JournalTOCs

Uniform Law Review
Number of Followers: 3

Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
ISSN (Print) 1124-3694 - ISSN (Online) 2050-9065
Published by Oxford University Press

[411 journals]

In memoriam Alberto Mazzoni (1942–2019)
- Authors: Tirado I.
  Pages: 254 - 259
  Abstract: This is a moment I never thought I would live through; this is a tribute I never thought I would have to write. Alberto Mazzoni was such an energetic person, there was so much life and enthusiasm in his personality, that even sickness seemed to be an impossibility. He was 76, a moment in the life of men when death is a reasonable risk; but, on the face of it, such did not seem to be the case for him. And yet, he has passed, abruptly interrupting plans, long-wished for projects, so many things that he still wanted to do. Alberto’s passing cannot be right. It was not yet time.
  PubDate: Tue, 30 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT
  DOI: 10.1093/ulr/unz023
  Issue No: Vol. 24, No. 2 (2019)
Editorial
- Pages: 260 - 260
  Abstract: The tenth edition of the Transnational Commercial Law Teachers’ Meeting and Conference was held in Madrid on 18–19 October 2018, hosted by the University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain, and organized by Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras Ballell and Jorge Feliu Rey. As in all previous annual meetings inspired by the Transnational Commercial Law book, edited by Roy Goode, Ewan McKendrick, and Herbert Kronke,11 the goal was to convene a meeting to discuss the most recent developments in transnational commercial law and to exchange experiences, practices, and innovative techniques in didactics and curricula development. For the 2018 edition, the topical theme proposed for discussion was transnational commercial law and technology.22 The choice of the topic was intended to encourage discussion and critical thought on whether or not existing transnational commercial law instruments do effectively incorporate technological advances, to reflect on how transnational commercial law should face emerging technological challenges, and to tackle important critical debates in global regulation from many angles: legal obsolescence, technology neutrality, and the need for international solutions for the digital economy. Under that thematic umbrella, throughout eight panels, participants presented their papers on cryptocurrencies, electronic registries, blockchain applications, electronic transferable records, artificial intelligence, and smart contracts in international transactions and disputes, among other groundbreaking topics.
  PubDate: Fri, 10 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT
  DOI: 10.1093/ulr/unz012
  Issue No: Vol. 24, No. 2 (2019)
The UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records
- Authors: Gabriel H.
  Pages: 261 - 280
  PubDate: Sat, 01 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT
  DOI: 10.1093/ulr/unz013
  Issue No: Vol. 24, No. 2 (2019)
Software technology in CISG contracts
- Authors: Muñoz E.
  Pages: 281 - 301
  Abstract: Software technology has changed the way businesses operate and the items traded globally. These advances demand a fast and adequate evolution of the law. This paper supports the view that the CISG is equipped with the rules needed to address recent changes in software technology; it demonstrates how the general legal principles, upon which the CISG is based, may serve to achieve a proper interpretation and supplementation of this uniform sales law. The author submits, for instance, that a dynamic notion of goods, which includes software, can be revealed by considering the parties’ main obligations under the Convention. In addition, he advocates for a modern understanding of CISG terms in order to apply the rules on contract formation to new realities. Finally, he highlights some performance issues that may arise in the sale of software, including specific methods of examination, and of giving notice of any lack of conformity.
  PubDate: Wed, 05 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT
  DOI: 10.1093/ulr/unz016
  Issue No: Vol. 24, No. 2 (2019)
Legal challenges of artificial intelligence: modelling the disruptive
features of emerging technologies and assessing their possible legal
impact
- Authors: Ballell T.
  Pages: 302 - 314
  Abstract: The extensive use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and systems and its extraordinary relevance in a multitude of social and economic domains must be framed into the broader context of a second wave of digital transformation. AI embodies the transformative force and the disruptive potential of a second generation of technologies that are ushering in a new stage of the digital evolution of our societies and economies. The acceleration and accumulation of technological developments pose unforeseen challenges to the twenty-first century's law. A systematic, extensive, and wisely combined application of these emerging technologies, such as AI and advanced robotics, Internet-of-Things (IoT), and DLT, offers fascinating possibilities and announces great disruptive effects. The aim of this article is to devise an analytical framework to identify the disruptive features of AI, as one of the most illustrative exponents of the second-generation technologies, and assess the potential impact on certain existing principles, rules and concepts.
  PubDate: Mon, 01 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT
  DOI: 10.1093/ulr/unz018
  Issue No: Vol. 24, No. 2 (2019)
A governance framework for the development and use of artificial
intelligence: lessons from the comparison of Japanese and European
initiatives
- Authors: Kozuka S.
  Pages: 315 - 329
  PubDate: Sun, 09 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT
  DOI: 10.1093/ulr/unz014
  Issue No: Vol. 24, No. 2 (2019)
Artificial General Intelligence and Contract
- Authors: Linarelli J.
  Pages: 330 - 347
  Abstract: The aim of this article is to inquire whether contract law can operate in a state of affairs in which artificial general intelligence (AGI) exists and has the cognitive abilities to interact with humans to exchange promises or otherwise engage in the sorts of exchanges typically governed by contract law. AGI is a long way off, but its emergence may be sudden and come in the lifetimes of some people who are alive today. How might contract law adapt to a situation in which at least one of the contract parties could, from the standpoint of a capacity to engage in promising and exchange, be an AGI' This is not a situation in which artificial intelligence (AI) operates as an agent of a human or a firm, a frequent occurrence right now. Rather, the question is whether an AGI could constitute a principal—a contract party on its own. Contract law is a good place to start a discussion about adapting the law for an AGI future because it already incorporates a version of what is known as weak AI in its objective standard for contract formation and interpretation. Contract law, in some limited sense, takes on issues of relevance from the philosophy of the mind. AGI holds the potential to transform a solution to an epistemological problem of how to prove a contract exists into solution to an ontological problem about the capacity to contract. An objection might be that contract law presupposes the existence of a person who the law recognizes as possessing the capacity to contract. Contract law itself may not be able to answer the prior question of legally recognized personhood. The answer will be to focus on how AGI cognitive architecture could be designed for compatibility for human interaction. This article focuses on that question as well.
  PubDate: Sun, 09 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT
  DOI: 10.1093/ulr/unz015
  Issue No: Vol. 24, No. 2 (2019)
AI Systems and technology in dispute resolution
- Authors: Lozada-Pimiento N.
  Pages: 348 - 366
  PubDate: Tue, 25 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT
  DOI: 10.1093/ulr/unz022
  Issue No: Vol. 24, No. 2 (2019)
Cross-border regulation and fintech: are transnational cooperation
agreements the right way to go'
- Authors: Ivanova P.
  Pages: 367 - 395
  Abstract: In light of inevitable cross-border scenarios in today’s highly interconnected financial markets and since financial stability may be put at risk by the rising phenomenon of financial technology (known as fintech), the importance of developing effective ways to regulate fintech across borders cannot be neglected. The financial sector has changed from a traditional one marked by conventional financial intermediation structures towards an increasingly technology-affected one. Not only this change but anticipated developments too require if not extensively reconsidering the design of financial regulation,11 then at least not turning a blind eye to shaping developments. Whether the numerous recently sprouting bilateral fintech cooperation agreements are adequate transnational regulatory instruments to address fintech effectively across borders is for this paper to elucidate.
  PubDate: Wed, 19 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT
  DOI: 10.1093/ulr/unz021
  Issue No: Vol. 24, No. 2 (2019)
The impact of technology on access to law and the concomitant
repercussions: past, present, and the future (from the 1980s to present
time)
- Authors: Tajti T; (Thaythy.
  Pages: 396 - 429
  Abstract: That technology increasingly impacts everything that is linked to law—from access to law, legal education, the services provided by the legal industry, and, increasingly, even adjudication (in-court or via alternative dispute resolution)—is a fact. The role that technology plays in these contexts varies, yet one may safely presume that the influence will intensify. In order to reflect on the future, this article canvasses and tries to draw some conclusions based on the comparison of accessibility to foreign and local law in the hard copy versus the digital and Internet-based, as well as the recently unfolding era of algorithms. The examples range from the curious encounter of Central and Eastern European socialist enterprises and law students with punitive damages and strict tortious liability known in the USA through the most recent launching of the first transnational letter of credit transaction exploiting blockchain technology. The advancements generated by technology advancements in these three stages are then reflected upon primarily from the perspectives of (i) researchers and lecturers of law as well as legal education; (ii) company boards and managements (especially foreign market-oriented business firms) formulating their business policies; and (iii) regulators as well as law and policy-makers. The article concludes with thoughts on the broader implications of enhanced access to law. In particular, it posits that technology has made the shift from ‘mechanical’ to ‘analytic access to law’ possible. Yet it also raises the more fundamental question of whether the advancements denote, and the selected examples properly illustrate, that a more fundamental shift is unfolding: a shift from governance by law to governance by technology'
  PubDate: Wed, 05 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT
  DOI: 10.1093/ulr/unz019
  Issue No: Vol. 24, No. 2 (2019)
The impact of blockchain technologies and smart contracts on dispute
resolution: arbitration and court litigation at the crossroads
- Authors: Ortolani P.
  Pages: 430 - 448
  Abstract: This article investigates the twofold impact that blockchain technologies and smart contracts have on dispute resolution. On the one hand, these technologies enable private parties to devise arbitral systems that are self-enforcing and, therefore, largely bypass the recognition and enforcement procedures through which State courts traditionally exert a certain control over arbitration. This phenomenon may in the future allow arbitration to become entirely self-sufficient, thus leading to the marginalization of State courts. On the other hand, however, such a marginalization has not taken place yet; to the contrary, the recent blockchain-related phenomenon of initial coin offerings has given rise to some prominent court cases. These cases raise particularly interesting jurisdictional questions, especially in light of the difficulty of reconciling the decentralized nature of the blockchain with the territorial approach whereby jurisdiction is typically allocated among national courts.
  PubDate: Thu, 16 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT
  DOI: 10.1093/ulr/unz017
  Issue No: Vol. 24, No. 2 (2019)
Mediation and arbitration: the process of enforcement
- Authors: Zeller B; Trakman L.
  Pages: 449 - 466
  Abstract: Mediation is an important means of resolving international commercial disputes. The mediators whom the parties appoint can help to avoid contentious, dilatory and costly conflicts, including by resort to arbitration and/or litigation. The problem is the recognition and enforcement of mediated agreements often diverges from one state to the next. This makes it difficult to predict whether a mediated agreement will be enforced in a particular jurisdiction. The draft 2018 Singapore Mediation Convention [SMC] seeks to address this problem by providing uniform rules to govern the recognition and enforcement of mediated agreements. The obstacle faced by the SMC is that leading commercial states, notably in the EU, have resisted signing onto the SMC. They argue that mediation is, and ought to be, regulated domestically; and that the SMC is likely to marginalize domestic conceptions of mediation.This article evaluates the significance of mediation in resolving international commercial disputes. It stresses the growing importance of mediation in international commercial dealings, how the SMC can assist to fill a void in regulating such mediation, and how it can prevent commercial disputes from regressing into protracted arbitration with ensuing enforcement complications. Focusing on the SMC's rules governing the enforcement of mediation agreements, it examines how those rules are likely to operate in law, and their perceived strengths and limitations in practice.
  PubDate: Wed, 05 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT
  DOI: 10.1093/ulr/unz020
  Issue No: Vol. 24, No. 2 (2019)