This chapter examines the licence agreement, namely the contract by which the licensor undertakes to grant to the licensee the entitlement to use a right or intangible property in return for an undertaking by the licensee to pay a fee. This chapter firstly explores the notion of the licence agreement and its functions before examining its forms, legal nature and delimitations with other contracts found under Swiss law. This chapter secondly analyses the conclusion of the licence agreement and examines, in detail, the obligations of the licensor and licensee. Finally, this chapter explores the non-performance of the licence agreement and examines in turn the default of the licensor and the default of the licensee as well as the scenario of a lack of conformity. Finally, this chapter examines the end of the licence agreement by ordinary or extraordinary termination as well as the consequences of the end of the contract.

Chapter 5 is structured according to the uses for which noble clients commissioned magic. The range of uses is broader than the five identified for other social classes and they have therefore been grouped under three wider ambitions: political or social advancement; money; and practicalities. By structuring the discussion in this way we are able to interrogate the motivations behind the upper classes’ use of magic, and investigate the role it played in elite culture. The conclusion of this discussion is that the few aristocratic magic cases that survive are indicative of a wider culture of use

This chapter focuses on how and when elite persons employed magicians; what sort of relationship was enjoyed between employer and employee; and how such relationships were allowed to continue in a courtly context. Through the course of this discussion we see that the culture of magic use among the elite was substantially different to that of society more broadly. For example, whereas generally the lower classes had a ‘pay per use’ arrangement with service magicians, upper classes were more in the habit of keeping magicians as part of their household, normally requesting the services from a cleric on retainer. The implications of this, and other habits peculiar to the elite, are explored in some detail.

Chapter 8 deals with the financial terms of licensing agreements, including fixed/up-front/lump sum payments, running royalties, sublicensing income, milestone payments (Law v. BioHeart), equity compensation, cost reimbursement (including for patent prosecution), most-favored clauses (Kohle v. Hercules) and audit clauses. Special attention is given to the calculation of license royalty rates, including tiered royalties, the royalty base (Allen Archerty v. Precision Shooting), the entire market value rule (EMVR), the smallest-salable patent practicing unit (SSPPU) rule, now-disfavored rules of thumb such as the 25% rule, standard exclusions from royalty calculations, minimum royalties, royalty caps, royalty stacking clauses and escalation clauses (Arbitron v. Tralyn Broadcasting). Special issues such as reach-through royalties and package royalties are also addressed.

This chapter documents how Thailand’s practice of Sacred Buddhist Kingship builds on the Lèse-majesté Law, with the aim of providing a first analysis of how the dual process of secularization of blasphemy and sacralization of royalty via lèse-majesté throughout Thai modern history worked towards the King’s consolidation of power. In the first part, it will sketch a brief overview of the historical evolution of the Thai lèse-majesté law including its pre-modern antecedents, before turning to an analysis of the law of lèse-majesté as defined by judges and other members of the legal profession in Thailand. In the second part, the chapter turns to a thorough examination of key case-studies from the early 21st century, discussing the judicial procedures of exception implemented to punish and absolve lèse-majesté offenders.

Chapter 6 outlines a political theology of monotheism using Assmann’s concepts of the Mosaic distinction, supplemented by other scholars like Mark S. Smith, Robert Gnuse, Rainer Albertz, et al. We dwell closely here on Israel’s political conditions of sovereignty, subjugation, and exile that all help illuminate – as we saw in Gans’ critique – what historical peculiarities constitute the Hebrew discovery of monotheism. I explore how monotheism could be composed of polytheistic building blocks – first in state-based religion and political symbols, like monolatry and despotic vassal treaties – but transform among an exiled people into a division of God from political representation.

Justice is the central feature of political ethics in Islamicate contexts. Nearly all of the sultans of India made justice the cornerstone of their political ethics. Justice was highlighted in nearly all forms of courtly literary production. Where did the ethical norms of justice come from? This chapter treats how the example of the pre-Islamic Persian kings served as a principal model of the just king.