Volume 16, Issue 1

The opacity that underlines the substantive content and interpretation of pari passu clause in financial contracting requires more clarity to ensure predictability for the contracting parties relying on it to access fund in the financial markets. The re-awakening of the contextual and textual controversy that underpins the clause by the NML case has once again re-enacted the divergent positions, namely: the broad or payment interpretation and narrow or equal ranking obligation. Consequently, there is a need for more clarity on the substantive content of the pari passu clause so that contracting parties will not be prejudiced in the event of dispute. Effectively, parties can achieve this by clarifying ex ante the applicable meaning of the clause. The contracting parties may state in the financial contractual agreement that the applicable meaning of the clause is a broad or payment interpretation. Alternatively, the contracting parties may adopt narrow interpretation; or entirely exclude the application of the pari passu clause. Also, parties may need to incorporate collective action clause (CAC) to ensure that the collective decisions of the majority of lenders prevail over undue proclivity for holdouts of the minority. This will dispel the possibility of controversy ex post over rateable payment, while ensuring orderly debt restructuring.

Two wrongs cannot make a right; there is hardly any justification for the continual use of capital punishment (death) as a form of punishment in Nigeria. This paper will canvass that, even though death penalty is a constitutionally permissible form of punishment in Nigeria, but it goes against the recent positive and developmental strides in the areas of civilization, criminology and human right. The paper leans in favor of the abolitionist perspective by arguing that life imprisonment is as effective as the death penalty as a means of deterrence.

Many countries adopted legal regulation of insolvency problems of insurers and rules for bankruptcy proceedings (insolvency) to mitigate and prevent consequences of bankruptcy and preserve the assets of insurance companies. To a certain extent, Ukraine follows the similar track. The authors describe the specifics of bankruptcy proceedings, defined by the laws of Ukraine on bankruptcy, and “complicated” by the legal status of the insurance company. On the basis of the analysis, the authors put forward a proposal to modernize bankruptcy law as part of the legal regulation of bankruptcy of insurers-debtors (bankrupts). It is established that the Law of Ukraine of 1992 provides for the possibility of applying a procedure of sanation to the insurers. The authors state that the specific legal consequences of the liquidation procedure and the recognition of a debtor as a bankrupt include the termination of all insurance contracts and sale of property. It has been established that the incoherence of bankruptcy laws of different countries is explained by different approaches to legal regulation.