Modern Legal Doctrine Research Articles

Force Majeure and Impossibility of Performance in Arab Contract Law

maieure. Force majevre has been defined as circumstances outside one?s control''.l Others refer to it as sigriifSring supenor force.2 As a modern legal doctrine, the term was first adopted by the French Civil Code of 1804.3 Today, force majeure is a legal terrn of art which is familiar sn one form or another to courts and lawyers of vanous legal jurisdicions, pariicularly in areas involving transnational commercial transaciions.4 Comparaiively speaking, ie civil law doctrine offorce majeure is not found in the general English common law. Although the term does tend to occur in certain contracts governed by common law, its recopiion and application has been limited to instances where contracting pariies halre expressly agreed on its application to their relaiionship. The definiiion and extent of applicaton offorce majeure is therefore enerely dependent on the construction of the clause providing for it. The absence of a

Product liability and safety regulations in Italy. Some recent developments

According to recent developments of product liability in Italy there is still a gap between modern legal doctrine and case law. The former is now accepting the strict liability principle as the best method for allocating the risk; the latter, following the traditional concept of fault, prefers a reasoning based on presumptions of fault on the part of the producer. Recent developments concern national legislation (where a bill on consumer protection in general has been prepared) and regional legislation. The situation is still confused, however, and it is difficult to predict future developments in this field of law.