<abstract xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Today we are witnessing a fundamental shift in Public International Law (PIL) in which the number of actors increases dramatically and in which communication means power. The matrix of PIL is undergoing a major change. This change is not abrupt but has to be seen in the context of the shift away from the Westphalian model of PIL since 1945. Also, globalization is not a new phenomenon, although the current era of globalization, which was made possible due to the fall of the iron curtain and recent technological developments, raises the question how to describe the emerging international legal community in terms of international legal theory. As the importance of the role of the state as an actor of international law is reduced (albeit not to a degree that the state would lose its de facto primacy among the subjects of international law), other actors are gaining ground, in particular international organizations, transnational corporations, NGOs and individuals. Today the latter not only have rights under Public International Law but are also involved in the creation of new rules of international law.</abstract>

Faculty of Law, Georg August University, Germany

Faculty of Law, Justus Liebig University, Germany

The Subjects of Public International Law in a Globalized World

<abstract xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The aim of this article is to analyse how in the globalisation process small nations appear in danger of disappearing. Can law protect national identity when the state is in the European Union?Globalisation together with the economic interests of states touches other spheres of society: national internal policy, education, mass media, the policy of family, migration. The birth rate in families in such big nations as Germany, France, and Italy is small. If numerous Italians, French, Polish, and Russians are worried about the constantly decreasing number of their inhabitants, no doubt that small nations are in danger of assimilation.The European Union is an unprecedented formation of law: states retain their independence and at the same time people by their free will limit the sovereignty of a state. The 57th Article of the EU Constitution clearly states that "the Law of the Union is higher than the national [law]." It is as if the European States are united in the form of a federation, though the concept of a federation state cannot be applied strictly. The first condition for each new candidate state is to be a democratic and law-based state. The law-based state means legal elections, authorities elected by the people, separation of three state functions (legislative, executive and judicial), respect for human rights, protection of the rights of national and religious minorities. Good relations with neighbours are always appreciated. The new EU constitution contains 400 pages. The Constitutional Agreement or EU Constitution was approved by the Council of the European Union in June of 2004. Each state ratifies the Agreement. Some EU countries plan the referendums. The Parliament of Lithuania refused the referendum. It was planned that the Agreement will come into force in 2009. The Constitution of the EU requires that the National Governments of Member States will not interfere in implementing the aims of the Union. The 58th Article deals with loyalty to the Union. The institutions established by the EU work with human points of view and have a society model which is supported by the majority of the citizens.In this article an attempt will also be made to evaluate the role of Christianity and its values for the legal system of the EU as well as for preserving national identity.</abstract>

The Role of EU Law and Christian Values in Preserving National Identity in the Context of Globalisation

<abstract xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">One of the measures which is able to ensure the implementation of sustainable development aims is the institute of legal entities' environmental legal liability and its effective application. Three sorts of legal entities' legal liability can be applied in Lithuania, namely, civil, criminal and administrative liability.Evaluating from the prospect of implementation of sustainable development aims, the potentially effective sorts of legal liability in the environmental sphere are legal entities' administrative and criminal liability.Legal entities violating the norms of environmental law set economic aim above social and environmental aims, hence legal entities also encroach on sustainable development and do not allow for a striving towards the combinability of environmental, economic and social societal aims. This circumstance presupposes the demand to supplement the conception of the object of environmental law violation by both human health and life and sustainable development categories.This article tries to answer the questions as to whether administrative or criminal liability should be applied to the legal entities for offences against the environment, and to which liability - criminal or administrative - a legislator should render priority in protecting the environment from illegal actions of the legal entities.</abstract>

The Intersection Between Criminal and Administrative Liability of a Legal Entity for Environmental Violations in the Context of Sustainable Development

<abstract xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This article examines the divergence in the EU's strategies towards neighbours. The goal is to connect different EU neighbourhood initiatives into one framework in making a correlation between national and supranational levels. The distinction between bilateralism/multilateralism and Russia inclusion/Russia exclusion is made within both levels. The division is between European Neighbourhood policy and Eastern Partnership (within bilateral framework) on the one hand, and Northern dimension initiative and Black Sea Synergy on the other. These different EU's strategies towards neighbours reflect contradictory EU development models. The argument is made that national preferences and interests precondition a variety of the EU's neighbourhood initiatives and create a web in EU's neighbourhood policy that is filled with many contradictions.</abstract>

The Web of the EU'S Neighbourhood Policy: Between Bilateralism and Multilateralism

<abstract xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The paper concentrates, from the critical perspective, on two general ideological themes used to support and welcome judicial activism mainly in the jurisprudence of the highest level courts of the United States and Lithuania. This task is relevant in light of the judicial activism spreading in court practices, as well as its clear embrace in the academic community of Lithuania.The first theme focuses on the practice and ideology of Justice John Marshall. It is rather evident that the Marshallian ideas and activities form an ideological basis for an active and politically powerful constitutional court. However, due regard should be paid to the critique of the Marshallian heritage.The other theme is built on the juxtaposition of reality and the law as text, the former being much more complicated. This allegedly supports the theses either that adjudication could not avoid taking the form of precedent (the creation of law rather than the interpretation of law), or that judicial interpretation is meant to fill the gaps or fix inconsistencies in the legal text (the so-called thesis of <italic>interpretative sufficiency</italic>). However, due regard should be paid to the consequences of the realization of both theses to the political framework of the state.This article attempts to fill in these aforementioned gaps in critical attention with compensatory critique, as well as to suggest an alternative approach to the propaganda of judicial activism - an ethics of restrained adjudication.</abstract>

Motives in Support of Judicial Activism: Critique and Ethics of Restrained Adjudication as an Alternative

<abstract xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The author examines a positive aspect of globalization: the spread of laws throughout the world protecting the rights of people with disabilities since the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the United States. The origin of the ADA and its effect and application in the United States are first examined. Next, the subsequent process of the globalization of disabilities rights legislation is analyzed. A general review of significant national and regional disability discrimination laws is undertaken, together with an attempt at ascertaining how such laws were influenced by the ADA. Special attention is given to developments in disability rights law in Europe and Latin America. Finally, the drafting, adoption and future impact of the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is reviewed. The author concludes with a prognosis of the future global development - and enforcement - of disability rights law and other civil rights laws. Through increased contact and shared information made possible by globalization (among other strategies), disability rights (as well as other civil rights) advocates may continue to influence the global development of law in their respective fields.</abstract>

The Globalization of Disability Rights Law - From The Americans with Disabilities Act to the UN Convention on The Rights of Persons with Disabilities

<abstract xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The article analyzes the regulation and application of the retention of the title clause. Uncommon in Lithuania, though widespread in other countries, retention of the title clause is a measure for securing obligations in wholesales. In the first section of the article the concept of retention of the title clause is outlined and discussed. Although the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania stipulates that retention of title could be vested only in goods, the parties can agree on a so-called "enlarged" or "prolonged" retention of the title clause. The second section of the article deals with the formal requirements, such as content, form, registration, etc. for validity of reservation of title clause in Lithuania. Following this, the issues of qualification and the legal consequences of the buyer's titles to goods in which ownership is reserved by the seller are discussed. The buyer under sale agreement may enjoy different models of titles: trust, agency, and transfer of future claims. The administration and consequences of these models are discussed in detail in the third section of the article. The final segment of the article deals with the issue of the consequences of the retention of title clause in the event of the buyer's insolvency. The consequences may differ depending on the chosen model of buyer's title. Since the purpose of the reservation of title clause is to have priority over other creditors (even secured), the comparative analysis of the legal consequences of reservation of title clause and legal pledge is presented in this final section of the article.</abstract>

Retention of Title by the Seller in Cases of the Buyer's Insolvency

<abstract xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This article analyses the jurisdiction of the court in matrimonial matters. The criteria of jurisdiction, the principal of <italic>lis pendens, forum non conveniens</italic>, applicable law and the influence of jurisdiction on the outcome of the case are unfolded in the article. Matrimonial law differs from country to country. In some countries there are strict rules; in other countries there are liberal rules for divorce. In different countries there are different criteria for division of joint property between spouses, and different criteria for determining child custody. Depending on which country's court solves matrimonial dispute, there can be different outcomes to a case because each court applies its own conflicts of law rules and determines the applicable law to the lawsuit. This essay explores the peculiarities of international jurisdiction determination rules valid in the European Union, and some worldwide tendencies of international jurisdiction. As the EC Regulation does not determine one basic rule of jurisdiction in matrimonial matters, it is possible to choose from several alternative jurisdiction criteria and start a suit in the courts of several states. The essay addresses cases in which the parties can manipulate and misuse the jurisdiction criteria due to the <italic>lis pendens</italic> principle, as well as cases in which the legal certainty and legitimate expectation of spouses are infringed upon. The essay also presents particular recommendations about how to improve present legislation by incorporating case transfer mechanism or principles of <italic>forum non conveniens</italic>.</abstract>

Jurisdiction in International Matrimonial Matters

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