A company is a legal entity, distinct from its creators, members, directors and managers. Chapter 3 of this book discusses the separate legal status of the company in detail. For the purposes of this current chapter, we emphasise that for a company to come into existence there must be a conferral of that status by the state. Unlike some other forms of association, such as a partnership, it is not legally effective for a group of people to simply declare themselves to be a company. A company is a type of corporation. The corporate status of a company is brought into existence through a process of registration under the Corporations Act. Other types of corporate entities are created by different legislative mechanisms, and we briefly describe some of these later in this chapter.

This chapter describes the range of basic company structures available under the Corporations Act, focusing on three ways in which companies can be categorised: their proprietary or public status; how they structure the liability of their members; and their relationship to other companies. The chapter examines the role of corporate groups, as well as the difference between closely-held, one-person, and widely-held companies.

It explores the various methods of property acquisition under Chinese law. The chapter begins by distinguishing between original and derivative acquisition, emphasising the different processes involved in each. It highlights the legal nuances and state ownership implications, particularly in cases involving lost property and unowned estates.

The chapter then delves into the theory and practice of property transfer, discussing the principles governing the transfer of ownership through delivery (for movables) and registration (for immovables). A significant portion is dedicated to the land registration system, detailing its historical development, functions, and the dual registration models (mandatory and voluntary). It addresses the legal mechanisms for ensuring accurate registration, liability for mistakes and fraud, and the processes for rectifying errors. The chapter concludes by analyzing the different methods of delivery, both actual and constructive, and their implications for property rights transfer.

It begins by defining possession and its legal implications, detailing how possession is established, maintained, and protected. The chapter explores the rights and obligations of possessors and the legal remedies available in cases of wrongful possession or disputes. It then delves into the legal framework of expropriation, highlighting the conditions under which the state can expropriate private property. It discusses the procedural requirements for expropriation, including the need for public interest justification, fair compensation, and the legal processes involved in challenging expropriation decisions.

By analyzing these aspects, the chapter provides a comprehensive understanding of the balance between protecting individual property rights and the state’s power to expropriate property for public use. It highlights the challenges and legal safeguards in place to ensure fair and transparent expropriation practices, offering valuable insights into the complexities of possession and expropriation in the Chinese legal system.

This chapter begins by defining Construction Land Use Right (CLUR) as the legal rights granted to entities or individuals by the government to use, possess and profit from state-owned land designated for construction purposes. The chapter outlines the creation of CLUR, detailing the processes of obtaining these rights through allocation or paid use, and the importance of registering these rights to ensure legal recognition and enforceability.

The chapter further explores the contractual aspects of CLUR, including the key terms and conditions that must be included in CLUR contracts and the debate on whether these contracts are civil or administrative in nature. It highlights the significance of compliance with administrative regulations and the consequences of non-compliance.

Additionally, the chapter delves into the transferability of CLUR, discussing the conditions under which allocated CLUR can be transferred, leased or mortgaged, and the legal implications of multiple transfer contracts. It also examines the revocation and extinguishment of CLUR, detailing the grounds for revocation by the government for public interest and the procedures involved in such actions.

This chapter delves into the various types of properties that can be mortgaged, including residential, commercial and state-owned agricultural construction land. It also discusses the legal implications of mortgaging properties with existing encumbrances, such as habitation rights or easements, and how these affect the priority of claims.

Furthermore, the chapter explores foreclosure procedures, detailing the steps a mortgagee must take to enforce their security interest in the event of a default. It addresses the legal protections available to mortgagors, such as redemption rights and anti-deficiency laws.

Finally, the chapter examines the priority of mortgage claims in relation to other creditors, explaining how Chinese law determines the ranking of competing interests. By providing a comprehensive analysis of mortgage law, this chapter equips readers with the knowledge to navigate the complexities of securing and enforcing mortgage interests in China.

This chapter outlines the essential characteristics of servitude, including its creation through written contracts, its binding nature on successive property owners, and the necessity of registration for enforceability against third parties.

The second section focuses on habitation rights, a form of personal servitude allowing individuals to reside in a property owned by another. It explains the creation of habitation rights through contracts and wills, highlighting the mandatory registration process to ensure these rights are recognized against third parties. The chapter examines the interaction between habitation rights and other property interests, such as mortgages and bona fide purchasers, emphasising the legal protections and potential conflicts that arise.

By providing a comprehensive overview of servitude and habitation rights, this chapter offers readers a detailed understanding of these unique property interests and their practical implications in the Chinese legal system.

This chapter considers what arguments can be offered to defend patents (the normative question). It revisits the three types of argument introduced in Chapter 2: the labour, utilitarian and personality arguments.

This chapter introduces the law of trade marks and passing off. It considers what arguments can be offered for rights in signs (the normative question).

States’ attempts to translate the messy realities of revolutionary-era coerced mobilities into orderly categories of law were met with efforts to define legal statuses by those forcibly removed. Focusing on revolutionary-era political refugees, the chapter shows how governments’ responses led to a proliferation of so-called alien laws across the Americas and Europe and how, despite their seemingly universal and neutral character, these laws reflected the ambiguous status and multiple mobilities during this period. As can be seen in a major legal battle involving a family of refugees of Haitian origin in Jamaica, the regulation of alien status had long-standing ramifications during a period in which the terms of political membership and state belonging were in full transformation across the Atlantic world. Both in mundane administrative interactions and legal battles, refugees engaged with the law and sought to shape and negotiate their status. In doing so, they could also rely on “vernacular” uses in other relevant branches of the law, such as legal distinctions governing freedom and slavery. As with freedom, belonging was not just granted or asserted by state authorities but could also be claimed and recrafted by those who sought it.

The German state is often presented as an archetypal example of a bureaucratised system of migration surveillance and control. The Central Foreigners Register, introduced in West Germany in 1953 and digitised in 1967, is a central pillar of this infrastructure, and one of the most comprehensive tools of migration control in any liberal democratic state. Through analysis of federal and state records, this chapter reconstructs the challenges of coordination and resources that impeded the effective operation of the register in the post-war years. Nevertheless, despite its operational deficiencies, it has played an important symbolic role in bolstering the self-image of Germany as a modern state with a high capacity to control its population.

Some continuities run through the long period from the late Roman empire to the Counter Reformation. An archive existed well before the empire in the West collapsed. Throughout the period papal government was largely demand driven. To settle disputes in far-away localities of which the popes knew little, they delegated authority to men on the spot who were not paid for their services. The papacy lacked the resources to fund a ‘Weberian’ bureaucracy, but was adept at devising rules to run systems that circumvented its own shortcomings, and thus it was able to meet the expanding demand for its services.

Article 102 of the UN Charter requires that every treaty shall be registered with the UN Secretariat, and published by it. Over 75,000 treaties have now been registered. The UN General Assembly has drawn up detailed regulations on registration, which the chapter summarises. It also explains the documents which should be submitted to the UN Treaty Section to register a treaty. Where there is a dispute as to whether an instrument is a treaty, the fact that it has been submitted for registration may be evidence of the intention of the states concerned as to its status. But registration is not of itself conclusive of its status. The UN publishes treaties which have been registered in the UN Treaty Series. Each state will also usually have its own treaty series, in which treaties which it has signed or to which it is a party are published. Examples are the UK Treaty Series (UKTS) and the Treaties and Other International Acts (TIAS) of the United States.

This chapter is about registration systems for interests in property. The chapter takes an innovative approach by incorporating the systems and legal frameworks for both land and personal property. This is a theme reflected in other chapters of the book. In this chapter, the primary system for land registration, the Torrens system is explained in detail. The Deeds registration system in relation to general law land is also explained. The chapter covers the electronic Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR,) where security interests in personal property are recorded. The chapter aims to draw comparisons between the systems to identify what lessons can be learned in terms of optimal, effective, and efficient methods of electronic registration of interests in property.

Chapter 9 examines the consequences of subjecting children to SORN laws. It argues that registration and notification laws are uniquely ineffective and harmful when applied to children. The chapter begins with a history of how SORN laws came to regulate juvenile sexual misconduct. In response to moral panics around “sexual predators” and “juvenile super-predators,” policymakers explicitly expanded the scope of SORN laws to cover children adjudicated delinquent of sex offenses. The chapter next evaluates the effects of these laws on juvenile offending, particularly recidivism. Contrary to the myths underlying their enactment, children found to have engaged in sexual misconduct very rarely reoffend. Further, the evidence is unanimous that SORN laws do not reduce recidivism. The chapter then compiles evidence on the many deleterious effects SORN laws produce when they are applied to children. Studies of providers and children who are registrants demonstrate that SORN laws increase substantially the risk of suicide and sexual victimization. Furthermore, SORN laws are associated with high rates of plea bargaining among children. In light of these failures and dangerous effects, the application of SORN to children should be abandoned.

Chapter 3 analyzes the demographic makeup and composition of state sex offender registries. The data reject the popular narratives of incomplete registries filled with dangerous individuals. The chapter begins by investigating the widely reported counts of registered individuals from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). While NCMEC reports that there are nearly one million registrants nationwide, no true national registry exists to confirm this claim. Further, independent studies indicate that many registrants simply do not live in their listed community – they may be incarcerated, committed, deported, or deceased. Additionally, the data refute common arguments that registries are systematically incomplete with regard to “missing” registrants. The chapter next examines how registries reflect broader racial dynamics. The typical registrant is middle-aged and white. However, registries are disproportionately black, and black registrants are overclassified with respect to recidivism risk. Finally, the chapter dissects the technical and data challenges affecting registries. While intra-registry duplicates plague few jurisdictions, many registries contain individuals present on other states’ registries. This chapter contends that policymakers should account for these deficiencies when considering sex offender policy.

The organ constituted a prominent and lavishly supported voice for the church from at least the late fourteenth century. In tracing the various building projects from that time until the mid-sixteenth century, this chapter reveals its importance in the organisation’s self-image: as an elaboration of the ritual, a demonstration of institutional pride, and as an instrument of display and propaganda. The level of detail provided by the continuous run of accounts is exceptional, and affords historically important insight into developments in instrument design over a 150-year period, from a single Blockwerk into a more sophisticated instrument with various keyboards, registrations and chests. The study also provides an exceptional level of detail on the complex process of scoping, ordering, building-work and quality control that went into the installation of an organ in a large church building in the later Middle Ages.

In recent years, debates over voting rights have taken center-stage in American politics.

In a 2017 decision, theUS Supreme Court held that constitutional commitments to free expression barred the Patent and Trademark Office from rejecting the registration of 'The Slants' for an Asian rock band, even though the term is understood to disparage Asians. Because we do not agree with the Court’s view that true speech can always correct false speech, we argue that the US can learn from the ways in which New Zealand trade mark jurisprudence protects cultural integrity while ensuring free speech. In so doing, we follow Sam Ricketson’s admonition that common law jurisdictions learn from one another.