Category Archives: Fundamental or Human Rights
‘Milieudefensie v ING: Climate Breakdown and Banks’ Duty of Care’
There is a trend towards climate lawsuits against companies based on their alleged duty of care not to emit more than a certain amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Currently, there are four such cases before courts in Germany, all of which have been unsuccessful so far. On 19 January 2024, Milieudefensie, a Dutch environmental group, […]
Fabrizio Cafaggi and Paola Iamiceli, ‘Covid-19 Litigation: The Drivers of Institutional Responses to the Pandemic and the Role of Courts’
ABSTRACT The chapter concludes a book whose contributions are based on around 2400 decisions selected and available in an openly accessible Database and News Page (available at https://www.covid19litigation.org/). It provides a comparative analysis about the drivers of institutional responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of courts in times of global health crisis. The […]
Bram Akkermans, ‘The Influence of the Four (or Five) Freedoms on Property Law’
ABSTRACT The European Union is built upon a single market, a conglomerate of national markets that is governed by multiple levels of law. European Union law comprises two treaties and provides regulation in the form of Regulations and Directives. EU Law also provides a set of prohibitions that govern trade on the single market. In […]
Benoit Mayer, ‘The Contribution of Urgenda to the Mitigation of Climate Change’
ABSTRACT Dutch courts in Urgenda ordered the government of the Netherlands to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020, compared with 1990. The case has been presented as a remarkable judicial victory of climate action advocates. With hindsight, this article questions the case’s contribution to the mitigation of climate change. If the Urgenda […]
‘ECtHR finds violation of right to property by State’s failure to enforce copyright’
In Safarov v Azerbaijan (appl no. 885/12) the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) finds that the defendant State violated Article 1 of Protocol No 1 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR). In its judgment of 1 September 2022, the Court determines that Azerbaijan failed to enforce […]
Sarah Joseph and Joanna Kyriakakis, ‘Tort Law Filling the Human Rights Void’
ABSTRACT Tort law offers real prospects for human rights remedies in Australia, especially in the absence of human rights legislation in most Australian jurisdictions. In this chapter, we provide an overview of human rights protection in Australia, relevant aspects of tort law in Australia and its relationship to human rights, and the torts of most […]
Samuel Ernst, ‘Trump Really Is Too Small: The Right to Trademark Political Commentary’
ABSTRACT Can you register a famous person’s name as your trademark? The Lanham Act seems to say no, and the PTO interprets this to mean, no, never, no matter what. The Federal Circuit says, ‘yes, you can’, at least as applied to marks containing political commentary. 15 USC § 1052(c) provides, in pertinent part, that […]
Ishani, ‘Human Rights Violation and the Piercing of Corporate Veil’
ABSTRACT The notion of lifting the corporate veil might be interpreted as the company’s affiliation with its members. To put it another way, removing the corporate veil is a legal choice to treat a company’s rights and obligations as if they were the rights and liabilities of its shareholders. There are exceptions, but they are […]
Kanning, ‘Shell and the Climate Case – Is the Shell Group the “Cheapest Cost Avoider”?’
ABSTRACT The Hague District Court in The Netherlands faced a novel tort law issue in 2021 in Milieudefensie et al v Royal Dutch Shell plc – namely, whether Shell is liable in tort for the reduction costs of carbon dioxide produced in the end use of energy-carrying Shell-products. Ronald Coase’s 1960 paper, ‘The Problem of […]
Porcedda, ‘On the compatibility of pandemic data-driven measures with the right to data protection: a review of “under-the-radar” measures adopted in Ireland to contain COVID-19’
ABSTRACT This article reviews the compatibility of ‘under-the-radar’ data-driven measures adopted in Ireland to contain the COVID-19 pandemic with data protection law. Since data protection law implements and gives substance to the right to the protection of personal data enshrined in article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the article […]