The question of whether there is soft law in international law has been as much the subject of contemporary debate as whether or not there is private legal authority in the international society. The legal boundaries seem to be blurred by the process of globalisation and the recent shift in international law. The traditional definition of international law has been outdated as new forms of treaties has introduced new subject of law to the judicial arena. At the same time a supplementary map of law has been added to the cartography of international law, soft law. These correlating processes have comprehensive political and legal consequences at both the international and national levels.

The legal conception of contra legem derives from Roman law and is translated into "against the law". A decision contra legem arises when the text of law and the legislators purpose of law are disregarded. A paradoxal consequence is that there will always be a decision contra legem, when the text of lawand the legislators purpose of law are contradictory. It is therefore important that decisions contra legem are based on legitimate motives to ensure law and order. In fraudem legis is another legal conception from Roman law and is translated into "evasion of law".

This master thesis concerns the relation between law and the theory of the conceptual metaphor which has developed within cognitive linguistics. Although its main focus is abstract thinking, it also covers a wide range of aspects within cognitive linguistics, such as the prototype theory and radial categories. In order to address this relation, three questions will be dealt with. Firstly, does the theory of the conceptual metaphor have relevance to interpretation of legal rules and contracts? Secondly, can the same theory explain why a legal rule or a contractual term has been interpreted outside of its most given area of application? Thirdly, when an interpretation is not predictable from a legal viewpoint, can such an explanation answer to that fact? Answering the first question will require a descriptive analysis of the conceptual metaphor and cognitive linguistics.

A challenge faced by marketers is to make their products stand out in today's cluttered marketplace. Recently, a new approach to attract attention has been observed - brands communicating their products by making fun of other brands. This way of parodying a competitor, or even an unrelated brand, is a risky but potentially effective way to increase attention. Brand parodies walk a fine line between being humorous and clever, or coming off as offensive. Furthermore, parodying another trademark poses legal considerations.

It has now passed two years since the new site- and construction law, PBL, went into force. It replaced the previous PBL applicable since 1987, and it involves relatively large changes in many different areas of the construction sector. The ambitions of the new law are for instance to simplify and clarify the legal text, increase efficiency in the permitting processes and improve the quality of construction. To achieve this, a variety of changes was made. Some of the most important are: inserted deadline in the processing of building applications, extended assessment of building applications, revised rules about controlplan and quality manager, a certificate is required to start and end the project, an additional meeting is inserted and the construction management of the municipalities will have to do a mandatory visit at the work scene.

Shortselling and loan of shares are becoming a common complement to"traditional"trade in shares. To be able to lend shares, it is necessary to reregister the shares so that the shortseller is competent to sell these shares further. In a legal sense, the proprietorship of the shares has changed hands, though it is not obvious for those involved to see what happens to the prorietorship. The obscurity is principally whether a complete changeover of the proprietorship is made between those concerned. This essay makes clear which legal consequences loan of shares and shortselling get concerning the proprietorship, and how a conflict between the lender and the third party should be solved if the shortseller becomes bankrupt.

The purpose of this report is to study when and why legal persons have been allowed to acquire agricultural properties. The ownership of agricultural property is governed by the Land Acquisition Act. The reason for this is because they want to limit legal person owner-ship of agricultural properties. It is believed that a large proportion of pri-vate ownership is healthy and stimulating for the Swedish countryside. There are some exceptions in which legal persons may be able to acquire. This is a review over decisions taken by the authorities. In this report I have studied purchases made between 2008 and 2010.

The purpose of this essay is to examine how gender equality can be used in the workplace, its possible effects, and what collaboration can contribute to the subject of gender equality. A combination of legal sociological and legal dogmatic methodology has been used to examine the EU and Swedish law, how equality should be approached and what previous studies have concluded. An interview has been conducted to provide a clearer picture of how gender equality appears in practice, in the modern workplace. An equality plan should be conducted every three years and applies to employers who are responsible for more than 25 employees. The manual should include a description of the measures considered necessary in the workplace in order to promote gender equality. How an equality plan should be developed is not specifically outlined in the current law, and thus this is left up to the employer to determine.

This paper deals with the legal situation surrounding the legal statutory portion. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the statutory portions function in our society, does the rule fit into today?s society? To carry out this study, the authors analyzed the legal situation accordingly to the legal dogmatic method. Emphasis has been placed especially on laws but also non-government bills and doctrine.The statutory portion was introduced in the Swedish system, as early as in the 17th century. Its primary purpose then was to ensure a heritage to the descendants? heirs.

As an assurance company has an overconsolidation which must be settled the question that needs to be solved is how to do it. Which are the legal rules that the assurance company has to look after? What is a settling of overconsolidation in a legal meaning? Does an assurancepolicy have to be decided? Why did not the Swedish competition authority (Konkurrensverket) accept the policy from SPP and what can be the consequenses of that decision? Are there any tax rules that needs to be solved?.

There are widespread discussions about the use of retouched models in media, ranging from bloggers to legal decision-makers. Research shows that there are negative psychological effects on especially females being exposed to idealized, retouched model images. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of using retouched models in advertising from a marketing perspective, based on attitudes, perceived quality and purchase intentions.Based on theories about attractiveness, halo-effects and social comparison, an experimental study was done, investigating the different responses on above mentioned parameters to advertisements showing either retouched model images or non-retouched model images. Initially it was also tested if the retouched models were seen as more attractive than the non-retouched models. The results showed almost no differences between the reactions to the advertisements with retouched models compared to the advertisements with non-retouched models, when all respondent groups were analyzed together.

During the past 10 years Sweden has updated its penal code for sexual crimes twice. Despite this few are convicted for the crime of rape in Sweden. As the majority of perpetrators being male, this is a problem concerning women?s rights to respect for their bodies and personal integrity. A possible explanation, and this study?s point of departure is a potential discrepancy between the intention of the law and the interpretation of the same as the Swedish legal system rests on a foundation of legal positivism.

Background: It has been shown that EDI can yield positive effects within companies. Which effects are possible for a company to direct assign to the introduction of EDI and is it possible to estimate the total effect.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to estimate and analyze the effects of using EDI in electronic business. We also want to contribute with a model for measure and estimate the effects of EDI.Accomplishment: We have studied literature concering EDI and realized a preliminary studie in form of interviews with experts to establish deeper knowledge of EDI. We have also tried to estimate the effects obtained in companies in three different businesses, power, government and transport industry.Result: To obtain as good effects as possible it is important that the co- oporation is built on trust and engagement. Before implementing the EDI-system a thorough overhaul of the processes in the company should be done, involving both the top managers and the staff.

This master thesis concerns the relation between law and the theory of the conceptual metaphor which has developed within cognitive linguistics. Although its main focus is abstract thinking, it also covers a wide range of aspects within cognitive linguistics, such as the prototype theory and radial categories. In order to address this relation, three questions will be dealt with. Firstly, does the theory of the conceptual metaphor have relevance to interpretation of legal rules and contracts? Secondly, can the same theory explain why a legal rule or a contractual term has been interpreted outside of its most given area of application? Thirdly, when an interpretation is not predictable from a legal viewpoint, can such an explanation answer to that fact? Answering the first question will require a descriptive analysis of the conceptual metaphor and cognitive linguistics.

In family firms altruistic effects can arise in order to preserve the ownership of the firm within the family. The family firm may chose to carry or take measures against these effects. Regardless, it will lead to different agent costs. Therefore, the aims of the study were to explain how altruistic effects in family firms exert an influence on the administrative systems and possible counter measures.In order to explain the origin of altruistic effects, we built a theory which showed that the altruistic effects were followed by agent costs. The family can take measures to counteract these original effects.