1st Course Assignment
International Business Law
CONTENT
1 EXPLANATION OF THE GIVEN LEGAL CONCEPTS ……………………………………………………………… 3
2 INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL LAW …………………………………………………………………………. 5
2.1 THE SOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW ………………………………………………………………………………… 5
2.2 THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEGAL SYSTEMS …………………………….. 5
3 THE WORLD TRADING ORGANIZATION ……………………………………………………………………………… 6
3.1 THE ROLE OF THE WTO, ITS ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES………………………………………………. 6
3.2 THE LATEST DISPUTE IN FRONT OF THE WTO ………………………………………………………………………… 7
3.3 DOCUMENTS PROVIDED IN THE LATEST DISPUTE IN FRONT OF THE WTO ……………………………………… 8
4 MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES ………………………………………………………………………………………… 9
4.1 THE ROLE OF MNES IN INTERNATIONAL LAWS AND THEIR INTERNATIONAL REGULATION …………………. 9
4.2 ESSAY: ETHICAL CORPORATION AND OECD GUIDELINES ………………………………………………………. 10
5 THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE ……………………………………………………………………….. 12
6 ESSAY: PRODUCTS LIABILITY AND INTERNATIONAL LAW – THEORY AND PRACTICE ………. 13
REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 16
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1 EXPLANATION OF THE GIVEN LEGAL CONCEPTS
a. Arbitration is an out–of–court alternative dispute resolution. The parties to this dispute,
which can consist of one or more persons, agree that a third party reviews the
evidence and imposes a decision. This decision is legally binding for the parties and
enforceable in the courts.
Example: If a child accidentally breaks the neighbor’s window with a football and the
neighbor doesn’t want the child to get in trouble, this issue could be resolved by going
to arbiter.
b. The burden of proof is best explainable by the associated Latin maxim semper
necessitas probandi incumbit ei qui agit what means that the necessity of proof
always lies with the person who lays charges. This means that there is an imperative
on the party in a trial to contribute the evidence.
c. When it comes to conflicts of law and lawsuits that involve different legal jurisdictions,
reconciliation in the form of the choice of law might be necessary. A Choice–Of–Law–
Clause is a contractual provision that – in the mentioned case – identifies the law that
needs to be applied.
d. Comity is the practice of existent and applied courtesy between states, to treat each
other with goodwill and civility.
e. Comparative Law deals with the relation between the laws of different countries.
f. The term delict is used in civil law and puts the liability on the person that causes
injury to another and it refers to injury that has happened under the first person’s
custody as well.
g. An export agent is a company’s representative or external assistant that acts on their
behalf and helps transporting and selling goods in foreign countries.
h. The purpose of a holding company is to act like a structural roof or a parent
corporation that takes control over another company. It can own – besides company
shares – assets like real estates, trademarks and stocks.
Example: The American multinational consumer goods company Procter & Gamble
Co. is the roof for approximately 80 different brands such as Gilette, Oral–B, Pampers
and Wella.
i. The Latin–based term jurisdiction (Latin: ius, iuris; meaning: law) can be associated
with power, authority or control. This authority enables to make pronouncements on
legal matters. It is granted to a formally legal body by constitution or legislation of the
sovereignty on behalf of which it functions.
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j. A legal dispute is a disagreement about right and wrong between at least two
opposing parties. This kind of dispute is a legal case that can be resolved by a court
or equivalent process.
k. An alternative form to solve a legal dispute aside the court is mediation. A third party
that is agreed on from the opposing parties is involved and assists with the settlement
negotiations.
l. The national treatment rule of a country means treating foreigners and locals equally.
With this rule, a state grants the same rights as of its own citizens to foreigners that
are in this country.
m. A natural person is the legal body of a human being. Being a natural persons means
being able to have rights and duties. In many cases, fundamental human rights are
implicitly granted only to natural persons.
n. A negative servitude is a servitude permitting a person to prohibit the servant
landowner from exercising a right. For example, a servitude preventing a landowner
from making any constructions that would block light from reaching the neighbor’s
land.
o. The private international law is a partial aspect of the international law in general and
deals with rights and duties of individuals and non–governmental organizations in
legal issues between different countries.
p. Those who make product available for the public (such as manufacturers, distributers
and retailers) are responsible for injuries that their products might cause. This
responsibility is called products liability.
q. The public international law is another partial aspect of the international law in
general and deals with rights and duties of states and intergovernmental
organizations in legal issues as between themselves.
r. A standard in general can be associated with norm, convention or requirement. The
standardization of a condition makes it applicable identically in a certain situation.
s. The rules and doctrines of state immunity grant the protection that one state cannot
be sued in the courts of another state. However, this does not cover criminal
proceedings, and it does not allow civil actions for human rights abuses against state
agents where the abuse has occurred in another country.
t. A treaty is a binding agreement under the terms of international law and between
sovereign states or international organizations. Relevant comparisons might be
protocol, covenant, convention or pact.
Example: A famous example is the North Atlantic Treaty on which the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization is based.
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2 INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL LAW
2.1 The Sources of International Law
Domestic law is usually created by a congress or a parliament. Due to the fact that there is
no world government, it can be difficult to establish, what we refer to as international law.
Consequently the sources of international law are various and treaties among states are
basically considered as authoritative statements of international law. Furthermore and as
declared in the statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), rules of international law
can be found in customary state practice, general principles of law common to many
countries, domestic judicial decisions, and the legal scholarship.
To be more specifically, treaties and conventions are the most formal and most binding
agreements of two or more states. The binding character is established within a shared
sense of commitment and because one state fears that if it does not respect its promises,
other states will not respect their promises.
The character of customs, accompanied by customary international law, is more difficult to
examine since it is not as clearly stated and written as treaties. Customary international law
