New French E-Journal

The Law Faculty of Metz has launched a new e-journal Scientia Juris. The new Journal is not specialised, but the editors anounce that it will have a clear comparative focus. The articles, which are freely available online, will not only be offered in French, but also in other European languages.

Indeed, the first issue includes articles written in English, German, Spanish and French.

One of them is authored by Marta Requejo and explores a conflict issue: La responsabilidad de las empresas por violacion de derechos humanos – deficiencias del marco legal. The English abstract reads:

In a globalized world the activities of multinational and transnational corporations have a profound impact on the human rights of individuals and communities, especially in developing countries. The human rights violations committed by these agents have to be dealt with. Today is commonly accepted that the optimal approach from a legal point of view should be one of international law; but so far international law has not provided satisfactory answers. Therefore, the accountability of multinational and transnational corporations requires the intervention of domestic systems, where various regulatory options seem possible: one is the use of private civil claims. Civil litigation for human rights often involves private international law problems. Traditional PIL solutions for civil liability do not suit the factual context of violations of human rights. That is why changes on issues such as the criteria of international jurisdiction are needed. In the EU the task could be addressed at this very moment, in the context of the process of review of Regulation Brussels I.

It can be downloaded here.