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Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Law

Odious Debts Or Odious Regimes?, Patrick Bolton, David A. Skeel Jr. Oct 2007

Odious Debts Or Odious Regimes?, Patrick Bolton, David A. Skeel Jr.

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Current odious debt doctrine– using the term “doctrine” loosely, since it has never formally been adopted by a court or international decision maker– dates back to a 1927 treatise by a wandering Russian academic named Alexander Sack. Sack suggested that debt obligations are odious and therefore unenforceable if 1) they were incurred without the consent of the populace; 2) they did not benefit the populace; and 3) the lender knew or should have known about the absence of consent and benefit. The tripartite Sack definition, which quickly became the foundation of odious debt analysis, contemplates a debt-by-debt approach to questionable …


The Iraq Debacle: The Rise And Fall Of Procurement-Aided Unilateralism As A Paradigm Of Foreign War, Charles Tiefer Oct 2007

The Iraq Debacle: The Rise And Fall Of Procurement-Aided Unilateralism As A Paradigm Of Foreign War, Charles Tiefer

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Four years of American mishandling of procurement of military support and reconstruction in Iraq insurgency has produced countless examples of waste and abuse. This can be attributed to three factors. First, the United State's diminished use of competitive contracting minimized scrutiny of the contractor's performance. Second, the Government's unilateralist approach to reconstruction overburdened the administration with the political and financial costs of "nation-building." Third, the United States' failure to account for Iraqi funds eliminated checks on misguided procurement and other spending. In this article, the author discusses the intersection of acquisition reform in the context of the United States' unilateral …


Bribes V. Bombs: A Study In Coasean Warfare, Gideon Parchomovsky, Peter Siegelman Sep 2007

Bribes V. Bombs: A Study In Coasean Warfare, Gideon Parchomovsky, Peter Siegelman

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The use of bribes to co-opt an enemy’s forces can be a more effective way to wage war than the conventional use of force: Relative to bombs, bribes can save lives and resources, and preserve civic institutions. This essay evaluates the efficacy and normative desirability of selectively substituting bribes for bombs as a means of warfare. We show how inter-country disparities in wealth, differences in military strength, the organization of the bribing and recipient forces, uncertainty about the outcome of the conflict, and communications technology can contribute to the efficacy of bribes. We discuss methods for enforcing bargains struck between …


Legal Methods As A Point Of Reference For Comparative Studies Of Procedural Law, James Maxeiner Sep 2007

Legal Methods As A Point Of Reference For Comparative Studies Of Procedural Law, James Maxeiner

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This paper addresses the importance of comparative legal methods for study of comparative procedure.


Is Open Source Software The New Lex Mercatoria?, Fabrizio Marrella, Christopher S. Yoo Aug 2007

Is Open Source Software The New Lex Mercatoria?, Fabrizio Marrella, Christopher S. Yoo

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Early Internet scholars proclaimed that the transnational nature of the Internet rendered it inherently unregulable by conventional governments. Instead, the Internet would be governed by customs and practices established by the end user community in a manner reminiscent of the lex mercatoria, which spontaneously emerged during medieval times to resolve international trade disputes independently and autonomously from national law. Subsequent events have revealed these claims to have been overly optimistic, as national governments have evinced both the inclination and the ability to exert influence, if not outright control, over the physical infrastructure, the domain name system, and the content flowing …


Of The World Trade Court's Burden, Sungjoon Cho Jun 2007

Of The World Trade Court's Burden, Sungjoon Cho

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Decisions of the WTO tribunal (Court) on sensitive disputes, such as those concerning human health, have often caused resentment from some groups, besides losing parties. Beneath this disapproval against the Court lies an image of a Dworkinian Hercules which capriciously renders its own answers on risks and science. In judging which party should win the case, this Hercules assesses parties' arguments and evidence on risks and regulatory responses through a technical rule labeled the “burden of proof” (BOP). Yet, the BOP is more of the Court's burden than of parties' burden (who to prove) in that the final outcome of …


Passover And Jonathan Pollard, Kenneth Lasson Apr 2007

Passover And Jonathan Pollard, Kenneth Lasson

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No abstract provided.


Legal Certainty And Legal Methods: A European Alternative To American Legal Indeterminacy?, James Maxeiner Apr 2007

Legal Certainty And Legal Methods: A European Alternative To American Legal Indeterminacy?, James Maxeiner

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Americans are resigned to a high level of legal indeterminacy. This Article shows that Europeans do not accept legal indeterminacy and instead have made legal certainty a general principle of their law. This Article uses the example of the German legal system to show how German legal methods strive to realize this general European principle. It suggests that these methods are opportunities for Americans to develop their own system to reduce legal indeterminacy and to increase legal certainty.


Are Shared Benefits Of International Waters An Equitable Apportionment? (With P. Wouters), A. Dan Tarlock Jan 2007

Are Shared Benefits Of International Waters An Equitable Apportionment? (With P. Wouters), A. Dan Tarlock

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No abstract provided.


The Great Lakes As An Environmental Heritage Of Humankind: An International Law Perspective, A. Dan Tarlock Jan 2007

The Great Lakes As An Environmental Heritage Of Humankind: An International Law Perspective, A. Dan Tarlock

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No abstract provided.


Rehabilitation Or Revenge: Prosecuting Child Soldiers For Human Rights Violations, Nienke Grossman Jan 2007

Rehabilitation Or Revenge: Prosecuting Child Soldiers For Human Rights Violations, Nienke Grossman

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International law provides no explicit guidelines for whether or at what age child soldiers should be prosecuted for grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law such as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. This paper argues that the hundreds of thousands of children under age eighteen participating in armed conflicts around the globe should be treated primarily as victims, not perpetrators, of human rights violations and that international law may support this conclusion. In the case of children, the world community should choose rehabilitation and reintegration over criminal prosecution because of children's unique psychological and moral development, …