Digital Commons Network^™

Whither Communism: A Comparative Perspective On Constitutionalism In A Postsocialist Cuba, Jon L. Mills, Daniel Ryan Koslosky

Jon L. Mills

For over fifty years, Cuba has been a source of high-spirited political and policy debates. Its history and geostrategic position make it unique in American diplomatic and socioeconomic history. Interest in the island has not waned with the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. On the contrary, Raul Castro’s assumption of Government has led many to begin asking how and under what circumstances political liberalization and economic transformation may occur in Cuba. This article examines the possible constitutional outcomes of a Cuba transition and introduces a framework for analyzing both Cuban economic reforms and US …

The Legacy Of Colonialism: Law And Women's Rights In India, Varsha Chitnis, Danaya C. Wright

Danaya C. Wright

The relationship between nineteenth century England and colonial India was complex in terms of negotiating the different constituencies that claimed an interest in the economic and moral development of the colonies. After India became subject to the sovereignty of the English Monarchy in 1858, its future became indelibly linked with that of England's, yet India's own unique history and culture meant that many of the reforms the colonialists set out to undertake worked out differently than they anticipated. In particular, the colonial ambition of civilizing the barbaric native Indian male underlay many of the legal reforms attempted in the nearly …

Protecting Free Exercise Of Religion Under The Indian And The United States Constitutions - The Doctrine Of Essential Practices And The Centrality Test, Khagesh Gautam Prof.

Khagesh Gautam

Taxing Offshore Transactions In India And The Territoriality Clause - A Case For Substantial Constitutional Limitations On Indian Parliament's Power To Retrospectively Amend The Income Tax Act, Khagesh Gautam

Khagesh Gautam

No abstract provided.

Does Customary International Law Obligate States To Extradite Or Prosecute Individuals Accused Of Committing Crimes Against Humanity?, Eveylon Cw Mack

Eveylon CW Mack

The effort to establish a Convention on Crimes Against Humanity (CAH) has gained support at the U.N. International Law Commission. Proponents of a CAH Convention assert that the lack of a treaty addressing inter-State cooperation promotes impunity for international crimes that are particularly egregious and are prohibited as norms recognized as jus cogens. In order to avoid safe havens for those who commit CAH, many CAH Convention proponents advocate for inclusion of an obligation to extradite or prosecute an offender that turns up in a State party’s territory. They assert that the inclusion of such an obligation is particularly important …

The Paper Tiger Gets Teeth: Developments In Chinese Environmental Law, Erin Ryan

Erin Ryan

This very short essay reports on the 2014 amendments to China’s Environmental Protection Law, following a series of internationally reported air and water pollution crises leading to unprecedented public protests. The changes promise more meaningful oversight of industrial pollution and harsher penalties for violations, targeting not only polluters but officials who fail to enforce applicable regulations against them. The amendments also empower certain non-governmental organizations to bring environmental litigation on behalf of the public. Official news accounts openly acknowledge the government’s hope that increased public access to legal redress will reduce the growing trend of mass environmental protests. These are …

Taming The "Feral Beast": Cautionary Lessons From British Press Reform, Lili Levi

Lili Levi

Abstract: As technology undermines the economic model supporting traditional newspapers, power shifts from the watchdog press to those it watches. Worldwide calls for increased press “responsibility” are one result. Pending British press reform provides a troubling example with far-ranging implications for freedom of the press. Under the guise of modest press self-regulation, the U.K. is currently poised to upend 300 years of press freedom via the recently-approved Royal Charter for Self-Regulation of the Press. The Royal Charter was adopted in response to the moral panic engendered by Britain’s tabloid phone-hacking scandal. An example of 20^th Century regulation poorly fitted …

Translation, Codification And Transplantation Of Foreign Laws In Taiwan, Tay-Sheng Wang National Taiwan University College Of Law

Tay-sheng Wang National Taiwan University College of Law

Taiwan is an excellent example to rethink the significance of translation and codification of law in the process of the transplantation of modern law in the East Asian countries. Regardless of its strangeness to the general public, the translation of Western laws was always codified for the purpose of “receiving” modern law in Meiji Japan. Those Japanese Westernized legal codes were also taken into effect in Taiwan during the later period of Japanese colonial rule, although Japanese colonialists initially applied the Taiwanese customary law, created by Western legal terminology, to the Taiwanese for decreasing their resistance to the new regime. …

“Friend To The Martyr, A Friend To The Woman Of Shame”: Thinking About The Law, Shame And Humiliation, Michael L. Perlin, Naomi Weinstein

Michael L Perlin

The need to pay attention to the law‘s capacity to allow for, to encourage, or (in some cases) to remediate humiliation, or humiliating or shaming behavior has increased exponentially as we begin to also take more seriously international human rights mandates, especially – although certainly not exclusively – in the context of the recently-ratified United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a Convention that calls for “respect for inherent dignity,” and characterizes "discrimination against any person on the basis of disability [as] a violation of the inherent dignity and worth of the human person...."

Humiliation and shaming, …

Relying On Government In Comparison: What Should The United States Learn From Abroad In Relation To Administrative Estoppel?, Dorit R. Reiss

Dorit R. Reiss

The United States’ Supreme Court had never upheld a claim of estoppel against the government. A citizen relying on government’s advice does that at her peril: if the government was wrong, if it misrepresented the statute or interpreted it wrongly, it can (by some interpretations, must) go back on its word and the citizen has no recourse. The Supreme Court provided many arguments for that position, but the core of them involves protection of what the Europeans refer to as “the principle of legality”: the executive does not have the ability to waive requirements from primary legislation or deviate from …

"To Kill A Cleric?: The Al-Awlaki Case And The Chaplaincy Exception Under The Laws Of War", K Benson

K Benson

Anwar al-Awlaki was the first American citizen to be targeted for extrajudicial assassination by the Obama administration. While scholarly attention has focused on legality of his killing under domestic law, his status as a chaplain under International Humanitarian Law (IHL) has gone unexamined. The possibility that Anwar al-Awlaki may have been a protected person as a chaplain has profound ramifications for the legality of his killing and for the conduct of the war on terror more generally. As the definition of a "Chaplain" under IHL is under-developed at best and vague at worst, ideologues such as Mr. al-Awlaki operate in …

Directors’ Legal Duties And Csr: Prohibited, Permitted Or Prescribed In Contemporary Corporate Law?, Benedict Sheehy, Donald Feaver

Benedict Sheehy

Abstract: The interaction between CSR obligations and directors’ legal duties is seriously under examined. This article addresses that lack by examining directors’ duties in case law and legislation across the major commonwealth countries and the USA. It provides an analysis of leading cases and examines how they deal with the issues of the shareholder primacy doctrine, corporate legal theory, CSR and directors’ duties. The article reviews fiduciary relations and duties, analyses the directors’ duties to exercise power in the best interests of the company as a whole and for proper purposes. As this area of law is highly contested there …

The Elaborate Paper Tiger: Environmental Enforcement And The Rule Of Law In China, Erin Ryan

Erin Ryan

Danbury Hatters In Sweden: A U.S. Perspective On The Available Remedies And Sanctions For Employers Who Suffer Unfair Labor Practices By Labor Unions, César F. Rosado Marzán, Margot Nikitas

César F. Rosado Marzán

The European Court of Justice's ("ECJ") Laval quartet held that worker collective actions that impacted freedom of services and establishment in the E.U. violated E.U. law. After Laval, the Swedish Labor Court imposed exemplary or punitive damages on labor unions for violating E.U. law. These cases have generated critical discussions regarding not only the proper balance between markets and workers’ freedom of association, but also what should be the proper remedies for employers who suffer illegal actions by labor unions under E.U. law. While any reforms to rebalance fundamental freedoms as a result of the Laval quartet will have to …

State Constitutions And The Basic Structure Doctrine, Manoj Mate

Manoj S. Mate

High Courts And Election Law Reform In The United States And India, Manoj Mate

Manoj S. Mate

El Derecho A La Vida En Una Sentencia Del Tribunal Constitucional Plurinacional De Bolivia [The Right To Life In A Judgment By The Constitutional Court Of Bolivia], Ligia M. De Jesus, Nicolás Lafferriere, María Inés Franck

Ligia De Jesus Castaldi