Summary Law book
Chapter 1
Concepts provide tools to measure and compare.
Legislator: the bodies of a state that have the authority to create laws. The authority
thereto has its basis is a constitution, which is a document or an unwritten set of principles
that outlines the fundamental values and organizational structure of a state.
Jurisdiction: denotes a territory within which a particular legal system applies.
- Legal jurisdiction: the state’s ability to enforce law
A legal system exists with a State, which consists of 3 independent authorities, the Trias
Politica.
- Executive power: administers the country
- Legislative power: creates and adapts laws
- Judiciary power: applies the rules made by the legislative power
Right of initiative: authority to propose new laws
Private law: regulates people’s relations and people initiate its enforcement.
Public law: regulates the relationships between people and the State.
Regulation gap: the national character of law makes it difficult to regulate international
companies’ behavior. Enterprises may be tempted to profit from differences in regulatory
environments by shifting parts of their activities to countries with weak legal systems.
The core process of a business is strategic planning. The core result of the process is the
corporate strategy, which decides on the products, markets, and the competitive
advantage. These outcomes reflect in the positioning statement which is an expression of
how a given product, service, or brand fills a particular target group’s need in a way that its
competitors don’t.
Hard law: official rules that are binding
Treaty: an agreement between two States (bilateral) or more (multilateral).
- Treaties become binding by ratification, which refers to entering into a Treaty by a
country by the signing of a thereto authorized body (the government). A country
that has ratified a treaty or convention is a signatory.
Convention: terms for treaties on a specific topic.
Preamble: the introductory part that sets out the background and objectives.
Regional trade agreements (RTA’s): reciprocal agreements between two or more countries
on trade topics.
Case law/ jurisprudence: the interpretation and application, or development, of rules by
judges.
,Internal self-regulation/ unilateral code of conduct: a company’s self-imposed rules.
External self-regulation: the industry’s rules.
Public supervisory authorities: state bodies appointed by legislation for independent
supervision on compliance by companies in an industry.
Private supervisory authorities: usually a foundation that identifies violations of
participants’ rights and represents these in court.
When a legal subject involves a court to begin a lawsuit under private law, the parties
initiate a process called litigation/adjudication.
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods provide alternatives for legislation and are
therefore called out-of-court resolution.
Amicable solution: commits both parties to discuss a solution among them instead of
immediately initiating a litigation.
In case of mediation, a neutral third party supports parties in solving their disagreement.
In arbitration, one or more neutral arbitrators function a judge for resolving the dispute.
Efficiency of a country’s court system: the time and costs of a court procedure.
Effectiveness of a country’s court system: the extent to which a company’s objectives are
achievable by legislation.
Lobbying defines as professionally safeguarding specific interests by contacting and
influencing all those involved in developing official rules and policies.
Corporate governance (CG): procedures and processes that corporate management applies
to direct and control the business.
A SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) is a set of systematic instructions compiled by an
organization to help employees carry out complex routine operations.
Supplementary law: statutory rules that apply when parties did not arrange anything.
Comparative law: studies the differences and similarities between the legal systems among
countries.
Ethnocentrism: judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one’s own
culture.
Codification: the collection and systematic arrangement of the legal rules that govern a
specific area or subject of law.
The law of persons deal with natural persons and legal persons such as the limited liability
company.
, Administrative law: regulates licenses, penalties and disputes with state bodies.
Criminal law: provides the basis for prosecuting individuals, companies or managers.
The civil law refers to the total body of effective law in a jurisdiction as positive law.
Substantive rules: define and provide rights and rules.
Islamic law:
- The Qur’an: the holy book of Islam records the message of god as revealed to the
prophet Muhammad.
- Sunnah: encompasses all the teachings transmitted by the Prophet Muhammed
trough his words, expressions, deeds, and tacit approval.
- Ijmaa: the agreement of all competent jurists in any particular generation, acting as
representatives of the community on a point of law.
- Qiyass: analogical reasoning based on the previous three sources in case an answer
to a new question is not yet available.
- Isthisan: provides a correction opportunity in case an outcome of any source would
turn out to be unfair.
Chapter 2
Extraterritoriality: the competence of a state to enforce national legislation on non-
nationals for behavior that violates that law outside the borders of that state.
Red tape: miscellaneous mandatory, time-consuming activities imposed on companies such
as reporting, testing and facilitation of audits and inspections.
Intra-company/ transfer pricing: the rules and methods fop icing transactions within and
between enterprises under common ownership or control.
Private international law: sets out the rules for legal relationships between parties that are
in different jurisdictions.
Mandatory law: regulations that do not allow deviation. Deviations are not valid (void) or
can be annulled (voidable).
Appeal/ judicial review: brings a court’s ruling to a higher court.
A returning pattern of behavior that is recognized and accepted as an established rule is a
customary practice.
Trade usages: the customs and traditions of traders in an industry.
The Dutch corporate governance code considers a code of conduct as a tool for managing
the company’s culture. This code is an example of self-regulation that transformed into hard
law.
Chapter 1
Concepts provide tools to measure and compare.
Legislator: the bodies of a state that have the authority to create laws. The authority
thereto has its basis is a constitution, which is a document or an unwritten set of principles
that outlines the fundamental values and organizational structure of a state.
Jurisdiction: denotes a territory within which a particular legal system applies.
- Legal jurisdiction: the state’s ability to enforce law
A legal system exists with a State, which consists of 3 independent authorities, the Trias
Politica.
- Executive power: administers the country
- Legislative power: creates and adapts laws
- Judiciary power: applies the rules made by the legislative power
Right of initiative: authority to propose new laws
Private law: regulates people’s relations and people initiate its enforcement.
Public law: regulates the relationships between people and the State.
Regulation gap: the national character of law makes it difficult to regulate international
companies’ behavior. Enterprises may be tempted to profit from differences in regulatory
environments by shifting parts of their activities to countries with weak legal systems.
The core process of a business is strategic planning. The core result of the process is the
corporate strategy, which decides on the products, markets, and the competitive
advantage. These outcomes reflect in the positioning statement which is an expression of
how a given product, service, or brand fills a particular target group’s need in a way that its
competitors don’t.
Hard law: official rules that are binding
Treaty: an agreement between two States (bilateral) or more (multilateral).
- Treaties become binding by ratification, which refers to entering into a Treaty by a
country by the signing of a thereto authorized body (the government). A country
that has ratified a treaty or convention is a signatory.
Convention: terms for treaties on a specific topic.
Preamble: the introductory part that sets out the background and objectives.
Regional trade agreements (RTA’s): reciprocal agreements between two or more countries
on trade topics.
Case law/ jurisprudence: the interpretation and application, or development, of rules by
judges.
,Internal self-regulation/ unilateral code of conduct: a company’s self-imposed rules.
External self-regulation: the industry’s rules.
Public supervisory authorities: state bodies appointed by legislation for independent
supervision on compliance by companies in an industry.
Private supervisory authorities: usually a foundation that identifies violations of
participants’ rights and represents these in court.
When a legal subject involves a court to begin a lawsuit under private law, the parties
initiate a process called litigation/adjudication.
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods provide alternatives for legislation and are
therefore called out-of-court resolution.
Amicable solution: commits both parties to discuss a solution among them instead of
immediately initiating a litigation.
In case of mediation, a neutral third party supports parties in solving their disagreement.
In arbitration, one or more neutral arbitrators function a judge for resolving the dispute.
Efficiency of a country’s court system: the time and costs of a court procedure.
Effectiveness of a country’s court system: the extent to which a company’s objectives are
achievable by legislation.
Lobbying defines as professionally safeguarding specific interests by contacting and
influencing all those involved in developing official rules and policies.
Corporate governance (CG): procedures and processes that corporate management applies
to direct and control the business.
A SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) is a set of systematic instructions compiled by an
organization to help employees carry out complex routine operations.
Supplementary law: statutory rules that apply when parties did not arrange anything.
Comparative law: studies the differences and similarities between the legal systems among
countries.
Ethnocentrism: judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one’s own
culture.
Codification: the collection and systematic arrangement of the legal rules that govern a
specific area or subject of law.
The law of persons deal with natural persons and legal persons such as the limited liability
company.
, Administrative law: regulates licenses, penalties and disputes with state bodies.
Criminal law: provides the basis for prosecuting individuals, companies or managers.
The civil law refers to the total body of effective law in a jurisdiction as positive law.
Substantive rules: define and provide rights and rules.
Islamic law:
- The Qur’an: the holy book of Islam records the message of god as revealed to the
prophet Muhammad.
- Sunnah: encompasses all the teachings transmitted by the Prophet Muhammed
trough his words, expressions, deeds, and tacit approval.
- Ijmaa: the agreement of all competent jurists in any particular generation, acting as
representatives of the community on a point of law.
- Qiyass: analogical reasoning based on the previous three sources in case an answer
to a new question is not yet available.
- Isthisan: provides a correction opportunity in case an outcome of any source would
turn out to be unfair.
Chapter 2
Extraterritoriality: the competence of a state to enforce national legislation on non-
nationals for behavior that violates that law outside the borders of that state.
Red tape: miscellaneous mandatory, time-consuming activities imposed on companies such
as reporting, testing and facilitation of audits and inspections.
Intra-company/ transfer pricing: the rules and methods fop icing transactions within and
between enterprises under common ownership or control.
Private international law: sets out the rules for legal relationships between parties that are
in different jurisdictions.
Mandatory law: regulations that do not allow deviation. Deviations are not valid (void) or
can be annulled (voidable).
Appeal/ judicial review: brings a court’s ruling to a higher court.
A returning pattern of behavior that is recognized and accepted as an established rule is a
customary practice.
Trade usages: the customs and traditions of traders in an industry.
The Dutch corporate governance code considers a code of conduct as a tool for managing
the company’s culture. This code is an example of self-regulation that transformed into hard
law.
