Municipal public law (by which is meant the public law of national or sub-national polities, including but not limited to local government) is always influenced by events taking place elsewhere in the world and the activities and norms of other polities. For example, the existence of a state depends at least partly on its recognition by other states, and political theories and legal ideas have always flowed across and between regions of the world even if they provoked opposition rather than adoption or adaptation. Yet despite, or perhaps because of, this, any state has good reasons for controlling the introduction of foreign legal and constitutional norms to its own legal order. It is important to check that the norms are compatible with one’s own national values and interests before allowing them to operate within one’s own system. A state which values a commitment to the rule of law, human rights, or democratic accountability is entitled to place national controls over potentially disruptive foreign influences. This chapter considers the nature and legitimacy of those national controls, particularly as they apply in the UK, in the light of general public law standards, bearing in mind that influences operate in both directions, not only between states but also between municipal legal standards and public international law.
Chapter
5. The Internationalization of Public Law and its Impact on the UK
David Feldman
Chapter
5. Personality and Recognition
International law is unlike the law of national legal systems in that the persons or entities to which it applies are not always immediately apparent. National law applies to natural or legal persons within the territorial borders and to ‘nationals’ of the home State. In a general way, the ‘subjects’ of national law, being the persons to whom the legal system is addressed, are reasonably well defined geographically and legally. International law has no territorial boundaries in the same sense and no comparable concept of ‘nationals’. Consequently, its ‘subjects’ are harder to define and even to identify. This chapter discusses the types of international legal personality and recognition in international and national legal systems.
Chapter
IV. Sovereign and Subject
H. L. A. Hart
Celebrated for their conceptual clarity, titles in the Clarendon Law Series offer concise, accessible overviews of major fields of law and legal thought. The doctrine of sovereignty asserts that in every human society, where there is law, there is ultimately to be found latent beneath the variety of political forms this simple relationship between subjects rendering habitual obedience and a sovereign who renders habitual obedience to no one. This vertical structure composed of sovereign and subjects is, according to the theory, as essential a part of a society which possesses law, as a backbone is of a man. This chapter considers two important points in this doctrine. The first concerns the idea of a habit of obedience, which is all that is required on the part of those to whom the sovereign's laws apply. The chapter examines whether such a habit is sufficient to account for two salient features of most legal systems: the continuity of the authority to make law possessed by a succession of different legislators, and the persistence of laws long after their maker and those who rendered him habitual obedience have perished. The second point concerns the position occupied by the sovereign above the law: he creates law for others and so imposes legal duties or ‘limitations’ upon them whereas he is said himself to be legally unlimited and illimitable. The chapter inquires whether this legally illimitable status of the supreme lawgiver is necessary for the existence of law, and whether either the presence or the absence of legal limits on legislative power can be understood in the simple terms of habit and obedience into which this theory analyses these notions.
Chapter
5. Legal Personality and Recognition
International law is unlike the law of national legal systems in that the persons or entities to which it applies are not always immediately apparent. National law applies to natural or legal persons within the territorial borders and to ‘nationals’ of the home State, In contrast, international law has no territorial boundaries in the same sense and no comparable concept of ‘nationals’. Consequently, international law’s ‘subjects’ or ‘participants’ are harder to define and even to identify. This chapter discusses the types of international legal personality and recognition in international and national legal systems.
Chapter
5. International law and environmental protection
Stuart Bell, Donald McGillivray, Ole W. Pedersen, Emma Lees, and Elen Stokes
This chapter describes the development, scope, and application of international environmental law, which has expanded significantly since the late 1960s. The focus is on international treaties relating to environmental protection. The chapter is restricted to discussing public, rather than private, international law—that is, the law between states, rather than the conflict of legal systems. International law has often been regarded as something rather closer to international relations due to the fact that there is no single body with the power to make and enforce law against states, companies, or individuals effectively. In the UK, international law does not necessarily have a direct impact on domestic law or on individuals. Treaties need to be given effect to through national legislation and are concerned with the action of states, not individuals within states—with some notable exceptions, such as the law on war crimes.
Chapter
4. Agency
This chapter focuses on the nature of agency before considering the role of agents. It highlights the vital role agents play in commercial activity as they become the middleman in everyday life. The primary role of agents in commerce revolves around the negotiation and conclusion of contracts. The chapter acknowledges that most developed legal systems recognise the concept of agency and that there is a marked similarity between the rules of different legal systems. It looks into the relationships created by agencies by considering the relationships and interplay between an agency, a third party, and a principal in different circumstances.
Chapter
1. Introduction to intellectual property and common themes
This book focuses on intellectual property (IP) rights as they apply in the UK, including rights created by the EU. Legal systems around the world have seen fit to create these rights or causes of action to protect intangible concepts such as inventions, literature, brands, designs, and so on. It is said that IP protects the products of the mind, but that does not really apply to brand protection or to the protection of some types of information. As IP rights are so diverse, the theoretical bases for legal protection vary and are dealt with separately in their relevant chapters. However, there are some common approaches, namely, the neo-classical micro-economic theory, rights-based, and other approaches. Common legal topics are dealt with here as they affect more than one IP right. Particular issues flowing from them will be mentioned in the following chapters.
