Legal Studies Research Paper Series Vol. 10, No. 7

The Faculty has published Volume 10 Number 7 of the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series on SSRN.

This issue includes the following articles:

Martin Dixon: Playing A Round With Easements (22/2019)

Analyses the Supreme Court decision in Regency Villas v Diamond Resorts on the modern definition of easements. In particular whether a pure recreational easement can exist.

Ann Sofie Cloots et al: Global Cryptoasset Regulatory Landscape Study (23/2019)

The first global comparative study of cryptoasset regulation by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance provides a comprehensive, systematic, and comparative analysis of the current regulatory landscape of cryptoassets and related activities. The study covers 23 jurisdictions and is based on both desktop research and in-person interviews with regulators and policymakers.

Peter A Harris, Michael Keen & Li Liu: Policy Forum: International Effects of the 2017 US Tax Reform -- A View from the Front Line (24/2019)

Proximity and close economic links put Canada on the front line in thinking through the effects of the US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). This article reviews the main channels by which the business tax provisions of the TCJA might affect Canada, and possible responses.

Dominic de Cogan: Michael Oakeshott and the Conservative Disposition in Tax Law (26/2019)

The UK tax system is one of the most complex in the world, but also seems to be stubbornly resistant to reform. This is exasperating for tax theorists, but an exploration of the writings of Michael Oakeshott suggests that it may reflect deeper tensions between different visions of a legal system, and between radical and conservative attitudes towards legal change. If this is so, reformers might achieve greater practical success either by abandoning grand schemes for rational taxation or at least by making strategic use of models, political compromises, reforms with limited scope and other non-complete styles of improvement. The chapter is focussed on the UK, the jurisdiction of the present author as well as of Michael Oakeshott himself, and perhaps an outlier in terms of the influence of small ‘c’ conservatism on the tax system. It is likely that similar tensions exist elsewhere albeit in different forms.

Dominic de Cogan & Donard de Cogan: A History of the Anglo American Telegraph Co As Seen Through Its Litigation (27/2019)

The Anglo American Telegraph Co was one of the largest private companies that operated long-distance submarine telegraph lines from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. In spite of its undoubted achievements it had a chequered beginning, a less than inspiring mid-life and an ignominious end. Much has been written about the inception of this limited liability company and about its operation where it frequently adopted a short-sighted approach to the protection of its interests. Until now, very little has been written about its legal disputes, its transformation from a trading into an investment company and even less about the circumstances that brought about its demise.

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