On 25 July 2003 the German Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court – FCC) handed down an order which is likely to give a new direction in global disputes since it relates to an act that is absolutely necessary when starting litigation: the service of a writ in a suit before a court. The Court's order is an important element in a discussion of the compatibility of German procedural law and conflict of laws with foreign, notably U.S. American class action and punitive damages suits that has been going on in Germany for a long time already. The following case note will provide a brief introduction to the debate and comment on the Court's order before sketching the possible consequences of the FCC's latest decision.

The status and range of human rights in international relations is a politically delicate and legally contested topic. In a recent decision the Federal Constitutional Court was forced to concretize the relation between international human rights obligations, domestic constitutional rights laid down in the Grundgesetz and international duties following from extradition contracts between the Federal Republic and other UN member states. More precisely, in the “Extradition to India”-case the FCC had to deal with the crucial question of human rights adjudication: can an accused be handed over to a country where the police force is accused of “using torture as a regular instrument during the interrogation of apprehended persons” and whose correctional institutions are described as “keeping prisoners and detainees in custody under conditions which resemble a cruel, inhuman and humiliating treatment or punishment”?

National legislators approach European law very differently. The reason for these differences lies partly in the historical development of their individual legal cultures. If one pursues a broad interpretation of the term ‘legal culture’ one takes especially into account the style of law and the attitude toward it. Thus legal culture can be defined as the Continental civil law countries’ ideal of a “concise, but comprehensive codification by which the judge can derive solutions for all possible cases through teleological interpretation;” whereas the common law rather limits this concept to “special laws which are interpreted very narrowly by the courts and accordingly are designed by the legislator to the last detail”. Furthermore, one could include the status of a judge, the nature of legal discourse, or the training of legal professionals, as well as the respect accorded to the law by the population when defining the concept of ‘legal culture'.

In its most recent judicature the European Court of Justice (ECJ) continued its tendency of deciding in favor of the freedom of establishment by holding that rules submitting pseudo-foreign companies to the company law of the host state were inadmissible. It clarified that a foreign company is not only to be respected as a legal entity having the right to be a party to legal proceedings, but rather has to be respected as such, i.e. as a foreign company that is subject to the company law of its state of incorporation. Any adjustment to the company law of the host state is, hence, not compatible with European law. In addition to commenting on the decision and its effects, this article points out potential for corporate restructuring in the field of codetermination.

It has been argued that the best possible constitution is a short constitution. If so, then the Draft treaty establishing a constitution for Europe is a spectacular failure: at more than 250 pages, comprising some 450 articles and a handful of protocols and declarations, the Draft constitution is anything but short.

The European Community's (EC) regulatory framework for electronic communications contains many detailed and complicated regulations with regard to the content of sector-specific regulation in the field of telecommunications. Remarkably, though, it is rather reticent concerning the question which markets shall be subject to sector-specific regulation. In the ongoing process of transposition, this has caused much confusion and misunderstanding. This article therefore, strives to clarify the mechanism for determining which markets are, at least potentially, subject to sector-specific regulation provided by the Framework Directive (sub B.). At the national level, a draft of the German Telecommunications Acthas been presented by legal experts of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour on April 30th, 2003 (Draft German Telecommunications Act), and the subsequent Federal Government's draft act was published on October 15th, 2003 (Revised Draft German Telecommunications Act). These drafts may serve as an example of bringing sector-specific regulation in line with general insights of competition policy within the discretionary scope left by the regulatory framework of the EC (sub C.).

In previous conflicts about domain names within the global address system, German judges only had to answer relatively simply legal questions. Under which conditions does a domain name, which is easily confused with another name, infringe the rights of the name owner? Pervious decisions have identified infringement in the following cases:

- The name and domain name are, to a significant degree, identical or may be easily confused with one another,

- The user of the domain name possesses no personal right to the name, and

- The name usage is likely to promote mistakes about the origin of the web-site.

Both internationalists and national constitutionalists are currently reflecting on changes in the basic structures of public law. From the national perspective, the process of globalization puts into question the hitherto generally accepted position of constitutional law as being at the top of the pyramid of norms. In international law, the development of subject-oriented régimes has led to a proliferation of international courts and other bodies entrusted with the resolution of disputes. This tendency entails a danger of fragmentation which contrasts with the current tendency to discover processes of constitutionalization in international law. Starting from the functions of the constitution in national law, the following paper develops in the first part elements of constitutionalization in international law in general (I.). In the second part, the identified problems are elaborated upon in more detail with respect to the law of the World Trade Organization (II.).