10 THE ITALIAN LAW JOURNAL NOS. 1-2 (2024) SHORT SYMPOSIUM ON ‘COMPARATIVE LEGAL METRICS’ Comparative Legal Metrics: An Introduction by G. Napolitano
_____________________________ Legal Metrics: Getting the Measure of Good Governance by R. Brownsword This article draws on the discussion in my recent book, Technology, Humans, and Discontent with Law. It highlights five questions about law’s imperfect governance. These questions concern: the breadth of our (old-fashioned) discontent with law’s governance; the depth of such discontent; the root causes of this discontent […] ____________________________ Legal Metrics Extracted from Court Decisions. A Focus on Personal Injury Compensation by C. Quézel-Ambrunaz and V. Rivollier This article explores the extraction of legal metrics from court decisions, with a focus on personal injury compensation in France. It begins by discussing the challenges of accessing and structuring data from judicial decisions, highlighting legal and non-legal barriers. Despite recent legislative efforts to open up access to judicial decisions as open data, […] _____________________________ The Power of Numbers and the Role of Law: On the Way to the Global Accountability of Transnational Actors? by G. Resta The quantification of performance has everywhere become a tool of governance, an instrument capable of influencing the behaviour of individuals and other entities, and thus a potent source of power. How does (or should) the law regulate the exercise of such power? This paper addresses this question by providing a comparative overview of recent regulatory trends. […] ESSAYS Rule of Law: A Normative Ideal and Its Implications for the Italian Public Administration by E. Chiti and G. Palombella The article discusses the relevance of the Rule of Law for the Italian public administration. It opens by observing that the Rule of Law is a more demanding notion than usually assumed in the Italian discourse, a normative ideal encapsulating a specific and challenging rationale. More precisely, the rationale of the Rule of Law as a normative ideal is to be found in the beneficial tension [...] _____________________________ Platform Work and Trade Union Participation: European and American Perspectives by M. Delfino and C. Szymanski This contribution analyses the role of trade unions in regulating platform work in the European Union and the United States. First, a review of the situation in the EU is provided. The proposal for a directive on platform work of 2021, whose latest version was addressed in March 2024, is examined, placing it in a broader context since the European Union […] ____________________________ Build to Suit Real Estate Transactions Facing Legal Issues in Italy by C. Di Palma The paper examines certain salient legal issues relating to ‘build-to-suit’ real estate transactions, whereby a professional developer purchases a plot of land from a seller and, contextually, agrees to lease the asset to be developed on said plot to one or more tenants. Although the agreements are interrelated per se (BTS transactions squarely fall within the definition of ‘operazione economica’) […] _____________________________ The United States Supreme Court and the Legacy of the Health Emergency: Partisanship and Conservative Judicial Activism by F. Falorni The article deals with the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence during the health emergency to identify the different trends that have characterized the Court’s decisions in that peculiar historical period compared to those of continental European courts. The case law reveals some exceptional patterns, still recurring in the most recent rulings: […] _____________________________ Sustainability and Remedial Regime in the Sale of Consumer Goods by A. Fantini The act of consumption is assuming an axiological dimension that deserves to be projected also in a remedial perspective. It is the relationship between private law and sustainability that comes into focus. An incentive policy for the remedy of the repair of goods is central to the project of a sustainable single market, in which the inseparability between individual interests and general interests […] ____________________________ Cross-Examination in Italian Criminal Procedure: The Bumpy Road to Due Process by J.R. Gómez Biamón During the last three decades, Italian criminal procedure has been steadily going through substantial changes. The most notable transformation has been brought forth with the introduction of a new Code of Criminal Procedure (1988) that among other things, changed criminal procedure from an inquisitorial system into a so-called predominantly adversarial system. […]
____________________________ The Regulation of Cultural Meanings Through Sponsorship Contracts by M. Lisanti This paper analyses the potential negative repercussions of sponsorship contracts. It assumes that cultural heritage has both a tangible value, a corpus mechanicum, and an intangible value, pertaining to identity and historical aspects, representing a corpus mysticum. With this combination of identity, historical aspects may make a tangible part of cultural heritage a testimony of civilization. […] ____________________________ Imprisonment or Detention for Inability to Fulfil a Contractual Obligation or Pay a Debt(s) by J. Mujuzi Art 11 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provides that ‘[n]o one shall be imprisoned merely on the ground of inability to fulfil a contractual obligation’. The drafting history of Art 11 shows that state delegates were divided on whether the prohibition should apply to any contractual obligation(s) between private individuals or […] _____________________________ Primary’ and ‘Secondary’ Use of Electronic Health Data by C. Perlingieri and A. Cocco The paper aims to provide an overall framework of the different electronic health data processing activities, distinguishing especially between ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ use. Firstly, the article outlines the regulatory context that is still under development and critically examines the position taken on the subject by the Italian Guarantor. […] CORPORATE AND FINANCIAL MARKETS LAW Some Backdrops and Prospective Scenarios about the Emerging ‘Law of Sustainable Business Organizations’ by M. Bianchini The terms ‘sustainability’ and ‘company’ have been progressively used together in our day-to-day talks. Yet – at least at first sight – they may seem at odd with each other. In fact, the future of our planet – and, namely, the future of human and other animal species, of plants, and their respective biodiversity – is heavily (and will increasingly be) impacted [...] _____________________________ Bridging Traditional Corporate Governance and Technology: the “AI Corporate Design” Framework to Computational Corporate Governance Model by G.C. Cicu Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and big data are rapidly transforming social, political, and economic landscapes. This technological revolution is reshaping business organization and operations, leading to new corporate governance forms where AI is integrated into various managerial functions. […] ____________________________ Attempts to Redefine Corporate Purpose and Consequences on Directors’ Duties – Enel Use Case by F. Di Silvestre Recently, economists and legal scholars have tried to deal with the trade-off between shareholders value maximization and stakeholders’ interests. Paragraph 1 will investigate whether companies could create social value and increase their profitability simultaneously. European and Italian soft and hard law has evolved partially in line with such economic theories […] MALEBOLGE Gaza’s Young Adult Male Noncombatant as a Legitimised Target Under Patriarchal Laws of War: Probing the Routine Killing of Civilian Men Amid Feminist Abstention, Terrorism Ambiguities, and Genocidal Tensions by R. Vecellio Segate
Unlike torture or slavery, war was never outlawed by international lawmakers. International humanitarian law, and the laws of war generally, have merely instituted minimal protection requirements for civilians, aligned with longstanding customs. Contemporary ‘humanising’ developments, fostered inter alia by feminist advocacy, have deepened the interfaces between […] HARD CASES Indigenous Sovereignty in the Low-Carbon Transition: Reflections on the Osage Wind Judgement by G. Bellantuono In United States and Osage Minerals Council v Osage Wind et al, the federal judges of the United States (US) ordered a wind developer to remove its turbines and pay damages to the Osage Nation. This dispute arose from the peculiar legal regime of the mineral estate established in federal Indian law. Its outcome has broader implications for the low-carbon transition. Indigenous opposition to renewable plants is widespread both in the US and elsewhere. [...] _____________________________ The Right to Clean Air and Directive 2008/50/EC. Civil Liability, Resilient Approach, and Sustainability to Safeguard the Effectiveness of Environmental Protection by L. Moramarco The essay explores the ruling of the Court of Justice in case C-573/19, which recognised Italy’s ‘systematic and continuous’ infringement of the annual limit value set for nitrogen dioxide, upholding the complaint brought under Art 258 TFEU by the European Commission. Furthermore, the piece takes on a critical look on the weakness of the Court’s argumentative process on Italy’s defence: […] ____________________________ Build to Suit Real Estate Transactions Facing Legal Issues in Italy by C. Di Palma The paper examines certain salient legal issues relating to ‘build-to-suit’ real estate transactions, whereby a professional developer purchases a plot of land from a seller and, contextually, agrees to lease the asset to be developed on said plot to one or more tenants. Although the agreements are interrelated per se (BTS transactions squarely fall within the definition of ‘operazione economica’) […] CORPORATE AND FINANCIAL MARKETS LAW Some Backdrops and Prospective Scenarios about the Emerging ‘Law of Sustainable Business Organizations’ by M. Bianchini The terms ‘sustainability’ and ‘company’ have been progressively used together in our day-to-day talks. Yet – at least at first sight – they may seem at odd with each other. In fact, the future of our planet – and, namely, the future of human and other animal species, of plants, and their respective biodiversity – is heavily (and will increasingly be) impacted [...] _____________________________ Bridging Traditional Corporate Governance and Technology: the “AI Corporate Design” Framework to Computational Corporate Governance Model by G.C. Cicu Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and big data are rapidly transforming social, political, and economic landscapes. This technological revolution is reshaping business organization and operations, leading to new corporate governance forms where AI is integrated into various managerial functions. […] ____________________________ Attempts to Redefine Corporate Purpose and Consequences on Directors’ Duties – Enel Use Case by F. Di Silvestre Recently, economists and legal scholars have tried to deal with the trade-off between shareholders value maximization and stakeholders’ interests. Paragraph 1 will investigate whether companies could create social value and increase their profitability simultaneously. European and Italian soft and hard law has evolved partially in line with such economic theories […] 
