Showing papers on "Comparative law published in 1980"

Natural Law and Natural Rights

Abstract: PART I 1. Evaluation and the Description of Law 2. Images and Objections PART II 3. A Basic Form of Good: Knowledge 4. The Other Basic Values 5. The Basic Requirements of Practical Reasonableness 6. Community, Communities, and Common Good 7. Justice 8. Rights 9. Authority 10. Law 11. Obligation 12. Unjust Laws PART III 13. Nature, Reason, God Postscript

Legal Evolution: The Story of an Idea

Abstract: Legal evolution is a way of explaining how the law changes. Basically it suggests that a society's law develops along predetermined lines parallel to those of its other institutions. The idea came to prominence in the mid-eighteenth century as a response to the difficulties experienced by theorists in the field of natural law when applying the notion of universal natural rights to different types of society. Professor Stein traces the beginning of the idea and considers the theories of its main exponents in relation to the prevailing legal thought of their times. He examines in particular the special place of Roman law in shaping ideas of legal development. Finally he considers the different types of opposition which Maine's ideas encountered in the late nineteenth century and the attempts to retain the essentials of legal evolution in a modified form.

The Law and Economics of Rights in Valuable Information

Abstract: T HIS essay describes and analyzes the welfare consequences of the law governing the ownership of information by firms and their employees and the transmission of information from one firm to another. Because I have elsewhere discussed the welfare consequences of the patent system,' the focus here is on the many kinds of information required for the efficient operation of enterprises other than new technology. The essay is intended to draw the attention of economists to the importance of the institutional arrangements other than patents that shape the production and dissemination of industrial information. The first section describes the legal rules and discusses the arguments traditionally offered for them. The ideas used to organize this description are drawn from the modern literature on human capital and theory of the firm. The section argues that in spite of the law's development under such diverse headings as trade secrecy, covenants not to compete, corporate opportunity, fraud and restitution, there is a coherent functional pattern to the common law rules. This pattern has, however, been altered by the federal securities and freedom of information acts. The second section deals with the welfare consequences of the law described. Although a definitive welfare analysis of the rules is not offered, welfare arguments for the common law rules are developed. A principal contribution of this section is to relate recent developments in price theory and finance to these problems. The section also speculates on the implications of the institutional structure of information generation and transmission for some basic issues in industrial organization and monetary theory.

The Concept of Autonomy in International Law

Abstract: “Autonomy” is not a term of art or a concept that has a generally accepted definition in international law. Indeed, one surveying either the literature on the subject or the examples brought forth to demonstrate the existence of the concept is apt to conclude, to paraphrase the late jurist John Chipman Gray, that “on no subject of international law has there been so much loose writing and nebulous speculation as on autonomy.” Yet the term is very much in vogue today. The Camp David framework, for instance, establishing the context for negotiating peace in the Middle East, seeks to provide “full autonomy to the inhabitants” of the West Bank and Gaza. Regional autonomy has been extended recently to the Basque country and Catalonia by Spain, and to the 34 atolls composing the Marshall Islands by the United States. Currently, demands for greater autonomy have been made by the Shetland Islands against Great Britain, as well as by Quebec against Canada. Greek officials have offered to create “a self-administered and inviolable” area within Greece as a permanent site for the Olympic Games. While conventional wisdom accords regional autonomous entities only limited status under international law, the increasing frequency of claims to autonomy and the incremental effect such claims will have upon the international legal order make the concept of autonomy ripe for review.

On the Probable Influence of Islam on Western Public and International Law

Abstract: On the occasion of the fifteenth century of the hijra , many scholarly publications will deal with various aspects of Islamic history, among which is the contribution of the Arabo-Muslim culture to Western civilisation. Philosophical and scientific contributions have already been discussed many times. The legacy of Islam in the field of international law has, however, not yet been studied at length.

An introduction to law

Abstract: In this new edition of "An Introduction to Law", now established as one of the leading student introductions, the emphasis continues to be on understanding law and the legal system as living institutions within society. At the same time, the coverage of the legal system is combined with a clear account of legal concepts. The fourth edition incorporates much new material, in particular on contract, tort, dispute-resolution and land-use, and the coverage of the European dimension of English law has been considerably expanded. "An Introduction to Law" is designed for all new students of law, including A-Level students, undergraduate law students and for those studying law as part of a mixed degree.

New horizons in international law

Abstract: Part 1 New dimensions in international law: new horizons in international law the contribution of Asia and Africa to contemporary international law. Part 2 Progressive development of international law: the law of treaties the new law of the sea human rights and the developing countries Banjul Charter on human and people's rights regional commissions on human rights with special reference to Africa development of international humanitarian law international humanitarian law and Africa. Part 3 Self-determination: United Nations operation in the Congo the struggle for independence for Namibia end of sanctions of South Africa and freedom for Nelson Mandela Part 4 International economic law: basic principles and perspectives of the new international economic order the charter of economic rights and duties of states. Part 5 The ICJ and the judicial process: International Court of Justice - present trends and future prospects the International Court of Justice in the search for peace the International Court of Justice innrelation to the United Nations administrative tribunal. Part 6 Status and future of international law and law-making process: new perspectives and conceptions in contemporary international law the international law-making process and the future of international law.

Ambition Theory and the Black Politician

Abstract: WING to the seminal work of Joseph Schlesinger the study of political ~ ~ ambitions has achieved a place of prominence in the political science literature as students of political leadership have come to recognize that the topic provides valuable insights into the dynamics of elite political behavior. Despite the fact that many of the propositions derived from Schlesinger’s work have been tested in a diversity of empirical contexts2 national, state and local and among various types of political figures including members of Congress, state executives, prosecuting attorneys, state legislators and city councilpersons there are several deficiencies apparent in the extant literature.

Islam and international humanitarian law

Abstract: Contemporary political analyses and studies concerning Islam often bear the mark of ethical values and judgements that obtain in the cultural context of the authors. In this respect, two main tendencies can be discerned. The first, which we might call “Western-centred”, is to be found in the works of specialists in Oriental or Islamic studies who have been trained in the West and are thence impregnated with its culture. When analysing Islam, they judge it on the basis of the moral or political norms pertaining in the West. The second, which could be characterised as “apologetic”, generally finds its reflection in the writings of Moslem thinkers who, reacting against the first school's attacks on Islam, try to glorify it and, in particular, set out to identify in Islam all the cultural notions and inventions of the modern world, in other words, the Western world. According to this second school, Islam is, for example, the inventor and disseminator of democratic government, socialism, the separation of powers, human rights and humanitarian law.

The rule of law at the Cape of good hope in the eighteenth century

Abstract: According to Rodney Davenport, in the Oxford History of South Africa, 'the rule of law did not exist at the Cape in the Company period'. This statement secms incredible in view of the immense volume of the survivmg legal archives—a volume of the criminal court cases for a single year can easily be over 1000 paees of manuscript—and the large number of placcaaten issucd by the povernment of the Cape of Good Hope in the eightcenth Century.This, so" it would seem, is evidence of a society in which the Roman-Dutch law of the Republic of the Netherlands, as amcnded first to suit the requirements of an castern trading empire and then of the port and colony of the Cape, was used to settlc disputes and to maintain public order and the rights of property. South Africa was clearly rulcd by a code of law—as indeed is probably every society in the world, in some sense or other—and moreover by one which was based on a system to which more concentrated legal thought had been given, at a higher theoretical level, than any other m the seventcenth and eighteenth centurics. To be sure, there were no junsts of any standing whatsoever at the Cape at the time. Most of the meinbers of the Court of Justicc had. no legal training at all.' Ncverthcless, the codifications and tcxtbooks which they used were among the finest products of the greatest pcriocl of Dutch intcllcctual history. Tt is doubtful if the 'modernity' of the legal system of any other country could be comparcd with that of the Nclherlands in the eightcenth Century. Certainly that of the Netherlands could be comparcd with that of any other country. The batllement which Davcnport's init ial sentencc presents is, to a certam extent eascd by the rest of the paragraph in question, whcrc he imphcitly defines 'the rule of law' as one where the law was imposed 'uniformly' and 'fully impartialfly]', so that the 'sevcrity of the sentcnccs [did nol] depend .; . largely on the lenal status of the offender or the person olTcnded agamstV That the contrary was the case was clearly admitted by the Dutch authonties. When, after the British capture of the Cape in 1795, the Court of Justicc was informed that the barbaric nature of the capital punishment imposed m Company t i mes was hcnccforth to be mitigatcd, so that slaves would mercly be hanged or bcheadcd, they replied as follows:

You and the law

Abstract: No wonder you activities are, reading will be always needed. It is not only to fulfil the duties that you need to finish in deadline time. Reading will encourage your mind and thoughts. Of course, reading will greatly develop your experiences about everything. Reading you and the law is also a way as one of the collective books that gives many advantages. The advantages are not only for you, but for the other peoples with those meaningful benefits.

The Concept of Autonomy in International Law and the Practice of the United Nations

Abstract: The concept of “autonomy” and the related concepts of “self-rule” and “self-government” are terms of both constitutional law and international law. While they are of ancient origin, their current importance is due to their use in the Camp David Agreement relating to a Framework for Peace in the Middle East, of 17 September 1978. That agreement speaks of: providing “full autonomy to the inhabitants” of West Bank and Gaza; a free election of a “self-governing authority”; giving due consideration to “the principle of self-government by the inhabitants of these territories”; establishing “the elected self-governing authority” in the West Bank and Gaza; negotiating an agreement which will define the powers and responsibilities of “the self-governing authority” to be exercised in the West Bank and Gaza; and beginning the transitional period of five years when “the self-governing authority (administrative council) in the West Bank and Gaza is established and inaugurated.”