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Full-Text Articles in Law

The Limits Of Custom In Constitutional And International Law, Michael D. Ramsey Dec 2013

The Limits Of Custom In Constitutional And International Law, Michael D. Ramsey

San Diego Law Review

This Article does not contend that arguments for extension of custom are illegitimate. Instead, it makes two more limited claims. First, there is an important difference between arguments from pure custom and arguments for the extension of custom, with the latter being more properly called common law arguments. Second, the legitimacy of common law arguments in some fields, especially constitutional law and international law, is substantially more problematic than the legitimacy of arguments from pure custom. The Article develops as follows. Part II sets out in greater detail the proposed distinction between arguments from pure custom and arguments for extension …


Ineffective, Opaque, And Undemocratic: The Ious Of—Too Much—International Law And Why A Bit Of Skepticism Is Warranted, James Allan Dec 2013

Ineffective, Opaque, And Undemocratic: The Ious Of—Too Much—International Law And Why A Bit Of Skepticism Is Warranted, James Allan

San Diego Law Review

In this Article I want to give you an outsider’s view of international law, or at least this outsider’s view. And by outsider I mean someone who is usually interested in legal philosophy and constitutional law and who may well be thought to lack standing to offer the sort of views and criticisms that are to come.... The structure of this Article will be simple. I will criticize certain aspects of international law, especially rights-related international law, under the three headings you see in the title to this Article. However, I am going to take those headings and critiques in …


Shame, Memory, And The Unspeakable: The International Criminal Court As Damnatio Memoriae, Michael Blake Dec 2013

Shame, Memory, And The Unspeakable: The International Criminal Court As Damnatio Memoriae, Michael Blake

San Diego Law Review

The first [part] will discuss two ways of looking at the court and why the conventional justifications of punishment might not be adequate to justify what the court is doing. The second will examine the issue of the politically unspeakable and argue that the court’s mandate might indeed be the responsibility of making certain ideas and persons politically shameful. The final Part will try to give some justification for the claim that this mandate might give rise to a justification for the court’s existence. On the account I provide here, even if the court could not be justified with reference …


Natural Law As Part Of International Law: The Case Of The Armenian Genocide, Fernando R. Tesón Dec 2013

Natural Law As Part Of International Law: The Case Of The Armenian Genocide, Fernando R. Tesón

San Diego Law Review

In this Article I argue that some norms are part of international law even if they have never been created by treaty or custom. Because such norms have never been posited, they are natural law norms, and my thesis is that these natural law norms are as much part of international law as the posited norms. By this I mean that these norms should figure in any catalog of what international law prescribes or permits.


Wrongful Death And Survival Actions For Torts In Violation Of International Law, Alastair J. Agcaoili Jun 2013

Wrongful Death And Survival Actions For Torts In Violation Of International Law, Alastair J. Agcaoili

San Diego Law Review

This Article aims to make sense of this neglected area of ATS law. I contend that the salient issue in these deceased-victim cases is not whether the nonvictim plaintiffs have standing to sue but rather whether they have a viable cause of action in the first place. Standing and cause of action concepts have an uneasy relationship in law. Although the distinction between constitutional standing and cause of action inquiries is well established, the division is less clear where, as here, standing doctrine is used to define a plaintiff’s eligibility to bring suit. Indeed, reliance on standing terminology in this …