: 
Finding
the Law: the Micro-States and
Small Jurisdictions of Europe:
Andorra, Cyprus, Northern Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein,
Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, Vatican State; UK European
dependencies: Channel Islands, Gibraltar, Isle of Man; Faroe Islands and
Greenland
Published February 2005
Andrew Grossman is
a retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer who served in Seoul, Abidjan, London,
Tehran, Algiers and Geneva. He holds the degrees of B.A. in Economics (Clark),
LL.B. (Columbia), M.A. in L.I.S. (University College London) and of Licencié en
droit européen et international, Maître & Docteur en droit (Louvain) and is
a member of the New York and District of Columbia Bars. He lives in London,
where he writes on private international law issues, especially in the fields
of nationality, bankruptcy and tax. Among his publications are "Conflict of
Laws in the Discharge of Debts in Bankruptcy", 5 Int'l Insolvency Rev. 1 (1996), "Nationality
and the Unrecognised State" <http://www3.oup.co.uk/iclqaj/hdb/Volume_50/Issue_04/500849.sgm.abs.html> (subscription required
for download of full article), 50 Int'l
& Comp. L.Q. 849 (2001), "Gender and National Inclusion" 2001-1 Law, Social Justice and Global Development
<http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/global/issue/2001-1/grossman.html>
and "'Islamic land': Group Rights, National Identity and Law", forthcoming, 3 UCLA J. Islamic & Near E.L. (2004).
His current work in process is entitled "Conflicts in the
Cross-border Enforcement of Tax Claims".
Update to
an article previously published on LLRX.com on October 1, 2001 <http://www.llrx.com/features/microstates.htm>
Table of
Contents
Finding print sources of primary law
Sources of law on particular subjects
General Sources, Common to More than One of the
Jurisdictions under Study
Pathfinders, bibliographic references and general sources
of law online
Other sources of laws of the jurisdictions under review,
by type
Orthography and digitization - non-standard characters
The micro-states and small jurisdictions of Europe:
Andorra; Cyprus;
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus; Faroe Islands (Føroyar, Færøerne);
Greenland (Grønland);
Iceland;
Liechtenstein; Luxembourg; Malta; Monaco;
Montenegro (Republika Crna Gora); San Marino; Vatican State (Holy See); United Kingdom European Territories; Gibraltar;
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark; Jersey; Isle
of Man
General sources of information on foreign, international
and comparative law
This article aims to provide an
introduction to finding the sources of primary and secondary law for the "small
jurisdictions" of Europe: the distinct European political entities having a
population under one million persons. We have omitted three Eastern European
sub-jurisdictions (Republika Srpska, Kosovo and Transnistria) that appeared in
an addendum to the original survey, but which exceed our population threshold.
We have not considered the special status of non-sovereign enclaves with
particular special tax concessions trans-border legal situations, including Campione d'Italia, Buesingen, Llívia, and Baarle. Also
omitted are Ceuta, Melilla (enclaves
sometimes called migration "gateways to Europe") and other autonomous
nearby but non-European territories of European states. On the other hand, we
have added the Faroe Islands and Greenland, which have autonomous government
and legal systems and are outside the European Union, plus Iceland, which did
not appear in the original article. Suggested readings have been added to the
listings for each jurisdiction based on their value to research in comparative
law, and many citations and links to cited cases and works have been added.
More than the original article it replaces, this version concentrates on the
law and practice in those sectors that distinguish particular micro-states as
legal and economic entities: bank secrecy, flexibility in trust management, tax
sparing, asset protection, shipping, and political and juridical stability.
No attempt has been made to make the
country sections entirely parallel. The first priority has been to identify
online and print sources of primary law. Beyond that, secondary sources and
commentary are provided when they are known to the author and when it is
believed a bibliography would be difficult to develop by simple query on one of
the OPACs listed below. Nordic, NATO and similar multilateral documents and
links are generally listed only once, on the assumption that a reader
interested in, say, the Faroe Islands will read through the Greenland and
Iceland sections as well. All links were
visited during the last week of December 2003. Some links, especially links to
internal pages and those intended for student downloads, may have limited life
spans.[i]
|
Country or Area |
Approx. Population[ii] |
|
Andorra |
69,865 |
|
Cyprus (Republic)[iii] |
575,000[iv] |
|
Northern Cyprus[v] |
200,000 |
|
Faroe Islands |
46,662 |
|
Greenland |
56,384 |
|
Iceland |
293,996 |
|
Liechtenstein |
33,436 |
|
Luxembourg |
462,690 |
|
Malta |
396,851 |
|
Monaco |
32,270 |
|
Montenegro |
620,145[vi] |
|
San Marino |
28,503 |
|
Vatican State |
921 |
|
Gibraltar |
27,883 |
|
Guernsey |
65,031 |
|
Jersey |
90,502 |
|
Isle of Man |
74,261 |
The micro-states and juridical-autonomous
small jurisdictions of Europe owe their existence to historical anomalies; vested
interests seem to have assured their survival. Of the 13 jurisdictions covered,
only nine possess internationally recognized sovereignty. At least in the case
of North Cyprus, lack of such recognition may impede foreign courts from giving
force to its administrative and juridical acts and recognition to the status of
inhabitants abroad except insofar as a "subordinate level of government theory"[vii] or a
pragmatic or sympathetic legal approach intervenes. For this reason, conflict
of laws and foreign relations law need to be reviewed. In the United States,
the case law on alienage jurisdiction has sometimes yielded curious results
with respect to the bringing of cases by or against nationals of non-sovereign
political entities in federal court; thus: Matimak Trading Co. v. Khalily, 118
F3d 76 (2d Cir 1997), cert. denied 522 U.S. 1091 (1998) (Hong Kong,
pre-reversion; holding abrogated by JPMorgan Chase Bank v. Traffic Stream (BVI)
Infrastructure Ltd, 536 U.S. 88 (2002).
The access to U.S. courts of unrecognized states and territories and their
nationals (such as North Cyprus) remains problematic. Inhabitants of breakaway
provinces, including Transnistria and perhaps Kosovo, may face similar
difficulties to the degree that their nationality laws
recognize as citizens persons who are excluded as such under the laws of the
recognized state. Such territories also raise interesting questions of treaty
law and status with respect to international organizations, and the researcher
may wish to look at relevant data sources. Many micro-states have powerful
advocates with access to the government and legislature of a nearby, protecting
or sovereign power; the dynamics of tax-law legislation[viii]
and the international-law principle of sovereign equality[ix]
are important factors behind their viability.
The economically-active jurisdictions
covered depend on flight capital, entity hosting, trusts, shipping and tax
advantages or some combination of these for their economic survival The issues
have been extensively debated in international organizations and discussed in
the legal literature. Eight of the sovereign states reviewed here (i.e,
excluding the Holy See) are members of the Council of Europe. In addition,
because they are associated in varying degrees to the European Union, EU law
may need to be reviewed in relation to issues concerning the non-sovereign
European UK territories, plus at least Malta and Cyprus. Cyprus, Malta and
Gibraltar (and other UK dependencies) are within of the British Commonwealth[x], which can have
particular relevance to the application of UK tax and immigration law.
See the British Nationality Act 1981,
the Immigration Act 1971,
and the Immigration Act 1988;
for the history of British nationality, see Clive Parry, British
Nationality Law and the Law of Naturalisation (1954).
Luxembourg is a
member state of the European Union and is the seat of the European Court of Justice;
the Republic of Cyprus
and Malta will become
EU member states on May 1, 2004. The status of Andorra can be
found at this link. Liechtenstein and Iceland are member states of the European
Economic Area. With respect to Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican, relationships with the respective "protecting" powers
(France, Spain, Switzerland and Italy), and with the European Union, are
governed by treaties which may need to be examined; some of these treaties are
cited below. Iceland is a member of the Nordic Council. The Iceland Ministry of
Foreign Affairs has a Web page on
Icelandic cooperation with other Nordic countries.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
has a functioning body of laws and legal system, but as it is recognized de jure only by Turkey; its inhabitants
may be treated by other countries as Cypriots, Turks or stateless, depending
upon facts and circumstances in each case. Turkish law may apply for certain
transactions: the shipping, banking and financial, postal and communications
systems are integrated with those of Turkey.
Where available and relevant, the name
and URL (or street address) is provided of one or more major national law library(ies).
In addition, the laws of many (but not all) the jurisdictions are available for
consultation at major repositories of foreign law, including:
. Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, Lausanne
. Bodleian Law Library, Oxford
. Harvard University
Law Library (HOLLIS)
. Los Angeles
County Law Library
. European
Commission Library (ECLAS), Brussels
. Institute of Advanced Legal Studies,
London
. Max-Planck-Institut
for Comparative Law, Hamburg
. Law Library of Congress, Washington
. Peace Palace Library, The Hague.
. Dag Hammarskjold Library, United Nations, NY
. Center for Research Libraries, Chicago
In the United States, the Center for Research Libraries has undertaken
historical collection of foreign official gazettes (shelf code: FOG). Other
recommended sources of official gazettes are the
. Dag Hammarskjold Library (Annotated list of
holdings as of 1986: Part I; Part II)
Especially for historical legal
materials, researchers may also wish to consult:
. RLIN
. OCLC
. COPAC
. FLARE
. Bibliothèque nationale de France
Most British Library historical
holdings of official gazettes are not now reflected in the British
Library OPAC; they are recorded in card file in the Science,
Technology and Business Reading Rooms. Current issues are more likely to be
found in the UK at
. IALS
. British Library of Political & Economic Science at LSE
and
. Bodleian
also see
For non-UK European materials:
. The Swiss Institute of Comparative Law
Other comparative law sources are
listed on the Web site of the American Society of Comparative Law.
Present and former UK dependencies
. Institute of Commonwealth Studies
. Institute of Historical Research
. British Official Publications Collaborative Reader Information Service
The Council of Europe
requires its member states to provide translations and summaries of various
laws (in English or French translation), and researchers may contact the
relevant CoE office for details and, in some cases, copies of the resulting
work product. The CoE site is an important source of primary and secondary law.
Other international organizations which may be sources of legal materials are:
. WIPO
. UNHCR (including REF-WORLD, online
and, more comprehensively, on CD-ROM)
. WTO
. IBFD
. IMO may be useful sources of documentation and
bibliographic references within their respective spheres of responsibility.
. ILO's Principal Sources of
National Law
. UNIDROIT, material relating to unification of law.
The common-law jurisdictions reviewed
will follow, generally Dicey & Morris
on the Conflict of Laws, now in 13th edition (2000). However, where
European Union law, specifically the Brussels and Lugano rules, do not apply,
the common law rules last set out and annotated in the 11th edition (1987),
superseded in England, should be considered.
For civil law jurisdictions, finding
guidance is more complex in the absence of a specific statute. Such statutes
and/or treatises dealing with the subject on a national scope are included in
the descriptions of each jurisdiction. See also the paper prepared for Seminar für Internationales
Privatrecht, Wirtschaftsrecht und Verfahrensrecht (MS Word, 64
kb) including a list of statutes on page 15). Batiffol & Lagarde, Droit international privé (8th ed. 1993)
is a good starting point for researching civil-law practice generally. On
Brussels and Lugano, see Rodrigo Rodriguez, Die Revision des Brüssels und
Lugano-Übereinkommens im Kontext der Europäisierung von IPR und IZPR
(PDF, 452 kb) (2002).
See also: Hague Conference on Private International Law and
Symeon Symeonides, Private International
Law at the End of the 20th Century, Progress or Regress? (Kluwer Law/Aspen
2000)
Note
This is a preliminary compilation of
sources of the law based on personal visits to all the jurisdictions and
national libraries listed (except for Iceland and Malta), and on consultation
with law librarians. Small countries have come to appreciate that easy access
to their law is an important element of commercial prestige and recognition and
further development in collections of digital information can be expected.
While we have concentrated upon online resources, some print resources are
listed, especially for those jurisdictions that are largely ignored by many
major libraries.
European integration
. European Union, treaties and
draft constitution (consolidated versions)
. Treaty on European Union
(1992 version, with protocols)
. Werner
Schroeder, European Union and Communities
(Jean Monnet Program, Feb. 2003) (addressing the distinction and blurred
frontier between Union and Communities)
. Council
of Europe links to legal information
databases
. European
Union Mission to the U.S.A.: discussion and links, member state offshore
dependencies
. Hague Conference on Private
International Law: Cyprus and Malta are members
. European
Union EUR-LEX site
. Europa SCADPlus (summary of EU legislation,
by subject)
. European Court of Justice
site
. European law explanatory site
. European Free Trade Area site
and see
·
UC Berkeley Library, European Union Internet
Resources
. University of Exeter European
Information links
International organizations
. International Maritime Organization
. International Organization for Migration
. UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Legal databases
. Association des Cours Constitutionnelles databank
. Conference of European Constitutional Courts
. Institut français de micropatrologie - archived copy of Web page as of Aug.
26, 2004
. Intellectual property law
Internet Resources
. Netherlands Institute of Human Rights SIM
database
. Bayefsky.com: UN Human Rights Treaties
. U.S. Social Security Administration, Social Security
Programs Around the World
. Selected judgments of various international tribunals
. Transparency International (integrity in
government)
. U.S. Department of State human rights reports
. U.S. Department
of State Freedom of Information Act pages (include post
reports, Foreign Affairs Manual instructions regarding visas, availability of
birth, death, marriage, military, police and other documents).
Jus commune (droit commun, law based on Roman law, canon law, and the
interpretations of glossators and commentators and common to Europe at the
beginning of the Renaissance. Cf. common law):
. Pedro A.
Malavet, The Reception of the Jus Commune in Europe
. Société
de Législation Comparée, Pensée juridique française et harmonisation
européenne du droit (PDF 68 kb)
. Origins
in canon law: Stéphane Boiron & Franck Roumy, Chronique d'histoire du droit
canonique
A search-engine and Index to Legal Periodicals search
on "jus commune" and "ius commune" will yield other scholarly studies of the
origins of law in Andorra and San Marino and similar jurisdictions.
. Professor
A.D.E. Lewis's course outline on Western European History
is useful for topics and references.
The French Government
("Service-Public") web site contains a directory of
foreign public web sites.
Luxembourg (and since May 1, 2004
Cyprus and Malta) are member states of the European Union; Liechtenstein and
Iceland are members of the European Economic Area. Gibraltar is within the EU
for some purposes, including free movement of persons. It is not within the EU's Common Agricultural
Policy (CAP) or its customs union. This is stated in the UK Treaty of Accession (OJEC 1972 L-73/201). However, that
agreement is otherwise unclear on the subject and there is limited law on
point; so the extent that EU law on free movement of goods applies remains
arguable. The ECJ decision of Sept. 23, 2003 in case C-30/01, Commission v. UK (non-implementation of directives on
dangerous chemical substances, noise emission, packaging waste and
genetically-modified organisms) discusses the subject in some depth. On
immigration issues, see Regina v. Director of Labour
and Social Security, ex parte Amimi Mohamed, [1992] 3
C.M.L.R. 481 (Sup. Ct. Gib.; application of EEC-Morocco cooperation agreement).
A history of financial scandals including the Barlow-Clowes affair
(Regina v. Clowes, [1994] 2 All E.R.
316 (C.A. Crim.)) has called attention to the nature of financial services
regulation. The Lloyd's of London cases illustrate the
dynamics of pre-empting, out of comity, the "interests" and rules of the
investor's jurisdiction by those of the securities-issuing jurisdiction[xi]. See also the
discussion of Gibraltar's regulatory climate in Offshore News Online.
The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are subject to certain EU laws; the
extent of this is open to some debate; see:
. Department of Health and
Social Security v. Barr and Montrose Holdings Limited, [1991]
ECR I-4379
. Rui Alberto Pereira Roque v.
Lieutenant Governor of Jersey, [1998] E.C.R. I-4607
. Memorandum of law of Michael Birt, QC
Other references are listed in the
relevant country outlines, below.
With respect to EEA member states, note
particularly the acquis regarding the relationship with member states of
the EU (PDF, 256 kb) and the Lugano Convention[xii] on
jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.
Guides to finding European Union law
include
. Marylin J.
Raisch, European Union Law: An Integrated Guide to Electronic
and Print Research
. SOSIG's European Union Law
The leading print text is Trevor C.
Hartley, The Foundations of European
Community Law (4th ed. 1998).
The European Free Trade Area
is comprised of Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein; see the Web
site for details of the Secretariat, Surveillance Authority and Court, and the EFTA Court site for case reports and legal texts. The European Economic Area includes Iceland,
Norway and Liechtenstein.
Andorra, Luxembourg, Monaco, San Marino and the
Vatican (among the jurisdictions under study) are part of the European Central
Bank (euro) currency union. See:
. Legal Documents relating to
the European Central Bank
. Opinion of ECB relating to the
Vatican State (PDF, 86.9 kb)
. Monetary Agreement
between the Italian Republic, on behalf of the European Community, and the
Vatican City State and, on its behalf, the Holy See (PDF, 34.8 kb)
. Agreements on monetary
relations (Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican)
. Commission
document on euro coins issued pursuant to Council Regulations EC No
974/98 & 975/98 (PDF, 675 kb)
Malta and Cyprus, as new
member states, are required to accept the acquis
and will be required to join the zone as soon as they can qualify
macro-economically.
A search of EUR-LEX will yield a substantial number of
documents and communications on the subject, such as the written parliamentary
question of Daniel Féret, Oct. 10, 1998 (Note that the
euro is the de facto currency of the
successor states of Yugoslavia (via currency boards and euro notes in
circulation) and of the CFA and the CFP zones; and that
the euro currency provisions constitute part of the acquis[xiii]
and the new member states of the EU will be required to adopt the currency in
due course). As to the history of the European monetary system, see
. the site of
the Belgian Ministry of the French
community
. "A Balkan euro zone: still a lot of funny money", The Economist, v. 362, Jan. 10, 2002, at
p. 46
. European
Commission explanation for travelers
. "The Eastward Enlargement of the Euro Zone"
and
. other
papers published at the Free University Berlin, Jean Monnet Centre of
Excellence.
. DG II, Monetary Union: International Aspects (PDF, 72
kb) (2001)
. DG II, The Euro: Explanatory Notes (PDF, 311
kb) (2001)
. Karis
Muller, "European Monetary Union in
Africa" (PDF, 110 kb)
. EC Treaty: Protocol No. 13 (French
prerogative in monetary matters relating to its overseas territories)
All the jurisdictions considered except
North Cyprus and the Vatican are member states (or subordinate entities of
member states) of the Council of Europe; certain European Court
of Human Rights cases (see below) have treated Turkey (a signatory state) as
responsible for some acts of the North Cyprus administration. The CoE site
includes a searchable database of the case law of the European Court of Human
Rights.
Much of the attractiveness of the
micro-states derives from their tax position. The importance of tax law and
policy to the European micro-states is apparent from the European Union policy
statements; thus, an article by EU Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, published
Feb. 14, 2003, "Tax reforms and European and
international co-ordination of taxation: the main issues", and the
2001 report from the Commission to the Council, "Tax Policy in the European Union: Priorities for the years ahead". The challenge for the micro-states is
that their economic viability may depend upon their ability to serve as safe
havens and secure "vectors" for capital. Online tax law
resources (fee based; but larger university law libraries are likely to
subscribe to one or more) include:
. International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation
. IBFD European Taxation
Database
. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
. CCH
. Cabinets
Fontaneau, Tax laws, treaties and materials
. Duncan
Campbell, "Havens that have become a tax
on the world's poor", The
Guardian, Sept. 21, 2004, p. 14
Although the US Treasury has seemingly retreated from
its prior support of the OECD project against tax
havens[xiv], the OECD
has continued its project with European Union support, and its archives may be
a source of useful material. The US and UK tax authorities are no less active
in the pursuit of holders of unreported offshore accounts:
. "Now Inland Revenue is Getting Serious", Daily Telegraph, Nov. 17, 2003.
. Thomas
Perrot, "Comment: EC Draft Directive on the Taxation of Savings: Still a Long
(and Bumpy) Road Ahead", 9 Colum. J. Eur.
L. 475 (2003)
Tax havens remain a means of reducing
corporate and trust taxation, however, subject to rules relating to "shadow
directors" (effective control); see
. R. v. Dimsey, [2001]
U.K.H.L. 46
. R. v. Allen, [2001]
U.K.H.L. 45.
. R. v. Inland Revenue Comm'rs,
ex parte Lorimer, [2000] S.T.C. 751 (beneficial ownership and
legal privilege)
Conflict in tax matters with
micro-states, and offshore jurisdictions generally, may result not only from
contrived jurisdiction through as trusts and legal entities but from facts, and
occasionally doubt, in matters of domicile, residence, ordinary residence,
habitual residence and nationality. Dual residence may give rise to anomalies
as well: Caron v. The Queen,
Docket No. 95-4210-IT-I (Can. Tax. Ct. 1998) (French and Canadian residence;
taxpayer employed in France, family resident in Quebec).
On the matter of offshore incorporation
of trading entities (corporate inversions, expatriation) as a tax sparing
measure, see:
. CRS
Report for Congress, "Firms that incorporate abroad
for tax purposes: corporate 'inversions' and 'expatriation'" (PDF,
75 kb) (June 18, 2003)
. Treasury
Dept. Office of Tax Policy, "Corporate Inversion
Transactions: Tax Policy Implications" (May 17, 2002)
. Samuel
C. Johnson, Jr., "Treasury's Inversion Study
Misses the Mark: Congress Should Shut Down Inversions Immediately"
(submission to House Ways and Means Committee, July 2002)
. Michael
Gillard and Ben Laurance, "Desmond's tax trail leads to
island haven", FT.com, Dec. 2, 2003
. GAO, Internal Revenue Service: Challenges Remain in
Combating Abusive Tax Schemes, Report GAO-04-50, November 19,
2003 (PDF, 356 kb)
. GAO, "Information on Federal Contractors That Are
Incorporated Offshore", Report GAO-03-194R (PDF, 104 kb).
As the New Zealand Winebox case showed (in that case in
connection with the Cook Islands) it is not unknown for a foreign sovereign
government to be complicit in a tax evasion scheme:
. Controller and Auditor-General
v. Davison, [1996] 2 N.Z.L.R. 278
. Controller and Auditor-General v. Davison,
[1996] N.Z.A.R. 145
. Peters v. Davison, [1998] N.Z.A.R. 309
. Peters v. Davison,
[1999] 2 N.Z.L.R. 164
. Peters v. Davison,
[1999] 3 N.Z.L.R. 744.
. Michael
Byers, Introductory Note, 36 I.L.M. 721
(1997)
There is a general concern and distrust
in relation to offshore jurisdictions where bank secrecy and lack of
surveillance make tracing of funds difficult and facilitates not only tax
evasion but organized crime; the essence of money laundering. See Jack A. Blum
et al., Financial Havens, Bank Secrecy
and Money Laundering, United Nations Global Programme Against
Money Laundering, Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (1998?) (PDF,
556 kb).
There is also a substantial economic
literature on tax evasion and tax competition, e.g., Eckhard Janeba and
Wolfgang Peters, "Tax Evasion, Tax Competition and the Gains from
Nondiscrimination: The Case of Interest Taxation in Europe" 109 Econ. J. 93 (1999) (PDF, 383 kb). Two
bibliographic and work-in-progress databases for law-and-economics generally
are:
. University of Connecticut RePEc
. University of Pittsburgh JURIST
Readers with an interest in tax matters
may wish to research the Internal Revenue Service
site concerning the Qualified Intermediary requirements for overseas financial
institutions.
Print resources, some also available
online
. Tax Laws of the World (also
partly online for subscribers)
. European Taxation published by the IBFD
and also indexed online through Dow Jones and Westlaw (as EUROTAX)
. Thomas
Azzara, Tax Havens of the World
. Juris-classeur de droit
fiscal international (Paris: Editions
Techniques, loose-leaf, 1962- )
. International
Bureau of Fiscal Documentation, loose-leaf series on taxation of corporations,
companies and "patents, royalties, dividends and interest" in Europe
. Jean
Schaffner, Droit fiscal international,
Editions Promoculture, Luxembourg
A number of private firms and
organizations offer tax data, although the reader will need to judge for him-
or herself the reliability of the information provider:
. International Tax
Planning Association
. Lowtax.net and Tax-news.com
. Tax and Accounting Sites Directory
. Confédération fiscale
européenne
Additional sources
. The Bora Laskin Law Library,
University of Toronto, has a page of law-related Internet tax
sources.
. World Trade Organization (Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Malta are members)
Shipping and open registries (flags of
convenience)
. UN Convention on the Law of
the Sea (Dec. 10, 1982)
. International Transport Workers Federation
. European
Parliament document on flags of convenience in the
fisheries sector (PDF, 22.7 kb)
. U.S.
Department of State: G-8 Action Plan on marine
environment and tanker safety
. European Union legislative
summary
. FAO "Rome Declaration"
(March 1999)
A few private organizations are
concerned with policy matters in relation to the states under review or with
democracy or anti-corruption generally; an Internet search under "micro-states", "microstates" and "mini-states" should
yield additional hits.
. Global Policy Forum,
New York
. Transparency International (2003 Report
discusses, among countries covered here, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg)
. Council on Foreign Relations (Note particularly the report of
a 2001 conference on economics and democracy; albeit mostly
unrated, it is interesting to note the micro-states in context)
A list of real and imagined
micro-states has been developed by Fabrice O'Driscoll. The most
prominent of these in case law and law review articles has been Sealand:
. In re Duchy of Sealand, case 9K2565/77, Admin.
Court of Cologne, May 3, 1978, DVBl.,
1978, p. 510, Fontes Iuris Gentium,
Ser. A, sect. II, Tom. 8, 1976-80, p. 312, 80 I.L.R. 683
. Frank B.
Arenas, "Cyberspace Jurisdiction and the Implications of Sealand", 88 Iowa L. Rev. 1165 (2003)
. Trevor A.
Dennis, "The Principality of Sealand: Nation Building by
Individuals", 10 Tulsa J, Comp
& Intl'l L. 261 (2002) (includes many references on sovereignty,
non-recognition, international law)
. Samuel
Pyeatt Menafee, "'Republics of the Reefs', Nation-Building on the Continental
Shelf and in the World's Oceans', 25 Cal.
W. Int. L.J. 81 (1994)
. Simson
Garfinkel, "Welcome to Sealand. Now Bugger
Off", Wired, July 2000
Some of the matters raised by Sealand are familiar to those who know
the history of Radio Caroline, now
updated by new developments in intellectual property, communications and data
storage and handling. The question of micro-states is considered generally in
Jorri C. Duursma's book Fragmentation and the
International Relations of Micro-states (Cambridge University Press 1996;
reviewed at 9 Eur. J. Int'l L. 763 (1998)
and 12 Am. U. J. Int'l J.L. & Pol'y
629 (1997)). It is extensively discussed in books such as James Crawford, The Creation of New States (1979) and
Thomas D. Grant, The Recognition of
States: Law and Practice in Debate and Evolution (1999), and in many law
review articles. A brief summary of the issues appears on the Swiss Government web
site. The economic aspect is discussed in Armstrong & Reed, "Western
European micro-states and EU autonomous regions: the advantages of size and
sovereignty", 23 World Devel. 1229 (1995)[xv].
A Web search on "offshore" will yield,
in addition to the inevitable scams and tax-evasion schemes, a number of hints
for further research on company, LLC, trust and tax law. The OECD and the
European Union in particular have undertaken to pressure these micro-states,
and other jurisdictions which they consider to be tax havens and
money-laundering venues, to tighten their laws and to cooperate in providing
banking information to foreign law-enforcement agencies. (Compare the issue of
tax competition within the EU, European Parliament, Working
Paper ECON-105 EN, including especially Luxembourg; and see Akiko
Hishikawa, "The Death of Tax Havens?",
15 B.C. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 389 (2002).)
(in random
order)
. Squire Law Library's
electronic research guide for foreign law
. Saarbrücken
Legal Resources in Europe
. SOSIG's European law
. Exeter University, European private law
homepage
. GLIN, the Library of Congress-supported
database. The search facility and summaries of laws are freely accessible;
access to the full text of laws is restricted to participating and sponsoring
organizations and governments.
. Timothy
Mulligan & Chenglin Liu (University of Houston Law Library) Foreign Primary Law on the Web
. Washington
University School of Law Library, Foreign and International Law Guide
. Mirela
Roznovschi, NYU Law Library, LLRX Guide to European Legal Databases
. Mirela
Roznovschi, Guide to Foreign and International Legal Databases
. Lyonette
Louis-Jacques, University of Chicago Law Library, Legal Research on
International Issues Using the Internet
. Duke
University, Research Guide to Foreign and
Comparative Law
. Law Library
of Congress, Nations of the World and their online
sources of law
. The
Maritime Law Association of the United States, Web Links to sources of admiralty and
maritime law
. PUBLIST Internet Directory of Publications
has an online list of sources of information about print and electronic
publications relating to transnational and international law
. Marci
Hoffman, Revised Guide to International Trade Law Sources on the Internet
(2002)
. Pace
University CISG Database, Related Links
Cases of foreign and international
interest may be reported in the International
Law Reports. Llrx.com has a number of research guides, both by country and
by subject. (Because of the short life span of Web pages, readers confronted
with a "404 Not Found" message or an obsolete page should run a search engine
query using appropriate key words.)
Print compilations of law and doctrine
include:
. Commercial Laws of the World
("Published for members of the Foreign Tax Law Association" (Ormond Beach, FL)
. International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law (by
subject and by jurisdiction) (Kluwer), scholarly in approach, available in most
major university law libraries
. Trademark Practice
Throughout the World (Intellectual Property Library)
. B. Singer, Trade Mark
Laws of the World and Unfair Trade (1997)
. Martindale-Hubbell Law Digest
Constitutions
Nationality
Arbitration Law: KluwerArbitration.com
Banking Laws
. World Bank/IMF (none of the jurisdictions under review is
included in the database as of the date of writing)
. New York University Center for
the Study of Central Banks
Insurance Law: see European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law and the EU insurance directives,
which have been influential throughout Europe, well beyond EU frontiers. (See
also the EU report on the
status of implementation in accession countries including Cyprus and Malta
(PDF, 62 kb).)
The Bora Laskin Law Library and SOSIG have links to
other legal sites, by topic. Also see Leuven Centre for a Common Law of Europe.
The Jacob Burns Law Library at George Washington University has an Annotated Guide to Selected
International/Foreign Law Internet Resources (PDF, 216 kb) that
lists numerous links to foreign laws collected by topic. (Tip: if accessed as a
Google cache file,
the links within the GWU document become active and may be clicked on to reach
the desired URL.)
A number of private sites collect laws and links to
statutes on women's rights, same-sex partnership, gaming, sports and hobbies of
various kinds, the environment, animal welfare and other interest groups. These
can be found with any search engine.
There may be problems in displaying, transcribing and
printing Icelandic text with non-Icelandic Macs (especially), PCs, word
processors and browsers. Most PCs include modern (but not multi-diacritical (PDF 87.7 kb)) Greek,
Cyrillic, Turkish and Slavic fonts. Most Macs, except those sold in the
relevant country, do not. As for Icelandic, specifically the letters Đ, ð
(eth) and Þ, þ (thorn) in upper and lower case, see:
. Georgetown University: Old
English font page HTML document character set
. Thorn and eth: how to get them
right
Modern laws published or reprinted in Greece and
Cyprus use modern fonts; when
photoprinted from pre-1980s official gazettes, however, they will be in old
fonts and occasionally isolated old characters appear in modern transcriptions
of or citations to old laws. Neither PCs nor Macs will display or print the "lightning bolt" koppa, used, for example, on
one occasion in the Greek nationality code in referring to a prior law. This
can be dealt with, if crudely, by a workaround: inserting a drawn or copied
mini-picture at the character's location in a document or Web page. Another
workaround is to transmit files that must be read in a multi-platform
environment as a PDF file with fonts
embedded using Acrobat Distiller.
Some versions of Microsoft Office
have this capability. Adobe offers a help file for WordPerfect users. The University of Virginia offers a help page
of instructions (ACHS-212, PDF, 399 kb) for creating
PDF files.
(in alphabetical order;
United Kingdom jurisdictions are listed together last)
Our visits to national
and parliamentary libraries in the jurisdictions under review, substantive
research and extensive Web and OPAC searches yielded the sources shown below,
by country and territory.
The Andorra Constitution is online at several
locations in English translation.
The primary source of law is the official gazette, Butlletí Oficial del Principat
d'Andorra, published by Butlletí Oficial, Av. Santa Coloma, 91,
Andorra la Vella, Tel. +376 861 400, Fax +376 864 300. The official gazette is available online. Since
1995 it has also been published and sold in CD-ROM format.
It and other Andorran legal resources can be consulted
at the Biblioteca Nacional in Andorra la Vella. While
not legally trained, the staff is helpful and multi-lingual. Researchers might
also consult the law library at the University of Barcelona. A search on the Catálogo colectivo de las universidades de Cataluña
under various permutations of "Andorra" and "dret" or "derecho" yielded a
number of works, particularly on constitutional law. For collections from a
French perspective, the researcher might search (under "Andorre" and "droit")
on the OPAC of one of the major French university collections, such as SCD Paris X Nanterre,
or the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Except for
treaty documents Andorran legal materials are almost entirely drafted in Catalan.
Catalan (i.e., Andorran customary) law: codification, Compilación del derecho civil especial de
Cataluña, Law 40/1960 of July 21, 1960 (1960
Boletín oficial del estado 10,215);
and see, regarding inheritance and succession, Tarragona i Coromina, Miquel,
com. art. 123, in Lluís Jou Mirabent (ed.), Comentarios
al Código de Sucesiones de Cataluña, v. I, & Disposición transitoria, art. 3 of Law
40/1960, v. II (1994)
As for the Andorran court system, Reynolds and Flores
(Foreign Law Guide) implicitly
underline the frailty of Andorran sovereignty and the democratic deficit: "Just
as legislative and governmental power in Andorra is bifurcated, so is the court
system. One of the courts is a local court of first instance known as the
Batlle (apparently derived from the same root as the English bailiff), whose
judges are nominated by both co-princes (the litigants may choose either the
French or episcopal court). The same judges also sit in Andorra in an appellate
capacity. Final appeals are either to the Tribunal Superieur de Perpignan in France,
a chamber of the Tribunal de Grand Instance de Perpignan, where French judges
interpret and apply Andorran law, or to the clerical counterpart in Urgell, the
Tribunal Superior de la Mitra para el Principado de Andorra. Criminal matters
are handled locally by the Corts, constituted as the two veguers and other
elected judges." This is discussed in the European Court of Human Rights case Drozd and Janousek v. France
and Spain, (1992, A/240) 14 E.H.R.R. 745 (1992) or WORLDLII summary.
The nature of the legal system, encompassing French Napoleonic and Spanish
clerical, arguably Canonic, law, means that the philosophic and juristic
understanding of the lawyer may play a greater role than black-letter law in
the outcome of litigation. The outcome of the current European Court of Human
Rights case, Pla and Puncernau v. Andorra
(application No. 69498/01) may bring this little-understood quality of Andorran
law to outside scrutiny.
Treaty references:
. Provisions for circulation and establishment
among France, Spain and Andorra
. French National Assembly
report
. Decision No. 1/2003
of the EC-Andorra Joint Committee of Sept. 3, 2003 relating to the customs
union (PDF, 196 kb)
Private international law
. Ramón
Viñas Farré, Dret Internacional Prviat
del Principat d'Andorra (Marcial Pons 2002)
Human Rights
. Human Rights Internet
(Canada) report
. State Department Human Rights
Report on Andorra (2003) (for
later reports, check the State Department Human Rights Country Reports page)
. Central and Eastern European
Internet Directory for Human Rights, Treaty ratification status for
Andorra
. Council of Europe report by
Alvaro Gil-Robles (PDF, 38 kb) (2001)
Online sources (in approximate order of relevance)
include:
. Consell General Principat
d'Andorra (the two co-princes are the Prefect of the Departement des
Pyrenées Orientales in Perpignan and the Vicar General of the Diocese of Urgell
in Cataluñia)
. Andorra Embassy in Brussels "The Andorran
Institutions"
. Banc Internacional d'Andorra
. Directory of government offices (as of 2001,
courtesy of Gunnar Anzinger)
. Transport and other issues
Compilations and translations include:
. Recopilació:
ordinacions, decrets, acords, avisos, lleis, reglaments del M.I. Consell
General, M.I. Govern, I Jurisprudència de les M.I. Delegacions Permanents,
1866-1988, Andorra Govern, Conselleria de Serveis Públics
. Manuel Digest, Antoni Fiter i Rossell
(1987), Consell General de les Valls d'Andorra
(transcription of volume first published in 1748)
. J. Bartemeu i Cassany (ed.), L'Estat Andorra. Recull de textos
legislatius i constitucionals d'Andorra.(Andorra, Casal i Vall, 1977)
. N. Marqués (ed.), Lleis y resolucions dels Coprínceps i del
seus Delegats, 1900-1979.(Andorra, Casal i Vall, 1979)
. A. Sabater i Tomás, Legislació civil (Andorra la Vella,
Erosa, 1981)
. A. Sabater i Tomás, Legislació penal (Andorra la Vella,
Erosa, 1982)
. A. Sabater i Tomás (ed.), Estudios recopilados de legislación y
jurisprudencia correspondientes al derecho civil del principado de Andorra
(Barcelona, Colegio de Notarios de Barcelona, 1986)
Compilations of court decisions with commentary:
. Tribunal
Constitucional, Secretaria General, Jurisprudència
Constitucional, series, Edita: Tribunal Constitucional del Principat
d'Andorra, Impremta Solber
. C. Obiols i Taberner, Jurisprudéncia civil andorrana: Jutjat
d'apellaciones, 1945-1966. (Andorra, Casal i Vall, 1969)
. Paul Ourliac. La jurisprudence civile d'Andorre: arrêts du
tribunal supérieur de Perpiganan, 1947-1970, (Andorra, Ed. Casal i Vall, 1972) (found, among other
sites, in the New York University Law Library)
Secondary sources and analytical works, mostly dated:
.
J. Anglada Vilardebo, "Andorra"
(1970), International Encyclopedia of
Comparative Law. Vol. I, "National reports," sect. A
.
A.H. Angelo, "Andorra: Introduction
to a Customary Legal System." 14 American
Journal of Legal History 95 (1970)
.
Antoni Fiter i Rossel, Manual digest de las Valls neutras de
Andorra (1748)
. J.A. Brutails, La coutume d'Andorre (Paris, Leroux,
1904).
. P. Raton, Le statut juridique de l'Andorre (Andorra la Vella, Casa de la
Vall, 1984)
. R. Viñas Farré, "Regimen de
la nacionalidad y de la extranjera en el derecho andorrano" in Andorra en el ambito jurídico europeo. (Madrid,
M. Pons, 1996)
. Asociacion Española de
Profesores de Derecho Internacional y Relaciones Internacionales. Jornadas
16es: 1995, Andorra, Andorra en el ámbito
jurídico europeo: XVI Jornadas de la Asociación Española de Profesores de
Derecho Internacional y Relaciones Internacionales : Principado de Andorra,
21-23 de septiembre de 1995 (Andorra: Jefatura del Estado Andorrano. Copríncipe Episcopal, Madrid: Marcial
Pons, 1996)
The reader should be aware that there have been
significant constitutional changes since the 1970s in Andorra as in other
European, and especially smaller European, jurisdictions. Council of Europe and
European Union influences have been very significant. See especially the European Treaty Series; the CoE Web site allows
users to view all treaties acceded to by a specific member state, or to view
the ratification status of any particular treaty.
The Library of Congress Law Library site has an Andorra page, but as of the time of
writing it adds little to what is written here. The German-language "Andorra-intern"
Bibliographie-Recht collects news reports and texts on legal,
economic and political issues.
For those corresponding with Andorran publishers and
government offices, it may be useful to note that Andorra has no postal service
of its own; postal facilities are provided equally by the French and the
Spanish postal services. As a practical matter, correspondence may be in
Catalan (official language), Spanish or French. The University of Laval (Quebec) site
discusses the language issues (in French). Basque (Euskadi) is
a minority language. See PEN and the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages for language policy
issues, and Anne West, Ann Edge and Eleanor Stokes, Examination and assessment of
data on foreign language learning (in vocational education and
training in the EU) (MS Word, 730 kb) (May 2000).
The status and the law of the Republic
of Cyprus are governed, in principle, by the Constitution of 1959,
(HMSO, London, Cmnd. 1093) and the Treaty of Establishment of Aug. 16, 1960
(382 UNTS 8, No. 5476). Hellenic Resources Network
has a Web page of documents relating to Cypriot constitutional issues.
Constitutional protections were to be granted to the two separate
linguistic/cultural/religious communities, and personal status of individuals
would depend upon their affiliation to one or the other. This was a
continuation of Ottoman law[xvi]
and colonial practice. Following independence laws were to be published in the
Greek and Turkish official languages. In fact, the inter-Communal strife and
the de facto division of the island
led to anomalies of law, municipal and international, that are beyond the scope
of this paper. However, laws and court decisions from the mid-1970s were no
longer published in either English or Turkish, but in Greek only. A complete
collection of Cyprus laws and regulations (official gazettes, published
documents, case law, law reviews, and other secondary sources) is at the Cyprus Library
(Kypriake Vivliotheke), Eleftherias Square, Nicosia, at the National Parliamentary Library,
and at the Bodleian Law Library.
(The Milli Arsiv in Kyrenia contains much of the same materials, at least
through the mid 1970s.) The University of Cyprus library
has a Web site.
Until 1974, most Cyprus laws and a
considerable number of case reports and secondary sources were published in
English. That is no longer the case. Unofficial English translations of
statutes may be available from the Ministry of Justice in Nicosia. Some commercial, intellectual property,
shipping, and tax laws have been summarized, translated
or published privately. The Web site of the law office of Dr. K. Chrysostomides & Co. has pages
of introductory materials on a number of legal subjects. Lawandtax-news.com
offers a "non-exhaustive list of the main Cyprus statutes affecting offshore
business" with English-language summaries.
The British Sovereign Base Areas
of Akrotiri and Dhekelia[xvii]
(98 square miles total area) retained special status,and British personnel were
and are governed by legislative acts specific to those areas. British control
of the area was fixed under Appendix A (PDF,
68.3 kb) of the Treaty Concerning the Establishment of the Republic of Cyprus.
See the Privy Council site
for its jurisdiction to hear appeals from those areas, and the Cyprus Government
site regarding their future status in relation to European Union accession. See
below regarding the British Sovereign Base Areas, and see the Declaration of H.M. Government
on its law-making policy (Appendix O of the
Constitution).
Statutes available online in English:
. Cyprus Act 1960 (UK)
. Cyprus nationality law (PDF, 36 kb)
See also:
. Descriptive notes on shipping law
Laws of the British Sovereign Base
Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (statutory instruments):
. Merchant
Shipping (Oil Pollution) (Sovereign Base Areas) (Amendment) Order 1998, SI 1068
. Merchant
Shipping (Oil Pollution) (Sovereign Base Areas) Order 1997, SI 2587
. Arms Control
and Disarmament (Inspections) (Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia)
Order 1991, 1991 No 2290
. Merchant
Shipping Act 1979 (Sovereign Base Areas) Order 1980, SI 1518
. Evidence
(Proceedings in Other Jurisdictions) (Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and
Dhekelia) Order 1978, SI 1920
. Extradition
(Sovereign Base Area of Akrotiri and Dhekelia) Order in Council 1970, SI 818
(Repealed or expired)
. Fugitive
Offenders (Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia) Order 1967, SI 1916
(Repealed by SI 2002/1823, art 3(1), Sch 5)
. Sovereign
Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (Boundaries) Order in Council 1962, SI 396
. Visiting
Forces (Designation) (Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia) Order
1962, SI 1639
. Sovereign
Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (Appeals to Privy Council) Order in Council
1961, SI 59
. Sovereign Base Areas of
Akrotiri and Dhekelia Order in Council, 1960, (spent, not in force)
Print collections:
. Laws of the
Sovereign Base Areas
. Sovereign
Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia Gazette
(at LSE, Bodleian and Trinity College
Dublin)
Military and treaty law may be
applicable to the status of UNFICYP, the UN
Forces monitoring the Green Line. Diplomats accredited to the Republic of
Cyprus are granted pragmatic and expedient status in North Cyprus (where a
number of missions maintain satellite offices) and may cross the border at will.
The official source for primary law is
the Ep'isemi Ephimer'ida tes Kypriak'es Demokrat'ias[xviii]
(Official Gazette of the Republic of Cyprus), published by Printing Office of
the Republic of Cyprus, Nicosia, Tel. +357 22302202. Until 1960, a
semi-official translation of the Official Gazette was produced (mimeograph) by
the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Copies of these old gazettes are
included in the materials of the former FCO library now on deposit at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies,
London. Some historical materials may be found at the School of Oriental and African Studies,
London, the British Library, and the Public Record Office, Kew. More recent
materials are on deposit in the Bodleian Law Library.
A Cypriot firm, InfoScreen Cyprus Ltd., announced publication
of Cyprus statutes in Greek on CD-ROM. Cyprus Legal Portal
advertises online access to statutes and cases. Neither firm has replied to
queries by this author regarding pricing and conditions of access.
Some informal legal information may be available
online at Kypros.org and Christophi & Seraphim (under reorganization at the time of
researching this article). A "Legal Guide for Cyprus" (PDF, 64.8 kb) is
available from the site of the Chr. Chrysanthou & Associates firm, but like
most of what is available gratis on Cyprus, it is probably inadequate to the
needs of the serious legal researcher, except as a very first introduction to
the subject. From the standpoint of this writer, it is one of the tragedies of
the Cyprus conflict that the two legal systems that have established themselves
since 1974 have grown provincial, inward-looking and non-transparent. Access is
further hindered by linguistic and orthographic facts and the absence of
published translations of laws into world languages, something that may be
said, too, of Greece and Turkey.
The U.S. State Department site has a page on
judicial assistance in Cyprus.
In addition to the sites linked here
and in the TRNC section below, Greek and Turkish government sites contain
documentation and treaties, as well as substantial polemic. See also relevant
parts of Foreign Relations of the
United States, 1958-1960, on the U.S. Department of State Web
site, and documents collected online for the Avalon Project at
Yale University.
The Cyprus Stock Exchange
site discusses the financial services regulatory scheme.
Some statutes have been collected in
the form of codes and some have been translated. Among those codes and
collections included in common bibliographies:
. Civil Code
. Code of
Civil Procedure Peri politikes dikonomias
nomos. Law 11 of 1965. Reprinted and translated, as of 1986, by Hyperesia
Anatheoreseo Kai Henopoieseos tes Kypriakes Nomothesias (Services for Revision
and Consolidation of the Cyprus Legislation in Nicosia), 1986.
. Commercial
Code
. Criminal
Code (Chapter 154, Statute laws of Cyprus)
. Code of
Criminal Procedure, Peri poinikes
dikonomias nomos
. Criminal
procedure law, Chapter 155
. Cyprus
merchant shipping legislation (English translation of the main Cyprus merchant
shipping laws consolidated up to 30 April 1996)
Statute laws of Cyprus
Statutes that have not been
consolidated into Codes may be unwieldy due to multiple amendments, especially
for the reader not fluent in Greek. Pre-independence statutes are in The Statute Laws of Cyprus: In Force on the
1st Day of April, 1959. In the author's experience, English translations of
at least some and perhaps most current laws may be obtained from the Ministry
of Justice in Nicosia. The author has used a Cyprus secretarial service (see Cyprus Yellow Pages)
to transcribe into modern (post 1982) Greek orthography[xix] Cypriot
statute law from copies of the official gazette.
Unfortunately, official translation of
the general body of Cypriot law into Turkish (and perhaps English), while
envisaged by the Treaty of Guarantee of Aug. 16, 1960 and Constitution, has
fallen victim to politics and demographic reality. The text of Cyprus treaties
and diplomatic correspondence can be found on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site. Some good sources for
generating a current bibliography would be the OPACs of the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, the United Nations Library at Geneva, and the Bodleian Law Library. On linguistic and
demographic issues, see the University of Laval site. Both the
political and the linguistic environments are changing, however, with EU
accession. One cannot know the content of diplomatic talks, but the opening of
the Green Line, the new access of Turkish Cypriots to employment in the South
and a sudden interest in Turkish language study there hold promise. See:
. Hellenic Resources Network, archived articles
from Oct. 1997 through July 2003
The Greek point of view (see below for
the Turkish) on international- and constitutional-law questions is stated in:
Kypros Chrysostomidis, The Republic of
Cyprus: a Study in International Law (Kluwer Law International, 2000). On a
proposed confederal solution, see Nanette Neuwahl, Cyprus, Which Way? - In
Pursuit of a Confederal Solution in Europe, Harvard Jean Monnet
Working Paper 4/00 (2000). For an examination of the respective roles of Greece
and Turkey in prolonging the dispute through the EU accession process, see
Neophytos G. Loizides, "Greek-Turkish Dilemmas and the
Cyprus EU Accession Process" (PDF, 290 kb).
Case Reports: Reynolds and Flores list the historical
Cyprus Law Reports, published in English and local language until independence.
The Necatigil book (below) describes the forcible removal of non-Greek
jurists from the court system, which thereafter largely ceased to operate in
English and Turkish. IALS
London holds:
. Cyprus Law
Reports, vol. 1 (1883 to 1890) - vol. 24
(1959-1960)
. Epitheorese kupriakou dikaiou = Cyprus
Law Review (last issue received at IALS and Bodleian libraries, 1996).
. Cyprus law
reports and monthly publication of judgments of the Supreme Court of Cyprus,
1956-1976, Panayiotis Kallis, ed.
These apparently came from the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office library when it was disbanded some years ago. Because
IALS does not normally collect materials in non-Roman alphabets, later
materials will be found in the Bodleian Library.
The Bodleian and ISDC have, in
addition:
. Cyprus
law reports: cases decided by the Supreme Court, Anotaton Dikasterion,
1969-1989
ECHR cases:
. Serghides and Christoforou v.
Cyprus (MS Word, 138 kb), No.44730/98, Nov. 5, 2002, (2003) 37
E.H.R.R. 44
. Louka v. Cyprus
(MS Word, 72 kb), No. 42946/98, Aug. 2, 2000 (HTML version)
. Egmez v. Cyprus
(MS Word, 180 kb), No. 30873/96, Dec. 21, 2000, (1998) 25 E.H.R.R. 491 (HTML version)
. Larkos v. Cyprus
(MS Word, 123 kb), No. 29515/95, Feb. 18, 1999, (2000) 30 E.H.R.R. 597
. Andronicou and Constantinou v.
Cyprus (MS Word, 306 kb), No. 25052/94, Oct. 9, 1997, (1998) 25
E.H.R.R. 491
. Marangos v. Cyprus
(MS Word, 83 kb), No. 31106/96, May 20, 1997, (1997) 23 E.H.R.R. CD192
. Mavronichis v. Cyprus
(MS Word, 116 kb), No. 28054/95, Apr. 27, 1998, (2001) 31 E.H.R.R. 54
. Modinos v. Cyprus,
No. 15070/89, Ser. A,
No. 259, Apr. 22, 1993, (1993) 16 E.H.R.R. 485 (HTML)
For
a general survey: Andreas Neocleous & Co., Introduction to Cyprus Law, Center for International Legal Studies
(Yorkhill Law Publishing, 2000). A recent historical review of post-war human
rights and British decolonization with extensive treatment of Cyprus is Prof.
A.W. Brian Simpson's Human Rights and the End of Empire
(review, PDF, 14 kb) (OUP, 2001).
While unrecognized internationally
except by Turkey, the international community has taken a pragmatic approach
administratively to the division of the island. Researchers who review (for
example via Google) the hysterical
writings in newsgroups might have despaired of peaceful coexistence ever again
occurring and wonder how soon reunification in
democratic conditions under the internationally-recognized Cyprus government is
likely to occur. Yet, with the recent opening of the Green Line, peaceful
encounters have proved possible, and reconciliation may be in sight. Whatever
the position of foreign and international tribunals with respects to claims
(mostly by ethnic Greeks for lost property) the existence of an economy, a
polity and a legal system argues for a pragmatic approach to the jurisdiction,
at least in matters of librarianship and comparative law.
The status of the TRNC, as well as its
inhabitants -- nationals[xx],
ressortissants[xxi],
belongers[xxii] and
migrants from mainland Turkey -- and TRNC legal acts have been the subject of a
number of important foreign and international legal cases concerning taxes,
nationality, refugee status and insolvency that researchers concerned with
matters relating to persons, property and transactions in the North of the
Island may need to consult. These include:
. R. v. Minister of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food, ex parte S P Anastasiou (Pissouri) Ltd
[2001] U.K.H.L. 71; earlier hearing on referral to the ECJ, [1999] 3 C.M.L.R. 469;
European Court of Justice
decision at [1994] E.C.R. I-3087.
. Loizidou v. Turkey, ECHR, No.
15318/89, 1998-IV, July 27, 1998 (MS Word, 133 kb), (1998) 26 E.H.R.R. CD5, Nov. 28, 1996, (1997) 23 E.H.R.R. 513, Feb. 23, 1995, (1995) 20 E.H.R.R. 99; Cyprus Government summary of case at Press and Information Office
site
. Cyprus v. Turkey (MS Word,
658 kb), ECHR, No. 25781/94, May 10, 2001, (2002) 35 E.H.R.R. 30 and three
prior ECHR judgments: No. 2581/94 (1997),
(1997) 23 E.H.R.R. 244; No. 8007/77 (Oct.
4, 1983), (1993) 15 E.H.R.R. 509; Nos. 6780/74 and 6950/75 (July 10, 1976),
(1982) 4 E.H.R.R. 482.
. Caglar v. Billingham
(Inspector of Taxes), [1996] S.T.C. (S.C.D.) 150, [1996] 1
L.R.C. 526, discussed at 92 Am. J. Int'l L. 305 (1998) and in David
Turns, "Statutory Construction and 'Basic Public Policy' in Foreign Relations:
Tax Exemption for 'Official Agents' of an Unrecognised State in the United
Kingdom", 22 Liverpool L. Rev. 253
(1998)
. Autocephalous Greek-Orthodox Church of Cyprus v.
Goldberg and Feldman Fine Arts, Inc., 917 F.2d 278 (7th
Cir. 1990), aff'g 717 F.Supp. 1374
(S.D.Ind.1989) (standing of the recognised sovereign to claim property
purloined from church in the territory of the unrecognized government in North
Cyprus)
. Re Polly Peck International plc
(in administration) (No 2), [1998] 3 All E.R. 812,
[1998] 2 B.C.L.C. 185 (C.A.); numerous other proceedings concerning Asil Nadir
and the English firm he founded can be found on Lexis and Westlaw UK. A Google
or Nexis search on "Asil Nadir" will provide background.
(The Caglar case, by implication, underlines the problem of status of
the inhabitants of Northern Cyprus, immigrants from Turkey and their
descendants, who have no status as Cypriots under the laws of the Republic of
Cyprus. This is an issue that will need to be settled upon reunification, and
one that can create choice-of-law anomalies in cases that reach courts abroad.)
One must mention, if only in order to
dismiss, Reynolds and Flores gratuitous (because unsupported) assertion that
"[a]s far as can be discerned, most of the legislation being applied to or in
the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus originates in Ankara." The function of
this article, as should be that of any work intended for law librarians and
researchers, is not to put forward or support any particular ethnic or political
agenda but to provide guidance on finding the law that rules lives and commerce
and to point to legal rulings by others. The TRNC has a functioning
legislature, and this author has met and corresponded professionally with some
of its parliamentarians and law librarians. It has a multitude of political
parties and holds democratic elections.[xxiii]
The notion of refusing recognition to status created by unrecognized states
despite social realities and notwithstanding personal hardship, has been
several times before the English courts. Adams v. Adams[xxiv],
in refusing recognition to a divorce pronounced by an unrecognized judge in a
court of an unrecognized state, pushed the principle to absurdity. The
non-recognition of governmental acts relating to status is no longer so
strictly maintained as in Adams[xxv]
and the jurisdictional point has been rendered largely moot by statute.[xxvi] The
principle of non-recognition was rejected in a insolvency and fraud matter by
Lord Denning, M.R. in In re James[xxvii].
See R.D. Leslie,
"Unrecognised Governments in the Conflict of Laws: Lord Denning's
Contribution", 14 Comp. & Int'l
L.J.S. Africa. 165 (1981) and, more generally, Sir Lawrence Collins, "Foreign Relations and the
Judiciary"(subscription required for download of full article, which
is the text of his 2001 F.A. Mann lecture), 51 Int'l & Comp. L.Q. 485 (2002).
Without entering into an extensive
discussion of the substance of Cypriot law, it might be mentioned here that
before independence, and under the Constitution of 1959/1960, the Cypriot legal
system applied legal pluralism: the personal law of the individual depended
upon his or her membership in a religious community, Greek or Turkish. See
Constitution, Art. 2 (Greek and Turkish Communities defined), Art. 22 (Marriage
and the Family), Art. 23 (Property). Compare the British Order in Council of
1922, still in force in Israel. Legal pluralism, the assignment of
personal law according to religion or ethnic group, was common in the colonial
and protectorate context and exists today in many Muslim and multi-ethnic
jurisdictions. Researchers may wish to review:
. M. B.
Hooker, Legal Pluralism: an Introduction
to Colonial and Neo-colonial Laws (1975)
. B. Dupret, Legal Pluralism in the Arab World (1999)
. Warwick
Tie, Legal Pluralism: Toward a
Multicultural Conception of Law (1999)
. Baudouin
Dupret, Maurits Berger, Laila al-Zwaini, eds., Legal Pluralism in the Arab World (1999)
. Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law (UCLA)
. John Gilissen, ed., Le pluralisme
juridique (1971)
. L.I. de
Winter, "Nationality or Domicile? The Present State of Affairs", 128 Rec. des Cours, 347 (1969-III)
The basic source of TRNC primary law is
the official gazette, the Resmî Gazete
KKTC, which can be consulted at the Milli Arsiv ve Arastırma Dairesi
Müdürlüglü (Cyprus Turkish National Archives and Research Centre), PK 175,
Girne (Kyrenia), KKTC (postal address: "via Mersin 10, Turkey") and at the
Parliamentary Library, Room 008, Osman Pasa Caddesi, Lefkosa (Nicosia) (postal
address also "via Mersin 10, Turkey"); at least some issues are in the Harvard
University Law Library. A project has been under way since 1999 to post all
laws in force on the Internet (in Turkish). An index to TRNC legislation (in Turkish), maintained
at the parliamentary site of the Cumhuriyet Meclisi, is accessible online
(click on MECLiS ["assembly"] and then on YASALAR ["laws" = kanunlar]). The parliamentary librarian
has been helpful in the past in providing requested documentation by e-mail.
Other TRNC government sites:
. TRNC Washington Representative Office.
. TRNC London Representative Office
. TRNC Office of the Presidency
. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site archives
diplomatic materials, in Turkish and in English, on the Cyprus dispute and on
the TRNC.
For example, TRNC Government statement of Dec. 14, 1997 regarding
Cypriot entry into the European Union
. TRNC Government English-language site
. Kibris Sorunu ("the
Cyprus problem")
. Another directory of TRNC
government sites
English translations of the TRNC constitution (archived copy, PDF, 2.3 mb) and its nationality law are available online.
The former Attorney General of the TRNC
has written treatises in Turkish and in English on the subject of
constitutional and political law (as well as pre-1974 treatises on Cypriot law;
Dr. Necatigil also appeared as an expert witness in the Caglar case, and he
provided us with the nationality law translation):
. Zaim M.
Necatigil, The Cyprus Question and the
Turkish Position in International Law (2nd ed., OUP 1998)
. Zaim M.
Necatigil, Kuzey Kibris Türk
Comhuriyetinde Anayasa ve Yönetim Hukukui (1988)
The Faroe Islands are an autonomous
overseas district of Denmark, not part of the European Union. While the CIA
World Factbook, and dozens of Web sites which draw from it, assert that "the
legal system of the Faroe Islands is Danish" that is a considerable
oversimplification. Note the following declaration by Denmark in connection
with its adherence to the Convention on Access to Information, Public
Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental
Matters, Aarhus, Denmark, June 25, 1998:
"Both the Faroe Islands and Greenland
are self-governing under Home Rule Acts, which implies inter alia that
environmental affairs in general and the areas covered by the Convention are
governed by the right of self-determination. In both the Faroe and the
Greenland Home Rule Governments there is great political interest in promoting
the fundamental ideas and principles embodied in the Convention to the extent
possible. However, as the Convention is prepared with a view to European
countries with relatively large populations and corresponding administrative
and social structures, it is not a matter of course that the Convention is in
all respects suitable for the scarcely populated and far less diverse societies
of the Faroe Islands and of Greenland. Thus, full implementation of the
Convention in these areas may imply needless and inadequate bureaucratization.
The authorities of the Faroe Islands and of Greenland will analyse this
question thoroughly."
Unfortunately, no useful overview of
the Faroes legal system exists other than those written in Faroese or in
Danish, and an original undertaking is beyond the scope of this guide. What we
can provide are sources of primary and secondary law and political and economic
data, online and in print, for those who might want to undertake such a project
or who need to find a specific law or legal principle as applied in the Faroe
Islands.
The following statement has been provided to us by the
Mission of the Faroe Islands to the United Kingdom: "The Faroes are a part of
the Danish Kingdom and the Danish judicial system; the Danish Supreme Court is
also the court of last instance in Faroese matters. The Danish judicial system
is comprised of many city courts as tribunals of first instance. There are two
High Courts, East and West. The East High Court (Østre Landsret), which is to
be found in Copenhagen, can be also be found on the Faroe Islands. The final
court of appeal, the Supreme Court, is in Copenhagen."
For links to NATO documents, see the
entry for Iceland. Denmark and Iceland have been ratifying signatories to the
Treaty of Brussels (Mar. 17, 1948) and member states of NATO since 1949.
Constitution (Denmark)
. in Danish
. in English
Statutes and regulations
. Full text
of European Union agreements and other documents
relating to Faroe Islands (PDF, 33 kb)
and see:
. Selected Danish laws in
English
. Forlaget Thomson - Karnov online (Westlaw affiliate, fee-based[xxviii])
. CISG Denmark electronic research library
(Convention on contracts for the international sale of goods)
. Faroes Home Rule Act (Danish
Law No. 137 of March 23, 1948)
. Faroes Home Rule Act (Faroes
Law No. 11 of March 31, 1948 - Færø Amts
Kundgørelse Nr. 11 af 31.03.1948 af Lov om Færøernes Hjemmestyre)
Print sources of law
. Faroese
Official Gazette: Lógbók fyri
Føroya
. Danish
Official Gazettes: Lovtidende for
Kongeriget Danmark; Ministerialtidende
for Kongeriget Danmark
. Karnovs lovsamling (published by Thomson/Karnov)
. Faroese Law Review (Føroyskt Lógar Rit) (2001- ),
a law journal, in English and Faroese
. Faroes Budget: Løgtingsfíggjarlóg
Danish private international law (international privatret)
. Joseph Lookofsky, "Danish Private
International Law in the Third Millennium: Where are We Going? Where Have We
Been?", in Peter Blume (ed.), Legal
issues at the dawn of the millennium (1999)
. Allan Philip, American-Danish Private International Law (Oceana 1957)
Government Web sites
. General territorial government site
. Parliamentary site (Løgtingið)
. Faroe Islands Customs and Tax Authority
Online directories of official sites
. Directory
of Danish and regional political
sites
. Hoppa! Government directory
. Law Library of Congress page
Libraries and institutions; legal
bookstore
. National Library of the Faroe Islands (Føroya Landsbókasavn)
. University of the Faroe Islands (no law
faculty)
. Hjalmar Jacobsen Sp/f
bookstore
Selected references:
. Kári á Rógvi, Faroese Business Law, (Dania, 1998)
. Jorgen Albaek Jensen, "Denmark:
The Position of Greenland and the Faroe Islands Within the Danish Realm", 9 Education, Public Law and the Individual 170
(2003)
. Tax incentives (FaroeLink, Inc.)
. State Bank memorandum (PDF, 453 kb)
. Historical outline of the Løgting (PDF, 1
mb)
. Pär Olausson,
"Autonomy and the European
Island Regions in Europe", (PDF, 72.4 kb)
(See the introductory remarks for the entry on the Faroe Islands)
Selected basic laws, online
. Lovgivning -
Database of statutes from 1979 to current year (in Danish)
. another Lovgivning site
. Constitutional Act of Denmark (1953) (PDF,
121 kb) (see Faroe Islands section for link to Danish-language authoritative
version)
. Greenland Home Rule Act, No.
577 of 1978 (Danish original version)
. Greenland Home Rule Act, No.
577 of 1978 (English translation)
. National Bank of Denmark Act
(PDF, 29.5 kb)
Treaties:
. Treaty amending the
treaties establishing the European Communities to exclude Greenland, Brussels,
March 13, 1985, OJEC L 029/1-4
. Treaty on the defense of Greenland, U.S. and
Denmark
. OECD Convention on Mutual
Assistance in Tax Matters: Danish declaration
Selected government sites
. High Commissioner of Greenland (Rigsombudsmanden)
. Greenland Parliament site
. Greenland Home Rule
site
Memoranda and reports
. Commission on Self-Government
in Greenland, Memorandum on international law issues and Greenland
self-government
. Federal Government authority
in Greenland
. Human Rights statement of Denmark
to the Council of Europe
. Contribution by the Islands Commission
of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe Governance and the
Islands (PDF, 38 kb)
. Ministry
of Foreign Affairs "Factsheet Denmark": Greenland
(PDF, 559 kb)
. Greenland Treasury
accounts for 2001
Another site of law-related links:
. Law Library of Congress Guide to Law Online
Selected
references
. Frederik
Harhoff, "Grønlands og Færøernes stilling i dansk udenrigspolitik", 1990 Dansk udenrigspolitisk årbog 57-68 (Foreign
policy; Greenland and Faroe Island autonomy in EU context)
. Finn Lynge, Selvstændighed for Grønland? (1999)
. Nikolaj Petersen, Grønland i dansk sikkerhedspolitik
(1988)
. Friedl Weiss, Greenland's withdrawal from the European
Communities (1985)
. Nils Oervik, Greenland: the politics of a new northern
nation (1984)
. Natalia Lukacheva, Autonomy of Legal Systems in
Greenland and Nunavut (PDF, 65.4 kb)
. Jens Dahl, Self-government in Greenland
See Wikipedia and Bartleby for Iceland's historical background.
As it became fully independent only in 1944, a review of the law of state
succession may be relevant.
The Iceland Constitution, as amended, is available
in English translation on the principal government site.
Iceland Government sites:
. General
site, "Iceland on the Web"
. Ministry of Justice and
Ecclesiastical Affairs
. Executive Branch of government
. Iceland Official Gazette: Stjórnartí<eth>indi (law and ministerial gazette);
Lögbirtingabla<eth> (legal
gazette)
Nordic Council
. History and explanation (from Finnish
Parliament Web site)
. Iceland Ministry of Foreign
Affairs explanation of Nordic cooperation (June 2003)
. Swedish government explanation of judicial
cooperation (May 2004)
. Nordic Council of Ministers
Action Plan (Dec. 12, 2002) (PDF, 362 kb)
. "Nordic cooperation"
(Norway Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
EU and the Schengen acquis
. Article, European Report,
Nov. 4, 1999
EFTA Court
. Karl K. Karlsson HF. v.
Iceland (PDF, 48 kb), Case E-4/01, May 30, 2002, [2002] 2
C.M.L.R. 60
. Viggósdóttir v. Iceland Post
Limited (PDF, 45 kb), Case E-3/01, Mar. 22, 2002[2002] 2
C.M.L.R. 18
. Einarsson v. Iceland
(PDF 44 kb), Case E-1/01, Feb. 22, 2002, [2002] 2 C.M.L.R. 2
. Halla Helgadóttir v. DanÍel Hjaltason, Case
E-7/00, June 14, 2001, [2001] 3 C.M.L.R. 27
. Fagtun Ehf v. Byggingarnefnd Borgarholtsskola,
Case E-5/98, May 12, 1999, [1999] 2 C.M.L.R. 960
. Federation of Icelandic Trade v. Iceland,
Case No. E-2/98,
Nov. 24, 1998, [1999] 1 C.M.L.R. 907
. Erla
MarÍa Sveinbjörnsdóttir v. Iceland, Case E-9/97, Dec. 10, 1998, [1999] 1
C.M.L.R. 884
ECHR cases
. Sigur<eth>ur A.
Sigurjonsson v. Iceland, Ser. A, No. 264, App. No. 16130/90,
June 30, 1993, (1993) 16 E.H.R.R. 462
. Thorgeir Thorgeirson v.
Iceland, Ser. A, No. 239, App.
No. 13778/88, June 25, 1992, (1992) 14 E.H.R.R. 843
. Jón Kristinsson v. Iceland, App. No. 12170/86, Ser. A, No. 171-B, Mar. 1, 1990, (1991) 13 E.H.R.R.
238
Treaties:
. Nordic
treaties can be found on the UN Treaty database
. The status
of Iceland with respect to Council of Europe treaties in ETS series can be
found on the CoE site
. Treaty of cooperation
between Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden signed in Helsinki on
March 23rd, 1962 as amended on February 13th, 1971 (PDF, 61.8 kb)
. Economic, Social and Cultural
rights treaty status
. "Brussels II" EC
Regulation on Jurisdiction, Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in
Matrimonial Matters; relationship to Nordic treaty of 1931 on marriage,
adoption and custody
. Judicial cooperation
(Swedish Ministry of Justice)
. Provisions
for free movement of workers
(PDF, 134 kb) (Finnish Government site)
. Denmark-Iceland
agreement on the return of the Icelandic Manuscripts
(PDF, 133 kb)
. Convention against torture
(UNHCR site)
Statute law
. Laws and regulations,
in Icelandic
. Selected laws in
English translation
. Legislation, by subscription
. Nordic Investment Bank statutes
Arbitration: Commercial Arbitration Court of the Iceland Chamber of
Commerce
Fisheries
. Iceland Shelf (NOAA site)
. Compendium
of fisheries cases
. U.K. v. Iceland,
fisheries jurisdiction case
. Germany v. Iceland,
fisheries jurisdiction case
. Council Regulation (EC) No.
669/97 on Faroese fisheries
. other
EU fisheries agreements
with non-member countries, including Faroes
. EU
fact sheet on North East Atlantic fisheries
policy
. EU Legislative summary
on fisheries policy
Whaling
. International Whaling Commission
. OceanLaw
. Commentary on Iceland Government reservation
on re-joining the IWC (PDF, 125 kb)
. U.S. Department of State comment, May 2002
. U.S.
Department of State notes on 55th meeting in Berlin, June 2003
. U.S. backgrounder,
June 2003
. High
North Alliance, Whaling and International Law
. "Special Report: Whaling - A Bloody War", The Economist, v. 370, Jan. 3, 2004, p. 56
NATO issues
. The North Atlantic Treaty
. Icelandic delegation to NATO site
. History of Iceland's
participation in NATO, from US Navy site
. U.S.-Iceland mutual defense
treaty
. Iceland position paper
(Nov. 2002) (PDF, 128 kb)
Library collections
. National and University Library of Iceland, Faculty of Law, University of
Iceland
. The New York Public Library
has a major historical collection of Nordic documents and serials.
Selected texts:
. Alastair
H. Thomas, "The Concept of the Nordic Region and the Parameters of Nordic
Cooperation", in Lee Miles, ed., The
European Union and the Nordic Countries (Routledge 1996)
. Vinding
Kruse, (Else Giersing, transl.), A Nordic
Draft Code (1963)
. Stefán Már
Stefánsson, The EEA agreement and its
adoption into Icelandic law (1997)
. Ring,
Gerhard, Einführung in das skandinavische
Recht (1999)
. Pétur G. Thorsteinsson (ed.), Manual for Honorary Consuls of Iceland,
Reykjavik, Ministry for Foreign Affairs (2d ed., Sept. 1995)
. Ólafur Jóhannesson, Lög og réttur (Law and Rights) (1975)
Commercial environment; trade policy
. EFTA "Facts and Figures"
(PDF, 160 kb)
. Company Laws
(English translation)
. U.S. Commercial Service Country Commercial Guide
. Taxation of capital and income
in Iceland
Introductory note
"Prevailing
Liechtenstein laws date to a great extent from the 19th Century. Liechtenstein
law originates from Swiss and Austrian law. Of Austrian origin are civil and
criminal court procedures, criminal law, succession and family law, and the law
pertaining to contracts, torts and rights in
personam. Swiss law pertaining to civil status, property, and to an extent,
rights in personam has been adopted.
The last twenty years have seen amendments to many laws."[xxix]
In fact, the manner in which laws are published on paper and online
unsurprisingly parallels the Swiss and to a lesser extent the Austrian
practice. Substantively, laws, especially those relating to establishment and
to economic activity, have been greatly affected by the European Union acquis through Liechtenstein's
membership in the European Economic Area. The EU Web site and others cited in the introductory section of
this article will be sources of further information. As Switzerland is
responsible for management of Liechtenstein's foreign affairs and its
communications and monetary system, the Swiss government Web site
may be useful as well.
Statute law databases
. GMJ Juris Verlag, laws and regulations in full text
Particular laws
. Council
of Europe discussion on the amended constitution
. Law of May 22, 1996
on due diligence by financial services intermediaries (PDF, 25.5 kb)
(unofficial English translation) - another copy
. Law of Sept. 14, 2000
concerning the Amendment of the Law on Professional Due Diligence when Accepting
Assets - Executive Order
. Gesetz vom 19 September 1996 über das internationale Privatrecht
[1996/194] (PIL, conflict of laws rules)
Relations with Switzerland
with list of treaties, including:
. Reciprocal enforcement of
judgments
. Rights of travel, residence and establishment
ECHR Case
. Wille v. Liechtenstein
(MS Word, 212 kb), App. No. 28396/95, Oct. 28, 1999 (HTML format),
(2000) 30 E.H.R.R. 558 (following a public lecture the applicant had given on
issues of constitutional law, the Prince of Liechtenstein, as announced in a
letter, decided not to appoint him to public office)
Print sources of law: The primary law
of Liechtenstein appears in the Landesgesetzblatt
(LGBl.) and is then consolidated and reprinted in the loose-leaf Systematische Sammlung der
Liechtensteinische Rechtsverschriften. Reprints of the laws can be
purchased over the counter from the Ministry of Justice (Liechtensteinische Regierunskanzlei)
Städtle 49, FL-9490 Vaduz. Subscriptions to the Systematische Sammlung are available from GMG Verlag, Landstr. 30, FL-9494 Schaan, tel. +423 238 1166.
The Liechtensteinische
Juristenzeitung (LJZ) is the authoritative legal journal and source of
commentary and case reports. It is found in many libraries overseas.
The Liechtensteinische
Landesbibliothek, Gerberweg 5, FL-9490 Vaduz maintains a complete
collection of Liechtenstein legal materials, along with comparative-law
documentation of contiguous jurisdictions. Liechtenstein laws and regulations
are sold over the counter at the Liechtensteinische Regierungskanzlei, Städtle
49, FL-9490 Vaduz, and the staff will sort them by subject so that an
up-to-date state of the law is provided.
Selected online articles, documents and
sites
. EU Relations with
Liechtenstein
. On trusts, a statutory creation within the
Liechtenstein civil-law environment
. List of laws
relating to trusts
. Washington Times advertising
supplement of August 17, 1998, article on lawyers in Liechtenstein
(archived on InternationalReports.net site)
. Persons and companies law
(surveys in English)
. Department
of State Background Note: Liechtenstein
. WIPO legislative profile
(28 kb, PDF)
. Roger
Frick, The Foundation and Trust in
Liechtenstein - their use in the international field (Nov. 2003)
. Liechtenstein Report to the
Council of Europe on human rights and national minorities 1999
A note about Liechtenstein and an
aspect of international law: Liechtenstein was party to the Nottebohm case (Liechtenstein v. Guatemala)
that created the concept of "effective nationality"; a concept now somewhat
eroded in view of changes in nationality law, human rights law (notably gender
equality but also the evolution of nationality as primarily a source of rights
rather than of obligations), and supranational arrangements. See, e.g., Micheletti v. Delegación del
Gobierno en Cantabria, [1992] E.C.R. I-4239.
Some secondary sources
. W.
Brauneder, "175 Jahre Allgemeines burgerliches Gesetzbuch in Liechtenstein", 9 Liechtensteinische Juristenzeitung 94
(1988), pg. 102.
. H.
Batliner. "Liechtenstein", 4 Modern Legal
System Cyclopedia. (loose-leaf) (Hein, 1988+).
. Companies and Taxes in Liechtenstein, 7th.ed.
(Vaduz, M.G. Kieber, 1992)
. F.L.
Trending, The Trust in Liechtenstein Law
(1988)
. F.L.
Trending, A closely held Company
Structure: The Establishment in Liechtenstein Law (1996)
Some articles of interest
. Andrea
Gattini, "A Trojan Horse For Sudeten
Claims? On Some Implications Of The Prince Of Liechtenstein V. Germany"
13 Eur. J. Int'l L. 513 (2002)
. Haig
Simonian, "Liechtenstein buys new look",
Financial Times, Aug. 26, 2004
. CNN
International, Aug. 15, 2004, Liechtenstein welcomes new ruler
A private portal to Liechtenstein websites
is provided by FirstLink.
This survey
of Liechtenstein legal resources was drafted with the kind assistance of Lic.
iur. Johann Jakob, Audina Treuhand AG.[xxx]
Luxembourg is a trilingual State, and
this is reflected in the parliamentary (Chambre des Députés)
debates recorded in the Procès-Verbaux du
Bureau de la Chambre des Députés.
The Constitution, (PDF,
312 kb) as amended, is downloadable in French in PDF format with case-law annotations.
An English translation
is available from the University of Berne but does not include the 1999
amendments.
The official gazette (Mémorial), Statutes and most secondary
sources are published in French. The site includes a searchable database of laws, reports, official gazettes and
documents published since 1945.
The Government portal and
the Government law database have links to other
official sites and to sources of official documentation. These sites had been
in the final stages of planning when the author called on the Ministry in 2001.
Printed documentation is published and
sold commercially by Service central de législation, 43 Bd.
F.-D. Roosevelt, L-2450 Luxembourg. They sell the periodic Relevé générale de la législation. Other periodicals are listed on
their web site; see also the latest SCL Rapport d'activité (PDF, 1 mb). A
private bookstore, Librarie um Fieldgen, sells law and tax
materials and has an on-line bibliography and price list.
The Legilux web site has undergone continuous
improvement over the past few years. Earlier, a Luxembourg legal database
(IJUS) was maintained by CREDOC (Belgium). See also
the list of CD-ROMs prepared by the Universität des Saarlandes.
There is an interactive CD-ROM of the Code fiscal.
The Mémorial
is available in CD-ROM format from Imprimerie de la Cour Victor
Buck, 6, rue François Hogenberg, L-1735 Luxembourg. Back issues are maintained
in a number of libraries in Europe and the USA, including the Université catholique de Louvain. Luxembourg law students
study at Belgian universities and Luxembourg juridical methods to a certain
extent follow the Belgian pattern. See also the site of the Institut universitaire international de Luxembourg.
The Chamber of Commerce
site contains information about the corporate registry.
Bibliographic searches across the OPACs
of all major Belgian university libraries can be conducted on LIBIS on the Web
site of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
The major published case reporter and digest is the Pasicrisie
luxembourgeoise. An alternative source of laws and decrees is the Pasinomie luxembourgeoise. Recueil des Lois spéciales annoté
d'après la jurisprudence is published by Imprimerie Saint
Paul, S.A., Luxembourg. Répertoire analytique
de la jurisprudence administrative du Conseil d'Etat (Guy Glodt, ed.) is
pubished by the Ministry of Justice.
Law codes are individually
compiled and published under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice, we were
told at the Service Central de Législation,
"as and when the need arises and time permits". These include civil, criminal,
commercial and procedural codes, which can be found in many libraries.
Private international law
. Fernand
Schockweiler & Jean-Claude Wiwinius, Les conflits de lois et les conflits de juridictions
en droit international privé luxembourgeois (2d ed. 1997)
Benelux
. Le traité d'union Benelux
(Nov. 1, 1960) (PDF, 153 kb)
. Conseil interparlementaire consultatif
Benelux (Nov. 5, 1955)
. History of European
cooperation (Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Secondary sources:
. Annales du droit luxembourgeois
(Bruylant)
. Numerous
titles published by Bruylant and Bauer
. Judge
Pierre Pescatore wrote the section on Luxembourg in the International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law. Vol. I, "National
reports," sect. "L/M." (Mohr, 1974)
. M. Calcoen,
"The legal system of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg", Modern Legal Systems Cyclopedia (Buffalo, Hein, 1982)
. Nicolas Majerus, Histoire du droit dans le Grand-Duché de
Luxembourg (Imp. Sant-Paul, 1949)
. Kathryn
Anne Davis, Language Planning in
Multilingual Contexts (language usage in Luxembourg) (1994), and see:
. Miriam
Aziz and Philippe van Parijs, "Linguistic Legislation for XXIst Century Europe"
(PDF,
82.2 kb)
. General bibliography (PDF, 56 kb)
Maltese statutes are published in
English and in Maltese, in print, on CD-ROM and online at the Ministry of Justice site. The official
source for primary law is the Atti
Tal-Parlament - Acts of Parliament and the Legislazzjoni Sussidjarjai, both published and sold by the
Department of Information, Publications Office, Castille Place, Valletta. The
starting point for research is the Maltese government portal.
A number of Codes (civil, commercial, penal, procedural) have been consolidated
and published separately.
The Official Gazette is
available online, apparently
for recent issues only. At the time of writing (October 2004), issues from June
2003 may be accessed.
On CD-ROM from: Malta Information
Technology and Training Services, Ltd.
The Ministry of Justice and Local
Government, Palazzo Verdelin, Archbishop's Street, Valletta publishes from time
to time Laws of Malta - Analyzed Index of
Titles.
Lexnet and Elsa Law Web,
privately-sponsored sites, provide some Maltese law-related assets, but suffer
from broken links, and may not be completely up-to-date.
Case reports
. Collezione
di decisioni dei tribunali di Malta. (19th Century cases)
. Collezione di decisioni
delle corti superior dell' Isola de Malta
(title varies: Collezione di decisioni
del tribunali superior; later title Decizjonijet
tal grati superjari ta Malta)
. Some
digests of court decisions (in Maltese) are published by ID-DRIT, the law journal of the Law Society-University of
Malta.
Under Malta's language law (PDF,
10.5 kb), any party to a case may require that it be heard in Maltese rather than
in English.
ECHR cases
. Kadem v. Malta (MS
Word, 119 kb), App. No.55263/00, Jan. 9, 2003, (2003) 37 E.H.R.R. 18
. Sabeur Ben Ali v. Malta
(MS Word, 100 kb), App. No. 35892/97, June 29, 2000, (2002) 34 E.H.R.R. 26
. TW v. Malta (MS
Word, 168 kb) and Aquilina v. Malta (MS Word, 171 kb), App. Nos 25644/94 &
25642/94, Apr. 29, 1999, (2000) 29 E.H.R.R. 185
. Grech and Montanaro v. Malta, App. No. 29473/95,
Jan. 21, 1997, (1997) 23 E.H.R.R. CD176
. DeBono v. Malta,
App. No. 20608/92, 1993, (1993) 15 E.H.R.R. CD112
. Demicoli v. Malta,
App. No. 13057/87, Ser. A,
No. 210, Aug. 27, 1991, (1992) 14 E.H.R.R. 47
Secondary sources:
. C.A.
Charles, "The Legal System of Malta", Modern
Legal Systems Cyclopedia, vol. 4 (revised) (Hein, 1988).
. E.
Busuttil, "Malta," International
Encyclopedia of Comparative Law. Vol. I, "National Reports," sect. "M."
(Mohr, 1974)
The official government Web portal, with links to ministries' and
government offices' sites
Journal de Monaco (official
gazette, recent months only, laws accessible in HTML)
Consolidated and indexed Monegasque
laws are published by the French law publisher Editions du Juris-Classeur (part of
Lexis-Nexis/Reed Elsevier). Juris-Classeur also
publishes Mongegasque case reports: Décisions
du Tribunal Suprême and Décisions des
Tribunaux judiciaires. A second series (located at the New York University
Law Library, among others) is Codes et
lois de la Principauté de Monaco (Toulouse: Imprimerie du Sud, 1958- )
A complete collection of legal
materials of the Principality is available for consultation and copying at the Bibliothèque Louis-Notari,
Monaco. The national archives: Service d'Archives
Centrales, Ministère d'État, Place de la Visitation, 98000 Monaco +377
93.15.86.01
Revue
de droit monégasque is published by Palais
de Justice de Monaco, B.P. 513, MC 98015 Monaco CEDEX
A Web search for statutes is haphazard.
Some laws are available online at the site of the Agence intergouvernementale de la Francophonie;
Droit francophone, "Monaco: Législation"
(selected laws from 1886; latest statute entered at time of writing, 1998)
Adminet and Légifrance can be used to find the texts of
bilateral agreements and arrangements between France and Monaco, thus Decree No. 2000-591
of June 29, 2000, amending the Frontier Convention of May 28, 1963. See also Droit.org.
Secondary sources:
. A.F. Hancock, "The Legal System of Monaco", Modern Legal Systems Cyclopedia (1984).
. M. Bettati,
"Monaco", International Encyclopedia of
Comparative Law. Vol. I, "National reports,"
sect. "M."
. P.J. Douvier, ed., Mémento pratique Francis Lefebvre. Communauté
européenne: juridique, fiscal, social, comptable, financier, partially
translated and reprinted as Monaco Tax
and Legal Guide
The City Hall (Mairie) site includes a list of government agencies
with addresses, and public services provided.
General description (in French) of Monegasque governmental
institutions.
Judicial structure
and other information
Other legal and institutional data,
from international sites (non-exhaustive; to show the kind of sites that may be
identified in a Web search)
. social security (from International Social
Security Association)
. social security bilateral
agreements (from Centre des liaisons
internationales de sécurité sociale)
. France-Monaco social security
administrative arrangement
Particular doctrinal essays available
online:
. A
discussion of banking laws
Sites with links and downloads:
. Monaco Mission to the United Nations
. A general
search engine: Monaconet
. A
private-sector Web page with links: Monaco Online.
The Montenegro Constitution
("Ustav Republike Crne Gore") is available in Serbian and in English translation
Several sites concern themselves with Montenegrin affairs,
including:
. Montenegro parliamentary site
. Montenegro Government site
. (another URL)
. Open Society Institute
Montenegro
. Center for Free Election and Democracy
(Centar za Slobodne Izbore i Demokratiju)
European Union issues
. European Union External
Relations
. Overview,
EU relations with South
Eastern Europe, and see:
. EU Annual Action Programme
2003 for Montenegro (PDF, 86 kb)
. Serbia and Montenegro
background documents
. "EU tells Serbia and Montenegro to move closer" European Voice, May 15, 2003
. The Queen, ex parte Centro-Com
Srl v. HM Treasury and Bank of England, [1997] I-81 (sanctions
case)
On economic and currency issues (the euro), see
. Breffni
O'Rourke, Yugoslavia: Montenegro Adopts
German Mark As Currency -- But With Risks, Radio Free Europe, Nov.
14, 2000
. A Balkan euro zone: still a lot of funny money, The Economist, v. 362, Jan. 10, 2002, at
p. 46
. Something rotten: the prospects for Montenegro, whether independent or
not, are bleak, The Economist,
v. 368, July 17, 2003, at p. 40
A useful for the legal researcher is
the index and ordering facility for the Official Gazette, Sluzbeni List Republike Crne Gore. The
publisher has in the past been willing to provide copies of individual statutes
in Serbian upon e-mail by non-subscribers.
Some private sites have selected
Montenegrin laws in translation:
. Montenet
Serbian resources relevant to this
survey
. Sluzbeni Glasnik Republike
Srbije (official gazette)
. Serbia and Montenegro Ministry of Foreign Affairs
. WIPO legislative profile
(PDF, 152 kb)