Those learning a language will be familiar with the problem: a word in the foreign language looks and sounds similar to a word in a person’s mother tongue but, it turns out, has a completely different meaning. They are false friends. Take the French ‘actuellement’, which actually means ‘at the moment’. As in language, so in law. When an English lawyer refers to a number of parties being ‘jointly’ liable to make payment, the presumption is that each is liable for the full amount (albeit that there is only one obligation, so performance by one will discharge the other). In Scots law, joint liability means that each party is presumed to be liable only for a proportion of the total amount due. Continue reading “Scots and English contract law: false friends?”

On 10 May 2010, the Dutch Temporary (Parliamentary) Committee on the Inquiry Financial System (the committee), also known as the ‘De Wit Committee’ after its chairman, set up by the Dutch Parliament’s House of Representatives, presented its report on the first part of its investigation into the crisis in the Dutch financial system. This report, which the committee titled ‘Credit Lost’, examined the causes underlying the financial crisis and specifically looked at what occurred in the period up to late September 2008, the month in which Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. In connection with its investigation, the committee formulated several conclusions and recommendations to avoid a repeat of such a dramatic crisis in the future.¹ Continue reading “Credit lost: a Dutch Parliamentary committee’s report on the financial crisis”

There have been several recent cases concerning the laws of confidence and defamation that address important procedural issues relevant to litigators practising in all spheres. This article discusses decisions by the Court of Appeal, a Queen’s Bench judge and a Master. Continue reading “Defamation and confidence: three significant cases”

Anyone not involved in what might be regarded as the mainstream of the construction industry (whether as a building contractor or someone who regularly employs one) would be forgiven for thinking that a dispute resolution procedure introduced to rid the industry of some of its historical problems is of no relevance to their business. Continue reading “Adjudication: caught in the Act?”

The long-awaited revisions to the Medical Device Directive 93/42/EEC (MDD) and the Directive for Active Implantable Medical Devices 90/385/EEC (AIMD) were adopted by the European Parliament on 29 March 2007. These amendments are contained in Medical Device Directive 2007/47/EC (the 2007 Directive), which was published in the Official Journal of the EU on the 21 September 2007. The genesis of the changes stemmed from a 2001 review of the MDD. Continue reading “Amendments to medical device regulations in Ireland”

The laws governing foreign ownership of companies in Middle Eastern countries are complex. While there are greater options today to allow international companies to do business in the Middle East (including the opportunity to establish wholly owned subsidiaries in free zones), one popular option is to appoint a local agent to sell goods or services, or to appoint a distributor for the region, especially as they will understand the local market, be able to exploit their contacts and navigate the bureaucratic challenges of doing business in the region. Even where a foreign company has a footprint in the region with a free zone entity, an agent will still be required for distribution of goods beyond the free zone. Continue reading “Introduction to Middle East distribution and agency agreements”

Given the current economic climate, competition authorities are expecting a possible increase in the use of the ‘failing firm’ defence. The doctrine provides potential opportunities for businesses to acquire competitors, which in normal circumstances would be regarded as anti-competitive. The basic rationale behind the doctrine is that since the failing firm would have left the market anyway due to its financial collapse, any harm to competition caused by the loss of an independent market player would arise regardless of the merger. Continue reading “The ‘failing firm’ defence in difficult times”

On 8 June 2010, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) rejected the attempt by various leading European mobile network operators (MNOs) to challenge the validity of a cap imposed by the EU on the roaming fees they can charge customers travelling overseas. From the point of view of these providers, price-capping regulation has effectively curbed a lucrative market that was worth approximately €8.7bn at the time the regime came into force in 2007. Continue reading “ECJ rules on the validity of the Roaming Regulation”

Disputes between landlord and tenant are the most common and vicious in India. Many states in India have enacted rent control laws that govern the relations between landlords and tenants. Rent control laws exist in approximately 40 countries around the world. In most of these countries, the rent control laws were enacted in the backdrop of the First World War, mainly with the objective of protecting the public and preventing the landlords from imposing rent increases that make the tenants vulnerable. Continue reading “Rent control laws: time for a change”

Due to the current economic climate, immigration has continued to generate a great deal of media interest in the need to bring foreign workers to the UK to participate in the UK labour market. At the same time, immigration continues to remain at the front of huge political debates, in particular the impact of migration on the availability of work for resident workers and social infrastructure. Continue reading “Immigration, politics and quotas”

The existence of a mandatory exclusion from public procurement on a permanent and Europe-wide basis presents a real threat to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO)’s new culture of self-reporting.

Richard Alderman, the current director of the SFO, has made it his mission in recent months to encourage companies to step forward and self-report any discovery of wrongdoing in their ranks. The potential reward for such a self-report is an increased likelihood of the matter being dealt with via civil settlement rather than a criminal prosecution and a reduced financial penalty. Continue reading “Procurement bans and the threat to self-reporting”

The result of the 2010 General election has brought about one of the most radical shifts in British politics for over half a century. For the first time since the Second World War, two political parties, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, have united to form a formal coalition government. Continue reading “Coalition politics: blue + yellow = green?”