European Legal Systems Research Articles

Preferential right in the mode of joint partial ownership

The article studies the institute of preferential rights. In the first place, this institution is associated with the purchase of a share in the right of joint partial ownership. The relevance of this study is determined by the processes of Ukraine’s integration into the European and world community and the need to take into account the positive foreign experience of legal regulation of the institute of preferential rights, which is impossible without studying this institute in different legal systems. To bring Ukrainian legislation closer to an international level, the article explores the right of preferential purchase in such developed countries as Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France.The article deals with the institute of preferential rights, starting from Roman law and up to nowadays. In Roman law much emphasis was paid to individual rights and was given more autonomy. There was no requirement to take certain actions in favor of others, for example, they did not have the right to buy preferences. Today, the right of preemptive purchase serves only private interests.Also author of the article considers the right of preferential purchase in European legal systems. This is due to the processes of Ukraine’s integration into the European and world community and the need to take into account the positive foreign experience of legal regulation of the institution of preferential rights, which is impossible without studying this institution in different legal systems. The article examines the historical development of the preferential right in the countries of the Roman-Germanic legal family. A comparative legal analysis of the law of preferential purchases in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and Ukraine is conducted. The article focuses on the legal nature of preferential purchasing rights. In these countries there are certain features of the phenomenon of preferential rights. The difference between the substantive and obligatory design of the right of preferential purchase is considered.Author gives different examples of implementation of the preferential right of joint ownership, in which cases a person has or has no preferential right, can or can not make a purchase, compensate expenses

Incorporation of Standard Contract Terms on Websites

Abstract The draft of the American Law Institute’s Restatement of Consumer Contracts reflects the jurisdiction of the US courts on the ‘adoption’ (as the draft calls it) of standard contract terms into consumer contracts. This draft is of great value to European lawyers in understanding US developments, but it may also stimulate a reflection on the state and possible evolution of European legal systems. It turns out that in the United States, as in Europe, the law on the adoption of standard contract terms is still heavily influenced by cases from the pre-digital and paleo-digital era. This article explains the rules of the Restatement for the adoption of standard contract terms, tests their functionality, in particular using the example of websites, makes some drafting suggestions and puts forward a proposal for the further development of the law on the adoption of standard contract terms of websites. The adoption of standard contract terms governing the use of a website should not require that consumers receive a notice of the standard contract terms prior to entering that website. The requirements for the adoption of standard contract terms should be seen as mainly, if not only, having the purpose of pinpointing the wording of a contract for later reference if necessary.

Right of public ownership of land plots in the Russian Federation: discussion issues

Purpose This paper aims to substantiate the existence of the form of ownership of natural resources (land) in the Russian law, unknown to European legal systems.

The Protection of Human Dignity in Hungarian Media Regulation

Most European legal systems have to face issues connected to the protection of human dignity. It is very difficult to make decisions, in terms of legislation and the application of the law, when the freedom of the press and the protection of human dignity are in conflict. Most European countries protect human dignity in media regulations through the general protection of honor and good reputation and the prohibition of hate speech against communities. However, this is not the only possible way to go. Our question is therefore whether we can assign a meaning to the right to human dignity that is different from the provisions guaranteeing the general protection of privacy. Every time a piece of media legislation expressly names dignity, we must presume that its meaning is different from that of the content of the right to honor and good reputation, which are also named in most cases. In this way we have the chance to examine the aspects of differentiation between this content and the specific provisions. Hungarian media regulations and the jurisprudence enforcing them tries to assign an independent meaning to the protection of human dignity (and human rights in general) in the media ever since 1996. Although the Hungarian media acts passed in 2010 triggered a considerable and Europe-wide debate, the question is not new at all. In most respects it is independent of the new Hungarian regulations. Accordingly, the essay below does not provide a general evaluation or analysis of the Hungarian media regulations. Instead, it focuses on the partial problem specified in this introduction and intends to provide a summary of the Hungarian responses to this question.

CIVIL LIABILITY OF MINORS

Damage caused to another person assumes tort liability, providing that all the conditions specified by the law are met. National law stipulates that children under 7 years of age are not liable for damage they have caused, while minors over 7 years of age, if capable of reasoning, can be held liable for damage compensation. A minor attains general tort liability at the age of 14. Considering the fact that minors can be held liable for damage caused to another, the Serbian Obligations Act (“Law on Contracts and Torts”) makes a justifiable distinction between minors of different age regarding their individual liability. This distinction is not common in other European legal systems. Yet, the author concludes that it would be sensible to postpone the process of establishing tort liability of a minor for a later period, when the minor attains full contractual capacity. The conclusion is based on two main reasons. The first one is the fact that parental right, which last until the said age, implies the parents’ obligation to take care of their underage child. The second reason is the financial situation of the child that prevents him/her from compensating the damage s/he has caused to another person.

The internet renaissance of collective management organisations: reflections on flat fee system and the role of collective management organisations

ABSTRACTWith the increasing influence of modern technologies, collective management stands in front of a significant challenge. An integral part of this process is the necessary change in our society’s psychology, as the disputed shifts in the possibilities of using copyrighted works on the Internet represent a whole new perspective on sharing creativity and collaboration between users and authors. Changes in possibilities of using copyrighted works and in the minds of stakeholders indicate that our current system is not sustainable in the long term. The original motivation to create organisations of collective management – the possibility of more economically advantageous and useful administration of legitimate claims of authors, still exists. Therefore, we must seek a solution that will create a compromise between the anarchist concept of the Internet generation and the rigid approach of copyright. A flat fee could be an easy solution (whether as a part of an Internet connection payment or a ‘copyright tax’). The article discusses positive and negative aspects and provides a critical assessment of feasible options for practical use in the European legal system with regard to the Directive on collective management of copyright (2014/26/EU). In conclusion, the article summarises how collective management organisations are supposed to effectively manage the use of copyrighted works on a flat-fee basis.

Zamena naslednika u savremenim pravima Evrope

Zamena naslednika u savremenim pravima Evrope

Advocaten in Europa: vertegenwoordiging op het hoogste niveau?

Research on the significance of representation indicates that lawyers contribute to positive outcomes of legal procedures not only by their substantive expertise but also by the relational expertise they bring. The latter involves understanding how to navigate the relationships involved in getting work done. In this paper these insights are used to investigate the highly specific and atypical practise of the preliminary reference procedure in the European legal system in order to reveal how lawyers deal with such an unexpected change of (legal) context. The empirical data, collected through semi-structured interviews with twenty-eight lawyers with past experience with the procedure, reveals the significant ways in which lawyers’ positive contribution to such cases is undermined by their lack of both substantive and relational expertise in pleading a case before the European Court of Justice. The fact that such cases do not necessarily fall into the hands of the professionals best equipped to plead such disputes before the Court, and the inability of the less well-off parties in particular to hire further expertise, points in the direction of a disadvantaged position for this group of litigants in having their interest represented effectively at the European level.

Rasgos federales, justicia constitucional y búsqueda de un ‘Common Law’ europeo

El trabajo interpretativo de los tribunales de las cumbres europea y americana –el Tribunal de Justicia de la Unión Europea, por un lado, y el Tribunal Supremo, por otro– parece ser el punto de partida de un análisis que, a partir de algunas de las categorías de federalismo, parte de la geografía jurídica y conduce a la mejora de la identidad constitucional. En primer lugar, se tendrán en cuenta las características «federales» de la arquitectura jurídica europea, así como sus posibles similitudes con el federalismo estadounidense. Para ello, será útil comparar los mecanismos operativos concretos del «federalismo judicial» en ambos sistemas jurídicos. Por último, a través de un marco «federal» preciso de diálogo multinivel entre los Tribunales en el sistema jurídico europeo, se potenciará la posible aparición de una identidad constitucional común, así como de un «common law» continental.Recibido: 30 octubre 2018Aceptado: 21 noviembre 2018Publicación en línea: 27 diciembre 2018

Class Arbitration in Australia: A Bright Future or a Pipe Dream?

Class arbitration has been a hotly debated issue in academic circles since the turn of the century throughout the world. Much literature has recognized that class arbitration could be an effective means of resolving the ever-increasing number of mass claims with cross-border implication. However, the cross-border advantage of class arbitration is dependent on the legal community’s ability to craft a procedure that is acceptable across a diverse tapestry of legal systems around the world. In continental European legal systems there appears to be a jurisprudential battle underway with some supporting class arbitration, and many fundamentally objecting to it (some authors have even argued that class arbitration would be unconstitutional). These objections have not halted the development of alternative collective redress regimes in EU Member States, (albeit they are disparate and often incomplete) demonstrating an underlying appetite for collective redress. Australia has had a wealth of experience with judicial class actions, whilst there is little literature considering the possibility of class arbitration. This paper: (1) considers whether class arbitration would even be possible under Australian law, and (2) proposes a ‘less is more’ class arbitration regime that would be harmonious on an international level.

Constitutional Structure of Indonesia Based on 1945 Constitution before and after Amendments

Article 1 (3) of the 1945 Constitution states that "Indonesia is a country of law." The provision of the article is a constitutional basis that Indonesia is a state based on law. Law is placed as the only rule in the life of society, nation, and state (supremacy of law). Before the amendment of the 1945 Constitution, Indonesia is a country based on law, contained in the preamble, the 1945 Constitution body. A statement that Indonesia is a country of law can also be seen in the 1945 explanation. Applicability of 1945 before and after the amendment is followed by different constitutional structure, which will give different meaning as a based on law state. In Continental European legal systems, rechtsstaat legal state building is known. Meanwhile, other parts of the world, the concept of the rule of law state extracted from Anglo Saxon states. Both laws state models prioritize different aspects. Rechtsstaat concept prioritizes wetmatigheid principles which later becomes rechtmatigheid. Meanwhile, the rule of law prioritizes equality before the law. Due to differences in emphasis in these operations, there arose the different elements between rechtsstaat concept and the rule of law concept.

Development of the national legal system in the context of sivil society

Представлена стаття присвячена сучасному етапу розвитку національної правової системи в контексті її здатності до виконання певних завдань, відтворення необхідних у даних просторово-часових вимірах функцій, забезпечення необхідних вимог ефективного правового регулювання. Зрозуміло, що демократична правова система повинна дієво захищати права і свободи людини, відтворювати і впроваджувати принцип верховенства права, забезпечувати «якість» правового закону в національному законодавстві. Саме правова система повинна реалізувати положення про те, що людина є найвищою соціальною цінністю. Якість європейської правової системи полягає у захисті загальнолюдських цінностей, культурних надбань, взагалі і, зокрема, правокультурних. Так, слід зазначити, що в умовах демократичної, правової держави відносини «особа-держава» зазнають суттєвих змін. Ці відносини не мають на меті забезпечити для однієї частини суспільства більший ступінь свободи, ніж для іншої; в цьому випадку необхідно вести мову про державну владу, що забезпечує умови свободи для всіх членів суспільства, всіх громадян держави. Свобода народу забезпечена лише тоді, коли народ дійсно організує без будь-якого втручання союзи, збори, видає закони, обирає за власним волевиявленням всіх посадових осіб держави, яким доручається проведення в життя законів і демократичне управління на основі цих законів. Як відомо, повновладдя народу складається в умовах демократичної, правової системи, яка в свою чергу, нормалізує функціонування органів держави, що забезпечують права і свободи людей, зокрема, їх європейський вектор розвитку. Крім того, великого значення набувають сьогодні завдання по оптимізації правової системи, а отже - коригування її функцій. Зокрема: основне завдання правової системи — створювати чітко визначену, нормативну, стабільну основу для всього комп­лексу суспільних відносин, у тому числі і для їх динаміки. В умовах демократичної, соціальної, правової держави, яка визначила свій європейський вибір, реалізується сфера правового регулювання, сукупність сус­пільних відносин, яку можливо і необхідно упорядковувати за допомогою права і правових засобів. Основним напрямом правового регулювання в цих умовах є: а) закріплення і охорона нових суспільних відносин; б) забезпечення сприят­ливих умов і засобів існування індивідів; в) реалізація і право­вий захист життєво важливих потреб, інтересів людей і соціальних спільностей; г) заборона певних суспільних відно­син і поведінки (заснування комерційних банків посадови­ми особами, працівниками правоохоронних органів, їх родичами (активізація діяльності НАБУ, НАЗК, створення Вищого антикорупційного суду); д) стимулювання розвитку певних суспільних відносин тощо

JURISPRUDENCE POSITION IN THE COMMON AND CIVIL LAWS

The development of jurisprudence continues to grow in accordance with the existing laws in the society which it is not the same as the law in legal development. It is not related to the rigid nature of the law which only regulates the general nature and the process of its formation takes a long time. In practice, the development of jurisprudence, as one of the sources of formal law, can be distinguished into two legal systems affecting the legal world. They are namely the Continental European legal system with its Civil Law System which prioritizes "codification" in the field of law and the Anglo Saxon law with its Common Law System, which is famous for the "Precedent" system binding the judges to follow the previous judgment in deciding the same case.

INTERACTIONS BETWEEN LEGAL SYSTEMS IN THE JUDICIAL PROCESS OF KENDENG CASE (A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ACCESS TO JUSTICE)

The Indonesian state has the characteristic of legal system plurality in a national legal system, it is interesting to be observed from law making, licencing, law implementation, to judiciary process. State organizers in the context of government (executive power) as the licensors of business activities and the judiciary (judicial power) State Administration, as absolute competence over the objects of environmental administration disputes require optical and comprehensive holistic understanding, amidst the very diverse conditions of the legal system (legal pluralism) and a pluralistic society to be bound in a single national legal system (unification). The problem formulation in this paper is: (1) How is the interaction of continental European legal system and customary law system on kendeng case in the tiered judicial process? And (2) how does the interaction affect the legal system on the judge's mindset over environmental permit disputes objects? In relation to executive power as a licensor, the involvement of the public in the process of publishing environmental documents becomes a very important matter. Kendeng Community of Rembang Regency Central Java Province is fighting for its rights and various access to justice, finally choosing the judicial route as the main tool against the state, namely the State Administrative Court (PTUN) Semarang, High Administrative Court (PT TUN) Surabaya, Until the most recent legal remedy in the judicial system in Indonesia, namely the Review Supreme of Court. In this paper, it shows the interaction between the legal system, the continental European legal system and the customary law system in the process of tiered justice as an access to justice for the kendeng mountain community.

The Rise of Fiduciary Law

The law that defines and regulates fiduciary relationships appears in many legal areas, such as family law, surrogate decision-making, international law, agency law, employment law, pension law, remedies rules, banking law, financial institutions' regulation, corporate law, charities law not for profit organizations law, and the law concerning medical services. Fiduciary relationships, and the concepts on which they are grounded, appear not only in the law. They appear in other areas of knowledge: economics, psychology; moral norms and pluralism. Fiduciary law has a very long history. It was recognized in Roman law and the British common law and appeared decades ago in religious laws, such as Jewish law, Christian law, and Islamic law. Internationally, fiduciary law has a place in European legal system in Chinese law, Japanese law and Indian law. This article offers an explanation to the evolution and expansion of fiduciary principles and a prediction of their future. Part One opens with a short description of fiduciary relationships, and the conditions under which they arise. Part Two describes the evolution of specialization of living being–from genetic to chosen cooperative specialization. Part Three notes the positive and negative social impact of fiduciary relations and the response of the law designed to encourage the relationships while discouraging the abuse they might lead to. Part four of the article highlights the criticism of fiduciary law and alternative solutions to the issues raised by fiduciary relationships. Part Five offers a prediction about the future of fiduciary law.

PERBANDINGAN SISTEM HUKUM COMMON LAW, CIVIL LAW DAN ISLAMIC LAW DALAM PERSPEKTIF SEJARAH DAN KARAKTERISTIK BERPIKIR

The legal system or commonly referred to as the legal tradition, has a wealth of scientific treasures that can be examined in more depth through a holistic and comprehensive comparative process. Exactly, the comparison of the legal system must accommodate at least three legal systems that are widely used by countries in the world today. The three legal systems are the Continental European legal system, Anglo American and Islamic Law. The comparative study of the three types of legal systems found that the history of the Continental European legal system is divided into 6 phases, while Anglo American legal history began in the feudalistic era of England until it developed into America and continues to be studied until now. Meanwhile, the history of Islamic law is divided into 5 phases, starting from the Phase of the Prophet Muhammad to the Resurrection Phase (19th century until nowadays). In addition to history, the authors find that the Continental European legal system has the characteristic of anti-formalism thinking, while the Anglo American legal thinking characteristic tends to be formalism and is based on a relatively primitive mindset. While the thinking character of Islamic Law is much influenced by the thought of the fuqoha (fiqh experts) in determining the law to solve a problem, so relatively dynamic and moderate.

Children’s Liability in Negligence

AbstractThis article enquires as to the principles that should govern children’s liability in the tort of negligence in England and Wales and its functional equivalents in other European legal systems. Infants are currently exempted from liability in negligence in virtually every European jurisdiction. In most of them, this result is achieved by making basic moral responsibility a requirement for liability under this tort, while in others it is brought about by tailoring to the defendant’s age the standard against which her conduct is measured. I argue that, whereas neither of these approaches is entirely consistent with the internal logic of the tort of negligence, their common practical outcome is grounded in the combined force of two main policy reasons: children’s general impecuniosity and their inherent inability rationally to manage their own affairs. It is my contention that these reasons can be honoured, while at the same time preserving doctrinal and theoretical integrity, by recognising a (defeasible) infancy defence to liability in negligence.

Indefeasible Family Rights: A Comparative View on the Restrictions of Testamentary Freedom

Testamentary freedom and family protection in succession law are often described as contradictory principles. Nonetheless, in most European legal systems both principles coexist. This article focuses on three conceptions of this coexistence: legal rights in Scotland, compulsory portion in Germany and family provision in England. All three systems must accommodate changing values of family life in modern society. Most recently, the timeliness of traditional solutions has been a controversial topic of the debate leading to the Succession (Scotland) Act 2016, and it continues to be an issue of debate, because regarding legal rights no final solution has been found. A comparative analysis can demonstrate the interconnectedness between social values and legal concepts, and it can further identify potential for legal innovation. Family rights, especially in Germany, have been contextualised with a historic notion of family property. In the present law of all three countries the contextual emphasis shifts towards familial solidarity and a moral duty to provide for family members. On a concrete level, there is a discernible connection between matrimonial property relationships and spousal rights to the estate in Germany and England, which in Scotland is no longer present. Further, the English system can also accommodate cohabitants as potential claimants. Scots law has at least in the case of intestacy incorporated a similar provision, while German law thus far does not provide any legal concept for cohabitation.

Migrant integration and freedom of religion: modern problems

The article explores theoretical and practical problems of socio-cultural integration of the Muslim migrants in the Western European countries. The study is focused on the reflection regarding the challenges that the European legal system is facing in new religious realities brought by migrant communities in the post-Christian cultural context.Based on the analysis of the data of sociological studies conducted in Europe, a number of factors determining the attitudes of the population of the receiving countries towards migrants are singled out. The author pays a special attention to social and legal aspects of migration processes. The reflection of the migration in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights marks certain changes in acceptable limits of restrictions on the right to freedom of thought, belief and religion.The study refutes criticism on the position of the European Court of Human Rights considered as discriminatory and assimilatory. The author proves that the religious right can be restricted to help ensure socio-cultural integration of the Muslim migrants.

Internet, Freedom of Speech and Slippery Slope Argument The Case of the Right to Be Forgottenn

Eugene Volokh, a renowned advocate of protection of free speech close to absolute, admits that: “In some instances, it may be quite unlikely that certain speech would be useful to the listeners either for political purposes or for daily life purposes; this largely has to do with information that shows people in ridiculous, embarrassing, or demeaning contexts without revealing any useful new information about them”. However, the danger of enlarging the category of such “useless” and hence unprotected speech is so great that “[t]his risk may be enough to abandon the test altogether”. Although claiming to make an effort to avoid the slippery slope argument of the sort today this speech restriction, tomorrow the Inquisition in his paper, Volokh does exactly that. Slippery slope arguments are however slippery themselves: if any limits of freedom of speech are simply too dangerous to be accepted, why not call for tearing down the copyrights, or law prohibiting deceptive commercial speech? What is more, in societies where dignity and privacy are fundamental rights protected on the equal standing with freedom of speech, the danger of a ‘freedom of speech slippery slope’ can be contrasted with the danger of a ‘privacy or dignity slippery slope’. Given that both of these arguments have equally persuasive logic behind them, what is absolutely necessary for one of them to prevail is to put forward some kind of convincing reason for the probability of slippage in one direction or another. In my paper I would like to demonstrate the double sided nature of slippery slope arguments taking as an example the case of internet speech. My claim is that the advocates for unlimited protection of speech on the internet, through ‘where do you draw the line?’ argument, develop a rather one-sided vision of potential consequences of limiting online speech. In order to fully grasp these consequences one should also consider what is lost if no such limits are drawn: especially so in terms of other values promoted by the European legal system, like privacy or dignity. What is thus worth considering is where the free speech line is drawn by law and how the courts redraw it in the view of development of internet communication: is there any convincing reason why internet makes arriving at the bottom of one or another slope more likely? The case study for these questions will be the so called right to be forgotten: the measure for protection of online privacy of the EU citizens recently introduced in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).