Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Greifswald, 1903. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [7]-8).

This thesis examines the regulation of the direct-to-consumer genetic testing industry through analysis of the industry's use of wrap contracts (clickwrap and browsewrap), A significant portion of the thesis consists of a comparative document review of the publicly available wrap contracts of DTCGT companies provided tests for health purposes. It also considers other regulatory responses to date. Due to the lack of industry specific regulation it argues that the use of wrap contracts can be viewed as a means of industry self-regulation and a form of private legislation. This means that governance is skewed heavily in favour of companies and it creates an imbalance in the respective rights and obligations of the parties - company and consumer - which is likely to result in consumer detriment. It is argued that certain types of terms commonly include in DTCGT contracts, including: unilateral variation clauses; some exclusion clauses; choice of law clauses; indemnity; and consent clauses are likely to be deemed unfair and unenforceable under UK law. It recommends that in the short-term the Competition and Markets Authority should undertake a compliance review of DTCGT contracts in order to improving contracts for consumers. In the long term, companies should also be complying with data protection law, as well as legislation on medical devices and the provisions of the Human Tissue Act and there may be a need for industry specific legislation.

Starting from fifty citations from primary sources, this article tries to summarize a recent doctoral thesis on the transformation of traditional ius commune contract law in moral theological treatises from the early modern Catholic world. Firstly, it will be shown how theologians borrowed from the Romano-canon legal tradition to  develop  moral  doctrine.  Secondly, this contribution will try to demonstrate that the traditional conception of contract was fundamentally changed in the works of the theologians. The conclusion will be that theologians developed a doctrine of contracts which redefined contract on the basis of the autonomy of the will, without remaining insensitive to the political, moral and spiritual context in which the homo viator tried to live a God-pleasing life. / Este artículo pretende ofrecer, empleando medio centenar de fuentes primarias, un resumen de mi tesis doctoral sobre la transformación del derecho de los contratos del ius commune en tratados de teología moral en los albores del mundo católico moderno. Se trata, en principio, de mostrar cómo los teólogos recurrieron a la tradición legal romano-canónica para desarrollar sus doctrinas morales. Luego, esta contribución detallará cómo los teólogos cambiaron sustancialmente la concepción tradicional del contrato, al redefinir el ius commune a partir de la moral cristiana y el derecho natural. La conclusión es que los teólogos elaboraron una doctrina de los contratos que los redefinió sobre la base de la autonomía de la voluntad, sin olvidar el contexto político, moral y espiritual en el que el hombre peregrino trató de vivir una vida consagrada al Señor.

Les acheteurs des droits sociaux sont plus vulnérables que les acheteurs des autres objets, dans la mesure où ils sont plus susceptibles à payer un prix plus élevé que la valeur réelle et que les vendeurs possèdent une aptitude à abuser les actifs immatériels de la société cible après l’achat, principalement par une concurrence avec ladite société cible. La vulnérabilité des acheteurs des droits sociaux doit et peut être résolue par le biais de recourir à des mécanismes conventionnels librement développés par les acheteurs des droits sociaux, avec l’aide de la part de leurs avocats. Cependant, en droit français, la liberté contractuelle nécessaire pour la mise en œuvre des mécanismes conventionnels est limitée par l’intervention légale omniprésente, qui se manifestent principalement de deux façons : d’une part, un acheteur des droits sociaux insatisfaisant est capable d’accéder à la protection de plein droit, et ce même sans aucune clause conventionnelle destinée à ce sujet ; d’autre part, ils sont prohibés ou restreints à stipuler certains types de clauses conventionnelles pour cet objectif. Ainsi, le cœur des discussions entre les auteurs français concernant l’achat des droits sociaux est comment contourner les restrictions légales de la liberté contractuelle et comment tirer pleinement partie de la protection légale de plein droit des acheteurs des droits sociaux. Une comparaison entre le droit français et le droit chinois sur l’achat des droits sociaux montrerait que la préoccupation du droit français sur l’intervention légale ne serait peut-être pas nécessaire sur ce sujet, dans le fait que l’intervention légale est intrinsèquement incompatible avec les caractéristiques des droits sociaux est de lega ferenda doit être supprimée. Au lieu de cela, sur le sujet d’achat des droits sociaux, ce qu’il fallait discuter sont les multiples techniques conventionnelles développées dans l’objectif de résoudre la vulnérabilité inhérente des acheteurs des droits sociaux. De ce fait, une comparaison entre les techniques conventionnelles des deux pays serait donc effectuée. / Buyers of shares are more vulnerable than buyers of other objects to the extent that they are more prone to pay a price much higher than the “real” value; and that the sellers have an aptitude to usurp the intangible assets of the target company after the purchase, mainly through a competition with the said target company. The vulnerability of the buyers of shares should and is able to be solved by resorting to conventional mechanisms freely developed by the buyers and shares, with the help of their attorneys. However, under French law, the contractual liberty necessary for an effective implementation of the conventional mechanisms, is restricted by omnipresent legal interventions, mainly manifested in two ways: for one thing, an unsatisfactory buyer of shares is able to get protected de plein droit, even without any conventional clauses to this end. For another, they are prohibited or restricted to stipulate certain kinds of conventional clauses for the very purpose. Accordingly, the focus of French discussions when it comes to purchase of shares is on how to bypass the legal restrictions on the contractual liberty and how to make a full use of the legal protections of the buyers of shares de plein droit. A comparison of the French law with Chinese law concerning purchase of shares will show that the French concerns of the legal interventions when it comes to purchase of shares, might to some extent be unnecessary, in that the legal interventions are inherently incompatible with the originalities of shares and de lega ferenda should be abandoned. Instead, under the topic of purchase of shares, what should be discussed is the multiple conventional techniques developed aiming at solving the inherent vulnerability of the buyers of shares; and a comparison of the conventional techniques in the two countries will be accordingly conducted.

Le droit des sociétés prévoit un régime de nullité dérogatoire du droit commun, applicable aux actes et délibérations de la société. Cependant, l’accroissement du contentieux, encouragé par des textes particulièrement sibyllins, et l’important travail d’interprétation fourni par la jurisprudence révèlent manifestement l’insuffisance des dispositions actuelles. C’est ce que nous nous proposons de constater dans une première partie. L’imperfection des textes apparait dès l’étude du domaine du droit spécial, les notions d’acte et de délibération ne permettant pas d’en tracer correctement les contours. L’analyse des causes de nullité confirme les lacunes du droit positif. Le système des nullités, reposant sur une distinction infondée entre violation d’une disposition expresse et violation d’une disposition impérative, soulève d’inextricables difficultés. L’imprévisibilité des solutions est du reste renforcée par une politique jurisprudentielle instable, tantôt audacieuse, tantôt rigoureuse. Dans le même sens, l’étude des règles processuelles, gouvernant l’action en nullité et le prononcé de la sanction, met en évidence la confusion entourant le régime des nullités sociales. Tous ces maux nous conduisent à une même conclusion : la nécessité d’une réforme. Fort de ce constat, nous proposons dans une seconde partie les moyens d’une éventuelle réforme. Pour rendre la matière plus lisible et plus prévisible, il nous faut redéfinir le domaine des nullités sociales mais aussi simplifier et moderniser les règles de nullité, au regard des mutations ayant marqué le droit des sociétés ces dernières années. Au demeurant, l’équilibre du système de nullités des décisions sociales suppose de repenser les règles processuelles, dans l’optique de juguler le contentieux et d’inhiber les effets perturbateurs de la sanction sur le fonctionnement de la société. / The company law provides for a special nullity system, applicable to acts and décisions of the company. However, the increase of litigation, reinforced by abstruse rules, and the different jurisprudential interpretations, highlights the inadequacy of the current rules. This is what we propose to demonstrate in the first part. The imperfection of the rules appears as soon as the field of the special law is studied. The analysis of grounds of nullity confirms the shortcomings of the positive law. The system of nullity, based on the distinction between violation of an express provision and violation of an imperative provision, causes inextricable difficulties. The unpredictability of solutions is strengthened by an unstable caselaw. Moreover, the study of the process by means of a court declaring the nullity of an defective act or decision leads to the same negative comments. Taking the imperfection of positive law into account, we conclude the need for legal reform. Accordingly, we propose in the second part the means of a possible reform. To make the rules easier to understand, we have to redefine the field of the nullity system but also to simplify and modernize the rules, according to transformations which have marked the company law in recent years. Finally, a comprehensive reform of the nullity system implies the rebuilding of the procedural rules, in order to decrease litigation and to reduce the disruptive effects of the sanction on the company.

Landscape and related environmental works are discussed as an integral and essential aspect of most land development projects, whether they are building or civil works, environmental protection, rehabilitation or landscape beautification. Problematic contractual issues that regularly arise in landscape contracting from the use of standard forms of construction contracts for pre-main contract, in-main contract and post-main contract landscape work are identified and discussed. These forms of contracts have essentially been written for traditional building and engineering works and are shown to be inadequately addressing the unique contractual aspects relating to landscaping works. The study focuses on the issues to be addressed in a contract between an employer and a landscape contractor for work to be undertaken before the main construction contractor has been appointed and on landscape subcontract work undertaken during the construction under the main contract. It addresses the problems surrounding the contractual practical termination of the landscape subcontract, the defects liability period and interim landscape maintenance as well as landscape maintenance work after the landscape installation has reached final completion. The study points towards an appropriate form of contract for use in conjunction with the JBCC contract system to provide for the particular requirements of landscape contracting. It indicates the necessary compatibility between landscape subcontractual requirements and the JBCC Nominated/Selected Subcontract Agreement. This required compatibility warrants a revision of or an addendum to the JBCC document. The requirements for a landscape maintenance contract, for use after termination of the landscape installation (sub)contract, are shown to be sufficiently different from the installation contract to warrant changes or addenda to the standard construction contract form. From a review of literature on the landscape contractual environment in South Africa and a study of contracts commonly used in South Africa, pertinent landscape contractual issues are identified for the three phases in which landscape and related environmental works are performed, i.e. before the main construction contract, during the main construction contract and during the landscape maintenance period after completion of the main contract. These issues are formalised and tested for validity and relevance by means of a survey conducted amongst developers and owners of building and engineering works, contractors and professional consultants. The research is summarised, findings and conclusions for each of the three landscape works phases are presented and recommendations made to address the confirmed contractual problematic issues. The survey confirms the JBCC suite of contracts as the most widely used for landscaping contracts in South Africa and the recommendations therefore focus thereon. The study concludes with a proposal for an addendum to the JBCC’s Nominated/Selected Subcontract Agreement entitled “General and specific conditions of subcontract for landscape and related works” and recommendations for further study of related issues identified in the survey but which fall outside the focus of this study. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Architecture / unrestricted

There is an urgent need and constitutional imperative to expedite land reform in South Africa to maintain peace and stability. Against this backdrop, the Presidential Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture ("the Panel"), in its Final Report dated 4 May 2019, gave input on a proposed constitutional amendment that would permit expropriation of land without compensation ("EWC") to take place in South Africa. Taking the Panel's work into account, Parliament then gazetted a Bill setting out proposed amendments to section 25 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 ("the Constitution"). Significantly, the proposed Bill contemplates the first ever amendments to the Bill of Rights in the Constitution since the dawn of democracy in South Africa. Although the proposed Bill and its associated draft, enabling legislation have put in motion the process to introduce EWC in South Africa, it is uncertain what the key legal consequences of doing so will be. It is particularly uncertain what the key legal consequences of introducing EWC in South Africa will be in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on South Africa's economy. This dissertation addresses what some of the key legal consequences of EWC will be. It highlights the myriad of procedural and substantive constitutional legal challenges that await the proposed Bill and its associated enabling legislation. It then analyses the impact of EWC on common law property rights and the law of contract before addressing the impact of EWC on lenders and borrowers where a mortgaged property is the target of an EWC process. Finally, this dissertation addresses the potentially significant and unintended tax consequences that EWC will have on taxpayers and the fiscus and which may, in fact, benefit some of South Africa's wealthiest land owners. / Mini-dissertation (LLM (Mercantile Law))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Mercantile Law / LLM (Mercantile Law) / Unrestricted

Participant d'un mouvement global d'élaboration du droit par des organismes privés, la Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs Conseils (FIDIC) élabore et diffuse les contrats FIDIC. Il s'agit de contrats-types utilisés dans les grands projets de construction internationaux par les acteurs du secteur de la construction internationale. Les contrats FIDIC participent à la transnationalisation du droit applicable à ces projets. Cette transnationalisation pose la question de l'existence d'une lex constructionis, dérivée spécifique de la lex mercatoria.Pour répondre à la question de l'existence de la lex constructionis, l'auteur procède à l'étude de la formation et de l'application des contrats FIDIC. / The FIDIC ContractsThe International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC), participating in a global trend of creation of the rule of law by private organizations, elaborates and issues the FIDIC contracts. These contracts are standards widely used in major international constructionn projects by the main actors of international construction market. The FIDIC contracts participate to the transnationalization of the applicable law to such major projects. This transnationalization raises the question of the existence of a lex constructionis, a specific derivative of the lex mercatoria. In order to answer the question of the existence of the lex constructionis, the author procedes to the study of the formation and the application of the FIDIC contracts.

Après le contrat, que reste-t-il ? La réponse la plus spontanée est qu'il ne reste rien, sinon un souvenir évanescent et le retour à la liberté. Pourtant, l’étude du droit des contrats montre le contraire. L’extinction laisse subsister des intérêts économiques qui doivent être protégés. Il n’est d’ailleurs pas anodin de constater une prise de conscience des parties et des rédacteurs d’actes : un regain de prudence a commandé le développement des clauses postcontractuelles. Mais, même en l’absence de telles stipulations, une régulation existe, formant des après-contrats standardisés par le législateur, ou encadrés par le juge. Une véritable optimisation du droit de l’extinction est observable, dont le but est de maximiser les bénéfices apportés par l’exécution ou par l’effet extinctif, mais aussi de minimiser les risques succédant à l’extinction. Le contrat apparaît ainsi sous la forme d’une institution sociale devant prendre en compte le contexte dans lequel l’opération économique se développe, au service de la relation inter partes, laquelle transcende la seule durée de la convention. Soulignant la dimension relationnelle de la convention, l’après-contrat permet de remettre le contrat en perspective dans sa somme existentielle, c’est-à-dire en tant qu’expérience totalisant la période précontractuelle, l’exécution et le temps postcontractuel. Dans la compréhension de cette trilogie, le terme extinctif marque un repère qui tire son utilité d’une double nature : il clôt une durée (critère temporel) et signe un ordre de bouleversement dans le sort des obligations (critère substantiel). / Does anything remain after the end of a contract? Generally, we easily believe that the relationship between economic partners and the duration of their contract stop at the same time. But this belief is built on a simplistic vision of the real economic world. When the contract duration is over, some economic interest must be preserved. That is why wise partners anticipate a follow-up to the extinguished contract, by stipulating postcontractual obligations. But, even if there is no anticipation, a regulation does exist with standard legal rules or judges’ framework. A real optimization of the contract law is expanding, to maximize the benefits arising from the contractual experience and minimize the risks led by the postcontractual freedom. That is how the Contract shows a specific aspect: it becomes a social institution which considers its economic context, serving the relational dimension of the partnership. Definitely, the relationship between the partners can last above the duration of the contractual instrument. By this way, the post-contract put into perspective the contract in an existential addition which is composed of three parts: the precontractual, the execution and the postcontractual time periods. In this configuration, the term is seen as a mark which encloses a duration (temporal criterion) and turns the contractual obligation (substantial criterion). Indeed, the post-contract nature is dual, contractual and extracontractual at the same time. That is why we will treat our subject from both and complementary criterions, saying that the post-contract is a time period out of the contract, whereas it shows concurrently the contract out of its own duration.

The objective of this thesis paper is to investigate whether if smart contracts concluded on a blockchain are recognized as contracts under Swedish law. This is done by analyzing two fictional examples of concluded smart contracts. The study shows that smart contracts may indeed be recognized as contracts as they fulfill mechanisms for concluding contracts that are regulated in the Swedish Contracts Act, such as offer-acceptance. Smart contracts may also be concluded on mechanisms that are not directly regulated by the Contracts Act, these include tacit agreements and standard form of contracts. The objective also includes discussions regarding certain legal issues that are raised by the blockchain and smart contracts. For instance, what problems an immutable blockchain may pose for the possibility to recall an offer or acceptance stated in the Contracts Act. Another aspect that may also potentially prove troublesome is the smart contracts self-fulfillment. This is because they can facilitate the automatic fulfillment of contracts that are null and void due to the fact that they comprise illegal or immoral undertakings.