrogacy relationship due to their vulnerability. Also, regarding the lack of regulation of these legal relations at the level of law within the jurisdiction of Ukraine, the author expresses his opinion about the certain justification of such a situation until a unified normative act is adopted based on the results of the work of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. Harmonization of legal norms at the national and international levels will allow in the future to avoid conflicts in relations of cross-border surrogacy, taking into account the issues of child trafficking, non-discrimination and the right to health of children born through surrogacy, citizenship, name and family ties in the framework of respect for the child’s right to preserve his identity, as well as access to information on origins and rights to family life, etc

Pushing the Boundaries: A Tentative Taxonomy of Money in New Zealand Private Law

This article seeks to define the boundaries of money in the context of proprietary taxonomy in New Zealand. It suggests that the traditional legal concept of money exclusively based on state issued (fiat) currency is dated, as does not accommodate the near-universal use of bank money in commercial transactions, nor the recent technological changes introduced by virtual currencies. As long as something functions as a means of payment and the holder has the right to exchange it for legal tender, the divide between mutually agreed payment obligations into those made on the base of fiat currencies and those not, becomes artificial. In providing responses to similar commercial arrangements and parties' legitimate expectations, not only coins and banknotes, but also balances held by customers in banking institutions, foreign money, and digital currencies, should qualify as money for private law purposes.