Jay Lawrence Westbrook

Legal Integration of NAFTA through Supranational Adjudication

There is a continuing debate about the importance of law to economic development.1 I have come away from that debate with the belief that law is not among the primary factors in development, but does have a material impact. It is even more plausible that law might matter to the evolution of a regional economic union. At the least, most observers would agree that the legal institutions of the European Union have become important in its development. The direction of the causality arrow as between economic and legal integration is fairly debatable, but it is probably an interactive relationship, each element feeding the growth of the other.

Economic Versus Sociological Approaches to Legal Research: The Case of Bankruptcy@@@As We Forgive Our Debtors: Bankruptcy and Consumer Credit in America

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The Use of Empirical Data in Formulating Bankruptcy Policy

250,000 study may be the most extensive empirical study of consumer bankruptcy ever undertaken, taking some six years to conduct. The authors describe the law and the statistics in clear, nontechnical language, combining a thorough statistical description of the social and economic position of consumer bankrupts with human portraits of the debtors and creditors whose journey has ended in bankruptcy court. The book devotes several chapters to hidden sub-groups in bankruptcy. One focuses on women, analyzing the desperate financial circumstances of single women and the increasing pressure on one-income families. Another reveals that more than half of the bankrupts are homeowners and discusses the anomalies in the way they are treated by current law. Other chapters examine the surprising role of medical debts in financial collapse and give a new account of the financial pressures on small businesses. The book also provides a detailed analysis of the position of various types of creditors of bankrupt persons.

Une prospérité précaire [Sur les situations financières critiques dans la classe moyenne]

Copyright ? 1987 by Law and Contemporary Problems The authors acknowledge the assistance of Grant No. R-0015 (Urban Studies Program) and No. R-0009 (National Policy Program) from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, Policy Research Institute of the University of Texas. Completion of this article was facilitated by support from National Science Foundation Grant No. SES-8310173. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Corporate Formalism in a Global Economy

Les annees 1990 ont ete une periode de grande prosperite aux Etats-Unis et cependant les faillites ont, paradoxalement, augmente de facon importante durant cette periode.Cette etude analyse les donnees fournies par des questionnaires aupres de menages endettes, afin de comprendre les raisons de leur faillite. Les problemes d’emploi ont ete la cause principale de leur endettement, mais le divorce, la sante, les problemes de logement et de cartes de credit ont egalement ete des causes importantes. Les endettes appartiennent a la classe moyenne et ont un niveau d’etudes superieures legerement plus important que la moyenne de la population. La recherche suggere qu’un grand nombre d’Americains pourraient etre en situation financiere precaire en raison de niveaux d’endettement eleves. En l’absence d’un fort systeme de protection sociale, l’endettement fonctionne aux Etats-Unis comme un filet de securite. De breves comparaisons sur l’endettement sont faites avec l’Europe et le Canada.

The Consumer Casualties of Capitalism@@@As We Forgive Our Debtors: Bankruptcy and Consumer Credit in America.

Cross-border insolvency cases are at the cutting edge of international litigation of all kinds. They are generating remarkable developments in doctrine and in systems cooperation. In re Nortel importantly develops a new and important approach to corporate groups that may compel pro rata distribution of certain assets to all creditors of the group while avoiding any overall equitable subordination or piercing of the corporate veil. Yet the case also demonstrates that deference to the corporate form within an integrated group of corporations can result in very expensive litigation, especially in multinational cases. A major issue that results is allocation of group value among creditors. Procedurally, Nortel’s achievements in a value-maximizing global sale of assets and joint judicial proceedings across national borders represent a rejection of territorialism and reveal the enormous advantages of modified universalism in cross-border cases.

As We Forgive Our Debtors: Bankruptcy and Consumer Credit in America

In 1986 over 400,000 Americans filed for bankruptcy. Their contribution to the USAs growing debt crisis is indicative of the changing economic climate in the country. This study aims to uncover the legal, economic and social reasons for bankruptcy in America. Besides stories of single mothers, unlucky entrepreneurs, foolish investors and the suddenly unemployed, are the stories of those who deliberately attempt to manipulate the system through legal loopholes. The authors examine these stories from a moral, as well as financial, viewpoint and suggest legal reforms that could point to a way out of the economic jungle.