Tough talk and tough laws do not always mean tough action. That was a lesson learned during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, which resulted in billions of Euros of bailouts for struggling banks and financial institutions deemed ‘too big to fail’. It is perhaps also a lesson which will be repeated in the current Greek sovereign debt crisis, where the latter …
Read More »English law
China and Google going to court?
The tension is rising… President Obama has agreed to see the Dalai Lama, the arms sale deal to Taiwan is nearly closed , the low Chinese currency rate debate is escalating, and now the Google censorship dispute may be going to the WTO tribunal (World Trade Organization) Quite clearly US –China relations are severely strained at the moment. …
Read More »Does English Criminal Law make satisfactory provision for cases where a person fails to prevent harm when he could have done so?
At first look, we’re talking about omissions; but that’s not the whole picture. Indeed, the true nature of the question resides primarily in what I’m going to argue is our ‘social mould’. The classic omissions scenario of the baby drowning in a puddle covers one aspect of this, but we’ll argue about that later. Our first concern should be …
Read More »The notion of EU citizenship as the “fundamental status” of member state nationals.
“EU citizenship” is a concept that gained legal status by Articles 17-18 of the TEU. The ECJ has repeatedly used this Delphic phrase “will become the fundamental status of EU nationals” with little or no explanation. I argue here that the correct interpretation of the Court’s case law hinges on how we understand “fundamental status”. Within the …
Read More »The question oh the month / Work Related Stress Pressure, harassment and individual responsabilities
The high number of recent suicides in certain large French companies, many of them occuring at the place of work, has lead to a vast debate on work related stress. France Telecom comes to mind as such an example with 24 employee suicides in the last 18 months. Although this phenomenon has attracted attention due to its obvious …
Read More »United States First Hispanic Supreme Court Justice : Sonia Sotomayor
The Supreme Court is composed of the Chief Justice and eight associate justices nominated by the President and confirmed with the “advice and consent” of the US Senate. Once appointed, justices have life tenure, serving “during good behavior” which terminates only upon death, resignation, retirement or conviction on impeachment. Therefore, a justice will have a great impact on the …
Read More »The Private and the Public in England and France
What is private life? Where does it end and the public domain begin? This article will compare how French and English law protect the right to privacy, looking particularly at the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights (the ‘ECHR’). France has a long history of upholding privacy. In the early 20th century, courts developed the “right to one’s …
Read More »Same-sex Relationships in French and English Law
Imagine, for a moment, that you and your same-sex partner have been together for several years. You now want to live together for the long-term. What legal options are open to you in France and England? This article will explore some of the issues concerning the rights of same-sex couples under French and English law, and try to …
Read More »Roe vs. Wade
Roe V Wade is one of the most important and controversial decision ever given by the Supreme Court which is still debated nowadays. The question asked to the Supreme Court was to know if the state laws that regulate the right to abort were constitutionally legal. According to the decision given by the Supreme Court, most of the state …
Read More »Winners are dreamers who do choose to win
There are times, when words, humour, teamwork and self-belief come in useful. And when they lead to victory… The Paris 2 debaters’ team dreamt it, and did it! For the first time the University of Paris 2 won the annual Tournament organised by the French Debating Association at the sumptuous Hotel de Lassay, in front of the President of the …
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