Verba and Voluntas – Conflict of Laws in Interpretation of Contracts

This paper aims to describe an existing legal practice of contractual interpretation in Estonian legal order. In order to investigate the semiotic essence of contractual interpretation and its limits, this paper narrows its focus on a notion “conflict of laws” (as developed by Roberta Kevelson). By conflict of law is meant a depiction of incompatibility or conflict of co-existing legal practices, the conflict, which is both internal and external to Estonian legal system. From the inner perspective of Estonian legal order, the conflict of law is subsequently reduced to the conflict in law, and being analyzed on the grounds of contract law, the conflict of legal rules, in fact becomes a issue of contractual interpretation. It is claimed in this paper that there has been a fundamental incompatibility between objective and subjective approaches to interpretation of contracts. As later as 19th century, with the development of systematic legal science, an apparent confusion of objective and subjective approaches was becoming transformed into an open and growing system of law, based on a fusion of both methods. This paper lays theoretical grounds for a practical test, which could measure the exact level of legal integrity between different elements of legal system.     

Application of private international law conventions in hong kong of china

The conflict of laws of Hong Kong has predominately preserved traditional common law rules of pre-England conflict of laws. It is considered as the legal basis of the harmonization of law conflicts between different legal units, which mainly include three parts: jurisdiction, choice of law, judicial assistance in civil and commercial matters. As far as the legal source of the conflict of laws of Hong Kong is concerned, convention is an important part of international law sources. Currently, there are ten special conventions related to private international law, one of which is the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards, and the other nine are the conventions consulted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (“HCCH”), including the Statute of the Hague Conference. Also, there exist non-special conventions relating to private international law, which play an important role in Hong Kong. These conventions have brought tremendous benefits to Hong Kong. More attention needs to be paid to the conventions of private international law to assist Hong Kong in cooperation with other more jurisdictions.     

Victim and Society: Sharing Wrongs, but in Which Roles?

This paper discusses what kinds of conflicts arise when a crime has been committed, and with whom—and in which of their possible roles—the offender should be seen as having such conflicts. The possible roles of the victim are in focus, as is the constitutive role of the act of criminalizing a certain kind of behavior. It is argued that while in the tort conflict the victim should be seen as a party qua him- or herself in a ‘fuller’ sense (and with full freedom on how to handle the conflict, including dropping it), in the criminal law conflict it is community, the ‘we’, that should be looked upon as the party to the conflict with the offender. The victim should not be seen as excluded from the criminal law conflict, though: to the contrary, he or she is a member of community and has an important role to play. This role, however, needs to be strictly defined in a way that gives the victim the function of a certain kind of representative for ‘us’, the community. This role should not allow the victim much room to influence how the criminal law conflict is handled. The model I am suggesting presupposes—I think, at least—that criminal law conflict and tort conflict should be handled together at the same trial.     

社会法的几个基本理论问题研究

社会法是人类文明发展的必然产物,在化解社会冲突、解决社会矛盾的过程中孕育和发展起来。它是与公、私法相并列的法律领域,日益显示出在促进实质公平和正义、平衡平等与效率、保护弱势群体利益等方面的作用和价值。在和谐社会的构建过程中,社会法正在并将继续发挥较之于公、私法更大的优势和后劲。社会法与社会主义在本质上是根本一致的,是后者的题中应有之义,我们应该主动而非被动地关注和发展社会法。     

The trust in Spanish and Italian private international law: Part I

Civil Law jurisdictions' recognition of trusts depends on theindividual conflict of law rules of each jurisdiction. The HagueConvention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Trusts intendsto bring a degree of certainty into how a foreign trust is received.However, the matter is complicated, in particular, as to thestatus granted in each jurisdiction to the convention. Thisarticle, based on a paper presented at the convention on CatalanCivil Law, ‘Los patrimonios fiduciarios y el trust’,held in Tarragona on 20 and 21 October 2005, examines the positionof trusts under the conflict of law rules in Italy and in Spainand the impact made on the recognition of trusts by the HagueConvention. This article appears in two parts; in this firstpart the position in Italy is examined and the second part concludeswith the position in Spain.     

Families in Circle Process: Restorative Justice in Family Law

This article explores the use of “circle process”—a form of restorative justice—in family law and places this effort within a larger movement within the law toward law as a healing profession, or the “comprehensive law movement.” It explores the features and underpinnings of circle process and its relationship to original forms of dispute resolution such as those used in African‐style mediation and indigenous people's dispute resolution in North America. Values expressed by these forms of dispute resolution are argued to be particularly relevant in family law. Finally, it focuses on an innovative and exciting court‐sponsored program begun in Chicago in 2008, using circle process with families in conflict, in the Cook County Parentage and Child Support Court. This program's results suggest potential benefits and cautions of using circle process in family law.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• Restorative justice, in particular, circle process, can be used to resolve family law cases.
• Circle process widens the group of participants in alternative dispute resolution of family law matters.
• Circle process brings more voices to the table, namely, extended family, friends, and supporters, thus enhancing the group's decisionmaking.
• Judges will want to be sure the families in question are appropriate for circle process before referring them to this method of resolving disputes.
• Circle processes can result in improved communication and relations among families in conflict.
• Circle process reflects the values of “original dispute resolution,” which often in turn reflects ubuntu, the idea that all humankind is interconnected.
• Circle process is part of a greater movement towards law as a healing profession/the comprehensive law movement, which includes therapeutic jurisprudence.

     

Comments on Illegal War and Illegal Conduct: Are the Two Related?

This article examines whether there is a link between the legality or otherwise of an armed conflict under jus ad bellum and the subsequent conduct of the campaign under jus in bello. This is done by comparing two conflicts where the legality was not in serious dispute, the Falklands/Malvinas conflict and the Iraq War 1990–1991, and three where the legality has been questioned, Kosovo 1999, the ‘global war on terror’ and the Iraq War 2003. In looking for a common link, the author is drawn away from concerns over the jus ad bellum to doubts over the content of the relevant law governing the conduct of hostilities. Uncertainties in the law have occurred both from the extension to non-international armed conflict of ‘Hague law’, traditionally applicable only in international armed conflicts, and the overlap between human rights law and the law of armed conflict. The author concludes that there is a danger that the balance between military necessity and humanity may be disturbed so that the law will become impracticable in the cauldron of conflict to the detriment of all, soldier and civilian alike.

     

Diversion Under Malaysian Juvenile Justice System: a Case of Too Little Too Late?

The concept and practice of diversion are not a novel phenomenon. For many years, diversion from formal adjudication by court has been widely adopted as an important feature of various juvenile justice systems across the countries. There are different forms of diversion programmes which have been designed and implemented with the aim to divert children from direct contact with formal criminal process. Various researches on diversion programmes have disclosed positive impacts on their effectiveness in handling children in conflict with the law. This article focuses on criminal process under current Malaysian juvenile justice, in which the concept of diversion is still a strange subject. It highlights issues under current juvenile criminal justice and examines the possibility of integrating diversion programmes as alternative measures to deal with children in conflict with the law. Introduction of diversion programmes as part of the current system is seemed as potential alternative measures to improve the effectiveness of the current Malaysian juvenile justice system.     

论宪法与区际法律冲突

本文通过分析宪法中的立法管辖权规范及其与区际法律冲突的关系 ,探讨了宪法与区际法律冲突之间的关系。此外 ,本文还着重讨论了中国的宪法 ,尤其是两部基本法 ,对区际法律冲突问题的影响。本文的结论强调 ,宪法在一定程度上决定了复合法域国家区际法律冲突的产生、范围及其解决途径。     

Reconfiguring the Politics–Law Relationship in the Integration Project through Conflicts–Law Constitutionalism

This paper argues that the relationship between law and politics must be reconfigured within the European Union. Dissecting recent crises in economic, social and political organisation within Europe with reference to the three ‘fictitious’ commodities of Karl Polanyi, we find that law in Europe has contributed to de‐legalisation, de‐socialisation and disenfranchisement. Moving on to review the potential for law to respond to crisis through new paradigms of conflict resolution as suggested by Ralf Dahrendorf, we find that the steering capacity of law is nevertheless limited if it fails to establish a sustaining relationship with politics. Our conclusions are modest: conflict–law constitutionalism cannot solve Europe's many crises. However, it does represent a new paradigm of law within which relations between European law and European politics might be re‐established—a vital step to overcoming crisis.     

Transforming Breach of Confidence? Towards a Common Law Right of Privacy under the Human Rights Act

This article examines the development of a remedy for unauthorised publication of personal information that has resulted from the fusion of breach of confidence with the limited 'horizontal' application of Article 8 of the ECHR via the Human Rights Act. Its analysis of Strasbourg and domestic post-HRA case law reveals the extent to which confidence has in some areas been radically transformed into a privacy right in all but name; however it also seeks to expose the analytical and normative tensions that arise in the judgments between the values of confidentiality and privacy as overlapping but not coterminous concepts, due in part to the failure to resolve decisively the horizontal effect conundrum. This judicial ambivalence towards the reception of privacy as a legal right into English law may, it will argue, also be seen in the prevailing judicial approach to the resolution of the conflict between privacy and expression interests which, it will suggest, is both normatively and structurally inadequate.     

法院地国家国内法中的冲突规则与国际条约的关系

法院地国家国内法中的冲突规则和已对该国生效的国际条约中的冲突规则同属该国国际私法的渊源。多数国家的国际私法制定法均有优先适用国际条约中的冲突规则的规定,但其国际私法分则对国际条约中的冲突规则的处理方式则主要有三种不同的立法模式。在裁判涉外民事案件的实践中,实体法解决办法有别于冲突法解决办法,仅在案件不符合国际统一实体私法条约的适用条件的情形下,才能依法院地国家国内法的冲突规则确定准据法。涉外合同的双方当事人选择已对法院地国家和其他缔约国生效的国际条约并不等于选择了合同准据法。而如果涉外合同的双方当事人选择了尚未对法院地国家生效、但已对两个或两个以上其他国家生效的国际条约,则只能视为对无法律约束力的“非国家规则” 的选择。由于“程序问题适用法院地法”,涉外民事案件的程序事项既不适用冲突规则,也不适用实体私法规则。法院地国家国内法的冲突规则不会同国际条约中的国际民事程序法规则发生抵触。     

Rule of law v. rule of man: The search for the golden zigzag between conflicting fundamental values

Although most theorists from Aristotle to K. Culp Davis have recognized the need for law and discretion in any government, there has been very little analysis of the values protected by rule of law or the values preserved by rule of man (discretion). Nor has there been a systematic analysis of the relationship between these values. This article suggests that the law/discretion conflict is an essential and potentially productive conflict because both law and discretion protect fundamental, but limited, values which are essential for achievement of justice. Therefore, it is of the essence to understand the values underlying both law and discretion.     

冲突法的范式进化论

冲突法迄今为止的发展是由主体性、主体间性和社会性三种范式的进化演变构成的。三种范式的根本区分在于其致思路径的差异。主体性范式立足于冲突主体的身份、法则及其利益来直观和直接地解决法律冲突;主体间性范式发展出“间性”思维以变革主体性范式的“极化”思维,要求从主体间的关系或者主体间的协调立场出发构思法律冲突消解方案;社会性范式以境域化的现象学思潮为背景支撑,构建出社会责任、公益责任和私益责任三位一体的冲突法新使命。社会性范式远非冲突法的终点,它自身再次暴露的范式危机表明冲突法的征程乃是一条永不休止的进化之旅。     

Law Enforcement Officers in Schools: An Analysis of Ethical Issues

The use of law enforcement officers in American schools has rapidly expanded since its inception in the 1950s. This growth can in part be attributed to the Safe Schools Act of 1994, the establishment of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office, and tragic events that have occurred in our nation's schools. Law enforcement officers in the school environment traditionally have primary roles of protection and enforcement, although many have ancillary roles of educating and mentoring students. However, the use of police in schools has also been associated with the formalization of student discipline and the criminalization of minor misconduct. Specifically, an increase in the number of officers in schools has mirrored an increase in the number of arrests and citations for relatively minor offenses. We argue that officers' socialization and training create role conflict in that the duty to enforce the law competes with other duties to mentor and nurture students. We present several hypothetical dilemmas and then illustrate how the “right thing to do” is determined by the perceived duties of the school safety officer. We conclude by presenting some modest suggestions on how to address the potential role conflict experienced by law enforcement officers working in schools.     

国际私法中法律规避问题的再思考

法律规避行为,应指涉外民商事法律关系的当事人利用某一冲突规范,故意改变构成冲突规范连结点的事实因素,以避开本应适用的强制性法律规范,从而使另一种对其有利的法律得以适用的行为.在构成要件上,它实质上是在一个动机的驱使下两个行为的结合.并且法律规避行为不属于法律行为的范畴,其法律效力也无从谈起.目前的禁止法律规避制度由于其自身不可改良的缺陷使它无法稳定而趋向消亡.在取消禁止法律规避制度后,依托公共秩序保留制度即可使一国的法律系统维持自身的稳定.     

论立法法对行政法规范冲突的控制及其完善

行政法规范的冲突是困扰行政法治的一大问题 ,《立法法》的颁布施行对于控制行政法规范的冲突具有划时代的意义。然而 ,该法作为一个单一的法典在控制行政法规范冲突方面并不是万能的 ,这既是行政法结构的特殊性决定的 ,又是由《立法法》需要进一步完善的客观事实决定的。为了有效控制行政法规范的冲突 ,全面实现行政法治 ,就必须建立以《立法法》为契机的行政法规范冲突控制机制 ,该机制的基本构成有 :抽象行政行为制度化规则、行政法规范解释制度化规则、行政法适用规范化规则和冲突制裁规则等。     

我国刑事司法中法律评价与道德评价的冲突论

本文从刑事法律与道德的一般关系出发,阐述了刑事司法中法律评价与道德评价的关系,认为道德评价对司法人员的法律评价存在着一定的影响;文章分析了刑事司法中的法律评价与道德评价冲突的原因和方式,认为刑事法律评价与道德评价的冲突实质上是法律文化与道德文化的冲突,这种冲突在我国司法实践中有三种不同的表现方式;文章同时分析了司法实践中对于刑事法律评价与道德评价冲突的二种不同的协调方式及其利弊。     

Informal Politics, Formalised Law and the 'Social Deficit' of European Integration: Reflections after the Judgments of the ECJ in Viking and Laval

The judgments of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) of December 2008 in Viking and Laval on the compatibility of national collective labour law with European prerogatives have caused quite a heated critical debate. This article seeks to put this debate in constitutional perspectives. In its first part, it reconstructs in legal categories what Fritz W. Scharpf has characterised as a decoupling of economic integration from the various welfare traditions of the Member States. European constitutionalism, it is submitted, is bound to respond to this problématique. The second part develops a perspective within which such a response can be found. That perspective is a supranational European conflict of laws which seeks to realise what the draft Constitutional Treaty had called the 'motto of the union': unitas in pluralitate. Within that framework, the third part analyses two seemingly contradictory trends, namely, first, albeit very briefly, the turn to 'soft' modes of governance in the realm of social policy and then, in much greater detail, the ECJ's 'hard' interpretations of the supremacy of European freedoms and its strict interpretation of pertinent secondary legislation. The conflict-of-laws approach would suggest a greater respect for national autonomy, in particular, in view of the limited EU competences in the field of labour law.