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TheMerchant of Venice is, for good reason, considered to be one of Shakespeare's most legal works, alongside Measure for Measure. At the heart of the debate is the famous penalty clause that Venetian ship owner Antonio allows to be imposed on him by Jewish moneylender Shylock. The clause requires a pound of Antonio's own flesh in the event that he defaults on payment of his loan. Generally called to mind is the monologue by Portia, who pleads for the moneylender's mercy. The play is read as an illustration of an eternal trial between the letter of the law and its spirit, between legal formalism and equity. This lecture questions this traditional interpretation by placing the story back into its socio-historical context: the Venetian casino, the games of seduction and power, and the fact that the adventures are necessarily financed by the Venetian Ghetto. Yet, in addition to legal analysis and sociological decoding, an anthropological reading of Shakespeare's work is warranted. The Merchant of Venice can be understood as a clash between radicalized legal passions. For Shylock, the promissory note, containing the famous penalty clause, presents itself as an opportunity to finally quench his thirst for vengeance, fueled by age-old resentment. For Antonio, a diehard gambler, any transaction is an opportunity to go for broke and to preemptively turn misfortune to his advantage. After all, how could a Venetian ship owner lose to a Jewish moneylender?

Mexico's agrarian and forest history established an original forestry land tenure system based upon social property. Mexican National Parks have a unique place in North America where such protected areas have more commonly been under a strict and sole control of Federal authorities. In Mexico, they are places of intense complexity where laws and regulations, economic and social needs are intertwined with policy issues. The Mexican Revolution's legacy ensured tenure rights to agrarian communities that are contested by governments' conservation policies : on the one hand, parks' communities have been excluded from forest uses, while in the same time, logging companies, both private and para-governmental, have been allowed to operate within Protected Areas. This paper intends to retrace the evolution of public policies regarding control and access over forest lands and resources in Mexico, focusing particularly on the Nevado de Toluca National Park. The analysis focuses on how public policies, both at the national and local park levels, have overlapped for about a century. The lack of clear resource management policies that would be readable to members of the local communities – whether legally in relation to their agrarian rights, or illegally in light of the law regarding National Parks – is the cause of major difficulties resonating with wider problems of governance within this protected territory.

Keywords: politiques publiques, conservation, réforme agraire, aire protégée, propriété sociale, communauté rurale, droit d'accès, parc national, Mexique, ressources forestières, politicas públicas, conservación, reforma agraria, area protegida, propriedad social, comunidades rurales, derecho de acceso, parque nacional, México, recursos naturales, public policies, conservation, agrarian reform, protected area, social property, rural communities, access rights, national park, Mexico, forest resources

Secularity, both a historical heritage and a constitutional principle, has many specific caracteristics in France. Many question its evolution in view of France's visible socio-cultural modifications, its international commitments and its presence in Europe. The case of the "islamic scarf" may be very revealing in this respect. As a matter of fact, State Council jurisprudence has already demonstrated the evolution of secularity. The study of this case covers other European and American countries and concludes with the inescapable reorientation of secularity.

The first part of this paper examines the consequences of a would-be accession of Québec to sovereignty in terms of nationality. It shows that there are no predetermined rules governing this issue. The consequences of a would-be accession to sovereignty in terms of nationality cannot be easily foreseen. However, based on the practice of States, there are several available options which are examined in this article. The second part of this paper studies the various principles which govern the jurisdiction of States with respect to nationality. It also considers the various possible elements of a Québec nationality.

While dependency relations between developed and Third World countries are being redefined, a number of Western participants and thinkers challenge the Third World ideology and its recommended models of action.Taking into account the fact of colonization, the round table participants bring numerous precisions to clarify the debate. Many dimensions are interrelated: the world economic crisis, imperialism consolidation, national liberation struggles, as well as the balance in North-South relations are at the heart of the debate. However, the claims of Third World countries and their liberating values still seem justified.

The Security Council has to respect, in its coercive peace-keeping action, the human rights which are not peremptory and which are inscribed in the basic instruments for the protection of human rights drawn up under UN auspices, except if it is not compatible with the pursued objective of safeguarding the peace. It is bound by a conditioned obligation of respect of (non peremptory) human rights guaranteed by the main international instruments on human rights. That obligation can stem from an application to the United Nations Charter of the bona fide general principle. More simply, that can correspond to a customary obligation of the Security Council. The United Nations organ is also bound, according to the Charter, by the (only obligatory) international customary law of human rights. That is also an obligation conditioned by the success of its peace-keeping action. At least the Security Council has to respect international peremptory law of human rights. Here he knows an absolute obligation. As regards the limited number of human rights enshrined in jus cogens, the coercive action of the Security Council turns out to be faintly limited by standards of respect of human rights.