Analysing the application of Brussels I in regulating e-commerce jurisdiction in the European Union – Success,deficiencies and proposed changes

This article analyses the regulatory framework of e-commerce jurisdiction in the European Union (EU). Firstly, it discusses and analyses the current regime under the Brussels Regulation, highlighting its success in consumer protection and the deficiencies for e-commerce jurisdiction, which need to be addressed. Secondly, the article compares the EU regime with that of the United States (US). It is argued that the US courts follow uncertain and distinct approaches compared to the clear rules of the Brussels Regulation. Their present approach of minimum contacts analysis as followed in the Yahoo! case poses problems for a transnational EU litigant in similar cases. Thirdly, the article examines the recent proposals adopted by the European Commission to remedy the deficiencies in the Regulation. The most important change proposed is the inclusion of third-state defendants within its ambit. It is argued that the changes to be adopted by the European Parliament are insufficient, and the author therefore provides recommendations. Lastly, the article highlights the inability of the proposed changes to address the deficiencies identified by the discussion.     

United States' and Australian principles on internet jurisdiction: A case for Australia to consider United States' hegemony on jurisdiction

The United States and Australia have been facing the issue of internet jurisdiction. The United States is an epitome of a country that has considered the challenges posed by the internet to the traditional law. It has developed its own tests to help resolve the issue, which have evolved over time and in comparison with other jurisdictions, and it has been successful. Conversely, the Australian legal system is in a stage of infancy regarding such challenges and has developed its own approach. This paper focuses on the anomalies between the United States' and Australian principles or approaches to internet jurisdiction by analysing and discussing the three leading cases that are benchmarks in the respective jurisdictions. Finding the fundamental difference between the two approaches, the paper elucidates the United States hegemony on internet jurisdiction by comparing the shortcomings of the respective cases. Finally, this paper makes a case for the Australian courts to consider an approach based on the one practised by the United States courts to tackle the ever-evolving issue of internet jurisdiction.     

Canal bureaucracy and the corruption nexus around water in the Mumbai hinterland: Questions for development and governance in Maharashtra,India

This is a case study of corruption in an irrigation project in a “tribal” belt of the Mumbai-Konkan region in India. Using Robert Wade’s framework of the corruption nexus in the irrigation department, it critically examines, among other features, the relationship between junior section engineers on the one hand, and senior executive engineers and politicians on the other. The article highlights key features of this nexus in the specific context of tribal Maharashtra, and shows that junior section engineers and bureaucrats in irrigation projects often wield informal power and can frequently block the activities of rent-seeking senior executive engineers and politicians. The article later relates this account of bureaucratic politics to throw light on the social, political and economic dynamics of water management in the context of the intensely competitive inter-sectoral politics of water sharing in the Mumbai-Konkan region.     

Joint production and consumption in traditional households: Fuelwood and crop residues in two districts in Nepal

Forest conversion by agricultural households is the leading cause of deforestation. Yet we know little about agricultural household use of forest and tree products. This article measures household production of and demand for fuelwood and fuel substitutes in two districts in Nepal. Women play a larger role in collection in the district dependant on production from common forestlands. Men and agricultural capital are more important inputs in the district dependant on production from private lands. The article also measures demand elasticities for fuelwood, combustible agricultural residues, and improved stoves (a technological substitute), each by household income group. All price and income demand elasticities are less than one. The substitution elasticities between residues and fuelwood are less than one. Residues are more important substitutes for low income households and improved stoves are more important substitutes for high income households.     

SAYS TUKA

This article discusses and provides examples of the revolutionary poetry of Tukaram (“Tuka”), the seventeenth-century writer who represented the culmination of three centuries of a radical bhakti (devotional) movement that aimed to bring together women and men of low caste to proclaim their equality and reject Brahmanic ritualism and caste hierarchy. The backdrop to this discussion of Tuka's songs is the recent reassessment of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries in India–an era of Muslim rule and linkages to the modern world through Islam– as an “early modern” period of time.     

An analysis of traditional rules applied by Australian courts to establish personal jurisdiction and their application in e-commerce

This article analyses the jurisdictional principles employed by Australian courts in establishing personal jurisdiction in traditional settings and its extension to e-commerce cases. The Australian courts apply the court rules to exercise personal jurisdiction over defendants. The article discusses these rules relating to serving process within and outside Australia and jurisdiction based on the submission of the parties. The adequacies of principles like forum-non-conveniens, forum selection clauses which are vital in the personal jurisdiction inquiry are analysed. The unique High Court decision in Dow Jones v. Gutnick is discussed and the approach followed by the court critically analysed to highlight the excessive exercise of personal jurisdiction. Other cases concerning the internet are also discussed to highlight the approaches followed to establish personal jurisdiction in internet and e-commerce cases. It is argued that the drawbacks highlight the need for legislation to regulate personal jurisdiction in e-commerce cases.     

Linkages and imports: A comparative study of India and Pakistan

This paper takes a critical look at the notion of linkages as guides to sectoral expansion in less developed countries. In particular a distinction is drawn between gross linkages (typically defined on the inverse of the Leontief technology matrix) and net linkages defined on the ‘domestic inverse’. It is argued that for economies which exhibit a persistent dependence on intermediate and capital goods imports, the latter may be the appropriate concept for identifying sources of induced economic development. Using data for India and Pakistan it is shown that the two concepts imply very different ranking of sectors, thus providing an important qualification for using gross linkages as a form of investment criterion.