Monthly Archives: September, 2024
Warren Swain, ‘Not Worth the Paper it’s Written on: Contractual Rectification – an Historical Account’
ABSTRACT Written contracts have been important for millennia. They bring certain evidentiary advantages. Problems may also arise, however, when the written document fails to reflect the intentions of the parties. This is why the equitable doctrine of rectification is so important. In certain limited circumstances, it allows the written words in the contract to be […]
‘The Death of Obiter Dicta’
INTRODUCTION Every first-year law student in the common law world is taught the distinction between ratio decidendi and obiter dicta. The ratio of the case – the portion that is binding as precedent – contains the legal rule necessary to decide the parties’ dispute. Any other remarks that a court makes in passing are obiter […]
‘Geographical indications – Less is more (distinctive)’
The more precise a geographical indication refers to a specific location, the less distinctive it seems to be, at least according to the case law of the General Court. This counter-intuitive result has been confirmed recently in invalidity proceedings concerning the trade mark ‘Hinterland’ … (more) [Marcel Pemsel, The IPKat, 23 September 2024]
Amir and Alberstein, ‘New Families of Legal Systems in Transition, and Implications for AI’
ABSTRACT Trial was once the litmus test for legal systems, allowing one to distinguish between legal families. However, in recent decades, trial has often become the exception rather than the rule, with many legal systems prioritizing and promoting settlement. In the US, for example, under 1 percent of civil cases are disposed of through trial. […]
Bennison, Chapple and Sadiq, ‘From Corporation to Cooperation: A Meaningful Model for Corporate Purpose’
ABSTRACT In 2015, the United Nations adopted Sustainable Development Goals (‘SDGs’) with a full implementation target of 2030. The breadth and depth of the 17 Goals are significant, including ending poverty, offering quality education, affordable and clean energy, and responsible consumption and production, to name a few. Overlapping with the SDGs is the Planetary Boundary […]
‘With all these defamation lawsuits, what ever happened to free speech?’
It seems like the dust barely settles from the latest high-profile defamation stoush before the next set of litigants straps on the gloves and steps into the ring. Many of these cases raise eyebrows — and questions. Was that story about him? Does anyone remember that tweet? Wasn’t it just harmless banter? Didn’t she respond […]
Danielle Pensley, ‘Subsistence as Resistance: Implications of an Alaskan Cultural Practice to Property Theory’
ABSTRACT The Lady Who Tans Salmon Skins, who is a homemaker in Cordova, Alaska, explains that ‘each animal has enough brain to process its own hide … [Another] way is to take battery acid electrolyte, ten ounces, ten pounds of salt, and ten gallons of water’. She shows off one of her coin purse creations, […]
‘Heirs’ partition action not barred: Dog’s longevity leads to property dispute’
The Rappahannock County Circuit Court ruled that a property settlement agreement (PSA) allowing a man to live on property during his dog’s life did not prevent his heirs from seeking to partition the property after the dog outlived him. The PSA had minimal instructions for the scenario where the man died before the dog, which […]
Vandenbussche and Taelman, ‘Consumer Protection Proceedings’
ABSTRACT This chapter describes and analyses, from a comparative perspective, the status of consumer protection proceedings as a specific subject within procedural law, driven by the need to address the power imbalance between consumers and businesses and the objective of ensuring effective enforcement of consumer rights. It covers both individual and collective litigation, the role […]
Geoffrey Davies, ‘Is the Civil Trial System Past its Use-By Date?’
ABSTRACT In delivering the Gerard Brennan lecture in 2011, The Hon John Doyle AC, Chief Justice of South Australia, a person not given to exaggeration, said this: ‘I believe that, during the time of the next generation of legal practitioners, those now being admitted to practice, civil litigation as we know it in the higher […]