The thesis examines the efficacy of the provisions of Saudi Company Law 1965 in terms of protecting the rights of minority shareholders in joint stock companies (JSCs). The aim is to assess the effectiveness of the current form of SCL 1965 in this regard and to suggest a reform scheme. This research finds that SCL 1965 does not adequately provide minority shareholders with all the rights that they should enjoy. Accordingly, minority shareholders are often subject to the controlling influence of majority shareholders, who are generally in charge of the company’s management. As a result, minority shareholders either do not exercise or do not enjoy certain rights, and they therefore forfeit their natural and intended role under this law, which is to oversee and control the activities of the board of the company, and in so doing to defend their interests. Despite the Saudi government intentions to conduct a range of reforms, particularly in the field of trade, SCL 1965 has not been modified to any significant degree; it is still not sufficiently effective, and does not address many important points relating to shareholders’ rights in listed companies. Therefore, there are important decisions that need to be made on the part of the Saudi legislature in terms of improving the investment environment in KSA, including improving the level of protection for investors in JSCs; these decisions will help to attract more investors into the Saudi financial market. This thesis suggests ways in which to improve the level of protection for minority shareholders in Saudi listed companies against any encroachment on their interests within the company. In this respect, it suggests recasting the provisions relating to minority shareholders, especially SCL 1965.

Rule 31.22 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 provides, as a general rule, that those who receive documents through disclosure during civil proceedings may use them only for the purpose of the proceedings at hand. The general rule is subject to three exceptions, and judges have discretion to authorise subsequent use for other purposes. However, the foundational presupposition underpinning CPR 31.22 is that subsequent use, generally speaking, is improper. The thesis has two primary aims: (1) to demonstrate that the rule governing subsequent use (as developed in the case law) is theoretically and practically flawed, and that maintaining a blanket, general rule against subsequent use is unsound in principle, unjust, and procedurally inefficient; and (2) to generate a normative and procedural framework suitable for reform. Part I outlines the content, origins and operation of CPR 31.22. Through historical analysis, it suggests that presumptively categorising as improper all forms of subsequent use beyond the original litigation contradicts traditional authority. By identifying and examining the three principal rationales said to justify the modern rule, it argues that none affords sound justification. By analysing the exceptions to the rule, including judicial discretion, it seeks to show that such measures are incapable of remedying the defects in the underlying rule. Part II attempts to formulate a theoretically defensible, procedurally viable model for reforming CPR 31.22. It suggests that the presumption against subsequent use should be abolished, and the law reoriented around two central norms: the harm principle and a balancing approach. It tests this theoretical model by applying it to seven paradigmatic categories of subsequent use. Finally, it outlines a possible structure for procedural reform.

L’évolution des technologies numériques a transformé la manière dont on accède aux contenus de presse ; de nouvelles utilisations et de nouveaux acteurs sont apparus. En ligne, le public peut désormais s’informer aussi des faits d’actualité au moyen de liens hypertexte établis par les agrégateurs d’actualités vers les pages des sites de presse. Cette étude propose une analyse des difficultés autour de la reprise des contenus de presse numériques par les agrégateurs d’actualités. D’un côté, la production de contenus d’actualités nécessite d’importants investissements et à ce titre les éditeurs de presse aspirent à ce que l’indexation de leurs contenus sur les plateformes des agrégateurs d’actualités donne lieu à rémunération. De l’autre, les agrégateurs d’actualités facilitent l’accès aux publications et incidemment l’exercice du droit à l’information du public. S’il faut encourager le développement de nouvelles activités en ligne qui facilitent l’accès aux contenus informationnels, il faut aussi préserver les ressources financières des éditeurs de presse en les rémunérant pour l’utilisation de la valeur économique de leurs publications. C’est à cette problématique que la présente thèse s’efforce de répondre. Pour cela les contenus de presse sont d’abord étudiés sous l’angle d’une valeur économique protégée par le droit de la propriété littéraire et artistique. Ensuite, à titre complémentaire, les comportements des agrégateurs d’actualités vis-à-vis des éditeurs de presse lors de leur activité de référencement sont analysés au regard du droit économique. / The evolution of digital technologies has transformed the way people read press contents; new uses and new actors have emerged. Online, the public can now also read the news through hypertext links established by news aggregators leading to press publisher’s websites. This study provides an analysis of the difficulties around the reuse of digital press contents by news aggregators. On the one hand, the production of news contents requires significant investment for press publishers, which explains why they want to earn money from these hypertext links. On the other hand, news aggregators facilitate access to publications and, incidentally, the exercise of the public's right to information. If the development of new online activities facilitating access to information is to be encouraged, it is also necessary to make sure that press publishers are getting paid for the use of their publications. It is to this issue that the present thesis endeavors to answer. For this reason, press contents are first studied from the point of view of an economic value protected by copyright law. Then, in addition, the behavior of news aggregators towards press publishers is analyzed under economic law.

La jurisprudence de la Cour de justice de l'Union européenne en matière de libertés de circulation a, depuis la fin des années quatre-vingt-dix, connu des développements substantiels. La liberté d'établissement et la libre circulation des capitaux ont fait l'objet d'une jurisprudence fournie en matière de droit et de fiscalité des sociétés. En effet, les sociétés sont des opérateurs économiques dont l'activité transfrontalière est facilitée par le marché intérieur. La liberté d'établissement et la libre circulation des capitaux s'adressent spécifiquement à elles. En l'absence d'harmonisation, et donc lorsque les États membres exercent leur compétence retenue, les libertés de circulation ont été établies afin d'éviter que des obstacles à la mobilité des biens et des personnes ne soient créés par des nonnes nationales. Cette thèse se propose d'analyser méthodiquement chaque élément de raisonnement de la Cour de justice lorsqu'elle est confrontée au contrôle de compatibilité d'une nonne nationale aux libertés d'établissement et de circulation des capitaux. L'exemple tiré du droit et de la fiscalité des sociétés permet de mieux comprendre le contrôle exercé par la Cour à chaque stade de son raisonnement ainsi que les objectifs poursuivis par l'interprétation téléologique des dispositions du Traité sur le fonctionnement de l'Union européenne. Une telle analyse apparaît nécessaire dès lors que la Cour s'est octroyée le pouvoir de désactiver une nonne nationale, c'est-à-dire d'interdire aux magistrats nationaux d'appliquer une règle de droit national qu'elle juge contraire aux libertés, peu important sa place dans la hiérarchie des normes. / The Court of justice case law in the field of free movement has been substantially developed since the end of the 90's. Since then, the freedom of establishment and the free movement of capital regarding company law and direct taxation became an important part of the case law. This is understandable because companies are the main market operators and the internal market uncorks their cross-border activity. Company law and direct taxation specifically concerns the freedom of establishment and the free movement of capital. When Member states maintain their competence, ie in absence of harmonization, the four freedoms have been designed to avoid restrictions, created by national law, to the movement of assets and persons. This thesis proposes an analytic method of each test composing the Court's reasoning while reviewing the compatibility of a national provision with the free movement of capital or the freedom of establishment. The accent will be put on the company law and direct taxation because this case law enables a better understanding of the control exerted by the court upon national law and the aim of the teleological interpretation of the provisions of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union. This analysis is made necessary because the power by the Court to deactivate a national statute, ie the interdiction made to the national judges to apply a national statute whatever its position in the hierarchy of legal norms, self-created by the European judges.

This thesis addresses the problem concerning the contribution of foreign investments to the economic development of the host State as a jurisdictional requirement under the Washington Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (“ICSID Convention”). The ICSID Convention governs the jurisdiction of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes for the institution of arbitral proceedings between Contracting States and nationals of other Contracting States. While the institution of arbitral proceedings under the ICSID Convention is contingent upon the consent of the disputing parties, the jurisdiction of the Centre is limited to disputes that fulfill certain requirements. One of the core requirements of the jurisdiction of the Centre is that the dispute must arise out of an investment. Although the ICSID Convention lacks a definition of investment, most arbitral tribunals that had to define the function and content of the investment requirement concluded that the ICSID Convention contains a notion of investment that may not be waived by the consent of the disputing parties. The majority of these decisions considered that the contribution to the economic development of the host State would be one of the elements of such notion of investment. According to these decisions, the economic development requirement, as an element of the investment requirement of the ICSID Convention, could be inferred from the wording of the first recital of the Preamble of the ICSID Convention, which states that the ICSID Convention was concluded considering the role of private international investments in the economic development. It is submitted in this thesis, however, that these decisions were based on a misapplication of the general rule of treaty interpretation of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which codified the existing customary international law rule of treaty interpretation, given that they ignore the ordinary meaning of the term “investment” as employed in the ICSID Convention. The general rule of treaty interpretation of the Vienna Convention establishes a method by which each source of the intention of the parties to the treaty plays a relevant role. Above all, treaty interpretation must be based on the text of the treaty, which must be interpreted in accordance with the ordinary meaning of its terms. The use of the object and purpose of a treaty is a second step and may not be relied on in order to contradict the ordinary meaning of the terms employed in the treaty and to confer a special meaning on them.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the influence of the doctrines of the Medieval European Ius Commune on the Scots law of moveable succession in the crucial period of its development: from the Reformation to approximately 1700. To this purpose, this research is dealing with the Scottish writings, case law and archival materials, comparing them with the relevant Civilian and Canonistic texts and treatises of Medieval and Early Modern Continental authors. This research specially concentrates on particular fields within the Scots law of succession. In some fields, such as the constitution and form of testamentary deeds and the destinations (tailzies), the Ius Commune influence was quite weak, but even there it is discernible in specific issues. The same can be said of the Scottish attitude to the agreements on future succession (pacta successoria); in this respect, as my thesis shows, Scots law used to have more in common with the Civil law than it has now. On the other hand, the influence of the Continental doctrines was much more noticeable in the fields of the evidential force of last wills and the donations mortis causa. However, beginning from the 1660s, Scottish practice in these fields diverged from the Continental models. This was due to various practical reasons. The regulation of the office of executor in Scotland in the 1500-1700, in many respects, seems to be heavily inspired by the Ius Commune regulation and by English practice of that time. In some respects, Scots practice on the office of executor followed the Ius Commune rules more closely than English practice. In summary, the influence of the Ius Commune on the Scots law of succession in this period was real, due both to the retaining of tradition of ecclesiastical jurisdiction and to the knowledge of doctrine by the judges and litigants. However, this influence was often fragmentary and not properly expressed in the litigation and writings.

Le droit à l’accompagnement est un sujet à la fois novateur, original et fécond. Novateur, car c’est la première fois qu’une recherche est entièrement consacrée à ce droit. Hormis quelques rares analyses, il n’y a jamais eu d’étude de fond. Original, car il s’agit d’un droit unique en son genre, qui concerne plusieurs branches du droit. Et fécond, grâce à cette étude, il est désormais possible de mieux cerner les contours du droit à l’accompagnement et notamment de l’émergence d’un concept juridique d’accompagnement. L’accompagnement est une notion vertueuse, consensuelle, propre à susciter l’adhésion, mais n’en reste pas moins ambiguë, prenant des formes et des significations différentes. La notion d’accompagnement occupe une place centrale dans les politiques de lutte contre les exclusions. Elle n’a cessé de se déployer et d’investir massivement de nombreux domaines, entraînant un usage intensif du vocable. Aujourd’hui, la relation d’accompagnement est un outil largement utilisé par le législateur. La présence croissante de l’accompagnement et l’utilisation de cette technique en réponse à la pauvreté et l’exclusion sociale et professionnelle, traduit l’importance du droit à l’accompagnement dans le système juridique français. L’accompagnement est une figure emblématique de l’actualité juridique, il est à la frontière de nombreuses branches du Droit. En tant que mot, que pratique et que droit, il a trouvé un terrain favorable. Les mécanismes d’accompagnement irradient le droit, ils prennent une telle ampleur, qu’ils se retrouvent dans la plupart des domaines juridiques qui composent le droit privé (Partie 1). La seule étude des mécanismes d’accompagnement n’est pas suffisante à la démonstration de l’existence d’un droit à l’accompagnement. Il faut se nourrir de cette pluralité de mécanismes d’accompagnement pour en dégager l’émergence d’un concept juridique (Partie 2) / The right to support is a subject at the same time innovator, original and fertile. Innovative, because it’s the first time that a research is completely dedicated to this right. Except some rare analyses, there has been never a thorough study. Original, because it’s about a right, which concerns several branches of law. And fertile, because thanks to this study, it’s from now on possible to encircle better the outlines of the right to support in particular the emergence of a legal concept of support. The support is a virtuous, consensual notion, appropriate to arouse the membership, but remains not less ambiguous there, taking forms and different meanings. The notion of support occupies a central place in the politics of fight against the exclusions. It didn’t stop spreading and investing massively numerous domains, pulling an intensive use of the word. Today, the relation of support is a tool widely used by the legislator. The increasing presence of the support and the use of the technique in answer to the poverty and the social and professional exclusion, translated the importance of the right to support in the French legal system. The support is an iconic figure of the legal current events, it’s for the border of numerous branches of the right. As word, as practice and as law, it found a favorable ground. The mechanisms of support irradiate the law, they take such a scale, as they find themselves in most part of the legal domains which make up the private law (Part 1) The only study of the mechanisms of support isn’t sufficient in the demonstration of the existence of right to support. It is necessary to feed on this plurality of mechanisms of support to release the emergence of a legal concept (Part 2).

Le droit du travail est caractérisé par des problématiques liées à l’articulation de ses sources, au centredesquelles se trouve le contrat individuel de travail. Si généralement l’articulation des normes fait appel ausystème hiérarchique, le particularisme des mécanismes propres au droit du travail conduit à écarter cettesolution. Ce dépassement du dispositif hiérarchique impose alors de s’interroger sur l’existence dephénomènes propres, répondant à la multitude des interactions possibles entre le contrat de travail et lesautres sources du droit. Traduction d’une dynamique autonome du système hiérarchique, les phénomènesd’influence des sources du droit sur le contrat de travail et de résistance du contrat de travail aux autressources proposent une nouvelle méthode d’articulation entre la norme contractuelle et les autres sources. Lepremier, le phénomène d’influence des sources du droit, permet tant la modulation du contenu du contrat detravail que l’encadrement de l’exécution contractuelle. Le second, le phénomène de résistance du contrat detravail, se traduit par des mécanismes liés tant à la dérogation qu’à la modification du contenu du contrat detravail.Compte tenu des impératifs de sécurité juridique et de flexibilité du travail, l’enjeu de cette étude relative àl’articulation entre le contrat de travail et les autres sources du droit est de comprendre d’une part, lesévolutions du contenu contractuel et d’autre part, de mesurer les implications de ces articulations en matièrede contentieux du travail. / Employment law is characterized by questions related to the relationships between its sources, at the core ofwhich the employment contract is placed. If the relationships between norms usually mean hierarchy, it is notthe same concerning employment law, due to its own mechanisms. Once the hierarchical system put aside,the question of phenomenons proper to employment law can be asked, related to the numerous potentialinteractions between the employment contract and the other sources of law. As autonomous dynamics,separate from the hierarchical system, the phenomenons of the influence on the sources of law, and of theopposition of the employment contract to the other sources, represent a new relationship between thecontract and the other sources. The first one, the influence on the sources of law, allows the modulation ofthe contents of the contract, as well as the regulation of the execution of the contract. The second one, theopposition of the employment contract, deals with the derogation and the modification of the contract.Considering the requirements of legal security and work flexibility, what is at stake in this study on therelationships between the employment contract and the other sources of law, is on one hand, to understandthe evolutions of the contents of the employment contract, and on the other hand, to measure theconsequences of those relationships concerning employment disputes.

Cette thèse est consacrée à l’étude des fichiers de police et de gendarmerie pour, notamment, mettre en lumière l’idée-force selon laquelle une conception moderne de l’État de droit promeut non seulement leur encadrement mais plus encore leur nécessité. De fait, il existe en France de nombreux fichiers tenus par diverses administrations dont le but est par exemple de recenser des personnes en fonction de leur statut, de comptabiliser les propriétaires de véhicules ou les titulaires de permis de conduire, de dénombrer les personnes condamnées, et par ces biais de prévenir et si possible faciliter la répression des contraventions, délits et crimes. Le droit à la sûreté constitue une liberté fondamentale, et il convient de percevoir que par leur existence même les fichiers de police participent de cet objectif. En pratique, il s’agira de savoir si des abréviations comme FAED, FNAEG, FIJAIS, STIC, JUDEX, FPR, FRG, FVVS, FIT, FNFM, SDRF, SIS-Schengen, N-SIS,FAC, FCA, FPIS, SDRF, AGRIPPA, FDST, FOS, CIBLE, FIP, STUC, FTIVV, SCPPB, TREIMA, RAPACE, FAR, FNPE, FSCP, SALVAC, FNT, FBS, FTPJ, FSPORA ou FNPC désignent des outils véritables et efficients de rapprochements criminels, utilisés par les autorités afin d’élucider les crimes les plus graves. En substance, ces fichiers visent, grâce à une simple requête, à identifier voire à localiser les délinquants et les criminels dans toute la mémoire informatisée des services, qu’ils’agisse des fichiers d’antécédents criminels ou même des simples notes inscrites en procédure. Au demeurant, ces moteurs de recherche peuvent fonctionner pour tous les types de délits ou crimes. / This thesis is dedicated to the understanding of police files and to their compatibility with Human rights. Also, it questions both potential Human rights and individual freedom violations behind such acronyms: FAED, FNAEG, FIJAIS, STIC, JUDEX, FPR, FRG, FVVS, FIT, FNFM, SDRF, SIS-Schengen, N-SIS, FAC, FCA,FPIS, SDRF, AGRIPA FDST, FOS, CIBLE, FIP, STUC, FTIVV, SCPPB, TREIMA, RAPACE, FAR, FNPE, FSCP, SALVAC, FNT, FBS, FTPJ, FS-PORA or FNPC. While leading an investigation, the vigilance shall then be doubled: On one hand, investigators (police and customs) should be provided with relevant and sufficient information so as to lead their inquisition and to collect enough evidence (Loppsi 2). On the other hand, the Human rights of each citizen have to be insured against abuse and misuse of information. In 2009, The CNIL (National Commissionon Informatics and Liberty) revealed that 83 % of the data of the STIC was not accurate.Data related to victims and to their offender is then stored (identity, date and place of birth, nationalities addresses). Some crimes files even reveal information related to the ethnical or racial origins of the parties, information related to their political and religious opinions, and information related to their health or to their sexual life. In case of any information misuse, recourse to justice seems to be very limited. In France, no law supports the opposition of a party to access data related to his/her identity. This is an exception made to the Informatics and Liberty Law (according to the Law 78-17 dated January 6th 1978 modified).

Adrian C. Melissinos. / "November 10, 1958." Reprinted from The physical review, vol. 115, no. 1, pp. 126-129, July 1, 1959." / Includes bibliographical references. / Army Signal Corps Contract DA36-039-sc-78108. Dept. of the Army Task 3-99-20-001 and Project 3-99-00-000.