Springwell-watch: new insights into the nature of contractual estoppel

Over the last ten years, the emergence of contractual estoppel has been catalysed by litigation between sophisticated participants in the financial markets. Pending a Supreme Court decision, the principal authority remains the Court of Appeal’s 2010 decision in Springwell Navigation Corp v JP Morgan Chase Bank (‘Springwell’). It would be wrong, however, to think that the doctrine has remained static since this landmark decision, or that it has remained confined to the financial sphere, or to relationships between sophisticated parties. The paper aims to fill a gap by considering the more recent, ‘second generation’ of cases involving contractual estoppel handed down in the five years 2013-2017 inclusive, with the aims of developing our understanding of this type of estoppel and examining its actual implications to date. Overall, the paper shows how contractual estoppel has become a recurrent and predictable feature of financial markets litigation, but also how it has spread into cases involving more diverse aspects of business and personal life. It argues that this diversity matters not only because of the impact on these wide-ranging types of relationships, but also because it has influenced the development of the doctrine. In this respect, the analysis shows how existential questions about contractual estoppel have faded from the cases, to be replaced by debates about the constraints on the doctrine. As a result, having assessed the extent and implications of spread of the doctrine, the paper proceeds to analyse the status of those constraints as they currently stand, considering in turn the ‘internal’ and ‘external’ limit

Contracts as regulation:The ISDA Master Agreement

This article proposes a rule of contractual interpretation for regulatory contracts defined as contracts (i) used by a large number of market participants, (ii) subject to limitations on deviation and (iii) designed with market problems (such as negative externalities) in addition to transactional problems (such as transaction costs) in mind. The rule states that the outcome of the interpretation of regulatory contracts must not be inconsistent with the objectives of the regulatory framework applicable to the market in which the contract is used. The article suggests that the reliance on that rule is normatively justified in cases where the regulatory objectives are clearly defined and particularly when the alternative outcome is to void the contract or its provision. By adopting the regulatory rule for contract interpretation, courts can preserve the autonomy of private regulatory regimes created through contracts without sacrificing public policy objectives. Several examples of the application of the rule to the interpretation of selected provisions of the ISDA Master Agreement and the ISDA Credit Definitions are discussed

Transnational law of the over-the-counter derivatives market : a study on the interactions between finance and law

The emergence and rapid evolution of the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market in the early 1980s revolutionized the whole landscape of finance. OTC derivatives are financial products that are transnational in their nature. These products do not follow any jurisdictional lines nor theoretical boundaries focusing on state-made law. They transcend them. The central argument of this research is that legal scholarship requires a legal theoretical approach capable of recognizing private normativity and that accepts that it is not only nation states and organizations that derive their powers from states that can produce law. Transnational method allows the observer to acknowledge the transnational elements of finance and then set them into a legal theoretical structure. This research retells the evolution of the OTC derivatives market through the application of transnational method. Instead of building a narrative emphasizing the de- and reregulation policies and politics, the research focuses on early beginnings of the largest capital market in the world, the so-called eurobond market of the 1960s. Through legal innovation, this market developed its own transnational rules. In the 1980s, this market became integrated with the rapidly growing market for swaps, a type of OTC derivative. Seeing the demand for contractual standardization,a handful of financial institutions became organized through a trade organization today known as the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA). The main product of ISDA, the ISDA Master Agreement architecture, had become by far the most used standard agreement in the OTC derivatives market already before the 1990s. Post financial crisis of 2008, this transnational contract still holds a central position in a very different regulatory environment than that of the 1980s. Transnational method identifies the supply and demand for financial and legal innovation, and the facilitative role that nation states and international organizations can play in enhancing private normativity and the transnationalisation of law. The results that transnational method tells are first and foremost descriptive. The application of transnational method requires a functional, rather than formal, understanding of ‘law’ because this allows private normativity to be recognized and its ontology properly understood.Oikeustieteellisessä tutkimuksessa keskitytään perinteisesti valtiolähtöiseen oikeuteen. Oikeusteoreettisena perusolettamuksena on tällöin se, että laki ja oikeus ovat valtioiden yksinomaista aluetta, jolle muut valtion oikeudenkäyttöalueella noudatetut muut, ei-oikeudelliset normit ovat alisteisia. Tästä perusolettamuksesta poiketen transnationaalinen oikeustutkimus painottaa oikeuden monimuotoisuutta: vaikka valtiolla onkin yksinomainen lainsäädäntövalta, sen oikeudenkäyttöalueella voi toimia myös valtiolähtöiseen oikeuteen tavalla tai toisella rinnastuvia yksityisiä normijärjestyksiä. Tämänkaltaisia yksityisiä normijärjestyksiä voidaan tietyin edellytyksin kutsua transnationaaliseksi oikeudeksi. Transnationaalisen oikeustutkimuksen perusolettamus on, että samalla valtiollisella oikeudenkäyttöalueella voi olla olemassa useita rinnakkaisia normijärjestyksiä, joista valtiollinen oikeus on toki keskeisin ja painavin mutta lopulta kuitenkin vain yksi oikeuden lähde yksityisten normijärjestysten rinnalla. Tutkimus käsittelee finanssimarkkinoiden transnationaalista oikeutta. Tutkimuskohteina ovat erityisesti 1960-luvun joukkovelkakirjamarkkinoiden ja 1980-luvun over-the-counter (OTC) -johdannaismarkkinoiden transnationaalinen oikeus. Tutkimusväite on, että näiden kahden toisiinsa nivoutuneen markkinan transnationaalinen oikeus syntyi itsenäisesti ja spontaanisti markkinatoiminnan sivutuotteena ilman valtiolähtöistä suunnittelua. Erityisesti vielä 1960- ja 1970-luvuilla valtiot pyrkivät tietoisesti estämään pääomien vapaata liikkuvuutta, ja näistä pyrkimyksistä huolimatta kansainväliset joukkovelkakirjamarkkinat kasvoivat samaan aikaan hyvin nopeasti. Markkinaliberalisaatioon tähtäävät valtiojohtoiset tavoitteet syntyivät vasta sen jälkeen, kun markkinatoimijat olivat jo käytännössä vapauttaneet itse itsensä monista pääomien vapaan liikkuvuuden esteistä. Tämä spontaani kehitys kiihtyi, kun OTC-johdannaistuotteiden käyttö yleistyi maailmanlaajuisesti nopeassa tahdissa 1980-luvulla. Sittemmin valtiot ovat sekä itsenäisesti että kansainvälisellä yhteistyöllä pyrkineet sääntelemään finanssimarkkinoita. Haasteeksi jää, että transnationaalisella markkinalla paikalliseksi jäävä finanssisääntely voi tuottaa odottamattomia ja ei-toivottuja sivuvaikutuksia

FCIC Interview of Jamie Mai & Ben Hockett, Cornwall Capital

Linked below is the audiotape to this intervie

Contratação de instrumentos financeiros em plataformas de negociação electrónica

What are electronic trading platforms? What is a “White Label Trading System Agreement”? What is the legal nature of the relationships established between the players? What are the obligations of a financial intermediary? The present paper explores these questions at a time when very little has come to light about these young electronic trading systems of financial instruments.O que são plataformas de negociação electrónica? O que é um “White Label Trading Sytem Agreement”? Qual a natureza jurídica das relações que se estabelecem? Quais as obrigações do intermediário financeiro? O presente trabalho procura responder a estas questões, num momento em que muito pouco se sabe acerca destes sistemas de negociação electrónica de instrumentos financeiros

Representações sociais da matemática: a bela ou o monstro?

Quer seja nos meios de comunicação social, quer seja em conversas ouvidas entre amigos, todos os dias deparamos com referências à matemática, em particular ao insucesso escolar que aí se regista e à “aversão” que um conjunto bastante vasto de pessoas sente por ela. Na tentativa de perceber como se constrói esta valorização negativa da disciplina surge como imperioso o conhecimento das representações sociais da matemática. Um inquérito por questionário, aplicado a uma amostra de alunos do 9.º ano do concelho de Lisboa, permitiu concluir que aquilo que mais sobressai na sua relação com a matemática é o sentimento de insegurança face ao seu elevado nível de dificuldade, que coexiste com o reconhecimento da sua importância e utilidade.Every day, in the media or in conversations among friends, we come across references to mathematics and, in particular, to the failure in school associated with it and the “aversion” that a fairly large number of people feel towards it. For any attempt to understand how this negative assessment of the subject has built up, knowledge of the social representations of mathematics appears indispensable. From a questionnaire survey among a sample of 9th grade pupils in the municipality of Lisbon it was possible to conclude that the salient characteristic of their relationship with mathematics is that a sense of insecurity arising from the difficulty of the subject coexists with a recognition of its importance and usefulness.Que ce soit dans les médias ou dans les conversations entre amis, les mathématiques reviennent souvent à l’ordre du jour, en particulier pour évoquer de l’échec scolaire ou bien l’aversion qu’un nombre de personnes éprouvent pour cette matière. Afin de comprendre comment se construit cette perception négative des mathématiques, il est essentiel d’en connaître les représentations sociales. Une enquête par questionnaire menée à Lisbonne, auprès d’un échantillon d’élèves en 9 ème année de scolarité (15 ans de moyenne d’âge), a permis de conclure que ce qui ressort le plus dans leur relation avec les mathématiques est le sentiment d’insécurité face au degré de difficulté élevé de cette matière, allié à la reconnaissance de son importance et de son utilité.Bien sea en los medios de comunicación social o en las conversaciones entre amigos, todo los días nos encontramos con referencias a las matemáticas, más concretamente al fracaso escolar que aquí se registra y a la “aversión” que un conjunto bastante amplio de personas siente por esta disciplina. En el intento de comprender como se construye esta valoración negativa de la materia surge como imperioso el conocimiento de las representaciones sociales de las matemáticas. Un sondeo realizado por cuestionario, aplicado a un segmento de alumnos de 9.º curso (3.º de ESO) del municipio de Lisboa, permitió concluir que lo más destacable en su relación con las matemáticas es el sentimiento de inseguridad ante su elevado nivel de dificultad, que coexiste con el reconocimiento de su importancia y utilidad

Derivative Finanzinstrumente im Recht

Die von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft geförderte Habilitationsschrift ist ein herausragender Beitrag zur dringend erforderlichen Systematisierung und Strukturierung des Rechts der Finanzderivate. Die Schwierigkeiten der rechtlichen Erfassung von Derivaten liegen in ihrer Ambivalenz zwischen Risikoerhöhung und -absicherung sowie in den durch ihren Einsatz eröffneten Möglichkeiten der Finanz- und Regelungsarbitrage. Das Werk besticht durch die souveräne Verbindung von finanzwirtschaftlichen und rechtswissenschaftlichen Grundlagen zur Lösung von aktuellen Rechtsfragen. Es ordnet die komplexe und flüchtige Welt der Finanzderivate nach juristischen Gesichtspunkten und vermittelt dem Rechtsanwender sichere und überzeugende Leitlinien bei der Subsumtion von Derivaten aller Art. So wird deutlich, warum Derivate über liquide, marktgängige Basiswerte rechtlich anders zu behandeln sind als z.B. Versicherungs- und Kreditderivate oder innovative Finanzinstrumente außerhalb des Terminmarktes. Den Schlüssel hierzu bildet ein vom Autor entwickelter Ansatz zum Verständnis der Austauschstruktur zivilrechtlich verbindlicher Risikoverträge. Daraus ergeben sich entscheidende Folgerungen für das Vertrags-, Insolvenz-, Bankenaufsichts-, Bilanz- und Steuerrecht

Pag-aalaga ng tilapya

Text in Filipino.The manual discusses tilapia culture methods in concrete tanks, netcages, and fishponds. It details the species of tilapia cultured in the Philippines, which include Oreochromis nilotucus, O.mossambicus, O.aureus. It covers the following: site selection; construction of netcages and its modules; fishpond construction and pond preparation; criteria for fry selection; stocking; netcage and pond management including water quality management; and harvest. The manual also lists the agencies involved in tilapia research and development in the Philippines; defines some technical terms in a glossary, and lists some useful references.3rd Ed

Credit Derivatives: L'applicazione del Credit Default Swap nella economia moderna

Questa tesi affronta il tema di attualità quali sono i derivati di credito. La tesi può essere scomposta in tre parti, nella prima, rappresentata dal primo capitolo cerco di definire e collocare le principali categorie dei derivati di credito nati e sviluppati nel corso degli anni; nel secondo capitolo focalizzo la mia attenzione su un tipo particolare di derivato di credito come i credit default swaps attraverso una loro puntuale definizione, una loro collocazione all'interno del codice civile domestico e in relazione ai principi contabili internazionali, come vengono contabilizzati a bilancio e i motivi del loro utilizzo nel mondo finanziario; nel terzo capitolo della tesi procedo ad una analitica valutazione dello stesso attraverso l'approccio basato sui ratings che mi permette di definire il possibile pricing del suddetto derivato; infine concludo la mia tesi con una piccola disamina interpretativa relativa alla nascita, lo sviluppo e l'utilizzo crescente raggiunto negli anni da questo strumento