The Origins of the ‘Nonmarket Economy’: Ideas,Pluralism & Power in EC Anti‐dumping Law about China

‘Market’ and ‘market economy’ exercise a powerful, even magnetic grip on our collective imagination. But what do we mean by ‘market economy’? Does it make sense to speak of a ‘nonmarket economy’, and if so, what does it mean? How are the ideas of ‘market economy’ and ‘nonmarket economy’ related? Focusing on EC anti‐dumping law, this article seeks to answer these questions. It argues that the legal concept of ‘nonmarket economy’ in EC anti‐dumping law has been socially constructed, by means of relations among a plurality of institutional and normative sites, as part of a changing configuration of legal ideas in specific historical circumstances, and in contexts of political, economic, social, and symbolic power. This argument is articulated in three parts. First, the concept of ‘nonmarket economy’ in EC anti‐dumping law, though drawing on earlier elements, had its main roots in the early Cold War. Second, starting in the 1960s, the GATT multilateral negotiating rounds began to define more specific international rules of the game, but a variety of more localised processes played essential roles as forces of change. Of special importance were, first, the tension between legislative rules and administrative discretion in the United States, and, second, the Europeanisation of foreign trade law in the course of European integration. Third, the EC law concept of ‘nonmarket economy’ was born in the late 1970s. The main reasons were changes in the international anti‐dumping law repertoire, specific ideas in Europe about comparative economic systems, and the perceived emergence of new economic threats, including exports from China.     

John R. Commons and Max Weber: The Foundations of an Economic Sociology of Law

This article underlines contemporary economic sociology's lack of interest – until recently – in legal phenomena, unlike the close attention paid by two historic figures in ‘economic sociology’, Max Weber and John R. Commons, to the relationships between law and economy. It argues that to grasp fully the importance of the legal dimension in socio‐economic analysis, we must return to their foundational insights. However, they particularly stress differences between Weber and Commons as to the unity or heterogeneity of law and the economy, the role of ethics, the search for an all‐encompassing approach in the construction of ideal‐types, the various forms of constraint that characterize law (whether psychological, economic, or physical), and the distinction between state law and non‐state law. The latter element is why the authors argue that due consideration for legal plurality should be a central thread in any sociological analysis of the interplay between law and the economy.     

The Chinese mafia: private protection in a socialist market economy

Gambetta's theoretical framework focuses on two important aspects directly relating to the birth and development of mafias, namely a demand for private protection and a supply of the same. In the Post-Mao era, China started its transition from a centrally controlled economy to a market-directed economy by adopting reform and opening-up policies. The widespread creation of property rights has exponentially enlarged the demand for protection. However, property rights are ambiguously defined in the Chinese legal system, and the state is unable and unwilling to provide efficient and sufficient law enforcement mechanisms for needy people because of the rampant corruption of government officials and the weak judicial system. In this case, the mafia that is interested in the private provision of protection developed into an alternative enforcement mechanism for ‘securing’ property rights in China's economic transition. The most important service offered by the mafia in China is not only to assist business enterprises in monopolising the market, but also to assist local government in China's economic reform.     

The Symbiosis of Property and English Environmental Law – Property Rights in a Public Law Context

This article argues that environmental regimes entailing considerable administrative discretion are now serving to contextualise and partly to constitute property rights in English law. In particular, rights to use land are ‘democratised’ to varying degrees through the administration of environmental regulation, and are adapted to land‐use problems on an evolving basis. In return, property rights affect environmental regulation, through legal protections for property interests, although the nature of the discretion exercised within environmental regimes seems to determine the kind and extent of this symbiotic influence. As a result, environmental law challenges property scholars to reflect on the impact of administrative decision‐making on property rights, conceptually, doctrinally and in terms of its legitimacy. At the same time, environmental lawyers need to take seriously the nature and legal treatment of property rights in the application and analysis of modern environmental law.     

WTO与中国社会主义市场法律制度建设问题

世界贸易组织规则及各种协议、协定是国际经济贸易法的重要组成部分。中国现行的经济法律 ,如市场主体法律制度、物权法律制度、合同法律制度、社会保障制度等 ,与世界贸易组织的规则是相通的。但是 ,对与国际经贸规则接轨、国民待遇、公平竞争、法律透明度及法制统一等理念还要进一步深化到经济立法中去。同时 ,要加紧制定民法典 ,加强电子商务等促进知识经济发展的立法 ,进一步完善商事法律体系 ,改进行政执法和司法。     

The Future and Legal Education: Are Law Schools Failing and,If So,How?

In Failing Law Schools (2010), Brian Tamanaha recommends that law schools respond to the current economic crisis in the legal profession by reducing support for faculty research and developing two‐year degree programs. But these ideas respond only to a short‐term problem that will probably be solved by the closure of marginal institutions. The real challenge lies in the powerful long‐term trends that animate social change, particularly the shift to a knowledge‐based economy and the demand for social justice through expanded public services. These trends demand that law schools transform their educational programs to reflect the regulatory, transactional, and interdisciplinary nature of modern legal practice.     

非公经济产权之刑法保护:缺陷与改进

随着社会主义市场经济的不断发展与完善,全面而自由的市场竞争机制已成为社会经济发展的重要动力。然而,由于我国经济体制的特殊性,市场经济取代计划经济后,相应的法律制度并未随之修正,立法与司法对非公有制经济仍存在歧视性对待。司法实践中对非公经济财产处置乱象的问题仍然存在,并严重威胁非公经济主体的持续经营。从产权保护理论来讲,平等保护各经济主体的财产权利是消除"制度壁垒"的有效方式,应建立平等的犯罪构成要件以及合理的刑罚结构,明确界定涉案财物的范围,提升对非公有制财产权利的保护力度。规范司法工作人员的办案程序,依照法律规定的权限、程序处置涉案财物并建立相应的权利人申诉与救济措施,将平等保护原则贯穿于法律制定、实施的整个过程中,切实保障非公有制经济的合法产权,才能使社会主义经济良性发展。     

The Current Status and Prospects of the 'Strategic Partnership' between the EU and China: Towards the Conclusion of a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement

Abstract: This article aims to evaluate legal aspects of the content and implementation of the ‘strategic partnership’ between the EU and the People's Republic of China. In the absence of a category of ‘emerging countries’ in international economic law, the Union must adapt its foreign policy with regard to this major economic and commercial power. Relations between the European Community and China are currently governed by a second‐generation agreement from 1985. However, a new dynamic has been set in motion since 2003, by the drawing up of preparatory documents by both parties and joint declarations at annual summits bearing on the ‘strategic partnership’. Seen in a long‐term perspective, this partnership helps provide a measure of predictability in relations between the two partners, through combining elements of ‘soft law’ and ‘hard law’. If the insertion of political dialogue into the strategic partnership seems to alter the coherence of the Union, notably with regard to the difficulties of implementing the dialogue on human rights, the added value of the partnership lies essentially in its economic and commercial aspects, through not only the putting into place of non‐binding ‘economic dialogues’ which cover a large spectrum of the relationship, but also by the multiplication of sector‐based accords in numerous areas (maritime transport, customs cooperation, etc.). This constant development has thus allowed parties, at the last annual summit, to envisage the conclusion of a new framework agreement: this is the origin of the mandate given to the Commission in December 2005 to conclude a partnership and cooperation agreement. This article will sketch out a forecast of the legal framework, measured against the yardsticks of Asiatic regional reconfigurations and the law of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The commercial risks of the relationship could imply the integration of the domains known as ‘WTO plus’ into the future agreement, notably in the field of investments and intellectual property rights, which would introduce a greater variety into the agreement. That being the case, the negotiations risk being equally fragile at the political level, in particular concerning the insertion of a clause of democratic conditionality in the future agreement. Also, any clash between the values and the interests of the EU would be uncomfortably highlighted during negotiations.     

Inventing Drugs: A Genealogy of a Regulatory Concept

The trade in, and consumption of, illicit drugs is perhaps the archetypal ‘wicked problem’ of our time – complex, globalized, and seemingly intractable – and presents us with one of the very hardest legal and policy challenges of the twenty‐first century. The central concept of a ‘drug’ remains under‐theorized and largely neglected by critical socio‐legal and criminological scholars. Drawing on a range of primary archival material and secondary sources, this article sets out a genealogy of the concept, assembled a little over a century ago out of diverse lines of development. It is argued that the drug label is an invented legal‐regulatory construct closely bound up with the global drug prohibition system. Many contemporary features of the ‘war on drugs’ bear traces of this genealogy, notably how drug law enforcement often contributes to racial and social injustice. To move beyond prohibition, radical law and policy reform may require us to abandon the drug concept entirely.     

Identifying Points of Contact and Engagement Between Legal and Environmental Education

This article explores the shaping and possibly reforming potential of ideas about sustainability in legal education by drawing up a scale of environmental education theories, arranged according to their propensity to transform radically university education. The article offers a critical analysis of current individualist strategies aimed at developing students' environmental skills, in particular that these hamper opportunities for universities to develop a broader and more creative agenda of social change. Applying ideas about how environmental education communities of practice develop, this article identifies some pockets of activity seeking to integrate ideas of sustainability into the law curriculum, including via environmental law and teaching Wild Law or Earth Jurisprudence. These issues form part of an on‐going debate about how well law students are being prepared for work in highly challenging social, environmental, and financial circumstances, against the backdrop of a broader question about ‘what are universities for?’     

The Common Law Constitution at Work: R (on the application of UNISON) v Lord Chancellor

This note considers the radical significance of Supreme Court's judgment in R (on the Application of UNISON) v Lord Chancellor (UNISON) on the unlawfulness of tribunal fees. It argues that the decision marks the coming of age of the ‘common law constitution at work’. The radical potential of UNISON lies in its generation of horizontal legal effects in disputes between private parties. Recent litigation on employment status in the ‘gig economy’ is analysed through the lens of UNISON and common law fundamental rights. The note identifies the various ways in which the common law tests of employment status might be ‘constitutionalised’ in the light of UNISON.     

中国经济刑法法益:认知、反思与建构

当前基于秩序、利益、自由等表述的经济刑法法益学说在认知进路上存在问题,无法形成本体和功能自洽的法益观。应当承认集体法益的独立性,立足法益二元论对经济刑法法益进行本体重塑与功能展开。它勾连宪法,是保障在经济领域中实现个人自由的外部条件的统一体,也是经济秩序市场经济规范保护的客体。法益不是刑法独有的保护目标,仅根据法益标准难以有效区分刑事不法与行政不法。经济刑法的犯罪化应坚持保护适格的集体法益,同时更加注重合比例原则和明确性原则的补充与限制。经本体重塑的经济刑法法益兼具体系超越与体系内在功能,有助于在反思当下中国经济刑法立法与司法的基础上,重构经济刑法的立法理念与犯罪化标准,厘清经济犯罪的类型与解释原理。     

There Must Be Some Way Out of Here: The Crisis,Labour Rights and Member States in the Eye of the Storm

This article considers the impact of the economic, social and political crisis on the labour law regimes of two of the Member States of the EU most affected; Greece and Ireland. Both countries have been the recipients of ‘bail‐out’ deals, negotiated and monitored by what has become known as the ‘Troika’ of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The article considers the extent to which both countries have been required to make amendments to their labour law regimes as a condition of their bail‐outs. It argues that the changes demanded reflect the basic norm now governing the EU legal order, namely that of ‘competition’; the logic of market integration based on the primacy of economic competition. The article sets the reforms in Greece and Ireland within the broader context of the ‘social deficit’ problem of the EU construction.     

Cultural Spillovers: Copyright,Conceptions of Authors,and Commercial Practices

Economists, sociologists, and legal scholars agree that intellectual‐property law is fundamental to markets because legal control over copying motivates creative production. But in many markets, such as fashion and databases, there is little or no intellectual‐property protection, yet producers still create innovative products and earn profits. Research on such “negative spaces” in intellectual‐property law reveals that social norms can constrain copying and support creative production. This insight guided our analysis of markets for American literature before the Civil War, in both magazines (a negative space, where intellectual‐property law did not apply) and books (a positive space, where intellectual‐property law did apply). We observed similar understandings of authors and similar commercial practices in both spaces because many authors published the same work in both spaces. Based on these observations, we propose that cultural elements that develop in positive spaces may spill over to related negative spaces, inducing changes in buyers' and sellers' behavior in negative spaces. Our historical approach also revealed nuances—shades of gray—beyond the sharp distinction typically drawn between negative and positive spaces. In the 1850s, a few large‐circulation magazine publishers began to claim copyright, but many still allowed reprinting and none litigated to protect copyright.     

Combatting peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted material via anti-piracy laws: Issues,trends, and solutions

This article analyses potential end-user copyright violations associated with peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing and the anti-piracy efforts currently underway in order to tackle them. This article discusses international developments in terms of trends, issues and solutions aimed at addressing peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted material. First, the article introduces P2P file sharing, its increasing significance in the growing digital media economy, and the legal issues surrounding this topic. Next, the article provides a comparative analysis of global efforts and trends in preventing digital piracy by analyzing relevant legislation, case law and practices in multiple jurisdictions, including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, and Japan. In addition, the article reviews Hong Kong's current case law and proposed legal reforms including an analysis of their deficiencies with respect to addressing P2P copyright infringement. The article concludes with an analysis of existing trends in preventive measures against copyright infringement through P2P file sharing and suggests directions on future legal and non-legal measures that Hong Kong as well as the international community can take in combating digital piracy and copyright infringement through peer-to-peer file sharing.     

Market definition as value reconciliation: the case of renewable energy promotion under the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures

The interrelationship between renewable energy support policies and World Trade Organization (WTO) law is an important recent manifestation of the challenge to reconcile environmental and economic values in contemporary societies. This article strives to contribute to the discussion by using the intersection between policies to support renewable energy, in particular sustainable biofuels in the EU, and the WTO’s Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures as a case study. The article discusses how efforts to promote renewable energy seem to have become contingent upon the core legal notion of ‘relevant markets’. The article further claims that this contingency is problematic: renewable energy markets are highly complex in practice, and combined with the WTO’s convoluted interpretations of ‘relevant markets’, the legal outcomes struggle to find the proper balance between appropriate support for sustainability and the prevention of protectionist market fragmentation.     

论商法在中国社会主义市场经济法律体系中的地位和作用

在我国社会主义市场经济法律体系中,民法是前置性法律,经济法是保障性法律,而商法则是市场运行法,特殊的功能成就其不可替代的独立地位。商法产生于市场经济并且直接服务于市场经济,两者具有深刻的依存关系,以效益为契合点,通过反映市场经济内在要求的技术性规范,保障市场主体营利自由,进而促进社会财富的增加,实践的品格使其具有高度灵活性。现代市场经济立法主要表现为商事立法,没有健全的商法制度,就没有完备的社会主义市场经济法律体系。在经济危机频繁爆发的当今世界,我国商事法律制度的建设依然任重而道远,需要理性面对法律部门功能纯化、法律移植合理化和商事习惯法律化等问题。     

经济法与社会法关系初探

社会法作为寓于法律社会化过程中的公法与私法相融合的第三法域 ,在其发展到一定阶段 ,出现了作为经济领域法律社会化现象的经济法。因而 ,一方面 ,经济法具有广义社会法的基本属性 ;另一方面 ,经济法与狭义社会法之间 ,各自所对应的国家干预在范围、宗旨和手段上都不尽相同 ,但在经济与社会趋于一体化的现代市场经济体制中 ,需要完善其功能的配合。     

The ‘Reasonable Man’, his Nineteenth‐century ‘Siblings’, and their Legacy

The reasonable man is the best known, but not the only, legal construct to be born into the nineteenth‐century common law. This article introduces the man's siblings – including those from the areas of trust law, criminal law, contract law, and intellectual property law (both patents and trademarks). The fact that some of these ‘men’ changed the law is not controversial; this research further highlights that while several of these came to life in that century, only some had a significant role into the twentieth century. Those that did are tied to the foundations of our society through their role in facilitating innovation and consumer protection. The argument is that it was the constructs’ nature and their capacity to accommodate public policy issues that enabled the vitality of the ‘reasonable person ‘ (negligence) and the ‘person skilled in the art’ (patents).