The innovative and integrated approach towards nature and landscape conservation in this Preliminary Draft has been widely appreciated. Nature and landscape conservation, protection of wildlife, forestry and hunting are integrated in one Code

This book analyses the Habitats Directive; one of the most prominent piece of EU environmental legislation of the past decades. Seen by some as the cornerstone of Europe’s nature conservation policy, among other measures the Directive established the so-called "Natura 2000" ecological network, which covers more than 18% of the surface of the EU. However, despite the fact the Directive was adopted over twenty years ago only 17% of the protected habitats and species in Europe are being adequately protected while 10-60 % of animal species remain under threat. In light of the limited success and the contested nature of the Habitats Directive so far this book examines the successes and failures of the Habitats Directive from a legal and political angle. The book brings together international experts to consider the application, implementation and future of the Habitats Directive in order to assess whether the Habitats Directive is resilient enough to tackle biodiversity loss in the twenty- first century. Particular emphasis is put on the legal regime attached to the Natura 2000 network and its possible impact on land development and the relationship between the Habitats Directive and other topics including liability for ecological damage and transboundary nature conservation.

This book is dedicated to a fundamental conflict in modern states: those persons holding public office are no more than ordinary citizens. Therefore, their activities must – as a matter of principle – be subject to full judicial control. But at the same time, democratically legitimated politicians need some discretion in their decision-making. Allegations of politicians committing criminal offences in office quickly attract a great deal of media attention. Even politicians themselves frequently use such allegations to discredit their political opponents. However, to date this topic has not been fully addressed on an academic level. This book is a first step in this direction. The individual contributions cover topics such as: “bad” political decisions that result in a waste of taxpayers’ money corruption and conflicts of interest in political decision-making immunities and procedural obstacles to the effective prosecution of politicians abuse of criminal law and criminal proceedings in the political arena criminal liability for decisions taken in situations of state emergency the role of criminal law in public opinion. Leading experts examine these and other issues from a comparative perspective.

On 5 July 1989 the Flemish government adopted the decision to set up an Interuniversity Commission for the Revision of Environmental Law in the Flemish Region. The task of the Commission was to `compile a draft Proposed Outline Decree relating to environmental protection, and to make the necessary recommendations to improve the effectiveness of environmental protection law'. This book, which is sponsored by the Flemish government, offers the English translation of the Draft Decree and is accompanied by a detailed analysis. The draft is an attempt to achieve a comprehensive codification of Flemish law on environmental protection. The object is to achieve a systematic body of law comprising all the rules in this area of the law, on the basis of a clear notion of the objectives and instruments of environmental policy. The book has been published in conjunction with the proceedings of the Conference on Codification of Environmental Law that was organised on the occasion of the presentation of the Draft Decree to the Flemish government.

. . . an important addition to the small, but growing, published literature on the development of environmental law in developing countries. It will be of interest to academics and those involved in law development in Indonesia and the other developing countries. Jennifer Mohamed-Katerere, Journal of Environmental Law This book asks whether environmental law and policy in developed countries can be successfully transferred to developing countries. It questions whether developing countries are indeed ready and able to implement new ideas from the developed world, such as the integration of environmental law, and use of market-oriented instruments. The authors draw insights from the case of Indonesia, where they have experience of drafting environmental legislation, and which is itself in the early stages of development. Through these insights they seek to understand why environmental law that has been well developed in theory, can in practice be difficult to monitor and adequately enforce. Indeed, a further question central to the book is why developing environmental law does not necessarily result in an efficient environmental policy. Taking a comparative perspective, and using a multi-faceted methodology that draws on constitutional and administrative law, human rights law, criminal and liability law and international law, as well as law and economics, the authors conclude with an outline of some of the lessons that can be learnt by other jurisdictions seeking to develop environmental law. Lawyers, environmental engineers and social scientists involved in environmental law and policy in developing countries will find much to interest them in this book, as will those concerned with development studies or with a particular interest in the case of Indonesia.

This detailed analysis of the content and configuration of civil codes in diverse jurisdictions also examines their relationship with some branches of private law as: family law, commercial law, consumer law and private international law. It analyzes the codification, decodification and recodification processes illuminating the dialogue between current codes – and private law legislation in general – with Constitutions and International Conventions. The commentary elucidates the changing requirements of civil law as it shifted from an early protection of patrimony to a support for commercial and contractual law. It also explains the varying trajectories of civil law, which in some jurisdictions was merged with religious legal tenets in its codification of familial relations, while in others it was fused with commercial law or, indeed, codified from scratch as a discrete legal corpus. Elsewhere, the volume provides material on differing approaches to consumer law, where relevant legislation may be scattered across numerous statutes, and also on private international law, a topic of increasing relevance in a world where business corporations have interests in multiple jurisdictions (and often play one off against another). The volume features invited contributions from leading scholars in the field of private law brought together for an in depth analysis of the current regulatory attitude in this field of the law in jurisdictions with diverse legal systems and traditions. In current times we are witnessing the adoption of diverging regulatory solutions. Through the analysis of the past and present of private law regulation, the volume unveils the underlying trends and relevance of the codification method across the world.

This draft Environmental Code is intended to bring together, unify, harmonise, develop and update German environmental law. The codification project takes up a transnational legal trend that has already led to the passing of similar legislation in a number of countries such as the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom or the preparation of corresponding drafts, as in France, Sweden, Poland and Hungary. The European Union is also looking into the codification of environmental law. The Commission's draft applies the principle of sustainable environmentally sound development and establishes an integrated cross-media approach in all areas of environmental legislation. One of its principal features is the unified project authorisation model (Vorhabengenehmigung) for environmental legislation, which the Federal Government intends to use as a basis for the planned implementation of the IPPC Directive in a first volume of an Environmental Code. Other aims pursued by the Commission were to strengthen the responsibility of enterprises and of society, develop incentive instruments and expand transboundary environmental protection. The draft was prepared between autumn 1992 and summer 1997. The Commission consisted of eight experts with practical experience in the field of environmental law as judges, university teaching staff, lawyers, administrative officials and an environmental officer in a large industrial company. This volume contains the English translation of the draft. It seeks to make a contribution to international and European discussions about the harmonisation and codification of environmental law. For this reason the introduction to the English version also contains observations about the German legal system and existing environmental legislation which should make it easier for the reader to understand the proposals.

Closely held companies (those with the potential to go public, family firms, partnerships and private equity) have particular governance problems. This book examines what constitutes good governance in these companies, how control is gained, and how the closely held firm can stimulate growth and extend innovation.