Current Research in Law & Practice

The Influence of International Investment Treaties on Environmental and Social Regulation through Regulatory Chill

2025-06-24T05:47:42+08:00

This paper investigates the influence of international investment treaties on domestic environmental and social regulation through the lens of "regulatory chill." Drawing upon a synthesis of theoretical frameworks, empirical studies, and high-profile arbitration cases, the study examines how investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms embedded in international investment agreements deter or dilute regulatory initiatives by states. The research identifies both anticipatory and reactive forms of chill, where governments either preemptively abandon or subsequently alter public interest laws to avoid litigation or reduce exposure to legal liability. Through an integrated analysis of global ISDS claim trends, environmental legislative patterns, and pivotal investor-state disputes—including Vattenfall v. Germany, Lone Pine v. Canada, and Philip Morris v. Uruguay—the paper illustrates how regulatory chill is neither anecdotal nor isolated, but a structurally embedded consequence of the international investment regime. The study concludes that the regulatory autonomy of states, particularly in the Global South, is increasingly compromised by legal mechanisms originally designed to promote investment. It calls for systemic reform, including the rebalancing of treaty provisions to safeguard the public policy space necessary for sustainable development and social equity.

Legal Foundations and Property Rights in China’s Carbon Emissions Trading System

2025-06-24T05:51:53+08:00

Abstract: China’s Carbon Emissions Trading System (ETS) represents a significant step in integrating market-based mechanisms into the country’s climate governance framework. Launched nationally in 2021 after a decade of regional experimentation, the ETS is designed to help achieve China’s dual carbon goals—peaking emissions before 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2060. However, the system’s long-term effectiveness is heavily contingent upon the clarity and maturity of its legal foundations, particularly the definition and protection of property rights related to carbon allowances. This paper explores the legal evolution of China’s ETS, focusing on how administrative measures, environmental laws, and regulatory oversight collectively form its current operational base. It critically examines the legal status of emission allowances, the limits of administrative enforcement, and the implications for market liquidity, financial integration, and investor confidence. Ongoing challenges—such as the lack of a unified carbon trading law, underdeveloped dispute resolution mechanisms, and the ambiguous classification of allowances—are analyzed as part of a dynamic and transitional legal ecosystem. Drawing from both domestic policy discourse and international legal models, the paper offers targeted recommendations for future legal reform aimed at enhancing transparency, legal certainty, and systemic resilience. It concludes that while China’s ETS is still in its formative stage, it is on a positive legal trajectory that could shape the development of carbon markets in other emerging economies.

Study on the Protection Mechanism of Reliance Interests within the Framework of Administrative Compensation

2025-07-02T08:33:15+08:00

In modern rule-of-law societies, the administrative compensation system serves as an essential legal means to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, legal persons, and other organizations. The improvement of this system is directly linked to the realization of social fairness and justice. The protection of reliance interests, as one of the core concepts in the field of administrative compensation, has rich connotations and a broad scope. It concerns the legality and rationality of administrative actions, as well as the reasonable trust that citizens place in such actions. In administrative compensation cases, whether reliance interests are protected is not only related to whether the damaged parties can obtain adequate and reasonable compensation but also to the establishment and maintenance of government credibility and the advancement of building a government based on the rule of law.

Legal Challenges in Attributing Responsibility for Autonomous Driving Accidents

2025-08-18T01:25:10+08:00

The rise of autonomous vehicles (AVs) presents unprecedented legal, ethical, and regulatory challenges to existing frameworks of liability and responsibility. Traditional legal doctrines, built around human agency and fault-based liability, are increasingly strained by the complexity and opacity of machine decision-making systems. This paper examines the fragmented distribution of responsibility across manufacturers, software developers, users, and regulators, and highlights the legal ambiguity that emerges when causality is shared across distributed technical systems. It explores the regulatory and conceptual gaps that hinder effective adjudication, the influence of public moral expectations on the legitimacy of liability frameworks, and the philosophical dilemmas involved in delegating moral judgment to algorithmic systems. Drawing on legal scholarship, empirical studies, and ethical theory, the paper argues for a multi-stakeholder approach to legal reform, one that incorporates hybrid liability models, institutional coordination, and participatory governance. It concludes by advocating for a reconceptualization of responsibility in the age of autonomous mobility—grounded in transparency, fairness, and normative clarity.

The Legal Nature of Digital Collectibles and the Adaptive Challenges of the Civil Law Property System

2025-08-18T01:27:30+08:00

This paper explores the evolving legal nature of digital collectibles, particularly non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the systemic challenges they pose to civil law property regimes. Within civil law traditions, the concept of property is bound by codified categories and the principle of numerus clausus, which restricts recognition to a limited set of property forms. Digital collectibles, by contrast, are decentralized, programmable, and technologically mediated, defying conventional classifications such as tangible movables or intangible rights. This disconnect generates uncertainty regarding their ownership, transferability, inheritance, and enforceability under traditional legal frameworks. The analysis addresses how digital assets undermine the foundational assumptions of possession, registration, and state-backed enforcement. Particular attention is given to the problems of inheritance continuity, token fragmentation, cross-border legal conflicts, and the role of private key control in lieu of legal title. Drawing from emerging theoretical debates and comparative jurisprudence, the paper proposes a trajectory of adaptive legal reform that includes doctrinal reinterpretation, statutory innovation, and the development of interoperable legal-technical standards. The study concludes that civil law systems must reconceptualize the legal object and embrace a pluralistic approach to digital property to ensure institutional relevance in the era of algorithmic ownership.