A newly updated edition of “the most readable and succinct account of the origins, the development, and the philosophy of the civil law” (Houston Law Review).   Designed for general readers and students of law, this is a concise history and analysis of the civil law tradition, which is dominant in most of Europe, all of Latin America, and many parts of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The fourth edition is fully updated to include the latest developments in the field and to correct and update historical details gleaned from newly published research on Roman and medieval law.    In recent years, the legal profession has changed radically, with the growing international ubiquity of large law firms operating across borders (which was previously a uniquely American phenomenon). This new edition updates the book from the post-Soviet era to ongoing current issues, including Brexit and the status of the European Union. It discusses how civil law codes have shifted in some countries to adapt to modern and changing ideologies and also includes brand-new material on legal education, which is of central importance to the legal profession today. Read more

The book provides a concise overview of currently applicable regulatory frameworks of states which are among the world leaders in research and development (R&D) of cell and gene therapies. Developments in genome editing are expected to lead to new possibilities for the treatment of hereditary diseases in humans. The treatment of such often severe but hitherto uncurable diseases can be based on genome-edited induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). Such treatments constitute combined cell/gene therapies. These therapies need to be governed by a regulatory framework which ensures quality, safety, and efficacy of the relevant therapeutic products. On the other hand, such regulations may retard product approval and impede R&D. Accordingly, national regulations for therapies based on genome-edited iPS cells are an important and, as the case may be, decisive factor for both researchers and industry regarding their decision where to locate their R&D activities. Therefore, regulatory frameworks impact significantly on the competitiveness of states and their economies. This is why a comparative analysis of laws and regulations of different countries matters. Such a comparative legal analysis provides an important insight into regulatory concepts which, in turn, may inspire adjustments of, or amendments to, domestic legal regimes. For this purpose, experts present country reports on France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, and the USA. The reports on France and Germany also refer to the parameters and implications arising from pertinent EU law. This contributed volume is aimed at researchers, but also at, e.g., legal scholars, lawmakers, regulators, and political decision makers. Read more

This book provides a complement to Dicey's The Law of the Constitution. These largely unpublished comparative constitutional lectures were written for different versions of a comparative constitutional book that Dicey began but did not finish prior to his death in 1922. The lectures were a pioneering venture into comparative constitutionalism and reveal an approach to legal education broader than Dicey is widely understood to have taken. Topics discussed include English, French, American, and Prussian constitutionalism; the separation of powers; representative government; and federalism. The volume begins with an editorial introduction examining the implications of these comparative lectures and Dicey's early foray into comparative constitutionalism for his general constitutional thought, and the kinds of response it has elicited. Read more

Judges are society’s elders and experts, our masters and mediators. We depend on them to dispense justice with integrity, deliberation, and efficiency. Yet judges, as Alexander Hamilton famously noted, lack the power of the purse or the sword. They must rely almost entirely on their reputations to secure compliance with their decisions, obtain resources, and maintain their political influence. In Judicial Reputation, Nuno Garoupa and Tom Ginsburg explain how reputation is not only an essential quality of the judiciary as a whole, but also of individual judges. Perceptions of judicial systems around the world range from widespread admiration to utter contempt, and as judges participate within these institutions some earn respect, while others are scorned. Judicial Reputation explores how judges respond to the reputational incentives provided by the different audiences they interact with—lawyers, politicians, the media, and the public itself—and how institutional structures mediate these interactions. The judicial structure is best understood not through the lens of legal culture or tradition, but through the economics of information and reputation. Transcending those conventional lenses, Garoupa and Ginsburg employ their long-standing research on the latter to examine the fascinating effects that governmental interactions, multicourt systems, extrajudicial work, and the international rule-of-law movement have had on the reputations of judges in this era. Read more

¿Cuál es el papel adecuado de los tribunales en un Estado de Derecho? ¿Pueden reemplazar o "corregir" las decisiones de las legislaturas, integradas por personas elegidas por el voto de las mayorías? ¿Deberían compartir con el Congreso la potestad de interpretar las leyes? Dicho de otro modo, ¿quién debería tener la última palabra en la "traducción" de la Constitución y las leyes a la vida cotidiana?En este libro de extraordinaria influencia, que renovó de raíz el pensamiento jurídico contemporáneo, Mark Tushnet despliega los efectos positivos de un papel más "débil" por parte del Poder Judicial, un sistema en el que los legisladores y los funcionarios del Poder Ejecutivo participen abiertamente en la interpretación constitucional. Postula, además, una concepción más "fuerte" de los derechos sociales y económicos, que deberían quedar bajo la custodia activa de todas las ramas de gobierno (en primer lugar, las ramas políticas).Fundador de la corriente de los estudios críticos del derecho en los años setenta, rara avis en el derecho norteamericano –como jurista de izquierda que ocupa un lugar central en la discusión constitucional contemporánea–, Tushnet pone a prueba su propuesta comparando el derecho de los Estados Unidos con los de Australia, Canadá o el Reino Unido, y demuestra que un "control de constitucionalidad débil", como el que aplican esos países, puede ser compatible con el autogobierno democrático y la garantía del cumplimiento efectivo de los derechos para todas las personas.Mientras en la región se multiplican los conflictos entre poderes ejecutivos y judiciales –y su solvencia y legitimidad para tomar decisiones–, Siglo XXI acerca a los lectores de lengua castellana una obra clave para enriquecer y matizar esas discusiones, que en el fondo hablan de la fortaleza o debilidad de nuestras democracias. Read more

In this provocative work, Martin Shapiro proposes an original model for the study of courts, one that emphasizes the different modes of decision making and the multiple political roles that characterize the functioning of courts in different political systems. Read more

This book looks at thirteen different legal systems, ranging from Imperial China to modern Amish: how they worked, what problems they faced, how they dealt with them. Some chapters deal with a single legal system, others with topics relevant to several, such as problems with law based on divine revelation or how systems work in which law enforcement is private and decentralized. The book’s underlying assumption is that all human societies face the same problems, deal with them in an interesting variety of different ways, are all the work of grown-ups, hence should all be taken seriously. It ends with a chapter on features of past legal systems that a modern system might want to borrow. Read more

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Comparative Law: A Very Short Introduction aims to offer a concise introduction to Comparative Law—its objectives, methods, concepts and uses. After an overview of the fundamental definitions, key concepts and basic lexicon of the discipline, the book proposes an analysis of the most successful techniques adopted in legal comparison for mapping the world's legal systems and for explaining legal change and diffusion of law, also giving a concise description of the legal traditions of the world. It also offers an account of the competing approaches adopted over time in comparative endeavours, from functionalism to culturalism and postmodernism, and highlights the different emphasis placed by each of these approaches on commonalities, faith in universal law and convergence, or on divergence and irreducible differences. Finally, the book provides readers with an understanding of the practical use of comparative law, describing how legal comparison is employed both in law-making and in adjudication, supplementing legal reasoning and interpretation. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. Read more

In High Wire, Angela Huyue Zhang provides a comprehensive and sophisticated overview of how China regulates its enormous tech sector. By closely scrutinizing the incentives and interactions among the key players, Zhang introduces a dynamic pyramid model to analyze the structure, process, and outcome of China's unique regulatory system. She showcases the shrewd self-regulatory tactics employed by Chinese tech titans to survive and thrive in an institutional environment plagued by endemic fraud and corruption. She also reveals how the Chinese State has given a helping hand to digital platforms by offering them indispensable judicial support. Through a robust analysis of the tumultuous 2020-2022 tech crackdown, Zhang explores the model's profound impact on three vital pillars of Chinese platform regulation, including antitrust, data, and labor enforcement. As Zhang demonstrates, the tech crackdown has led to the private sector's retreat and the state's advancement in the tech industry. These regulatory shifts have also steered investors from consumer tech businesses toward hardcore technologies that are essential for China's bid to overtake the United States in innovation. More than just a study of China, Zhang offers a global perspective by comparing China's regulatory landscape with rapidly moving developments in the United States and the European Union. This comparative analysis reveals the shared regulatory challenges all face and sheds light on the future direction of Chinese tech regulation. Finally, she peers into the future of China's tech governance, specifically focusing on the burgeoning realm of generative artificial intelligence. Providing an unparalleled deep dive into China's rapidly evolving digital economy, High Wire is a must-read for those interested in how the manifold ways in which China regulates and governs its economy._ Read more

This book takes a multidisciplinary approach to the issues surrounding freedom of expression, looking at the current legal position in a number of European countries as well as engaging with the wider debates on the topic amongst sociologists, political scientists and economists. In the book Vincenzo Zeno-Zencovich addresses recent developments which have had a bearing on the debate including the changes in communication brought about by the internet, and the growing role of the European Union and the Council of Europe. Read more

This short book on comparative law theory and method is designed primarily for postgraduate research students whose work involves comparison between legal systems. It is, accordingly, a book on research methods, although it will also be of relevance to all students (undergraduate and postgraduate) taking courses in comparative law and to academics entering the field of comparison. The substance of the book has been developed over many years of teaching general theory of comparative law, primarily on the European Academy of Legal Theory programme in Brussels but also on other programmes in French, Belgian and English universities. It is arguable that there has been to date no single introductory work exclusively devoted to comparative law methodology and thus this present book aims to fill this gap. Read more

In this original, far-reaching, and timely book, Justice Stephen Breyer examines the work of the Supreme Court of the United States in an increasingly interconnected world, a world in which all sorts of activity, both public and private—from the conduct of national security policy to the conduct of international trade—obliges the Court to understand and consider circumstances beyond America’s borders. It is a world of instant communications, lightning-fast commerce, and shared problems (like public health threats and environmental degradation), and it is one in which the lives of Americans are routinely linked ever more pervasively to those of people in foreign lands. Indeed, at a moment when anyone may engage in direct transactions internationally for services previously bought and sold only locally (lodging, for instance, through online sites), it has become clear that, even in ordinary matters, judicial awareness can no longer stop at the water’s edge.    To trace how foreign considerations have come to inform the thinking of the Court, Justice Breyer begins with that area of the law in which they have always figured prominently: national security in its constitutional dimension—how should the Court balance this imperative with others, chiefly the protection of basic liberties, in its review of presidential and congressional actions? He goes on to show that as the world has grown steadily “smaller,” the Court’s horizons have inevitably expanded: it has been obliged to consider a great many more matters that now cross borders. What is the geographical reach of an American statute concerning, say, securities fraud, antitrust violations, or copyright protections? And in deciding such matters, can the Court interpret American laws so that they might work more efficiently with similar laws in other nations?While Americans must necessarily determine their own laws through democratic process, increasingly, the smooth operation of American law—and, by extension, the advancement of American interests and values—depends on its working in harmony with that of other jurisdictions. Justice Breyer describes how the aim of cultivating such harmony, as well as the expansion of the rule of law overall, with its attendant benefits, has drawn American jurists into the relatively new role of “constitutional diplomats,” a little remarked but increasingly important job for them in this fast-changing world. Written with unique authority and perspective, The Court and the World reveals an emergent reality few Americans observe directly but one that affects the life of every one of us. Here is an invaluable understanding for lawyers and non-lawyers alike. Read more

GJ Philip was arrested for civil rights activities in New Zealand, in December 2021.He spent three years in New Zealand's terrible prison system, experiencing the full range of injustice available in the South Pacific's dirtiest banana republic.After discussions with thousands of men in jail GJ Philip has responded to their cry for help by writing the book these lost and disenfranchised men ask for. Even guards and managers in these hellhole-prisons plead with Mr Philip to make the plight of ten thousand Maori and Pacific Island men known to a wider public.Furthermore a new class of middle-class prisoner begged GJ Philip to advertise their fate; those framed by the dreaded 'women's refuge', a globalist agency that preys on unsuspecting men, and with the help of conniving police and an extreme left parliament puts them in jail for years with no evidence whatsoever.If any nation deserves to be thrown out of the British Commonwealth it is New Zealand, the moral cesspool of the western world.Readers will consign NZ to the ranks of brutal third world dictatorships. Foreigners will cancel their plans to visit, after seeing their possible fate here in the place laughably called 'Godzown' Read more

This is the long-awaited third edition of this highly regarded comparative overview of corporate law. This edition has been comprehensively revised and updated to reflect the profound changes in corporate law and governance practices that have taken place since the previous edition. These include numerous regulatory changes following the financial crisis of 2007-09 and the changing landscape of governance, especially in the US, with the ever more central role of institutional investors as (active) owners of corporations. The geographic scope of the coverage has been broadened to include an important emerging economy, Brazil. In addition, the book now incorporates analysis of the burgeoning use of corporate law to protect the interests of "external constituencies" without any contractual relationship to a company, in an attempt to tackle broader social and economic problems. The authors start from the premise that corporations (or companies) in all jurisdictions share the same key legal attributes: legal personality, limited liability, delegated management, transferable shares, and investor ownership. Businesses using the corporate form give rise to three basic types of agency problems: those between managers and shareholders as a class; controlling shareholders and minority shareholders; and shareholders as a class and other corporate constituencies, such as corporate creditors and employees. After identifying the common set of legal strategies used to address these agency problems and discussing their interaction with enforcement institutions, The Anatomy of Corporate Law illustrates how a number of core jurisdictions around the world deploy such strategies. In so doing, the book highlights the many commonalities across jurisdictions and reflects on the reasons why they may differ on specific issues. The analysis covers the basic governance structure of the corporation, including the powers of the board of directors and the shareholder meeting, both when management and when a dominant shareholder is in control. It then analyses the role of corporate law in shaping labor relationships, protection of external stakeholders, relationships with creditors, related-party transactions, fundamental corporate actions such as mergers and charter amendments, takeovers, and the regulation of capital markets. The Anatomy of Corporate Law has established itself as the leading book in the field of comparative corporate law. Across the world, students and scholars at various stages in their careers, from undergraduate law students to well-established authorities in the field, routinely consult this book as a starting point for their inquiries. Read more

This book takes the reader on a sweeping tour of the international legal field to reveal some of the patterns of difference, dominance, and disruption that belie international law's claim to universality. Pulling back the curtain on the "divisible college of international lawyers," Anthea Roberts shows how international lawyers in different states, regions, and geopolitical groupings are often subject to distinct incoming influences and outgoing spheres of influence in ways that reflect and reinforce differences in how they understand and approach international law. These divisions manifest themselves in contemporary controversies, such as debates about Crimea and the South China Sea.Not all approaches to international law are created equal, however. Using case studies and visual representations, the author demonstrates how actors and materials from some states and groups have come to dominate certain transnational flows and forums in ways that make them disproportionately influential in constructing the "international." This point holds true for Western actors, materials, and approaches in general, and for Anglo-American (and sometimes French) ones in particular. However, these patterns are set for disruption. As the world moves past an era of Western dominance and toward greater multipolarity, it is imperative for international lawyers to understand the perspectives and approaches of those coming from diverse backgrounds. By taking readers on a comparative tour of different international law academies and textbooks, the author encourages them to see the world through the eyes of others -- an essential skill in this fast changing world of shifting power dynamics and rising nationalism. Read more

None

Latin America is still dealing with the legacy of terror and torture from its authoritarian past. In the years after the restoration of democratic governments in countries where violations of human rights were most rampant, the efforts to hold former government officials accountable were mainly conducted at the level of the state, through publicly appointed truth commissions and other such devices. This stage of “transitional justice” has been carefully and exhaustively studied. But as this first wave of efforts died down, with many still left unsatisfied that justice had been rendered, a new approach began to take over. In Post-transitional Justice, Cath Collins examines the distinctive nature of this approach, which combines evolving legal strategies by private actors with changes in domestic judicial systems. Collins presents both a theoretical framework and a finely detailed investigation of how this has played out in two countries, Chile and El Salvador. Drawing on more than three hundred interviews, Collins analyzes the reasons why the process achieved relative success in Chile but did not in El Salvador. Read more

This book introduces the reader to the Italian Constitution, which entered into force on 1 January 1948, and examines whether it has successfully managed the political and legal challenges that have occurred since its inception, and fulfilled the three main functions of a Constitution: maintaining a community, protecting the fundamental rights of citizens and ensuring the separation of powers. Read more

A Short History of European Law brings to life 2,500 years of legal history, tying current norms to the circumstances of their conception. Tamar Herzog describes how successive legal systems built upon one another, from ancient times through the European Union. Roman law formed the backbone of each configuration, though the way it was used and reshaped varied dramatically from one century and place to the next. Only by considering Continental civil law and English common law together do we see how they drew from and enriched this shared tradition.“A remarkable achievement, sure to become a go-to text for scholars and students alike… A must-read for anyone eager to understand the origins of core legal concepts and institution—like due process and rule of law—that profoundly shape the societies in which we live today.”—Amalia D. Kessler, Stanford University“A fundamental and timely contribution to the understanding of Europe as seen through its legal systems. Herzog masterfully shows the profound unity of legal thinking and practices across the Continent and in England.”—Federico Varese, Oxford University“Required reading for Americanists North and South, and indeed, for all of us inhabiting a postcolonial world deeply marked by the millennia of legal imaginings whose dynamic transformations it so lucidly charts.”—David Nirenberg, University of Chicago Read more

Written by two internationally respected authors, this unique primer distills the environmental law and policy of the United States into a practical guide for a nonlegal audience, as well as for lawyers trained in other regions. The first part of the book explains the basics of the American legal system: key actors, types of laws, and overarching legal strategies for environmental management. The second part delves into specific environmental issues (pollution, ecosystem management, and climate change) and how American law addresses each. Chapters include summaries of key concepts, discussion questions, and a glossary of terms, as well as informative "spotlights"—brief overviews of topics. With a highly accessible structure and useful illustrative features, A Guide to U.S. Environmental Law is a long-overdue synthetic reference on environmental law for students and for those who work in environmental policy or environmental science. Pairing this book with its companion, A Guide to EU Environmental Law, allows for a comparative look at how two of the most important jurisdictions in the world deal with key environmental problems. Read more