Effects of contract termination for breach of contract: restitution and damages in a comparative perspective within the legal latinity

The essay addresses the restitutions derived from the resolution for non-compliance in a comparative way within the “legal Latinity”. It compares the solutions accepted in Italian law (European legal latinity), and those of two Latin American legal systems, Colombia, and Peru. From the point of view of the discipline dedicated to resolution (termination) and its consequences, the Italian and Peruvian codes are the most advanced, while the Colombian one, which dates from the nineteenth century, leaves ample room for the jurisprudential development of this remedy. In any event, the three legal systems seem to converge on the role of restitution as a tool to return the parties to the economic situation prior to the contract. However, with regard to the basis of the restitution function, uncertainties persist between the condictio indebiti and restitutions specifically regulated in the framework of rhe resolution (termination). Even the reciprocal link between the restitutions owed by the two parties remains undeepened. Finally, the coordination between restitution and compensation for damages in the context of the resolution seems to be more clearly captured in the Italian doctrine, to which the Peruvian doctrine seems closer. Damages must be compatible with the fact that the fullfilling party of the contract no longer owes its observance to the contract, and waives the consideration. Damages cannot therefore include the value of the performance unfulfilled, but must protect the party who is faithful to the contract in terms of its positive interest in the contract, that is to say, the benefit that he would have obtained by using the performance due if it had been fulfilled.El ensayo aborda las restituciones derivadas de la resolución por incumplimiento en un horizonte comparativo dentro de la latinidad jurídica. En particular, se comparan las soluciones aceptadas en el derecho italiano (latinidad jurídica europea), y las de dos ordenamientos latinoamericanos, Colombia y Perú. Desde el punto de vista de la disciplina dedicada a la resolución y sus consecuencias, los códigos italiano y peruano son los más avanzados, mientras que el colombiano, que data del siglo XIX, deja un amplio espacio al desarrollo jurisprudencial de la figura. En cualquier caso, los tres ordenamientos parecen converger en la función de las restituciones como herramienta para devolver a las partes a la situación económica anterior al contrato. Sin embargo, en lo que respecta al fundamento de la función restitutiva, persisten las incertidumbres entre la repetición de lo indebido y devoluciones específicamente reguladas por la resolución. Incluso el vínculo recíproco entre las restituciones debidas por ambas partes sigue siendo poco profundizado. Finalmente, la coordinación entre restituciones e indemnización de daños y perjuicios en el marco de la resolución parece captada más claramente en la doctrina italiana, a la que la peruana parece más cercana. La indemnización de daños y perjuicios tiene que ser compatible con el hecho de que la parte cumplida del contrato ya no debe su observancia al mismo, y además de renuncia también a la contraprestación. La indemnización, por tanto, no puede incluir el valor de la prestación incumplida, sino que debe proteger a la parte fiel al contrato en lo que respecta a su interés positivo en el mismo, es decir, en el beneficio que le habría aportado la prestación debida por la parte que incumplió

Holocene tree-line variability in the Kauner Valley, Central Eastern Alps, indicated by dendrochronological analysis of living trees and subfossil logs

The altitude of the Alpine tree-line has often been used as proxy for the climatic conditions in the Holocene epoch. The usual approach for establishing a record for this proxy is the analysis of pollen and macro remains. We analysed living trees and subfossil logs from the timberline ecotone in the innermost Kauner valley in the Central Eastern Alps in order to assemble a Holocene dendrochronological tree-line record. Data sets comprising age and height of living Stone Pines (Pinus cembra L.) were collected at one site. Sections of 170 subfossil Stone Pine logs from five other sites were dendrochronologically analysed and dated. Besides using dendrochronological analyses, radiocarbon dating served as a means of obtaining the age of some logs. For most of the samples we could provide dendrochronological dates (1-year dating precision, back to 5125 B.C.) or wiggle matched dates (between approx. 7100 and 5040 B.C., dating precision with 95% probability: +/- 7 years). In the first half of the 19th century the tree-line was located at about 2180 m a.s.l. in the innermost Kauner valley. After approximately A.D. 1860 the altitude of the upper limit of the occurrence of Pinus cembra individuals (tree-species-line) and, being closely linked, also that of the tree-line both rose. The current tree-line (trees > 2 m) is located at 2245 m a.s.l. due to climatic conditions around 1980. Additionally we observed saplings up to a present (A.D. 2000) tree-species-line at approx. 2370 m a.s.l. The dendrochronologically analysed subfossil logs found at up to 2410 m a.s.l. date from within the last 9000 years (between approx. 7100 B.C. and A.D. 1700). In the space of the last 4000 years the dendrochronological tree-line record is not continuous, probably due to human impact. Tree-line positions similar to or slightly above the 1980 tree-line are established for the time periods approx. 1000 to 640 B.C. and A.D. 1 to 330 respectively. For the time period between approx. 7100 and 2100 B.C. the dendrochronologically analysed logs show nearly continuous evidence of a tree-line above the 1980s limit. Very high elevation of the tree-line, between 120 and 165 m above the 1980s level (2245 m a.s.l.) and even higher than the A.D. 2000 tree-species-line (2370 m a.s.l.), are recorded for the periods 7090-6570, 6040-5850, 5720-5620, 5500-4370 B.C., approx. 3510-3350 B.C. and 2790-2590 B.C. Additionally, a tree-line which was located at least 50 m above the 1980s limit can be shown for the periods 6700-5430, 4920-3350 and 3280-2110 B.C. The dendrochronological record from the Kauner valley, showing high and very high tree-line positions between approx. 7100 and 2100 B.C. with only two gaps (around 6490 B.C. and from 3350 to 3280 B.C.), suggests that summer temperatures as observed in the late 20th century were at the normal or the lower limit of the temperature range which can be assumed for long periods of the early and middle Holocene epoch

Higher groundwater levels in western Europe characterize warm periods in the Common Era.

Funder: Projekt DEALHydroclimate, the interplay of moisture supply and evaporative demand, is essential for ecological and agricultural systems. The understanding of long-term hydroclimate changes is, however, limited because instrumental measurements are inadequate in length to capture the full range of precipitation and temperature variability and by the uneven distribution of high-resolution proxy records in space and time. Here, we present a tree-ring-based reconstruction of interannual to centennial-scale groundwater level (GWL) fluctuations for south-western Germany and north-eastern France. Continuously covering the period of 265-2017 CE, our new record from the Upper Rhine Valley shows that the warm periods during late Roman, medieval and recent times were characterized by higher GWLs. Lower GWLs were found during the cold periods of the Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA; 536 to ~ 660 CE) and the Little Ice Age (LIA; between medieval and recent warming). The reconstructed GWL fluctuations are in agreement with multidecadal North Atlantic climate variability derived from independent proxies. Warm and wet hydroclimate conditions are found during warm states of the Atlantic Ocean and positive phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation on decadal scales

Old World megadroughts and pluvials during the Common Era

Climate model projections suggest widespread drying in the Mediterranean Basin and wetting in Fennoscandia in the coming decades largely as a consequence of greenhouse gas forcing of climate. To place these and other “Old World” climate projections into historical perspective based on more complete estimates of natural hydroclimatic variability, we have developed the “Old World Drought Atlas” (OWDA), a set of year-to-year maps of tree-ring reconstructed summer wetness and dryness over Europe and the Mediterranean Basin during the Common Era. The OWDA matches historical accounts of severe drought and wetness with a spatial completeness not previously available. In addition, megadroughts reconstructed over north-central Europe in the 11th and mid-15th centuries reinforce other evidence from North America and Asia that droughts were more severe, extensive, and prolonged over Northern Hemisphere land areas before the 20th century, with an inadequate understanding of their causes. The OWDA provides new data to determine the causes of Old World drought and wetness and attribute past climate variability to forced and/or internal variability

Endocannabinoid Tone Regulates Human Sebocyte Biology

We have previously shown that endocannabinoids (eCBs)(e.g., anandamide) are involved in the maintenance of homeostatic sebaceous lipid production inhuman sebaceous glands and thateCB treatment dramatically increases sebaceous lipid production. Here, we aimed to investigate the expression of the major eCB synthesizing and degrading enzymes and to study the effects of eCB uptake inhibitors on human SZ95 sebocytes, thus exploring the role of the putative eCB membrane transporter, which has been hypothesized to facilitate the cellular uptake and subsequent degradation of eCBs. We found that the major eCB synthesizing (N-acyl phosphatidylethanolaminespecific phospholipase D, and diacylglycerol lipase-a and -b) and degrading (fatty acid amide hydrolase, monoacylglycerol lipase) enzymes are expressed in SZ95 sebocytes and also in sebaceous glands (except for diacylglycerol lipase-a, the staining of whichwas dubious in histological preparations). eCB uptake-inhibitionwith VDM11 induced amoderate increase insebaceous lipid production and also elevated the levels of variouseCBs and related acylethanolamides. Finally, we found that VDM11 was able to interfere with the proinflammatory action of the TLR4 activator lipopolysaccharide. Collectively, our data suggest that inhibition of eCB uptake exerts anti-inflammatory actions and elevates both sebaceous lipid production and eCB levels; thus, these inhibitors might be beneficial in cutaneous inflammatory conditions accompanied by dry skin

Tree rings reveal globally coherent signature of cosmogenic radiocarbon events in 774 and 993 CE

This study was funded by the WSL-internal COSMIC project (5233.00148.001.01), the ETHZ (Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics), the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF Grant 200021L_157187/1), and as the Czech Republic Grant Agency project no. 17-22102s.Though tree-ring chronologies are annually resolved, their dating has never been independently validated at the global scale. Moreover, it is unknown if atmospheric radiocarbon enrichment events of cosmogenic origin leave spatiotemporally consistent fingerprints. Here we measure the 14C content in 484 individual tree rings formed in the periods 770–780 and 990–1000 CE. Distinct 14C excursions starting in the boreal summer of 774 and the boreal spring of 993 ensure the precise dating of 44 tree-ring records from five continents. We also identify a meridional decline of 11-year mean atmospheric radiocarbon concentrations across both hemispheres. Corroborated by historical eye-witness accounts of red auroras, our results suggest a global exposure to strong solar proton radiation. To improve understanding of the return frequency and intensity of past cosmic events, which is particularly important for assessing the potential threat of space weather on our society, further annually resolved 14C measurements are needed.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

La scienza del diritto civile e la sua dimensione internazionale. The science of civil law and its international dimension

L’opera collettanea raccoglie gli atti del convegno svoltosi a Milano il 15 novembre 2019 avente il medesimo titolo: “La scienza del diritto civile e la sua dimensione internazionale”. In essa sono pubblicati i contributi offerti da eminenti studiosi del diritto civile, italiani e stranieri, in occasione della presentazione dei volumi “Le parole del diritto. Scritti in onore di Carlo Castronovo”. In apertura sono riportati i saluti istituzionali di Franco Anelli, Stefano Solimano e Antonio Albanese, l’ultimo dei quali presenta anche una riflessione su Castronovo e la verità nelle parole del diritto. Seguono le Parole introduttive di Andrea Nicolussi che sottolinea il ruolo dell’estetica giuridica, le innovazioni dogmatiche, la funzione della comparazione e la dimensione internazionale della scienza giuridica nell’insegnamento di Castronovo. Le relazioni sono suddivise secondo le due sessioni, internazionale e italiana, nelle quali si è articolato il Convegno. Nella prima sessione (Tort law between Europe and the Americas) sono presenti le riflessioni metodologiche di Guido Calabresi sulle parole del diritto, arricchite da spunti e ricordi del periodo passato a Yale da Castronovo, di Christian von Bar su Tort Law in the new Moldovan Civil Code and the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR), di Hector MacQueen sulla culpa in contrahendo dalla prospettiva del diritto scozzese e infine di Gastón Fernández sui criteri di imputazione della responsabilità nel diritto peruviano. La seconda sessione - dedicata alla nuova dogmatica del diritto civile italiano tra eclissi e globalizzazione - comprende una relazione di Francesco Benatti sul metodo da Luigi Mengoni a Carlo Castronovo, di Francesco Donato Busnelli su Parole del diritto, parole “profane”, parole “dure”, parole di saggezza, di Salvatore Mazzamuto che svolge delle riflessioni metodologiche incentrate sul pluralismo degli ordinamenti giuridici in dialogo con Castronovo e infine di Maria Vita De Giorgi che propone il tempo ritrovato di una vita di studiosi del diritto civile attraverso i tornanti della storia contemporanea fino al cosiddetto disordine globale degli ultimi anni. La conclusione di Carlo Castronovo riprende e ricapitola il tema del rapporto tra parola e diritto attraverso il problema dell’interpretazione giuridica sia in generale sia in alcuni esemplari ambiti specifici, concludendo con una messa a punto del ruolo ascrivibile alla dottrina che nella formazione e sviluppo dell’ordinamento giudico elabora e in un certo senso esplicita la dogmatica ricavabile dallo stesso diritto positivo.The book collects the proceedings of the conference which took place in Milan on 15 November 12019 with the same title: "The science of civil law and its international dimension". It includes the contributions of highly reputed Italian and foreign scholars of civil law, offered at the presentation of the volumes “Le parole del diritto. Scritti in onore di Carlo Castronovo”. The book opens with the institutional greetings of Franco Anelli, Stefano Solimano and Antonio Albanese. The last one also reflects on Castronovo and the truth in the words of law. Follows the contribution by Andrea Nicolussi about the role played in Castronovo's teaching by legal aesthetics, dogmatic innovations, the comparison between legal systems and the international dimension of legal science. The essays are divided according to the two sessions - international and Italian - of the Conference. The first session (Tort law between Europe and The Americas) encompasses Guido Calabresi's methodological reflections on the words of law, enriched by memories of the period spent at Yale by Castronovo, the contribution by Christian von Bar on tort law in the new Moldovan civil code and in the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR), the analysis of Hector MacQueen on the culpa in contrahendo from the perspective of Scottish law and finally the contribution by Gastón Fernández on Peruvian liability law. The second session - dedicated to the new dogmatics of Italian civil law between eclipse and globalization - brings together contributions by Francesco Benatti on legal method from Luigi Mengoni to Carlo Castronovo, by Francesco Donato Busnelli on legal words, by Salvatore Mazzamuto on the pluralism of legal systems and finally by Maria Vita De Giorgi who proposes the remembrance of a life as civil-law scholars in contemporary history. Carlo Castronovo's conclusion summarizes the theme of the relationship between words and law through the problem of legal interpretation in general and in some exemplary areas, closing on the role of the doctrine, which in the formation and development of legal system elaborates and in a certain sense makes explicit the dogmatics obtainable from the law