This thesis explores the making of Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code in 1925 (‘Code of 1925’), especially the drafting method the draftsmen employed, and ascertains how the use of this method affected Thai lawyers’ understanding of rules and concepts of the Code. The Code of 1925 emerged from a period in which Thailand was under threat from colonisation by Western powers. As a result of a number of unbalanced commercial treaties between the Thai and foreign governments, the jurisdictional sovereignty of the country had been eroded by consular jurisdiction and the principle of extraterritoriality. These ‘unfair treaties’ forced the Thai government to establish a modern legal system as part of its attempts to recover full judicial autonomy. The work of codification of civil and commercial law, which began in 1908 under the direction of French draftsmen, produced the desired result in 1925 only after Phraya Manavarajasevi (Plod na Songkhla) became involved. Plod was instrumental in replacing the French Code civil with the BGB of 1900 as the principal model and introducing the Japanese Civil Code of 1898 (‘Minpō’) and the ‘copying method’ which he referred to as the ‘Japanese method’ to the new Thai-dominated drafting committee. The Japanese Code and the ‘Japanese method’ were chosen owing to Plod’s belief that the Japanese had established their civil code by copying the BGB. This thesis shows that Alan Watson’s theory of legal transplants is well suited for explaining this type of legal development: the draftsmen copied the wording of English translations of provisions of the BGB and the Minpō without much concern about their conceptual foundations. They finished their task within seven months. But Watson’s contention that successful legal borrowing does not require ‘a systematic knowledge of the law’ must be approached with great caution. Plod was misled by a secondary source he consulted into believing that the Minpō was practically a copy of the BGB. In reality, the Japanese Code was influenced by a variety of foreign laws, including German and French law. The drafting committee’s lack of knowledge about the rules and concepts they borrowed and the method they adopted led to difficulties in interpreting the rules and concepts in question. This is illustrated in this thesis by a case study of the legal rules in the Code of 1925 on specific performance. Most of the Thai provisions concerning non-performance and remedies for non-performance were copied from the BGB, but two important rules concerning the rights to performance and damages (Articles 213 and 215) came from the Minpō. These provisions were mainly influenced by French law, but Plod and most likely other Thai draftsmen erroneously believed that they were of German origin. The text of these two articles clearly put specific performance and damages as remedies for non-performance on equal footing. The consequence of this is that Thai academics who maintain that specific performance is the primary remedy for nonperformance have struggled to justify this point of view. Whenever they expound on the principle of the primacy of specific performance in Thai law, Thai writers produce contradictory statements because the wording of Articles 213 and 215 forces them to accept that the creditor in case of non-performance has the right to choose between specific performance and damages. This thesis shows that legal borrowing without a proper use of comparative law and legal history and a systematic knowledge of the law borrowed can lead to undesirable results. Thai lawyers must employ comparative and historical methods when discovering the true character of the Thai rules and concepts. With the help of these methods, they may find common ground in legal concepts and resolve some theoretical problems.

The thesis studies the influence of the French Civil Code of 1804 on the civil codes of Quebec (the Civil Code of Lower Canada of 1866), Louisiana (the Civil Code of the State of Louisiana of 1825) and Francophone Switzerland (civil codes of cantons of Vaud of 1821, Valais of 1843-1855, Neuchâtel of 1853-1855, Fribourg of 1834-1850 as well as the French Civil Code as applied in two Swiss territories: the Canton of Geneva and Bernese Jura from 1804 until 1912). The study is focused not only on the reception of the positive law of one country by the positive law of another, but also on the reception of the legal tradition of one society by another. The study focuses on the modifications that the same law undergoes under different social and political conditions that exist within different nations. As it is impossible to examine all the provisions of the codes in question the research focuses only on the reception of the second book of the French Code “Of Property, and the Different Modifications of Ownership”. The study shows that, the reception of the French Civil Code took place in societies that were at different stages of their economic development, with varying political landscape, and with divergent cultural and religious values. In all jurisdictions the reception of the French Code was a creative, well thought-out enterprise that took into account local particularities and interests as well as historical sources of local law. Codifiers were not afraid of rejecting certain provisions of the French law if they found them unsuitable for their society. Nor were they afraid of keeping institutions that were abandoned in France itself if they found them pertinent to their countries.

Internationally, shipping, boating and ancillary services are seen as significant contributors to degradation of the marine environment, affecting water quality, habitats and coastal amenity. As a result, it is important to ensure good practice with regard to safety issues when discharging or handling such wastes while vessels are in the port's jurisdiction. The international standards for regulating the prevention of marine pollution through ship generated waste are clearly outlined primarily in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 ("UNCLOS") and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships1973 as amended by the Protocol of 1978 ("MARPOL 73/78"). The proposed study will explore compliance to MARPOL 73/78 Convention's requirement for governments to ensure the provision of adequate port reception facilities capable of receiving ship board residues and mixtures, containing oil, noxious liquids or garbage, without causing undue delay. The paper further reviews the implementation of the Conventions in the European Union and South Africa as it aims to provide a profile of the availability of waste reception facilities to assess their effectiveness in addressing the problem of marine pollution through ship generated waste. It is concluded that a variety of South African legislation is also applicable to marine pollution, but inadequately enforced. Further, that there was a considerable range of legislation intended to protect the North Sea and European waters in general from marine pollution but marine pollution from vessels is still considered to be a significant problem. In conclusion, it is recommended that South Africa should urgently develop effective mechanisms to monitor the enforcement oflegislation adequately. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Le droit haïtien appartient, de manière formelle, au système de droit écrit. Au lendemain de l'Indépendance, le droit Français va servir de modèle pour Haïti. Depuis lors, cet héritage de la codification n'a pas été repensé. Si en apparence, le droit haïtien succombe ainsi à une sorte de mimétisme juridique, l'existence d'un droit coutumier et informel supplée en fait à la transposition maladroite du modèle Français. Cette modernisation retardée constitue un handicap sérieux à l'avènement d'un État de droit indispensable au développement socio-économique du pays.Cette thèse, conçue comme une sorte de guide dédié à la construction d'un nouveau droit haïtien, vise à jeter les bases permettant d'adapter le « droit officiel », encore souvent imposé et trop fréquemment ineffectif, avec des pratiques sociales efficientes qui jouent un rôle indéniable de régulation de la société.La première partie révèle ainsi qu'en Haïti, la réception du droit Français est intervenue dans sa généralité, sans tenir compte de facteurs sociologiques cependant déterminants. La seconde partie démontre qu'en dépit de l'inadaptation et de l'application incomplète du modèle Français, se dessinent désormais les conditions d'un nouveau modèle juridique. Érigé sur les fondations léguées par l'Histoire, ce nouveau modèle, dont la thèse réunit les premiers linéaments, est le produit de l'association des enseignements de la tradition et des progrès récents de la législation française avec l'apport d'instruments juridiques internationaux ratifiés par Haïti, dans un contexte d'intégration régionale rendue chaque jour plus nécessaire face aux défis de la mondialisation du droit. / Haitian law belongs, formally, to the system of written law. In the aftermath of Independence, the French law will serve as a model for Haiti. Since then, the legacy of the coding has not been redesigned. If seemingly Haitian law succumbs to a kind of legal mimicry, the existence of customary and informal law compensates actually the clumsy transposition of the French model. This delayed modernization is a serious handicap to the advent of the rule of law which is critical to the socio-economic development of the country.This thesis, as a kind of guide dedicated to the construction of a new Haitian law, aims to lay the foundation allowing the adaptation of the "official law" and still often imposed and too often ineffective, with efficient social practices that play an undeniable regulation role in the society.The first part reveals that in Haiti, the reception of the French law has intervened in its generality, regardless of critical sociological factors, that are however important. The second part shows that despite the maladjustment and incomplete application of the French model, the conditions of a new legal model are now emerging. Built on the foundations left by history, this new model, which the thesis meets the first lineaments, is the outcome of the combination of the teachings of tradition and recent progress of the French legislation with the provision of international legal instruments ratified by Haiti in the context of regional integration rendered every day more necessary to considering the challenges of globalization of law.

La réception du contrat de crédit-bail par le droit positif irakien n’a pas besoin d’une acculturation qui prendrait la forme de la soumission ou de l’assimilation aux règles juridiques ayant été élaborées dans un environnement juridique différent. Afin d’être accueilli par le droit positif irakien, le contrat de crédit-bail doit passer par la réception des modèles français, américain, islamique dans le système juridique irakien pour y former un droit mixte d’application spéciale. Pour fournir une explication bien satisfaisante pour la réception d’un modèle du contrat de crédit-bail dans l’ordre juridique irakien, il est indispensable de chercher des propositions plus spécifiques s’agissant la sélection des normes juridiques ; l’ajustement entre les normes empruntées et le système juridique dans lequel ils doivent être reçus ; et les relations entre les deux cultures juridiques. Le législateur irakien ne peut se limiter à une simple copie, car il doit veiller à établir des lois qui sont le reflet de la mentalité et de la culture juridique irakienne. Il est donc indispensable d’explorer plus à fond les forces qui motivent la réception du contrat de crédit-bail par le droit positif irakien : la recherche d’un système juridique, culture juridique, et culture fiscale adéquate. Cette analyse ouvre des perspectives nouvelles et soulève toute une série de questions, étudiées à la lumière des droits français, américain et irakien. Les points soulevés par la première partie de notre thèse montrent bien les stratégies, les démarches et les principaux obstacles de la transplantation indirecte des normes juridiques ayant été élaborées dans un environnement non islamique. C’est donc à l’analyse de la réception indirecte des normes juridiques applicables au contrat de crédit-bail que la première partie de la thèse est consacrée. À côté de la réception indirecte des normes juridiques applicables du contrat de crédit-bail, une transplantation directe des normes comptables et fiscales est indispensable pour la réception du contrat de crédit-bail par le droit positif irakien. L’enjeu de la réception d’un point de vue comptable et fiscal sera dès lors multiple : d’une part, un rapprochement entre le droit comptable, fiscal français et le droit fiscal, comptable irakien est souhaitable et recherché. D’autre part, un rapprochement entre le droit comptable, fiscal américain, ayant été inspiré par les normes comptables et fiscales internationales, et le droit fiscal, comptable irakien est faisable. C’est la compatibilité et l’harmonisation qui sont recherchées. C’est donc à l’analyse de la réception directe des normes comptables et fiscales applicables au contrat de crédit-bail que la deuxième partie de la thèse est consacrée. / The receipt of the contract of finance lease in Iraqi positive law does not need an acculturation which would take the shape of submission or the assimilation to the legal rules having been elaborate in a different legal environment. To be integrated into Iraqi substantive law, the contract of finance lease must pass through the transplantation of French, American and Islamic models in the Iraqi legal system to form mixed law of special enforcement. To provide a satisfactory explanation for the adoption of a model of the contract of finance lease in the Iraqi legal system, it is essential to go beyond the often articulated approaches to legal changes. Seeking more specific proposals regarding the selection of legal innovation sources; the fit between the rules borrowed and the system in which they must be received, and the relationships between sectors of the two legal systems. The Iraqi legislator can not be limited a simple copy, because it must be sure to establish laws that are a reflection of the mentality and the Iraqi legal culture. It is therefore essential to further explore the forces that motivate the receipt of finance lease and defines its scope: the search for a legal system, legal culture, tax culture that is perceived as authentic or adequate. This analysis opens up new perspectives and raises a series of questions examined in the light of French, American and Iraqi rights. The points raised by the first part of this thesis show of strategies, approaches and the main obstacles of indirect legal transplantation of rules that have been developed in a non-Islamic environment. So the analysis of indirect receipt legal standards applicable to the contract of finance lease that the first part of the thesis is devoted. Next to the indirect receipt legal rules applicable of the contract of finance lease, a direct transplantation of accounting and tax standards is essential to receipt of contract finance lease the Iraqi positive law. The issue of receipt of an accounting and tax perspective will therefore be multiplied: One hand, reconciliation between the French accounting law, French tax law and, Iraqi accounting law, Iraqi tax law is desirable and sought after. In addition, reconciliation between the U. S. accounting law, U.S. tax law, having been inspired by the international accounting, and tax standards and Iraqi accounting law, Iraqi tax law is feasible. It is then compatibility and harmonization are sought. So the analysis of the direct receipt of accounting and tax rules applicable to the contract of finance lease that the second part of the thesis is devoted.

這是一篇法制史論文，主旨在以宏觀角度來研究日本殖民政策與傀儡政權「滿洲國」法制之間的關係。 在「九．一八」事件之後、滿洲國成立之前，日本方面曾就滿洲何去何從有過爭論，日本最後確定了「滿洲建國」之方針。透過滿洲國中央政府體制之設計、「日系」官吏掌握樞要，日本建立起對滿洲國「內面指導」的體制，實質上操控滿洲國法令之制定。 滿洲國成立之初，日本對地方各省的實質控制程度尚淺。日本先與地方勢力妥協，進而仿效明治維新「廢藩置縣」之經驗，以制度設計及政治運作為手段，漸進地達到中央集權的目標。而在基層地方行政組織方面，日本原本師法統治台灣、關東州、朝鮮之故智，採傳統中國的「保甲制度」；惟滿洲國後期則改採類似日本近代法的「街村制度」。總之，日滿當局相當成功地將國家權力深入地方基層。 日本人相當重視滿洲國的司法建設，致力於司法機關之改組與增設、司法人員換血及日系人員之引進、在地司法人員之培養與考選．．．等等。為了塑造滿洲國「獨立國」的假象及整合權力機制，1937年日本撤廢在滿洲國的「治外法權」，惟在滿日人的實質地位並未受太大影響。 在鞏固政權及維護治安的要求下，滿洲國的刑事法制究竟呈現何種面貌？其與「全體主義」（totalitarianism）時代思潮之間的關係又是如何？日滿當局如何在滿洲國建立起近代化的治安體系，也是本文關心之所在。除了法制面的論述之外，本文將分析滿洲國刑事司法的實際運作、對當地人民帶來何種影響。 日本拓殖政策，在何種程度上影響了民商經濟法制？這個問題將分為三部分回答。第一部分探討滿洲國民商法典之制定及其與日本法之關係。自始至終未完成立法的親屬、繼承法，本部分亦對其延遲的原因及其立法「要綱」加以分析。第二部分乃以日本移民滿洲政策與滿洲國土地法制間之關係為主題，研究日滿當局藉由何種制度設計來便利日人取得土地，並探討此種制度對當地華人造成的影響。第三部分則以「特殊會社」為中心，論述「計畫經濟」、「統制經濟」下的滿洲國經濟法制，及其實際的運作成效。 本文認為，滿洲國法制，不能單純地視為日本攫取殖民利益的工具。它的某些部分，吸納了當時日本學者、政治人物的改革理想，故有一定的進步性、實驗性。而在實踐上，日本殖民統治者，尤其是司法部門，在滿洲國奉行了相當程度的「形式法治主義」。因此，滿洲國法制及其運作，雖不脫「殖民地體制」之本質，卻仍具有其獨特的歷史地位。