Prior to the introduction of section 37C into the Pension Funds Act. 24 of 1956, the benefit payable as a result of the death of a member would devolve in accordance with his last will and testament or the provisions of intestate succession. The advent of section 37C brought a statutory regime which expressly excludes freedom of testation and rather looks to the board of a fund to distribute the death benefit. The board may only pay the dependants of a deceased (either factual or legal) or the persons he has recorded on his nomination form. The section relies on the board to exercise its discretion in a manner which results in an equitable distribution of the death benefit notwithstanding that it does not provide any guidelines as to how this is to be achieved. Accordingly, numerous decisions are challenged by the identified beneficiaries because they are unhappy with the manner in which the board exercised its discretion. This results in complaints being lodged with the Pension Funds Adjudicator. Many such complaints should never have arisen or could have been easily solved by a proper exercise of discretion on the part of the board. The problem is that these complaints are adding to an already burdened office. Adequate training and understanding of the obligations of section 37C would probably result in fewer complaints to the Adjudicator. This dissertation examines whether the determinations which have been issued by the Adjudicator in respect of section 37C indicate a need for such training and understanding and, if they do, what possible remedies there might be to cure such a problem. Recommendations arising from this are that trustees must receive training focused on section 37C and proposed practical protocols to assist a board when exercising its duty to make an equitable distribution. / Jurisprudence / LL.M.

Le présent mémoire dresse un portrait des règles entourant la mise en vigueur et l'entrée en application de régimes de droits de souscription d'actions. À cet effet, l'auteur résume les règles entourant les offres publiques d'achat, examine les principes touchés par la mise en place d'un régime de droits de souscription d'actions, ainsi que les effets d'un tel régime sur la valeur des actions. Dans un deuxième temps, l'auteur se penche sur la légalité des régimes de droits de souscription d'actions en effectuant une revue du principe de l'égalité des actionnaires et des droits et obligations des administrateurs en matière de défense à une offre publique d'achat. L'auteur termine en effectuant une revue des divers recours qui s'ouvrent aux divers intervenants. / The present thesis tries to review the main rules regarding the creation and the application of a shareholders rights plan. The author reviews also the sections of the Securities Act pertaining to the Take-Over bid. The author also explains the main principles of the corporation law domain and how a shareholders rights plan may be implemented. Second, the author reviews the legality of the implementation of the shareholders rights plan with regards to the shareholders rights given by the Law, and to the obligations and duties of the directors of the Corporation. At the end of the present thesis, the author presents a review of the main recourses opened to the Shareholders, the corporation and the bidder.

La gouvernance des sociétés par actions canadiennes accorde une place aux créanciers, qui contribuent considérablement à leur financement. Les créanciers fournissent une prestation en échange d’une promesse d’être payé plus tard, de sorte qu’ils sont en conflit d’agence avec d’autres parties prenantes de la société par actions, particulièrement les dirigeants. Principale voie procédurale des litiges en droit des sociétés, le recours en cas d’abus (ou « recours en oppression ») permet d’endiguer certains aspects de ce conflit d’agence en octroyant aux tribunaux de larges pouvoirs pour pallier les abus. Cette intervention judiciaire s’exprime par la théorie des attentes raisonnables, selon laquelle le tribunal doit protéger non seulement les droits des parties, mais également leurs attentes raisonnables. La jurisprudence permet de conclure à des attentes raisonnables relativement à l’information fournie par la société, au patrimoine social et au processus décisionnel des dirigeants. Elle laisse également entrevoir une attente raisonnable à l’égard des modifications du partage des risques découlant d’un événement imprévisible. / Creditors feature prominently in the corporate governance of Canadian business corporations and significantly contribute to their funding. Creditors perform in exchange for a promise to be paid later, so that they are in an agency conflict with other stakeholders of the corporation, especially managers. The main procedural route for litigation in corporate law, the oppression remedy helps curb some aspects of the agency conflict by granting courts broad powers to remedy oppressive conduct. This judicial intervention is expressed through the theory of reasonable expectations, which states that the court must not only protect the legal rights of the parties but also their reasonable expectations. The case law shows that creditors have reasonable expectations toward the information provided by the corporation, its assets and the decision-making process of managers and directors. It also suggests a reasonable expectation with respect to changes in the sharing of risks arising from an unforeseeable event.

Les trusts anglo-américains (anglais, américain et des Iles Cook) coexistent avec les trusts de droit civil (les fidéicommis argentin, bolivien, panaméen et la fiducie française). Ils appartiennent aux deux familles de droit de Common Law et romano-germanique et ont des structures différentes. Les trusts exprès anglo-américains sont créés par acte unilatéral du constituant et mettent en place une relation trustee-bénéficiaire. Les trusts de droit civil sont créés par contrat (ou testament) entre le constituant et le fiduciaire et ne donnent pas des droits réels aux bénéficiaires. Malgré leur différence de structure, les deux trusts fonctionnent de manière équivalente, grâce au transfert de propriété au fiduciaire et à l’étanchéité du patrimoine fiduciaire. Les réserves héréditaires sont un élément extérieur à la structure des trusts testamentaires ; ceux-ci fonctionnent de manière analogue. Les techniques d’investissement et de gestion fiduciaire sont aussi similaires : des clauses conditionnelles d’accès ou fin de la propriété fiduciaire et des pouvoirs discrétionnaires donnés au trustee sont communs aux deux modèles de trust. La séparation du patrimoine sert à mettre en place des trusts de gestion, de protection ou de garantie de financement de projet, de défaisance ou de titrisation. Le fonctionnement du FCP, similaire à celui des Unit Trusts, devrait donner la propriété fiduciaire des actifs au dépositaire. Des éléments de la loi, extérieurs à la structure de la fiducie, qui n’existent pas chez ses homologues latino et anglo-américains, empêchent son fonctionnement normal. Nous proposons de modifier la loi sur la fiducie, sur les FCP et les fonds de titrisation / Anglo-American express private trusts, Latin-American fideicomiso and French fiducia”. Common Law trusts (English, American and Cook Islands) co-exist with civil law domestic trusts (Argentinean, Bolivian and Panamanian fideicomiso and French fiducia). They belong to the Common Law and continental law families respectively and have different structures. Anglo-American express trusts are settled by a settlor (declaration, gift) or by a will that creates an equitable relationship between the trustee and the cestui, whereby both share legal and equitable interests on the trust property. Civil law trusts are settled by a contract between the settlor and the trustee and by a will. Thus, a civil law trust beneficiary has only personal remedies against a trustee in respect of breach of trust. Despite the structural differences, both types of trusts operate in similar ways, due to the transfer of property to the trustee and the separation of the trust property. Testamentary trusts also work in a similar way; forced heirship is an external element of both. Trust managing and investment techniques and practices are also similar: condition precedent and condition subsequent clauses and discretionary trusts and powers are common to both trust models. Separation of the trust property allows for the settlement of protective trusts, trusts for project financing, defeasance and securitization. French Mutual Funds are comparable to Unit Trusts. Both should give legal title to the trustee (custodian). External elements of French law, which do not exist in Anglo or Latin American trusts, restrain the normal operation and use of French fiducia. We propose to modify the fiducia, mutual and securitization funds law.

The topic of Limited Liability Company is a popular issue among the professional public due to the fact that Limited Liability Company belongs to the most favourite and the most widespread companies. This thesis comprehensively explains duties of members of Limited Liability Company in terms of Business Corporations Act and, where appropriate, compares them with those contained in the Commercial Code. After the brief discourse about Limited Liability Company, its nature and its position among the business corporations, the thesis provides characteristics of a share with emphasis on its qualitative aspect. In the second chapter the schemes of duties of members in works of various authors are first of all compared and critically assessed, and subsequently the own division of duties of members is created. A criterion for the division of duties is the fact, whether they are governed by general or special regulation and in the latter whether the duties arise on the basis of the act, or the Memorandum of Association. The characteristics of duties itself is included in the third to sixth chapters, which successively explain the duty of loyalty, the contributory duty, the liability duty, the duty of additional contribution, the duty of personal participation on a company, the duty to contribute to the...

Growing issues such as climate crises, social injustice and neglection of basic human rights have created a new type of consumption, namely ethical consumption. Ethical consumption was initially mainly concerned for environmental issues but has in later years starting to include a variety of pressing issues. Ethical consumption was also initially mainly connected to groups of extremists, but with the increasing availability of ethical products in mainstream outlets, ethical consumption has shifted to be a mainstream consumer game. Mainstream ethical consumption has largely been neglected in previous research where the field is lacking knowledge in form of qualitative behavioral data. Departing from the gap, this study will mainly focus on exploring the motives for ethical consumption in the mainstream consumer segment. We will examine several driving forces in form of altruistic-based motives, egoistic-based motives, and non-value-based motives. However, in order to give this an additional dimension we also want to examine the level of morality of ethical consumption by using five ethical theories. This approach has been overlooked in previous ethical consumption research and it will question the basic assumption that ethical consumption is the morally correct thing to do. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the motivational factors for ethical consumption and through the lens of ethical theories examine the level of morality of this behavior. In order to fulfill this purpose we have conducted a qualitative study within the context of organic groceries in the Swedish market. Organic groceries is a branch of ethical consumption that few studies has examined before, and that applies especially to the Swedish market. 14 mainstream consumers have been interviewed were all of these were frequent buyers of organic groceries. The interviews were conducted in a semi-structured fashion which was then analyzed by the use of thematic analysis. Furthermore, the study was guided by an exploratory inductive approach where subjectivity played a significant part. The results show that ethical consumption is driven by altruistic-based motives in form of social justice, where consumer want their consumption to benefit other. However, it is far from the only motive because ethical consumers are equally driven by egoistic motives. The result show that consumers are driven strongly by the sense of self- satisfaction created by the force of social norms, health and wellbeing, and product quality. This duality of motives creates a paradoxical tension in form of a win-win situation where the consumers strive for both the benefit of self as well as the benefit of others. Furthermore, ethical consumption is driven by habitual behavior where the consumers rely much on mental shortcuts in their purchases. Consumers are also not well- informed about ethical products and labels and therefore rely heavily on mythical benefits. In addition, when examining the level of morality of ethical consumption we can conclude that it is on level between mediocre to high. From a consequentialist and a non- consequentialist perspective the level of morality is fairly high, but from a character-based perspective the morality stumbles.

Este trabalho propõe-se a estudar, mediante abordagem teórica e prática, o regime jurídico das debêntures, tendo em vista as recentes alterações introduzidas pela Lei nº 12.431, de 24 de junho de 2011, que promoveu mudanças significativas em sua disciplina, bem como examinar os problemas e questões atuais das debêntures em um contexto evolutivo da doutrina e dos casos práticos que lhe são submetidos à análise, tendo em vista o uso cada vez mais frequente desse mecanismo de financiamento das sociedades. Busca-se, também, examinar o funcionamento do mercado de debêntures e as novas propostas para incentivar a circulação dos títulos de dívida. Dentre as questões mais controvertidas a serem estudadas neste trabalho, destacam-se as seguintes: (i) evolução da natureza jurídica do instituto, em que as debêntures são vistas como títulos de dívida pertencentes à categoria dos valores mobiliários; (ii) criação do novo mercado de debêntures, como avanço à proposta do Novo Mercado de Renda Fixa; (iii) possibilidade de emissão de debêntures por sociedades limitadas e cooperativas, em razão da ausência de vedação legal e da existência de normas que lhe dão suporte jurídico; (iv) realização de negócios jurídicos com debêntures que vão além da sua função econômica de financiamento da empresa; (v) existência da organização dos debenturistas, em complemento à ideia de comunhão de interesses, tendo em vista o seu caráter orgânico; e, por fim, (vi) se os deveres fiduciários dos administradores se voltariam também aos interesses dos debenturistas, como credores especiais da sociedade emitente. / This work aims to study, through a theoretical and practical approach, the legal system of debentures in view of the recent changes introduced by Law No. 1431, of June 24, 2011, affecting significantly their discipline, and also to examine their current problems and issues within the evolutionary context of the doctrine and the case studies that are submitted to analysis, since the use of this financing mechanism by companies has been increasingly frequent. It also seeks to examine the functioning of the debenture market and the new proposals to stimulate the circulation of debt bonds. Amongst the most controversial issues to be studied in this work, the following are highlighted: (i) the evolution of the legal nature of this institute, in which debentures are seen as debt notes pertaining to the category of securities; (ii) the creation of a new debenture market as an advancement to the proposal of the New Fixed Income Market; (iii) the possibility of limited partnerships and cooperatives issuing debentures in view of the absence of a legal prohibition and the existence of norms that give legal support to it; (iv) the consummation of legal transactions with debentures that go beyond their economic function of business financing; (v) the existence of a debenture holder organization as a complement to the idea of pooling of interests, in view of its organic character; and, finally, (vi) whether the fiduciary duties of the administrators would also accommodate the interests of the debenture holders, while in their position of special creditors to the issuing business.

L’État membre de l’Union européenne a longtemps été occulté des études de droit communautaire, devenu droit de l’Union européenne. Seule l’adaptation interne de l’État était étudiée. Le « retour de l’État » marqué par le traité de Lisbonne invite cependant à penser la place que ce droit accorde à l’État membre. Ce dernier s’intègre en effet dans un ensemble normatif qui comprend un panel de droits et d’obligations réglant les modalités de son appartenance et de sa participation à l’Union européenne. L’étude de cet ensemble normatif, du point de vue de l’ordre juridique de l’Union, permet alors d’identifier deux sous-ensembles, l’un concernant l’appartenance de l’État à l’Union principalement maîtrisé par ce dernier, l’autre concernant sa participation institutionnelle à la production et l’exécution du droit de l’Union, par lequel l’Union instrumentalise l’État membre afin d’assurer l’effectivité de son droit et d’affirmer l’autonomie de son ordre juridique. / Until recently, European studies did not consider the Member State of the European Union. It has mainly been studied from a national point of view. However, the Lisbon treaty suggests that the Member State is not as neglected by European Union law as one could think. The European Union legal order includes a diversity of rights and duties concerning the membership and the participation of the Member State to the European Union. The norms concerning its membership are controlled by the Member State, while the norms concerning its participation are used by the European Union in order to ensure the effectivity and the autonomy of the European legal order.

La régionalisation des droits de l'homme a permis l'adoption de plusieurs instruments juridiques visant à assurer la protection des droits de l'homme. Dans cette optique, l'Afrique s'est dotée en 1981 d'une Charte africaine des droits de l'homme et des peuples. Les rédacteurs de la Charte africaine ont voulu adopter un texte qui tienne compte des spécificités et diversités culturelles du continent. Ainsi à côté des droits de première, deuxième et troisième génération, la Charte africaine consacre les droits des peuples et proclame des devoirs. Le volet institutionnel de la protection des droits de l'homme en Afrique a pris tout son sens avec la création de la Cour africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples. Toutefois, il faut souligner le rôle important qu’a joué et continue à jouer la Commission africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples, organe non juridictionnel, certes, mais qui œuvre pour la promotion des droits de l’homme en Afrique. La place accordée aux droits de l’homme dans les constitutions des États africains est révélatrice de l’intérêt particulier accordé à ces droits. / The decentralization of human rights has favoured the setting up of a number of legal instruments more properly equipped to insure the protection of human rights. With this in view, in 1981 Africa drafted the African Charter of Human and People’s Rights. The authors of the African Charter were anxious to provide a legislation that would take into account the specificities and cultural diversity of their continent. In this way, alongside the rights of first, second and third generations, the African Charter enshrines the rights of her peoples and proclaims their duties. The institutional side of the protection of human rights in African has taken on its full significance with the creation of the African Court of Human and People’s Rights. However, even if the organization has no legal power, we should not underestimate the importance of the role played in its defence of Human rights in Africa by the African Commission of Human and People’s rights. The pride of place given to human rights in the constitutions of African States shows how they prioritize these rights.

En analysant le droit des contrats des administrations françaises, allemandes et européennes ainsi que les évolutions engendrées dans les droits français et allemand par le droit de l’UE, la présente étude met à jour une circulation de modèles entre le droit européen et les droits nationaux. Ces interactions permettent d’étudier comment les paramètres de départ des droits nationaux influencent leur manière d’intégrer les exigences européennes, ce qui permet en retour de tirer des conclusions quant au droit de l’Union lui-même. Dans ce contexte, l’étude des droits français et allemand, antagonistes en matière de contrats de l’administration, leur mise en perspective avec le contrat en droit interne de l’Union et l’analyse des évolutions engendrées par le droit européen, met en lumière que la question de l’articulation entre exorbitance et droit commun est au centre des rapports entre le droit européen et le contrat en tant que moyen d’action des administrations nationales et européennes. / The present study analyzes the law applicable to contracts of French, German and European administrations, as well as evolutions triggered in French and German law by EU law, and brings into focus a circulation of models between EU and national law. These interactions show how the original parameters of national legal orders influence the latters’ way of integrating European requirements, which in return allows drawing conclusions concerning European law itself. In this context, studying French and German law (antagonist models concerning contracts of public administrations), putting them in perspective with contracts in internal EU law and analyzing the evolutions triggered by the impact of EU law, highlights that the issue of the articulation of specific powers and duties of the contracting administration with the contractual obligations of the parties is central in the relationship between European law and contracts as a tool for the action of national and European administrations.