English Common Law

La característica general del common law frente a la imposibilidad sobrevenida de la prestación es, según la interpretación tradicional, el respeto formal y casi absoluto de la obligatoriedad del contrato. Este respeto se ha manifestado comúnmente no solo en relación con el cambio del valor económico de las prestaciones-y por ende de la distribución del riesgo económico por el aumento desproporcionado de la diferencia de valor-, sino también en relación con la imposibilidad sobrevenida de ejecutarlas 1. De esto puede entonces afirmarse-y se procurará demostrarlo en las páginas que siguen-que en el common law la imposibilidad sobrevenida y la excesiva onerosidad sobrevenida de la prestación tienen el mismo tratamiento doctrinal en lo que hace a la modificación del contrato, ya que los mecanismos de tutela contra el desequilibrio contractual sobrevenido tienen su origen en precedentes jurisprudenciales comunes y, en realidad, el criterio usado parte de una aplicación extensiva de los mecanismos previstos para regular los efectos de la imposibilidad en general.

First, I examine the aspects of the political sovereignty on the Shakespearean stage. In the light of Walter Benjamin’s Origin of the German baroque drama (1928) and of Carl Schmitt’s answer to Benjamin in Hamlet or Hecuba (1956), I show that Shakespeare stages the mortality of the political bodies and the new sovereignty of the plotter. Urged to master the art and the tempo of the plot, the prince is nonetheless unable to prevent the decomposition of the state. Then, drawing on the Elizabethan drama, I question the contemporary effort towards order and synchronization within the city. Hobbes’s theory of political and juridical representation breaks with the mystical conception of political unity and with any inspired legislation, whereas the civil scene is dedicated to the peace between individuals in order to ensure the possibility of a real autonomy in the private sphere. Reciprocally, this autonomy must consolidate the solutions to the problems of melancholy and skepticism conceptualized in Leviathan. While endorsing the tragedy of human condition and of knowledge already put on stage by Shakespeare, Leviathan prevents Schmitt’s exaltation as well as the « pure » violence which, according to Benjamin, lies in the subject’s state of exception. Yet, through the ghosts that Leviathan cannot tolerate within the public sphere, the Shakespearean stage unravels the mechanisms of perpetual order and synchronization without rejecting the law and the project of autonomy.

Keywords : Melancholy – Skepticism – Law – Discipline – Elizabethan drama – Shakespeare – Walter Benjamin – Carl Schmitt – Hobbes – Leviathan – Behemoth

The paper analyses the request of an Indian Parsi, living and working in the Republic of China, to the British consul in Peking to register his Chinese wife and their three children as British subjects in 1937. To a first marriage, that had been conducted according to the Chinese tradition in 1919, a second marriage followed in 1934. This was celebrated after the conversion of the couple to Catholicism. Of the three children, two sons had been born before the Catholic wedding, while the youngest one, a daughter, was born in 1935. The marriage of an Indian Parsi and a Chinese woman who later converted to Catholicism and married again is certainly an extremely rare event (if not a single one). The archival documents allow a better understanding of various aspects related to the issue of extraterritoriality of British subjects in the Republic of China, as well as the relationship of British institutions and English Common Law with the traditions of religious communities – and in this specific case, the Parsi Zoroastrian community – of the British Raj.

In the words of Shannon L. Alder, “the only chains you should wear in life are the chains of commitment,” 2 this paper also contributes towards the significance of commitment (or precisely speaking) the contract and laws of contract in an international scenario by applying a comparative law method. The aim of this paper is to provide a comparison of European and Pakistani contract law to find solutions to the lacunas existing in them, for they both belong to a different set of legal systems, civil and common legal systems respectively. In the beginning, the paper opens up with a brief introduction stressing ‘contract’ as a part and parcel of any society, be it in any form, since the prehistoric times till to date. Gradually, it states the reasons for choosing the contract law for comparative analysis amongst the other branches of the private law. The primary reason being the international character of the contract law as witnessed in the incorporation of contract law in certain international conventions like the Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The paper then chalks out the justifications behind employing the comparative methodology for this research analysis in detail. As British ruled Pakistan for a long period of time, therefore, both share the same legal system - the common law system, whereas the European states follow the civil legal system based on the French and German civil codes. This provides the impetus for explaining the motive for comparing the contract laws of these two opposing systems to sort out a mutual understanding or solutions in cases of uncertainty, like the CISG does. The surge does not end here, it continues to explore the working of the laws of Contract Act of both the legal systems through case-study analysis which proves the formulation of some common principles of contract law that are internationally validated. In the end, the paper revisits the essence of the research by summarizing the need for comparative analysis. Keywords: Comparative Law Methodology; Contract Law; CISG; Common and Civil legal system; European and Pakistani Contract Law; Case-Study Analysis.

The cure is simple pamphlet for those wishing to research on basic English law subjects and for students sitting in for examinations. It will be a real guide for lecturers wishing to make simple lecture notes and questions. It focuses on simplifying complex legal issues under common law.

This is my term paper for my English Common Law course from University of London through Coursera.

UK laws which were found bothering and are needing attention, the author has chosen the UK Surrogacy law of 1985[1]. The law needs to be reformed, since it is written from 1985, it is considered obsolete. Furthermore, there are societal changes and most parts of the law might not apply anymore; particularly, human rights concerns. The study focuses more on the problematic issues linked to surrogacy law in the UK, particularly to exploitation of women and commercialization of surrogacy, and non-profit agencies who claim to not monetize surrogacy shall be considered illegal practitioners, if they are blatantly making surrogacy a business, (there should be guidelines from commission of human rights regarding this matter).

Les trois quarts des plaideurs qui font appel au High Court de Londres ne sont pas domiciliés au Royaume-Uni. Le droit anglais étant le droit préféré pour les contrats de commerce international, le Droit Anglais Simple des Contrats est, de ce fait, particulièrement opportun. Si vous êtes étudiant en droit ou juriste international, cet ouvrage vous fournit une introduction au droit des contrats, des arrêts de principe et des concepts de base. À l'inverse des manuels de droit traditionnellement plus denses, le Droit Anglais Simple des Contrats est un guide facile à lire, allègrement illustré, qui traite le sujet de manière concise et instructive.

“Enlève la complexité du droit contractuel anglais .... Le tout premier livre sur le droit qui vous amusera”
Business Money

The paper provides insight into the existence of codified private law in a Common law colony – Pakistan – outside the realm of Europe. As the Britain ruled the subcontinent for a long period of time, therefore, Pakistan continued to follow the Common law system regulated by their British colonizers. It gives a detailed account of the existence and application of common law in the subcontinent, and on the intent of the British to codify the laws in the region to accomplish their ‘divide and rule’ policy for the administration of the subcontinent. Using this as the proverbial measuring stick, the paper then seeks to justify a parallel system of codified private laws in existence in Europe, in a compact manner. Not only this, the paper also reflects upon the impact of the codified private law in the legal development of Pakistan as a whole till to date. For that purpose, an explanatory over-view of the Indian Contract Act of 1872 is provided including the history, traditional and common law roots, and the Act, itself. 

Keywords: European private law codification, Impact on Pakistan, Old British colony, Subcontinent and Common law, Impact on legal development, Indian Contract Act 1872.

Seventeenth-century English jurist and legal historian John Selden integrated the three classic schools of jurisprudence -- natural law theory, legal positivism, and historical jurisprudence. He defined natural law as a set of fundamental legal principles commanded by God for the creation of a just legal order.  He defined positive laws as those rules and procedures created by a just legislature in accordance with both the principles of natural law and the needs of the particular community.  And he defined legal history as the account of each community’s legal tradition, which gave expression to natural law and provided limitations on the laws of any given sovereign, even the king himself.  Selden’s integrative jurisprudence offered a brilliant defense of the English common law tradition and a skillful interweaving of Jewish legal thought into the Western legal tradition.  Selden drew on a robust theology of God: God the creator, who set nature in order and motion in accordance with natural laws; God the law-giver who commands all human creatures to follow the principles of natural law and natural rights; God the judge who called his people to “establish courts of justice” for the protection of justice and mercy in each community; God the covenant-keeper who called his chosen people of Israel to follow the particular commands of the Torah; and God the intellectus agens who guides each good person to self-evident truths, and guides each great legal tradition, most notably the common law, to ever greater approximation of divine justice.

The existence of laws in every given society has as raison d'être the preservation of individual rights and freedoms and to encourage the peaceful coexistence between the government and the governed. The aim of this paper is to examine the protection of individual rights and freedoms under the Cameroonian legal instruments while determining how an effective protection of these rights and freedoms can contribute to a country's political, economic, and socio-cultural developments. It is against these backdrops that Cameroon with its vision of emergence by 2035 has been chosen in a bit to highlight that, among other things, an effective protection of individual rights and freedoms, which can no doubt act as a catalyst to foster the rapid realization of such a vision. To achieve this objective and to deal with the research problem, we undertook desk research in libraries, relevant documentation centers, and internet websites which enabled us to review the existing literature on the question. The findings reveal that Cameroon has a sound legal system for the preservation of individual rights and freedoms but has failed grossly at the level of operation and enforcement. With the gross violation of these legal norms, it is recommended (among other things) that there is the need to put in place effective independent enforcement mechanisms to guarantee the strict respect of existing national and international laws dealing with the protection of individual rights and freedoms so as to attain the objective of an emerging nation state.

The given article represents a custom view on the collision between two
fundamental human rights – the freedom of epxression and right to privacy. Such is reconcilled by means of adopting general rules in cases with similar circumstances both in common law jurisdictions and international courts. However, the matter of the origin of the abovesaid clash has never been clearly determined mainly owing to the fact that the right to privacy has got a relatively recent recognition although privacy issues have been discussed in dozens, if not hundreds of cases occuring some decades priorly to its official launch. Therefore, there is a necessity to determine whether its encounter has a precedential, or more plainly, a civilizational aetiology. Upon the view expressed in the paper, such is precedential

https://legalhistorymiscellany.com/2018/11/09/woe-unto-those-who-know-not-how-to-syllabificate-the-languages-of-medieval-law/

When John of Salisbury (ca. 1115-1180) decried the dishonesty of lawyers in his Policraticus, he targeted the incomprehensibility of their legalese, complaining that “they snare simple men in nets of impenetrable jargon … ‘Woe unto those who know not how to syllabificate.’”[1] The sentiment expressed by John of Salisbury is one with which most laymen today can empathize. As anyone reading a legal document or listening to a court case on television can attest, lawyers seem to speak their own language...

The existence of laws in every given society has as raison d’etre the preservation of individual rights and freedoms and to encourage the peaceful coexistence between the government and the governed. The aim of this paper is to examine the protection of individual rights and freedoms under the Cameroonian legal instruments while determining how an effective protection of these rights and freedoms can contribute to a country’s political, economic, and socio-cultural developments. It is against these backdrops that Cameroon with its vision of emergence by 2035 has been chosen in a bit to highlight that, among other things, an effective protection of individual rights and freedoms, which can no doubt act as a catalyst to foster the rapid realization of such a vision. To achieve this objective and to deal with the research problem, we undertook desk research in libraries, relevant documentation centers, and internet websites which enabled us to review the existing literature on the ques...