Bibliographie sélective OHADA

Le droit français est confronté à des normes d'inspiration musulmane depuis l'arrivée en France de nombreuses personnes ressortissantes des pays musulmans anciennement colonisés par la France. Cette rencontre du droit français avec le droit musulman est réelle car le droit international privé soumet les questions relatives à l'état des personnes à la loi nationale. Malgré la tendance actuelle du droit international privé français qui favorise la compétence de la loi française par rapport au droit étranger, les règles de conflit françaises relatives à la filiation ne sont pas hostiles au droit étranger. Le juge français est donc confronté au modèle musulman de filiation fondée cumulativement sur le mariage et sur le lien du sang. Les conséquences de ce modèle posent certaines difficultés notamment l'exclusion de la filiation naturelle et l'interdiction de l'adoption. Ces prohibitions musulmanes sont comprises comme étant en décalage avec l'évolution du droit français de la filiation qui a abandonné la distinction filiation naturelle et filiation légitime. Cette thèse propose une vision à la fois originale et authentique du droit musulman de la filiation pouvant ouvrir la voie à une réception positive de ce droit souvent présenté comme irrémédiablement opposé au droit français.

This thesis examines whether the net asset fair values of banks possess predictive ability for the banks’ future cash flows and earnings. This is an important issue considering the arguments for and against the wider use of fair value accounting for banks’ financial instruments and the claim by some that fair values during economic recessions (where markets may be illiquid) are irrelevant and largely unreliable. A number of studies have found that the explanatory power of bank fair values when compared to traditional historical cost are more value-relevant based on capital market reactions. However, there is a very limited literature on how bank fair values are related to the future performance (e.g. earnings and cash flow) of banks. This study fills this gap by providing empirical evidence on the relationship between U.S. bank fair value disclosures and banks’ future performance as measured by operating cash flows and earnings over a three-period future horizon. Furthermore, the thesis provides evidence on the relationship between bank fair values, in terms of the levels classification introduced during the 2008 global financial crisis, and the future performance of banks, thus showing whether market illiquidity affected the underlying relationships. The study examines two distinct periods. The first study period, 1996-2005, was based on annual data of banks with minimum total assets of $US150 million as of year 1996. The second study period from 2008-2010 (this period encompassed the global financial crisis period and also the levels classification of bank fair values according to SFAS 157), was based on quarterly data of banks with minimum total assets of $US150 million as of the first quarter of 2008. The thesis provides strong evidence that there is a predictive relationship between bank fair values and future bank performance. The evidence is strong during the first study period from 1996 to 2005 where the current net asset fair values of on-balance sheet financial instruments of banks were significantly associated with future operating cash flows and operating earnings of such banks over a three-year future time horizon. However, the predictive relationship between net asset bank fair values and operating cash flows is stronger than the predictive relationship between net asset bank fair values and operating earnings. In the second study period, from 2008 until 2010 the empirical results show strong evidence that there is a predictive relationship between level 1 and level 2 bank fair values and future operating cash flows. The findings from the empirical results were that the current quarter’s level 1 and level 2 net asset fair values of banks were significantly associated with the future quarters’ operating cash flows of such banks. The level 3 net asset fair values of such banks in most cases were not significantly associated with the banks’ future quarterly operating cash flows. The corresponding relationships for operating earnings were that the current quarter’s level 1 net asset fair values of banks were positively associated with the future quarters’ operating earnings of such banks. However, the level 2 net asset fair values of banks were negatively associated with the future quarters’ earnings of such banks. This result is in contrast to the results obtained when the predictive relationship between level 2 bank fair values and future operating cash flows was evaluated, where it is found that both level 1 and level 2 net asset bank fair values are positively related to future quarterly bank cash flows. Further empirical analysis showed that a possible reason behind this disparity was that there was a structural change in the relationship between bank operating cash flows and operating earnings over the course of the first and second study periods, where, in particular, for the second study period (which includes the period of the global financial crisis) there was a systematic downward bias in operating earnings relative to the operating cash flows of the sampled banks. This in turn makes operating earnings a poor proxy for operating cash flows during the second study period. The findings from this study provide confirmation that net asset fair values have predictive ability as argued by Ball (2008); Barth (2006b) and Tweedie (2008). The study findings that net asset fair values have predictive ability is consistent with the FASB’s view that the asset values shown in firm financial statements should communicate information about the potential future financial performance of the affected firms (FASB 2010:17). Furthermore, the study also confirms that objectively determined bank fair values based on market prices rather than model based bank fair values provide greater predictive value in relation to future performance as measured by operating cash flows. Lastly, this thesis showed that during the first study period (where there was no financial crisis) that bank size, capital adequacy and growth prospects, had little impact on the results obtained, while for the second study period, there were cases where bank size and bank capital ratios did have a significant impact on the predictive relationship between bank fair values and future cash flows. The study contributes to the fair value accounting and accounting standard-setting literature and highlights that fair values have predictive ability, especially with respect to future operating cash flows of banks, both during and outside of periods of financial crisis.

Before examining the substance of the law it is necessary to discuss the contrast between law and practice. It is important to keep in mind that the letter of the law is sometimes not what is done in practice. This realisation is often referred to as the “law and society perspective.” Advocates of this perspective treat legal doctrine as more than just a closed system because they recognise that there are other external influences at play. Beyond the law, people are also influenced by other factors such as social roles, morals, religion and culture. For example, university researchers have an external incentive mechanism outside of IP law. Such researchers frequently prefer to publish their results and discoveries in academic journals rather than file for patents. A patent cannot be granted where there has been a publication. However the researchers are motivated by other incentives such as access to research funds and the attainment of professorship. The Law and Society perspective highlights the fact that the formal processes, which are provided for by the law are at times substituted by informal customs and understandings. An information technology (IT) firm that contributed to this paper by participating in an interview (Interviewee A), provided a good example of such an occurrence. Rather than use any of the formal IP modes of protection which are discussed in the following sections of this paper, ‘Interviewee A’ uses a very unorthodox strategy to protect their IP. They said: “we rely on employment contracts, code of conduct, and especially personal ethics and behaviour to protect our IP. We therefore have a company culture that encourages teamwork and cooperation”.

Mediation has been a part of New Zealand’s employment statutory framework in one form or another for over a century, and has been the first port of call for employment disputes under the current Employment Relations Act for nearly 15 years.¹ I have been working as a mediator in this context for almost seven years in more than 1,000 mediations. Lawyers are playing a significant part in the field of mediation, with a large number representing clients in this forum on a regular basis. In an evaluation of 100 of my mediations over a ten-month period, 85% of parties were legally represented. This rate is consistent with anecdotal reporting across the employment mediation service. Lawyer representation in mediation is not unique to the employment context. There are various mediation schemes provided for under many New Zealand statutes as well as a wide raft of non-statutory mediation occurring in numerous settings. In my experience as a mediator with human rights and leaky building mediations, as well as working as a lawyer in a large commercial law firm, I am aware lawyers are representing clients in many other areas of mediation as well. Although there is a significant amount of mediation occurring and a large number of lawyers regularly appearing in mediation, my experience is that the majority of lawyers act in mediation as if they were in litigation and take an adversarial approach. My thesis is that lawyers have not adapted effectively to mediation and taken on the role of mediation advocacy. This paper explores the topic by first describing, in Part II, what I observe as lawyers’ adversarial approach in mediation. It then looks at other research to assess whether this experience is reflective of a wider issue. It finds there is evidence to support my observations. Part III analyses why lawyers are operating in an adversarial way in mediation and proposes several reasons this may be the case. Part IV puts forward what I propose is appropriate mediation advocacy. It sets out the knowledge, roles and skills required from lawyers when representing clients in mediation. Part V suggests what might be done to assist a shift away from the common, adversarial approach to effective mediation advocacy. This paper is written within the context of employment mediation in New Zealand. However, it draws on research from different jurisdictions and areas of practice so the conclusions it comes to may have more general application. The topic is not whether lawyers should be in mediation. I am not arguing that lawyers do not have a part to play in mediation. A lawyer well versed in mediation advocacy can play a highly effective part in the process. Leonard Riskin, one of the key authors on the topic of lawyers in mediation, expresses this even more strongly, saying he believes lawyers’ involvement is fundamental to mediation’s success.² Further, this paper is focused on lawyers representing parties in mediation and does not consider lawyers as mediators.

This thesis identifies a gap in existing theories of corporate finance. This gap is an implication of a Keynesian-Minskian analysis of markets and market-based economies. From a founding theoretical perspective rooted in the view that markets are not reliably efficient the case is developed that past price trend extrapolation is an important factor in corporate financing decisions. At a macro-financial level, companies repurchase equity over periods of strong market rises, while increasing debt at the same time. During periods of sustained, substantial market decline debt is retired and large new equity issues occur. This change in corporate financing is implicitly expensive as relatively low prices are realised for the new stock issued at these times. These factors suggest that conventional theories of corporate financing decisions that rely on corporate rationality and optimisation do not provide a compelling fit with observations in the period 1980-2012. Moreover, inference to Minsky’s (1986) argument that companies are compelled through market declines to shore up their balance sheets provides a better fit with the evidence. These arguments form the basis for the development of the ‘extrapolative expectations’ theory of corporate finance. The second major development in this thesis draws on the theoretical development outlined above to create market movement description and prediction models. These models operate on data drawn from the US Standard & Poors 500 index over the period 1980-2012. Two primary models are developed using binomial logistic regressions. The dichotomous dependent variables are drawn as quarters of market rise (1) or no rise (0), and market falls (1) or no fall (0), respectively for the ‘buy’ model and the ‘sell’ model. Variables tested and those found to add to an explanation of the dependent variables include: corporate debt flows, corporate equity flows, corporate dividend flows, interest rates, market volumes, and historical market levels. Each variable is tested for up to ten lags (two-and-a-half years). Collectively, the variables add to our understanding of those factors influencing (or at the least, signalling) market levels, enabling quarter ahead market forecasts to be made with greater accuracy than arises from an assumption of a random walk. This conclusion crystallises the view that company macro-financial flows and prices are an important cause or signal of future market direction.

Trabajo de Curso de Experto Universitario en Derecho Concursal (2013). Tutor: Elena Narváez Valdivia. El principio de universalidad ha supuesto la atribución de competencia y jurisdicción al Juez del Concurso de todo aquello que tenga incidencia en el patrimonio del deudor, ello implica que materias que en un principio son competencia de otros órganos administrativos o jurisdiccionales, pasen a formar parte del ámbito de competencia del Juez del Concurso. El presente trabajo tiene como principal finalidad dar a conocer algunos ejemplos de Conflictos de Jurisdicción, señalando que preceptos tanto de la Ley Concursal como de la normativa administrativa, en la mayoria de los casos la Ley General Tributaria, entran en conflicto y cúal es el criterio seguido por el Tribunal de Conflctos de Jurisdiccion. Cabe señalar que algunos de estos casos ya han sido resueltos desde el año 2006, pero que todavía se siguen planteando en la práctica diaria. La investigación de dicha temática parte del concepto general de jurisdicción, del ámbito de jurisdicción y competencia de los Jueces de lo Mercantil; pasando por los mecanismos de resolución de conflictos existentes en nuestro ordenamiento, su tipología, ya sean conflictos de jurisdicción positivos o negativos, procedimiento y órgano competente para su resolución. Finaliza con varios ejemplos de cuestiones prácticas que hacen surgir a día de hoy este tipo de conflictos en los que veremos como en algunos supuestos la normativa administrativa tiene que ceder a los principios rectores del procedimiento concursal, lo que ha supuesto que se haya producido una disminución de ciertos privilegios tradicionales que ostentaba la Administración Pública.

This PhD thesis explores how the legal infrastructure for dispute resolution in transnational securities transactions can be improved, considering the regulatory and legal limits of the financial sector in each jurisdiction under study (US, Europe and Brazil). The two main objectives of the work are to a) identify the problems that currently exist for a dispute resolution mechanism in the securities area that can be used transnationally and b) propose solutions that can create a safe legal environment that can be used by the investor in case regulatory rules or the terms of the transaction are breached. The work is justified by the fact that financial markets are legal constructions, making legal certainty and the mechanisms available to enforce the terms of a transaction and apply regulatory rules, especially to the investor that is part of the transaction, essential for the own existence of financial markets. Therefore, the existence of transnational financial markets also depends on the existence of a transnational legal infrastructure, at least broad enough to protect the interest of investors. The argument developed through the work is that the creation of a transnational legal infrastructure depends on the type of dispute that is considered, since not only each type of dispute has its own peculiarities, but the national dispute resolution systems are also built based on the type of dispute that will be submitted to it. To create transnational dispute resolution systems for securities transactions, I propose the use of collective mechanisms of dispute resolution based on the initiative of private parties, the use of arbitration and the establishment of cooperation networks among national alternative dispute resolution mechanisms used to solve financial disputes.

Forfaiting, yatırım malları ve hizmet ihracından doğan alacakların satıcı-ihracatçıya rücu edilmeksizin satışı olarak tanımlanmaktadır. Farklı biçimleri bulunmasına karşılık, bu finansman yönteminin temel konusu poliçe ve bonodan doğan alacaklardır. Poliçe forfaiting'inde poliçe, ihracatçı tarafından ithalatçı üzerine çekilmekte ve onun tarafından kabul edilmektedir. Bu durumda ihracatçı keşideci, forfaiter ise lehdar ya da ciranta konumunda bulunmaktadır. Fakat bu durum bazı problemlere yol açmaktadır. Zira bu finansman yönteminin temel ve ayırıcı özelliği rücu edilmezlik klozudur. Bu kloz, kıymetli evrak hukuku bakımından ihracatçının, ciroya "rücu edilmez" kaydı eklemek suretiyle kendisini poliçenin ödenmemesi sorumluluğundan kurtarmasını ve forfaiter'ın ticari riski üstlenmesini gerekli kılar. Fakat bir poliçenin keşidecisi, poliçenin kabul edilmesini ve ödenmesini garanti etmektedir. Onun kendisini poliçenin kabul edilmemesi sorumluluğundan kurtarması mümkün iken, ödenmemesi sorumluluğundan kurtarması mümkün değildir. Zira keşidecinin poliçenin ödenmemesinden sorumluluğunu kaldıran kayıtlar yazılmamış sayılır. Bu durum ise forfaiting'in özüne aykırıdır. Bahsi geçen bu problem bonolar bakımından söz konusu olmaz; çünkü bono forfaiting'inde ithalatçı, asıl borçlu olarak düzenleyen, ihracatçı ise lehdar konumundadır ve onun kendisini ciranta olarak ödememeden sorumsuz kılması mümkündür. Bu farklılık nedeniyle forfaiting işleminde bir çok ihracatçı tarafından bonolar, poliçelere nazaran tercih edilmektedir. Forfaiting is defined as the purchase, without recourse to any previos holder of receivables due to mature in the future and arising from export of capital goods and services. Although there are several forms of forfaiting, main subjekt of this form of finance is receivables arising from bills of exchange and promissory notes. In bill of exchange forfaiting, the bill of exchange is drawn on the importer (drawee) by exporter (drawer) and accepted by importer. The forfaiter is payee (beneficiary) or indorser. But this cause several problems . Because the main characteristic and distinctive speciality of this financing method is "without recourse clause". This clause requires exporter to free himself from any responsibilities by using of "without recourse, sans recourse stipulation" in the indorsement and requires forfaiter to assume commercial risks in terms of law of negotiable instrument. But the drawer of a bill of exchange guarantees both aceptance and payment. He may release himself from the liability of non acceptance but any stipulation by which he releases himself from the liability of non payment is deemed to be not written. Thus, the drawer of a bill of exchange, the exporter, may not be liable as it is indorser but will always be liable as it is drawer. This situation conflicts with the esense of forfaiting. But the problem as stated above is not seemed in promissory notes because in promissory note forfaiting, the importer is maker as main obligor and the exporter is (payee) beneficiary. And he has the legal right to free himself of any liability as an indorser by using without recourse stipulation. Because of this difference promissory notes are prefered to bill of exchange by many exporters.

The promotion of sustainable development is an objective shared by African Union (AU) member states and the pursuance thereof is expressly mandated by the Constitutive Act of the African Union, 2000 and the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community, 1992. Lack of access to modern energy sources, such as electricity and the heavy reliance on traditional biomass as primary energy source are factors contributing to the non-achievement of the promotion of sustainable development. These factors are collectively referred to as energy poverty. The African Continent as a whole has limited, and in some instances, lack access to modern energy sources while the majority of its population relies heavily on traditional biomass as primary energy source. Africa can accordingly be classified as an energy poor region–a situation which does not bode well for the promotion of sustainable development. Access to reliable, affordable, economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally sound energy services and resources is fundamental to socio-economic development. Mitigating the impacts of energy poverty and more specifically lack of access to modern energy sources on the sustainable development of Africa depends upon ensuring increased access to modern energy sources. The above-mentioned instruments furthermore contain provisions which link regional cooperation on the formulation of coordinated regional law and policy on areas/matters of common concern with the achievement of the objective of promoting sustainable development in Africa. One of the areas of common concerns listed is that of energy. Regional cooperation must accordingly be geared towards the effective development of the continent‘s energy and natural resources; promoting the development of new and renewable energy in the framework of the policy of diversification of sources of energy; and establishing an adequate mechanism of concerted action and coordination for the collective solution of the energy development problems within the AU. The formulation of coordinated energy law and policy should take place with reference to the specific sources of energy to be regulated. In this regard, the provisions of the Abuja Treaty and other sub-regional energy access initiatives list various sources of energy as forming part of a diversified AU energy mix – one of which is nuclear energy. In this study recommendations are made as to what should be embodied in a coordinated AU regional nuclear legal framework aimed at regulating increased access to nuclear energy capable of contributing towards the promotion of sustainable development. The recommendations are based on an examination of relevant international, regional and sub-regional legal instruments and other initiatives.

This thesis critically assesses the effectiveness of WTO legal rules in the regulation of international trade in petroleum and highlights potential conflicts between competing resources of energy from the WTO regime’s perspective. The theoretical framework of the thesis is built on the concepts used in natural resource economics, trade theories and international relations. On the basis of Hotelling’s rule of natural resource economics, it proposes a model that reconciles the use of petroleum and the development of renewable sources of energy in the power generation sector, which prospectively can be adopted with respect to the transport sector and other sectors involving energy use. The proposed model may improve global sustainable development. However, it is argued that WTO rules are not properly designed to regulate trade in petroleum and, if applied without due respect to specific issues pertaining to the petroleum industry, would obstruct the achievement of the social optimum, and detrimentally affect the national economies of WTO members and global welfare in general. To improve the WTO system, I propose a reformation of its normative ideology through the introduction of the strategic trade policy theory in complement to the neoclassical theory of trade, at least when trade in energy is concerned. On the basis of the study of the applicability of WTO rules to trade in petroleum and a review of proposals put forward by other scholars to improve the regulation of trade in energy, it is argued that the most effective way to improve the trading regime is to negotiate a new general agreement on trade in energy.The role of the WTO in the regulation of trade in energy is analyzed through a regime management theory borrowed from international relations studies. It is argued that the WTO as a regime manager is capable of improving the regime by properly maintaining the existing equilibrium and by initiating, and leading in negotiations of a new equilibrium.