Law Commons^™

Democracy And Torture, Patrick A. Maurer

Patrick A Maurer

September 11th spawned an era of political changes to fundamental rights. The focus of this discussion is to highlight Guantanamo Bay torture incidents. This analysis will explore the usages of torture from a legal standpoint in the United States.

Measuring State Compliance With The Right To Education Using Indicators: A Case Study Of Colombia’S Obligations Under The Icescr, Sital Kalantry, Jocelyn Getgen, Steven A. Koh

Sital Kalantry

The right to education is often referred to as a “multiplier right” because its enjoyment enhances other human rights. It is enumerated in several international instruments, but it is codified in greatest detail in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Despite its importance, the right to education has received limited attention from scholars, practitioners, and international and regional human rights bodies as compared to other economic, social and cultural rights (ECSRs). In this Article, we propose a methodology that utilizes indicators to measure treaty compliance with the right to education. Indicators are essential to measuring compliance …

Punishment For Unjust War: First International Court Decision Awarding Damages For Aggression: Will It Be Enforced?, Allen E. Shoenberger

Allen E Shoenberger

No abstract provided.

Secession: The Contradicting Provisions Of The United Nations Charter – A Direct Threat To The Current World Order, N. Micheli Quadros

N. Micheli Quadros

The preamble of the United Nations' Charter (hereinafter UN Charter) presents its members declaration under which justice and respect for international law and the international community is supposed to be maintained. To date, the United Nations (UN) has failed to ensure international peace by allowing powerful states to infringe upon other nations’ territorial integrity and manipulate individuals to exercise their right of self-determination.

Outdated, redundant and vague provisions that proved their inefficiency have plagued the UN Charter. Chapter I, Art 1 § 2 of the UN Charter, states that one of the main purpose of the UN is “to develop …

Unchecked Political Question Doctrine: Judicial Ethics At The Dawn Of A Second Nuclear Arms Race, Daniel T. Rust

Daniel T Rust

This paper examines The Republic of the Marshall Islands v. The United States of America et al., the grounds for its dismissal, and recommendations for how it should be appealed and ultimately judged. The Marshall Islands sued alleging noncompliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. At issue are concepts of legality and ethics behind the “Political Question Doctrine” defense that the United States provides, in addition to whether or not the Marshall Islands has standing. When noncompliance with a valid, legal treaty causes real harm, Political Question Doctrine should not be allowed to the …

Workshop Democracy: Making Policy In Cote D'Ivoire, Max Levin

Max Levin

Development experts would benefit from a better understanding of how policy is made in developing countries. In this article, I describe how health policy is made in Cote d’Ivoire, from the perspective of a Westerner embedded in the Ministry of Health for 10 months. I provide a narrative of how one health system reform—performance-based financing—moved from policy idea to enacted reform. I describe the origins of the reform in Cote d’Ivoire, how the government came to support the reform, and then the mechanics of how the reform was enacted. I then present observations on how policymaking in Cote d’Ivoire differs …

Refugee Law In Context: Natural Law, Legal Positivism And The Convention, Isaac Kfir

Isaac Kfir

The contemporary international refugee system was product of a desire to provide protection and assistance to those who have a well-founded fear of persecution, a somewhat sophistic term in the twenty-first century, which may explain why the system has become cumbersome, incoherent and divisive. One explanation for the tension within the refugee regime is that states—mainly western states—seek to reduce refugee applications while adhering and upholding their international obligations. Another explanation is that it is tensions between two legal traditions—natural law and legal positivism—that are shape the international refugee law that have led to the crisis, preventing a clear legal …

An Other History Of Knowledge And Decision In Precautionary Approaches To Sustainability, Saptarishi Bandopadhyay

Saptarishi Bandopadhyay

In this paper, I offer an alternative reading of precaution with the hope of recovering the capacity of this ethic to facilitate legal and political decisions. Despite being a popular instrument of international environmental governance, decision-makers continue to understand this principle as reflecting an immemorial and natural instinct for preserving the environment in cases of scientific uncertainty. Such a reading, however, ignores the history and moral basis underlying this principle and thereby renders it obvious, and automatically adaptable to the politics of Sustainable Development. By offering a thicker history of precautionary governance at exemplary moments of ecological crisis I trace …

The Evolution Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act; Changing Interpretations Of The Dmca And Future Implications For Copyright Holders, Hillary A. Henderson

Hillary A Henderson

Copyright law rewards an artificial monopoly to individual authors for their creations. This reward is based on the belief that, by granting authors the exclusive right to reproduce their works, they receive an incentive and means to create, which in turn advances the welfare of the general public by “promoting the progress of science and useful arts.” Copyright protection subsists . . . in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or …

Structuring Big Data To Facilitate Participation In International Law, Roslyn Fuller

Roslyn Fuller

This is an interdisciplinary article focusing on the interplay between information and communication technology (ICT) and international law (IL). Its purpose is to open up a dialogue between ICT and IL practitioners that focuses on the ways in which ICT can enhance equitable participation in international legal structures, particularly through capturing the possibilities associated with big data. This depends on the ability of individuals to access big data, for it to be structured in a manner that makes it accessible and for the individual to be able to take action based on it.

The Separation Of Powers, Constitutionalism And Governance In Africa: The Case Of Modern Cameroon, John Mukum Mbaku

JOHN MUKUM MBAKU

The Separation of Powers, Constitutionalism and Governance in Africa: The Case of Modern Cameroon

John Mukum Mbaku, Esq.

Abstract

Countries incorporate the principle of the separation of powers in their constitutions in an effort to meet several goals, the most important of which is to minimize government-induced tyranny. Specifically, countries that make this principle part of their constitutional practice intend to limit public servants by national laws and institutions, enhance government accountability, minimize opportunistic behaviors by civil servants and politicians, provide for checks and balances, and generally improve government efficiency. Cameroon, like many other African countries that transitioned to democratic …

Tactics, Strategies & Battles—Oh My!: Perseverance Of The Perpetual Problem Regarding Preaching To Public School Pupils & Why It Persists, Casey S. Mckay

Casey Scott McKay

After reviewing the history of the religious war on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, my article, “Tactics, Strategies & Battles—Oh My!: Perseverance of the Perpetual Problem Regarding Preaching to Public School Pupils & Why it Persists,“ examines why such a seemingly well-settled issue survives and, to some extent, succeeds.

First, by exploiting common misconceptions among the American public, lawmakers are able to take advantage of ignorance driven by strong emotions. Next, religious special interests groups, with seemingly unlimited funds, thrust propaganda supported by worldwide media reinforcement on an already vulnerable American public. Thus, irresponsible state legislators, caught between a rock and …

South Dakota: Making Dollars And Sense Of Indian Child Removal, Rachael Whitaker

Rachael Whitaker

South Dakota- Making Dollars and Sense of Indian Child Removal By: Rachael Whitaker In 2004, a South Dakota Governor’s Commission report adamantly denied claims that the state’s Department of Social Services (DSS) is “harvesting Indian children as a cash crop” and “runs nothing more than a state sponsored kidnapping program.” National Public Radio (NPR) broke a story in 2011, claiming South Dakota removed Indian children for profit. Since NPR’s report, the state has remained tight-lipped, advocates have threatened litigation, and Congress has asked for answers. South Dakota has a small population and economy, and it receives almost half of its …

International Law And Ungoverned Space, Matthew Hoisington

Matthew Hoisington

Ungoverned spaces, strictly defined as “spaces not effectively governed by the state” exist all over the world, presenting particular difficulties to public international law, which is historically premised on sovereignty and state control. Examples of such spaces include cyberspace, south-central Somalia and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan-Pakistan border. These spaces destabilize the international system in novel ways—and they might also be dangerous. Many of the terrorism plots from the late twentieth and early twenty-first century emanated from “safe havens” afforded by ungoverned spaces. The lack of governance over certain spaces also raises concerns over development, including the …

The Key Stone In The Carbon Tariff Wall: The Alberta Oil Sands And The Legality Of Taxing Imports Based On Their Carbon Footprint, Mark L. Belleville

Mark L. Belleville

Can one nation—consistent with international trade law—tax imports or otherwise treat them differently based on the CO2 emitted in another country during production of the import? This Article analyzes the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), relevant World Trade Organization (WTO) decisions, and the considerable amount of scholarship regarding Border Tax Adjustments (BTAs) and concludes that such treatment of imports is legally permissible. In early 2013, the European Union (E.U.) will vote on a proposed rule that seeks to classify crude oil coming into E.U. refineries based on “life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions,” including CO2 emitted during extraction. Canada, seeking …

Innovations In Governance: A Functional Typology Of Private Governance Institutions, Tracey M. Roberts

Tracey M Roberts

Communities are increasingly looking to private governance institutions, rather than formal government, to set public policy and to manage the environmental and social impacts of globalization. Private governance institutions, sets of rules and structures for governing without government, remain undertheorized despite an expanding literature. Questions remain about why they have arisen, what functions they serve, and whether they are effective. This article advances that literature in several ways. First, the article outlines the inherent limitations of the conventional taxonomy, which groups these institutions based on the identity of their constituent organizations (business interests, civil society, and government entities and their …

Wild-West Cowboys Versus Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: Some Problems In Comparative Approaches To Extreme Speech, Eric Heinze

Prof. Eric Heinze, Queen Mary University of London

All European states ban some form of hate speech. US law precludes such bans. In view of the political and symbolic importance of free speech, it becomes tempting to assume that trans-Atlantic differences towards hate speech reflect deeper cultural divisions.

However, we must pay attention to comparative methodology before drawing ambitious conclusions about cross-cultural social and political differences that derive solely from differences in formal, black-letter norms. In this volume, Robert Post claims that formal, constitutional requirements of content-neutral regulation reflect a freer public sphere in the US, in contrast to the European public sphere.

Yet a legal-realist approach casts …

Cumulative Jurisprudence And Hate Speech: Sexual Orientation And Analogies To Disability, Age And Obesity, Eric Heinze

Prof. Eric Heinze, Queen Mary University of London

Non-discrimination norms in human rights instruments generally enumerate specified categories for protection, such as race, ethnicity, sex or religion, etc. They often omit express reference to sexual minorities.

Through open-ended interpretation, however, sexual minorities subsequently become incorporated. That ‘cumulative jurisprudence’ yields protections for sexual minorities through norms governing privacy, employment, age of consent, or freedoms of speech and association.

Hate speech bans, too, are often formulated with reference to traditionally recognised categories, particularly race and religion. It might be expected that the same cumulative jurisprudence should therefore be applied to include sexual minorities. In this article, that approach is challenged. …

Water Is Security, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Reasonable and equitable water resource decision-making is at the core of good governance around the world. Sustained water collaboration is an antidote to foreign relations disintegration. Lack of water quality and quantity policies can lead to water insecurity for everyone, yet bureaucratic obstacles such as inertia and corruption must be averted in altering water governance schemes. There are multiple ways to lower transaction costs and strive for optimal water use. Several ingredients of good water governance include: (1) broad participation through the entire decision-making process; (2) transparent flow of information; (3) equitable opportunities to increase well-being; (4) accountability from governments, …

A Climate Of Extremes: Transboundary Conflict Resolution, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

This Article examines evolving climate change policy. In April 2007 Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency clarified that the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. This Supreme Court ruling coincided with the United Nations Security Council's decision to put climate change on its agenda. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found that anthropogenic climate change has impacted the natural world and human societies. Scientific and governmental consensus has coalesced that multilateral climate mitigation and adaptation must be implemented. International institutions, governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and civil society can achieve multilateral greenhouse gas mitigation and climate adaptation.