The postal acceptance rule was first established in the case of the court of Adams v Lindsell ([1818] 1 B &Ald, 681) when the court had to decide the moment of contract formation by post. The court found that parties when communicating acceptance by post were not sure at the precise time the acceptance had...Read More
The Charter (Statuut) for the Kingdom represents a de-colonization scheme devised in the 1950s. Rather than separating from what was left of the Dutch colonial empire, the overseas territories of Suriname, in South America, and Curacao, a group of island territories in the Caribbean Sea later renamed Netherlands Antilles, placed their relations with the Netherlands...Read More
In his Millennium Report (A/54/2000), the Secretary-General of the United Nations noted that “[s]upport for the rule of law would be enhanced if countries signed and ratified international treaties and conventions”. He further noted that many countries are unable to participate fully in the international treaty framework due to “the lack of the necessary expertise...Read More
‘It’s just not right.’ ‘It’s not natural.’ How many times have you heard these sorts of judgements invoked against a particular practice or act? What do they mean? When abortion is pronounced immoral, same-sex marriage unacceptable, what is the basis of this censure? Is there an objectively ascertainable measure of right and wrong, good and...Read More
The Congress of Vienna insisted on the creation of a strong buffer state against post Napoleonic France. Therefore the Southern Netherlands, roughly today’s Belgium, were merged into the new Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. The Kingdom became known as the ‘United Netherlands’. The Kingdom’s Constitution was amended accordingly by referendum, albeit with limited suffrage...Read More
Legal scholarship is notorious for the long form. Really long! Back in the day, the most influential legal scholars were the treatise writers—the heirs of Blackstone and Chancellor Kent—you know the names: Corbin, Davis, Moore, Nimmer, Wigmore, Williston, and Wright. And let us not forget the last great modern treatise—Tribe’s American Constitutional Law—an attempt to...Read More
Comparative Law describes the comparison of various laws; it is not a distinct body of law. This is clearer from the term in German (Rechtsvergleichung) than from the term in other languages (comparative law, droit comparé). Macrocomparison is concerned with entire legal systems; micro-comparison deals with specific institutions or specific problems. Comparative Law thus goes...Read More
