Greece

European Journal of Political Research -     

Iceland

European Journal of Political Research -     

Agenda Power,Executive Decree Authority,and the Mixed Results of Reform in the Brazilian Congress

This article examines how institutional change in the use of extraordinary legislation affects delegation of power and unilateral action in new democracies. From 1988 to 2001, Brazilian presidents were able to reissue decrees indefinitely and thus had substantial legislative power. In 2001, Congress amended the constitution so as to restrict the president to a single reissue of each lapsed decree. This reform has had mixed results: although it ended the practice of infinite reissues, it induced Presidents Cardoso and Lula to use more decrees than previous executives had. Presidential agenda power, rather than being reduced, has been sharpened. By analyzing patterns of presidential initiatives from 1995 to 2005, we demonstrate the mixed results of this constitutional reform.     

Influence of the Code Civil in the Netherlands

The subject of this paper is the influence of the Code Civil in the Netherlands. First, the history of the codification in the Netherlands is examined. Then, attention is paid to the Burgerlijk Wetboek (BW) of 1838, the predecessor of the Dutch civil code of the present day. It is investigated whether this BW is a copy of the Code Civil or a work on its own. Within this framework, the reasons why the Code Civil had an extraordinary influence are shortly mentioned. Finally it is explained how this BW has developed to our BW of 1992. The Code Civil was the model for the BW of 1838. This does not mean that the BW is a copy of the Code. It was not simply a translation. The BW is influenced by the Code Civil, but this does not justify the view that the Netherlands adopted French law. On the contrary: some French rules were removed. Former Dutch law was inserted instead of the French rules or as a supplement to the BW. A large part of the Code is based on joint roots, and the most important common background is Roman law. Those rules cannot be qualified as French law. Besides this there are also typical French provisions, some originated by the French Revolution. With regard to this rules the question is whether these are French rules or universal rights. It can be argued that the BW of 1838 is an improved version of the Code Civil.