In this chapter, I vet various criteria for a satisfactory account of agnosticism that have been proposed in the literature. I conclude that a satisfactory account of agnosticism should satisfy the following seven criteria: (1) Cognitive Contact, (2) Inconsistency, (3) Spontaneity, (4) Termination, (5) Neutrality, (6) Commitment, and (7) Appropriateness.

This chapter discusses the basics of the law of treaties: what they are, how they are concluded, what efefcts they generate, and how they are to be terminated. It is built around the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

This chapter explores the simple mandate contract which is governed by Articles 394–406 of the Swiss Code of Obligations. This chapter commences with the sources of this contract, its main characteristics as well as its delimitations with other contracts. This chapter then moves on to discuss the formation of the simple mandate contract before discussing in detail the obligations of the agent and the principal. These include the agent’s obligation to provide the promised services, duty to render the services in a diligent and faithful manner, duty to give an account, duty to return and duty to transfer vested rights as well as the principal’s duty to reimburse expenses, duty to discharge the agents from their obligations, duty to compensate for any loss incurred and obligation to pay fees. Finally, this chapter explores the end of the simple mandate contract either by termination or due to legal reasons.

This chapter examines the commercial agency contract which is governed by Articles 418a–v of the Code of Obligations starting with the sources and characteristics of this contract as well as the delimitations with other contracts and the various types of agents found under Swiss law. This chapter then moves on to the conclusion of the commercial agency contract and analyses in detail the obligations of the commercial agent and the principal. This includes the agent’s obligation to negotiate or conclude contracts, duty of care, obligation of loyalty, liability for the proper performance of the contract by the customer and obligation to return and the principal’s general duty to assist the commercial agent, obligation to pay and other pecuniary duties. Finally, this chapter explores the end of the commercial agency contract including both ordinary and extraordinary causes of termination as well as the winding up of the contract.

This chapter deals with a single, yet complex and over-arching topic, namely termination of the life of a contract. When a contract is terminated it no longer demands obligations from the parties, although the parties may be liable for damages or restitution. As will be shown, the CC distinguishes between two types of termination: termination proper and rescission. Given that termination produces significant consequences for the parties, the CC sets out general and subject-specific rules. General rules include those on force majeure, impossibility of fulfilment, discharge, set-off, novation and the effects of the death of one of the parties to a contract (among others). Subject-specific rules concern the likelihood of termination in respect of particular contracts, such as leases, deposits, employment and others. The chapter goes on to show that, exceptionally, termination or rescission is automatic, while in the majority of cases one of the parties, typically the debtor, must apply to the courts for termination or rescission.

Schema therapy training programmes tend to focus on the starting phases of therapy rather than on the final phase of therapy. In the early phases the therapist plays a more active part in the therapeutic interventions and in providing a role model of a ‘healthy adult’. In these phases, the therapist generates the client’s mode awareness, while also facilitating opportunities for corrective emotional experiences. These experiences will provide a basis for the development of the client’s Healthy Adult mode. However, it should not be assumed that the end phase will always be smooth or problem free. Often, as the therapy approaches the ending phase, challenges emerge and it can be easy for clients to fall back into old behavioural patterns. In these moments clients may seem unable to continue independently without the support of therapy. This chapter discusses the way in which the end phase might be carried out, how the therapeutic stance of limited reparenting changes during this phase, and how the therapeutic strategies are implemented differently as compared to the earlier phases. Further, we will review some common problems and challenging situations schema therapists might encounter in this end phase.

Before the 20th century, most rules of international law were in the form of customary international law. Since then, the increased complexity of international relations and rapid international development have led to a substantial growth in the number and diversity of treaties. Article 38(1)(a) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (‘ICJ Statute’) recognises treaties as a (material) source of international law by referring to ‘international conventions, whether general or particular, establishing rules expressly recognized by the contesting states’. Treaties now regulate trade, communications, environmental protection, military cooperation and defence, and human rights, to name but a few of the myriad topics. International environmental law, for example, is almost entirely governed by treaties, and international trade, investment and communications ‘are unimaginable without treaties’. The main rules in the law of treaties are contained in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (‘VCLT’), which governs treaty relations between states and is the focus of this chapter.

Normally, treaties contain express provision on duration and termination. These can take a variety of forms, including indefinite duration with a right to terminate, or a conditional right to terminate. Various types of clauses are examined, together with the situation where a treaty contains no provision for termination or withdrawal. A treaty may also be terminated by consent or by conclusion of a later treaty. The chapter examines the relationship between treaty provisions and countermeasures, and analyses the right of one or more parties to terminate or suspend a treaty for material breach. It also examines other grounds for termination, including supervening impossibility of performance and fundamental change of circumstances (rebus sic stantibus), the procedure for termination, and special circumstances such as the severance of diplomatic relations or outbreak of hostilities.

Trauma occurs when the ability to envisage our future and feel safe in the world is no longer possible. While trauma is often a one-time horrific occurrence, it can also be chronic in nature.Indeed, reproductive trauma can encompass both types of anguish: the frightening and painful loss of a miscarriage, with massive bleeding and the potential need for surgery, or the seemingly endless cycle of hope and despair during fertility treatments. Sadly, for our patients, it is not uncommon to experience both infertility and pregnancy loss, and like a soldier on the battlefield, it can be protracted, leaving deep psychological wounds. This chapter not only explores the trauma that occurs in reproductive patients, but also how we, as fertility counselors, cope with being on the battlefield with them.

The duration of all express trusts except charitable trusts is limited by the application of the rule against perpetuities. As explained in chapter 15, the rule does not impose a fixed time limit on the duration of a trust. In most cases, it imposes a limit (nowadays usually 80 years) beyond a which an interest arising under the trust cannot vest. In South Australia, the perpetuity rule has been abolished but a court may, upon application, vary the terms of a trust 80 or more years after the date of the instrument creating the trust so that any interests which have not yet vested vest immediately. There are no limits on the duration of a charitable trust beyond the practical limitation of the availability of trust money to be applied for the charity’s objects. If the original objects of the charity become impossible or impracticable to achieve, a cy-près scheme will be approved enabling the trust property to be applied for objects which are as close as possible to the original objects.

Chapter 12 relates to the duration, term and renewal of IP licenses and licensing agreements. Distinctions are made between term limited, perpetual and irrevocable licenses and obligations (Warner-Lambert vs. John J. Reynolds). Different events of termination are described, including termination for convenience and for cause. Attention is given to the different parameters surrounding breach of contract, including materiality, notice, cure and excuse, and escrow of disputed sums. Statutory termination rights under copyright law are also addressed. Finally, the effects of termination and survival of particular contractual clauses are discussed, including transition assistance, assignment of sublicenses and transitional licenses.

This chapter focuses on the rules set out in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT). The chapter begins with the concept of a treaty, before discussing treatymaking, with a particular focus on the conclusion of treaties, their entry into force, and reservations to treaties. The chapter then delves into how treaties operate -- namely, their scope of application and their interpretation. Finally, this chapter looks at the invalidity, suspension, and termination of treaties.

This chapter focuses on the rules set out in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT). The chapter begins with the concept of a treaty, before discussing treatymaking, with a particular focus on the conclusion of treaties, their entry into force, and reservations to treaties. The chapter then delves into how treaties operate -- namely, their scope of application and their interpretation. Finally, this chapter looks at the invalidity, suspension, and termination of treaties.

Treaties rely on the assumption that certain circumstances, essential to the conclusion of the treaty, will remain unchanged. It is on the basis of those circumstances that parties reach an agreement and pacta sunt servanda aims to safeguard those shared expectations. Still, States can be freed from their contractual obligations through peaceful means, when circumstances leading to the conclusion of a treaty change and obligations under a treaty become unduly burdensome. An unforeseen fundamental change of circumstances can be invoked as grounds for terminating a treaty if it affects the essential basis of the treaty and radically transforms obligations still to be performed. These conditions can all be met when coastlines or ecological circumstances undergo fundamental changes, affecting the essential basis of maritime delimitation agreements or related agreements concerning resource management. However, treaties establishing boundaries are immune from termination or revision on these grounds. Still, such agreements can be reinterpreted as a result of fundamental, environmental changes and this exception arguably, only excludes maritime boundaries of the territorial kind.

The duties that principals and agents owe each other are typically coterminous with the agency relationship itself. But sometimes temporal lines of clean demarcation do less work. The Chapter identifies situations in which an agent may owe duties—including fiduciary duties—to the principal prior to the formal start of their relationship, including any enforceable contract between the parties. Likewise, not all duties that agents and principals owe each other end with the relationship. The Chapter explores the rationales for duties at the temporal peripheries for an agency relationship and the extent to which they are derived from doctrines distinct from agency law. Issues in some contexts are amenable to resolution through bright-line determinations; others require nuanced and fact-specific inquiry.These structural consequences of agency require tempering either the claims to generality or the content of some theoretical accounts of fiduciary relationships more broadly, particularly those stressing the cognitive dimensions of agents’ loyalty and demanding robust commitment from the agent.

This chapter considers how a liminal lens help inform contemporary discussions surrounding embryos in vitro and beyond using three case studies: 1) the 14-day rule, 2) in vitro gametogenesis, and 3) ectogenesis. The first case study is important as it is the principal manifestation of law’s attempt to reflect ‘special status’ on the embryo, and because it is also an example of legal attempts to deal with embryonic processes. This example is used to examine what the context-based approach developed in this book could bring to contemporary debate about the nature of such a rule, as well as its retention, reduction, or extinction. The second example enables us to consider what the analysis offered in this book says about these relatively new technologies in relation to their regulation, and the key biological and legal thresholds involved. The final case study focuses specifically on partial ectogenesis, a technology which not only introduces new thresholds, but leads us to question our existing understanding of meaningful legal thresholds, most notably birth as the moment in which the foetus/baby attains personhood. By these means, the analysis engages with the entire trajectory of embryonic development as this is driven by scientific possibilities, both current and near future.

This chapter discusses the basics of the law of treaties: what they are, how they are concluded, what effects they generate, and how they are to be terminated. It is built around the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties