Search results for "LAW AND ECONOMICS"
showing 6 items of 236 documents
An operator view on alliances in politics
2015
We introduce the concept of an {\em operator decision making technique} and apply it to a concrete political problem: should a given political party form a coalition or not? We focus on the situation of three political parties, and divide the electorate into four groups: partisan supporters of each party and a group of undecided voters. We consider party-party interactions of two forms: shared or differing alliance attitudes. Our main results consist of time-dependent decision functions for each of the three parties, and their asymptotic values, i.e., their final decisions on whether or not to form a coalition.
Normative Legal Positivism, Neutrality, and the Rule of Law
2013
Usually, in jurisprudential debates what is discussed under the rubric of ‘neutrality’ is the claim that jurisprudence is (or at least can, and should be) a conceptual, or descriptive - thus, non-normative, or morally neutral - inquiry. I discuss neutrality in an altogether different sense, namely, neutrality as an ethico-political ideal the law should meet. My starting point is normative legal positivism, or the claim that it is a good and desirable thing that the laws have easily identifiable, readily accessible, as far as possible non-controversial social sources. What justifies normative legal positivism, I claim, is the value - or the ideal - of neutrality, suitably understood. I.e., w…
A normative ‘due process’ in the creation of States through secession
2006
The choice and/or the balancing between effectivess and legality in the creation of States is, today, one of the most hotly debated issues in the international legal scholarship. Should a state-like entity formed in breach of the peremptory norm prohibiting the use of force or of the principle of self-determination (not) be considered as a State for the purposes of international law? The answer differs according to what theoretical premises are adopted. For those who believe that the State is a social person, and its creation basically a historical occurrence, the law cannot cancel its very existence. On the other hand, if State-creation is also a matter of law, one might agree that “[a]n a…
Mafia Methods, Extortion Dynamics and Social Responses
2016
This chapter is devoted to exploring both the empirical results and the policy proposals produced by the GLODERS project. Based on 631 cases of extortions, the Sicily and Calabria extortion database represents a relevant achievement in the field of the research on extortion racket and it is one of the main results of the GLODERS project. Gathering a great amount of information, our empirical analysis revealed the existence of several differences in the extortive conducts carried on within these two regions, which are presented. Moreover, the chapter introduces the legislation related to the crime of extortion. Social and legal responses to the phenomenon are then discussed.
Blockchain Tokens From the Perspective of German Civil Law: An Updated View
2020
Tokens are increasingly being generated on the basis of blockchain technology, which are intended to embody certain rights and obligations as cryptographically secured electronic coupons or digital coupons or vouchers . This paper provides an overview of the current state of affairs and the legal discussion of recent years and examines the extent to which blockchain tokens can be included under the existing German civil law framework of the BGB (German Civil Code). The key question is how goods can be legally represented ("tokenised") digitally and effectively by tokens instead of in documents. There are several approaches to make tokens marketable. Among them are also those that let the "r…
Self-Enforcing, Public-Order Institutions for Contract Enforcement: Litigation, Regulation, and Limited Government in Venice, 1050–1350
2011
The spectacular economic growth of Venice during the late medieval period (1050–1350) was based on the expansion of its trade along the Mediterranean and beyond. Crucial to this expansion was the mobilization of large amounts of capital into risky investments. However, this mobilization required the development of institutions that protected creditors and shareholders from expropriation by controlling merchants. This chapter finds that legal and administrative institutions conjointly provided investor protection and explores the interactions between these public-order institutions for contract enforcement and the emergence of a limited government, a coercion-constraining institution that mo…