2023年3月30日

有消息稱，華特·迪士尼公司(Walt Disney Co.)在州長羅恩·德桑蒂斯(Ron DeSantis)的繼任者接管迪士尼世界之前，悄悄剝奪了監管迪士尼世界政府服務的董事會的權力，一段對英國皇室的提及引起了互聯網的注意，迅速成為表情包的笑柄。2月8日，在佛羅裏達州眾議院投票將該地區的控製權移交給德桑蒂斯的前一天，該委員會的前成員通過了一項“限製性公約宣言”，禁止該地區在未經公司批準的情況下使用迪士尼的名字、米老鼠和其他角色。但令人大跌眼鏡的是這項禁令的條款。該文件稱:“他的《獨立宣言》將繼續有效，直到本宣言發表之日在世的英國國王查理三世的最後一位後代去世後21年為止。”在一份涉及灰姑娘城堡而不是白金漢宮的契約清單中提到了國王，這讓許多人感到奇怪，如果不是滑稽的話。一些人猜測這是在諷刺德桑蒂斯，他曾說過，他解除迪士尼對前蘆葦溪改善區控製權的目的是“終結企業王國”。然而，有一個更直接的解釋，根植於長期的法律傳統和被稱為“反永續規則”的普通法概念。正如康奈爾大學法學院所解釋的那樣，該規則認為，“對土地的任何利益都不是好的，除非它必須在利益產生後的21年內獲得，如果有的話。”換句話說，契約必須與簽署契約時人的壽命綁定，加上21年。這一規定導致了所謂的“皇室生活條款”——這就是查爾斯三世被卷入迪士尼與德桑蒂斯之爭的原因——該條款旨在通過將契約與王室成員的血統聯係起來，盡可能長時間地延長契約。根據英國律師事務所Birketts的說法，王室成員之所以被用在這類條款中，是因為考慮到他們的財富，他們往往比大多數人長壽，而且他們的家譜也相對容易繪製。 And the current royal family bears that out: King Charles III’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was Britain’s longest-serving monarch, dying last September at the ripe age of 96. His father, Prince Philip, died in 2021 just two months before his 100th birthday. And his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth — also known as the Queen Mother — lived to see 101 years. The clause addresses King Charles III’s living descendants at the time of the agreement, which not only includes his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, but their children: Prince George, 9; Princess Charlotte, 7; Prince Louis, 4; Prince Archie, 3; and Princess Lilibet, 1. The hashtag #longlivelilibet is one of the trending topics. But not everyone uses the British monarchy. In fact, many in the U.S. over the years have tied covenants to American political dynasties, like the Kennedys. As the memes died down late Wednesday, the internet began to catch on. By Thursday morning, “Rule Against Perpetuities” was trending on Twitter. Meanwhile, the new board members for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, as the former Reedy Creek district is now known, are gearing up for a legal fight to challenge the covenants enacted by their predecessors. Said Chairman Martin Garcia: “What it looks like to me [is that] because Disney has the Magic Kingdom, they thought they could be king for a day.” READ MORE ABOUT DISNEY VS. DESANTIS