The author argues that ‘will’ and ‘consent’ are different. According to him, no State’s will is entirely free. However, this does not preclude its consent from being valid. State consent displays different shades of will: while unilateral acts are the epitome of ‘willing consent’, the degree of willingness required when accepting a treaty is weaker, until it almost disappears in the case of custom, or general principles of law. The author argues that opinio iuris and consent are also different notions: you may feel legally bound even if consent is very remote. However, whatever role ‘will’ plays in the formation of rules, once the rules exist, States are, according to the author, bound and their will is trapped. The author makes the argument that, if neither will nor consent explain the basis of a State’s obligation when it is no longer willing to implement it, they nonetheless have a stabilizing and legitimizing role. He argues that consent makes the acceptability of the obligation stronger, by comforting its legitimacy, which also makes its implementation more effective.

This chapter provides an introduction to Swiss law in general by firstly addressing the Federal structure of Switzerland including the three different levels of government and the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the Swiss Confederation. This chapter then goes to describe the judicial system in Switzerland, focusing on the Federal and Cantonal courts and the manner in which Civil law disputes are dealt with in Switzerland. This chapter thereafter explores the sources of law in the Swiss legal system, namely statutory legal sources, case law and legal doctrine

Chapter 5 looks closely into the notion of law of the Union established by the EAEU Treaty. It analyses the sources of law of the Union and proceeds with clarifying their hierarchy and legal force. It also analyses the place of direct applicability, direct effect and primacy in the EAEU pertaining to legal order autonomy. Eventually it turns to the provisions of Member States’ national legislation vis-à-vis EAEU law. The three founding Member States have been deeply involved in Eurasian integration. The process of drafting the EAEU Treaty required alignment with the generally recognised principles of international law, national legislation of Member States, taking into account international experience, but not the least with national constitutions. Therefore, in principle, tensions between the legal orders of the EAEU and its Member States should have been minimized from the outset. This chapter shows that it is not necessarily so in two case studies: Russia and Belarus. The former has had the most controversial encounters with external legal orders, including that of the EAEU, which was eventually ossified in the ensuing constitutional amendments in this regard. The latter has the strictest constitutional limitations, which have direct bearing on the EAEU legal order.

This chapter provides a concise overview of the Australian legal system. First, it defines business law. It then presents the main sources of law and their classification. Next, the chapter identifies the main legal and political institutions in Australia and outlines their powers. The chapter then explains how laws are made and enforced by these institutions. Finally, the chapter provides a practical perspective on how to answer legal problem questions.

Although nursing is a health-care profession, and nurses are required to have clinical skills in order to practise, the law establishes expectations that must be met. When a health-care professional such as a nurse fails to meet these standards, the law can intervene in a number of ways that can have very significant consequences.

For example, in 2011 a six-year-old boy named Jack was admitted to the Children’s Assessment Unit at Leicester Hospital in England around 10.30 a.m. Jack had Down syndrome and a known heart condition. He had been suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea, and had difficulty breathing. He was cared for by a trainee paediatrician, Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba, and nursing staff, including Ms Isabel Amaro. Jack died that evening from an infection. His death was immediately reported to the Coroner.

This chapter examines Supreme People’s Court (SPC)’s judicial interpretation, which has been formally legalized as a source of law for adjudication, as well as its relationship with various other statutes in China’s legislative system. It points out that the inner logic of China’s legislation with different hierarchical status, as distinct from those of democratically elected parliamentary systems, is determined by the de facto distribution of legislative power within its authoritarian regime, where the SPC has become a significant player in exercising legislative power in a way that has largely evolved beyond its constitutional settings. In particular, it investigates the unique inner logic of SPC’s judicial interpretations, which have become a de facto primary source of law for adjudication in practice.

This chapter discusses the background, thesis, significance and implications of researching the theme of the sources of Chinese law in both comparative and Chinese legal scholarship. It also identifies the significant components of positive law in China’s legislative system and provides a general overview of China’s legislative system, along with the theoretical claims and interdisciplinary analysis involved in the detailed discussion presented in the following chapters.

This chapter presents the institutions of central and local government. The balance of powers in favour of the executive within the Fifth Republic Constitution formalises realities of power. The traditional centralised French state with its local representatives controls many important public services. Developments over the past forty years have given more power to regions and large cities. These have provided a counterbalance to centralisation in economic development. The growth of Independent Administrative Authorities reflects developments in other developed countries. Nearly fifty years of the ombudsman function (now constitutionalised as the Défenseur(e) des droits) provides alternative redress to the administrative courts. The chapter concludes with an overview of the sources of French administrative law. The law is no longer primarily drawn from the case law of the Conseil d’Etat, but the Constitution, the enactment of codes, and the importance of EU law and the European Convention have diversified sources of law. Case law remains more important than in private law and legal scholarship is enriched by the participation of leading members of the Conseil d’Etat as authors.

This chapter examines the sources of law used by WTO adjudicators, starting with the WTO “covered agreements.” The chapter also discusses the status of other international agreements, public international law, and general principles of law, under WTO law. The chapter includes a comprehensive discussion of the issue of precedent under WTO law. The chapter also includes a detailed analysis of how the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties is used by WTO panels and the Appellate Body to interpret WTO law.

In this Chapter we will focus more on what law is in general, and on some of the basic philosophical and legal principles that make up the Australian legal system. Accordingly, this Chapter will briefly introduce the main features of the Australian legal system, including: the different parts or ‘arms’ of the Government; the sources of law; and some key features of different branches of law relevant to nursing. A basic knowledge of the legal system is fundamental to understanding the law as it applies to nursing practice. Indeed, the very first principle of the Code of conduct for nurses requires that ‘Nurses respect and adhere to their professional obligations under the National Law, and abide by relevant laws’ (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2018). This Chapter will look at this aspect of the role of law in nursing through a discussion of a nurse’s ‘scope of practice’.