BUS706: Federal District Court & Federal District Court - Law Assignment

Internal Code: MAS3901

Law Assignment:

Part 1 :  1. Which court decided this case and when was it decided? 2. What type of court is deciding the case and is it an international court? 3. Which countries do the litigants come from? 4. What is an exclusive distribution agreement, define it! 5. Explain in your words what this sentence means: The issue before the Court was what law governed the issues set out in plaintiff’s complaint. 6. Explain in your words what this sentence means: When two foreign nations are signatories to the CISG, that Treaty governs contracts for the sale of goods between parties whose places of business are in such nations unless the contract contains a choice of law provision to the contrary. 7. Why is the CISG not applicable to this case? 8. What law does the plaintiff want to have applied to the dispute and what law does the defendant want to govern the contract? And why? 9. What are Pennsylvania&choice of law rules? 10. Why is the judgement referring to Pennsylvanian law and not United States’ law? 11. What do Pennsylvania’s rules say about which law is applicable to this dispute? 12. How are the following connecting factors evaluated by the court to determine the applicable law (1) the place of contracting; (2) the place of negotiation of the contract; (3) the place of performance; (4) the location of the subject matter of the contract; and (5) the domicile, residence, nationality, place of incorporation, and place of business of the parties. and how would a civil law court treat the same factors and come to a decision as to what is the applicable law? 13. Why do courts often come to the conclusion that it is their own law that is applicable and not a foreign law? Discuss whether it would be better to simplify the international private law and always apply the law of the forum to transnational disputes. part 2: 1. What is the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) and what does it do? 2. Why has it produced this article? 3. What type of business actors were involved in this scandal? 4. What legal ties does Petrobras, a multinational company, have with the Brazilian government? 5. If Petrobras makes a contract with Exxon Mobile, would this contract be governed by public or by private international law? 6. What are the two legal/ethical issues in this scandal, what are they and how do they interact? 7. Why is the issue of free competition so important from an economic and ethical point of view with regards to this scandal? 8. How are ordinary Brazilians affected by this scandal? 9. What is the link between corrupt directors of Petrobras and the Brazilian government officials? 10. What was the role of offshore companies in this scandal; what are offshore companies? 11. Why is this scandal international? 12. Explain why, looking at this scandal, it is so important for the judiciary (courts) to be independent of the executive (government) power. 13. Looking at this scandal, explain why many countries have laws punishing their own business community when they give bribes to officials in other countries?