This book presents a broad range of aspects of Austrian law and legal culture for the purpose of comparison with other legal systems. In its second revised and enlarged edition it treats the following subjects: Political history the Constitution Sources and interpretation of law The political system Austria and the European Union Legal education and legal professions the courts Administrative adjudication Constitutional review Fundamental rights Criminal procedure Civil procedure The Austrian civil code Private law Labour law Civil law tradition These characteristic features have been selected in order to acquaint the foreign observer with some of the defining elements of Austrian law and legal development. Austrian students and practitioners, too, may find this approach helpful when it comes to explaining their law to others.

With its legacy as the centre of one of the greatest empires of modern history, Austriaè^--s legal system has for long been enormously influential worldwide. A European Union Member State since 1995, Austria continues to enjoy its role as a major centre of international business and tourism. Austria has also become host to numerous international organisations.

A comparative analysis of security rights in insolvency proceedings under the main legal traditions of the European Union (common law, Germanic, Napoleonic Code and East European) in the context of Articles 5 and 13 of the European Insolvency Regulation Regulation 1346/2000.

This two-volume book, published open access, brings together leading scholars of constitutional law from twenty-nine European countries to revisit the role of national constitutions at a time when decision-making has increasingly shifted to the European and transnational level. It offers important insights into three areas. First, it explores how constitutions reflect the transfer of powers from domestic to European and global institutions. Secondly, it revisits substantive constitutional values, such as the protection of constitutional rights, the rule of law, democratic participation and constitutional review, along with constitutional court judgments that tackle the protection of these rights and values in the transnational context, e.g. with regard to the Data Retention Directive, the European Arrest Warrant, the ESM Treaty, and EU and IMF austerity measures. The responsiveness of the ECJ regarding the above rights and values, along with the standard of protection, is also assessed. Thirdly, challenges in the context of global governance in relation to judicial review, democratic control and accountability are examined. On a broader level, the contributors were also invited to reflect on what has increasingly been described as the erosion or ‘twilight’ of constitutionalism, or a shift to a thin version of the rule of law, democracy and judicial review in the context of Europeanisation and globalisation processes. The national reports are complemented by a separately published comparative study, which identifies a number of broader trends and challenges that are shared across several Member States and warrant wider discussion. The research for this publication and the comparative study were carried out within the framework of the ERC-funded project ‘The Role and Future of National Constitutions in European and Global Governance’. The book is aimed at scholars, researchers, judges and legal advisors working on the interface between national constitutional law and EU and transnational law. The extradition cases are also of interest to scholars and practitioners in the field of criminal law. Anneli Albi is Professor of European Law at the University of Kent, United Kingdom. Samo Bardutzky is Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The original contributions to the Research Handbook provide an introduction to the application of Austrian economics to law. The book begins with chapters on the methodology of law and economics. Further chapters discuss key concepts in Austrian economics – dynamic competitive processes, spontaneous order, subjective value, entrepreneurship, and the limited nature of individual knowledge – as they relate to topics in evolutionary law (social rules, self-governance, dispute resolution) and basic law (torts, antitrust, civil procedure, business and family law).

This book presents a broad range of aspects of Austrian law & legal culture for the purpose of comparison with other legal systems. It treats the following subjects: political history, the Constitution, sources & interpretation of law, the political system, Austria & the European Union, legal education & professions, the courts, administrative adjudication, constitutional review, fundamental rights, criminal procedure, the civil law tradition, & the Austrian Civil Code. These characteristic features have been selected in order to acquaint the foreign observer with some of the defining elements of Austrian law & legal development. Austrian students & practitioners, too, may find this approach helpful when it comes to explaining their law to others.

Reprint of the second revised and enlarged edition, a complete revision of the first edition published in 1934. A landmark in the development of modern jurisprudence, the pure theory of law defines law as a system of coercive norms created by the state that rests on the validity of a generally accepted Grundnorm, or basic norm, such as the supremacy of the Constitution. Entirely self-supporting, it rejects any concept derived from metaphysics, politics, ethics, sociology, or the natural sciences. Beginning with the medieval reception of Roman law, traditional jurisprudence has maintained a dual system of "subjective" law (the rights of a person) and "objective" law (the system of norms). Throughout history this dualism has been a useful tool for putting the law in the service of politics, especially by rulers or dominant political parties. The pure theory of law destroys this dualism by replacing it with a unitary system of objective positive law that is insulated from political manipulation. Possibly the most influential jurisprudent of the twentieth century, Hans Kelsen [1881-1973] was legal adviser to Austria's last emperor and its first republican government, the founder and permanent advisor of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Austria, and the author of Austria's Constitution, which was enacted in 1920, abolished during the Anschluss, and restored in 1945. The author of more than forty books on law and legal philosophy, he is best known for this work and General Theory of Law and State. Also active as a teacher in Europe and the United States, he was Dean of the Law Faculty of the University of Vienna and taught at the universities of Cologne and Prague, the Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Harvard, Wellesley, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Naval War College. Also available in cloth.