Interpretation Of Clause Research Articles

Seeing events vs. entities: The processing advantage of Pseudo Relatives over Relative Clauses

Abstract We present the results of three offline questionnaires (one attachment preference study and two acceptability judgments) and two eye-tracking studies in French and English, investigating the resolution of the ambiguity between pseudo relative and relative clause interpretations. This structural and interpretive ambiguity has recently been shown to play a central role in the explanation of apparent cross-linguistic asymmetries in relative clause attachment (Grillo and Costa, 2014; Grillo et al., 2015). This literature has argued that pseudo relatives are preferred to relative clauses because of their structural and interpretive simplicity. This paper adds to this growing body of literature in two ways. First we show that, in contrast to previous findings, French speakers prefer to attach relative clauses to the most local antecedent once pseudo relative availability is controlled for. We then provide direct support for the pseudo relative preference: grammatically forced disambiguation to a relative clause interpretation leads to degraded acceptability and greater processing cost in a pseudo relative environment than maintaining compatibility with a pseudo relative.

Procedural Developments at the International Court of Justice

Abstract The present column covers procedural developments at the International Court of Justice for the period spanning from 1 April 2017 to 31 January 2019. Those comprise the interpretation of compromissory clauses; res judicata; admissibility challenges based on abuse of rights and abuse of process; conditions for the indication of provisional measures, in particular the requirement that the rights asserted be plausible; and the admissibility of counter-claims.

International Commercial Arbitration in Australia: Judicial Control over Arbitral Awards

Geographical remoteness has not prevented Australia from pursuing its ambition to become a major hub for international commercial arbitration (ICA). While regional competitors in the Asia-Pacific region such as Singapore and Hong Kong have already achieved great success in the arbitration world, Australia’s ‘Tyranny of Distance’ requires extra efforts to attract ICA cases. Recent marketing from the Australian government emphasises (1) a harmonised legal framework for ICA in line with international standards; (2) sophisticated arbitration institutions; and (3) some of the world’s leading arbitration practitioners. While these factors do reveal strong potential to attract ICA cases, to ensure that this goes beyond a mere possibility, the Australian government and judiciary are making quite concerted broader efforts. The former has recently become more vigorous in marketing Australia-based ICA in and out of the country. The latter has generally tried to issue pro-arbitration judgments particularly over the last ten years, and in public speeches or publications leading judges have been actively summarising and promoting Australian developments both domestically and world-wide. However the court system has structural problems, due to the shared ICA jurisdiction of State and Territory Courts alongside the Federal Courts, compared to the unitary system in Hong Kong and Singapore. There are also persistent delays in court-related ICA matters under the IAA, even in the Federal Court of Australia. Nonetheless, perfection is never attainable. The rest of this paper argues that Australia has significantly improved legal environment for ICA in line with international standards, focusing on the main topics identified for a wider cross-jurisdictional research project: (1) arbitrator bias; (2) conflicts of interests; (3) procedural irregularities and arbitrator’s misconduct during proceedings; (4) arbitrability (objective arbitrability) (5) judicial interpretation of arbitration clauses (subjective arbitrability); and (6) enforceability of arbitral awards.

Variation in Tense and Aspect, and the Temporal Interpretation of Complement Clauses

AbstractIn this paper, we investigate the temporal interpretation of propositional attitude complement clauses in four typologically unrelated languages: Washo (language isolate), Medumba (Niger-Congo), Hausa (Afro-Asiatic), and Samoan (Austronesian). Of these languages, Washo and Medumba are optional-tense languages, while Hausa and Samoan are tenseless. Just like in obligatory-tense languages, we observe variation among these languages when it comes to the availability of so-called simultaneous and backward-shifted readings of complement clauses. For our optional-tense languages, we argue that a Sequence of Tense parameter is active in these languages, just as in obligatory-tense languages. However, for completely tenseless clauses, we need something more. We argue that there is variation in the degree to which languages make recourse to res-movement, or a similar mechanism that manipulates LF structures to derive backward-shifted readings in tenseless complement clauses. We additionally appeal to cross-linguistic variation in the lexical semantics of perfective aspect to derive or block certain readings. The result is that the typological classification of a language as tensed, optionally tensed, or tenseless, does not alone determine the temporal interpretation possibilities for complement clauses. Rather, structural parameters of variation cross-cut these broad classes of languages to deliver the observed cross-linguistic picture.

Convencionalidad y constitucionalidad. Los casos de México y España

The presence of international conventions on human rights raises the issue concerning their eventual incompatibility with domestic law. The Mexican case is an example of so called “control of conventionality,” which may result in decisions not to apply domestic norms when their content is in inevitable contradiction with convention mandates, as interpreted in international case law. In contrast, Spanish legal order establishes that internal norms must be in agreement with an interpretation of constitutional clauses that must derive from international convention mandates on human rights. This may eventually lead to a declaration of inconstitutionality of internal legal norms. Thus, in Spain what may be termed “control of constitutionality” replaces “control of conventionality”.

Briefing: Payment provisions of NEC3 Professional Services Contract

A general confusion exists as to the correct interpretation of payment clauses structured in a manner similar to those in the NEC3 Professional Services Contract (PSC). This has led to a number of ‘smash-and-grab’ claims being successful and bringing the contracts and their dispute-resolution provisions into disrepute. This briefing analyses the payment provisions of the NEC3 PSC and demonstrates that a correct interpretation of these payment provisions eliminates the possibility of their abuse. This analysis is corroborated by the judgement of the Hon. Justice Coulson in the matter between Grove Developments Ltd and S&T (UK) Ltd, which deals with the Joint Contracts Tribunal Design and Build Contract 2011.

Pedagogical grammar as the frameworkof tefl research.part 7. native language syntax acquisition: conceptual complexity

The paper presents the results of the experimental data analysis in the said sphere. Basing upon a high degree of the data similarity, the author makes a conclusion that the native language (English) syntax acquisition is a rule-governed process with its specific stages. Taking into account the said data, the author also offers some assumptions concerning the content of stages in the process of tag questions, negation, passive constructions and relative clauses acquisition in English as a native language, as well as regarding the conditions of fully inverted tag questions emergence in the child’s speech and the potential catalysts of this process. The paper analyses the influence of the minimal proximity principle on the correct interpretation of relative clauses and those containing passive constructions by the young children of different age groups. The author offers an assumption concerning the gradual character of the acquisition of conceptually complicated syntactic categories, in particular, about the dissimilar transfer speed of the passive construction use rule to the verbs indicating actions, on the one hand, and states – on the other. The paper lists the factors affecting the sequence and speed of the syntactic means acquisition, which include the semantic and grammatical complexity, frequency of use and perceptual salience. The author generalizes the stages of syntax acquisition, which include the acquirement of the sentence structure elements linear sequence (where the notions of ‘precedence’ and ‘succession’ are acquired); the acquisition of the rules, which do not take into account the sentence structure; the primary consolidation of sentence elements in terms of their surface features; the identification of sentence components on the basis of the minimum proximity principle; the formulation of the rule, which takes into account the sentence structure and its expansion to a small class of words; the gradual expansion of the latter rule to the entire class of words. The paper outlines the prospects of further research concerning the development of pedagogical grammar, taking into account the abovementioned conclusions.

Techno Legal Aspect of FIDIC Contract

Man has been having commercial freedom of entering into contract, ever since the beginning of Barter system. It was exchange of goods and/or services by people for their convenience. Over a period, it became necessary that the habitat had to grow and require many more persons to be engaged for construction activities. This required a system which was commercially viable for exchange of promises. This resulted into evolving a draft contract as document of legal enforceability. Different groups proposed different drafts and therefore various types of disputes arose with respect to legal interpretation of different clauses. Different countries and different organisations came out with different drafts of contracts. This exercise got regionalized and therefore it did not have international commercialization of contracts. Over a period, many countries thought to have a standard form of contract and this required for an internationally acceptable draft for contracting business. The acronym FIDIC stands for Federation Internationale des Ingenieurs-Conseil. These are books with different types of contract drafts built into them. Over a period it has grown into what is known as ‘rainbow of FIDIC’ with different colours of books used for different purposes. The original edition was a Red Book, published in 1957. Over last few years, FIDIC has published many versions of new contracts, the first amongst them was Orange Book for design build contracts in 1995. In 1999, FIDIC published some more contracts, a Green Book as a short form of contract and a Silver Book for Turnkey contracts. In 2007, it published the Gold Book for design, build and operate contracts. The FIDIC forms can be used for a range of contracts. Progressively, the clauses in contracts are capable of more clear interpretation of law. The Green Book first published in 1999 has Agreement, General conditions, Rules of adjudication and Notes for guidance. The clauses related to various terms and conditions will be interpreted on the basis of respective laws of the country on which these sets of FIDIC contract are being used for performance of work. Apart from the law, the techno-legal interpretation and trade practices in various countries governed the enforceability of various clauses. It is intended that the study must include the opinion and views of industry and thereby it is desired to collect the views of industry leaders through discussion and questionnaire besides study of literature related to FIDIC. Ultimately it is the thorough knowledge of interpretation of various obligations which lead to performance project with zero disputes. By and large today FIDIC set of documents of contract offer the best documents to enter into contracts of various types related to construction industry.

El procesamiento de oraciones y la interfaz sintaxis-semántica: contraste entre dos modelos psicolingüísticos

The current work describes the relevant psycholinguistic models that explain how the link between syntax and semantics is carried out during the processing of sentences in real time. The implementation of this link allows speakers to interpret ‘who does what to whom’ correctly. Two models are presented which take into account the specific differences of each language and at the same time they propose a universal mechanism for the interpretation of simple clauses: the Extended Argument Dependency Model and the Linking and Checking Model. These models try to explain how these processes would be carried out during the incremental comprehension from two theoretical frameworks of formal linguistics: the Role and Reference Grammar and Generativism. Then it is presented how these models would resolve the interpretation of an event whose link between syntax and semantics is non-canonical and it is discussed which model has a greater explanatory power.

Apple (C-595/17): ECJ on Jurisdiction Clauses and Private Enforcement: 'Multinationals, Go Ahead and Abuse Your Distributors'?

Description and analysis of the ECJ's case-law on the interpretation and validity of jurisdiction clauses in the context of antitrust private enforcement actions, in light of its Judgment of 24 October 2018, Apple (C-595/17) EU:C:2018:854.

국제상사계약에서 중재조항의 범위를 판단하기 위한 중재조항 해석기준에 관한 고찰 : 비계약상 청구에 대한 중재조항의 적용을 중심으로

국제계약에서 중재조항을 포함시키는 경우가 늘어나는 만큼, 그 중재조항의 범위에 관한 다툼 역시 늘어날 수밖에 없을 것이다. 중재조항의 범위에 관한 다툼이 발생하면 결국 중재조항에 반영된 당사자 의사 해석의 문제, 즉 계약 해석의 문제로 귀결되는데, 중재조항의 범위에 관한 문제를 단순히 일반적인 계약 해석의 문제로만 치부하여 무조건 개별적 사실관계에 기초하여 case-by-case로 해결하려 한다면, 이는 중재합의와 중재제도의 효용성과 안정성을 심각하게 훼손하는 결과를 낳을 수 있다.BR 중재조항의 범위와 관련한 분쟁을 해결함에 있어서는, 우선 영국과 미국 등에서 인정되는 중재조항의 범위와 관련한 국제적인 해석 기준과 원칙을 참조하여, 중재조항을 포함한 주된 계약의 당사자 사이에 제기된 분쟁은, 다른 취지의 별도 합의가 없는 한, 중재로 해결하기로 합의한 것으로 추정한다는 ‘중재에 유리한 추정 원칙’에 따라 중재조항의 범위를 해석해야 할 것이다.BR 중재조항의 범위에 관한 분쟁은 원고의 청구원인이 비계약상 청구인 경우에 주로 발생하는데, 원고가 구성한 청구원인이 비계약상 청구인지 아니면 계약상 청구인지 여부는 어떤 청구가 중재조항의 범위에 포함되는지 여부를 판단하는 과정에 별다른 영향을 미치지 않는다. 즉, 비계약상 청구라 할지라도 그 법률적 청구원인에 관계없이 당사자의 사실관계에 관한 주장만을 기초로 청구와 주된 계약 사이에 관련성이 인정되면 그 비계약상 청구에도 당연히 중재조항은 적용되어야 한다. 이 때 비계약상 청구를 한 당사자의 주장에 중재합의 당사자 이외 제3자가 상당부분 연루되어 있거나 특별법령 위반에 관한 내용이 다수 포함되어 있어도 그 결과는 마찬가지라 할 것이다.BR 그리고 중재조항의 범위를 판단함에 있어서는 중재조항을 구성하고 있는 문언을 합리적으로 해석하는 것도 중요한 의미를 가지는데, 특히 중재합의의 대상인 분쟁이 그것을 수식하는 문구 없이 단순히 “All(Any) disputes”으로 규정되어 있다면, 다른 경우와 비교하여 중재합의 범위를 매우 광범위하게 해석할 수 있는 근거가 될 수 있을 것이다.

Non-Discrimination in International Law and Sovereign Equality of States: An Historical Perspective

The interpretation of non-discrimination clauses lies at the epicenter of the practice of international courts and tribunals. In today’s world, an important part of the jurisprudence interpreting non-discriminatory standards, such as the national treatment standard and the most-favorable nation treatment, is in fact “economic.” The reason lies with the ever-expanding fields of international investment law and international trade law, that have brought about the creation of a large body of investor-state arbitration awards, WTO Panel Reports and WTO Appellate Body Reports, all interpreting and applying economic non-discriminatory standards. At the same time, the principle of Sovereign Equality of States, the cardinal organizational and constitutional principle of international relations is constantly the focus of legal and political debates in the international scene. Despite the prominence and prevalence of both concepts, little attention or no attention has been paid to the history of their interrelationship. The present article offers a detailed historical analysis of the relationship between the principles of non-discrimination and Sovereign Equality of States, which is instrumental in the better understanding of both concepts.

Article 47 EUCFR and Civil Courts: The Case of Arbitration Clauses in Consumer Contracts (the Netherlands vs Spain)

The law of the European Union confers subjective rights on citizens, such as those they derive – in their role of consumers – from the Unfair Contract Terms Directive (93/13/EEC). Civil courts play a key role in the enforcement and protection of those rights. Article 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (EUCFR) safeguards the right to an effective remedy before a court of law for infringements of substantive EU rights. It may entail a change in perspective towards the autonomy of the Member States as regards remedies, procedures and, in particular, judicial protection under the Directive. It provides civil courts with an instrument for the assessment, (consistent) interpretation and (dis)application of both contractual clauses and procedural rules governing disputes between consumers and their professional counterparties. The ‘proceduralized constitutionalization’ of consumer protection can be illustrated by the example of arbitration clauses, which are regulated differently in the EU Member States. In the Netherlands, (online) arbitration in consumer cases has given rise to a debate about the lack of judicial control over commercial ‘adjudication’. This will be discussed in light of the case law of the EU Court of Justice concerning unfair terms control and access to court – e.g. Asturcom (C-40/08) and, more recently, Menini (C-75/16) – as well as the groundbreaking decision in Achmea (C-284/16). The aim is to examine the function of Article 47 EUCFR at EU level and at the national level with respect to consumer arbitration and with a focus on the Netherlands and Spain. The Spanish experience can inform Dutch civil courts on how to deal with this issue.

Zur Komposition von insofern als im Deutschen

Abstract This paper is about the compositional interpretation of adverbial clauses as introduced by insofern als (lit. ‘insofar as’) in German (= IAs); for example, Die Lösung ist insofern attraktiv, als sie günstig ist. (lit. ‘The solution is insofar attractive as it is cheap.’). I argue that IAs always contribute dimensional restrictions, but do so in two distinct structure-sensitive ways: IAs can be structurally integrated into their host clauses and, thus, dimensionally specify a lexical component of the matrix VP (= LIAs) (‘The solution is attractive in price.’); alternatively, they can be structurally non-integrated and, thus, provide a dimension against which the matrix sentence is evaluated holistically (= SIAs) (‘In light of the fact that the solution is cheap, one may say that it is attrac­tive.’). The proposal is supported by both syntactic and semantic-pragmatic evidence: (i) LIAs and SIAs are distinguished by independently motivated tests for structural (non)integration such as scope of negation and particles, focus-background structure, and variable binding. (ii) LIAs are sensitive to a lexically given multidimensional matrix predication. SIAs, by contrast, require that the embedded clause specify an objective justification for the truth of the matrix proposition as a whole. In particular, IAs are shown to not pass tests for subjectivity as discussed for finden (‘find’); for example, judge- dependency, resistance against denial, or, accessibility of a subjective attitude. The paper concludes by sketching a formal derivation of both readings. Accordingly, LIAs constrain the dimensional parameter of multidimensional lexical predications, while SIAs provide facts that de re justify the assertibility of predications for topic situations.

Sentence Processing in Spanish as a Heritage Language: A Self‐Paced Reading Study of Relative Clause Attachment

AbstractHeritage Spanish is often influenced by English, and previous research on late Spanish‐English bilinguals suggests that their relative clause attachment preferences in Spanish are affected by English exposure. Nevertheless, recent work with heritage speakers has revealed that early (high‐proficiency) Spanish‐English bilinguals demonstrate a monolingual‐like high‐attachment preference in Spanish. Offline data from this self‐paced reading study showed the same preference for bilinguals of intermediate proficiency in a meaning‐oriented rather than a metalinguistic task. However, unlike in previous research, a group of late bilinguals also showed high‐attachment preference, possibly because of insufficient exposure to English. Online data showed no effects for either bilingual group and a nonsignificant numerical trend toward high attachment for a monolingual group. Thus, even moderately proficient heritage speakers seem to be adept at managing interaction between two language systems, so it appears not to affect their interpretation of relative clauses.

Context and Information Structure constraints on factivity: the case of know

Do factive-presuppositional interpretations of know emerge out of its semantic features, or are they the outcome of different structural patterns displayed by the sentence? The present work discusses the ambiguity of know and the reasons behind its fluctuating factive and non factive behavior looking at the role of Information Structure. Starting from views that account for the ambiguity of know as the result of its inherent semantic polysemy and from the role played by the context of discourse, we suggest that know-sentences can receive factive or non factive interpretations also based on the distribution of Topic and Focus units. The view put forward suggests categorizing the interpretation of complement clauses governed by know as factive or non factive not only on the basis of the (un-)availability of the information they carry in the addressee's Long-Term Memory, but also in relation to how such information is activated in Short-Term Memory, and, therefore, to whether it fulfils the Topic or the Focus function within the utterance. Differently from previous contention, the present paper stresses the importance not just of the information status of know per se, but also of that of the complement clause.

Introduction to the Symposium on Simon Batifort and J. Benton Heath, “The New Debate on the Interpretation of MFN Clauses in Investment Treaties: Putting the Brakes on Multilateralization”

Introduction to the Symposium on Simon Batifort and J. Benton Heath, “The New Debate on the Interpretation of MFN Clauses in Investment Treaties: Putting the Brakes on Multilateralization” - Volume 112

The Principle of Contra Proferentem and the Interpretation of Arbitration Agreements

Contra proferentem is a principle of interpretation that can be found in national and transnational laws. According to this rule, if contract terms supplied by one party are unclear, an interpretation against that party is preferred. Its applicability, while being a much disputed issue in national and international law, is often neglected in international arbitration. This article deals with the application of the rule to the interpretation of arbitration clause. By reviewing the practices of international tribunals, it is argued that the applicability of contra proferentem rule with the level of meaningful negotiation that could have been carried out on the arbitration clause. It is further proposed that the policy favoring arbitration should prevail over this rule providing that the scope of the contract is sufficiently clair.

Procedural Developments at the International Court of Justice

Abstract The present column covers procedural developments at the International Court of Justice for the period spanning from 1 July 2015 to 31 March 2017. Those developments involve the existence of a dispute as a condition for the Court’s jurisdiction; the interpretation of compromissory clauses; the interpretation of declarations made under Article 36(2) of the icj Statute (the “Optional Clause”); the principles of res judicata, ne bis in idem and exhaustion of treaty processes; the indispensable third parties doctrine; the admissibility of requests to enforce judgments of the Court; issues of admissibility arising from multilateral disputes; and allocation of costs under Article 64 of the Statute.

The Free Exercise of Religion

In this short essay, Professor Steven G. Calabresi explains his own beliefs with respect to matters of religion, and he offers his own interpretation of the Constitution's Religion Clauses.