Private enforcement, which primarily represents individuals&rsquo / right to claim damage arisen from violations of competition law, supplements public enforcement and ensures indemnification of individual loss. However, private enforcement of competition law has fallen behind public law enforcement in laws presented in this study, other than those enforced in the USA. Realizing this fact, European Commission, has recently focused on the enhancement and facilitation of private enforcement in the Community competition law. The lagging behind of private enforcement mainly sources from the cultural and traditional differences in the understanding of liability law between Anglo Saxon Law and Continental Law. Anglo Saxon law tradition is inclined to leave the matter to individual action, whereas Continental Law is in more favor of strengthening regulatory mechanisms. More specific obstacles to the improvement of private enforcement are, yet not exhaustively, indefiniteness of legal basis of claims, involvement of complex economic analysis while stating the case, courts&rsquo / lack of technical knowledge, indefinite relationship between judiciary and competition authorities, problems in proving damage and causality, absence of facilitating procedural mechanisms such as class actions, treble damage and discovery rights. In the Community law context it is also highly probable to encounter peculiar problems arisen from co-existence of different national laws. Additionally, implementation of the Community competition law by national authorities may also lead to the weakening of the Single Market objective. Through this study, we will present probable solutions by depicting all these problems.

Konkurencijos teisė yra jauna teisės šaka, kuri pradėjo formuotis tik XIX – XX a. Jungtinės Amerikos Valstijos sukūrė teisės normomis reglamentuotą mechanizmą ir padėjo tvirtus, teismine praktika grįstus, pamatus privataus konkurencijos teisės įgyvendinimo instituto efektyviam funkcionavimui. Tuo tarpu Europos Bendrija ir Lietuva šio instituto svarbą suprato visai neseniai, dėl to iš konkurencijos teisės pažeidimų kylančios bylos teisminėje praktikoje vis dar retas reiškinys nūdienai. Šiame darbe analizuojami privačios konkurencijos teisės įgyvendinimo, pareiškiant civilinį ieškinį dėl žalos, patirtos pažeidus sąžiningos konkurencijos taisykles, reglamentavimo ypatumai Jungtinėse Amerikos Valstijose ir lyginami su Europos Bendrijoje ir Lietuvoje šio instituto reglamentavimu, siekiant nustatyti neišspręstas problemas ar spragas, trukdančias efektyviai jį įgyvendinti. Įvertinus privačios konkurencijos teisės įgyvendinimo instituto skirtumus ir/ar panašumus skirtingų kontingentų teisinėse sistemose, buvo bandoma aptarti įvairius būdus ir instrumentus, kuriais remianti galėtų būti suformuotos gairės ir atrasta panacėja nuo šio instituto nefunkcionavimo Europos kontinente. Lyginamuoju aspektu darbe buvo nagrinėjamos konkrečios ir esminės problemos dėl įrodinėjimo naštos, bylinėjimosi išlaidų, patirtos žalos apskaičiavimo, kolektyvinio gynybos būdo, antkainio perkėlimo argumento, institucijų kompetencijos ir vaidmens nustatymo šioje srityje ir kt., pateikiami šio instituto... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Competition law is a young branch of the law system which developed only in the XIX–XX century. Despite this fact, United States of America has already established a mechanism governed by the rules and put the foundations for effective functioning of the private enforcement institute, based on huge judicial practice. Meanwhile, the European Community and Lithuania have understood the importance of this institute recently – therefore the private litigation cases regarding the breach of the competition law are still rare. In this paper the analysis is represented on regulation’s features of private enforcement institute of the United States which are being compared with the regulation applied for the mentioned institute in the European Community and Lithuania, in order to identify unresolved problems or gaps that hinder the effective implementation of it. After the assessment of differences and/or similarities between the private enforcement institute regulations applied in different legal system contingents, there have been attempt to discover various methods and instruments, which could be called as guidelines or panacea against the effectless implementation of this institute in the European continent. With the help of comparative method the fundamental problems concerning the burden of proof, costs, damage calculation, class action (collective defense), passing-on defense, the role of institutions in this process, the relationship between the public and the... [to full text]

<p>The Member States of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) have set as their objectives, amongst others, the facilitation of cross-border movement of goods between the territories of the Member States and the promotion of the integration of Member States into the global economy through enhanced trade and investment. Different approaches to the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments by Member States and the risk of non-enforcement may lead to legal uncertainty and increased transaction cost for prospective traders, which ultimately act as non-tariff barriers to trade in the region. Trade is critical to Southern Africa, and the ideal is that barriers to trade, of which uncertainty concerning the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments among Member States is one, should be removed. Certainty, predictability, security of transactions, effective remedies and cost are important considerations in investment decision-making / and clear rules for allocating international jurisdiction and providing definite and expedited means of enforcing foreign judgments will facilitate intraregional as well as interregional trade. In addition to trade facilitation, a harmonised recognition and enforcement regime will consolidate economic and political integration in the SACU. An effective scheme for the mutual recognition and enforcement of civil judgments has been regarded as a feature of any economic integration initiative likely to achieve significant integration. While the harmonisation of the rules on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments has been given priority in other regional economic communities, in particularly the European Union, any similar effort to harmonise the rules on recognition and enforcement of Member States have been conspicuously absent in the SACU &ndash / a situation which needs to receive immediate attention. The thesis considers the approaches followed by the European Union with the Brussels Regime, the federal system of the United States of America under the &lsquo / full faith and credit clause&rsquo / the inter-state recognition scheme under the Australia and New Zealand Trans-Tasman judicial system / as well as the convention-approach of the Latin American States. It finds that the most suitable approach for the SACU is the negotiation and adoption by all SACU Member States of a multilateral convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, comparable to the 1971 Convention of the Hague Conference on Private International Law / the EU Brussels I Regulation and the Latin-American Montevideo Convention, as complemented by the La Paz Convention. It is imperative that a proposed convention should not merely duplicate previous efforts, but should be drafted in the light of the legal, political and socio-economic characteristics of the SACU Member States. The current legislative provisions in force in SACU Member States are compared and analysed, and the comparison and analysis form the basis of a proposal for a future instrument on recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments for the region. A recommended draft text for a proposed Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments for the SACU is included. This draft text could form the basis for future negotiations by SACU Member States.</p>

La grande majorité des causes tranchées par la Cour fédérale relève du droit de l’immigration. Environ 80% des causes plaidées devant la Cour fédérale sont en matière d’immigration. La plupart des causes qui se rendent à la Cour fédérale aboutissent au renvoi de la personne concernée. La requête en sursis est généralement le dernier recours que la personne peut exercer afin d’éviter ou à tout le moins retarder son renvoi du Canada. Près de 800 de ces requêtes en sursis ont été décidées par la Cour fédérale en 2008. Malgré un si grand nombre de causes et malgré le rôle important que ces requêtes peuvent jouer dans la vie d’une personne, aucun auteur n’a organisé et présenté les règles législatives et jurisprudentielles qui s’appliquent à ces procédures. Aucun livre, article ou commentaire n’a été rédigé sur ce sujet. De même, il n’existe aucun cours d’université ni de formations professionnelles sur les requêtes en sursis. Le droit des sursis consiste exclusivement de la jurisprudence des cours fédérales. Ainsi, on s’attend à ce qu’un avocat prépare une requête en sursis intuitivement. Toutefois, à cause de la nature urgente de cette procédure, il est pratiquement impossible pour un avocat inexpérimenté de se préparer adéquatement et de bien représenter les intérêts de son client. Beaucoup de causes ayant un fort potentiel sont perdues par manque d’expérience de l’avocat ou à cause d’une préparation inadéquate. La jurisprudence émanant de la Cour fédérale relativement aux sursis semble être incohérente et parfois même contradictoire. Ce livre organise, présente et explique de façon claire et concise le droit des sursis. Plus particulièrement, nous examinerons en détail les trois types de sursis – les sursis législatifs, administratifs et judiciaires. Tant les juges que les plaideurs trouveront cet ouvrage de référence utile dans la préparation et l’adjudication des causes. / The vast majority of cases heard and determined by the Federal Court of Canada relate to immigration law; approximately 80% of the cases adjudicated by the Federal Court of Canada are immigration matters. Most immigration cases that reach the Federal Court of Canada eventually result in the individual’s removal. A motion for a stay of removal is generally the last recourse a person can seek in order to avoid or, at least, delay his or her removal from Canada. Nearly 800 such motions were adjudicated by the Federal Court of Canada in 2008. Despite such a considerable number of cases and the important role these proceedings play in a person’s life, no author has ever attempted to organize and present the legislative and jurisprudential rules that govern stays. No books, articles or commentaries have been written to analyze the cases rendered on motions for a stay of removal. No document compiling decisions relating to stay of removal has ever been prepared. Similarly, universities and other institutions do not offer courses or professional development training on this subject. The law relating to stays consists exclusively of cases decided by the Federal Court. A lawyer is expected to prepare a stay motion almost intuitively. Yet, the urgent nature of these proceedings makes it practically impossible for inexperienced counsel to conduct adequate research and properly represent the interests of their client. Hence, many strong cases are lost due to a lack of experience and inadequate preparation. Many excellent lawyers practicing immigration law refuse to introduce such proceedings before the Federal Courts because they are not familiar with the principles governing stays. The law of stays in an immigration context resembles a legal patchwork because the case law is often inconsistent and at times contradictory. This book organizes, presents, and explains, in a clear and concise manner, the law of stays. In particular, this book examines the three types of stays: legislative, administrative and judicial. Judges and practitioners alike will find this quick reference tool very useful when dealing with motions for a stay of removal.

This is a study of the Chicago Conspiracy trial of 1969-1970, where eight radical leaders were tried in connection to the riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the meanings of the trial to American society in 1970 and from today's historical vantage point. Differing from first-hand accounts of the trial in the early 1970s, this study examines the different public perspectives of the trial through the use of such primary sources as underground newspapers, the defendants' writings, and appeals documents. Particular attention is devoted to the interpersonal relationships between the leading participants of the trial (the judge, attorneys, defendants, jurors, journalists, and spectators).The thesis is organized to highlight the major issues and controversies of the trial, while still addressing the personalities involved in the case. The context of the trial in an era of active American radicalism is examined both before and after the case was tried. An entire chapter is devoted to examining the diverse participants in the trial and the different roles they played in the event. Since the trial was so controversial because of legal issues and the conduct of the courtroom participants, a chapter has been devoted to both of these areas. Paticular attention is paid to events precipitating the prosecution of the eight radicals, including the Chicago Convention disorders and the federal grand jury that handed down the indictments. This organization lays a foundation for exploring the contemporary and historical significances of the trial in the conclusion of the study.

<p>The Member States of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) have set as their objectives, amongst others, the facilitation of cross-border movement of goods between the territories of the Member States and the promotion of the integration of Member States into the global economy through enhanced trade and investment. Different approaches to the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments by Member States and the risk of non-enforcement may lead to legal uncertainty and increased transaction cost for prospective traders, which ultimately act as non-tariff barriers to trade in the region. Trade is critical to Southern Africa, and the ideal is that barriers to trade, of which uncertainty concerning the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments among Member States is one, should be removed. Certainty, predictability, security of transactions, effective remedies and cost are important considerations in investment decision-making / and clear rules for allocating international jurisdiction and providing definite and expedited means of enforcing foreign judgments will facilitate intraregional as well as interregional trade. In addition to trade facilitation, a harmonised recognition and enforcement regime will consolidate economic and political integration in the SACU. An effective scheme for the mutual recognition and enforcement of civil judgments has been regarded as a feature of any economic integration initiative likely to achieve significant integration. While the harmonisation of the rules on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments has been given priority in other regional economic communities, in particularly the European Union, any similar effort to harmonise the rules on recognition and enforcement of Member States have been conspicuously absent in the SACU &ndash / a situation which needs to receive immediate attention. The thesis considers the approaches followed by the European Union with the Brussels Regime, the federal system of the United States of America under the &lsquo / full faith and credit clause&rsquo / the inter-state recognition scheme under the Australia and New Zealand Trans-Tasman judicial system / as well as the convention-approach of the Latin American States. It finds that the most suitable approach for the SACU is the negotiation and adoption by all SACU Member States of a multilateral convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, comparable to the 1971 Convention of the Hague Conference on Private International Law / the EU Brussels I Regulation and the Latin-American Montevideo Convention, as complemented by the La Paz Convention. It is imperative that a proposed convention should not merely duplicate previous efforts, but should be drafted in the light of the legal, political and socio-economic characteristics of the SACU Member States. The current legislative provisions in force in SACU Member States are compared and analysed, and the comparison and analysis form the basis of a proposal for a future instrument on recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments for the region. A recommended draft text for a proposed Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments for the SACU is included. This draft text could form the basis for future negotiations by SACU Member States.</p>

Cette thèse porte sur le statut de l'Etat justiciable en droit international. L'étude de l'Etat, sujet de droit international et justiciable des juridictions internationales, conduit à l'analyse de sa personnalité juridique internationale. Pour connaître le statut juridique de l'Etat et sa possible mise en cause devant une juridiction internationale, il a fallu donner un essai de définition du concept d'Etat et de celui de souveraineté. C'est à partir de la variante souveraineté que se décline le phénomène de justiciabilité de l'Etat en droit international. Dans cette étude, le nouveau droit international tel que proposé par la Charte des Nations en 1945, maintient l'Etat dans son rôle classique de sujet principal du droit des gens, en lui étant tout de même le statut de souverain absolu et inaccessible. En plus du contentieux interétatique classique, le souverain étatique est devenu depuis cette date un acteur contentieux presque banal devant les nouvelles juridictions internationales. C'est ainsi que l'émergence de nouveaux acteurs de la société internationale comme les individus, les entreprises et les ONG, a donné lieu à un nouveau développement conventionnel dans des espaces juridiques qui échappent au contrôle étatique. La protection internationale des droits de l'homme fait passer l'individu de la sphère nationale à la sphère internationale. Le nouveau droit international économique institutionnalisé par le CIRDI en 1965, le nouveau droit de la mer matérialisé par la Convention de Montego Bay de 1982 et le développement des juridictions pénales internationales (lutte contre l'impunité) sont la preuve d'une transformation de l'environnement juridique international où l'Etat n'est plus l'unique centre d'intérêt des rapports internationaux. / This thesis examines the status of the defendant State in international law. The study of State, subject of international law and immune from international courts, led to the analysis of its international legal personality. To know the legal status of the State and its possible questioned before an International Court, it took to give a definition of the concept of sovereignty and state test. It is from the variant sovereignty comes the phenomenon of justiciability of the State under international law. In this study, new international law as proposed by the Charter in 1945, maintains the State in his classic role as main subject of the law of Nations, by taking away all the same absolute and inaccessible sovereign status. In addition to the classical inter-State disputes, the sovereign State has become since that date an almost banal litigation player before the new international courts. It is as well as the emergence of new actors in the international society as individuals, businesses and NGOS, gave rise to a new conventional development in legal spaces that are outside State control. The international protection of human rights puts the individual in the national sphere to the international sphere. The new international economic law, institutionalized by the ICSID in 1965, the new law of the sea, materialized by the Montego Bay Convention of 1982 and the development of international criminal courts (Fight against impunity) are evidence of a transformation of the international legal environment where the State is no longer the only main interest of international reports.

Cette thèse vient proposer une notion d’action de groupe processuelle. Cette notion est dégagée suivant la méthode comparative. L’action de groupe est censée résoudre différents types de litiges qui mettent en cause un nombre élevé de personnes. L’étude de droit comparé montre en ce sens une notion qui semble plurielle puisqu’il existe différents modèles d’action de groupe. La manière de la concevoir diffère d’un modèle à autre. La terminologie relative à ce sujet est surabondante, souvent considérée en tant que synonyme de l’action collective, du recours collectif, des actions de classe, des procédures modèles, des jugements pilotes... En dépit de cela, il est possible de trouver une notion spécifique, ayant des caractères propres et typiques. Mais cette notion spécifique ne peut être que processuelle. Le procès est un outil de protection des droits et des intérêts juridiques et légitimes, sans importer leur nature. Il est logique que la résolution de ce type de litiges soit envisagée depuis cette perspective. De plus, c’est au niveau procédural que la protection de ce type de situations pose autant de problèmes. L’action de groupe vient alors s’inscrire naturellement dans cette discipline juridique, dévoilant une notion spécifique qui place le juge au cœur de la résolution de ce type de litiges. / The aim of this thesis is to offer a specific notion of the idea of group litigation, in a procedural and comparative perspective. The mass consumer society in which we live has generated a style of litigation that involves a vast number of people. Grouping claimants together in a class action is meant to resolve this sort of litigation. But comparative law illustrates the complexity of the topic. A large number of different models of class action exist. Terminology is vast and often spans interchangeably terms such as group litigation, collective actions, class action, procedural models and pilot decisions. Each model shows different ways to solve the same problem. In spite of this, we can still find a specific framework with distinct and typical characteristics. However, this specific notion can only be procedurally based. Clearly, resolving this type of litigation must be viewed from this perspective. Judicial process is the way by which to protect rights and legal and legitimate interests without considering their nature. But it is at procedural level that protecting this type of situation raises the most problems. Class actions therefore naturally fall within this legal discipline, and bring to light a specific idea that makes the judge the linchpin when deciding the outcome of litigation.

Access to justice and the right to a fair trial are basic human rights explicitly stipulated in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as well as in the Swedish constitution. The fundamental meaning of these rights is that everyone should have an effective option for bringing their case to a court governed by the rule of law. Counsel fees and other process-costs may constitute a significant barrier to entry for an individual bringing his or her case to the court. Consequently, such cost-related barriers may deprive individuals of their right to a fair trial in practice. This fact is recognised in many legislations through legal aid provisions, reimbursement rules or similar mechanisms with the common purpose of eliminating, or at least lowering, the cost-barrier in question for the individual. Tax cases are often complex, and the average taxpayer would typically need to obtain legal counsel to vindicate his or her rights in a dispute with the tax authority. The taxpayer’s costs for such vindication may consequently be high. Swedish legislation stipulates that such costs under certain circumstances can be reimbursed by the state. In practice, however, the taxpayer seldom gets reimbursed for the full cost or even the majority of the cost, regardless of the outcome of the case. Even if the taxpayer wins the court case against the tax authority, it is not unusual that the taxpayer gets no reimbursement at all. This thesis analyses the Swedish reimbursement model for process-costs in tax cases and how it relates to the right to a fair trial. The question is whether the relevant legislation, and/or the courts’ application of it, risks being in breach of the ECHR’s and/or the Swedish constitution’s stipulated right to a fair trial. This thesis argues that it does; not as a result of the legislation itself, but because of the courts’ application of it. The risk of violating the right to a fair trial correlates primarily with two factors. These are what are at stake for the taxpayer (typically the disputed tax amount) and the complexity of the legal issues involved in the case. Trigger points for when the respective factor comes into play from a human rights perspective are analysed and discussed in the thesis. When they do, the absence of real possibilities of reimbursement of process-costs in a given tax case may constitute an unacceptable barrier for the individual to access justice and get a fair trial.

In 1981 the apartheid military initiated a chemical and biological warfare (CBW) programme (code-named Project Coast). The programme, terminated in 1993, was aimed at developing novel irritating and incapacitating agents for internal and external use, covert assassination weapons for use against apartheid opponents, and defensive equipment for use by South African Defence Force (SADF) troops in Angola. The CBW programme was driven by a single individual, Dr Wouter Basson, who reported to a military management committee (the Co-ordinating Management Committee) which comprised a select group of high ranking officers. Practical and financial oversight of the programme was weak which allowed both for the abuse of programme funds and for senior military officers to deny knowledge of aspects of the programme. The biological component of Project Coast was conducted in violation of the commitments of the South African government to the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC). While the state’s commitment to the BTWC was one of the factors considered when initiating the programme, it was not a sufficient constraint to prevent the development of the biological weapons programme, but rather influenced its structure such that the programme could avoid national and international detection. Despite efforts to conceal the military front companies where the chemical and biological warfare (CBW) research and development was undertaken, evidence presented in this thesis shows that the United States had sufficient information about the programme to have been aware of its existence. Yet, it was only in 1993, on the eve of the democratic election in South Africa, that any attempt was made by the US administration to pressure the government to terminate the programme. This thesis considers the factors which influenced the decision to develop Project Coast; the structure and nature of the programme; the motivations of scientists to become involved in the programme and remain involved; the use of chemical and biological agents against opponents of the state, and the factors which influenced the termination of the programme on the eve of the first democratic elections in 1994. It also considers the nature and exent of international support, both tacit and overt, for the programme and argues that the failure of Western nations to call for the termination of the programme before the early 1990s was a function of political expediency and indicates a significant weakness in the ability of international agreements to constrain the development of such programmes.