International Business Law

by August, Ray A.; Mayer, Don; Bixby, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780131014107
• ISBN10: 0131014102
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-01-01
• Publisher: Pearson College Div

Summary

For senior undergraduate business, and law school courses in International Business Law. Emphasizing practical application and theory of international business law, this text shows how firms doing business between the more than 200 countries of the world are governed and regulated. No single legal system is emphasized; rather, cases and materials from many countries are collected to show both the diversity and the similarity of businesses and of the law. This is a book of text, cases, and readings.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to International and Comparative Law.
2. State Responsibility and Environmental Protection.
3. Dispute Settlement.
4. The Multinational Enterprise.
5. Foreign Investment.
6. Money and Banking.
7. Trade in Goods.
8. Services and Labor.
9. Intellectual Property.
10. Sales.
11. Transportation.
12. Financing.
13. Taxation.
Case Index.
Statutory Index.
Topical Index.

Excerpts

Business today is truly international. Worldwide, approximately half of all business transactions are done across national borders. An enterprise, therefore, that chooses to ignore all but the laws and legal procedures of its own country is choosing to work half blind. Lawyers and businesspeople have to have a basic understanding of legal systems other than their own. The consequence of failing to do so is nowhere more forcefully stated than in an opinion of Philippine Supreme Court Justice Cruz: The petitioners' counsel have submitted a memorandum replete with citations of American cases, as if they were arguing before a court of the United States. The Court is bemused by such attitude. While these decisions do have persuasive effect upon us, they can at best be invoked only to support our own jurisprudence, which we have developed and enriched on the basis of our own persuasions as a people, particularly since we became independent .... We appreciate the assistance foreign decisions offer us .... But we should not place undue and fawning reliance upon them and regard them as indispensable mental crutches without which we cannot come to our own decision through the employment of our own endowments. We live in a different ambiance and must decide our own problems in the light of our own interests and needs, and of our qualities and even idiosyncrasies as a people, and always with our own concept of law and justice. Sanders v. Veridiano. Philippine Supreme Court. Supreme Court Reports Annotated, Second Series,vol. 162, p. 88 (1988). The goal of this book is to show how firms doing business between the more than 185 countries of the world are governed and regulated. No single legal system is emphasized; rather, cases and materials from many countries are collected to show both the diversity and the similarity of businesses and of the law. International organizations play a large role in regulating international business, and they too are examined, along with the treaties, conventions, and agreements that created them and the treaties, conventions, and rules that they administer. SPECIAL FEATURES This is a book of text, cases, and readings. Depending on the teaching style of the instructor, as well as the backgrounds of students, either the text or the cases and readings can be emphasized. As much as possible, sexist language in the text has been avoided. Unfortunately, many (if not most) international statutory and case materials use only the masculine gender (i.e., he, him, his) when speaking of a person. Unfortunately, as well, the English language does not have a neuter pronoun that can be readily substituted for these words. To be consistent, and to avoid the clumsiness of phrases such as "he or she," or "he/she," or "s/he," the masculine gender is also used in the text when general reference is made to an individual. Plain Language Citations Standard law abbreviations, such as 1961 3 WLREP 198, would be all but meaningless to most readers (even most lawyers with access to domestic citation dictionaries) because the cases and materials are taken from many uncommon sources. As a consequence, all citations are given in the following form: name, volume, part (if appropriate), series (if appropriate), page, court, and year. For example:West Indian Reports,vol. 3, p.198 (Br. Guiana Supreme Ct.,1961). In addition, when case materials are available on the Internet, the World Wide Web address for those materials is provided in a footnote. These addresses are also listed on the "links" page of the textbook's Web site at IntBusLaw.com. Margin Notes Key words and phrases are defined in margin notes for ready reference and easy review. Chapter Questions and Review Problem Each chapter concludes with a series of questions that highlight the major topics of the chapter. For instructors (