Academic literature on the topic 'Fraud Exception'

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the application of the fraud exception rule and try to analyze the different approaches in regard to the implication of fraud rule in letters of credit. Further, this paper tries to explore if there is an obstacle when applying such exception rule in common law and whether there is an overlap with interpreting the said rule. The same fact appears in civil law courts as well. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a comparative study which uses analytical approach and critical legal thinking. Findings The scope of the fraud defence, the US legal systems demonstrate that the scope of the fraud rule is extended and covers both fraud in documents and fraud in the underlying contract, while in contrast, in UK the rule’s scope is restricted to fraud in documents only. Such an approach is reasonable, as it is justified by applying the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP) rules strictly. That is to say, English courts apply the rules literally, even if it does not lead to fair judgements, while in contrast, American courts seek to enforce justice even if it goes beyond the rules. In any case, restricting the fraud exception to fraud in the documents is the proper approach. The reason for such restriction, on the one hand, is to maintain the integrity of letters of credit and, on the other hand, to affirm the autonomy principle. Originality/value Extending the scope of the fraud defence will require banks to go beyond the documents, which is not logical. Banks are neither expert in such transactions nor required to do so. Most importantly, banks are concerned with documents only; it is for the court to go beyond the documents. Although this approach could be criticized, it is important to ensure that the validity of the documentary credit instrument is not compromised. As established by academics, any argument need not engage the bank unless it is in respect of the presented documents. In short, “pay now, argue later” is paramount to distinguish parties’ litigations from banks vs parties’ litigations. In any case, it can be suggested that extending the fraud rule exception to include fraud in the underlying contract from Jordan perspective is not the proper one because it is necessary to maintain the integrity of letters of credit and to affirm the autonomy principle.

If students of company law know just one case, that case will be Salomon v. A. Salomon & Co. Ltd. which firmly established the English law principle that a company is a legal person entirely separate and distinct from the members ofthat company. It is trite law that a rather hefty veil is drawn between these two that can be lifted only in a limited number of circumstances that seem to fluctuate according to current judicial thinking. However, it “is well established that the courts will not allow the corporate form to be used for the purposes of fraud or as a device to evade a contractual or other legal obligation”, a principle which is referred to hereafter as the “fraud exception” to the Salomon principle.

Despite the absence of fraud on the part of the beneficiary of a letter of credit, is the issuing or confirming bank entitled to refuse to pay the beneficiary on the ground that a tendered document is a “nullity” in the sense that it was forged by a third party or has been executed without the authority of the person by whom it purports to be issued?

AbstractMuch has changed in the four decades since United City Merchants v Royal Bank of Canada, in which Lord Diplock established the fraud exception in transactions financed by documentary credit. In particular, the introduction of the UCP 600, case law on nullity documents and amendment to the American fraud exception justify a reconsideration of both the policy arguments underpinning Lord Diplock's rule and the fate of documents known to be forged or null at the time of presentation. Accordingly, two arguments are made in this paper. First, a consideration of the broader exception in the US should prompt a modern Supreme Court to re-examine his Lordship's insistence that a narrow exception was required to preserve the efficiency of the credit mechanism. In addition, it further argues that banks should be entitled to reject known nullities and forgeries as non-complying. This argument would reinstate the doctrine of strict compliance, which was overlooked in United City Merchants, and is based on the clarified definitions in the UCP 600, more recent judicial consideration of nullities and the existence of the ICC's International Maritime Bureau.

Even though the letter of credit was invented from a long time ago, however, its legal personalities are very new to the Vietnam Legal Framework. The International Chamber of Commerce (``ICC'') has issued principles for the documentary credit which is the Uniform of Customs and Practice (``UCP'') since 1933 and kept updating it until now, the latest version of UCP is UCP 600 which is presented in 2007. However, the UCP has not systematized many aspects of documentary credit yet and ICC considered those problems as subjects of domestic regulations. The diversification in different national laws leads to confusion thus causing many problems to merchants in international trade. Some countries do not have specified codifications to regulate the letter of credit so these countries treat UCP as ``quasi-law'' while other countries have their own legal framework for letter of credit law and even have fraud rules included. It is quite interesting that the United States which is a common law country is the first country to embody the operation of letter of credit in the Uniform of Commercial Code (``UCC'') and regulates the fraud rule within the same Code. This paper will try to explain and compare the principle of independence in the UCP and UCC, clarify the definition and regulations of fraud rule in UCC and evaluate the legal regulations of Vietnam law for the independence principle in a letter of credit.

Underpinning the law on documentary credits and independent guarantees is a legal principle of autonomy which dictates that these financial instruments should, as a matter of law, be treated separately from a trader’s contractual agreement. However, despite this, fraudulent behaviour may still occur when these financial and legal instruments are used in practice. In response, a fraud exception to the autonomy principle has been recognised by many national and international courts in an attempt to mitigate the effects of fraudulent trade practices. The application of this exception within the English courts is, however, problematic owing to the narrowness of its construction and application. Additionally, the paucity of alternate legal instruments for regulating fraudulent trade practices means that Jordanian courts are not in any better position than their English counterparts, leaving traders confused as to their legal position when a fraud dispute arises. Given the large financial value of fraudulent transactions and the risks involved, the use of these legal instruments has declined as has the banks’ investment in this area creating a problem for legal policy makers. The aim of this dissertation is to, first, critically examine the fraud exception under English and Jordanian law by exploring the problems associated with the application of the fraud exception; and, second, to propose legal reforms which would alleviate both the legal and practical problems associated with the fraud exception as it stands currently. The thesis is that, whilst the autonomy principle plays a vital role in international trade, the courts should facilitate the fraud exception application and recognise other exceptions, such as the non-genuinity and the underlying contract exception, where the former exception would be unable to prevent fraud occurrence. The approach is based upon a critical evaluation of Anglo-American and Jordanian case law, supplemented by secondary sources and a qualitative examination of the Jordanian approach to the fraud exception based upon interviews with Jordanian judges. The dissertation concludes that an effective legal approach to fraudulent transactions using documentary credits and independent guarantees must be founded upon objective rather than subjective principles and that the courts’ use of injunctions should be different in cases involving holders in due course from those not involving such parties. These findings will impact upon legal policy debates within both English common law and international trade law more generally and the examination of the Jordanian position is instructive in that it is the first such study of its kind.

This thesis deals with the fraud exception rule of letters of credit, especially focusing on the proposed amendments in Chinese credit system based on a comparative study. In order to reasonably prevent fraud in letters of credit, and to protect the effectiveness and efficiency of credit system, this thesis firstly examines the premise, reasons and foundations of the fraud exception rule, and then analyses its legal philosophy, application criteria and judicial remedies. Finally, based on a comparative study of different domestic laws and the UCP rules, this thesis examines the existing defects and provides proposed amendments of the Chinese credit system in both procedure law and substantive law. In developing this thesis, the author plans to employ comparative, critical, theoretical and prescriptive methodologies.
Cette thèse traite de la règle de l'exception de fraude des lettres de crédit, et se concentre plus particulièrement sur les amendements proposés dans le système de crédit chinois sur base d'une étude comparative. Afin de prévenir la fraude dans les lettres de crédit, et de protéger l'efficacité du système de crédit, cette thèse examine tout d'abord les raisons de la création de la règle d'exception de fraude et analyse ensuite sa philosophie légale, ses critères d'application et les remèdes judiciaires. Finalement, dans un troisième temps, les défauts existants sont analysés sur base d'une étude comparative de différentes lois domestiques et de règles UCP et les amendements proposés dans le système de crédit chinois à la fois en loi procédurale et loi substantive sont détaillés. L'auteur prévoit d'utiliser des méthodologies comparatives, critiques, théoriques et prescriptives pour aborder ces différentes questions. fr

The documentary letters of credit transaction is the most common method of payment for goods in international trade. Its use has been considered so important that it is referred to as the �lifeblood� of international commerce. The purpose of this thesis is, through analysing the present regime of documentary credit established under the The Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits, 1993 Revision (�UCP�), to identify the rights and duties of all parties in such transactions and the reasons for the frequent occurrence of fraudulent activities associated with the documents required under the credits. It identifies that the present system fails to either encourage or implement substantial realisation of �reasonable care� or �good faith� on the part of the banks, or realisation of the requirement of �good faith� from beneficiaries. As a result, the independence principle has been left without substance, with resulting huge opportunities for fraudsters to cheat on the documents and obtain payment without the need to actually perform their duties to banks and buyers. Such issues have become more acute against the background of an underlying shift in the allocation of risk between the respective parties to letters of credit. There has been a depreciation in the value of the primary document of title and security held by the issue, the bill of lading, with the advent of container shipping. As the letter of credit system is wholly dependent on the integrity of the documents, it is being undermined by these developments. This has represented a shift in the traditional scheme of risk allocation from the seller to the bank. In practice, banks have taken countermeasures by insisting that applicants provide other types of collateral, and by subjecting applicants to rigorous credit checks. Thus, applicants ultimately have had to bear the brunt of costs associated with this reallocation of risk. It will be demonstrated that the UCP does not incorporate adequate or clear enough duties to be exercised on the part of issuers toward applicants, and severely restricts the applicant�s right to sue if the issuer has wrongfully honoured. Ultimately, a balance must be struck between the desirability of protecting the applicant from the beneficiary�s fraud against the benefits gained by maintaining the letter of credit as a commercial instrument and business device. Obviously, there is public interest in protecting both of these commercial values. This thesis advocates that a mechanism in addition to the fraud exception must be introduced to safeguard the system against the ramifications of these changes � increased fraud. The thesis is structured into five chapters. Chapter 1 sets out to demonstrate the circumstances under which the respective risks are borne by each participant in the letter of credit transaction, and how developments in trade practice have caused the burden of certain of these risks among the parties to a letter of credit transaction to shift. Chapter 2, after briefly visiting the historical origins of the letter of credit and the birth of the UCP, explores the implications of the dominance of banking interests over the drafting and interpretation of the UCP, how the UCP has in practice excluded the intrusion of other sources of law and the general reluctance of courts to intervene by applying non-letter of credit principles, the implication of the UCP�s assumption of the law in practice, the resulting marginalisation of local laws, and the inequality in bargaining power between banks and applicants that precludes a choice of law other than the UCP. Chapter 3 explores the independence principle and question of documentary compliance, why the system is ridden with non-compliant documents and the lack of incentive and meaningful duty for the banks to check for �red flags� that may indicate fraud on the documents or in the transaction. It will be emphasised that documentary validity, rather than mere documentary compliance, should be the focus under the letter of credit. Chapter 4 examines the fraud exception to the independence principle, the typical high thresholds of proof that applicants had to overcome to estopp payment, and explores recent trends towards the gradual lowering of such thresholds. Finally, Chapter 5 considers practical measures and proposals for reform that would help to redress the imbalance in the allocation of risk identified in the thesis.

The thesis covers aspects of the law relating to letters of credit. It deals with the operation of letters of credit with particular reference to the doctrine of strict compliance, the principle of independence, the fraud exception and conflict of laws. According to the principle of independence, banks must make payment in terms of the letter of credit irrespective of any dispute that may exist between the buyer and the seller in an underlying contract or other contracts. Although the principle of independence is clearly established, it is not absolute. An exception occurs in the case of fraud. Thus, if the seller has committed fraud, such as tendering forged documents, the buyer can instruct the bank not to make payment in terms of the credit. If the bank refuses to dishonour the letter of credit, the buyer can apply to a court to interdict the bank from making payment. In South African law the buyer must establish that the seller was party to fraud in relation to the documents presented to the bank for payment before the court can grant an interdict. This thesis also examines the standard of proof of fraud required in letters of credit transactions and proposes a standard of proof which will not unduly favour the seller whose good faith is in dispute. The fast growing technology of computers and telecommunications is rapidly changing the methods of transacting business by paper documentation and letter of credit transactions are no exception. At present the buyer can apply to the bank to issue a letter of credit through the computer and banks also communicate letter of credit transactions through computer networks. However, the beneficiary still has to present documents to the bank for payment in paper form. It is proposed that the Uniform Custom and Practice For Documentary Credits (UCP) be amended to provide for fully computerised letters of credit transactions. Another objective of the thesis is to examine the doctrine of strict compliance. In terms of the doctrine of strict compliance documents presented under the credit must comply strictly with the requirements set out in the credit. If banks are satisfied that the documents presented by the seller strictly conform with the requirements of the credit they are obliged to make payment as required by the credit. It is proposed that the doctrine of strict compliance should not be applied strictly. In other words, the banks should make payment in terms of the credit if the discrepancy in the documents is trivial. The thesis also covers conflict of laws issues. As the UCP does not have rules dealing with conflict of laws, most jurisdictions have developed their own rules to be applied by the courts in cases of conflict of laws. The thesis examines the different rules of conflict of laws as developed and practiced by different jurisdictions.

It is a well-known fact that international trade contracts bear inherently more risk than the trade contracts entered by the parties from the same country. This is due to the differences in business methods and practices used, trade cultures of the parties involved, laws and regulations in the respective jurisdictions. Under these circumstances, it is very important for the seller to have the assurance of that he receives the payment for the goods dispatched and for the buyer to receive the goods what has been ordered. One effective way of having such an assurance is to rely on a letter of credit as an international payment method. But for exporters in particular, this payment method has presented difficulties in meeting the compliance requirements necessary for the payment to be triggered. The UCP 600 published by the International Chamber of Commerce provide the rules that govern letters of credit transactions. At the introduction of the UCP 600, it was aimed to remove wording that could lead to inconsistent application and interpretation, as against the language and style used in the previous version, namely the UCP 500. Highlighting the experiences under UCP 500, the ultimate focus of the revision of the UCP was to minimise the level of litigations that had arisen under the rules provided in the UCP. In several surveys, it has been reported that, nearly 50% of the first presentation for payment under letters of credit are rejected by the banks. This situation implies the fact that the provisions which cover letters of credit transactions are not either clear enough or well understood by the parties involved. Similarly, the decisions made by Courts around the world on issues related to letters of credit have taken different approaches when applying and interpreting the rules. This can clearly be seen by a myriad of controversial judicial standards which have been applied to similar mistakes in documents presented to the bank for payment. This thesis is an investigation into those issues to find out the optimal standards that could be applied to solve the said problems. In doing so, this thesis will strive to ascertain what remedial measures could be taken to address the issues related to examination of documents, the rejection of payment and fraud exception. Key words: International Trade, International Trade Law, Law of Letters of Credit, Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credit 600, Examination of Documents and communicating the decision.

The aim of this dissertation is to recommend an alternative approach to the fraud exception in South African law. The Current South African position as with the English law, places more weight on upholding the sanctity of the autonomy principle in letters of credit than preventing fraud. This is mainly because the courts have traditionally taken the view that protection of the autonomy principle is central to promoting the needs of trade and maintaining the integrity of the international banking community. Hence, this dissertation argues that an approach to the fraud exception in South African law that is more in line with that of the American law and/or the UNCITRAL Convention strikes a better balance in upholding the value of letters of credit and combatting fraud than the current South African position. Based on the comparative analysis of the position in the United Kingdom, United States of America and under the UNCITRAL Convention, the dissertation seeks to draw upon important lessons and principles pivotal to a preferable approach to the fraud exception in South African law that would enhance a better balance between the autonomy arguments and deterrence of fraud.

El comercio internacional ha sido siempre un ámbito conflictivo. Cualquier persona puede aproximarse a él desde una perspectiva determinada. Sin embargo, es innegable que condiciona la vida diaria de todos nosotros. De ahí que se utilicen todo tipo de recursos humanos para desarrollarlo a nivel mundial. La cuestión normativa ha sido uno de los temas más debatidos en el comercio internacional, entre otros muchos, existiendo muchas discusiones entre prácticos del derecho, empresarios, gobiernos así como académicos. Las raíces del conflicto pueden encontrarse en la existencia de sistemas jurídicos diferentes, normativas, terminología, costumbres, tecnología y métodos de pago diferentes, en ausencia de una autoridad mundial. No obstante, mientras tratamos los aspectos regulatorios del comercio internacional, no debemos olvidar el lado oscuro de los negocios, en el que los infractores dolosamente usan las tecnologías más avanzadas para defraudar a otros en el curso de transacciones globales. El crédito documentario es uno de los métodos de pago más populares en las operaciones transfronterizas. La clave de su éxito es que reduce el riesgo de los exportadores al reemplazar los compromisos financieros con una garantía de pago de un banco. Enmarcado en un proceso complejo, el banco se obliga a honrar la presentación, por parte del vendedor, de documentos que reúnen los requisitos del crédito en nombre del comprador solvente, quien compensará al banco en base al contrato. A través de la aplicación de los dos principios de autonomía y cumplimiento estricto, el crédito documentario mitiga el riesgo comercial existente entre un comprador y un vendedor que están en Estados diferentes y carecen de información sobre la capacidad financiera de su contraparte. En virtud del principio de autonomía, el crédito es separado del contrato de venta subyacente y el banco pagará al beneficiario que presente los documentos requeridos, incluso en caso de disputa sobre la relación subyacente. De este modo, el vendedor tendrá la seguridad del pago antes de que las mercancías se transporten y su interés estará a salvo. Por otra parte, en base al principio de cumplimiento estricto, el beneficiario se verá compensado sólo cuando presente el conjunto de documentos requeridos y cualquier error respecto de los mismos podrá comportar la negativa al pago por parte del banco. La revisión de la historia de los pagos en función de operaciones de crédito documentario en el tráfico internacional evidencia que el hecho de que los bancos sólo presten atención a los documentos y hagan caso omiso de cualquier posible disputa relativa al contrato subyacente puede incrementar el riesgo de una presentación fraudulenta por parte del beneficiario. En muchos países, el incremento en el número de casos de fraude comportó la introducción y adaptación de la excepción de fraude respecto del principio absoluto de autonomía en los créditos documentarios. Al mismo tiempo, conviene no olvidar que los Usos y Prácticas Uniformes relativos a los créditos documentarios, en tanto que conjunto de reglas más aceptadas a nivel mundial, remite totalmente el tema del fraude y del comportamiento fraudulento del beneficiario a los Derechos nacionales. Esto crea otro problema que es relevante para el estándar de prueba y los remedios bajo los diferentes sistemas legales y el conflicto de leyes. La presente tesis doctoral intenta ofrecer una respuesta al problema de la excepción de fraude al principio de independencia en los créditos documentarios conforme al Derecho inglés. Las razones para elegir este sistema jurídico son su popularidad como norma aplicable en muchos ámbitos del comercio internacional así como su naturaleza de Derecho común en ausencia de una norma que rija la regla del fraude en el crédito documentario. Interesa añadir que el Derecho inglés tiene una aproximación casuística a los problemas del fraude en el crédito documentario que crea múltiples problemas en el trabajo de los jueces de salvaguardar la justicia. Como ya se ha dicho, estos artículos científicos desean ofrecer una visión crítica de la práctica de los tribunales del Common Law en el ámbito del fraude en los créditos documentarios. A estos efectos, se revisa con detalle el desarrollo histórico y moderno de las aproximaciones judiciales inglesa y americana a la regla del fraude. También se examina el enfoque de otras jurisdicciones del Common Law cuando es necesario. La tesis se compone de dos partes: un artículo de presentación y las publicaciones. El primero tiene seis capítulos. El primero es la introducción y los antecedentes históricos de los créditos documentarios y su operativa. Mientras que el capítulo segundo explora la naturaleza legal y las fuentes del Derecho, el tercero analiza los principios básicos de los créditos documentarios. El capítulo cuarto se centra en la regla del fraude y se analizan las aproximaciones estadounidense y británica al respecto, en cuanto excepción básica respecto del principio de la independencia de los créditos documentarios. En el capítulo cinco se examinan otras excepciones, como la ilegalidad, la nulidad, la mala fe del beneficiario y la exigencia abusiva de pago. Al final, el capítulo seis proporciona una conclusión sobre el tema de estudio y los materiales cubiertos. La segunda parte contiene doce artículos publicados en revistas internacionales revisadas por expertos que brindan un análisis jurídico exhaustivo y profundo del principio de autonomía y de sus excepciones en el marco de los sistemas de Common Law.
International trade has been always a controversial topic. A person can approach it from any given perspective. However, almost no one can deny its impact on daily life of us. Therefore, all human capacities are employed to help development of it at global level. The regulatory question is one of the most debated issues in international trade among all others which have always been a hot topic for legal practitioners, businessmen, governments as well as academicians. The roots for such controversial issue can be sought in existence of different legal systems, different regulations, different terminology, different customs, different technologies and different methods of payment all in absence of global authority. However, while discussing regulatory issues in international trade, we should not forget about the dark side of business in which perpetrators with bad faith are ready to use the most advanced technologies in order to defraud others in the course of international transactions. The documentary letter of credit is one of the most popular methods of payment in international transactions. The key to their success is reducing risk for exporter by replacing importer’s financial undertakings with a guarantee of payment from a bank. Within the framework of a complicated process, bank will guarantee to honour the seller’s presentation of complying documents with terms of credit on behalf of the creditworthy buyer who will compensate the bank based on other contract. By applying two principles of autonomy and strict compliance, documentary credit mitigates the existing commercial risk of trade between buyer and seller who are in different countries and have no information about financial capacity of each other’s businesses. Within the frame work of the principle of autonomy, credit is separated from underlying contract of sales and bank will pay beneficiary who presents complying documents even in case of dispute over the underlying contract. In this way seller will have the assurance for payment before departing from goods and his interests are safeguarded. On the other hand, based on the principle of strict compliance, beneficiary will be compensated only after presentation of fully complying documents and any error on the face of documents might result in rejection of payment by bank. Review of the history of payment under documentary credit operation in international trade shows that banks focus only on documents and disregard any possible disputer in underlying contract might increase the risk of fraudulent presentation by beneficiary. In many countries, increasing number of fraud cases resulted in introduction and adaptation of fraud exception to an absolute principle of autonomy of documentary credits. At the same time, we should not forget the Unified Customs and Practices for documentary letters of credits as the most accepted set of rules at global level has completely left the issue of fraud and fraudulent behaviour of beneficiary open for national laws. This will create another problem which is relevant to the standard of proof and remedies under different legal systems and conflict of laws. Current doctoral thesis tries to offer an answer to the question of fraud exception to the principle of independence of documentary credits under English law. Reason for choosing the legal system is its popularity as the governing law in many fields of international trade as well is its common law nature and the absence of statute for governing the fraud rule in documentary credits. It is worth adding that English law has the case law approach to the problems of fraud in documentary credits which creates lots of problem on the way of judges to safeguard the justice. As it has been mentioned already, current research paper desires to have a critical approach to practice of Common Law courts in field of fraud in documentary credits. For this purpose, it will review closely historical and modern developments of fraud rule base on the case law approach of English and American courts to the subject matter. Research will also examine approaches of other common law jurisdictions if necessary. Research consists of two main parts. Review article and publications. The review article has six chapters. Chapter one is the introduction to the historical background of documentary letters of credit and their operation. While chapter two explores legal nature and sources of law for letters of credit chapter three will analyse the key principles of documentary letters of credits. Chapter four, will have a focus on fraud rule by analysing American and British approach to it as the first adopted exception to independent principle of documentary letters of credit. Chapter five will scrutinize other exceptions including illegality, nullity, beneficiary’s bad faith and abusive demand for payment. At the end chapter six will provide a conclusion on the subject matter of study and materials covered. The second part includes twelve published papers in international peer reviewed journals providing comprehensive and in depth legal analysis form autonomy principle and its exceptions within the framework of Common Law system.

La norme technique exige parfois de lui associer des innovations faisant l’objet de droits privatifs, au bénéfice de la réalisation de sa mission. De prime abord, la propriété intellectuelle apparaît comme étant un élément perturbateur, impliquant désormais d’examiner l’ « économie » de la norme au moment de son élaboration et de son utilisation et non plus uniquement la technique. Pour éviter la corruption de la norme par des droits privatifs trop contraignants, les organismes de normalisation exigent que seuls les droits privatifs « essentiels » soient associés à la norme. Les critères de l’adhérence réciproque de la norme et de l’innovation structurant leur association, justifient au nom de son « utilité sociale », une adaptation réciproque des régimes juridiques attachés à ses deux composantes. Ainsi l’ « utilité sociale » incarnée par la norme technique impose une adaptation du régime des droits de propriété intellectuelle. Symétriquement, l’innovation « essentielle » à la norme suppose une adaptation du régime de la norme technique à la propriété intellectuelle. Cela donne naissance à deux régimes juridiques substantiellement interpénétrés et structurellement interdépendants. D’une part, les droits privatifs étant « essentiels » à la norme, peuvent être considérés comme des « infrastructures essentielles », justifiant une érosion systémique de leur portée dans le cadre de leur association à la norme. Dans le cadre de l’application de règles de concurrence, cette érosion résulte d’une approche ex post à laquelle se conjugue une approche ex ante, conceptualisée par les conditions FRAND. D’autre part, l’association s’évalue également à l’aune de la propriété privée. Il apparaît que la norme technique devrait être considérée comme étant une chose commune imposant d’aménager, au bénéfice de ses utilisateurs, un accès et une utilisation libre. Cela suppose d’envisager alors l’émergence d’un droit d’utilisation de l’innovation associée à la norme technique
Technical standards may sometimes be associated to innovations covered by proprietary rights. In this case, intellectual property appears to embody a quite disturbing component within the partnership between standardization and innovation. We are thus led to analyse the association economy ; it must be construed as of the creation and the use of the standard rather than to insist on its sole technical aspects. In order to avoid the corruption of the standard by over-restrictive IP rights, standard-setting-organizations require that only "essential" proprietary rights can be associated to a technical standard. Economical and technical criterias of the mutual adherence of the technical standard and the owned innovation – structuring their association – justify in the name of its "social utility", a mutual adaptation of their legal regimes. Therefore, the technical standard’s "social utility" requires an adaptation of the IP rights legal regime. Symmetrically, the essential innovation, included in the standard, requires its fitting to the technical standards legal regime. This results in the rise of two regimes naturally interpenetrated, and structurally interdependent. On the one hand, IP rights "essential" to the standard, can be considered as "essential facilities", justifying a systematic erosion of their spectrum. As part of competition rules implementation, this erosion results from an ex post approach as well as an ex ante approach conceptualized by FRAND terms. On the other hand, the association is also evaluated through the private property perspective. It appears that the technical standard should be considered as a "common", assuming a free access and a free use. It contributes to create a right of use of the owned innovations integrated in technical standard

This chapter discusses the following: bank guarantees, performance bonds, documentary credits, security under a commercial credit, standby credits, the fraud exception; and certain private international law issues.

This commentary focuses on Article 3.1.4 of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC) concerning the mandatory character of the provisions of Chapter 3 of the PICC on fraud, threat, gross disparity and illegality. Art 3.1.4 essentially prohibits contractual exclusion of the provisions of Chapter 3 relating to the more ‘serious’ grounds for invalidity, namely fraud, gross disparity, and illegality. It is therefore an exception to Art 1.5, which generally permits exclusion or modification by the parties. The ‘provisions’ referred to in Art 3.1.4 presumably are those relating to remedies. Art 3.1.4 only relates to excluding rights before the moment when such a right arises.

This commentary focuses on Article 3.2.13 of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC) concerning partial avoidance of a contract. Art 3.2.13 requires that the ground of avoidance affect only individual terms of the contract. While this scenario is easily conceivable with regard to cases of mistake, fraud or gross disparity, it will only rarely happen that a threat can be limited to certain parts of the contract. Cases that satisfy this requirement generally fall into one of two categories. The first category consists of the ‘terms’ cases, while the second category consists of the ‘items’ cases. This commentary discusses partial avoidance as general rule, avoidance of entire contract as exception, and how partial avoidance may lead to restitution.

Can Freud be abandoned? Interrelations between sacer, ambivalence, exception, suspension, property, use and civil war around the origin of law are traces of Freud that manifest themselves throughout the development of Agamben’s thought. Most direct engagements are found in early texts,2 best articulated in Stanzas. Here is incipient indication of (a) Freud’s guilt by association with shortcomings of the sociology of religion (S 137).3 Agamben displays (b) lessons learned from Freud in terms of phantasm, fetishism and the unconscious (S 22–3, 31–3, 145–7; IH 48), but overall performs (c) critical discouragement of an alleged Freudian delimitation (under the influence of Schelling) of the Unheimlich in terms of repression (S 144).4 Damage done by repressions return in a later text, The Signature of All Things, specifically Chapter 3, burrowed within its summary of (d) Foucault’s critique of Freud as justification for Agamben’s own idiomatic adoption of the archaeological method (ST 96–107)

This edition of Criminal Law: Text, Cases, and Materials offers an exceptional depth of analysis and a wealth of cases and materials all set within the theoretical context of criminal law. The two-part structure of each chapter in the book—the first part explaining the law as it is, the second examining the theoretical aspects—ensures that readers not only gain a secure understanding of the law itself but also acquire a fundamental appreciation of the surrounding philosophical and ethical debates. The book looks at actus reus and mens rea, and strict liability, and also examines homicide, non-fatal non-sexual offences, sexual offences, theft, handling, robbery, and fraud. It further analyses issues relating to burglary and blackmail, criminal damages, and defences, and finally, considers criminal liability of corporations, inchoate offences, and complicity.

This edition of Criminal Law: Text, Cases, and Materials offers an exceptional depth of analysis and a wealth of cases and materials all set within the theoretical context of criminal law. The two-part structure of each chapter in the book—the first part explaining the law as it is, the second examining the theoretical aspects—ensures that readers not only gain a secure understanding of the law itself but also acquire a fundamental appreciation of the surrounding philosophical and ethical debates. The book looks at actus reus and mens rea, and strict liability, and also examines homicide, non-fatal non-sexual offences; sexual offences; theft, handling, robbery; and fraud. It further analyses issues relating to burglary and blackmail, criminal damage, and defences, and finally, considers the criminal liability of corporations, inchoate offences, and complicity.

Using accurate and reliable financial information is the primary condition for successful investments on a stock exchange. Nevertheless, some major corporate scandals broke out at the 21st century horizon and concluded with a major capital market crisis in confidence. Recent events have proved that Romanian capital market is no exception. All these unfortunate scandals had in common some ingredients, among which are a poor corporate governance, a lack of accountability, and misrepresentation of financial information. This chapter relates to the need of integrity in financial reporting process, as the basis for adequate, reliable, and comprehensive information used in decision making by investors in general, institutional investors in particular. The main focus is to review the characteristics of financial information in order to identify some patterns and depict an overview for sensitive areas that may be vulnerable to fraudulent behavior, such as fair value measurements, related party transactions, revenue recognition, provisions, or asset impairment (inventories and receivables).

In English law, offences related to dishonesty are governed by the Theft Acts 1968 and 1978, the Theft (Amendment) Act 1996, and the Fraud Act 2006. These Acts are not a restatement of the common law and its numerous statutory additions but they do provide a code of the most important offences of dishonest dealing with the protection of property (with the notable exception of forgery and conspiracy to defraud). This chapter deals with the offence of theft. It offers a detailed review of the concept of dishonesty in light of the recent redefinition of that concept by the Supreme Court in Ivey v Genting Casinos.

In English law, offences related to dishonesty are governed by the Theft Acts 1968 and 1978, the Theft (Amendment) Act 1996 and the Fraud Act 2006. These Acts are not a restatement of the common law and its numerous statutory additions but they do provide a code of the most important offences of dishonest dealing with the protection of property (with the notable exception of forgery and conspiracy to defraud). This chapter deals with the offence of theft. It offers a detailed review of the concept of dishonesty in the light of the redefinition of that concept by the Supreme Court in Ivey v Genting Casinos and its acceptance in Barton.

Freud said that Americans are immature because they channel their libido into moneymaking. In Babbitt (1922), Sinclair Lewis seems to agree. It is generally thought that his 1927 novel, Elmer Gantry, continues the critique, exposing American religiosity as itself fundamentally commercial. I argue that Lewis’s project is deeper and more complicated than the standard reading admits and that it derives ultimately from Dante’s idea of the aspirations and errors of love. (Dante is a favorite author of Lewis’s and figures in Babbitt as the one notable from the past who is conjured up in the Babbitts’ séance.) Novels that shock are often read crudely at first, and Lewis’s novels are no exception. I argue that Lewis ultimately agrees with Elmer’s sermon: love is indeed “the morning and the evening star.” As in Dante, so in Lewis: love can aspire, but it can also be deflected and stunted in many ways. Moneymaking is one form of stunting; excessive interest in sex is another (and a better one in Dante’s view, because it is closer to what really matters). And perhaps worst of all, it can be blinded by intellectual pride, a vice from which the agnostic novelist and former ministerial student was in no way free. The novel does criticize George Babbitt the avaricious, it does criticize Elmer Gantry the libidinous, but it reserves its deepest and saddest condemnation for the Lewis surrogate, Frank Shallard, who cannot find anything worthy of his love.