Volume 15, Issue 3

This study delves into the common law efficiency theory, proposing that the efficiency of legal norms in common law systems predominantly depends on judges’ biases towards efficiency. By developing an economic model, it is demonstrated that the proportion of efficient norms correlates with the predisposition of judges towards efficiency, influenced by their personal beliefs. Historical analysis of common and civil law systems reveals that neither inherently guarantees efficiency; rather, their efficiency is contingent upon their adaptability to societal needs and prevailing judicial ideologies. The paper concludes that the efficiency of a legal system relies on its congruence with societal values and judicial ideologies, emphasizing that shifts in the judiciary’s ideological makeup have implications on legal system efficiency. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the multifaceted process shaping legal norms in common law, highlighting the critical role of judges, societal values, and legislative dynamics.

The article argues that the contours of the ‘business judgment rule’ (hereinafter, ‘the rule’ or ‘the doctrine’) have not been properly delineated and add avoidable transaction costs in terms of business decision-making. On the premise of ‘influence’ existing between Board Directors and countervailing requirements of legal compliance, it becomes imperative to study both components. In the absence of any clear legalese on the latter component incentivizes Directors in two ways – by inhibiting judgment or by incentivizing abuse for a perceived higher probability of economic gain.

Does antitakeover harm shareholders? Encumbered by a multitude of theoretical perspectives, the legality of antitakeover remains a shared intellectual inquiry that the A-share market has yet to fully address. This paper constructs a governance index for the A-share market based on a manually collected and hand-coded research dataset (C-index). This dataset, comprising 4251 historical firm-level profiles of Antitakeover Provisions (ATPs), is meticulously sampled from companies listed in China from 2001 to 2017. The study investigates the logical correlation between antitakeover strength, financial performance, and the governance attributes of the company by leveraging the index’s economic utility. Additionally, this paper explores the firm-level factors that prompt corporate directors to integrate ATPs. From an empirical standpoint, it provides evidence that the governance index of firm-level strength of ATPs is positively correlated with share liquidity, institutional shareholding, private ownership, and the company’s commitment to achieving specific financial performance.

This article examines marriage and family law in China from a diachronic perspective. It discusses three issues – the principal achievements over the last 70 years; the existing challenges since the 21st century; and its prospects for the future. The Marriage Law of the People’s Republic of China passed in 1950 was the first basic law after the founding of the People’s Republic of China and opened a new chapter in the development of Chinese marriage and family law. Significant development has been achieved both in systematic structure and institutional contents after undergoing three major revisions in 1980, 2001 and 2020. Despite the achievements made, great challenges remain since the 21st century, especially the difficulties in family formation and maintenance; population aging with fewer children; application of assisted reproductive technology; and prevalence of divorce, remarriage, and cohabitation. The future improvement of marriage and family law may focus more on maintaining family stability and building family civilization.

Although there are different ways to estimate the value of the illicit drug markets, the main issue remains that one cannot estimate the unseized or floating value of drugs at the country- and international-level markets. This study applies a novel estimation method that combines excess compensation estimation (from the financial field) and stochastic frontier analysis (from the operations research field) to estimate the value of the international cocaine market in 2019. Our estimations show that in 2019, the unseized market accounted for 32.16 % of the total market of cocaine and was smaller than the ratio of 48 % in 2007, indicating that the effectiveness of countries in disrupting the illicit cocaine market has improved. More importantly, we show that improvement in dealing with money laundering risks could also help reduce the illicit market of cocaine since illicit cocaine/drug proceeds must be laundered before they can be used by criminal organisations.

This paper examines the economic impact of the abuse of superior trading position (ASTP) provision within Korea’s draft Act on Fair Intermediary Trade of Online Platforms (AFITOP). The AFITOP, proposed as part of competition law reform in the digital era, applies to large online platform operators providing intermediary services. While derived from the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act (MRFTA), the ASTP provision’s goal to protect the economically weak is secondary to the MRFTA’s primary goal of efficiency. Furthermore, the provision’s interpretative uncertainties burden enterprises, especially large ones and those exploring new business models. Including this provision in the AFITOP is likely to reduce innovation incentives among large online platform operators, and to foster enforcement bias toward the ASTP provision by the Korea Fair Trade Commission, thereby increasing inefficiency in competition law enforcement. Therefore, the ASTP provision in the AFITOP should not be introduced.