Toward a North American Legal System

220 Pages·2012·1.288 MB·English

by  James T. McHugh (eds.)

Toward a North American Legal
System
This page intentionally left blank
Toward a North American Legal
System
EditedbyJamesT.McHugh
towardanorthamericanlegalsystem
Copyright©JamesT.McHugh,2012.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-1-137-26949-2
Allrightsreserved.
Firstpublishedin2012by
PALGRAVEMACMILLAN®
intheUnitedStates—adivisionofSt.Martin’sPressLLC,
175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010.
WherethisbookisdistributedintheUK,EuropeandtherestoftheWorld,
thisisbyPalgraveMacmillan,adivisionofMacmillanPublishersLimited,
registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,
Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS.
PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabove
companiesandhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld.
Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnited
States,theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries.
ISBN 978-1-349-44397-0 ISBN 978-1-137-26950-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137269508
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
TowardaNorthAmericanlegalsystem/editedbyJamesT.McHugh.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-349-44397-0
1. Law—NorthAmerica—Internationalunification.
2. Law—NorthAmerica. I. McHugh,JamesT.,1961–
KDZ88.T692012
349.7—dc23 2012017705
AcataloguerecordofthebookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
DesignbyIntegraSoftwareServices
Firstedition:November2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
ListofTables vii
Preface:ContemplatingaContinentalLegalFoundation ix
RobertA.Pastor
Introduction 1
JamesT.McHugh
1 AssessingtheProspectsofNorthAmericanLegal
Harmonization 7
MatthewT.Simpson
2 HowtoThinkAboutLawinNorthAmerica 39
H.PatrickGlenn
3 TheConstitutionalPresencewithinNorthAmerica 57
JamesT.McHugh
4 LegalIntegrationofNAFTAthroughSupranational
Adjudication 79
JayLawrenceWestbrook
5 NAFTAChapter11andtheHarmonizationofDomestic
Practices 89
SusanL.Karamanian
6 TheStrictSubsidiarityPrincipleunderNAFTALawand
Policy:ImplicationsforNorthAmericanTaxPolicy 125
ArthurJ.Cockfield
7 SingleMarketGovernance:LessonsfromtheEuropean
Experience 149
MichelleEgan
vi ● Contents
8 Conclusion:TheNAFTARegion—aViewfromtheCurrent
MexicanAgenda 175
JoséAntonioCaballeroJuárez
Contributors 183
Bibliography 187
Index 207
List of Tables
7.1 Combinesthefreemovements/freeestablishment(vertical
axis)andthefourmarketfailures(incolumns2–5),which
wouldhavetobeaddressedfortheIMtofunctionproperly
(ThistableisadaptedfromPelkmans(2006).) 152
7.2 EUpolicyinstruments 155
7.3 Measurestoimproveimplementationandcompliance 162
This page intentionally left blank
Preface: Contemplating a Continental
Legal Foundation
Robert A. Pastor
Until the last decade of the twentieth century, “North America” was little
more than a geographical expression, and there was even a question as to
which countries fit within the definition. The decision by Canada, Mexico,
and the United States to sign the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) in 1992 defined the region’s boundaries and lifted the “North
Americaidea”beyondgeographyandeconomics.
From NAFTA’s inception to the present, virtually all tariff and invest-
mentbarriersweregraduallyeliminated,andacontinentalmarket—rivaling
Europe’sorEastAsia’s—wascreated.ThemorevisionaryviewedNAFTAasa
firstdraftofacontinentalconstitution;themorefearfulvieweditasaslippery
slopetowardthedestructionofstatesovereignty.
NAFTAgavetheregionaneconomicboost.From1994totheyear2001,
NorthAmerica’sshareoftheworld’sgrossproductgrewfrom30to36per-
cent,whileEurope’sremainedconstantat26percent.Tradeamongthethree
countries tripled and foreign investment quintupled. Intra-regional exports
as a percentage of total exports in North America climbed from 33 percent
in 1980 to 56 percent in 2000, almost reaching the level of integration in
Europe after five decades.1 National firms became North American. At the
same time that businesses forged continental ties, more and more people
of all three countries toured and immigrated to their neighbors. Americans
traveled more to their neighbors than to any other countries, and the same
appliedforMexicansandCanadians.Perhaps,themostprofoundtransforma-
tion,however,stemmedfromthosewhomovedpermanently.Since1970,but
intensifyingsinceNAFTA,thenumberofMexican-bornimmigrantslivingin
theUnitedStatesincreasedbyafactorof17—to12.7million—representing
aboutone-thirdofallimmigrants.2Societiesbecameinterwoven.
Integrationproceededatsuchafastpacethatthegovernmentscouldnot
keepup,andthatistheprincipalcontinentaldilemmatoday:thecontinental