This Master's thesis analyzes peculiarities of application of the liability of a legal entity's member under the legal entity's obligations in Lithuanian case-law. The first part deals with theories on the origin of a legal entity and their impact on the liability of a legal entity's member, analyzes the institution of a member's liability under the legal entity's obligations, discusses models of the liability of a legal entity's member and determines the origin of the liability of a legal entity's member under the legal entity's obligations based on interpretations of courts and the doctrine as well as on an analysis of legal norms. The second part discusses peculiarities of a legal status of members of legal entities with limited and unlimited liabilities, analyzes interpretations of the conception of a legal entity's member in Lithuanian case-law and legal doctrine and also deals with contradictions in legislation and problematic aspects of the case-law related to peculiarities of a legal status of members of legal entities with limited and unlimited liabilities. The third part of the thesis discusses grounds for the liability of a legal entity's member under the legal entity's obligations and their application in Lithuanian case-law. The part deals with cases of a member's liability under the legal entity's obligations on the basis of laws and incorporation documents, analyzes conditions for application of a member's liability under the legal entity's obligations as a result of fraudulent actions of the member, reviews cases when these conditions were applied in Lithuanian case-law, discusses problematic aspects of their practical application, assesses consequences of application of the member's liability. The fourth part discusses peculiarities of application of the liability of a member of a legal entity with unlimited liability under the legal entity's obligations in Lithuanian case-law. Peculiarities of the liability of a member of a legal entity with unlimited liability in the recovery procedures are also analyzed. Interpretations of courts regarding application of the liability of a member of a legal entity with unlimited liability under the legal entity's obligations during bankruptcy proceedings are reviewed and practical application problems are discussed. Moreover, cases of the liability of a member of a legal entity with unlimited liability after liquidation of the legal entity are analyzed. At the end conclusions summarizing the paper, suggestions and recommendations are presented.
This Master's thesis analyzes peculiarities of application of the liability of a legal entity's member under the legal entity's obligations in Lithuanian case-law. The first part deals with theories on the origin of a legal entity and their impact on the liability of a legal entity's member, analyzes the institution of a member's liability under the legal entity's obligations, discusses models of the liability of a legal entity's member and determines the origin of the liability of a legal entity's member under the legal entity's obligations based on interpretations of courts and the doctrine as well as on an analysis of legal norms. The second part discusses peculiarities of a legal status of members of legal entities with limited and unlimited liabilities, analyzes interpretations of the conception of a legal entity's member in Lithuanian case-law and legal doctrine and also deals with contradictions in legislation and problematic aspects of the case-law related to peculiarities of a legal status of members of legal entities with limited and unlimited liabilities. The third part of the thesis discusses grounds for the liability of a legal entity's member under the legal entity's obligations and their application in Lithuanian case-law. The part deals with cases of a member's liability under the legal entity's obligations on the basis of laws and incorporation documents, analyzes conditions for application of a member's liability under the legal entity's obligations as a result of fraudulent actions of the member, reviews cases when these conditions were applied in Lithuanian case-law, discusses problematic aspects of their practical application, assesses consequences of application of the member's liability. The fourth part discusses peculiarities of application of the liability of a member of a legal entity with unlimited liability under the legal entity's obligations in Lithuanian case-law. Peculiarities of the liability of a member of a legal entity with unlimited liability in the recovery procedures are also analyzed. Interpretations of courts regarding application of the liability of a member of a legal entity with unlimited liability under the legal entity's obligations during bankruptcy proceedings are reviewed and practical application problems are discussed. Moreover, cases of the liability of a member of a legal entity with unlimited liability after liquidation of the legal entity are analyzed. At the end conclusions summarizing the paper, suggestions and recommendations are presented.
In magistrate work an author is analyzing the core problems of concept of law. What is the law – the question that takes first place. While analyzing the first part of the work, the main concepts of law have been on main focus: natural law, positive law and legal realism. Investigation invokes the most famous law scientist from Lithuania and all over the world. Investigating and analyzing theory of Law operation. Law regulation and court judgments take the most important role in the work. Analyzing Nurnberg's Military Tribunal Statue, Civil Code of Lithuanian Republic, Criminal Code of Lithuanian Republic and other laws of Republic of Lithuania. Investigating important Court Rulings: Nurnberg's Military Tribunal Judgment, decisions of Lithuanian Constitutional Court, Supreme Court and other. In conclusion, the most important thing which we find in this investigation is that the understanding of core problems of concept of law can bring practical benefit for an everyday practical-lawyer.
In magistrate work an author is analyzing the core problems of concept of law. What is the law – the question that takes first place. While analyzing the first part of the work, the main concepts of law have been on main focus: natural law, positive law and legal realism. Investigation invokes the most famous law scientist from Lithuania and all over the world. Investigating and analyzing theory of Law operation. Law regulation and court judgments take the most important role in the work. Analyzing Nurnberg's Military Tribunal Statue, Civil Code of Lithuanian Republic, Criminal Code of Lithuanian Republic and other laws of Republic of Lithuania. Investigating important Court Rulings: Nurnberg's Military Tribunal Judgment, decisions of Lithuanian Constitutional Court, Supreme Court and other. In conclusion, the most important thing which we find in this investigation is that the understanding of core problems of concept of law can bring practical benefit for an everyday practical-lawyer.
In magistrate work an author is analyzing the core problems of concept of law. What is the law – the question that takes first place. While analyzing the first part of the work, the main concepts of law have been on main focus: natural law, positive law and legal realism. Investigation invokes the most famous law scientist from Lithuania and all over the world. Investigating and analyzing theory of Law operation. Law regulation and court judgments take the most important role in the work. Analyzing Nurnberg's Military Tribunal Statue, Civil Code of Lithuanian Republic, Criminal Code of Lithuanian Republic and other laws of Republic of Lithuania. Investigating important Court Rulings: Nurnberg's Military Tribunal Judgment, decisions of Lithuanian Constitutional Court, Supreme Court and other. In conclusion, the most important thing which we find in this investigation is that the understanding of core problems of concept of law can bring practical benefit for an everyday practical-lawyer.
In magistrate work an author is analyzing the core problems of concept of law. What is the law – the question that takes first place. While analyzing the first part of the work, the main concepts of law have been on main focus: natural law, positive law and legal realism. Investigation invokes the most famous law scientist from Lithuania and all over the world. Investigating and analyzing theory of Law operation. Law regulation and court judgments take the most important role in the work. Analyzing Nurnberg's Military Tribunal Statue, Civil Code of Lithuanian Republic, Criminal Code of Lithuanian Republic and other laws of Republic of Lithuania. Investigating important Court Rulings: Nurnberg's Military Tribunal Judgment, decisions of Lithuanian Constitutional Court, Supreme Court and other. In conclusion, the most important thing which we find in this investigation is that the understanding of core problems of concept of law can bring practical benefit for an everyday practical-lawyer.
Subject of Master's thesis is the criminal responsibility for cruelty to animals and the concept of legal regulation in the Lithuanian and foreign laws, and in court practice too. The Master's thesis gives the historical review of evolution of criminalization of the legislation on protection of animals and ill treatment of them. In the Thesis the analysis of legal acts of selected foreign countries (USA, Russia, Germany and European Union) is made. Are analyzed the legal acts providing criminal sanction for ill treatment of animals, and are discussed the gaps of legal base of mentioned countries. In the Master's thesis the laws existing now in Lithuania and also international treaties which regulate welfare of animals are considered. It is made the detailed analysis of the contents of the Article 310 of the Criminal code of the Republic of Lithuanian, which provides the criminal responsibility for cruelty to animals. On examples of court practice by means of analytical and verbal methods of statutory interpretation of rules of law the shortcomings of a disposition of this legal norm come to light, and also ways of their emendation are offered. In the Master's thesis the suggestions for a solution of the problem of euthanasia of animals are provided, and also provisions of draft of the Republic of Lithuania Law on welfare and protection of animals regulating a concept of ill treatment of animals, are considered. Considering aspects of the problem formulated in this Master's thesis, it is defending the hypothesis that because of an insufficient legal regulation there are practical problems of application of Criminal law's norms in cases of cruelty to animals.
Subject of Master's thesis is the criminal responsibility for cruelty to animals and the concept of legal regulation in the Lithuanian and foreign laws, and in court practice too. The Master's thesis gives the historical review of evolution of criminalization of the legislation on protection of animals and ill treatment of them. In the Thesis the analysis of legal acts of selected foreign countries (USA, Russia, Germany and European Union) is made. Are analyzed the legal acts providing criminal sanction for ill treatment of animals, and are discussed the gaps of legal base of mentioned countries. In the Master's thesis the laws existing now in Lithuania and also international treaties which regulate welfare of animals are considered. It is made the detailed analysis of the contents of the Article 310 of the Criminal code of the Republic of Lithuanian, which provides the criminal responsibility for cruelty to animals. On examples of court practice by means of analytical and verbal methods of statutory interpretation of rules of law the shortcomings of a disposition of this legal norm come to light, and also ways of their emendation are offered. In the Master's thesis the suggestions for a solution of the problem of euthanasia of animals are provided, and also provisions of draft of the Republic of Lithuania Law on welfare and protection of animals regulating a concept of ill treatment of animals, are considered. Considering aspects of the problem formulated in this Master's thesis, it is defending the hypothesis that because of an insufficient legal regulation there are practical problems of application of Criminal law's norms in cases of cruelty to animals.
Sport is a complex competition-based social phenomenon with inner and outer conflicts, – key features of sport are not only physical and intellectual growth, tolerance and equality. For instance, permanent rivalry and prominence of victories can lead to foul play. therefore the reverse as well as direct link between sport and criminal behaviour exists. The main menaces in sport are cheating, violence and corruption. It is complicated to handle these dangers inter alia due to unfitted legal grounding, commercialization and tacit agreements between sportsmen, coaches, doctors and politicians to achieve certain strategic goals. From the legal point of view, most precisely regulated violation at sport field is doping. It is hard to fight against doping inter alia because of complex testing and keeping procedures, it should also be pointed out that usually performance enhancing methods are firstly invented and only afterwards detected and banned. Violence between athletes is quite a specific issue, – here the common principles (not make harm, not cause pain) are suspended because a state accepts sport as risky activity. Corruption in sports in principle does not strongly differentiate from corruption in politics, medicine or gamble. these insights let to make an assumption that criminal behaviour in sports though has certain peculiarities, does not extremely differ from criminal behaviour in other fields.
Sport is a complex competition-based social phenomenon with inner and outer conflicts, – key features of sport are not only physical and intellectual growth, tolerance and equality. For instance, permanent rivalry and prominence of victories can lead to foul play. therefore the reverse as well as direct link between sport and criminal behaviour exists. The main menaces in sport are cheating, violence and corruption. It is complicated to handle these dangers inter alia due to unfitted legal grounding, commercialization and tacit agreements between sportsmen, coaches, doctors and politicians to achieve certain strategic goals. From the legal point of view, most precisely regulated violation at sport field is doping. It is hard to fight against doping inter alia because of complex testing and keeping procedures, it should also be pointed out that usually performance enhancing methods are firstly invented and only afterwards detected and banned. Violence between athletes is quite a specific issue, – here the common principles (not make harm, not cause pain) are suspended because a state accepts sport as risky activity. Corruption in sports in principle does not strongly differentiate from corruption in politics, medicine or gamble. these insights let to make an assumption that criminal behaviour in sports though has certain peculiarities, does not extremely differ from criminal behaviour in other fields.
Sport is a complex competition-based social phenomenon with inner and outer conflicts, – key features of sport are not only physical and intellectual growth, tolerance and equality. For instance, permanent rivalry and prominence of victories can lead to foul play. therefore the reverse as well as direct link between sport and criminal behaviour exists. The main menaces in sport are cheating, violence and corruption. It is complicated to handle these dangers inter alia due to unfitted legal grounding, commercialization and tacit agreements between sportsmen, coaches, doctors and politicians to achieve certain strategic goals. From the legal point of view, most precisely regulated violation at sport field is doping. It is hard to fight against doping inter alia because of complex testing and keeping procedures, it should also be pointed out that usually performance enhancing methods are firstly invented and only afterwards detected and banned. Violence between athletes is quite a specific issue, – here the common principles (not make harm, not cause pain) are suspended because a state accepts sport as risky activity. Corruption in sports in principle does not strongly differentiate from corruption in politics, medicine or gamble. these insights let to make an assumption that criminal behaviour in sports though has certain peculiarities, does not extremely differ from criminal behaviour in other fields.
Sport is a complex competition-based social phenomenon with inner and outer conflicts, – key features of sport are not only physical and intellectual growth, tolerance and equality. For instance, permanent rivalry and prominence of victories can lead to foul play. therefore the reverse as well as direct link between sport and criminal behaviour exists. The main menaces in sport are cheating, violence and corruption. It is complicated to handle these dangers inter alia due to unfitted legal grounding, commercialization and tacit agreements between sportsmen, coaches, doctors and politicians to achieve certain strategic goals. From the legal point of view, most precisely regulated violation at sport field is doping. It is hard to fight against doping inter alia because of complex testing and keeping procedures, it should also be pointed out that usually performance enhancing methods are firstly invented and only afterwards detected and banned. Violence between athletes is quite a specific issue, – here the common principles (not make harm, not cause pain) are suspended because a state accepts sport as risky activity. Corruption in sports in principle does not strongly differentiate from corruption in politics, medicine or gamble. these insights let to make an assumption that criminal behaviour in sports though has certain peculiarities, does not extremely differ from criminal behaviour in other fields.
In 2003, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania in its case-law formulated a thesis telling that the rule of law requires the state to provide the legislator with both a right and an obligation to prohibit acts which result in injuring or endangering the interests of persons, society or the state. The international agreements ratified by the Seimas, the membership in the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development as well create legal obligations relating liability for corruption in private sector for our country. Thus, appropriate legal liability (including liability for corruption in private sector) might be only conditionally regarded as the issue of discretion of the Seimas. In case the acts in question are sufficiently harmful and (or) the criminalisation thereof is connected with the implementation of the obligations of Lithuania, their inclusion into the Criminal Code of the Republic in Lithuania and active prosecution in respect of them is the duty of the Republic of Lithuania. The research paper aims to evaluate the regulation of liability for corruption in private sector in Lithuanian legal system. It must be noted that it examines not only the issues of criminal liability for corruption in private sector. Taking into account the fact that the standards for the application of criminal liability are particularly high (including inter alia the presumption of innocence), the research question was set on whether the existing legal regulation (labour law) provides possibilities to protect from employees displaying unacceptable standards of behaviour. Legal requirements relating the legal liability for corruption in private sector are provided for in a few international and supranational legal acts, i.e. (a) Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA of 22 July 2003 on combating corruption in the private sector; (b) United Nations Convention against Corruption of 31 October 2005 (c) Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption of 27 January 1999; (d) Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption of 15 May 2003; (e) Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions of 18 September 2014 (this Convention has not entered into force yet). Regrettably, these few international instruments are as well rather limited: for example, the Framework Decision requires criminalisation of only active and passive bribery in private sector, and the scope of application thereof fails to include not only any unilateral acts of corruption, but as well the corruption acts related to the aspiration to receive other benefit rather than remuneration, whereas the only one universal instrument of international law, the United Nations Convention against Corruption, requires the contracting states only to consider the criminalisation of corruption in private sector rather than the criminalisation itself. All three documents mentioning active and passive bribery in private sector (including Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption besides the two already referred) are applied in restricted scope, i.e. only in cases when a bribe is given for acts or refraining from acting, in breach of the duties. This means that criminal liability is not applied in case the bribe is taken or even forced to give for proper performance of duties. However, Lithuania fails to proper implement event the limited duties formulated in the mentioned documents. Although in accordance with these three mentioned documents the subject of corruption in private sector is considered to be any employee in the private sector, Article 230(3) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania provides that criminal liability for active and passive bribery may arise only in cases when an employee holds administrative powers or is entitled to act on behalf of the legal person or other organisation, or provides public services. As according to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania most of employees in private companies are not held "persons to be treated as public servants", therefore, they might be held liable only for a restricted number of criminal activities – fraud, commercial espionage or disclosure of a commercial secret. Even upon the evidence of existence of dangerous acts, they may not be held liable for active and passive bribery or embezzlement. Due to the settled case-law which links the status of the "persons to be treated as public servants" with the exceptional importance of the company where they work for the public interest, even the majority of directors of companies and other persons acting on behalf of them may not be prosecuted for the mentioned acts. A part of corruption activities of the companies connected to their relations with clients, users and partners are standard ones, another part of corruption activities differ according to the field of activities of companies. Most of corruption activities of private companies occur either in the field of supply chain (production, distribution, marketing), or the purchasing field. These usually include active and private bribery, fraud, unfair commercial activities, misleading advertising or similar activities, subject to criminal or economic sanctions. Meanwhile, in the field of provision of legal services, pharmacy, healthcare, education, etc. possible corruption activities are of specific nature, and the prevention is provided for in special laws and codes of behaviour. Neither international, nor European Union legal acts regulate liability for corruption in labour relations, therefore, this issue is regulated only in national legislation. The main sanctions in labour law applicable in respect of an employee for corruption activities are the suspension of the performance of the labour agreement (a provisional measure) and termination of labour contract on the initiative of the employer upon the fault of the employee (Article 58 of the Labour Code). Besides, in respect of employees who act as directors a measure of revocation may be applied, and indeed, this measure is an important one for the protection of the company from a corrupted director. As well, particular sanctions for failure to execute the duties or improper execution thereof might be established in the internal documents of a company. These may include a warning, termination of additional payments or bonuses, etc. Due to the open list of measures applicable in labour relations, the liability for corruption activities in labour relations is broader in scope than criminal liability. On the other hand, rather short time-limits for the termination of the labour agreement on the initiative of the employer in case of fault of an employee and its weak deterrence weakens the effectiveness of this sanction. The problem of application of short time limits is not acute when the revocation of an employee is applied; however, the latter instrument is possible only in respect of heads of a legal person.
In 2003, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania in its case-law formulated a thesis telling that the rule of law requires the state to provide the legislator with both a right and an obligation to prohibit acts which result in injuring or endangering the interests of persons, society or the state. The international agreements ratified by the Seimas, the membership in the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development as well create legal obligations relating liability for corruption in private sector for our country. Thus, appropriate legal liability (including liability for corruption in private sector) might be only conditionally regarded as the issue of discretion of the Seimas. In case the acts in question are sufficiently harmful and (or) the criminalisation thereof is connected with the implementation of the obligations of Lithuania, their inclusion into the Criminal Code of the Republic in Lithuania and active prosecution in respect of them is the duty of the Republic of Lithuania. The research paper aims to evaluate the regulation of liability for corruption in private sector in Lithuanian legal system. It must be noted that it examines not only the issues of criminal liability for corruption in private sector. Taking into account the fact that the standards for the application of criminal liability are particularly high (including inter alia the presumption of innocence), the research question was set on whether the existing legal regulation (labour law) provides possibilities to protect from employees displaying unacceptable standards of behaviour. Legal requirements relating the legal liability for corruption in private sector are provided for in a few international and supranational legal acts, i.e. (a) Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA of 22 July 2003 on combating corruption in the private sector; (b) United Nations Convention against Corruption of 31 October 2005 (c) Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption of 27 January 1999; (d) Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption of 15 May 2003; (e) Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions of 18 September 2014 (this Convention has not entered into force yet). Regrettably, these few international instruments are as well rather limited: for example, the Framework Decision requires criminalisation of only active and passive bribery in private sector, and the scope of application thereof fails to include not only any unilateral acts of corruption, but as well the corruption acts related to the aspiration to receive other benefit rather than remuneration, whereas the only one universal instrument of international law, the United Nations Convention against Corruption, requires the contracting states only to consider the criminalisation of corruption in private sector rather than the criminalisation itself. All three documents mentioning active and passive bribery in private sector (including Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption besides the two already referred) are applied in restricted scope, i.e. only in cases when a bribe is given for acts or refraining from acting, in breach of the duties. This means that criminal liability is not applied in case the bribe is taken or even forced to give for proper performance of duties. However, Lithuania fails to proper implement event the limited duties formulated in the mentioned documents. Although in accordance with these three mentioned documents the subject of corruption in private sector is considered to be any employee in the private sector, Article 230(3) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania provides that criminal liability for active and passive bribery may arise only in cases when an employee holds administrative powers or is entitled to act on behalf of the legal person or other organisation, or provides public services. As according to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania most of employees in private companies are not held "persons to be treated as public servants", therefore, they might be held liable only for a restricted number of criminal activities – fraud, commercial espionage or disclosure of a commercial secret. Even upon the evidence of existence of dangerous acts, they may not be held liable for active and passive bribery or embezzlement. Due to the settled case-law which links the status of the "persons to be treated as public servants" with the exceptional importance of the company where they work for the public interest, even the majority of directors of companies and other persons acting on behalf of them may not be prosecuted for the mentioned acts. A part of corruption activities of the companies connected to their relations with clients, users and partners are standard ones, another part of corruption activities differ according to the field of activities of companies. Most of corruption activities of private companies occur either in the field of supply chain (production, distribution, marketing), or the purchasing field. These usually include active and private bribery, fraud, unfair commercial activities, misleading advertising or similar activities, subject to criminal or economic sanctions. Meanwhile, in the field of provision of legal services, pharmacy, healthcare, education, etc. possible corruption activities are of specific nature, and the prevention is provided for in special laws and codes of behaviour. Neither international, nor European Union legal acts regulate liability for corruption in labour relations, therefore, this issue is regulated only in national legislation. The main sanctions in labour law applicable in respect of an employee for corruption activities are the suspension of the performance of the labour agreement (a provisional measure) and termination of labour contract on the initiative of the employer upon the fault of the employee (Article 58 of the Labour Code). Besides, in respect of employees who act as directors a measure of revocation may be applied, and indeed, this measure is an important one for the protection of the company from a corrupted director. As well, particular sanctions for failure to execute the duties or improper execution thereof might be established in the internal documents of a company. These may include a warning, termination of additional payments or bonuses, etc. Due to the open list of measures applicable in labour relations, the liability for corruption activities in labour relations is broader in scope than criminal liability. On the other hand, rather short time-limits for the termination of the labour agreement on the initiative of the employer in case of fault of an employee and its weak deterrence weakens the effectiveness of this sanction. The problem of application of short time limits is not acute when the revocation of an employee is applied; however, the latter instrument is possible only in respect of heads of a legal person.
The topic of the master's work in business law is relevant for analysis of problems in legal regulation of land in Lithuania. Legal protection of land includes provisions of branches of land law and environmental law (at international, European Union and national level), for this reason attempts were made to ascertain the system of legal protection of land and the peculiarities, application and the problems arising thereof. There were made analyses of conformity of laws of Lithuania to the international law and laws of the European Union, there was also made review of practice of the courts in cases related to the legal protection of land. Tasks of the work: 1. to present the conception of legal protection of land according to the laws of the Republic of Lithuania and of foreign countries and on the basis of the scientific literature; 2. to make an analysis of the partition of land law and environmental law as separate branches of law regulating legal protection of land; 3. to traverse the system of legal acts regulating legal protection of land and to present an evaluation of it; 4. to perform an analysis of implementation of legal protection of land in the practice of courts of the Republic of Lithuania. The structure of the work constitutes of three parts: in the first part – the conception of the legal protection of land is being formulated; in the second part – the regulation of the legal protection of land in international law, European Union and Lithuania is being analyzed; in the third part – the analysis of practice of the courts on questions of legal protection of land is being presented. The main principles of international environmental law, laws of European Union and the Republic of Lithuania that entrench the legal protection of land are being analyzed in the master's work. There is made comparison and summation of works of Lithuanian scientists such as A. Vaišvila, E. Monkevičius, P. Aleknavičius, A. Marcijonas, B. Sudavičius, R. Ragulskytė-Markovienė, Z. Venckus and foreign scientists such as D. Chappelle, E. Louka, J. Thornton, S. Beckwith and others. The work is based on scientific literature, published articles, documents, legal acts and information on the internet.
