A reserva legal das cooperativas

Este artigo visa contribuir para o conhecimento do regime jurídico da reserva legal das cooperativas no direito português...

A (des)necessidade do conceito de capital social no direito societário brasileiro: uma análise à luz do direito norte-americano e europeu

O trabalho analisa o tema do capital social no direito societário brasileiro. Seu objetivo é demonstrar, do ponto de vista jurídico, os malefícios e benefícios que o instituto promove. Apesar de ser tido como um conceito clássico e essencial para as sociedades com limitação de responsabilidade no Brasil, esse instituto vem sendo cada vez mais criticado no sentido de que não desempenha suas funções clássicas (organização, produção, e proteção de credores) de maneira efetiva nos dias atuais. Nesse contexto, direito societário moderno vem passando por uma evolução no sentido de questionar a efetividade de seus institutos. A análise aqui proposta do capital social segue esse raciocínio. Para auxiliar na interpretação do instituto no Brasil, serão utilizadas serão estudadas as lições e legislações dos ordenamentos europeu e norte-americano, onde o tema já foi amplamente debatido. O tratamento dado pelo Revised Model Business Corporation Act, legislação modelo norte americana, e da Segunda Diretiva do Capital da União Europeia aos instituto serão comparados com o tratamento da Lei das S.A. para o capital social. Por fim, são identificadas algumas particularidades do instituto do capital social em relação aos ordenamentos estrangeiros, que demonstram que uma eventual supressão do conceito de capital social no Brasil possuiria características próprias que não estão presentes na Europa e nos Estados Unidos. Nesse contexto, serão identificados os custos legislativos que uma eventual mudança do regime de capital social teria no sistema legislativo brasileiro.

Capital 2.0 capital formation and legal risk in a new global economic order from fiat to exit: including case studies of the proposed transatlantic trade and investment partnership between the United States and the European Union and the financing relation between the United States and the People’s Republic of China

Following the intrinsically linked balance sheets in his Capital Formation Life Cycle, Lukas M. Stahl explains with his Triple A Model of Accounting, Allocation and Accountability the stages of the Capital Formation process from FIAT to EXIT. Based on the theoretical foundations of legal risk laid by the International Bar Association with the help of Roger McCormick and legal scholars such as Joanna Benjamin, Matthew Whalley and Tobias Mahler, and founded on the basis of Wesley Hohfeld’s category theory of jural relations, Stahl develops his mutually exclusive Four Determinants of Legal Risk of Law, Lack of Right, Liability and Limitation. Those Four Determinants of Legal Risk allow us to apply, assess, and precisely describe the respective legal risk at all stages of the Capital Formation Life Cycle as demonstrated in case studies of nine industry verticals of the proposed and currently negotiated Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the United States of America and the European Union, TTIP, as well as in the case of the often cited financing relation between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Having established the Four Determinants of Legal Risk and its application to the Capital Formation Life Cycle, Stahl then explores the theoretical foundations of capital formation, their historical basis in classical and neo-classical economics and its forefathers such as The Austrians around Eugen von Boehm-Bawerk, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek and most notably and controversial, Karl Marx, and their impact on today’s exponential expansion of capital formation. Starting off with the first pillar of his Triple A Model, Accounting, Stahl then moves on to explain the Three Factors of Capital Formation, Man, Machines and Money and shows how “value-added” is created with respect to the non-monetary capital factors of human resources and industrial production. Followed by a detailed analysis discussing the roles of the Three Actors of Monetary Capital Formation, Central Banks, Commercial Banks and Citizens Stahl readily dismisses a number of myths regarding the creation of money providing in-depth insight into the workings of monetary policy makers, their institutions and ultimate beneficiaries, the corporate and consumer citizens. In his second pillar, Allocation, Stahl continues his analysis of the balance sheets of the Capital Formation Life Cycle by discussing the role of The Five Key Accounts of Monetary Capital Formation, the Sovereign, Financial, Corporate, Private and International account of Monetary Capital Formation and the associated legal risks in the allocation of capital pursuant to his Four Determinants of Legal Risk. In his third pillar, Accountability, Stahl discusses the ever recurring Crisis-Reaction-Acceleration-Sequence-History, in short: CRASH, since the beginning of the millennium starting with the dot-com crash at the turn of the millennium, followed seven years later by the financial crisis of 2008 and the dislocations in the global economy we are facing another seven years later today in 2015 with several sordid debt restructurings under way and hundred thousands of refugees on the way caused by war and increasing inequality. Together with the regulatory reactions they have caused in the form of so-called landmark legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, the JOBS Act of 2012 or the introduction of the Basel Accords, Basel II in 2004 and III in 2010, the European Financial Stability Facility of 2010, the European Stability Mechanism of 2012 and the European Banking Union of 2013, Stahl analyses the acceleration in size and scope of crises that appears to find often seemingly helpless bureaucratic responses, the inherent legal risks and the complete lack of accountability on part of those responsible. Stahl argues that the order of the day requires to address the root cause of the problems in the form of two fundamental design defects of our Global Economic Order, namely our monetary and judicial order. Inspired by a 1933 plan of nine University of Chicago economists abolishing the fractional reserve system, he proposes the introduction of Sovereign Money as a prerequisite to void misallocations by way of judicial order in the course of domestic and transnational insolvency proceedings including the restructuring of sovereign debt throughout the entire monetary system back to its origin without causing domino effects of banking collapses and failed financial institutions. In recognizing Austrian-American economist Schumpeter’s Concept of Creative Destruction, as a process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one, Stahl responds to Schumpeter’s economic chemotherapy with his Concept of Equitable Default mimicking an immunotherapy that strengthens the corpus economicus own immune system by providing for the judicial authority to terminate precisely those misallocations that have proven malignant causing default perusing the century old common law concept of equity that allows for the equitable reformation, rescission or restitution of contract by way of judicial order. Following a review of the proposed mechanisms of transnational dispute resolution and current court systems with transnational jurisdiction, Stahl advocates as a first step in order to complete the Capital Formation Life Cycle from FIAT, the creation of money by way of credit, to EXIT, the termination of money by way of judicial order, the institution of a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Court constituted by a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of International Trade and the European Court of Justice by following the model of the EFTA Court of the European Free Trade Association. Since the first time his proposal has been made public in June of 2014 after being discussed in academic circles since 2011, his or similar proposals have found numerous public supporters. Most notably, the former Vice President of the European Parliament, David Martin, has tabled an amendment in June 2015 in the course of the negotiations on TTIP calling for an independent judicial body and the Member of the European Commission, Cecilia Malmström, has presented her proposal of an International Investment Court on September 16, 2015. Stahl concludes, that for the first time in the history of our generation it appears that there is a real opportunity for reform of our Global Economic Order by curing the two fundamental design defects of our monetary order and judicial order with the abolition of the fractional reserve system and the introduction of Sovereign Money and the institution of a democratically elected Transatlantic Trade and Investment Court that commensurate with its jurisdiction extending to cases concerning the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership may complete the Capital Formation Life Cycle resolving cases of default with the transnational judicial authority for terminal resolution of misallocations in a New Global Economic Order without the ensuing dangers of systemic collapse from FIAT to EXIT.

Inhibiting outrage: tactics and counter-tactics in legal cases of sexual harassment

Sexual harassment can be conceptualised as an interaction between harassers and targets. Utilising 23 detailed legal transcripts, this study explored evidence of a range of perpetrator tactics and target counter-tactics. These tactics can be readily fitted into the backfire framework, which proposes that powerful perpetrators of perceived unjust acts are likely to cover up the actions, devalue the target, reinterpret the events, use official channels to give an appearance of justice, and intimidate or bribe people involved. Targets can respond using counter-tactics of exposure, validation, reframing, mobilisation of support, and resistance. The findings have implications for raising awareness of harassing tactics and recommendations for effective informal responses in organisations.

The paradox of transparency : short-termism and the institutionalisation of Australian capital markets

As the ultimate corporate decision-makers, directors have an impact on the investment time horizons of the corporations they govern. How they make investment decisions has been profoundly influenced by the expansion of the investment chain and the increasing concentration of share ownership in institutional hands. By examining agency in light of legal theory, we highlight that the board is in fact sui generis and not an agent of shareholders. Consequently, transparency can lead to directors being 'captured' by institutional investor objectives and timeframes, potentially to the detriment of the corporation as a whole. The counter-intuitive conclusion is that transparency may, under certain conditions, undermine good corporate governance and lead to excessive short-termism.

The home stigma : adverse selection in ADRs and the home capital market environment

We investigate whether characteristics of the home country capital environment, such as information disclosure and investor rights protection continue to affect ADRs cross-listed in the U.S. Using microstructure measures as proxies for adverse selection, we find that characteristics of the home markets continue to be relevant, especially for emerging market firms. Less transparent disclosure, poorer protection of investor rights and weaker legal institutions are associated with higher levels of information asymmetry. Developed market firms appear to be affected by whether or not home business laws are common law or civil law legal origin. Our finding contributes to the bonding literature. It suggests that cross-listing in the U.S. should not be viewed as a substitute for improvement in the quality of local institutions, and attention must be paid to improve investor protection in order to achieve the full benefits of improved disclosure. Improvement in the domestic capital market environment can attract more investors even for U.S. cross-listed firms.

An evaluation of the Australian Capital Territory Sexual Assault Reform Program (SARP): Final Report

In 2005 the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) produced a report, Responding to sexual assault: The challenge of change (DPP & AFP 2005), which made 105 recommendations for reforming the way sexual offence cases are handled by the ACT’s criminal justice system. The Sexual Assault Reform Program (SARP) is one key initiative developed in response to these recommendations. Managed by the ACT Justice and Community Safety Directorate (JACS), SARP’s main objective is to improve aspects of the criminal justice system relating to: processes and support for victims of sexual offences as they progress through the system; attrition in sexual offence matters in the criminal justice system; and coordination and collaboration among the agencies involved. In November 2007 the ACT Attorney-General announced $4 million of funding for several SARP reforms. This funding provided for additional victim support staff; a dedicated additional police officer, prosecutor and legal policy officer; and an upgrade of equipment for the Supreme Court and Magistrates Court, including improvements in technology to assist witnesses in giving evidence, and the establishment of an off-site facility to allow witnesses to give evidence from a location outside of the court. In addition, the reform agenda included a number of legislative amendments that changed how evidence can be given by victims of sexual and family violence offences, children and other vulnerable witnesses. The primary objectives of these legislative changes are to provide an unintimidating, safe environment for vulnerable witnesses (including sexual offence complainants) to give evidence and to obtain prompt statements from witnesses to improve the quality of evidence captured (DPP 2009: 13). The current evaluation The funding for SARP reforms also provided for a preliminary evaluation of the reforms; this report outlines findings from the evaluation. The evaluation sought to address whether the program has met its key objectives: better support for victims, lower attrition rates and improved coordination and collaboration among agencies involved in administering SARP. The evaluation was conducted in two stages and involved a mixed-methods approach. During stage 1 key indicators for the evaluation were developed with stakeholders. During stage 2 quantitative data were collected by stakeholders and provided to the AIC for analysis. Qualitative interviews were also conducted with service delivery providers, and with a small number (n=5) of victim/survivors of sexual offences whose cases had recently been resolved in the ACT criminal justice system. The current evaluation is preliminary in nature. As the SARP reforms will take time to become entrenched within the ACT’s criminal justice system, some of the impacts of the reforms may not yet be evident. Nonetheless, this evaluation provides an insight into how well the SARP reforms have been implemented to date, as well as key areas that could be addressed in the future. Key findings from the preliminary evaluation are outlined briefly below.

Protective legal regulation for home-based workers in Australian textile, clothing and footwear supply chains

Supply chain outsourcing has posed problems for conventional labour regulation, which focuses on employers contracting directly with workers, particularly employees. These difficulties have been exacerbated by the traditional trifurcated approach to regulation of pay and conditions, work health and safety and workers’ compensation. This paper analyses the parallel interaction of two legal developments within the Australian textile, clothing and footwear industry. The first is mandatory contractual tracking mechanisms within state and federal labour laws and the second is the duties imposed by the harmonised Work Health and Safety Acts. Their combined effect has created an innovative, fully enforceable and integrated regulatory framework for the textile, clothing and footwear industry and, it is argued, other supply chains in different industry contexts. This paper highlights how regulatory solutions can address adverse issues for workers at the bottom of contractual networks, such as fissured workplaces and capital fragmentation, by enabling regulators to harness the commercial power of business controllers at the apex to ensure compliance throughout the entire chain.

Child Abuse and Neglect: A Socio-legal Study of Mandatory Reporting in Australia - Report for the ACT Government

This report presents the results of a study exploring the law and practice of mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect in the Australian Capital Territory. Government administrative data over a decade (2003-2012) were accessed and analysed to map trends in reporting of different types of child abuse and neglect (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect) by different reporter groups (both mandated reporters e.g., police, teachers, doctors, nurses depending on the jurisdiction, and non-mandated reporters e.g., family members, neighbours, depending on the jurisdiction), and the outcomes of these reports (whether investigated, and whether substantiated or not). The study was funded by the Australian Government and administered through the Government of Victoria.

La reinserción social de los ex-presidiarios en la Argentina de las primeras décadas del siglo XX : algunos comentarios biográficos sobre Jorge H. Frías, fundador del Patronato de Liberados y Excarcelados de la Capital Federal

Resumen: Este trabajo pretende avanzar sobre una problemática escasamente abordada por la historiografía jurídica y social argentina: la reinserción social de los egresados de las prisiones. Así, partiendo de la utilidad que tienen para la historiografía los estudios biográficos y de instituciones penitenciarias y post-penitenciarias, analizaremos algunos aspectos de la labor profesional de Jorge H. Frías, distinguido jurista, presidente de la Cámara de Apelaciones en lo Criminal y Correccional y fundador en 1918 de la primera institución de reinserción social de la Argentina: el Patronato de Liberados y Excarcelados de la Capital Federal. Esperamos que este breve trabajo contribuya a alentar la realización de otros estudios sobre diferentes aspectos del universo penitenciario argentino (directores de presidios, viajeros penitenciarios, congresos penitenciarios nacionales e internacionales, revistas de los funcionarios de prisiones, etc.) que aún hoy en día permanecen desconocidos.

La creación de spin-offs universitarias en la universidad española: marco legal

La creación, consolidación y proliferación de spin-offs universitarias requiere que se cumplan una serie de requisitos previos: inversión en I+D que contribuya a crear nuevas oportunidades tecnológicas; capital-riesgo para financiar las primeras etapas de desarrollo de una spin-off; una cultura favorable al emprendizaje en el entorno universitario; programas específicos de apoyo a la creación de spin-offs; un marco regulatorio-institucional que favorezca la I+D+i, la protección de la propiedad intelectual y la aproximación de los investigadores al mundo empresarial. En este artículo se analiza la reciente y previsible evolución del marco legal para la creación de spin-offs en la universidad española.

Soberania e acumulação de capital: uma análise crítica de Hugo Grotius, Pasquale Mancini e Hans Kelsen

A soberania já foi conceituada de diversos modos ao longo da história. Apesar disso, não deixou de ser a categoria mais elementar do direito internacional; expressando o fundamento de atuação dos Estados, foi através da soberania que o direito internacional se desenvolveu do Século XVII até os dias de hoje. Isso evidencia uma distinção entre o conteúdo da soberania, quer dizer, o seu modo de manifestação, o seu conceito, que se altera em cada período histórico, de um lado, e, do outro, a forma jurídica internacional expressa pela soberania, que se mantém intacta e que existe independentemente do conteúdo que lhe é dado, quer dizer, o lugar que ela ocupa no direito internacional. Através da análise do conceito de soberania fornecido por três autores clássicos de diferentes períodos históricos Hugo Grotius, Pasquale Mancini e Hans Kelsen o presente trabalho tem por objetivo demonstrar o caráter ideológico de cada teoria e, conseqüentemente, sua inexatidão. Para fazê-lo, foi adotado o método materialista dialético, através do qual a produção de idéias por parte do homem deve ser observada nos limites das suas condições de existência e as idéias produzidas como um reflexo consciente do mundo real. Cuida-se, assim, de observar o direito de superioridade afirmado por Grotius nos limites das condições de existência humana que se alteravam com a transição do feudalismo para capitalismo, e extrai-se o seu sentido da luta entre a Igreja e os monarcas que iam centralizando sob si o poder. Da mesma forma, observa-se o direito de nacionalidade de Mancini sob as condições de existência propiciadas pelo amadurecimento das classes sociais do capitalismo na Europa Ocidental como fruto da Revolução Industrial, extraindo-se seu sentido das lutas revolucionárias por libertação nacional que ali se desenrolavam. O caráter essencialmente limitado da soberania de Kelsen, enfim, será observado no contexto da passagem do capitalismo para sua época imperialista, como um reflexo consciente dos desenvolvimentos experimentados pelo direito internacional no fim do Século XIX e início do Século XX, após a Primeira Guerra Mundial. Assim, além de demonstrar o caráter ideológico e a inexatidão dos conceitos mencionados, busca-se demonstrar que o conteúdo da soberania em cada período histórico analisado encontra sua razão de ser na correspondente fase de desenvolvimento do capitalismo e que a forma jurídica soberania, isto é, o lugar que ela ocupa no direito internacional, é determinado pela necessidade do capitalismo de um instrumento de força que assegure a acumulação de capital, o Estado soberano.

Habitação social e fundo público no contexto de crise do capital

Compreender o financiamento da habitação social requer identificar as mediações necessárias para sua problematização crítica. Orientado pelo método marxista, o estudo utiliza como metodologia a pesquisa bibliográfica, de documentos legais e o estudo das peças orçamentárias. A produção do espaço no capitalismo é produto de relações sociais voltadas a exploração e a acumulação capitalista. Por ser objeto da luta de classes, o Estado responde as necessidades habitacionais dos trabalhadores por meio de políticas urbanas fragmentadas e desfinanciadas, abertas as investida do mercado. A institucionalização do arcabouço legal para a habitação, como a conquista do Fundo Nacional de Habitação de Interesse Social - FNHIS não representou mudanças efetivas sobre as condições de moradia nas cidades. Marcado pelo desfinanciamento (os recursos corresponderam a 1,3% do orçamento do Ministério das Cidades, em 2012) e pela baixa envergadura dos programas sob sua responsabilidade (recursos para Urbanização de Assentamentos Precários e Provisão Habitacional ficaram em R$ 4,7 bilhões, nos anos estudados), o FNHIS é esvaziado no seu sentido político de satisfazer as necessidades habitacionais da população. Em 2009, é criado o Programa Minha Casa Minha Vida - PMCMV. Há o incremento do Estado como indutor da macroeconomia fortalecedora da reestruturação do mercado imobiliário e das medidas para minimizar os efeitos da crise econômica mundial, pondo em marcha o social-liberalismo. Foram destinados R$ 16 bilhões de 2009 a 2012, com produção de 2 milhões de unidades habitacionais pelo PMCMV. Contudo, pelo caráter privilegiador do produtor privado, o PMCMV fez com que o mercado imobiliário continuasse a realizar a punção de parte de fundo público no desenvolvimento de projetos que fortalecem a periferização, o bloqueio a cidade para os trabalhadores e a redução a responsabilidade do Estado sob a política de habitação social como direito humano.