Monthly Archives: July, 2025
‘Making private law resilient: The role of private litigation in a democracy – PhD scholarship at Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany’
Axel Halfmeier (Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany) has kindly shared the following advertisement for a 3-year PhD scholarship with us, which will be part of a research project on ‘Making private law resilient: The role of private litigation in a democracy’ … (more) [Tobias Lutzi, Conflict of Laws .net, 8 July 2025]
Anita Bernstein, ‘Extend Tort Principles to Tort Principals’
ABSTRACT This chapter examines occupational categories (here called ‘principals’) that effect the values or ends (‘principles’) that tort law pursues. The most familiar of tort Principals is the judge. Judges create tort law overtly in the decisions they write and the case law they choose to reference in support of what they decide. Attorneys who […]
Zahra Takhshid, ‘Virtual Dignitary Torts’
ABSTRACT The emergence of the metaverse and spatial computing, which has enabled immersive digital interactions, raise complex legal questions. This work examines the feasibility of addressing dignitary torts – such as battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress – committed via avatars. The particular challenge for tort law is the nonphysical nature of self-representations in […]
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, ‘“I miss my name”: Why Election Workers Turn to Defamation Law to Defend Democracy’
ABSTRACT Defamation law was one of the only effective ways to hold actors who undermined the 2020 and 2022 elections in the United States accountable. Defamation lawsuits were utilized by election workers to push back against election deniers. While criminal law largely failed to hold election deniers accountable, this aspect of tort law which has […]
James Toomey, ‘Personhood as Participation’
ABSTRACT ‘Legal personhood’ is thought to be a concept of foundational and systemic importance to the legal system, encompassing all living human beings, born alive, and certain collectivities called corporations. The problem is that the more one tries to square these uncontroversial intuitions with one another, the less the concept hangs together. Many things that […]
Jürgen Norbert Dinkel, ‘“The Rich Uncle from America”: Transnational Inheritance Transfers between the United States, Germany, and Russia, 1840s-1980s’
ABSTRACT This article examines cross-border inheritance transfers between the United States, Germany, and Russia between the 1840s and the late 1980s. These transfers were not only characterized by private considerations and kinship networks but were also strongly intertwined with national and international political developments. This article argues that the history of transnational inheritance transfers since […]
Steve Moore, ‘Approaching digital assets as a professional trustee’
ABSTRACT As demand grows for trusts to hold digital assets, professional trustees must navigate fiduciary, legal, and operational challenges. This article analyses how trustees can meet their duties when administering digital assets such as cryptocurrencies. Emphasis is placed on issues of asset custody, anti-money laundering compliance, risk mitigation, and due diligence. Parallels are drawn with […]
Kevin Madigan, ‘Generative AI and Copyright Infringement: Lessons from past Fair Use Cases’
INTRODUCTION The development of generative artificial intelligence (AI) models in recent years is transforming digital technology, with some even asking if current AI advancements represent a ‘fourth industrial revolution’. However, as we enter this new era of technological advancement, there are unanswered questions about how generative AI models are developed and what effect they could […]
Isaac Collins, ‘The prospects of extending copyright to non-human creators in Australia’
ABSTRACT While animal rights have been the subject of growing philosophical and legal interest, the domain of intellectual property rights for animals remains underexamined. This article examines whether non-human animals could qualify for copyright protection under Australian law. Focusing on the requirements of originality and authorship by a ‘qualified person’ under the Copyright Act 1968 […]
Andrew Woodhouse, ‘The de-politicisation of decarbonisation through climate rent: a Marxist critique of the EU emissions trading system’
ABSTRACT The European Union (EU) Emissions Trading System (ETS) is the cornerstone of the EU’s attempt to decarbonise economic production in Europe. This paper questions the power and class relations that are built into the EU’s choice to address the climate crisis through the legal construction of emissions trading. Drawing on Marxist theory, the paper […]