Legal Certainty in a Contemporary Context: Private and Criminal Law Perspectives

194 Pages·2016·2.099 MB·English

by  Mark Fenwick, Stefan Wrbka (eds.)

Mark Fenwick
Stefan Wrbka Editors
Legal
Certainty in a
Contemporary
Context
Private and Criminal Law Perspectives
Legal Certainty in a Contemporary Context
ThiSisaFMBlankPage
Mark Fenwick (cid:129) Stefan Wrbka
Editors
Legal Certainty in a
Contemporary Context
Private and Criminal Law Perspectives
Editors
MarkFenwick StefanWrbka
FacultyofLaw FacultyofLaw
KyushuUniversity KyushuUniversity
Fukuoka,Fukuoka Fukuoka,Fukuoka
Japan Japan
ISBN978-981-10-0112-3 ISBN978-981-10-0114-7 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-981-10-0114-7
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016934311
©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaSingapore2016
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Contents
TheShiftingMeaningofLegalCertainty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
MarkFenwickandStefanWrbka
PartI PerspectivesfromPrivateLaw
CommentsonLegalCertaintyfromthePerspectiveofEuropean,
AustrianandJapanesePrivateLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
StefanWrbka
IntellectualProperty,PrivateOrderingandLegalCertainty. . . . . . . . . 33
BranislavHazucha
ConsiderationsontheTransnationalityofInternationalCommercial
ArbitrationAwardsintheContextoftheDemandforLegal
Certainty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
JasonD.Hitch
TheNotionofConsumerUnderEULegislationandEUCaseLaw:
BetweenthePolesofLegalCertaintyandFlexibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
JakobSørenHedegaardandStefanWrbka
LegalCertaintyandTrustsinChina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
ZhenMeng
PartII PerspectivesfromCriminalLaw
MultilingualNormsinEuropeanCriminalLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
GeorgC.Langheld
EmpiricalJudgementinCriminalProceedings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
SebastianStehle
TheMultipleUncertaintiesoftheCorporateCriminalLaw. . . . . . . . . 147
MarkFenwick
v
vi Contents
TypesofOffenders—ACriminologicalPerspective
inHistoricalContexts. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 169
KatrinH€offler
InternationalCriminalLawasaMeanstoFightthe‘HostesHumani
Generis’?OntheDangersoftheConceptofEnemyCriminal
Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
AndreasWerkmeister
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
List of Contributors
MarkFenwick FacultyofLaw,KyushuUniversity,Fukuoka,Japan
Branislav Hazucha Graduate School of Law, Hokkaido University, Sapporo,
Japan
Jakob Søren Hedegaard Assistant Attorney, Lassen Ricard, Copenhagen,
Denmark
JasonD.Hitch Lawyer,Sydney,NSW,Australia
KatrinH€offler FacultyofLaw,GoettingenUniversity,Goettingen,Germany
GeorgC.Langheld NoerrLLP,Munich,Germany
Zhen Meng Nanjing University of Science and Technology, School of Public
Affairs,DepartmentofLaw,Nanjing,China
SebastianStehle FacultyofLaw,MunichUniversity(LMU),Munich,Germany
AndreasWerkmeister FacultyofLaw,MunichUniversity,Munich,Germany
StefanWrbka FacultyofLaw,KyushuUniversity,Fukuoka,Japan
vii
The Shifting Meaning of Legal Certainty
MarkFenwickandStefanWrbka
Contents
1 TheShiftingMeaningofLegalCertainty.................................................... 1
2 Chapters........................................................................................ 3
Abstract Inthecontextoflegalmodernity,theprincipleoflegalcertainty–theidea
thatthelawmustbesufficientlycleartoprovidethosesubjecttolegalnormswiththe
meanstoregulatetheirownconductandtoprotectagainstthearbitraryexerciseof
public power – has operated as a foundational rule of law value. As such, legal
certaintyhasplayedavitalroleindeterminingthespaceofindividualfreedomand
thescopeofstatepower.Inthisway,theidealoflegalcertaintyhasbeencentralin
stabilizingnormative expectationsand inprovidingaframework forsocialinterac-
tion,aswellasdefiningindividualfreedomandpoliticalpowerinmodernsocieties.
Legal certainty has beenpivotal tothe project ofpolitical liberalismand the ideals
and aspirations of political modernity. This chapter introduces the concept of legal
certaintyandintroducestheideathatthemeaningoflegalcertaintyhasshifted.
Keywords Legalcertainty(cid:129)Legaltheory(cid:129)Legalmodernity
1 The Shifting Meaning of Legal Certainty
Inthecontextoflegalmodernity,theprincipleoflegalcertainty—theideathatthe
lawmustbesufficientlycleartoprovidethosesubjecttolegalnormswiththemeans
toregulatetheirownconductandtoprotectagainstthearbitraryexerciseofpublic
power—has operated as a foundational rule of law value. As such, legal certainty
hasplayedavitalroleindeterminingthespaceofindividualfreedomandthescope
M.Fenwick(cid:129)S.Wrbka(*)
FacultyofLaw,KyushuUniversity,Fukuoka,Japan
e-mail:[email protected]
©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaSingapore2016 1
M.Fenwick,S.Wrbka(eds.),LegalCertaintyinaContemporaryContext,
DOI10.1007/978-981-10-0114-7_1
2 M.FenwickandS.Wrbka
ofstatepower.Inthisway,theidealoflegalcertaintyhasbeencentralinstabilizing
normativeexpectationsandinprovidingaframeworkforsocialinteraction,aswell
as defining individual freedom and political power in modern societies. Legal
certainty has been pivotal to the project of political liberalism and the ideals and
aspirationsofpoliticalmodernity.
Ofcourse,thisdemandforclarityandpredictabilitycancomeintoconflictwith
other important principles, such as public policy and, on occasion, substantive
justice. And yet, in spite of these conflicts and the empirical fact that certainty
cannotalwaysbefullyrealized,theidealoflegalcertaintyhasfunctionedasacore
value and aspiration that has structured normative debates both at a national,
regionalandinternationallevel.Therequirementofcertaintyisanexplicitconsti-
tutionalprincipleinmostdomesticconstitutions.Italsofunctionsasacoreprinci-
ple in many regional organizations; both the European Union and the European
CourtofHumanRightsrecognizelegalcertaintyasoneofasmallnumberofsuch
general or fundamental principles. As some of the chapters in this volume attest,
certainty also functions as an important constraint at the level of contemporary
publicinternationallaw.
Nevertheless, in spite of its central role in the development of modern legal
order,therehavebeenanumberofacademiccritiquesoflaw’saspirationstolegal
certainty.StartingwithAmericanRealisminthe1930sandculminatingwithmore
recent work in Critical Legal Studies, successive generations of scholars have
questioned the prevailing formalism of modern law and this pursuit of certainty.
One significant effect of such critiques has been the introduction of a “counter-
concept” to that of certainty, namely that of legal indeterminacy. The indetermi-
nacythesis,initsmostradicalarticulationsuggeststhatlawisalwaysindefiniteand
thatanyoutcomedecisioncanbejustifiedbyreferencetoaparticularnorm.Evenin
itssofterversions,advocatesofindeterminacysuggestthatwhilethelawconstrains
actors within thelegalsystem,itcannotuniquely determineoutcomes. According
toeitheraccount,lawisjustpoliticsindisguise.
Althoughthistypeofcritiquehasnothadaprofoundimpactonlegalpractice—
at least, in terms of the commitment to legal certainty—it does articulate the
broader shift, which this book wishes to explore, namely a recent shift in the
meaningoflegalcertainty.
Overrecentdecades,legalcertaintyhascomeunderincreasingpressurefroma
numberofcompetingdemandsthataremadeofcontemporarylaw,inparticularthe
demand that the law be more flexible and responsive to a social environment
characterized by rapid economic, social and technological change. In particular,
the expectation that the law operates in new transnational contexts and regulates
ever-wideningspheresofsociallifehascreatedanewdegreeofuncertaintyabout
legalcertainty.Thesesocialandeconomictransformationsraisedifficultquestions
regarding both the meaning of legal certainty, as well as its possibility and
desirability.
This book aims to address these issues by bringing together scholars from
various fields of legal debate to examine the shifting contemporary meaning of
legalcertainty.Inparticular,thebookfocusesonexploringtheemergingtensions