INTERNATIONAL LAW

International Law: The body of written and unwritten laws,
including treaties, governing the relations between and among
nations and between nations and the citizens of one or more
other sovereign nations (e.g., the Geneva Convention on the
Treatment of Prisoners of War, the Warsaw Convention on
International Air Travel, the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty).

National Law: The system of laws that govern rights and
obligations of persons within a particular country. The
various legal systems employed by the 200-plus nations of
today’s world can be roughly characterized as either “civil” or
“common” law systems.

Key questions raised by international law, that are less
present with respect to national law, are:
(1) who will enforce the rights and obligations created by a
particular international law; and
(2) how will they enforce those rights and obligations?
Ch. 53: International and Comparative Law - No. 1
West’s Business Law (9th ed.)
SOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

International law can arise from the following:

International Customs: Practices that have evolved
among nations in their relations with one another;

Treaties: Formal agreements between two (bilateral
agreements) or among several (multilateral
agreements) countries that have been authorized or
ratified by each country’s domestic government;

International Organizations: Organizations of member
nations, generally designed and conducted according to
a treaty.
Ch. 53: International and Comparative Law - No. 2
West’s Business Law (9th ed.)
LEGAL PRINCIPLES AND DOCTRINES

Comity: One nation’s deference to and willingness to
enforce the laws and judicial decrees of another country, as
long as those laws and decrees are consistent with the
fundamental laws and public policy of the deferring nation.

Act of State Doctrine: A judicially-created doctrine by
which the courts of one country will not examine the validity
of governmental acts committed by another country within
the latter’s territory.


Expropriation: Government seizure of private property
for public use with just compensation.

Confiscation: Government seizure of private property
without just compensation.
Sovereign Immunity: Doctrine by which foreign nations are
exempt from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.
Ch. 53: International and Comparative Law - No. 3
West’s Business Law (9th ed.)
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Direct Export: The sale of goods directly to a foreign
purchaser.

Indirect Export: The sale of goods abroad through some
third party.

Foreign Agent: A firm or person empowered to contract
in the agent’s country on behalf of a U.S. principal.

Foreign Distributor: A firm or person empowered to
sell a U.S. principal’s products in a foreign country.

Licensing: An agreement whereby a domestic company
permits a foreign company to produce and sell goods in the
foreign market using the domestic company’s materials or
process in return for a royalty.

Franchising: An agreement whereby a domestic owner of a
trademark, trade name, copyright, etc. permits a foreign
company to use the trademark, trade name, copyright, etc. in
return for a fixed fee or royalty.

Subsidiary/Joint Venture: Some U.S. firms choose to
expand into foreign markets by establishing a wholly-owned
subsidiary or by entering into a joint venture with a company
already in the foreign market.
Ch. 53: International and Comparative Law - No. 4
West’s Business Law (9th ed.)
REGULATING INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Export Incentives: Devices designed to stimulate exports
and thereby aid domestic businesses.

Import Restrictions: Devices designed to limit imports and
thereby aid domestic businesses.


Quota: A numerical limit (either a fixed quantity or a
percentage of domestic sales or output) on the amount of
goods that can be imported.

Tariff: A tax on imported goods.

Dumping: Selling imported goods at less than their “fair
market value.”
Most-Favored-Nation Status: Each member of the World
Trade Organization (WTO) is required to treat all other
members of the WTO at least as well as it treats the country
to which it gives the most favorable treatment with regard
to imports or exports.
Ch. 53: International and Comparative Law - No. 5
West’s Business Law (9th ed.)
NATIONAL LAW SYSTEMS

Common law systems, such as those in the United States, the
United Kingdom, and most of their former colonies or
possessions, recognize the precedential value of prior judicial
decisions, which provide binding, and not merely persuasive,
authority to guide the decisions in subsequent disputes.

Civil law systems, such as those in Mexico and most of
continental Europe and South America, are based primarily
on statutory, or “codified,” law. Prior judicial decisions have
no binding authority except as between the parties to the
decision.
Ch. 53: International and Comparative Law - No. 6
West’s Business Law (9th ed.)
COMPARATIVE TORT LAW

Sources of Tort Law: In common law jurisdictions, tort law
has generally developed through judicial decisions. However,
some aspects of tort law (e.g., product liability, dram shop
liability) are often codified. In civil law jurisdictions, in the
absence of a statutory claim, there is no tort.

Important Variations from country to country include:

which party bears the burden of proving that a tort did
or did not occur;

the limitations period within which a plaintiff must
bring suit;

whether a passerby has a duty to aid another in distress;
and

the types of damages an injured party is entitled to
recover and the manner in which those damages are
calculated.
Ch. 53: International and Comparative Law - No. 7
West’s Business Law (9th ed.)
COMPARATIVE CONTRACT LAW

The U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International
Sale of Goods (CISG) only governs certain contracts
between parties in two or more countries. In all other cases,
the contract will be governed by the law of some country
either chosen by the parties or as a matter of law.

Important Variations from country to country include:

whether an offer must remain open for some period of
time before the offeror may revoke it;

whether the rules for accepting oral and written offers
are the same;

how definite the contract’s terms must be in order for a
court to enforce it;

whether consideration is required;

whether the contract must be written;

what remedies are available to the nonbreaching party;
and

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Ch. 53: International and Comparative Law - No. 8
West’s Business Law (9th ed.)

what defenses to contractual formation, performance, or
liability are available.
Ch. 53: International and Comparative Law - No. 9
West’s Business Law (9th ed.)
COMPARATIVE EMPLOYMENT LAW

Important Variations from country to country include:

whether employment may be “at will”;

what limits, if any, exist on an employer’s right to
terminate an “at will” employee;

how much notice an employer must give an employee
prior to terminating the employee;

holidays and other paid leave to which employees are
entitled; and

whether hiring, promoting, and terminating employees
are subject to anti-discrimination laws; and, if so, what
constitutes unlawful discrimination.

Ch. 53: International and Comparative Law - No. 10
West’s Business Law (9th ed.)