Law as Convention

Abstract. The widely recognized impasse in legal theory, which requires an account of law as "both a social fact and a framework of reasons for action" has been most interestingly addressed in recent years by writers characterizing law as convention in the sense of a solution to a game theoretical "coordination problem." As critics have neutralized most of these proposals, the author advances an account of conventionalism, drawing on economic and sociological theory, which he claims makes the bridge between positivist and naturalist theories of law without compromising the basic insights of either. The result is a unified theory of law, politics and society.     

Deliberation at the European Convention: The Final Verdict

Abstract:  Negotiations in Amsterdam 1996 and Nice 2000 resulted in deadlocks impossible to break. The failure of these Intergovernmental Conferences gave rise to demands for a new and improved process of treaty reform. The answer offered by the European Council in Laeken was to create a Convention with a mandate to prepare the next reform of the treaties. The broad composition of this Convention raised hopes for a process not exclusively defined by bargaining on behalf of national interests, but rather a more open process where actors would be prepared to listen to each other's arguments. Today, we find two divergent images of deliberation in this body. The first sees the Convention as a deliberative success story; the second argues bargaining dominated the proceedings. However, this far the empirical evidence in support of either claim has been inconclusive. On the basis of interviews with 28 conventioneers, this article ventures a 'final verdict' on the matter, arguing that deliberation was, indeed, a defining characteristic of the proceedings.     

Incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into UK Law: Implications for education

This article focuses on the UK government's proposal to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law, and the consequences of incorporation for the individual in the context of education. The first part of the article explores the mechanisms proposed for bringing about incorporation, and stresses in particular the importance attached by the government to upholding the fundamental principle of the sovereignty of the UK Parliament. In this context it emphasises the government's decision to deny to the British courts the capacity to strike down legislative provisions as being incompatible with Convention rights. The second part of the article goes on to explore (highly selectively) a number of key areas in which incorporation of the ECHR has the potential to enhance individual rights in the field of education, including parental choice of school, collective worship and religious education, and aspects of the secular curriculum. The discussion emphasises strongly the likely significance of the UK government's reservation to the second sentence of Article 2 of the First Protocol to the ECHR. Broadly, the conclusion drawn is that the incorporation of the Convention will have only a very marginal impact on the reality of individual rights to education.     

国家及其财产管辖豁免的国内法调整到国际公约的转变——兼论莫里斯和仰融两案

随着绝对国家豁免理论逐渐受到置疑和挑战,有限豁免原则逐步取代绝对豁免理论。进入21世纪,全球性的多边国际公约《联合国国家及其财产豁免公约》于2004年12月2日获得联合国大会的通过,我国已在《公约》上签字。该公约标志着国家及其管辖豁免方面开始确立起普遍性的统一的国际公约的规则,国家豁免理论经历了一个从传统的绝对豁免主义到限制豁免主义的转变过程,必将对国际法制及国内法制、对国家参与经济活动产生重大而深远的影响。近年来,我国国家及其省政府在美国作为被告的案件时有发生,其中,最有代表性的当属莫里斯案和仰融案。因此,研究这一领域的新动态,寻求相应的法律对策和应对措施,无疑具有理论意义和实践价值。     

德国当代私法体系变迁中的消费者法——以欧盟法为背景

2002年,作为《德国民法典》核心的债法编,在施行了100多年之后,经历了一次极具深度的现代化改革。其中,消费者法扮演了十分重要的角色。一方面,近数十年来出台的大部分消费者单行法,被融入了民法典;另一方面,私法上最重要的消费者保护手段,即消费者撤回权制度,在民法典中得到了     

The European Convention and the Relative Rights of Resident Aliens

By virtue of conceptual abstraction, the notion of nationality plays a pivotal role in liberal democracies, governing distinctions in the allocation of 'absolute' and 'relative' rights, and determining that while national citizens, as full member of a sovereign political community, enjoy both human and political/social rights, resident aliens are excluded from the scope of these latter, community-related, rights. Further, The European Convention upon Human Rights appears to countenance this dichotomy, allowing sovereign states to restrict the political activity of aliens. This paper nonetheless argues that such a distinction undermines the democratic imperative upon which liberal constitutional states are founded. A 'social integration thesis,' holding that individuals should enjoy, as a fundamental right, the possibility fully to develop their personalities though establishing and pursuing secure social contacts, as well as interpreting those contacts in the light of prevailing cultural perceptions, not only raises the right of stable residence to one of most fundamental attaching to the human condition, but also indicates that political rights—a mere extension of self‐expression and self-fulfilment within civil society—should be recast as a universal entitlement. Article Three of the First Protocol ECHR may be construed in line with the social integration thesis, and consequently, in the matter of the definition of the members of the national community, the political sovereignty of the Nation State must be limited.     

The Changing Status of International Law in English Domestic Law

Netherlands International Law Review -     

WTO体制内国内法的可诉性问题

在一般国际法理论与实践中,国内法本身可以单独构成国际争端解决程序的诉因。WTO体制内国内法可诉的法律依据是GATT1994第23条、DSU第3.8条以及《WTO协定》第16.4条。在WTO争端解决实践中,专家组和上诉机构的裁决呈现出一个重要的趋势:在美国“301条款”案前,遵循GATT1947时期专家组所确立的“裁量性立法与强制性立法之区分”的习惯性做法;在美国“301条款”案后,不再严格遵循这一习惯性做法。WTO体制内国内法之可诉性问题目前尚没有一个统一、明确的答案。     

论欧洲一体化进程中欧洲债法趋同之罗马法基础

“In varietate concordia”———拉丁文谚语:在不同之中求相同半个世纪以来,欧洲尤其是西南欧诸国一直孜孜不倦地追求着他们的大欧洲之梦想。观察欧洲现在的发展状况,应当说,他们的努力分为两个主要阶段,并已初显成果。第一阶段是欧共体阶段,该阶段发展速度比较缓慢。1965年4     

论法律的秩序价值

人类社会是以法律秩序为重要纽带而生存发展的.法律秩序是由法所确立和维护的,以一定社会主体的权利和义务为基本内容的,表现出确定性、一致性、连续性的,具有特殊强制力的一种社会状态.法律秩序为社会主体提供安全保障,为社会关系提供依循的界限和规则,使社会可以据以稳定、繁盛和持续发展.法律秩序不是在任何条件下都有好的实现法律秩序价值,需要使确认秩序和创设秩序完好的结合.确认应当确认的秩序,便能固化经验和提升生活;创设应当创设的秩序,便能创造生活和引领生活.     

侵权责任法的中国特色

我国侵权责任法不仅批判性借鉴了两大法系在法制发展史中形成的先进经验,更是对我国近几十年来侵权立法、司法和理论发展经验的总结和发展,其诸多具体制度彰显了鲜明的中国特色。深入揭示侵权责任法的中国特色和立法经验,有助于为进步一推进我国民法体系化进程提供经验,促进法学理论和实践从继受主导模式向自主创造主导模式转化。     

The Heteronyms of European Law

Book reviewed in this essay:
Phelan, D. Rossa, Revolt or Revolution: The Constitutional Boundaries of the European Community     

The Telecommunications Law of the European Union

Abstract: This article is intended to give an overview of the law as it stands on telecommunications at the Community level. Over the past ten years the telecommunications law and policy of the European Community have developed rapidly along the twin axes of liberalisation (deregulation) and harmonisation (reregulation). The innovative use of Article 90 EEC has been central to liberalisation, while most harmonisation legislation has been based on open network provision (ONP) passed under Article 100a. The article concludes that, now the national monopolies have been largely dismantled, new issues will arise in the competitive market.     

Forced Marriage as a Harm in Domestic and International Law

This article reports on our analysis of 120 refugee cases from Australia, Canada, and Britain where an actual or threatened forced marriage was part of the claim for protection. We found that forced marriage was rarely considered by refugee decision makers to be a harm in and of itself. This finding contributes to understanding how gender and sexuality are analysed within refugee law, because the harm of forced marriage is experienced differently by lesbians, gay men and heterosexual women. We contrast our findings in the refugee case law with domestic initiatives in Europe aimed at protecting nationals from forced marriages both within Europe and elsewhere. We pay particular attention to British initiatives because they are in many ways the most far-reaching and innovative, and thus the contrast with the response of British refugee law is all the more stark.