Category Archives: Public policy
Noel Semple, ‘The Fat Columns Problem: Disproportionality in Civil Litigation’
ABSTRACT This article seeks to define procedural disproportionality and understand its causes, using Ontario as a case study. The essential problem is that too many resources are spent on civil disputes that do not merit the expenditure. The first Part of this paper introduces ID Inc v Toronto Wholesale Produce Association, an Ontario civil action […]
deHaan, Wang, Zhou and Zhou, ‘Non-Disclosure Agreements and the Market for Talent’
ABSTRACT We examine whether state laws restricting employers’ use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) improve labor-market efficiency. Employers use NDAs to suppress negative workplace information to appear more attractive to job seekers. However, widespread suppression degrades the labor-market information environment, potentially creating a market failure that disincentivizes workplace improvements and worsens firms’ recruiting outcomes. Using a […]
Sam Bannister, ‘Public policy and the Forfeiture Act 1982: assisted suicide, mercy killings and domestic abuse’
ABSTRACT Examines judicial approaches to litigation under the Forfeiture Act 1982 in three policy contexts: assisted suicide, mercy killings and victims of domestic abuse killing their abuser. Considers prima facie application of the forfeiture rule to all unlawful killers and the bar to granting relief for those convicted of murder. € (Westlaw) Sam Bannister, ‘Public […]
Rachel Leow, ‘Express Trusts and Public Policy’
ABSTRACT In recent years, much attention has focused on the use and abuse of express trusts. Two sets of situations have generated the most controversy. The first concerns so-called massively discretionary trusts, where trustees are given very wide dispositive powers, including powers of appointment, but also powers to add or exclude persons as potential objects […]
Jonker and Victoria, ‘Chaos Contracts: Outcome Manipulation in Prediction Markets, and How to Regulate It’
ABSTRACT Prediction markets are ordinarily defended for their ability to aggregate dispersed information into a price that tracks an event’s probability. This defense assumes act-state independence: that trading a contract does not influence the probability of its outcome. Where this assumption doesn’t hold, contracts are act-sensitive, and the price of an event contract is not […]
Rachel Landy, ‘Tech Contracts and the No-Plaintiff Problem’
ABSTRACT Much ink has been spilled over how antitrust law could address the effects of Big Tech’s market dominance. But when dominant firms include unfair terms in their agreements with business customers, contract law should be able to step in, too. Contract law has two principles that are inherently appropriate to invoke when unfair terms […]
Russell Korobkin, ‘Contract Boilerplate and Constitutional Public Policy’
ABSTRACT The modern economy is awash in standard form contracts filled with ‘boilerplate’ terms that are drafted by repeat players and routinely accepted by consumers, employees, and businesses without reading or understanding their content. Standard form contracts weaken but do not subvert party autonomy but they do undermine contract efficiency. While American courts attempt to […]
Lukas Rass-Masson, ‘The Impact of European Private International Law and the réserve héréditaire in France’
ABSTRACT Whether the réserve héréditaire (forced heirship under French inheritance law) forms part of French international ordre public, and therefore falls within the public-policy exception, has long been the subject of a major doctrinal debate in France. While the traditional answer was positive, the contemporary evolution of French private international law, driven in particular by […]
Sam Wise, ‘Analyzing the Legal Enforceability of BDSM Contracts between Sex Workers and Clients’
ABSTRACT Contracts are the common legal solution provided to those entering into agreements who wish to decrease their liability. However, there is a limit to which communities can take advantage of these legal protections. As previously taboo sexual practices like BDSM become more popular, those seeking to engage in the practices may think it reasonable […]
Okoli and Emeasoba, ‘The role of English public policy in promoting the circulation of electronic trade documents’
ABSTRACT The Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (2017) enabled the use and transfer of electronic and digital trade documents across borders. This Model Law influenced the enactment of the 2023 Electronic Trade Documents Act (ETDA) in the United Kingdom, which is a pioneer in this regard. In implementing the Model Law, however, the UK […]