Sebastiano Fadda, & Pasquale Tridico, (edt.), The Economic Crisis in Social and Institutional Context

Book Revie

In memoriam: Professor Kathryn R. Heidt

What is most notable about the life and the career of Professor Kathryn R. Heidt is not that it was tragically cut short by her death on May 24, 2005, but that she was able to achieve so much, both personally and professionally, in the too-brief time allotted to her. After receiving her bachelor’s degree from Penn State and her J.D. from Cleveland State College of Law, Professor Heidt clerked for two years for the Honorable John T. Patton of the Ohio Court of Appeals before becoming an associate with the Philadelphia law firm Duane Morris & Heckscher. Opting for a change in her path in the law, she obtained an LL.M. from Yale Law School and began her distinguished academic career. Before joining the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh as a Professor of Law in 1995, Professor Heidt had served on the law faculty at Wayne State University Law School, and had been a visiting faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, the University of North Carolina School of Law, New York Law School, and the Law Faculty of the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.\u

Comparing the General Good Faith Provisions of the PECL and the UCC: Appearance and Reality

Good faith is a notoriously amorphous and variable concept. Thus it is the interpretation and application of the concept that provides the most important points of comparison for the good faith provisions of the Principles of European Contract Law ( PECL ) and the Uniform Commercial Code ( UCC ) . The UCC has been in force since the 1950\u27s, and its good faith provisions have been applied in hundreds of cases. In contrast, the PECL is a new phenomenon and its good faith rules have not been applied to actual cases. The comment to PECL Article 1:201, however, includes five concrete illustrations of how the drafters conceive its good faith rule will operate, as well as other suggestions concerning the application of the good faith obligation to particular situations. This article explores how U.S. law, and the UCC good faith provision in particular, would apply to the factual examples adduced in the PECL comment. This discussion reveals mixed results. First, there exist some notable similarities in the operation of the good faith obligation under the PECL and the UCC. Second, there are some situations in which U.S. law would likely reach the same result as under the PECL by invoking doctrines other than good faith. Finally, there may be some important situations in which the outcome under U.S. law would probably diverge from that suggested by the comment to PECL Article 1:201. Although it is important to keep in mind the similarities in the good faith principles of the PECL and the UCC, it is also important to recognize that the divergent outcomes appear to reflect deep-seated differences in the legal cultures behind the two documents

Urwaldrelikt-Arten - Xylobionte Käfer als Indikatoren für Strukturqualität und Habitattradition

On the basis of the list of saproxylic beetles of Germany, the authors present a definition and list of “Urwald relict species”, comprising 115 beetles that are considered to be associated with primeval forest (“Urwald”) structures and features. We use the term “habitat tradition” to describe a continuity in supply of old growth dead wood and forest structures. The selection of species is made on behalf of the following criteria: relict records in Central Europe; attachment to continuity of deadwood resources and habitat tradition; continuity of old growth stand features like tree and deadwood maturity and di-versity; absence from cultivated Central European forest.Urwaldrelikt-Arten - Xylobionte Käfer als Indikatoren für Strukturqualität und Habitattradition Auf der Basis der Liste xylobionter Käfer Deutschlands legen die Autoren eine Definition und Liste von 115 Käferarten vor, die in Deutschland als Urwaldreliktarten bezeichnet werden können. Wir definieren die Kontinuität eines Bestandes hinsichtlich Totholzangebot und Bestandsstruktur als „Habitattradition“. Die Auswahl der Arten erfolgt anhand folgender Kriterien: Reliktäres Vorkommen in Mitteleuropa; Bindung an Strukturkontinuität bzw. Habitattradition sowie Kontinuität der Alters- und Zerfallsphase; hohe Ansprüche an Totholzqualitäten und –quantitäten; aus den kultivierten Wäldern Mitteleuropas verschwindend oder schon verschwunden

THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE CISG (AND OTHER UNIFORM COMMERCIAL LAW INITIATIVES)

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Moving towards employment insurance: Unemployment insurance and employment protection in the OECD

The report takes issue with the large debate of social security systems and particularly the large expenditure devoted to unemployment insurance in most OECD countries. From the perspective of transitional labour markets we analyse the corresponding welfare regime focusing on employment and unemployment transitions. We propose a restructuring of national social security systems towards an employment insurance system. This entails a considerable reorganisation of most current social security systems mainly unemployment insurance, employment protection, pension systems, household work and life-long learning. We advocate an integrated view of employment protection and unemployment insurance systems which yields three major types of employment insurance systems in the OECD (comprehensive institutional data base in Appendix). Subsequently we discuss major recent changes in unemployment insurance systems throughout the OECD in view of their contribution towards the development of an Employment Insurance. Despite severe financial constraints on national levels, decentralisation and regionalisation of provision gives a new flavour to the ambitious goal of a right to work and its implementation. -- Der Bericht will einen Beitrag leisten zu der Reform der sozialen Sicherungssysteme. Er befasst sich besonders mit den hohen Ausgaben für Arbeitslosenversicherungen in den meisten OECD-Ländern. Ausgehend von der Perspektive der Übergangsarbeitsmärkte untersuchen wir die damit verbundenen Wohlfahrtsregime mit besonderem Blick auf Beschäftigungs- und Arbeitslosigkeitsübergänge. Wir schlagen ein Überdenken der nationalen sozialen Sicherungssysteme im Hinblick auf ein Beschäftigung sicherndes Gesamtsystem vor. Dies würde eine beachtliche Reorganisation der meisten gegenwärtigen sozialen Sicherungssysteme bedeuten, insbesondere der Arbeitslosenversicherung, des Beschäftigungsschutzes, der Alterssicherung, der Haushaltsarbeit und des lebenslangen Lernens. Wir befürworten eine integrierte Betrachtung von Beschäftigungsschutz und Arbeitslosenversicherungssystemen; daraus ergeben sich drei Haupttypen von Beschäftigung sichernden Systemen in der OECD (umfangreiche institutionelle Datenbank im Anhang). Darüber hinaus werden wichtige Veränderungen der Arbeitslosenversicherungssysteme in den letzten Jahren in der OECD diskutiert, besonders im Hinblick auf ihren Beitrag zur Entwicklung eines Beschäftigung sichernden Sozialsystems. Trotz erheblicher finanzieller Engpässe auf nationaler Ebene konnten Dezentralisierung und Regionalisierung dazu beitragen, dem anspruchsvollen Ziel des Rechts auf Arbeit und seiner Verwirklichung eine neue Bedeutung zu geben.