Global Constitutionalism: Editorial Introduction

Netherlands International Law Review -     

Flooding the Permafrost: The Role of Environmental Claims in the Effort to Regulate Global Warming Emissions

This article focuses on the role that public and private claims play in spurring, supporting, supplementing, and, at times, impeding, climate change initiatives. Sections 1 and 2 describe the essential features of greenhouse gases and briefly detail the history of federal initiatives and the collapse of will that precipitated many of the claims filed by states, municipalities, and environmental groups. Section 3 discusses plaintiffs' early challenges and efforts to compel regulatory action; nuisance actions that have been filed by states, public interest groups, and individuals; and the possible trajectory of future claims. Section 4 discusses the role of climate change claims in enforcing compliance, improving corporate responsibility, and promoting interorganizational benchmarking in governmental and market-based standards programs. Section 5 concludes with a discussion of the precautionary principle and ways in which companies can protect themselves against future climate change-related claims.     

反倾销：中国无以承受之重？

根据世贸组织的统计,今年上半年世 贸组织成员一共发起了104项反倾 销调查,其中有16项针对中国。中国已经成为了世界上遭受反倾销调查最多、受害最大的国家。诸如温州打火机应对欧盟反倾销诉讼,美国商务部圈定我国的四川长虹、TCL、康佳、厦华4家彩电企业作为倾销幅度调查阶段中的单独调查对象,美国纺织品制造商协会(ATMI)第二次向美国商务部提出申请,要求控制中国纺织品出口,美国家具行业可能会对外国进口的木制家具提出     

To Arbitrate or To Litigate: That Is the Question

The benefits of interjurisdictional competition, particularly with a customary law option, are discussed. Arbitration can be a mechanism for choosing among systems of substantive law if effective sanctions back arbitration. Powerful groups capture wealth by manipulating monopolized law, however, and arbitrators' decisions must correspond with expectations about how they will be viewed under review if a coercive monopoly provides sanctions, so conditions necessary for establishing alternative sanctions are explored. Finally, historical efforts to eliminate or absorb customary commercial law are discussed in light of the analysis of interjurisdictional competition, and the potential for encouraging such competition in emerging markets is considered.     

原因自由行为探析

本文围绕着原因自由行为之法理的历史发展、体系位置、适用范围、与“同在原则”及完全昏醉罪的关系等问题进行了论述。就我国而言,最优的解决方案就是在刑法总则中设置关于原因自由行为的提示性条款,在分则危害公共安全罪一章中设置完全昏醉罪的条款。     

Global Warming: Will There Be Exposure for Directors and Officers and Will It Be Covered?

This article will explore the potential legal liabilities of corporate officers and directors due to the effects of global warming on the business of their corporation, as well as the insurance coverage issues likely to arise under directors' and officers' (D&O) liability policies in light of those liabilities. The article focuses particularly on the pollution exclusion and the bodily injury and property damage exclusions, and also explores scenarios that may engender attempts by insurers to rescind the policy.     

Supreme Court to Hear Landmark Case on Climate Change Emissions: Judgment Day Comes in Global Warming Litigation

The Supreme Court has historically been reluctant to involve itself in environmental matters, especially those relating to the regulation of releases or emissions of harmful substances. The court has typically been content to allow the legislative branch to fashion appropriate regulations to address environmental issues and for the executive branch to enforce those regulations. The acceptance of certiorari in the Second Circuit's Connecticut v. AEP case was a surprise because it not only involves environmental regulation, but also the common law applicable to public nuisance actions seeking redress for climate change damage allegedly caused by emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The AEP case is shaping up to be a blockbuster in the climate change debate in the United States, and the decision could have broad repercussions in not only future litigation involving climate change, but also GHG legislation and the insurance available to address damage due to weather-related events.     

Coldness to Global Warming,Threat Fatigue,or Unemotional Pragmatism: Investor Pattern Responses to Information Release

Perceptions relating to climate risks are generally shaped by discerning the erratic patterns and the rapidly changing frequencies of rainfall and drought sequences, and by painting a picture of the impacts of such events over ever shortening spans of time. Personal and business decisions in this context are, therefore, made under tremendous uncertainty relating to the immediate future and to the medium term. This article assesses investor response to the release of new information relating to climate change and global warming and the additional risks that weather-related phenomena are slated to bring. Attempts have been made to elaborate the findings and to support them with propositions, relevant data, and observations.     

Insurance Market for Global Warming Heats Up: Old Products and New Policies Respond to Climate Change Risks

Climate change, characterized by higher surface and water temperatures, will likely lead to more frequent and severe storms, floods, rising sea levels, wildfires, and loss of a variety of species. The monetary loss attributable to these events could be enormous, resulting in a variety of first-party insurance claims and third-party lawsuits. The availability of insurance coverage to pay these claims will depend on the nature of weather-related losses and the particular policies in force. Insurers have also begun to develop products that pay to rebuild to “greener” standards after fortuitous losses, encourage lower carbon emissions, and provide incentives for the implementation of sustainable business and personal practices.     

Melting Moments: The Future of Polar Oceans Governance in a Warming World

Climate change poses significant physical, ecological, social and economic challenges to environmental, human and national security in polar regions. From an oceans governance perspective, increased human access to formerly ice-covered areas, and the potential for increased activities such as fishing, shipping, tourism, bioprospecting, off-shore mining, and oil and gas exploration, present significant legal challenges. While the issues are not unique to polar areas, the geopolitical, geographical and physical characteristics of the polar regions provide a unique and demanding framework in which to identify and address jurisdictional issues and issues relating to the protection of polar marine environments. This article attempts to identify the legal challenges ahead and to provide preliminary observations as to how the polar oceans governance regime might develop in the future.     

Introduction: The Sins of Segregation

Law and Philosophy -     

Introduction: Global Processes, National Institutions, Local Bricolage: Shaping Law in an Era of Globalization

The articles by Carruthers and Halliday and by Hagan, Levi, and Ferrales in the present issue of Law and Social Inquiry provide a wonderful opportunity to carry out a brief reflection on the broader field of research on globalization and law. As the discussant and organizer/chair, respectively, of a panel on "Law between Globalization and National Institutions," from which these two articles emerged, we use the following pages to: (1) show how both articles exemplify, in two different ways, what we call the "process turn" in globalization research, (2) identify four theoretical themes these articles speak to, relating them to the broader literature, and (3) draw some lessons for future law and society scholarship in an age of globalization. ¹