Law, Justice, and Development

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The Law, Justice, and Development series is offered by the Legal Vice Presidency of the World Bank to provide insights into aspects of law and justice that are relevant to the development process. Works in the series present new legal and judicial reform activities related to the World Bank’s work, as well as analyses of domestic and international law. The series is intended to be accessible to a broad audience as well as to legal practitioners.

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  • Publication
    Compendium of International and National Legal Frameworks on Child Marriage: Second Edition - June 2022
    (Washington, DC, 2023-03-29) World Bank
    The initial idea for this compendium came out in 2016 of a collaboration between the Legal Vice Presidency and the Education Global Practice at the World Bank on the role of law to end child marriage. The discussions took place within the context of a global study being conducted by the World Bank and the International Center for Research on Women on the economic and social costs of child marriage with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Children Investment Fund Foundation, as well as additional support from the Global Partnership for Education under a grant for work on out of school children. In 2022, the Empowering Women by Balancing the Law (EWBL) initiative of the Legal Vice Presidency of the World Bank decided to update and upgrade the first edition of the Compendium. The EWBL aims to advance gender equality through substantive legal contributions to promote gender inclusivity in the law. It is rooted in the conviction that gender equality and equity under the law are preconditions for enabling women’s full participation in society and for countries to achieve tangible development outcomes. However, to date, billions of women and girls worldwide face systemic barriers due to outdated and discriminatory laws that hinder their rights and opportunities. This Compendium can participate in the protection of women and girls’ fundamental rights and the promotion of strong, peaceful, and just societies, as well as to the achievement of mission to end poverty and promote shared prosperity. This Compendium is limited to 194 countries (54 countries in Africa; 44 countries in Asia; 14 countries in Oceania; 23 countries in North and Central America; 12 countries in South America; and 47 countries in Europe).
  • Publication
    The World Bank Legal Review, Volume 7. Financing and Implementing the Post-2015 Development Agenda: The Role of Law and Justice Systems
    (2016-09-06) Fariello, Frank; Boisson de Chazournes, Laurence; Davis, Kevin E.; Fariello, Frank; Boisson de Chazournes, Laurence; Davis, Kevin E.
    The newly adopted post-2015 development agenda is centered on 17 sustainable development goals to be reached by 2030. This volume of the World Bank Legal Review looks at how law and justice systems can support the financing and implementation of these goals, including the role of the rule of law and economic and social rights. The contributors, including legal scholars, development practitioners, and financial experts, analyze the goals, explore ways in which they can be achieved, and examine ways that recent relevant law and justice programs have worked. A wide array of topics are covered, from the legal aspects of collecting and monitoring vital data, to improving legal identity programs, to creating innovative health care regulation, to legal and judicial reform, to providing private sector–financing of public education projects to the provision of global public goods. Additionally, a special section on Europe looks at financial crisis management, enforcement of court decisions and the workings of the European Court of Justice. The opportunities and challenges of the 2030 agenda are many. This volume looks at both from multiple perspectives, demonstrating how sustainable development can go forward in a way in which everyone benefits.
  • Publication
    Compendium of International and National Legal Frameworks on Child Marriage
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016-09) Calimoutou, Emelyne; Liu, Yuantao; Mbu, Beverley
    The Compendium of International and National Legal Framework on Child Marriage (‘the Compendium’) provides a survey of the key international, regional and national legal instruments as they relate to the right to marry with the full and free consent of the intending spouses and to the obligation for government to take legislative measures to abolish child marriage. The Compendium consists of topical chapters with jump links to source documents, such as United Nations conventions, regional treaties, national constitutions and legislations.
  • Publication
    The World Bank Legal Review, Volume 6. Improving Delivery in Development : The Role of Voice, Social Contract, and Accountability
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2015-03-09) Wouters, Jan; Ninio, Alberto; Doherty, Teresa; Cissé, Hassane; Wouters, Jan; Ninio, Alberto; Doherty, Teresa; Cissé, Hassane
    In recent years, better delivery in development has been at the center of development discourse. There is now wide agreement that today’s development challenges demand effective solutions that fully integrate the aspirations, voices, needs, and support of citizens. But how can the international community translate that realization into practical accomplishment? Volume 6 of The World Bank Legal Review examines delivery challenges through the lens of three concepts that are critical to better development outcomes: voice, social contract, and accountability. The volume turns a spotlight on the nature of this interlocking trio, revealing that their consistent integration into both the design and the implementation of development efforts is indispensable if successful outcomes are to result. Written by seasoned practitioners and eminent scholars from across the globe, the volume’s 24 chapters illuminate the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to development. Development practitioners devoted to rule of law and justice must work with experts from various disciplines to create a synergistic dynamic that can optimize the integration of voice, social contract, and accountability into development efforts.
  • Publication
    The World Bank Legal Review, Volume 5 : Fostering Development through Opportunity, Inclusion, and Equity
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2014) Cissé, Hassane; Menon, N. R. Madhava; Cordonier Segger, Marie-Claire; Nmehielle, Vincent O.; Cissé, Hassane; Menon, N. R. Madhava; Cordonier Segger, Marie-Claire; Nmehielle, Vincent O.
    This report speaks to the holistic nature of the development process, a process that should not only encourage all stakeholders to participate in the process but also directly engage them. This volume posits that such participation must be guided by the law and accord with the broader notion of justice for development as a concept to be meaningfully appreciated today. A process that takes place without giving stakeholders an opportunity to participate, or that excludes stakeholders, is not only an unfair and inequitable process but also one that is likely to fall foul of the notion of justice in a society that is governed by the rule of law. Thus, equitable participation necessitates a careful inquiry into the conceptual underpinnings of opportunity, inclusion, and equity as law and justice tools that can be used to secure elements of meaningful development. Opportunity, inclusion, and equity in global development are clearly the foundation stones of the millennium development goals (MDGs), and their importance is growing yet greater in the context of a new post-2015 sustainable development agenda that builds on the gains of implementing the eight MDGs while identifying new development challenges. This volume is made up of 32 chapters organized into five thematic parts. Part one is law and the economy; part two is justice and rule of law reform; part three is environmental and natural resources law; part four is governance and anticorruption; and part five is empowerment and equity for diverse communities. The volume ends with a concluding chapter and an afterword.
  • Publication
    The World Bank Legal Review, Volume 4 : Legal Innovation and Empowerment for Development
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2013) Cissé, Hassane; Muller, Sam; Thomas, Chantal; Wang, Chenguang; Cissé, Hassane; Muller, Sam; Thomas, Chantal; Wang, Chenguang
    The World Bank legal review gathers this input from around the world and compiles it into a useful resource for all development practitioners and scholars. The subtitle of this volume, legal innovation and empowerment for development, highlights how the law can respond to the chal-lenges posed to development objectives in a world slowly emerging from an economic crisis. The focus on innovation is a call for new, imaginative strategies and ways of thinking about what the law can do in the development realm. The focus on empowerment is a deliberate attempt to place the law into the hands of the poor; to give them another tool with which to resist poverty. This volume shows some of the ways that the law can make an innovative and empowering difference in development scenarios. Development problems are complex and varied, and the theme of innovation and empowerment naturally has a broad scope. Consequently, this volume reaches far and wide. It considers the nature, promise, and limitations of legal innovation and legal empowerment. It looks at concrete examples in places such as Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, and Latin America. It considers developments in issues with universal application, such as the rights of the disabled and the effectiveness of asset recovery measures. The theme of legal innovation and empowerment for development complements substantive and institutional sensibilities in current development policy. Substantively, development policy discourse seems to have moved away from tacking hard toward statist policy or neoliberal policy. Although this brief introduction cannot do justice to the richness and complexity of these contributions, it does consider each focal point in turn.
  • Publication
    The World Bank Legal Review, Volume 3 : International Financial Institutions and Global Legal Governance
    (World Bank, 2012) Cisse, Hassane; Bradlow, Daniel D.; Kingsbury, Benedict
    The rule of law is not just a set of rules and their judicial application. As the third volume of the World Bank legal review makes clear in its subtitle, International Financial Institutions and Global Legal Governance, the law is also about policy making, institutional frameworks, international politics, development, and ultimately-freedom. The law broadens the scope of the questions that people ask, and so helps policy makers find solutions to complex, multifaceted problems. To do that effectively, however, legal research and legal practitioners must focus on how the law can support innovative and pragmatic responses to development challenges. The law also has a role to play at the micro level of community-driven development. Ethiopia, for example, has used intellectual property tools to renegotiate the distribution and selling arrangements of its coffee production with multinational enterprises. The results have benefited both local farmers and traders.
  • Publication
    A Global View of Business Insolvency Systems
    (Washington, DC: World Bank and Brill, 2010) Westbrook, Lawrence; Booth, Charles D.; Paulus, Christoph G.; Rajak, Harry; Westbrook, Lawrence
    The purpose of this book is to provide a coherent overview of the insolvency systems found around the world. Its intended audience includes academics, judges, lawyers, and policymakers. Its focus is on businesses rather than natural persons. The authors hope to give the reader a sense of some of the principal approaches to managing the general default of a business debtor. The authors will discuss the nature of the costs and benefits arising from the various policy choices legislators have made. In the process, they will emphasize the close interrelationship among various elements of an insolvency regime so that these elements can be viewed as part of an overall system and not just as a series of policy decisions about particular rules, such as the method of initiation of an insolvency case or the balance struck in setting the boundaries of an avoidance power. The organization of the book reflects our view of insolvency laws as complete systems, including not only the 'insolvency' or 'bankruptcy' code of a jurisdiction but also closely related laws and the institutional framework in which those laws are applied. The book takes a systematic approach to a variety of topics related to credit and insolvency regulation. The functional analysis starts with the study of debt enforcement, continues with an examination of general corporate insolvency legislation, corporate rehabilitation proceedings, informal workouts, employee rights, judicial and administrative institutions, and the considerations key to cross-border insolvency proceedings.
  • Publication
    The World Bank Policy for Projects on International Waterways : An Historical and Legal Analysis
    (World Bank, 2009) Salman, Salman M. A.
    This study deals with the evolution and context of the Bank policy for projects on international waterways. It starts with a brief description of how the Bank has faced the challenges stemming from such projects, and the different approaches deliberated by the Bank that led to the issuance of the first policy in 1956. The study then reviews the implementation experience of the policy and analyzes the principles and procedures, as well as the main features of each of the policies issued in 1956, 1965, and 1985 respectively. The principles of international water law prevailing at each stage of the policy issuance are examined and compared with those of the Bank policy. The study also discusses in detail the notification process: its basis, by whom, to whom, its content, different riparian's responses, and the exceptions to the notification requirement. It then analyzes how the Bank handles an objection from one or more of the riparian's to projects proposed for Bank financing. It also examines how the Bank has dealt with transboundary groundwater, as well as the linkages between the policy for projects on international waterways and the policies on disputed areas and environmental impact assessment. The conclusion provides an overview of the main findings of the study, and highlights some of the lessons drawn from the implementation experience of the policy.
  • Publication
    Forest Law and Sustainable Development : Addressing Contemporary Challenges Through Legal Reform
    (Washington, DC : World Bank, 2007) Christy, Lawrence C.; Di Leva, Charles E.; Lindsay, Jonathan M.; Takoukam, Patrice Talla
    This study is intended to be a systematic and practical guide to the basic features of modern forestry legislation. It identifies a range of issues that should be considered in assessing the adequacy of forest laws and presents options for addressing those issues in ways that may improve the effectiveness of law as a foundation for sustainable forest management. Part One locates forestry law within the wider legal framework, exploring its complex interrelations with other sectoral and general laws. Land issues are given special treatment because the relationship between forest access and use and land tenure is so important. Part Two explores in detail the legal treatment of core forest management issues, such as forest classification, planning, concessions, licensing, and private forest management. Part Three focuses on the role of national and sub-national institutions in the sustainable management of forest resources. As decentralization of forestry responsibilities and devolution of powers are growing, local actors are given more prominent roles in forest planning, use, and management, through such means as community-based arrangements. Part Four explores a range of environmental and trade issues. Part Five examines financial and enforcement measures, emphasizing that compliance and enforcement of forest law should be reinforced by financial and administrative sanctions. The study concludes with some reflections on how the effectiveness of forest law can be enhanced by attention to the principles that guide the process of drafting.