The fragmentation of international investment law into bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and other international investment agreements (IIAs) made it impossible as a system of law. In addition, the potential for inconsistent and conflicting decisions (especially against developing countries) in investment treaty arbitrations are abundant. The causes of this situation are two-fold and concern both substantive law and procedural law. Concerning the substance, the fragmentation of sources of international investment law plays a significant role in disaggregating coherence. Due to the large number of BITs, a state measure might be assessed differently under the two existing investment treaties, with each treaty specifying different standards of investment protection, even varying with the nationality of the investor affected. Inconsistent decisions can also result from the possibility of having multiple proceedings, in the same or different form, relating to an identical set of facts that can arise from independent claims. For developing countries, who face investment law disputes more frequently than developed countries, an ideal solution would be a global investment treaty or a plurilateral investment agreement under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and use its dispute settlement system to resolve investment disputes.

This Article examines selected issues of property rights in intermediated securities under Chinese law. Part I introduces intermediated securities and the legal implications. Part II reviews Chinese property law and the property rights in certificated securities under Chinese law. Part III examines property rights in intermediated securities under Chinese law. Part IV examines the obligations of intermediaries to safeguard the property rights in intermediated securities. Part V gives proposals for remedying the defects of relevant Chinese law.

Volume contract as a new regime was introduced into the Rotterdam Rules by the proposal of the U.S. Delegation, which has pros and cons in terms of its inclusion. We shall admit that, since the early form of service contract has been successfully applied in the transportation trade in the U.S., this regime indeed has its vitality. The author hereunder focuses on the inclusion of volume contract in the Rotterdam Rules, and introduces the history of the advent of service contract in the U.S. and then the advantages of the service contract of its application. Furthermore, the author analyzes the relevant provisions regarding volume contract in the Rotterdam Rules, as well as some critiques with respect to the concept of volume contract and provisions accordingly in the rules.

The anti-dumping war between the US and China has attracted much attention lately, especially after a March WTO ruling and a November US domestic court ruling on the issue in 2011. While the former held that the current US method of applying countervailing and anti-dumping duties simultaneously on imports from China and other non-market economies was “inconsistent” with the WTO rules, the latter ruled that such action was “illegal” under the US countervailing law. China has been one of the most frequent anti-dumping investigation targets by both developed and developing countries for decades. Although it currently has more than one hundred anti-dumping actions against its trading partners at the domestic level, China is a very new player of anti-dumping litigation at the WTO level. China filed its first WTO claim on anti-dumping in December 2007 against the US, since when it has made frequent appearance at the WTO dispute settlement in this regard. This Article examines China’s participation in anti-dumping disputes during the first ten years of its WTO membership, five as complainant and four as respondent. The alleged undervalued Chinese currency has been claimed to provide unfair price advantages to Chinese products and consequently tops trade frictions between China and its trading partners. It to some extent contributes to the rising anti-dumping disputes of China. With the continuing pressure to appreciate the Chinese currency globally as well as the current debit crisis in the EU, more anti-dumping and countervailing investigations against China are expected to emerge as countries are pushing more exports to assist the gloomy domestic economies. This becomes more likely taking into account the mounting claims on the job lost in the US due to the flux of cheap and competitive Chinese products.

Between the end of the eleventh century and the beginning of the twelfth century, following the rediscovery of Roman law in the West, the first Bolognese commentators stuck to the Roman principle prohibiting donations between spouses. Authors commented over and over again upon fragments of the writings of Roman jurists Paul and Ulpian that were integrated into the Digest of Emperor Justinian. According to these jurists of the Classical Age, fears of despoliation between spouses, of negligence in the children’s education and of marriage becoming venal were the main reasons found. Medieval canon law takes the subject of donations between spouses very seriously. Laurent of Spain (? 1248), in the Glossa Palatina, worries about donations of cosmetics, which are seen as luxury enhancing. In Liber Extra (1234), a decretal signed by Gregory IX took up the subject, confirming the opinions expressed by Paul and Ulpian by expressing hostility to such donations on the basis of public morality. Following the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), a new literary form appeared: confession - or casuistic - manuals. In these aspects, the subject of gifts between spouses is closely assimilated to the question of sin, especially of luxury. Continental Europe’s common law (ius commune) shows similar spirit in that respect. Italian statutory laws, in conformity with the separatist spirit of Roman law, forbade them without distinction. They were outlawed in English law by unitas carnis which presides over conjugal relations. According to Jean Boutillier (1395), the author of La Somme rural, a famous French interpreter of law, donations between spouses are generally regarded as a result of fear, complacency or luxury, and so should be forbidden. The common theme between Roman or Canon law and different common laws is the upholding of a certain public morality and the control of couples as the mainstay of their respective families.

Property division rules in the Judicial Interpretation (III) of the Supreme Court on the Marriage Law of the People’s Republic of China have aroused broad controversy. Scholars misunderstand the Interpretation (III), including those related to cultural courtesy, male nesting, and dowry. The Interpretation (III) of the Marriage Law is neutral, universally applicable, and adjudicative in nature, which is consistent with the principle of gender equality.

Copenhagen Climate Change Conference began with high expectation but ended in despair. It reached the so-called Copenhagen Accord with some dissenters. The Copenhagen Accord calls for deep cuts in global emissions, but it has not reached a binding goal of greenhouse gas emission reduction commitment and is not a legal effective agreement. EU played a limited role in Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, while the US and China were crucial to achieve the Copenhagen Accord. The subsequent Cancun negotiation reached the Cancun Agreements, but many substantial issues remained unsolved, such as the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and other core issues. Durban Climate Summit successfully managed to include the main polluters of the globe, especially the US and the main emerging economies (including India and China), to commit their obligations for the first time to reduce greenhouse gas emission reduction under the international framework, and all the parties of the conference agreed that they would negotiate new mechanisms of greenhouse gas reduction which will be implemented by 2020 before 2015. Durban Climate Summit has also reached a package of agreements on climate change. Among them, an important one is about the Global Climate Fund. But some key issues including quantified GHGs emission reduction goals among countries have not been solved.

After the US Lehman mini-bonds crisis in 2008, global countries have been exploring the financial consumer protection legislation. This paper mainly focuses on the status quo and problems of China’s current financial mechanism, as well as how to construct a financial dispute resolution system and financial ombudsman system (FOS), how to employ mediation, arbitration and other various dispute resolution mechanisms to deal with financial disputes.

John W. Head, Great Legal Traditions - Civil Law, Common Law and Chinese Law in Historical and Operational Perspective. Durham (North Carolina): Carolina Academic Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-1-59460-957-2. Pgs: xxiv + 676.