This book provides a nuanced picture of how diverse legal debates on the pursuit of economic development and modernization have played out in Latin America since independence. The opposing concepts of modernization theory and Dependency Theory can be seen to be playing out within the field of legal transformation, as some legal analysts define law as a closed, formal, rational system, and others see law as inseparable from economic, social and political change. Legal experiments have followed these trends, in some cases using legal instruments to guarantee classical, civil and political rights, and in others demanding radical transformation of existing legal structures. This book traces these debates across the key topics of: economic development and foreign investment; property; resource and power distribution in terms of gender and social policy. Drawing on a wide range of literature, the book adds complexity and color to our understanding of these themes in Latin America. This insightful exploration of comparative law within Latin America provides the tools needed to understand legal transformation in the region, and as such will be of interest to researchers within law, political sociology, development and Latin American studies.

Textbook on law and jurisprudence in Latin America, including an interdisciplinary research analysis of the legal aspects of economic development - covers land reform, commercial law responses to inflation, the role of the courts, etc., includes a case study of legal institutional frameworks in the caracas urban area slums in Venezuela, and provides historical background. References.

Some Latin American countries are experiencing unprecedented sustained economic growth while others stagnate. Yet, these nations have much to offer to the rest of the world, materially and spiritually. The two volumes of Latin American Company Law aim to create a better understanding of Latin America's company law as a tool for harnessing development capital, local and foreign, and for developing a broader class of traders, investors, lenders and corporate managers. In pursuing these goals, the authors and editors share a belief in a comparative analysis that the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade (NLCIFT) refers to as 'contextual': legal institutions are examined not only in light of the legal system to which they belong but also as a product of their normative purposes and socio-economic environment. Thus, prospective investors in and lenders to Latin America as well as their legal and economic advisors will learn about the legal and cultural or institutional obstacles to capital formation and financing, especially at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Company lawyers, bankers, law and economic development scholars and teachers, corporate and financial regulators and officials of multinational development and lending agencies world-wide will find much of interest in the reasons, and in some instances, cures for: a) the lack of secured or asset-based lending, b) unnecessary formalities, c) emerging limits to limited liability, d) protection of minority shareholders, e) challenges of disproportional ownership, and f) regulation or non-regulation of large corporate groups. Readers will learn how uniform legislation on the new (largely electronic) patterns of holding corporate securities could be successfully drafted. They will also learn why they should not legislate and/or regulate on limited liability companies and mutual funds using the Spanish models. They will also profit from knowing about the increasing use of company arbitration in Latin America and Spain and about the promising efforts to attain simplicity and uniformity in European private company law. These features are so important in a globalized marketplace that the entire second volume is devoted to the most successful experiment in recent memory to simplify and liberalize the creation and operation of corporations in Latin America.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to law and policy responses to contemporary problems in Latin America, such as human rights violations, regulatory dilemmas, economic inequality, and access to knowledge and medicine. It includes 19 chapters written by sociologists, lawyers, and political scientists on the transformations of courts, institutions and rights protection in Latin America, all of which stem from presentations at conferences in Oxford and UCL organised by the editors. The contributors present original analyses based on rigorous research, innovative case-studies, and interdisciplinary perspectives, all written in an accessible style. Topics include the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, institutional design, financial regulation, competition, discrimination, gender quotas, police violence, orphan works, healthcare, and environmental protection, among others. The book will be of interest to students and scholars interested in policymaking, public law, and development.