Mads Bryde Andersen

Financial Crises and Danish Contract Law: No Room for Hardship

Danish law recognizes a number of modifications to the pacta sunt servanda rule. When such modifications apply, a promisor may be relieved, in whole or part, of its obligation to perform as originally agreed. Due to the emphasis usually placed on pragmatic considerations in Danish law (which goes hand in hand with a lack of legal formalism in our legal system), the various recognized exceptions to pacta sunt servanda – both statutory and otherwise – sometimes tend to overlap. So although it seems appropriate in a comparative context to provide a schematic (point by point) presentation of these exceptions – e.g. with specific focus on exceptions related to the possible effects of financial crises (“Hardship”) – account must also be taken of their interaction in Danish legal theory and practice, not least because Danish courts do not always specify the exact legal principle which they apply when holding that a contractual provision is not binding.

DIGITAL EVIDENCE: THE EVIDENTIARY WEIGHT OF DIGITAL DOCUMENTS

Abstract In early 1999, The Danish government IT Security Council adopted a set of guidelines on the evidentiary weight of digital documents. Among other things, these guidelines set forth recommendations on how to introduce the paper-less office in public administration and private businesses, for example by scanning and shredding paper documents. In the following, the chair of the IT Security Council, Report Correspondent Professor Mads Bryde Andersen, introduces these guidelines and their intended purposes and describes the working process that brought them into being. The full text of the project, including a number of legal and technical annexes, can be found in Danish on: www.it-sikkerhedsraadet-dk .

The Role of Government in creating the IT security infrastructure

The author of this paper has been the chairman of the Danish IT Security Council since it was established in 1995. He has also worked closely with the Ministry of Research and Information Technology on a Danish draft act on Digital Signatures. The paper reports of some political experiences in creating an IT security infrastruture; experiences which might very well also be envisaged by other countries. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the IT Security Council or the Danish Government.

Current legal protection for computer programs

Abstract There are three contributions in this section from Europe. The first reviews the current state of Yugoslav law on software protection as it attempts to line up with prevailing international opinion. The next two articles report on developments in Scandinavia in reform of software protection law and an assessment of the Danish Semiconductor Chip Protection Act which became law at the end of 1987.