Digital Commons Network^™

‘Emaciated’ Defense Or A Trend To Independence And Equality Of Arms In Internationalized Criminal Tribunals?, Richard J. Wilson

Richard J. Wilson

No abstract provided.

The Commander In Chief's Authority To Combat Climate Change, Mark P. Nevitt

Mark P Nevitt

Climate change is the world’s greatest environmental threat. And it is increasingly understood as a threat to domestic and international peace and security. In recognition of this threat, the President has taken the initiative to prepare for climate change’s impact – in some cases drawing sharp objections from Congress. While both the President and Congress have certain constitutional authorities to address the national security threat posed by climate change, the precise contours of their overlapping powers are unclear. As Commander in Chief, the President has the constitutional authority to repel sudden attacks and take care that the laws are faithfully …

Gandhi’S Prophecy: Corporate Violence And A Mindful Law For Bhopal, Nehal A. Patel

Nehal A. Patel

AbstractOver thirty years have passed since the Bhopal chemical disaster began,and in that time scholars of corporate social responsibility (CSR) havediscussed and debated several frameworks for improving corporate responseto social and environmental problems. However, CSR discourse rarelydelves into the fundamental architecture of legal thought that oftenbuttresses corporate dominance in the global economy. Moreover, CSRdiscourse does little to challenge the ontological and epistemologicalassumptions that form the foundation for modern economics and the role ofcorporations in the world.I explore methods of transforming CSR by employing the thought ofMohandas Gandhi. I pay particular attention to Gandhi’s critique ofindustrialization and principle of swadeshi (self-sufficiency) …

Understanding The Judicial Conference Committee On International Judicial Relations, Sam F. Halabi, Nanette K. Laughrey

Marquette Law Review

Since 1993, the Judicial Conference Committee on International Judicial Relations has coordinated outreach and exchange activities of the federal judiciary in support of rule-of-law initiatives. While the Federal Judicial Center has endeavored to publicize the Committee’s work, and members of the Committee have on occasion written and spoken about their work for the Committee, the scholarly treatment of the Committee remains sparse. What discussion does exist in the academic literature tends to depict the Committee in one of two ways. First, the Committee formed in response to the emergence of newly independent states after the 1991 Soviet collapse. Those states …

The Unconvincing Case Against Private Prisons, Malcolm M. Feeley

Malcolm Feeley

In 2009, the Israeli High Court of Justice held that private prisons are unconstitutional. This was more than a domestic constitutional issue. The court anchored its decision in a carefully reasoned opinion arguing that the state has a monopoly on the administration of punishment, and thus private prisons violate basic principles of modern democratic governance. This position was immediately elaborated upon by a number of leading legal philosophers, and the expanded argument has reverberated among legal philosophers, global constitutionalists, and public officials around the world. Private prisons are a global phenomenon, and this argument now stands as the definitive principled …

False Universalism Of Global Governance Theories: Global Constitutionalism, Global Administrative Law, International Criminal Institutions And The Global South, Sujith Xavier

PhD Dissertations

Why are theories of global governance unsatisfactory? Why are theories of global governance unable to integrate the lived realities of the people of the global South? International law and its institutions are growing at an unprecedented speed and this expansion has captured the curiosity of international lawyers and international law scholars. As international law and its institutions continue to grow, there are concurrent concerns regarding their democratic foundations. A large body of scholarship encapsulates these anxieties through the prism of global governance. In particular, two specific theories of global governance, global constitutionalism, and global administrative law, seek to introduce ideas …

Human Trafficking And Film: How Popular Portrayals Influence Law And Public Perception, Jonathan Todres

Jonathan Todres

No abstract provided.

Gender Perspectives On Torture And Other Cruel, Inhuman, Or Degrading Treatment Or Punishment: Expert Consultation, Brenda V. Smith

Reports

The aim of this consultation with experts is to ensure that the Special Rapporteur receives the necessary exposure to the different practices, international standards and jurisprudence, and expert opinions that will help him draft his forthcoming thematic report for the United Nations Human Rights Council. The report will focus on assessing the unique experiences of women, girl children and LGBTI persons from the perspective of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment (“CIDTP”) in international law. The consultation will focus on specific practices where the mistreatment rises to the level of torture or CIDTP to identify gaps …

The Complexity Of International Criminal Trials Is Necessary, 48 Geo. Wash. Int'l L. Rev. 151 (2015), Stuart Ford

Stuart Ford

There is a widespread belief among both academics and policymakers that international criminal trials are too complex. As a result, tribunals have come under enormous pressure to reduce the complexity of their trials. However, changes to trial procedure have not meaningfully affected trial complexity. This Article explains why these changes have failed and argues that the complexity of international criminal trials is necessary for them to achieve their purposes. Using a multiple regression model of the factors driving trial complexity at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), this Article shows that the largest drivers of complexity are …

The Impasse Of Tibetan Justice: Spain's Exercise Of Universal Jurisdiction In Prosecuting Chinese Genocide, Craig Peters

Seattle University Law Review

Universal jurisdiction is the progressive and contentious legal principle that courts have competence to adjudicate cases involving alleged violations of international law regardless of the nation in which those crimes occurred, the nationality of the victim, or the nationality of the perpetrator. While the limits of more conventional theories of jurisdiction are defined by sovereignty, territory, and nationality, the exercise of universal jurisdiction is based solely on the nature of the crime alleged. That is, when a crime is so serious that it violates peremptory norms of international law, courts are entitled, or even obliged, to hear those cases regardless …

Human Trafficking And Film: How Popular Portrayals Influence Law And Public Perception, Jonathan Todres

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

After Atrocity: Optimizing Un Action Toward Accountability For Human Rights Abuses, Steven R. Ratner

Michigan Journal of International Law

It is a great honor for me to be here to deliver the John Humphrey Lecture. Humphrey led one of those lives within the UN that shaped what the organization has become today—as one of the first generation of UN civil servants, he was to human rights what Ralph Bunche was to peacekeeping, or Brian Urquhart to UN mediation. To read his diaries, so beautifully edited by John Hobbins, is to see a world that has in many ways vanished, a nearly entirely male club, mostly of Westerners, that hammered out new treaties and mechanisms over fine wine and cigars …

Rethinking Criminal Law Theory: New Canadian Perspectives In The Philosophy Of Domestic, Transnational, And International Criminal Law, François Tanguay-Renaud, James Stribopoulos

François Tanguay-Renaud

In the last two decades, the philosophy of criminal law has undergone a vibrant revival in Canada. The adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has given the Supreme Court of Canada unprecedented latitude to engage with principles of legal, moral, and political philosophy when elaborating its criminal law jurisprudence. Canadian scholars have followed suit by paying increased attention to the philosophical foundations of domestic criminal law. Because of Canada's leadership in international criminal law, both at the level of the International Criminal Court and of specific war crimes tribunals, they have also begun to turn their attention to …

International Criminal Law And The Inner Morality Of Law, Larry May, Margaret Martin, Craig Scott

Craig M. Scott

Larry May, W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy and Professor Law Vanderbilt University, investigates what Fuller called “procedural natural law” in contemporary international criminal law.

Respondent: Margaret Martin, University of Western Ontario

International Criminal Law’S Millennium Of Forgotten History, Ziv Bohrer

Faculty Colloquia

No abstract provided.

Combating Acid Violence In Bangladesh, India, And Cambodia, Sital Kalantry, Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum

Sital Kalantry

This Report is the first comprehensive, comparative study of acid violence that examines the underlying causes, its consequences, and the multiple barriers to justice for its victims. Acid attacks, like other forms of violence against women, are not random or natural phenomena. Rather, they are social phenomena deeply embedded in a gender order that has historically privileged patriarchal control over women and justified the use of violence to “keep women in their places.” Through an in-depth study of three countries, the authors of the Report argue that the due diligence standard can be a powerful tool for state and non-state …

Books Received, Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Keynote Speech: Global Corruption And The Universal Approach Of The United Nations Convention Against Corruption, John Sandage

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This keynote lecture describes the challenge of global corruption and the role of the United Nations Convention against Corruption in combatting it.

Emerging Technologies And Loac Signaling, Eric Talbot Jensen

International Law Studies

As States seek to weaponize new technologies such as robotics, cyber tools and nanotechnology, the current law of armed conflict (LOAC) that guides the employment of existing weapons will signal rules and principles that should guide national decisions on what new technologies to weaponize and how to do so in a way that ensures compliance with battlefield regulation. LOAC has served this "signaling" function historically with respect to innovative weapon systems such as balloons, submarines, airplanes, and nuclear weapons, and will continue to do so as nations look forward to potentially weaponizing emerging technologies.

Elusive Peace, Security, And Justice In Post-Conflict Guatemala: An Exploration Of Transitional Justice And The International Commission Against Impunity In Guatemala (Cicig), Daniel W. Schloss

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Guatemala has, until today, struggled to achieve security and justice following the end of nearly half a century of civil war in 1996. One specific institution, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), has been implemented to rectify many of the Guatemalan state’s difficulties in establishing and maintaining the rule of law. In this thesis, I look to better explain CICIG’s role in Guatemala relative to security and justice in a post-conflict setting: I define CICIG as an institution potentially capable of building societal trust, and I explain how the inclusion of procedural justice within transitional justice can help …

Mass Crimes Adjudication In Indonesia: Learning From The Cambodian Example, Renée Harrison

Brigham Young University International Law & Management Review

No abstract provided.

Does The Russian Adoption Ban Violate International Law?, Christina Champenois

Brigham Young University International Law & Management Review

No abstract provided.

Ratification, Reporting, And Rights: Quality Of Participation In The Convention Against Torture, Cossette D. Creamer, Beth A. Simmons

All Faculty Scholarship

The core international human rights treaty bodies play an important role in monitoring implementation of human rights standards through consideration of states parties’ reports. Yet very little research explores how seriously governments take their reporting obligations. This article examines the reporting record of parties to the Convention against Torture, finding that report submission is heavily conditioned by the practices of neighboring countries and by a government’s human rights commitment and institutional capacity. This article also introduces original data on the quality and responsiveness of reports, finding that more democratic—and particularly newly democratic—governments tend to render higher quality reports.

Extraterritorial Abductions: A Newly Developing International Standard, Martin Feinrider

Akron Law Review

It is these extra-legal extraterritorial apprehensions, and their status under international law, that will be the subject of this study. Here, the focus will be on the question of protection against acts of outright abduction. The conclusions reached in this study, however, would be applicable to any extra-legal extraterritorial abduction in which the apprehending State could be considered to be guilty of complicity. It is the problem of the extraterritorial violation of human rights that is to be addressed.

The Changing Face Of The Rule Against Hearsay In English Law, R. A. Clark

Akron Law Review

The rule against hearsay has always been surrounded by an aura of mystery and has been treated with excessive reverence by many English judges. Traditionally the English courts have been reluctant to allow any development in the exceptions to this exclusionary rule, regarding hearsay evidence as being so dangerous that even where it appears to be of a high probative calibre it should be excluded at all costs. But recent developments, both statutory and common law, have demonstrated a much more relaxed approach to this rule. In civil cases the hearsay rule has been contained in statutory form for some …

The Sentencing Legacy Of The Special Court For Sierra Leone, Shahram Dana

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

War Crimes And International Criminal Law, Stuart H. Deming

Akron Law Review

My remarks will focus on three particular areas relating to war crimes and international criminal law. These will include the prospect of an international criminal court, my experience with war crimes issues in Ethiopia, and how traditional practitioners can become involved with these issues.

Fleeing Cuba: A Comparative Piece Focused On Toro And The Options Victims Of Domestic Violence Have In Seeking Citizenship In The United States And Canada, Kiersten M. Schramek

Pace International Law Review

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit decided a case on February 4, 2013 that has undoubted international implications. Toro v. Sec’y dealt with the language of the Cuban Refugee Adjustment Act of 1966 (CAA) and the provisions of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

This article focuses on how and why the court reached its decision. It analyzes the conflict between the “plain language” of the CAA and its statutory construction to rebut the court’s assertion that the VAWA self-petition was irrelevant in this case, and ultimately, offer an alternative analysis to this case.

This article …

The Projected Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Human Rights Record In The Post-British Era, Daniel C. Turck

Akron Law Review

On July 1, 1997, Hong Kong ceased to be a British Dependent Territory, and the People's Republic of China (PRC) resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong pursuant to the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong (Joint Declaration). The Joint Declaration, in accordance with Article 31 of the PRC's Constitution, declares that Hong Kong is now a Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

Law's Violence And The Boundary Between Corporal Discipline And Physical Abuse In German South West Africa, Harry Schwirck

Akron Law Review

This article is organized as follows. Part One sketches the way the article will approach the issue of law and violence. Part Two provides a very brief summary of the history of German colonial rule in South West Africa. Part Three discusses the status of the right of discipline in German law up to and during the colonial period. Part Four turns to the colonial situation itself, examining the colonial debate over the right to discipline in the context of settlers’ abuse of farm workers. Part Five follows this debate into the diamond mines discovered toward the end of the …