Monthly Archives: November, 2025
Alex Raskolnikov, ‘A new view of formal equality and a case for predistribution’
ABSTRACT A long-held egalitarian view is that formal equality – the absence of formal legal distinctions based on the material resources of individuals – is regressive. If legal rules are the same for the rich and the poor, the rich benefit and the poor suffer. This Essay argues that this view is mistaken. Far from […]
Aline Larroyed, ‘The Fallacy of the File: How the Memorisation Metaphor Misguides Copyright Law and Stifles AI Innovation’
ABSTRACT This article examines the metaphor of ‘memorisation’ in current debates about artificial intelligence (AI), particularly large language models (LLMs), and its migration into copyright law. In machine learning, memorisation has a narrow technical meaning, describing rare instances where models reproduce verbatim fragments of training data. Yet, when transposed into legal discourse, the term has […]
David Foxton, ‘“Careless whispers and (sweet) little lies” establishing the boundaries of misstatement claims’
ABSTRACT This article, based on the 2025 Harris Society Lecture, reviews a number of aspects of the law relating to actionable misstatements where the applicable principles remain unclear or appear unsatisfactory. The analysis is structured by reference to four aspects of a core misrepresentation claim: a statement by a defendant; to the claimant; where the […]
Alvaro Pereira, ‘Selective Flexibility: The Hidden Evolution of Startup Corporate Law’
ABSTRACT This Article challenges the longstanding assumption that corporate law is largely irrelevant to startup companies and venture capital (VC). Through a novel cross-country legal index covering twenty years and twelve jurisdictions, it shows that corporate laws have evolved through a process of ‘selective flexibility’, in which certain legal barriers to VC deals are lifted, […]
Rademeyer and Selvadurai, ‘Out from the shadows: developing effective copyright laws for AI training datasets and shadow libraries’
INTRODUCTION Shadow libraries are vast online repositories containing millions of pirated books and articles made free to download on websites. The sharing of copyrighted work outside ‘official channels’ has been identified as a longstanding practice, with scholars such as Bodó tracing the historic roots of key shadow libraries such as Library Genesis (‘LibGen’) and Sci-Hub […]
Quynh Nguyen Thi, ‘Foreseeability and Limitation of contractual damages in Roman law’
ABSTRACT This Article studies the limitation of liability for contractual damages in Roman law to examine whether foreseeability in contractual damages was formed in Roman law and its influence on the development of limitation of liability for contractual damages in modern law. It concludes that the limitation of contractual damages, without general rule, was discussed […]
Nathan Tamblyn, ‘Beneficiaries and the arbitration of trust disputes’
ABSTRACT The Law Commission is considering whether to recommend legislation which would bind beneficiaries to an arbitration clause in a trust instrument. This article considers the issues which any such legislation would need to address. Nathan Tamblyn, Beneficiaries and the arbitration of trust disputes, Trusts & Trustees. Published: 24 November 2025.
Naheed and Maseehullah, ‘Reconciling Party Autonomy and Procedural Efficiency in Arbitration Consolidation’
ABSTRACT In the era of globalization in international trade, multi-party disputes and the interlocking of contracts bring about the problem of overlapping arbitration of disputes. This leads to inconsistent decisions and unnecessary costs. Arbitration consolidation, or the aggregation of related arbitrations into a single proceeding, offers a solution to these challenges. However, it creates significant […]
Douglas Brodie, ‘Oppressive Employment by Another Route: Franchise and Abuse of Power’
ABSTRACT The contract of franchise has received a surprising lack of attention in the UK courts. The decision in Ellis v John Benson [2025] EWHC 2096, where a franchisee was successful in establishing that the contract with the franchisor contained an implied obligation of good faith, is therefore of particular note. The decision is likely […]
Jorge Contreras, ‘Silly Patents, Serious Issues’
ABSTRACT A wooden stick. A crustless sandwich. The comb-over. These commonplaces of everyday life share one remarkable feature: each was once protected by a United States patent. Patents like these – so-called ‘silly’ patents – are humorous because they present a manifest incongruity between common knowledge and the statutory patentability requirements of novelty and nonobviousness. […]