"There is no gap between Is and Ought, but there is a gap between fact and norm."

"There is a difference between legal powers and legal competences, but there are no power-conferring rules."

"There is no obligation to comply with contracts."

"There are no regulative rules, and all rules are constitutive."

All these claims are controversial in the eyes of many legal theorists. This book argues that they are all true, or justified, if understood in the proper context. The argument starts from t...

Is it time for jurisdictions to undertake recodification, decodification, or even

codification of their private laws? This volume addresses this recurring question in

legal science by presenting recent developments and new perspectives on the

codification of private law from a comparative law viewpoint. Contributions in this

volume explore how jurisdictions from America, Asia and Europe currently stand

regarding codification and help generate awareness on different paths, yet also

of common g...

This edited volume brings together scholars in the field of law and the cognitive sciences to analyze and illustrate what the current relationship between law and the cognitive sciences is and what it should be from a theoretical perspective, for example by asking in what way and to what extent insights from the cognitive sciences can and should impact legal concepts, rules and paradigms. The topic of criminal responsibility exemplifies this relationship and several authors analyze specific e...

This book is about research in the field of law. In recent years much has been written about the need and benefits of legal research, the methods and theories that are applied by lawyers, and the justification of methods and theories applied in legal research reports. Many law schools nowadays include courses about research skills in their curricula. Doctoral candidates increasingly are offered courses about research methodology as applied in law. 

Legal Research provides answers to exactly ...

International law lies at the heart of our interaction with the global community. It protects rights, imposes duties, and establishes a framework for the conduct of almost every social, political, and economic activity. Vaughan Lowe explains the basic structural principles of international law, and looks at its potential and its limitations.

Written by one of the world's leading international lawyers, this is the new and updated edition of Jan Klabbers' landmark textbook. International law can be defined as 'the rules governing the legal relationship between nations and states', but in reality it is much more complex, with political, diplomatic and socio-economic factors shaping the law and its application. This refreshingly clear, concise textbook encourages students to view international law as a dynamic system of organising th...

Newly revised, this textbook provides an authoritative conceptual and practical overview of international law governing the resort to force. Following an introductory chapter, with a section on the key issues in identifying the law and actual and potential changes to it, the book addresses the breadth and scope of the prohibition of the threat or use of force and the meaning of 'force' as the focus of this. The book proceeds to address the use of force through the United Nations and regional ...

The new European rules on bank insolvency seek to prevent future government-funded bailouts. Instead, risks should be internalized by the participants. The rules in the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive and also the Single Resolution Mechanism seek to mimic the outcome of a normal insolvency procedures, without actually letting a failing institution enter full insolvency procedures. The rules enacted are of critical importance to a healthier and more stable financial sector.

This book pr...

Today humanity uses, on average, the equivalent of 1.6 earths to

provide the resources we use and to absorb our waste. A pathway

to sustainable resource use is the circular economy. This concept

aims at optimising the value of the resources used and to minimise

the amount of resources used. The author addresses the question of

what kind of law we need to realize a circular economy. He argues

that many legal frameworks and rules on the national and the

European level will have to be reconsider...

Climate change is the most important challenge humankind ever faced.

GHG emissions must be reduced at great pace and to a signifi cant extent to keep

global warming below fatal thresholds. This can only be achieved if the obligations

of major players are suffi ciently clear. The Principles on Climate Obligations of

Enterprises’ main focus is on the obligations of enterprises. They identify the

reduction obligations, and articulate a series of related obligations.

The Principles aim to provi...