Interestingly, the majority of Global Legal Monitor (GLM) articles that were popular in January have remained so in February. These include articles on a Belarus law regarding accessing foreign websites; a South Korean law on dual nationality; a Denmark law on retirement age; a New Jersey Supreme Court decision regarding eye witness identification; and on minimum wage laws in Turkey and Hong Kong, China.
Below is the complete list of GLM articles most viewed in February in the order of their popularity:
- Belarus: Browsing Foreign Websites a Misdemeanor
- Japan: Statute of Limitations for Murder Abolished
- South Korea: Permanent Dual Nationality Allowed after 60 Years
- Turkey: New Minimum Wage
- European Union: Treaty on Fiscal Compact
- Denmark: Retirement Age Raised
- United States: Computer Hacker Can Be Prosecuted for Securities Fraud
- United States: New Jersey Supreme Court Revises Test for Admissibility of Eyewitness Identifications
- Hong Kong: Minimum Wage Law Takes Effect
- Italy: Renewable Energy Law Adopted
Four articles made it to the top ten list for the first time in February. One discusses a 2010 Japanese law amending the country’s Criminal Procedure Law to abolish the statute of limitations for the offense of murder and other offenses that result in death. Another focuses on a recent treaty among most members of the European Union (EU) introducing, among other things, a “balanced budget rule” and an obligation to incorporate rules on balanced budgets into the constitutions of member states. The article stated that:
[t]he European Commission, as the executive arm of the EU and within its powers granted by the EU treaties, will monitor implementation of the budgetary commitments assumed by parties to the Treaty. In the event of non-conformity with the Treaty rules, the Commission has the power to refer a recalcitrant EU Member State to the European Court of Justice. The Court of Justice may impose a penalty of up to 0.1% of the Member State’s GDP. The penalty will be payable to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) if the EU Member concerned is a euro zone member; otherwise it will go into the general EU budget.
The third article relates to a 2009 decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in which the Court ruled that a person who employs deceptive means to hack into a company’s financial records may face charges of fraud under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Finally, the fourth article concerns an Italian law issued in 2011 to implement a 2009 EU Renewable Energy directive. The article summarized the purpose of the decree:
[t]he aim of the new rules set forth under the decree is “to strengthen and rationalize” the renewable energy subsidy system and to reach “the double objective of increasing renewable energy production in line with European objectives and reducing the linked subsidies which are ultimately charged to the consumer …. The government also hopes it will mean the end of the “fraud and speculation” associated with the system, which has cost the public €35 billion (about US$49 billion) over the last decade.
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