The deific-decree exception to Washington's M'Naughten insanity standard first appeared in case law a quarter century ago in State v. Crenshaw. A few subsequent cases have attempted to refine the contours of the deific decree; however, the deific-decree doctrine has had only limited utility as a basis for the insanity defense. After about a decade of no activity in this area, the Washington cou...

when the parties enter into a contract, they are obliged to implement its obligations, but sometimes events occur that make it impossible to execute the contract or runtime status than the time of conclusion of the contract is fundamentally different. these events are referred to as legal excuses if eligible, the parties are exempt from the obligations and responsibilities. the most important l...

Insincere Promises advances an economic theory of the law of misrepresented intent. Ian Ayres and Gregory Klass argue that penalizing promisors who misrepresent the objective probability of their performance helps to induce efficient reliance on promises by promisees. The authors develop a reformed version of the doctrine aimed at inducing optimal reliance with minimal transaction cost. In this...

Ever since its genesis in the Supreme Court’s famous decision in International News Service v. Associated Press,1 the “hot news” misappropriation doctrine has had to fight for its survival. First came Judge Learned Hand, who in a series of opinions, took the position that International News did not lay down a “general doctrine,” but was instead meant to be limited to the peculiarities of the ne...

Countries are increasingly using tax policy as an instrument to navigate through the recent global financial difficulties, and China is no exception. In an effort to avoid the loss of tax revenue resulting from the utilization of foreign holding companies, the Chinese tax authority issued Circular 698 granting itself the authority to tax transactions between foreign entities taking place outsid...