1 Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland Abstract The aim of this thesis is to outline the position of the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland in the Swiss legal system and to discuss whether an extension of the judicial review on federal statutes should de lege ferenda take place. The first chapter serves as a brief description of the formation of Switzerland as well as of the Federal Supreme Court itself. The second chapter deals with the position of the Federal Supreme Court in the Swiss legal system along with its internal organisation. The third chapter is dedicated to the various types of constitutional jurisdiction from a theoretical point of view. The fourth chapter's purpose is to offer an overview of the current legal framework of constitutional jurisdiction in Switzerland. The fifth chapter acts as an evaluation of the various arguments for and against the implementation of judicial review of federal statutes. The Swiss legal system is generally very well known for its uniqueness and emphasis on the principle of sovereignty of the people. Although it is often used as an example of a well functioning democracy, there are parts of it that can be subject to critical dispute. Key words: Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, swiss legal system, judicial review

Magister Legum - LLM / The so called business judgment rule (hereinafter referred to as ―the BJR or the rule‖) that serves to protect directors from liability for negative consequences of honest, reasonable business decisions that went wrong, was developed by the American judiciary in the early 19th Century.2 Percy v. Millaudon, a Louisiana Supreme Court decision quoted above, articulated what is now referred to as the BJR.3 This case provides the earliest expression of the American BJR.4 Delaware courts subsequently issued a series of cases formulating the BJR as a presumption.5 Although the earliest expression of the rule was provided by a Louisiana court, the dissertation will focus on the Delaware case law formulation of the rule.6 The essence of the BJR is that judges should not second guess directors‘ decisions if certain elements of the BJR are fulfilled.7 Courts are required to exercise caution when dealing with claims brought by either stakeholders or shareholders against directors who have made bona fide, also referred to as good faith, business decisions.8 In order to be protected by the BJR and for it to act as a safe harbour, the court will determine whether certain requirements have been met before applying the rule.9 The Delaware courts formulated the BJR as a presumption and in order for directors to be protected by the rule they must have made an informed business decision, in good faith and in the honest belief that the decision will be in the best interest of the company.10 As will be discussed later, this formulation of the rule is referred to as the traditional BJR. In addition to the aforementioned formulation, another formulation was provided by the American Law Institute (hereafter referred to as the ―ALI formulation‖).11 Initially there had been difficulties codifying the ALI version of the rule but later it was successfully codified in paragraph 4.01(c) of the ALI Corporate Governance Project.12 This formulation requires a director to ensure that he has no personal interest in the matter, he is reasonably informed of the matter prior to making the decision and he rationally believes the decision will be in the best interest of the company.13 If the director complies with the aforementioned requirements, the director will be considered to have acted in good faith.14 Directors owe fiduciary duties to the company and in instances where they breach one or more of these duties they can incur personal liability.15 The rule thus emerged because of the need to protect directors and it serves as a safe harbour for those individuals who made a decision in conformity with the aforementioned requirements.16 In commercial terms the rule bestows economic freedoms and freedom of entrepreneurship to directors guided, in any case, by ―the best interest of the company‖.17 The most commonly cited reasons for the existence of the rule are that it promotes risk taking, encourages competent persons to serve as directors, prevents judicial second-guessing and promotes judicial efficiency. It further provides directors with sufficient freedom to manage the company and it ensures that the interest of shareholders and those of directors are balanced.18

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The research problem examined in my thesis is stated clearly in the title: Justice Brennan and The Bill of Rights. In my examination, I relied primarily on Brennan's opinions, and secondarily, on scholarly commentaries authored by Brennan and others. I located the cases through a combination of sources. Initially, I consulted the Harvard Law Reviews' "Supreme Court Term, (1956-1981) Term(s)," which is published annually in its November edition, and then, I turned to the writings by, and about, Brennan my findings show that Brennan's approach in these cases has evolved over the years toward a more absolutist one.

The topic of this thesis is nomination of justices of the Supreme Court, the highest federal court in the United States. The Constitution gives the power to appoint new federal justices to the president, with "advice and consent" of the Senate. This clause is based on one of the primary constitutional principles used in the United States - the system of checks and balances. The first part describes the general aspects of all nominations, from court vacancies to the final vote on Senate floor. The primary roles of the president and the Senate are defined. Focus is also set on the evolution of the nomination process throughout the history, as well as the criteria for selecting new justices, who shape the constitutional development of one of the oldest functioning democracies. The structure of the first part is then applied for a description of the nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Donald Trump in 2018. The course of this nomination was strongly affected by sexual assault accusations against the nominee and fierce partisan battles that resulted in the closest confirmation vote in history. The final part applies quantitative research methods to discover the influence of partisan difference between the president and the Senate majority on the...

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The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the evolution of its influence as a result of judicial interpretation Abstract The thesis analyzes the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the changes in its understanding resulting from its interpretation by the Supreme Court of the United States throughout the years since the ratification of the Amendment. The thesis discusses every section of the Fourteenth Amendment, but the highest attention is dedicated to its most significant first section and the clauses contained in it; the citizenship clause, the privileges or immunities clause, the due process clause and the equal protection clause. The debates of the 39th Congress are discussed as well, as they offer an insight to the original understanding of the terms used in the text of the Amendment and allow to understand the context of its origin. The evolution of the Amendment's influence is then analyzed through a number of historical eras that reflect the ever-changing composition of the Court and the decisions stemming from it. The thesis tries to outline the most likely original meaning of the Amendment's clauses and compare it to their interpretation by the Supreme Court which makes it possible to observe the Amendment's gradually growing influence on american...

Historically, the locality Benešova located on the edge of the medieval city of Brno in the former site of the Baroque fortification. In the nineteenth century, after the demolition of the fortifications were being built ring road block with mostly public buildings and park areas. The newly designed structure of the buildings are trying to complete Brno Ring in the unfinished part and continues the tradition of major public buildings on ring road.

Judicial politics scholars routinely posit that the behavior of Supreme Court justices is motivated in important part by concerns of institutional maintenance, that is, by a desire to maintain the Court’s unusually large store of institutional legitimacy. Previous work on this topic, however, has focused almost exclusively on the influence of such motivation on judicial decision making. We contend that if institutional maintenance is an important goal, it should be observable in other contexts as well. We examine televised mass-media interviews with Supreme Court justices from 1998 to 2016 and find that legitimacy reinforcement is the predominant goal reflected in justices’ rhetoric in those interviews.