The text of the Constitution for the Kingdom of the Netherlands (de Grond- wet voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden) is sober, devoid of legal and political doctrine. Given the restrained character... Show moreThe text of the Constitution for the Kingdom of the Netherlands (de Grond- wet voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden) is sober, devoid of legal and political doctrine. Given the restrained character of its text, the Dutch constitution has always left relations within and between political institutions on the national level such as the government (the regering) and parliament (the Staten-Generaal, composed of the Tweede Kamer and the Eerste Kamer) fairly unsettled. Indeed, it is still uncertain which characteristics determine when rules in the political process could be fairly characterised as legal. Is the legal character of a rule dependent on its enforceability by the courts, on its ability to constitute an obligation that does not allow for deviations, or is there another characteristic that is more important for establishing the legality of a rule? To answer these and other questions, a new perspective on the relation between law and politics in the Dutch constitution is required. This thesis aims to provide such a perspective by introducing the concept of conventions into Dutch constitutional doctrine. Show less
The workshop touched upon a multitude of topics. These can be subsumed under the following main headers:It included methodological considerations around doing comparative law and combining methods... Show moreThe workshop touched upon a multitude of topics. These can be subsumed under the following main headers:It included methodological considerations around doing comparative law and combining methods of comparative law with methods from other fields such as history, political science, sociology, computer science and accounting research.Empirically, it focused on understanding how a transplant process actually works and why it takes place, i.e. who the actors are that make a transplant happen. This included meso-level perspectives, focusing on actors such as bureaucracies, experts, lawmakers, companies, accounting firms and others, but also perspectives which focused more on states as a whole and their role as norm makers and takers. The analyses thereby drew from experiences from many different countries around the world and included a number of historical perspectives as well. The participants also discussed evidence on the extent to which convergence is occurring, using the example of the tax treaty system and the implementation of the BEPS standards.Theoretically, several key concepts were discussed such as the notion of “expertise”, “international standard”, the concept of “transplant” itself and possible alternative metaphors as well as the history of the idea. It was also examined how one can approach the empirical fact of transplants or international convergence of rules from a normative and philosophical point of view.This document reports the discussions that took place during the five days in a chronological manner. The last section contains an outline of possible topics and approaches for a follow-up workshop.The report does not systematically differentiate between individual opinions that not everyone might share and consensus. It rather reports which bits and pieces of the debates caught the attention of the reporters and other note takers. It may therefore rather be seen as something stimulating further discussion than a fixed document. Show less
EU external relations law is a doubly peculiar field of scholarship that has attracted significant scholarly attention over the last several decades. It is both part of EU law—considered a "new... Show moreEU external relations law is a doubly peculiar field of scholarship that has attracted significant scholarly attention over the last several decades. It is both part of EU law—considered a "new legal order" distinct from international law—and it is concerned with the European Union as a global actor, a "strange animal" in that the EU is neither a state nor a classical international organization. This essay argues that in the emerging field of comparative foreign relations law, the law of EU external relations will be both a supporting pillar and important driver: A pillar, because, next to U.S. foreign relations law, it is one of the most vibrant scholarly discourses on the subject; and a driver, because it continues to be a fascinating comparator for national—especially federal—systems of foreign relations law that questions many of the assumptions underlying nation-based concepts and blurs the lines between national and international law. Show less
