This book investigates the regime of consumer benchmarks in the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and explores to what extent this regime meets each of the goals of the Directive. In particular, it assesses whether the consumer benchmarks are suitable in terms of achieving the three goals of the Directive: achieving a high level of consumer protection, increasing the smooth functioning of t…
Fragmentation has been much discussed as a threat to international law as a legal system. This book contends that the fragmentation of international law is far exceeded by its convergence, as international bodies find ways to account for each other and the interactions of emerging sub-fields. Reasserting its role as the 'principal judicial organ of the United Nations', the International Court o…
Since the historic Nuremberg Trial of 1945 an international customary law principle has developed that commission of a core crime under international law – war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and aggression – should not go unpunished. History shows, that when in Africa such violations occurred, especially as a result of election disputes, national and regional actors, including…
This book explains, compares and evaluates the social and legal functions of adoption within a range of selected jurisdictions and on an international basis. It updates and extends the second edition published by Springer in 2009. From a standpoint of the development of adoption in England & Wales and the changes currently taking place there, it considers the process as it has evolved in other …
Today, many people agree that the EU lacks solidarity and needs a social dimension. This debate is not new, but until now the notion of a 'social Europe' remained vague and elusive. To make progress, we need a coherent conception of the reasons behind, and the agenda for, not a 'social Europe', but a new idea: a European Social Union. We must motivate, define, and demarcate an appropriate notio…
Courts with the right to constitutional review exert considerable power in a political system. However, especially for Kelsenian constitutional courts there are hardly any large-N studies. This is mainly due to a lack of data. For the German Federal Constitutional Court, this gap has been closed by building a novel database, the development of which is depicted in this book. Employing data from…
This work examines the applicability of international human rights and humanitarian laws as well as the domestic laws in order to assess the contribution of these laws in protecting the fundamental human rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Territory. It conducts in-depth case studies of three basic rights: the right to movement, the right to property, and the right to equality and non-discri…
Since the turn of the Millennium, world-wide initiatives from the private sector have turned the regulatory environment for food businesses upside down. For the first time in legal literature this book analyses private law initiatives relating to the food chain, often referred to as private (voluntary) standards or schemes. Private standards are used to remedy flaws in legislation in order to r…
This book explores the contentious topic of how collective and community issues should be protected and enforced in international law. Elena Katselli Proukaki takes a detailed look at the issue of third-State countermeasures, and considers the work the International Law Commission has done in this area. The volume addresses both the theory and practice of third-State countermeasures within inte…
This book argues that the narrowing focus of the global history of ideas on narratives in historical research, philosophy and political theory neglects the fact that the central concepts of the history of political ideas are articulated in the language of law. Key figures of the history of ideas, like Kant, Hegel and Weber, engaged deeply with the philosophy and sociology of law. This monograph…