The European Court of Justice in Bolagsupplysningen: The Brussels I Recast Regulation's jurisdictional rules for online infringement of personality rights further clarified

In the European Union the Brussels Ibis Regulation governs the jurisdiction of Member State courts in civil and commercial matters. The reference for a preliminary ruling coming from the Estonian Supreme Court in the Bolagsupplysningen case offered the European Court of Justice another opportunity to develop its interpretation of the special ground for non-contractual obligations (article 7.2). The European Court of Justice's Grand Chamber ruled that legal persons, like natural persons, have the option of bringing a claim based on the infringement of personality rights by an online publication before the courts of the Member State where their centre of interests is located. It laid down that the centre of interests of a legal person pursuing an economic activity is determined by reference to the place where the company carries out the main part of its economic activities. The victim of a tortious internet publication can only seek an order for rectification and removal of the incorrect information in the courts that have jurisdiction over the entirety of the harm sustained and not before the courts that only enjoy jurisdiction with regard to the damage suffered in their territory.     

Innovation and growth in traditional agriculture of the lower Volta,Ghana

This article addresses the important question of whether foreign direct investment enhances economic growth and labour productivity in Mexico, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective. After briefly reviewing the Mexican experience with net FDI inflows during the 1990s, the article presents a simple endogenous growth model which explicitly incorporates any positive (negative) externalities generated by additions to the foreign capital stock. Using cointegration analysis, the article estimates a dynamic labour productivity function for the 1960-95 period that includes the impact of the growth rate in the stocks of both private and foreign capital (as opposed to the flows) and the economically active population (EAP) (rather than the rate of population growth). The error correction model (ECM) estimates suggest that increases in both private ad (lagged) foreign investment spending, as well as the rate of growth in exports, have a positive and economically significant effect on the rate of labour productivity growth. In addition, the results show that increases in the EAP have a negative and statistically significant effect on the rate of labour productivity growth, while changes in the government consumption variable have a negative but marginally significant impact. The error correction terms of the estimated models are negative and statistically significant, thus suggesting that deviations of actual labour productivity growth from its long-run value are corrected in subsequent periods. Finally the article generates historical simulations from the estimated ECM's and offers some policy recommendations to enhance the positive externalities associated with FDI inflows.     

Water Privatization in Spain

Abstract

Water management in Spain is submitted to a non‐uniform geographical and seasonal distribution of water resources. The non‐uniform distribution of resources is worsened by the non‐uniform allocation of demand (mainly irrigation and urban). Because that, water supply, aquifers, and wetlands are driven to a high risk. Even though, there are examples of good water management, as is shown for the private industrial productivity of used water. Spain has a very long tradition in public water management (first water law in 1879) at different levels from ministry to municipalities, including users communities. A lot of these organisations are anchored in very old ways of doing, given private sector the opportunity to enter and grow up. A survey about it is presented. In the management of urban water, there are different organisations involved: central administration; autonomic, regional and metropolitan authorities; urban water suppliers and the sanitation authority. The recently approved changes in the former Spanish Water Law, limiting water rights and introducing water market, the new and expected Hydrological National Plan and the European Framework Directive, reinforce the opportunities of the private sector to enter, giving financial resources, technological advances and quick answers to new social concepts in water managerial procedures. We can observe how the Spanish administration uses private water suppliers' front desks to collect taxes and to supply capital to invest in infrastructures and water technology. The question that needs to be addressed is the nature and the impact of the privatisation process in Spain. The unrealistic water urban services price in Spain has been studied and it is presented and evaluated by regions, presenting a deficit to be covered in the future and been a significant gross value of the future business, which invite private sector to participate in. To give a general scope over the evolution of the roll played by the private and public sector, the case of Catalonia, the more evolved autonomous region of Spain in water management, is presented as an example of the future for the rest of the country.     

Contracts obtained by means of bribery: should they be void or valid?

This paper argues that contracts obtained by means of bribery should be valid. Nullity and voidability decrease the incentive for voluntary disclosure, assist corrupt actors with enforcing their bribe agreements and provide leeway for abuse. Thus, they run counter to effective anti-corruption. It is argued that other instruments are more suitable for preventing corruption.

论民办高校的法人性质

我国现行法律既未明确概括民办高校的公法地位,对其私法地位的界定也与学说和制度不洽,致使民办高校的法人性质不明,对民办高校的发展多有不利。本法理论,民办高校应当既是一种民事法律主体,享有法人的经营权;同时也行使一定的教育行政管理职权,具有公法地位。倘若将民办高校的公法地位概括为依法律授权实施教学行政管理的教育机构,将其私法地位界定为社团法人、准公益法人,并特别地将其界定为民办学校法人,则上述问题将能得到相应的解决。     

私权理念与城市私房拆迁的立法

城市房屋拆迁是社会经济发展过程中的一个必然现象,立法应当对这一社会现象有一个回应。树立私权理念是正确解决城市建设与房屋所有权保护之间利益冲突的重要基础。在城市私房拆迁中应当界定社会公共利益且将其作为私房拆迁的直接目的。债权相对性的基本规则在城市私房拆迁中应予遵守。行政管理活动应当为衡平拆迁人与被拆迁人利益及其与社会利益之间的关系提供服务。房屋所有权人对建设项目立项知情权和非社会公益拆迁的异议权是有利于城市建设活动规范进行的制度保障之一。     

政商关系:历史与现实

社会现实告诉我们,公共权力与私有资本都必须受到制约。在人类历史上,政商关系先后经历了前资本主义社会权力神化、资本主义社会权力道德化和社会主义社会权力客观化三个阶段。其中,资本主义社会私有资本第一次真正实现了有效地制约公共权力,将其关进了私有资本的笼子里。而我国现在正处于社会主义初级阶段,应当依靠发展社会主义民主政治来制约公共权力,在此基础上,要用公共权力将私有资本关进科学制度的笼子里。     

论经济法独立地位论之悖谬——以法律部门的划分为视角

虽然“经济法是什么”至今在我国都尚未形成相对一致的共识,但“经济法学”已经逐渐在我国法学学科中成了首屈一指的显学。为了“名副其实”,当前,我国的许多“经济法学者”都在不遗余力地论证强调经济法具有独立地位。然而,在这种事关“经济法”是否存在的前提问题尚未根本解决的情况下,就断言“经济法”具有独立地位,事实上,无疑是本末倒置,空穴来风。     

民间借贷：现状、影响及合法性探讨

近年来我国的民间借贷市场空前活跃，其在市场规模、表现形式、投资方向及借贷利率等方面呈现出新的特点。民间借贷在为中小企业解决融资难题、发挥积极作用的同时，也对借贷企业的健康发展、国家金融秩序及社会稳定造成了一定的负面影响。对民间借贷进行规制应先探讨民间借贷的合法性，这对推进民间借贷的规范化和法制化具有一定的理论和实践意义。