Melbourne Law School - Theses
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ItemThe law of money( 1998)Money occupies a central position in both the disciplines of law and economics. From the legal point of view, money constitutes a vital part of the legal system. Ever since the advance from a barter economy, money has become a central instrumentality of legal transactions. Seeking a legal definition of the phenomenon of money is, therefore, an invaluable exercise for the discipline of law. However, as money is an economic phenomenon, seeking to ascertain the meaning of money for legal purposes cannot be comprehensively pursued without due regard to economics. This thesis sets out to show the importance of monetary and other economic factors in analysing and applying the law of money. In particular, this thesis sets out to identify the principal functions performed by money from the viewpoint of their relevance in comprehensively defining the phenomenon for legal purposes. It examines the legal meaning of money in the context of such developments as the use of advancing technology to transmit by electronic means rights to money at ever increasing speeds and amounts across the globe, floating exchange rate markets, the changing role of gold from its once unique position as the quintessential international monetary reserve, the development of "electronic cash", and the tracing of money through a series of paperless transactions. When examining these developments, there is a focus on how legal analysis might be assisted by identifying the role performed by money in specific sets of circumstances. While attention is given to international monetary units, such as the Special Drawing Right and the European Currency Unit where relevant throughout the thesis, the development of the Euro as the currency of the European Union in the twenty-first century is not specifically addressed. This is an on-going and developing process, raising specific issues such as natural currency areas within the European Union necessarily outside the ambit of this thesis, which focuses on the law of money proceeding from an Australian viewpoint to more general materials especially in the English-speaking world. However, this thesis does draw from the non-English-speaking world for materials and examples that may well be of universal significance, and have unique ramifications, in the process of determining the meaning of money for legal purposes. While focussing on the future, the thesis carefully considers the past from the point of view of determining the extent to which the existing law is able to deal with what appear as entirely new phenomena, associated with technological advancement and apparent rapid globalisation.
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ItemGold : money or commodity?( 1993)