Unfair Advantage: An Intriguing Example of Legal Transformation in the Swiss Private Law

This paper demonstrates a mixed approach to the theme of the instrumentality of law by both analysing the goal of a legal transformation and the techniques adapted to achieve it. The correct recognition of a certain practical necessity has lead the Swiss Federal Tribunal to an intriguing judgement “Fussballclub Lohn-Fall” of 1997. The legal remedies provided for cases of unfair advantage have been then creatively modified praeter legem. The adaptation was strongly influenced by foreign legal patterns. The Swiss Code of Obligations of 1911 provides a norm in art. 21 on unfair advantage (unconscionable contract), prescribing that if one party takes unjustified advantage over the weaknesses of another in order to receive an excessive benefit, such a contract is avoidable. Its wording has been shaped over a hundred years ago and still remains intact. However, over the course of the 20th century the necessity for a more efficient protection has arisen. The legal doctrine and jurisprudence were constantly pointing out the incompleteness of the remedies provided by art. 21 of the Code of Obligations. In the “Fussballclub Lohn-Fall” (BGE 123 III 292) the Swiss Federal Tribunal finally introduced the possibility to modify the contract. Its decision has been described as “a sign of the zeitgeist, spirit of the time”. It was the Swiss legal doctrine that has imposed the new measure under the influence of the German “quantitative Teilnichtigkeit” (quantitative partial nullity). The historical heritage of the Roman laesio enormis has also played its role.

Rates of organic matter transformation within the production-destruction cycle of the White Sea

Rates of organic matter (OM) transformation within the production-destruction cycle of the White Sea were estimated on the basis of measured activity values of redox enzymes of the electron transport system and of hydrolytic enzymes (phosphatase and protease). It was found that OM oxidation processes were the most intensive in the Kandalaksha Bay, while minimum oxidation rates were characteristic of central parts of the Dvina and Onega bays. It was revealed that the highest rates of phosphate mineralization were characteristic of the central part of the sea and near-mouth areas of the Onega and Kandalaksha bays, with the lowest rates in the Dvina Bay. During the period of intense primary production when resources of inorganic phosphorus were practically depleted, high rates of phosphate regeneration were observed. It was shown that populations of micro- and zooplankton in the White Sea were characterized by low activation energies of the principal metabolism reactions (3-6 kcal/mol), which allowed these populations to provide exchange intensity comparable to that of inhabitants of warm waters during all the seasons.

Maya; a story of Yucatan.

Mode of access: Internet.

Coordinacion alfabetica de las voces del idioma maya que se hallan en el arte y obras del padre fr. Pedro Beltran de Santa Rosa, con las equivalencias castellanas que en las mismas se hallan,

"Coordinación alfabética de la colección de voces de la lengua maya, compuesta por varios autores, hallada en el archivo de libros bautismales del pueblo de Ticul en el año de 1836, copiada en dicho año por Juan Pío Pérez y arreglada en 1847 por el mismo": p. [123-289]

Gramática maya : método teórico práctico /

Mode of access: Internet.

Maya /

Errata inserted at end.

An initial assessment of the literature on the measurement, control, transport, transformation and health effects of urregulated diesel engine emissions /

Final report, January 1979.

Dictionnaire, grammaire et chrestomathie de la langue maya, précédes d'une étude sur le systéme graphique des indigènes du Yuctan (Mexique).

Mode of access: Internet.

Transformation kinetics of plutonium :

"July 18, 1958."

Chan Kom, a Maya village,

Mode of access: Internet.

Transformation of Nine-Accelerometer-Package (NAP) data for replicating headpart kinematics and dynamic loading. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.