International Monetary And Financial Law Upon Entering The New Millennium

The period during the last few years of the Second World War, and the few years after peace, was one of the most fecund in relation to innovation for critical human institutions, possibly in the history of the world. Recoiling from the horror of the war, and responding also to the tragedy of the post-First World War period, where mistakes regarding economics caused enormous hardship, governments, statesmen and national leaders were determined to avoid a repetition of the events of the past. The results of these efforts in 1943-1948 were the establishment of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and a provisional organization for trade, called the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Though Joseph Gold may not have been "present at the creation" of the International Monetary Fund, he surely was the key legal architect of its post-war development. In the area of international monetary law, Sir Joseph was more than the path-finding legal scholar of the post-war era; he often created and defined the parameters of the intellectual journey. In this respect, Sir Joseph was unrivaled as a public international law scholar. This volume contains a wide range of articles dealing with issues of international monetary law, including the World Bank and the IMF, the concept of "dollarization", the EMU and financial conditions in Africa and Asia, as well as personal tributes to the accomplishments of Sir Joseph Gold, to whose memory this series is dedicated.

The Legal Department and the Institute of the IMF held their eighth biennial seminar for legal advisers of central banks of member countries on May 7-17,2000. The papers presented in this volume are based on presentations made by the seminar participants. The seminar covered a broad range of topics, including activities of the IMF and other international financial institutions, sovereign debt restructuring, the architecture of the international financial system, and money laundering and the financing of terrorism. In addition, participants addressed the role of central banks, payment systems, securities, technology in the financial sector, and monetary arrangements.

This book introduces the fundamental monetary law problems of cross-border economic activity and the solutions thereto in international monetary law, and in EU law. After decades of having been neglected by legal scholars, international and European monetary law has attracted increasing attention in recent years. With the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), a full-fledged monetary union between sovereign States has been established for the first time in history. Its construction is primarily a work of law, with the Treaties on European Union (TEU) and on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) together with a number of protocols forming the constitutional basis. Yet, European monetary Integration has never taken place in isolation from international developments. Moreover, international monetary law, namely the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has always played a role - initially as the external monetary addition to the internal market project, after the breakdown of the Bretton Woods System in the 1970s as one of the major driving forces for monetary Integration within the EU. On a fundamental basis, international and European monetary law address the same principled problems of monetary cooperation: how to proceed with financial transactions cross-border where no global currency exists. The present work describes the different approaches and relations and interplay between the two legal regimes.

The Legal Department and the Institute of the IMF held their ninth biennial seminar for legal advisors of IMF member countries’ central banks, and the papers published in this volume are based on presentations made by officials attending this seminar. The seminar covered a broad range of topics, including sovereign debt restructuring, money laundering and the financing of terrorism, financial system and banking supervision, conflicts of interest and market discipline in the financial sector, insolvency, and other issues related to central banking.

Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this systematic analysis of the structure, competence, and management of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provides substantial and readily accessible information for lawyers, academics, and policymakers likely to have dealings with its activities and data. No other book gives such a clear, uncomplicated description of the organization’s role, its rules and how they are applied, its place in the framework of international law, or its relations with other organizations. The monograph proceeds logically from the organization’s genesis and historical development to the structure of its membership, its various organs and their mandates, its role in intergovernmental cooperation, and its interaction with decisions taken at the national level. Its competence, its financial management, and the nature and applicability of its data and publications are fully described. Systematic in presentation, this valuable time-saving resource offers the quickest, easiest way to acquire a sound understanding of the workings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for all interested parties. Students and teachers of international law will find it especially valuable as an essential component of the rapidly growing and changing global legal milieu.

The 20072010 global financial crisis re-opened the debate on the reform of the international monetary and financial system. This well-argued book demonstrates the strategic role of international economic law (IEL) in ensuring international monetary stability and global financial stability. After discussing the current allocation of powers among IEL institutions, Annamaria Viterbo focuses on monetary measures: exchange restrictions, capital controls and exchange rate manipulations. These three fundamental topics are then examined through the lens of a multi-layered methodology, adopting perspectives from international monetary law, trade law and investment law. The author evaluates how the horizontal sectors in which IEL is traditionally divided interact and how conflicts between norms are avoided or solved. Particular attention is also devoted to the outcomes of trade and investment disputes that deal with monetary measures. International Economic Law and Monetary Measures will appeal to international trade law and international financial law scholars as well as law and business students. Legal practitioners and officials working in the field of international economic law will find it a useful reference, as will legal counsel in banks and financial institutions, international investors and multinational corporations.

Harmonised and uniform international laws are now being spread across different jurisdictions and fields of law, bringing with them an increasing body of scholarship on practical problems and theoretical dimensions. This comprehensive and insightful book focuses on the contributions to the development and understanding of the critical theory of harmonisation. The contributing authors address a variety of different subjects concerned with harmonisation and the application of legal rules resulting from harmonisation efforts. This study is written by leading scholars engaged in different aspects of harmonisation, and covers both regional harmonisation within the EU and regional human rights treaties, as well as harmonisation with international treaty obligations. With comparative analysis that contributes to the development of a more general theory on the harmonisation process, this timely book will appeal to EU and international law scholars and practitioners, as well as those looking to future legal harmonisation in other regions in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

This is the first volume to comprehensively and systematically study, describe, and theorize the financial obligations created and governed by public international law. Legal globalization has given rise to a number of financial issues in international law in areas as diverse as development financing, investment protection, compensation of human rights victims, and sovereign debt crises. The claims resulting from the proliferation of financial activity are not limited to those primarily involving financial obligations (e.g. loans and grants) but include secondary obligations resulting from the law on international responsibility. Among the many instances of financial obligation covered in this study, the reader will find inter-State financial transactions, inter-State sale of goods, transnational services such as telecommunications and post, the financial operations of multilateral institutions, loans, grants and guarantees provided by the various international financial institutions, certain financial relations between non-State actors (including natural persons) and States, intergovernmental organizations or other international legal actors, and government loans to international organizations. Rich in historical detail and systematic in its coverage of contemporary law, this book will be valued by all practitioners and scholars with an interest in the nature of international financial obligations.

The book deals with the better governance of trade, investment and finance in Asia. It provides readers with clear and broad ideas as to what opportunities and challenges Asia is facing in the governance of trade, investment and finance in the region as well as globally which has so far been almost inexistent both in academia and in practice.