CORPORATION LAW ASSIGNMENT 2022

Instructions 1. Students should choose one of the following countries: Japan, China, Vietnam, Brazil, Cuba, United Arab Emirates, Italy or Russia. 2. With respect to the country you have chosen, undertake research on the legal system of this country. Your research should: o detail the parliamentary system in this country o detail the sources of law in this country i.e. where does the law come from? o describe the court structure operating in this country categorise the legal system operating in this country i.e. is it Germanic- Romano, Anglo-American or the Islamic legal system. Explain why you have categorised the legal system in this way o explain the concept of the Rule of Law and detail the strength of the rule of law in this country 3. Prepare a 1500 MS Word document that details your Research Notes with appropriate referencing. 4. Deliver in person (class students) or by video (online students) an oral presentation of no more than 5 minutes that presents the research.

Running head: CORPORATION LAW
CORPORATION LAW
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CORPORATION LAW
In the present assignment the country chosen is Cuba and the legal system of the
country will be discussed in details in the later part of the assignment. The legal system
followed in Cuba is based on the principles that have been derived from the European
Continental law which also regarded as the civil law (Evenson, 2019). As per the Constitution
of Cuba, the major principles involve a system of economy that is based on people’s social
property on the fundamental production ways, strict personal property regulation, rights of
citizens and economic control by the government. This Constitution that forms the basis for
Cuban law came into effect in 1976 and underwent amendment twice in 1992 and 2002
(Alonso, Breña & Dym, 2015).
Cuba followed a centralist democratic and central political system which is based on
the principle of ‘one state, one party’ since the year of 1959. As per the Constitution, Cuba
being a socialist country is ruled by the Marxist dictates. The Communist party forms the
leading force of the country both at the state as well as society level. The parliamentary
assembly is a unicameral system and it is the single body vested with both legislative and
constituent authority. Two regular sessions are held by it every year. The National assembly
is vested with the power of amending the Constitution together with the power to legislate,
repeal and modify laws. It has also the authority to allow as well as debate plans for national
development in the economic field, the budget of State and to set rules for foreign and
domestic policies. About half of the candidates are generally chosen by the Municipal
Assemblies. The National Assembly of People’s Power denotes Republic of Cuba’s
legislative parliament. It is the supreme authority of power for the State. The members are
usually elected from the electoral districts’ members having tenure for 5 years.
The procedural as well as substantive Cuban laws are generally based on Civil laws of
Spain and these laws are greatly affected by the Marxism-Leninism principles. The legal
sources of Cuba are primarily Civil Code, Family Law and the Penal Code.

2CORPORATION LAW
The 16th July 1987 is an important date in the Cuban history when the first Civil Code
was passed in Cuba by the National Assembly of People's Power which was created by the
Cubans for them and by them (Staten, 2015). The Civil Code is being inspired by various
principles.
Another branch of law of Cuba is the Family Code. It is the Substantive Family Law
Rule that controls and deals with the matters related to family like divorce, marriage,
adoption, guardianship and others (Browne, 2018). It was promulgated in the year of 1975.
The Family Code is presently under modification and such modification is intended to adapt
the Code to the guidelines given under the United Nations Conventions by eliminating the
discrimination committed against the children’s rights and against women.
The final branch is the Penal Code which is the amalgamation of the criminal laws
that are used by the State while exercising its penalizing power. It also includes the sanctions
and penalties awarded for committing crimes. The penalties that are imposed are fine,
imprisonment and imprisonment along with certain disqualification. The Cuban criminal law
is based on the Spanish law till 1956.
The Cuban Judicial system is one of the three branches of the Cuban Government
where the other branches are legislative and executive branches (Couce, 2017). It is
contended that the judicial system is deprived of independence and acts subordinate to the
executive branch. The Cuban Court system usually comprises of Military courts, municipal
courts, provincial courts and a Supreme Court (Rozas, 2017). The Supreme Court is again
divided into different areas dealing with penal, administrative and civil, state security, labor
and military cases. The Cuban Supreme Court is the highest judicial branch of the country.
There are no provisions of special courts in Cuba apart from those mentioned above. In cases

3CORPORATION LAW
involving juvenile issues are usually handled outside the court in an informal manner
provided those cases are not involving any crime.
The Cuban legal system is the unique composition of three main stages of the history
pertaining to Cuba. It is highly influenced by the Spanish legal system (Puig, 2018). Along
with this, in the Cuban legal system, elements belonging to the Anglo American law like
habeas corpus are also found. It is the main place of analysis between the Roman Germanic
legal system along with the common law that has been established in Europe, Latin America
and Anglo-Saxon America. Cuban legal system is highly influenced by the Spanish legal
system which in turn is derived from the Romano – Germanic category of legal tradition
(Butler, 2019). Thus indirectly, the Cuban legal system can be considered as the part of the
Romano-Germanic Legal System. The reason behind this is that the Cuban legal system has
derived from core principles that have been codified into a referring system. Thus a valid
legal system is there that can be referred while resolving disputes. Another important element
of this type of system is that it is not influenced by judge made decisions.
The rule of law refers to a principle that is sought to control the usage of power (Raz,
2017). It states that power can be used when it is permitted or authorized by law or it has
been legally granted by a legitimate constituted authority. Mainly two important principles
are incorporated by the rule of law which are as follows. Firstly the use of power in an
arbitrary manner must be replaced by laws and secondly, that everyone is equal in the eyes of
law and is also subject to law. The rule of law provides that the citizens are bound by legal
commands and rules and such citizens are allowed by the legal system to challenge the power
of the State (Radin, 2017). It also allows the citizens to enjoy happiness and prosperity
without being interfered by the state. The emphasis on the constitutionalism provided an extra
element to the concept of the rule of law. For establishing rule of law truly, the government
must be supported and legitimized by the assent of the governed if it wants to form a law

4CORPORATION LAW
based state. If the governed gives no consent, then the elements of the rule of law are not
followed. This is because in that scenario the dictators and tyrants will be controlling the state
stating that they are abiding by the rule of law. Usually the rule of law can be represented by
a three tier system. The top most tier consists of the laws like the statutes and constitution of
the state along with its rules plus regulations. These form the formal constraints of the law.
The second or the middle tier includes the institutional constraints which are constitutional
government, judicial review by independent courts, separation of powers, free elections, open
governmental processes and a free press. The lowermost tier or the base of the three tier
pyramid gives support and basement for the upper two tiers. The lower tier is the rule of law
belief which is actually the supreme and most powerful part of the tier. Until and unless such
belief is accepted by all, rule of law can never be supported. For creating, interpreting,
implementing and applying the rule of law, democratic institutions is required to be formed
for establishing the required parameters for creating rules and for providing the standards in
order to identify the rules to be recognized. Lastly a culture of rule of law has to be developed
and the individuals must be taught to accept and believe the duties of the rules of law (Craig,
2017).
As an independent state Cuba has shown less inclination to the rule of law (Azel,
2015). Presently, Cuba does not act not even by following the most common and open
definition of rule of law. Some jurists can claim that it follows the rule of law as there are
ample number of laws present but the main fact is Cuban government is not restricted by law
instead it used law as obligating instrument belonging to the power. For this, the government
structure and the legal system are to be discussed once again. The principle of unity of power
is followed by the Cuban government as all the legislative as well as executive powers of the
state have been authorised to delegate to one democratic representative body (Evenson,
2019). The unity of power is achieved by following a pyramidal structure and it has been

5CORPORATION LAW
achieved by the Constitution of Cuba. Since 43 years, Cuba is under the ruling of Castro and
controlled by Cuban Communist Party whose head is Castro. Here the legal system along
with the judicial system is controlled by Castro and his party. There lie no independent
courts. The judicial system is also dominated by the political party. The judges are not
empowered for causing judicial review. But the National Assembly is empowered to analyse
the constitutionality of each and every law. Hence in order to establish the rule of law, the
entire system is required to be changed.

6CORPORATION LAW
References:
Alonso, G., Breña, R., & Dym, J. (2015). The rise of constitutional government in the Iberian
Atlantic world: the impact of the Cádiz Constitution of 1812. University of Alabama
Press.
Azel, J. (2015). The New Cuba policy: fallacies and implications. World Affairs, 19-28.
Browne, E. (2018). Lesbian and bisexual women in Cuba: family, rights, and policy. Gender
& Development, 26(1), 71-87.
Butler, W. E. (2019). What Makes Socialist Legal Systems Socialist. Law Ukr.: Legal J.,
131.
Couce, J. (2017). A Comparative Analysis of the United States and Cuban Judicial Systems.
Craig, P. (2017). Formal and substantive conceptions of the rule of law: an analytical
framework. In The Rule of Law and the Separation of Powers (pp. 95-115).
Routledge.
Evenson, D. (2019). Revolution in the balance: Law and society in contemporary Cuba.
Routledge.
Puig, V. S. J. (2018). Human Dignity as a Fundamental Principle in Biomedicine: A Spanish
Perspective. In The Reality of Human Dignity in Law and Bioethics (pp. 97-115).
Springer, Cham.
Radin, M. J. (2017). Reconsidering the rule of law. In The Rule of Law and the Separation of
Powers (pp. 37-76). Routledge.
Raz, J. (2017). The rule of law and its virtue. In The Rule of Law and the Separation of
Powers (pp. 77-94). Routledge.

7CORPORATION LAW
Rozas, J. C. F. (2017). Cuba (pp. 2003-2008). Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
Staten, C. L. (2015). The history of Cuba. ABC-CLIO.