After more than fifty years, Civil Law in Hungary will be completely rewritten by the New Civil Code that will come into effect this year on the 15th of March. Several areas of law that have formerly been regulated in separate acts will now be incorporated into the new Code. These areas of law include family law, company law, as well as the law regarding civic organizations. Critics say that the new law sacrifices too much for dogmatic integrity and disassembles the unity of corporate law by extending current provisions for companies to all legal entities which will result, in many cases, in incomplete, inconsequent or redundant regulation. On the other hand, the concept of the new law is to provide more freedom to contracting parties. The present article seeks to summarize the ten most important matters that will have the largest influence on businesses.
Brazil's 2014 Anti-Corruption Law introduces administrative and civil liability on legal entities for illicit acts practiced against local and foreign public administration. Learn more about how this law will be enforced. This article is in Portuguese.
Early this year, the Anti-Corruption Law came into effect. It introduces administrative and civil liability on legal entities for illicit acts practiced against local and foreign public administration. Learn more about how this law will be enforced. This article is also available in Portuguese:
<p><a href="http://www.acc.com/legalresources/resource.cfm?show=1361091">The New Brazilian Anti-Corruption Law Comes Into Effect (Portuguese)</a></p>
Brazilian law requires arbitrators to state the reasons for their respective decisions. Failure to do so may result in annulment of the arbitral award. Learn more about recent opinions rendered by the Sao Paulo appellate court that shed some light on how much reasoning arbitrators are required to give in their awards.
Upon the enactment of Brazilian Law 9876/99, of November 26, 1999, a part of the system of social contribution payable by companies was modified, and one of the contributions payable by companies was fixed at 15% of the invoice for services rendered by work cooperatives. However, it seems that the requirement for the engaging companies to pay a 15% contribution on the invoices for services from work cooperatives is totally unconstitutional. This article explains the unconstitutionality of this law and discusses the impact of recent court decisions pertaining to this issue.
The aim of a liquidated damages clause is to specify in advance the indemnification for a party that suffers from a breach of contractual obligations. Non-performance of a contract, without any evidence of actual damage, is grounds for pre-estimated compensation. This clause obviously limits the necessity to seek indemnification in court and is in demand in business contracts. However, if challenged, its efficiency may be greatly reduced by the intervention of a judge who has the power to modify the amount of the compensation determined in the contract. The distinction between liquidated damages and penalty clauses has a greater impact in common law countries than in those influenced by Civil Code tradition. This QuickCounsel assesses several court decisions in various European countries that bring to light these differences.
The Anti-Corruption Law entered into force in Brazil last month. Under the new law, parent companies, subsidiaries, other affiliates and consortiums are jointly and severally liable for payment of fines and indemnification of damages resulting from unlawful acts. Read this article for further discussion of the main matters covered by the new law.
Switzerland has a civil law legal system, at the crossroads between Germanic and French legal traditions. The organization of the Swiss legal and judicial system reflects the political and federalist structure of Switzerland. Civil procedure is primarily regulated by the Swiss Code of Civil Procedure (SCCP), which entered into force on 1 January 2011. It provides a unified set of rules regulating civil procedure. The SCCP aimed to eliminate these obstacles by unifying the civil procedural laws. It largely draws on existing cantonal codes, particularly those of the Swiss-German cantons. This article first sets out the legal framework applicable to civil procedure in Switzerland. It then presents the judicial organization in Switzerland and, finally, addresses selected issues of Swiss civil procedure.
Worldwide Freezing Orders (WFOs), also known as Mareva injunctions, have been described as “nuclear weapons” of the law. Often granted at the pre-trial stage in ex parte hearings, a WFO is a protective measure preventing a defendant, by way of an interim injunction, from disposing of their assets pending the resolution of the underlying substantive proceedings. While granted only in certain common law jurisdictions, such orders can take effect worldwide. However, their enforcement can prove problematic in other jurisdictions that may not provide for corresponding measures. This article reviews and comments on several decisions rendered by the cantonal courts and the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in relation to the enforcement of the WFO.
In 2013 the following occurred: New legislation was passed to lighten administrative constraints on the development of wind farms; new rules on loans extended to local authorities have been adopted to limit future exposure of the local public sector; and the French constitutional court ruled that the French legislative cannot adversely affect legitimate expectations without sufficient general interest grounds.