International Law and Business

Foreword 7

PART 1 Introduction and methods 9
1 What is law and where can we find it? 11
1.1 The organization of just behaviour 11
1.2 The meaning of just behaviour 19
1.3 The origin of law 23
1.4 Legal sources 26
Summary 42
Practice questions 44

2 Comparative law and legal systems 49
2.1 The purpose of comparative law 49
2.2 Macro comparison: legal families 54
2.3 Micro comparison: a functional method 67
Summary 72
Practice questions 74

PART 2 International public law 77
3 Constitutional law 79
3.1 Trias politica and the struggle for power 79
3.2 The language of constitutional law 83
Summary 89
Practice questions 91

4 International cooperation: the United Nations 95
4.1 The United Nations and Bretton Woods 95
4.2 The institutions of the UN 98
Summary 109
Practice questions 111

5 International Cooperation: The Bretton Woods Institutions 115
5.1 The International Monetary Fund 115
5.2 The World Bank 124
5.3 The World Trade Organization 129
5.4 Alternatives 142
Summary 143
Practice questions 146

6 Regional economic integration 151
6.1 Regional economic integration 151
6.2 The free trade zone: NAFTA 155
6.3 The customs union: the SACU 162
6.4 The common market: MERCOSUR 166
Summary 170
Practice questions 172

7 The European Union 175
7.1 Economic integration in Europe 175
7.2 Free trade under the EU 177
7.3 The organizational structure of the EU 199
7.4 Dispute settlement 201
Summary 203
Practice questions 206

PART 3 Business law 209
8 Contract law 211
8.1 The forming of a contract 211
8.2 The content and interpretation of a contract 221
8.3 The form of a contract 223
8.4 Factors affecting the validity of a contract 224
8.5 Performance of the contract 231
8.6 International contract law 232
Summary 234
Practice questions 236

9 Liability law 239
9.1 Contractual liability 239
9.2 Non-contractual liability 246
Summary 262
Practice questions 264

10 Labour law 267
10.1 The industrial revolution and the emergence of labour law 267
10.2 International labour law 270
10.3 Proper labour conditions 270
Summary 285
Practice questions 287

11 Company law 291
11.1 The legal form of a company 291
11.2 Regulatory competition 304
11.3 Foreign companies 306
Summary 307
Practice questions 309

12 The right to privacy and data processing 313
12.1 Privacy: a clash of rights 313
12.2 Privacy laws around the world 317
12.3 Jurisdiction challenges 333
Summary 334
Practice questions 336

13 Intellectual property 339
13.1 The forms of intellectual property 339
13.2 Jurisdiction challenges 356
Summary 359
Practice questions 362

14 Private international law 365
14.1 International legal disputes 365
14.2 The free choice principle 367
14.3 Substantive private international rules 369
14.4 Objective private international rules 372
Summary 377
Practice questions 378

Index 381