No abstract available / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

This dissertation studies three different aspects linked to the literature on self-enforcing dynamic contracts. Namely, this dissertation examines how a solution to this type of economic models may be obtained numerically, how important enforcement issues might be for a common question in economics, and how the presence of self-enforcing constraints may be investigated empirically. It is composed of three essays. The first essay develops a numerical method designed to approximate the solution of models with self-enforcing constraints using a dynamic programming approach. This method may also be used to approximate the solution of general dynamic models with occasionally binding inequality constraints. It complements standard value function iteration algorithm with an interpolation scheme which preserves the concavity and the monotonicity of the value function. It has the advantage over usual value function iteration algorithms of procuring a reasonable degree of accuracy at a relatively lower computational cost. The second essay uses dynamic contract theory to analyze the joint behavior of investment decisions and financial flows when contracts between lenders and borrowers are subject to enforcement constraints. In contrast to the usual belief that financing constraints lead firms to underinvest, this essay shows that firms are likely to overinvest. While overinvestment is shown to be consistent with the empirical finding that investment spending is excessively sensitive to variations in internal funds' abundance, it does not give rise to a financial accelerator. The key feature of this model is that firms' production and financial capacities are simultaneously determined. Firms overinvest when external funds are relatively inexpensive if they apprehend the possibility of becoming financially constrained in the future. By increasing their production capacity in such a way, firms alleviate eventual shortages of funds arising from the fact that external finance has become limited. Finally, the third essay studies how a common implication arising from the literature on self-enforcing contracts may be tested empirically. A key feature of a long-term self-enforcing contract is that the quantity subject to its terms evolves over time according to a simple updating rule; it is set to its full-enforcement level whenever doing so does not induce one of the agents to renege. Otherwise, it is set to a self-enforcing level. Using the example of Thomas and Worrall's (1988) labor contract model (to which productivity growth is added), it is shown that this updating rule may be expressed as an endogenous switching-regression model. Panel data may be used to estimate this model. When there are measurement errors, Monte-Carlo experiments show that the switchingregression model usually has a poor goodness of fit in small data sets. However, despite this finding, tests of the null hypothesis that conventional contract models generate the data under scrutiny still have a high power against the alternative hypothesis that this data is characterized by the presence of enforcement constraints. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

Thomas Hobbes is equally famous for his description of society without government being a perpetual war and his insistence that said war can be avoided if individuals come together and agree to create and obey a government. Unfortunately for Hobbes, the solution is not as simple as he portrays it to be. One problem is that Hobbes fails to explain how individuals will choose who will be a part of the newly created government. Without a compelling answer to this question, Hobbes cannot describe how individuals escape the perpetual violence and enter into a State. This thesis is an attempt to provide a sufficiently compelling answer to this problem. Though this problem has been addressed by other scholars including Jean Hampton and Peter Vanderschraaf, this thesis differs from previous inquiries by focusing on the role that the qualifications of candidates for sovereign play in an agreement being reached.

Background:  Leader member exchange (LMX) theory focuses on the different associations established by the leaders with their followers through a system of exchanges (high quality and low exchanges), whereas a psychological contract is a tacit agreement between the employer and employee and comprises of employee's beliefs regarding the mutual obligations between the employee and an employer. Since an organization communicates and negotiates through its representatives which indicates people in managerial positions, it is meaningful to draw that the relationship quality between employee and their supervisors may affect the tacit agreement between the employee and organization. Though prior integration of Leader Member Exchange theory and Psychological contract has established the link between these two area of literature, as well as LMX dimensions to Psychological contract fulfilment, there is no empirical study taken place in Asia where Anand, Hu, Liden and Vidyarthi (2011) once observed that LMX and its dimensions may operate differently in more collectivistic and higher power distance cultures. Therefore, this research aims to examine the two main aspects of literature in one of the leading construction management of Asia located in Vietnam.   Research questions: Does LMX improve psychological contracts between the organization and the employees? Sub-research question: What is the effect of LMX dimensions on psychological contract fulfilment? Is there any right mix of LMX dimensions in the organization that positively affects the psychological contract?   Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the interaction effects of leader-member exchange (LMX) and its dimensions on psychological contracts in one specific organization, in other words, it investigates to answer if the different quality exchanges between the leaders/managers with employees support to enhance better mutual obligations between them and give negative or positive effects to the psychological contracts. Secondly, it figures out what exactly is the effect of LMX dimensions on psychological contract fulfilment. Practically, it is to help the researchers and practitioners recognize the increasingly important role of psychological contract which is normally unwritten in formal contract but otherwise gives huge negative influence which results in losing employee’s retention and loyalty. Accordingly, by generating “leader-member exchange” more effectively, the leaders will distribute and/or exchange resources toward the employees better which results in better employee retention and talent management strategies, directly contributing to the organization’s long term sustainable development.   Theoretical framework:  Articles were used for this thesis were meticulously chosen, focusing on reliable sources and quality content that cover the theoretical background of both main research area of Psychological contracts and Leader-Member Exchange during their historical research until recent. Particular information of the empirical organization and the related industry were brought from the organization and related reports and professional analysis from industry experts.   Method: This is a cross-sectional study whose methodology choice is a Mixed methods research which inquires the involvement of both quantitative and qualitative data, integrating these two forms of data with narrative analysis. The data was collected from a construction management organization consists of 385 employees. It adopted interpretivism philosophy in order to create new, richer understandings and interpretations of issues related to social worlds and context, in particular exploring the issue of whether LMX theory have an influence on psychological contracts fulfilment. It follows a deductive reasoning as its main approach.   Discussion and Conclusion: Based on the results of respondents’ surveys and the interpretation of the attendants from Focus Group, the discussion was structured and analyzed in line with the structure of the theoretical framework. The study reveals that the psychological contract fulfillment depends not only on the right combination of LMX dimensions and the concern of those most important dimensions but also the distinct characteristics of the organization which concern about their organization behavior and industry features. The study also provides solutions to leaders in order to overcome the problems associated with LMX that can lead to psychological contract breach.   Originality/Value – This is the first study that focuses on examining the effect of LMX and its dimensions on psychological contract fulfilment in an Asian country.

This research deals with an evaluation of the standard form procurement contracts in the South African Police Services ,which is a government department. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Private Law / LLM / Unrestricted

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The aim of this (diploma) thesis is to compare the withdrawal from a contract according to the Civil Code on one hand and the Commercial Code on the other hand. In addition to this aim the thesis compares the withdrawal from a contract and the dismissal of a contract and critically deals with contemporary valid legislation. This thesis reminds a judicial development of this institute. Mentioning all the above aspects it evaluates legislation of withdrawal from a contract in the new Civil Code. Providing of all these aspects this thesis tries to help to map the developing statement at the final stage of transformation of Czech civil law and to collect crucial issues to evaluate the given thesis. The thesis analyses several aspects of the withdrawal from a contract - conditions of its application, reasons and consequences of this withdrawal and a limitation of actions. In addition it examines a cancellation fee as a special consequence of the withdrawal from contract. After a detailed investigation of legislation in the Civil Code and in the Commercial Code it emerged that the legislation in the Commercial Code is more precise and closer to a modern conception of contractual law. Considering modern contractual law legislation in the new Civil Code could also be positively evaluated. It has been...

of the Master thesis This Master thesis deals with an institute of the Czech contract law - kauza (causa). The example of kauza (and consideration) illustrate the tendency of legal systems to keep institutes once they have been created, even at the cost of inconsistent changes in their definition, purpose or function. The original meaning of the institutes is continuously blurred which makes it difficult to assess whether their use in the current legal system is substantiated. The main purpose of the thesis is to contribute to a clarification of the real function of kauza in the Czech contract law. Unlike in foreign legal publications, kauza is rather marginalized in Czech legal writings. Authors that deal with the problems of kauza (at least to some extend) often come to mutually exclusive/ inconsistent conclusions. The classical doctrine of causa makes little sense in the consensual concept of contract that seems to be favored in the Czech legal theory. Namely, the requirement of kauza appears to be additional to a requirement of consensus of the parties. Such theoretical discrepancy may be one of the reasons why the meaning of kauza in the Czech law is still unclear. Contract theories facilitate a deeper understanding of contracts, contract law and its particular institutes. However, the Czech...

Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka upplevelser av psykologiska kontraktsbrott hos arbetstagare. Särskilt intressant har varit att belysa hur kontraktsbrotten har uppstått, hur arbetstagarens känslor och beteenden har påverkats, samt om det har gått att återupprätta brutna kontrakt. Ett målinriktat bekvämlighetsurval gjordes (n=10). Av dessa var fem män och fem kvinnor i olika åldrar. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med arbetstagare från olika organisationer, som på ett eller annat sätt haft erfarenheter av psykologiska kontraktsbrott. En innehållsanalys användes för att analysera det empiriska materialet. Resultatet visade att olika kontraktsbrott orsakats på grund av hög arbetsbelastning och brister i chefens kommunikation samt ledarskap. Konsekvenser av brotten var minskad arbetsglädje, lojalitet och motivation, samt ilska och irritation. Engagemang och effektivitet minskade hos arbetstagarna och de blev mer benägna att söka andra arbeten. Studien visade att chefen hade en central roll i återupprättandet av brutna kontrakt.

Esta pesquisa tem, por hipótese, a morte da culpa na responsabilidade contratual e, por objeto, aferir se o aludido elemento subjetivo pode (ou não) ser suprimido da arquitetura jurídica da responsabilidade contratual. Vale resgatar que, se é certo não sem vozes em sentido oposto que, em muitos momentos, o direito contratual não reservou papel algum à culpa, em outros tantos instantes, na visão da doutrina majoritária, ela continua a brilhar como em seus momentos de maior esplendor. A tese estrutura-se em quatro capítulos, metodologicamente alinhados às correntes pós-positivistas do Direito e projetados a partir de uma matriz teórica-crítica em busca da compreensão do fenômeno jurídico recortado para fins de investigação. Em um primeiro momento, explora-se a travessia da responsabilidade civil para o direito de danos. Nesse percurso, (a) analisa-se o contexto em que exsurgem as primeiras codificações; (b) identificam-se as balizas utilizadas pelo Estado Liberal na configuração do dever de reparar; e (c) demonstra-se que os mitos erigidos no Liberalismo perderam sua utilidade no processo de conformação da responsabilidade contratual contemporânea. O caminho conduziu também (d) à compreensão sobre o papel dos princípios constitucionais na intelecção do fenômeno obrigacional; (e) à percepção das razões pelas quais a Modernidade fora deixada para trás; (f) à identificação das principais características da contemporaneidade; e (g) à percepção das consequências mais visíveis da ruptura do paradigma Moderno na conformação da responsabilidade contratual. No capítulo subsequente, identifica-se que a existência de um contrato, a presença de uma conduta antijurídica e de um dano a ela atado por uma relação de causa e efeito são os pressupostos do dever de reparar. Nesse mesmo capítulo, a relação obrigacional é explorada tanto em perspectiva estática, como em perspectiva dinâmica. Em um terceiro momento, promove-se a análise da ascensão e declínio da culpa na conformação do dever de reparar. Demonstra-se ainda que a noção de culpa é uma só e que não há razão que justifique classificar as obrigações como de meio ou de resultado. No último capítulo, restando provado que a culpa perdeu sua razão de ser, demonstra-se por que seu lugar há de ser ocupado pela confiança. Demonstra-se, enfim, por que o contrato que hoje obriga é o contrato justo. A conclusão da morte da culpa na responsabilidade contratual encerra mesmo que provisoriamente esta tese de doutoramento. / This research considers the hypothesis of guilt death within the contract responsibility and it aims at assessing if the mentioned subjective element may (or may not) be abolished from the legal architecture of the contract responsibility. It is worth rescuing that, if it is right not without opposite voices that, in many moments, the contract law did not reserve any role to guilt, upon several other moments, under the view of the majority doctrine, it continues to glow like in its moments of highest splendor. The thesis structure comprises four chapters. Grounded on a post-positivist theoretical matrix, at the first moment, one exploits the transition from civil responsibility onto the right to claim damages. Along this course, (a) one analyzes the context where the first code applications ex-surge; (b) one identifies the markers utilized by the Liberal State in the configuration of the repair duty; and (c) one demonstrates that the myths raised in the Liberalism have lost their utility within the conformation process of the contemporaneous contract responsibility. The path also led (d) to the understanding about the role of the constitution principles in the intellectual seizure of the duty phenomenon; (e) to the perception of the roots whereby Modernity has been left behind; (f) to the identification of the main features of contemporaneousness; and (g) to the perception of the most visible consequences deriving from the rupture of the Modern paradigm upon the conformation of the contract responsibility. In the subsequent chapter, one identifies that the existence of a contract as well as the presence of an anti-juridical conduct and of a damage attached to it by a causeeffect relation are the presuppositions of the repair duty. In this same chapter, the duty relation is exploited both under the static perspective and the dynamic one. At a third moment, one promotes the analysis of the guilt rise and decline upon the conformation of the repair duty. One evidences, yet, that the notion of guilt is just one. Thus, there is no reason that justifies classifying the duties into those of care and of outcome. Having proved that guilt has lost its rationale, in the last chapter, one demonstrates why its place ought to be taken by confidence. Finally, one demonstrates why the contract that nowadays obliges is the fair one. The conclusion drawn as to the guilt death in the contract responsibility closes although provisionally this PhD thesis.