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The article discusses the classification difficulties posed by modern goods with embedded software and services. It explains the history of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), the past efforts to address the difficulties with goods.. It further analyzes previous attempts to resolve the issue and courts' current solutions to these classification difficulties.

This article is the first detailed empirical study of banning orders made under legislation administered by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (‘ASIC’). This method of enforcement of corporate law has been little researched, yet it is arguably the dominant mode of corporate law enforcement in Australia. The article examines the prevalence of banning orders relative to other major enforcement outcomes and analyses the number and duration of bans prohibiting individuals from managing corporations, providing financial services, engaging in credit activities, and auditing self-managed super funds. The dataset — encompassing 2777 banning orders across a 29-year period — reveals a significant upward trend in banning orders and a corresponding downward trend in most other major enforcement outcomes. In the 10 years since 2005–06, there were more banning orders than all other major enforcement outcomes combined. Banning orders were also increasingly severe in duration, due to an upward trend in financial services and credit activity bans, about 47% of which were permanent in duration collectively. The increasing prevalence and severity of banning orders, an estimated 87% of which were administrative decisions by ASIC, or appeals from such decisions (rather than first instance decisions by the courts), raise concerns regarding the accountability of banning practices. The judiciary has acknowledged that banning orders, while primarily protective in purpose, also function as a form of retribution akin to criminal punishment. Yet administrative hearings are not subject to the rules of evidence that apply to criminal court proceedings and the reasons for banning orders are not available to the public. The increasingly heavy use of these effectively punitive orders demands a higher standard of public accountability. Improved access to administrative banning decisions would advance ASIC’s stated commitment to transparency, open data and accountability, and give effect to the Australian Government’s Public Data Policy Statement and innovation agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code allows financially distressed businesses to reorganize and emerge from bankruptcy free of their pre-bankruptcy debts and obligations. In general, a business can achieve this kind of "fresh start" by confirming a plan of reorganization or pursuing a going-concern sale that typically facilitates a change in ownership, a reduction in leverage, and the elimination of most claims against the company's assets. Through these kinds of transactions, a business can emerge from bankruptcy with a stronger balance sheet and often a new ownership structure. It also can streamline operations by, for example, assuming valuable contracts and rejecting burdensome ones under the relevant provisions of the Bankruptcy Code. Although creditors' claims may lose value through the bankruptcy process, all similarly situated creditors are treated fairly and in a nondiscriminatory manner. Distressed companies and their creditors should not have to worry about variances in state law insolvency schemes that might facilitate similar going-concern sales, but treat creditors differently or allow a process without the same kind of court or creditor oversight. Yet, states are increasingly adopting debtor-creditor laws that mimic key provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and permit the kind of fresh start for business debtors historically available only under federal bankruptcy law. These state laws may also provide rights or distributions to creditors that differ from, and conflict with, the provisions and purposes of the Bankruptcy Code. These new, sweeping state law insolvency schemes raise serious constitutional questions under both the Bankruptcy Clause and the Contract Clause. Policymakers and courts need to rethink and rebalance the allocation of powers between Congress and the states with respect to bankruptcy laws. More specifically, they need to define more clearly the parameters of federal preemption and preserve Congress's exclusive authority over laws affecting the rights of creditors and other stakeholders in the context of a fresh start for business debtors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provincial compliance with trade and investment treaty commitments is increasingly important. However, Canada's federal system makes negotiating treaty obligations in the areas of provincial jurisdiction particularly difficult. This article analyzes the challenges related to treaty commitments in areas of provincial jurisdiction, revisits the Canadian constitutional allocation of responsibility for treaty negotiation, ratification, implementation, and compliance, and explores the prospects for using intergovernmental agreement to address concerns about provincial compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues that to promote private and public infrastructure development, New York courts need to broaden their interpretations of section 39 of the New York Lien Law and look to neighboring states for key principles that New York can use to improve its lien law. Topics discussed include history and background of American lien law; issues and economic impact that exaggerated mechanic's liens have on lienees; and ways in which New York combats willfully exaggerated liens.

The article examines right of public access to documents and records in bankruptcy courts to its common-law and First Amendment origins. It addresses the split of authority among the circuit courts regarding the appropriate way to define scandalous, focusing on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit's "truthfulness and relevance" approach, the Eighth Circuit's "context-sensitive" approach, and the Ninth Circuit's "plain-meaning" approach.

The article examines the history of history of labor arbitration in the U.S. Topics discussed include ways in which arbitrators' personal characteristics and backgrounds are predictive of arbitration award outcomes; the relationship between arbitrator backgrounds and decision-making; and the relationship between arbitrators' gender and award outcomes.

The article examines the laws concerning ethical norms in intellectual property in the U.S. It discusses the need of laws to protect the role of the academic as a trusted source of reliable information for policymakers and society. It mentions the controversy surrounding beverage maker Coca-Cola's work with scientists to promote the conclusion that solutions to the nation's obesity problem.

The article discusses use of the sham guarantee defense by guarantors and argues that courts should follow the California case of "California Bank & Trust v. Lawlor' decision. Topics discussed include the court's decision in Lawlor; the inconsistent application of the sham guarantee defense; and importance of the Lawlor court's limitation of the application of the sham guarantee defense to true sham situations.