Le préjudice collectif‎. Contribution à l'étude des atteintes à l'intérêt collectif

L’heure est à la protection de l’intérêt collectif et le droit de la responsabilité civile ne peut ignorer la prise en compte des atteintes à cet intérêt. De telles atteintes suffisent-elles à être qualifiées de préjudices collectifs ? Rien n’est moins sûr. Devenu l’alpha et l’omega de la responsabilité civile, le préjudice continue irrémédiablement sa croissance. Défini par son caractère personnel, le préjudice semble être réticent à la réception d’une qualité collective. Pourtant, la doctrine comme la jurisprudence font régulièrement état de réparation de préjudices collectifs dès lors que l’objet d’un contentieux porte sur un intérêt qualifié de collectif. En réalité, l’examen du droit positif permet de constater que la qualité collective de ces intérêts et préjudices n’est trop souvent qu’une apparence, de sorte que les uns et les autres s’en trouvent dévoyés. Mais, au-delà des apparences, un mouvement profond laisse progressivement émerger de véritables préjudices collectifs, comme en témoigne l’introduction du préjudice écologique au sein du Code civil. Ce dernier, en tant qu’acception limitée du préjudice collectif, ne demande qu’à être déployé dans sa pleine latitude. À cet effet, il trouve au sein du droit privé un enracinement sous-jacent, qui nécessite d’être mis en évidence aux fins d’en assurer tant la cohérence que la réparation adéquate, et de contribuer ainsi au renouvellement du droit de la responsabilité.The time has come to protect the collective interest and civil liability law cannot ignore the threats posed to this interest. Are such breaches sufficient to be qualified as collective damage? Nothing is less certain. Having become the alpha and the omega of civil liability, collective damage irreversibly continues its growth. Defined by its personal character, the damage seems to be reluctant to receive a collective quality. However, both doctrine and case law regularly take into account compensation for collective damage when the subject of a dispute relates to an interest qualified as collective. In fact, an analysis of positive law shows that the collective quality of these interests and prejudices is too often only an appearance, so that both aspects are misguided. Beyond appearances, however, a profound movement is gradually allowing real collective harm to emerge, as evidenced by the introduction of ecological damage into the Civil Code. This latter, as an instance of limited recognition of collective damage, could easily be broadly extended. To this end, there is an underlying foundation within private law, which needs to be highlighted in order to ensure both consistency and the most adequate reparation, and to thus contribute to the renewal of responsibility

Le préjudice collectif‎. Contribution à l'étude des atteintes à l'intérêt collectif

L’heure est à la protection de l’intérêt collectif et le droit de la responsabilité civile ne peut ignorer la prise en compte des atteintes à cet intérêt. De telles atteintes suffisent-elles à être qualifiées de préjudices collectifs ? Rien n’est moins sûr. Devenu l’alpha et l’omega de la responsabilité civile, le préjudice continue irrémédiablement sa croissance. Défini par son caractère personnel, le préjudice semble être réticent à la réception d’une qualité collective. Pourtant, la doctrine comme la jurisprudence font régulièrement état de réparation de préjudices collectifs dès lors que l’objet d’un contentieux porte sur un intérêt qualifié de collectif. En réalité, l’examen du droit positif permet de constater que la qualité collective de ces intérêts et préjudices n’est trop souvent qu’une apparence, de sorte que les uns et les autres s’en trouvent dévoyés. Mais, au-delà des apparences, un mouvement profond laisse progressivement émerger de véritables préjudices collectifs, comme en témoigne l’introduction du préjudice écologique au sein du Code civil. Ce dernier, en tant qu’acception limitée du préjudice collectif, ne demande qu’à être déployé dans sa pleine latitude. À cet effet, il trouve au sein du droit privé un enracinement sous-jacent, qui nécessite d’être mis en évidence aux fins d’en assurer tant la cohérence que la réparation adéquate, et de contribuer ainsi au renouvellement du droit de la responsabilité.The time has come to protect the collective interest and civil liability law cannot ignore the threats posed to this interest. Are such breaches sufficient to be qualified as collective damage? Nothing is less certain. Having become the alpha and the omega of civil liability, collective damage irreversibly continues its growth. Defined by its personal character, the damage seems to be reluctant to receive a collective quality. However, both doctrine and case law regularly take into account compensation for collective damage when the subject of a dispute relates to an interest qualified as collective. In fact, an analysis of positive law shows that the collective quality of these interests and prejudices is too often only an appearance, so that both aspects are misguided. Beyond appearances, however, a profound movement is gradually allowing real collective harm to emerge, as evidenced by the introduction of ecological damage into the Civil Code. This latter, as an instance of limited recognition of collective damage, could easily be broadly extended. To this end, there is an underlying foundation within private law, which needs to be highlighted in order to ensure both consistency and the most adequate reparation, and to thus contribute to the renewal of responsibility

Introduction

0.1. Protection des sols et services écosystémiques, la nécessité d’une reconsidération épistémologique Liliane Icher, Bastien Alidor Une réflexion épistémologique semble être un préalable indispensable à toute étude académique, mais elle a paru encore plus nécessaire à l’écriture du présent ouvrage. D’abord parce qu’il s’agit d’un ouvrage collectif et ensuite parce que la recherche s’est voulue interdisciplinaire. Tout en conse..

Services écosystémiques et protection des sols

En droit, le sol n’est pas appréhendé dans son entièreté, comme un ensemble complexe aux fonctions diverses. Dès lors, sa protection demeure lacunaire. Rédigé dans le cadre du programme de recherche « Travail du sol, services écosystémiques et compensation. Aspects agronomiques et juridiques » (Idex T2SEC, UT1 Capitole, IEJUC EA1919), cet ouvrage entend explorer le potentiel apport de la notion de service écosystémique à la protection des sols. À défaut de protection des sols, objets de propriété, la préservation des services écosystémiques, utilité commune du bien, pourrait-elle être prescrite, valorisée, et selon quelles modalités ? Cette étude interdisciplinaire croise les analyses d’agronomes et de juristes. Les premiers, prenant pour champ d’observation l’agriculture de conservation, ont procédé à une étude bibliographique complétée par des études de terrain et, à partir de ces matériaux, dressé un inventaire des services écosystémiques du sol préservés ou confortés par l’agriculture de conservation. Les juristes, confrontés à un état de la science moins avancé, ont commencé par identifier les normes relatives à la protection des sols, repéré la notion de service écosystémique en droit et proposé une qualification de ces services. Ils ont ensuite analysé certains des instruments qui peuvent intégrer la notion de service et/ou les pratiques de l’agriculture de conservation : le contrat, y compris le bail rural et les contrats liés à l’obligation de compensation, la responsabilité civile, les aides publiques et la comptabilité publique. Ce faisant, l’ouvrage ne prétend pas à l’exhaustivité mais entend participer au dialogue interdisciplinaire sur la notion de service écosystémique où la voix des juristes est encore peu présente

The seeds of divergence: the economy of French North America, 1688 to 1760

Generally, Canada has been ignored in the literature on the colonial origins of divergence with most of the attention going to the United States. Late nineteenth century estimates of income per capita show that Canada was relatively poorer than the United States and that within Canada, the French and Catholic population of Quebec was considerably poorer. Was this gap long standing? Some evidence has been advanced for earlier periods, but it is quite limited and not well-suited for comparison with other societies. This thesis aims to contribute both to Canadian economic history and to comparative work on inequality across nations during the early modern period. With the use of novel prices and wages from Quebec—which was then the largest settlement in Canada and under French rule—a price index, a series of real wages and a measurement of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are constructed. They are used to shed light both on the course of economic development until the French were defeated by the British in 1760 and on standards of living in that colony relative to the mother country, France, as well as the American colonies. The work is divided into three components. The first component relates to the construction of a price index. The absence of such an index has been a thorn in the side of Canadian historians as it has limited the ability of historians to obtain real values of wages, output and living standards. This index shows that prices did not follow any trend and remained at a stable level. However, there were episodes of wide swings—mostly due to wars and the monetary experiment of playing card money. The creation of this index lays the foundation of the next component. The second component constructs a standardized real wage series in the form of welfare ratios (a consumption basket divided by nominal wage rate multiplied by length of work year) to compare Canada with France, England and Colonial America. Two measures are derived. The first relies on a “bare bones” definition of consumption with a large share of land-intensive goods. This measure indicates that Canada was poorer than England and Colonial America and not appreciably richer than France. However, this measure overestimates the relative position of Canada to the Old World because of the strong presence of land-intensive goods. A second measure is created using a “respectable” definition of consumption in which the basket includes a larger share of manufactured goods and capital-intensive goods. This second basket better reflects differences in living standards since the abundance of land in Canada (and Colonial America) made it easy to achieve bare subsistence, but the scarcity of capital and skilled labor made the consumption of luxuries and manufactured goods (clothing, lighting, imported goods) highly expensive. With this measure, the advantage of New France over France evaporates and turns slightly negative. In comparison with Britain and Colonial America, the gap widens appreciably. This element is the most important for future research. By showing a reversal because of a shift to a different type of basket, it shows that Old World and New World comparisons are very sensitive to how we measure the cost of living. Furthermore, there are no sustained improvements in living standards over the period regardless of the measure used. Gaps in living standards observed later in the nineteenth century existed as far back as the seventeenth century. In a wider American perspective that includes the Spanish colonies, Canada fares better. The third component computes a new series for Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is to avoid problems associated with using real wages in the form of welfare ratios which assume a constant labor supply. This assumption is hard to defend in the case of Colonial Canada as there were many signs of increasing industriousness during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The GDP series suggest no long-run trend in living standards (from 1688 to circa 1765). The long peace era of 1713 to 1740 was marked by modest economic growth which offset a steady decline that had started in 1688, but by 1760 (as a result of constant warfare) living standards had sunk below their 1688 levels. These developments are accompanied by observations that suggest that other indicators of living standard declined. The flat-lining of incomes is accompanied by substantial increases in the amount of time worked, rising mortality and rising infant mortality. In addition, comparisons of incomes with the American colonies confirm the results obtained with wages— Canada was considerably poorer. At the end, a long conclusion is provides an exploratory discussion of why Canada would have diverged early on. In structural terms, it is argued that the French colony was plagued by the problem of a small population which prohibited the existence of scale effects. In combination with the fact that it was dispersed throughout the territory, the small population of New France limited the scope for specialization and economies of scale. However, this problem was in part created, and in part aggravated, by institutional factors like seigneurial tenure. The colonial origins of French America’s divergence from the rest of North America are thus partly institutional

Collective harm : contribution to the study of infringement on the collective interest

L’heure est à la protection de l’intérêt collectif et le droit de la responsabilité civile ne peut ignorer la prise en compte des atteintes à cet intérêt. De telles atteintes suffisent-elles à être qualifiées de préjudices collectifs ? Rien n’est moins sûr. Devenu l’alpha et l’omega de la responsabilité civile, le préjudice continue irrémédiablement sa croissance. Défini par son caractère personnel, le préjudice semble être réticent à la réception d’une qualité collective. Pourtant, la doctrine comme la jurisprudence font régulièrement état de réparation de préjudices collectifs dès lors que l’objet d’un contentieux porte sur un intérêt qualifié de collectif. En réalité, l’examen du droit positif permet de constater que la qualité collective de ces intérêts et préjudices n’est trop souvent qu’une apparence, de sorte que les uns et les autres s’en trouvent dévoyés. Mais, au-delà des apparences, un mouvement profond laisse progressivement émerger de véritables préjudices collectifs, comme en témoigne l’introduction du préjudice écologique au sein du Code civil. Ce dernier, en tant qu’acception limitée du préjudice collectif, ne demande qu’à être déployé dans sa pleine latitude. À cet effet, il trouve au sein du droit privé un enracinement sous-jacent, qui nécessite d’être mis en évidence aux fins d’en assurer tant la cohérence que la réparation adéquate, et de contribuer ainsi au renouvellement du droit de la responsabilité.The time has come to protect the collective interest and civil liability law cannot ignore the threats posed to this interest. Are such breaches sufficient to be qualified as collective damage? Nothing is less certain. Having become the alpha and the omega of civil liability, collective damage irreversibly continues its growth. Defined by its personal character, the damage seems to be reluctant to receive a collective quality. However, both doctrine and case law regularly take into account compensation for collective damage when the subject of a dispute relates to an interest qualified as collective. In fact, an analysis of positive law shows that the collective quality of these interests and prejudices is too often only an appearance, so that both aspects are misguided. Beyond appearances, however, a profound movement is gradually allowing real collective harm to emerge, as evidenced by the introduction of ecological damage into the Civil Code. This latter, as an instance of limited recognition of collective damage, could easily be broadly extended. To this end, there is an underlying foundation within private law, which needs to be highlighted in order to ensure both consistency and the most adequate reparation, and to thus contribute to the renewal of responsibility

The role of potassium on maize leaf carbon exportation under drought condition

Climate changes are mainly characterized by an increase in air temperature and a decrease in rainfalls. Potassium (K) nutrition is generally considered to alleviate plants tolerance to water deficit, especially by improving photosynthesis and phloem transport of carbohydrates from leaves to roots. The main objective of this study was to measure the effect of K on sugar transport and allocation under water-stressed conditions on maize (Zea mays L.). Maize plants were grown in pots under different water and K treatments. We used 13CO2 pulse-labelling to determine carbon exportation from leaves with δ13C analysis, within 1 week. The diurnal sugar content in leaves was measured, and net carbon assimilation accessed. Water deficit strongly reduced plant growth, while K nutrition appeared to be efficient in attenuating these effects. K deficiency significantly decreased starch content in leaves under well-watered but not under water-stressed treatment. A leaf carbon mass balance showed that K increased sugar export on a daily time scale, while instantaneous δ13C measurements did not show any significant effect, partly because of the very rapid δ13C decline after labelling. Our home-made labelling chamber proved to be successful in monitoring diurnal changes in δ13C for a C4 plant with high photosynthetic rates and fast carbon export, and also in determining the effect of a K deficiency on sugar export. Our results highlight a need for research into carbon export on leaves of different ages in fast-growing crops under the combined effect of water and nutrient stress