Digital Commons Network^™

Constraining Targeting In Noninternational Armed Conflicts, Peter Margulies

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

An American drone pilot thousands of miles away from Afghanistan sees a tempting target on his computer screen. Thanks to the Predator drone's video capabilities,' the pilot is treated to the spectacle of a known Taliban commander and over a dozen other armed men greeting a dozen tribesmen, who are also armed to the teeth. Everyone depicted on-screen has a gun. The pilot fires the Predator's missile. Shortly thereafter, he confirms the deaths of thirty Taliban fighters and associated forces.

While the facts above, particularly the presence of the known Taliban commander, tend to show that the strike was consistent …

The Exercise Of Contract Freedom In The Making Of Arbitration Agreements, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The privatization and contractualization of arbitration, while they empower parties and unburden public institutions, should not eliminate completely the basis for the public regulation of the process. The string of "one-off' arbitrations, gathered together, has consequences upon the public interest in the orderly administration of adjudicative relations in both domestic and international law. The use of arbitration does have a bearing upon the substantive content of legal rights. Judicial vigilance should not only ward off the flagrant abuses of process and procedure in arbitration, but it should also establish an "interests of justice" limitation upon the operation of the process …

Setting Arbitrators' Fees: An International Survey, John Y. Gotanda

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines the compensation policies of international arbitrators. Specifically, the Article details the results of a survey of individuals who practice in the area of international arbitration.

Initially, the Article describes the different methods of calculating the fees of the arbitral tribunal, discussing the relative advantages and disadvantages of each method. The study concludes that most arbitrators calculate their fees using a time-based method, except when the arbitral institution requires that their fees be determined under the ad valorem method.

Next, the Article examines arbitrators' policies regarding cancellation and commitment fees. Survey results highlighted confusion about whether arbitrators were …

Peace And The Press: Media Rules During U.N. Peacekeeping Operations, Jennifer Lee

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In recent years, U.N. peacekeeping operations have become an increasing focus of international military action and media coverage. While the military and the media have maintained a precarious balance in the United States between the military's objective of operational success and the media's call for uncensored reporting, the evolution and growing importance of U.N. peacekeeping offers new considerations to this balance. This Note examines the ability of the United Nations to affect the balance between the military and the media through the implementation of U.N. media rules during peacekeeping operations. This Note begins by reviewing the history of media coverage …

International Transactions And Claims Involving Government Parties: Case Law Of The Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, Richard M. Mosk Reviewer, Nils Mangard Reviewer, Koorosh H. Ameli Reviewer

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

International Transactions and Claims Involving Government Parties: Case Law of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal

By John A. Westberg

International Law Institute

Washington, D.C.: 1991. Pp. 412. $125.

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Richard M. Mosk - reviewer

Nils Mangard - reviewer

Koorosh H. Ameli - reviewer

Contemporary Efforts To Guarantee Indigenous Rights Under International Law, Andre Lawrey

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines recent attempts to improve international standards governing the rights of indigenous peoples. In this context, Ms. Lawrey analyzes the Australian Government's 1988 commitment to negotiate a treaty with Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Ms. Lawrey discusses the strained relationship between international law and indigenous peoples. At present, indigenous groups are not guaranteed special rights under international law. Furthermore, traditional individual rights are inadequate to effectively protect indigenous land rights and the right to self-determination. Ms. Lawrey identifies developments in indigenous rights since World War II, including International Labor Organization Convention Number 107 (Convention 107) and …

Japan's East China Sea Ocean Boundaries: What Solutions Can A Confused Legal Environment Provide In A Complex Boundary Dispute?, Kendrick F. Royer

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note addresses the ocean boundary delimitation conflict between Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea in the East China Sea. The author considers international law on boundary delimitation and concludes that the law is unclear on delimitations between states within four hundred nautical miles of one another. The International Court of Justice has held that equity is the norm to be applied to boundary delimitation disputes but it has not resolved the competition between the natural prolongation theory of delimitation and a theory based upon the Exclusive Economic Zone. The geology of the East China Sea brings this issue to …

Treaty Interpretation From A Negotiator's Perspective, Kenneth J. Vandevelde

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The international law of treaty interpretation is based on the perspective of an objective third party, such as a court, seeking to interpret an agreement after it has been negotiated. The result is a legal regime that attempts unnecessarily to apply a uniform approach to all treaty provisions and which places primary emphasis on resolving disputes rather than on enforcing the parties' intent. This approach takes insufficient account of the actual process of treaty negotiation, undercuts the legitimacy of the court's interpretation and potentially diminishes the effectiveness of treaties as a means of governing international relations. International law needs a …

Custom And Treaty: A Response To Professor Weisburd, Anthony D'Amato

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Arthur M. Weisburd's article, "Customary International Law: The Problem of Treaties", focuses on an important problem that has been relatively overlooked: whether current doctrinal scholarship accords too much weight to treaties as constitutive of customary practice. Few issues in international law are more important than the question of where an international rule comes from and how it is proved. Professor Weisburd has addressed a significant component of this basic question. Since he regards me as the leading offender among writers who overdetermine the value of treaties, I would like to take this opportunity to respond.

As a preliminary matter, I …

The Pitfalls Of International Commercial Arbitration, James M. Rhodes, Lisa Sloan

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The purpose of this Article is to examine the pitfalls of international arbitration on a broad scale. These pitfalls can be roughly grouped into two categories: (1) those endemic to the process of dispute resolution by a "private extra-judicial tribunal which derives its power from the agreement of the parties,"2 including difficulties unforeseen in the drafting of the agreement that add delay, complications, and expense to the proceedings; and (2) those related to using the rules of a particular institution. Ideally, planning and skillful drafting can eliminate both types of pitfalls and preserve the advantages of arbitration over other available …

Book Review, Nicholas A. Sims

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

It is a pleasure to welcome a well-written book on arms control, and one, moreover, that has grown out of the exigencies of an undergraduate course and is designed to meet the needs of students. Because INTERNATIONAL ARMS CONTROL: ISSUES AND AGREEMENTS was the work of several hands, its lucidity and consistency are the more admirable. Comprehensive in scope, it goes just far enough in setting arms control in its various contexts (political, military, cultural, and ethical) without straying out of bounds. It raises a multitude of questions without pretending to answer them all. I found it refreshing to read …

International Law And Conflict Resolution: Palestinian Claims And The Arab States, J. L. Taulbee, David P. Forsythe

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Over the last few years there has been a revival of interest in international law as a mechanism for conflict resolution. These same years have seen a demonstration of the undeveloped state of international law, particularly concerning intrastate conflicts. The wide disagreement about questions of fact, legal consequence, and world order implications of internal war is a telling commentary on the current problems of applying legal standards to such conflicts. A major part of the disagreement can be explained in terms of the specific problems relating to fact determination and authoritative interpretation engendered by the nature of the environment in …

Developments In Space Law, Albert Gore Senator

Vanderbilt Law Review

A democratic society could not long endure without the voluntary support of its citizens of application of legal proceedings for settlement of disputes. Perhaps few take the time to consider the extent to which our daily lives are affected by the judicial machinery which a free people have established. Here I refer not merely to the deterrent effect of criminal laws by which we deal with offenses against society. I refer also to our system for the legal settlement of controversies arising between individuals. After all, without our courts and our lawyers, questions involving tort and breach of contract would …