Customary law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Customary law - Essay Example This essay discusses that customary laws still reside the basis of new laws in modern societies. For instance in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries custom laws takes the form of common law. Modern legal issues such as the application of commerce laws to the internet in the 1990s, started as customary laws. For custom laws to be applied in the international law it needs to have met three conditions. One it should have widespread recurrence in that many states need to be applying that law in their countries. Secondly, each nation should have a sense of obligation to have the set standard and in enforcing the laws. Third the laws should bring about little dispute among the states internationally to be able to be applied. Customary legal systems tend to the following basic principle in their application. One there should be a strong concern for individual rights. Two; laws enforced by victims backed by reciprocal agreements. Thirdly, standard adjudication procedures mu st be observed to avoid violence. Four offences treated as torts punishable through economic restitution, five legal changes by means of an evolutionary process of developing customs and norms. Cultural law can be seen to have some advantages for the following reasons. They are flexible and easy to implement to suit the situation at hand. Because most of the customary laws are from the peoples who believe they are normally are easily changed and accepted. The peoples and the community’s cultures are given some sense of recognition by these customary laws hence making them easily acceptable to many people in the world. It also gives assurances to the minorities in the world that their way of life is given some preference in the application of law universally3. Through the application of customary laws, it gives the people a sense of belonging and recognition in the application of the laws. Most customary laws have undergone changes in their content, interpretation, and enforce ment. While changing, they can also stagnate if amid their evolution, the people give them a rigid interpretation especially if the customs continue when their social base has changed. A community may justify their continuance or avoidance by stating that its forefathers have ordained them. The customary laws change also when they are codified particularly when the formal system that has a written document as its base recognizes them. Discussion Presently, in a majority of cases, where customary law conflicts with domestic law the latter prevails, the exception being where a national law can be shown to conflict with constitutionally recognized customary rights. In such cases, the aggrieved party will still need the authorities to amend the offending legislation, and to take such remedial measures as may be required to redress any wrong, which has occurred. In some cases, there may be little hope of redress where irreversible exploitation of resources has occurred. Where no constitu tional protection exists, communities will forever be dependent upon the goodwill of the national authorities, as legislative action can at any time result in the abrogation of ancestral rights. Customary law and practice may be undermined by adoption of culturally insensitive national laws. Similarly, traditional authority is being eroded as those unhappy with their decisions seek

Monetary policy in EMU (European monetary Union) Essay

Monetary policy in EMU (European monetary Union) - Essay Example Initially, the European Union included 12 countries, but since its inception in 1992, the area has expanded to include 17 countries in total (European Union, 2012). The financial crisis of 2007-08 had enhanced the importance of the austere economic regulation by the European Union. This essay covers the monetary policy that has been adopted by the European Union, keeping in mind the various pressing issues that have been a matter of concern in the European countries like, price stability, real economy stabilization and its future plans regarding inflation targeting. Monetary Policy of the European Monetary Union Rationale behind price stability and real economic stabilization Price stability implies that the purchasing power of citizens and the value of their savings will be independent to the exchange rate fluctuations in cross-border travels and investments. The Monetary policy in the Euro zone is conducted by the European Central Bank and has direct impact on the price stability a nd the interest rates. The main objective of the monetary policy by the EMU is to keep the rate of inflation hovering around 2%, so that the value of Euro can be protected (European Union, 2012). This is achieved by altering the rate of interest of lending by the banks. The objective of price stability in monetary policy is an integral part of maintaining moderate levels of inflation, so that the economy can avoid the risk of running into deflation. The European Central Bank and EMU have always tried to maintain the price stability because of the strong notion that by maintaining the price stability, the economic activity and employment levels of the country can be improved. The maintenance of price stability by the EMU ensures that the price level of any particular good or service acts independent to the general price level of the economy. Price stability also ensures that the creditors can be relaxed as the prices will not rise in future and there will be no need of inflation risk premium to compensate the losses from inflation. Unnecessary hedging activities and distortions in the tax and social security system can also be avoided by maintenance of price stability (European Central Bank, 2011). The price stability contributes to the stabilization of the real economy. Monetary Policy prior to the crisis Before the onset of the financial crisis, the EMU had been successful in maintaining the inflation rate, averaging to 2.04% from January 1999 to August 2007 (European Central Bank, 2012). This bears a testimony to the fact that since the formation of Euro, the Euro Zone has been quite successful in achieving its preliminary goal of maintaining price stability. The most interesting fact about the price stability in the EU was that the inflation rates were not only low, but also had low macroeconomic volatility compared to other advanced countries of the world. Figure 1: Inflation Rates in the Advanced Economies (Source: European Central Bank, 2012) The above f igure shows the inflation rates in the industrialized economies of the world from 1999 to 2011. It can be seen that the monetary policy followed by the European Union, prior to the global financial crisis of 2007, has been in line with its objectives. In the course of time between 1999 and 2007, the European economy had undergone a lot of turmoil like, increasing global oil and food prices, increases in