Czech Law in Historical Contexts


Book Description

The legal system of the present-day Czech Republic would not be understood properly without sufficient knowledge of its historical roots and evolution. This book deals with the development of Czech law from its initial origins as a form of Slavic law to its current position, reflecting the influence of the legal systems of neighbouring countries and that of Roman law. The reader can see how a legal system originally based on custom developed into written and codified law. Czech law was fully dependent upon developments within the Luxemburg, Jagiellonian and, primarily, Habsburg monarchies, although some features remained autonomous. The 20th century is particularly important in the development of the Czech state and law of today, namely due to the establishment of an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918 and its split in 1992 giving rise to the independent identities of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. It was a century encompassing periods of democratic as well as totalitarian regimes; political, ideological, economic and social changes stemming from such transformations were projected into, and reflected in, the system of Czechoslovak and Czech law. It can therefore serve as a “case study” for researchers interested in the transition of democratic legal systems into totalitarian regimes, and vice versa.




Information Sources in Law


Book Description

The aim of each volume of this series Guides to Information Sources is to reduce the time which needs to be spent on patient searching and to recommend the best starting point and sources most likely to yield the desired information. The criteria for selection provide a way into a subject to those new to the field and assists in identifying major new or possibly unexplored sources to those who already have some acquaintance with it. The series attempts to achieve evaluation through a careful selection of sources and through the comments provided on those sources.




Product Liability in Comparative Perspective


Book Description

This book examines the law of product liability from a comparative perspective. With the European Directive on Product Liability enacted over 20 years ago, this publication analyses the state of product liability in a number of key jurisdictions including both Western European countries and New Member States. Account is also taken of developments further afield, including the United States and Japan. Distinguished contributors, including a high court judge, European Commission official, leading litigators and academics, provide individual country reports and a number of integrated comparative studies. The book is designed for practical use by legal practitioners, academics, students and others interested in the area of contract, tort, civil procedure and multi-party litigation. In particular, practitioners will find the country reports an essential reference point.




Essential Cases on Damage


Book Description

The increasing Europeanisation of the law of delict/torts has produced textbooks, casebooks, monographs, and also sets of model rules of a genuinely European character. A major gap still existing today relates to the experiences gathered in the national legal systems over the past decades. The present work attempts to fill this gap for one key element of tort law: the notion of damage. It thus does what the previous volume in the ‘Digest of European Tort Law’ series did for another key element, ie natural causation. Once again, the publication contains a selection of the most important cases decided in 26 states across Europe as well as by the European Court of Justice. For each case the facts and the relevant court decision are presented, and the decision is analysed within the wider context of the development of the respective legal system. In addition, the editors provide comparative analyses of the case law reported in this volume concerning all the specific problems raised under the heading of damage. The publication also looks into how key cases would be resolved under the European model rules drafted in the field of tort law; and it also highlights cases from earlier periods of legal history. The editors believe that the material gathered here may provide guidance for an organic convergence of the national legal systems in Europe. It constitutes the basis of an acquis commun that is infinitely richer (though also much more complex) than the rather bland and abstract concepts contained in national codifications, European legislation, and the modern model rules.




Nuclear Weapons and International Law


Book Description

This two-volume book provides a comprehensive analysis of the lawfulness of the use of nuclear weapons, based on existing international law, established facts as to nuclear weapons and their effects, and nuclear weapons policies and plans of the United States. Based on detailed analysis of the facts and law, Professor Moxley shows that the United States’ arguments that uses of nuclear weapons, including low-yield nuclear weapons, could be lawful do not withstand analysis. Moxley opens by examining established rules of international law governing the use of nuclear weapons, first analyzing this body of law based on the United States’ own statements of the matter and then extending the analysis to include requirements of international law that the United States overlooks in its assessment of the lawfulness of potential nuclear weapons uses. He then develops in detail the known facts as to nuclear weapons and their consequences and U.S. policies and plans concerning such matters. He describes the risks of deterrence and the existential nature of the effects of nuclear war on human life and civilization. He proceeds to pull it all together, applying the law to the facts and demonstrating that known nuclear weapons effects cannot comply with such legal requirements as those of distinction, proportionality, necessity, precaution, the corollary requirement of controllability, and the law of reprisal. Moxley shows that, when the United States goes to apply international law to potential nuclear weapons uses, it distorts the law as it has itself articulated it, overlooks law in such areas as causation, risk analysis, mens rea, and per se rules, and disregards known risks as to nuclear weapons effects, including radioactive fallout, nuclear winter, electromagnetic pulses, and potential escalation. He then shows that the policy of deterrence is unlawful because the use of such weapons would be unlawful. Moxley urges that the United States and other nuclear weapons States take heed of the requirements of international law as to nuclear weapons threat and use. He argues that law can be a positive force in society’s addressing existential risks posed by nuclear weapons and the policy of nuclear deterrence.




Unexpected Circumstances in European Contract Law


Book Description

The recent financial crisis has questioned whether existing contracts may be adapted, terminated or renegotiated as a result of unexpected circumstances. The question is not a new one. In medieval times the notion of clausula rebus sic stantibus was developed to cope with such situations, and Germany introduced the theory of Wegfall der Geschäftsgrundlage. In England, the Coronation cases provided one possible answer. This comparative study explores the possibility of classifying jurisdictions as 'open' or 'closed' in this regard.




Comparative Law in Eastern and Central Europe


Book Description

Comparative law is a research methodology which has been increasingly fashionable in recent decades, as comparisons between common law and civil law have dominated the law studies landscape. There are many methods of comparative law in use, including comparison of legal rules, comparison of cases, and comparison of legal theories. Each of these methods has strong proponents and opponents. Dogmatic comparisons of rules are criticized for not giving the whole picture of law in action, but praised for being the first and the only truly legal step in comparative research. Case-based comparisons are praised for enabling us to compare the true understanding of rules by courts, yet the critics of this method point out that only the higher courts’ decisions are subject to comparison, and most cases do not reach this stage. Finally, comparisons of legal theories are praised for enabling us to know the spirit of the laws, yet opponents would argue that many countries sharing the same theory would draw opposite conclusions from it. This book is a result of the attempted (and successful) introduction of comparative law into the region of Eastern and Central Europe. The subject has induced interest beyond expectations. This volume opens with a chapter on the unification of law, both from the perspective of institutional unification by such supra-state organizations, spontaneous and institutionalized unifications between two or more legal systems, and the methods of choosing the right rules in the unification process. Chapters two and three follow the classical division of private and public law, as proposed by the brilliant Roman lawyer Ulpian. Overall, the chapters in this book offer an interesting and engaging commentary on the current topics discussed by academics in Eastern and Central Europe.




A Treatise of Legal Philosophy and General Jurisprudence


Book Description

A Treatise of Legal Philosophy and General Jurisprudence is the first-ever multivolume treatment of the issues in legal philosophy and general jurisprudence, from both a theoretical and a historical perspective. The work is aimed at jurists as well as legal and practical philosophers. Edited by the renowned theorist Enrico Pattaro and his team, this book is a classical reference work that would be of great interest to legal and practical philosophers as well as to jurists and legal scholar at all levels. The work is divided in two parts. The theoretical part (published in 2005), consisting of five volumes, covers the main topics of the contemporary debate; the historical part, consisting of six volumes (Volumes 6-8 published in 2007; Volumes 9 and 10, published in 2009; Volume 11 published in 2011 and Volume 12 forthcoming in 2016), accounts for the development of legal thought from ancient Greek times through the twentieth century. Volume 12 Legal Philosophy in the Twentieth Century: The Civil Law World Volume 12 of A Treatise of Legal Philosophy and General Jurisprudence, titled Legal Philosophy in the Twentieth Century: The Civil-Law World, functions as a complement to Gerald Postema’s volume 11 (titled Legal Philosophy in the Twentieth Century: The Common Law World), and it offers the first comprehensive account of the complex development that legal philosophy has undergone in continental Europe and Latin America since 1900. In this volume, leading international scholars from the different language areas making up the civil-law world give an account of the way legal philosophy has evolved in these areas in the 20th century, the outcome being an overall mosaic of civil-law legal philosophy in this arc of time. Further, specialists in the field describe the development that legal philosophy has undergone in the 20th century by focusing on three of its main subjects—namely, legal positivism, natural-law theory, and the theory of legal reasoning—and discussing the different conceptions that have been put forward under these labels. The layout of the volume is meant to frame historical analysis with a view to the contemporary theoretical debate, thus completing the Treatise in keeping with its overall methodological aim, namely, that of combining history and theory as a necessary means by which to provide a comprehensive account of jurisprudential thinking.




Russia, Europe, and the Rule of Law


Book Description

An international team of authors looks at the role law has played in the transformation of Russia and evaluates the legal achievements of the Putin administration against the background of Russia's changing relationship with Europe.