What is international business law?

Written By: R. Kimball

International business law is the practice of law in the global business community. It includes a focus on economics and the law, international commercial transactions, licensing, tariffs and taxes, and many other topics. International business law varies by jurisdiction. It builds on top of basic business law concepts by expanding them to an international arena.

A study of economics and the law gives an attorney an analytical framework for considering legal and economic aspects of a particular policy as it relates to international commercial law. International business law is almost always related to trade or commerce in one way or another. Considering the economic impact of a specific transaction or a policy’s effect on transactions is an important part of this practice area.

Public international law issues affect commerce and trade in a variety of ways. The laws of several different jurisdictions come into play in each transaction. An analysis of the specific laws for each jurisdiction must be completed prior to determining which jurisdiction is best for a given transaction.

Trade agreements have a significant impact on international business law. Two or more countries may join together for a specific trade agreement in order to define certain aspects of commerce or trade. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an example of a trade agreement. It is a trilateral agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada intended to reduce trade and investment barriers between the three countries. These types of agreements exist among many different countries and must be considered as one enters into a new set of commercial transactions.

Licensing of different property rights is a major issue in the field of international business law. A company in one country may develop a specific intellectual property. This company may then have the item produced in a different country, or it may license other companies the right to produce this item in many different countries. As each of these transactions is negotiated, the rights licensed or maintained by each of the different companies are the primary focus of the commercial transaction. The laws in each of the jurisdictions all play into how the transaction is negotiated.

Tariffs, taxes, and other mechanisms for regulating trade vary by jurisdiction. There are usually basic provisions for a country that can be modified by trade agreements among the different countries. These issues must be considered as one negotiates each transaction.

(The article is taken from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-international-business-law.htm)

The issues on capital punishment in the united states

By Steven Reynolds, for Los Angeles Times

Capital punishment in the United States, in practice, applies only for aggravated murder and more rarely for felony murder. Capital punishment was a penalty at common law, for many felonies, and was enforced in all of the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence. Following the American Revolution the Anglo-American common law was maintained in the United States, capital punishment with it.

The methods of execution and the crimes subject to the penalty vary by jurisdiction and have varied widely throughout time. Thirty-two jurisdictions have banned it by law, others have suspended its use, and others are trying to expand its applicability. There were 37 executions in the United States in 2008, the lowest number since 1994 (largely due to lethal injection litigation revolving around a now resolved constitutional question). There were 46 executions in 2010, 44 by lethal injection, one by electric chair (in Virginia), and one by firing squad (in Utah).

Capital punishment has often been a controversial social issue in the United States; while historically, a large majority of the American public has favored it in cases of murder, the extent of this support has varied over time, and there has long been strong opposition from some sectors of the population. While public support today is substantially lower than it was in the 1980s and '90s, it has been largely static over the past decade. A 2010 Gallup poll showed 64% of Americans favored it in cases of murder, while 29% opposed it.

Many prominent organizations and individuals participate in the capital punishment debate. Amnesty International and some religions oppose capital punishment on moral grounds, while the Innocence Project works to free wrongly convicted prisoners, including death row inmates, based on newly available DNA tests. Other groups, such as the Southern Baptists, law enforcement organizations, and some victims' rights groups support capital punishment.

Arguments for and against capital punishment are based on moral, practical, and religious grounds. Advocates of the death penalty argue that it deters crime, is a good tool for prosecutors (in plea bargaining for example), improves the community by eliminating recidivism by executed criminals, provides closure to surviving victims or loved ones, and is a just penalty for the crimes it punishes. Opponents argue that the death penalty is not an effective means of deterring crime, risks the execution of the innocent, is unnecessarily barbaric in nature, is levied disproportionately upon men, racial minorities, and the poor, cheapens human life, and puts a government on the same base moral level as those criminals involved in murder.