Cognitive biases play a fundamental part in franchisor-franchisee deal making. Ordinarily, franchisors have more power and information than do franchisees. The disparity between these parties is often exacerbated by the franchisees' psychological dispositions. Are franchisees biased or...

Commentators and lawmakers have called attention to the rising frequency of contractual arbitration as a non-negotiable condition of many relationships. Indeed, it is a rare individual who is not subject to at least one pre-dispute, binding arbitration agreement. This Article studies common...

The protection afforded to franchisees differs widely across the world. Nations with economically strong franchise sectors typically regulate the contract’s bargaining phase and post-formation. Responding to the European Parliament’s call for a review of regulations governing Europe’s...

Could North Korea (officially, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) actually become Northeast Asia’s next big free market economy? At first blush, economic optimism about the Hermit Kingdom seems incredibly misplaced. North Korea is one of the most repressive countries in the world;...

Courts are rarely asked to judge beauty. Such a subjective practice would normally be anathema to the ideal of objective legal standards. However, one area of federal law has a long tradition of explicitly requiring courts to make aesthetic decisions: the law of design. New designs may be...

This chapter considers the landmark status of the House of Lords in Thorner v Major [2009] UKHL 18, understanding it as an example of story-telling in the law. The chapter explores the issues surrounding the equitable doctrine of proprietary estoppel, as it applies in particular in the context...

This article addresses the approach of the law of equity to the problem of third party undue influence in the context of bank guarantees. It considers the decision of the Irish High Court in Ulster Bank v Fitzgerald and its relationship to the approach of English law, as represented by Barclays...

This article considers the situation where a family home has been purchased in joint names, without any express declaration of the beneficial interests. The courts have interpreted the applicable equitable doctrines so as to make it very difficult for a defendant to resist a claim by his or her...

This article considers the new Irish legislative scheme for cohabitants, contained in Part 15 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010. The article discusses the background to the legislation, noting the increase in the prevalence of cohabitation in...

What does the law presume when it is proven simply that one person has made a payment of money to another? Surprisingly, there are three candidate answers to this question. First, a number of nineteenth-century authorities hold that ‘when money is paid by one man to another the legal...