Law Commons^™

Localizing Climate Change Action, Marianne Dellinger

Myanna Dellinger

Localizing Climate Change Action - abstract

Myanna Dellinger

Waiting for national- or supranational-level actors to take substantively effective action against climate change is like waiting for Godot: unlikely to happen, at least at a substantively early enough point in time. The December 2012 negotiations under the UNFCCC umbrella yet again demonstrated the failure of action at the international level. This article adds new value to existing scholarship by conducting original research into select climate initiatives at the subnational, substate level in order to find out whether it is worth pursuing climate change action at this level instead. The article posits …

Localizing Climate Change Action, Marianne Dellinger

Myanna Dellinger

Localizing Climate Change Action - abstract

Myanna Dellinger

Waiting for national- or supranational-level actors to take substantively effective action against climate change is like waiting for Godot: unlikely to happen, at least at a substantively early enough point in time. The December 2012 negotiations under the UNFCCC umbrella yet again demonstrated the failure of action at the international level. This article adds new value to existing scholarship by conducting original research into select climate initiatives at the subnational, substate level in order to find out whether it is worth pursuing climate change action at this level instead. The article posits …

Localizing Climate Change Action, Marianne Dellinger

Myanna Dellinger

Localizing Climate Change Action - abstract

Myanna Dellinger

Waiting for national- or supranational-level actors to take substantively effective action against climate change is like waiting for Godot: unlikely to happen, at least at a substantively early enough point in time. The December 2012 negotiations under the UNFCCC umbrella yet again demonstrated the failure of action at the international level. This article adds new value to existing scholarship by conducting original research into select climate initiatives at the subnational, substate level in order to find out whether it is worth pursuing climate change action at this level instead. The article posits …

Localizing Climate Change Action, Marianne Dellinger

Myanna Dellinger

Localizing Climate Change Action - abstract

Myanna Dellinger

Waiting for national- or supranational-level actors to take substantively effective action against climate change is like waiting for Godot: unlikely to happen, at least at a substantively early enough point in time. The December 2012 negotiations under the UNFCCC umbrella yet again demonstrated the failure of action at the international level. This article adds new value to existing scholarship by conducting original research into select climate initiatives at the subnational, substate level in order to find out whether it is worth pursuing climate change action at this level instead. The article posits …

Localizing Climate Change Action, Marianne Dellinger

Myanna Dellinger

Localizing Climate Change Action - abstract

Myanna Dellinger

Waiting for national- or supranational-level actors to take substantively effective action against climate change is like waiting for Godot: unlikely to happen, at least at a substantively early enough point in time. The December 2012 negotiations under the UNFCCC umbrella yet again demonstrated the failure of action at the international level. This article adds new value to existing scholarship by conducting original research into select climate initiatives at the subnational, substate level in order to find out whether it is worth pursuing climate change action at this level instead. The article posits …

Does Science Speak Clearly And Fairly In Trade And Food Safety Disputes? Decent Response Of Wto Adjudication To Indecent International Standard-Making, Kuei-Jung Ni

Kuei-Jung Ni

Most international health-related standards are voluntary per se. However, the incorporation of international standard-making into WTO agreements like the SPS Agreement has drastically changed the status and effectiveness of the standards. WTO members are urged to follow international standards, even when not required to comply fully with them. Indeed, such standards have attained great influence in the trade system. Yet evidence shows that the credibility of the allegedly scientific approach of these international standard-setting institutions, especially the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) governing food safety standards, has been eroded and diluted by industrial and political influences. Its decision-making is no longer …

.The Success Of Economic And Financial Crimes Commission In Curbing Corruption And Misappropriation Of Government Funds In Nigeria Has Left A Void For An African Model., Femi Owolade

femi owolade

The issue of economic growth and development in Africa is as much revered as it is maligned and as such is never far away from the headlines. However, economic corruption remains undoubtedly at large. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)-tasked with tackling corruption and fraud in Nigeria- has been effective in curbing this plight in the most populated country in the continent.Its success in doing so beg the question of why efforts have not been made by the International community to create an African model which will prosecute financial crimes from political and bureaucratic figures.

The Success Of Economic And Financial Crimes Commission In Curbing Corruption And Misappropriation Of Government Funds In Nigeria Has Left A Void For An African Model., Femi Owolade

femi owolade

The issue of economic growth and development in Africa is as much revered as it is maligned and as such is never far away from the headlines. However, economic corruption remains undoubtedly at large. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)-tasked with tackling corruption and fraud in Nigeria- has been effective in curbing this plight in the most populated country in the continent.Its success in doing so beg the question of why efforts have not been made by the International community to create an African model which will prosecute financial crimes from political and bureaucratic figures.

The Chaos Machine: The Wto In A Social Entropy Model Of The World Trading System, David Collins

David Collins

This article applies social entropy theory to international trade law, suggesting that observed shifts in world trading system towards disorder are the consequence of insufficient “energy” inputs in the form of an effective, centralized legal framework. In support of this claim, the article draws attention to recognized and substantive deficiencies in the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’). These include trade round negotiation impasse, the rise of bilateralism, indeterminacy in the treaty texts and inadequate enforcement procedures. These problems represent increasing disorganization, or entropy, in the world trading system, a phenomenon characterized most notably by growing income inequality between states and failure …

Rio 20 - An Analysis Of The Zero Draft And The Final Outcome Document "The Future We Want", Vicki-Ann Assevero, Sonali P. Chitre

Sonali P Chitre

Rio 20 the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) was held June 20-22, 2012 to allow world leaders as well as participants from governments, civil society, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and other groups to come together to draft a roadmap detailing how the world should promote sustainable development. The Final Outcome Document (FOD) of Rio 201 is more detailed and stronger than the initial Zero Draft. The Zero Draft of January 10, 2012 by the Secretariat was purposely general and left many areas to be filled in by specific country proposals. The FOD was finalized and agreed upon by 192 …

International Arbitration Scholarship And The Concept Of Arbitration Law, Stavros Brekoulakis

Stavros Brekoulakis

This article is about the concept of arbitration law and its relationship with international arbitration scholarship. It argues that the field of international arbitration scholarship has developed in isolation and never fully engaged with the crucial movements of international legal scholarship that advanced a more progressive and humanitarian concept of international law. The dearth of interdisciplinary scholarship in arbitration has had two undesirable implications. First, it has had a negative impact on how non-arbitration scholars and the public perceive arbitration. Secondly, and more importantly for the purposes of this article, it has crucially impaired the concept and autonomy of arbitration …

No Remedy For This Wrong? Analyzing The Appropriate Remedy For Violations Of California Penal Code § 834c, Jared W. Olen

Jared W. Olen

Article 36(1)(b) of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations provides that a foreign national of a state-party has the right to have her consulate notified of her arrest upon detention. Many United Supreme Court and other federal courts have grappled with issues stemming from that right, including whether the treaty creates privately-enforceable rights. However, California was unique in that it enacted California Penal Code § 834c, which codifies as state law the right to consular notification.

While this codification precludes much discussion about privately-enforceable rights, the statute is, however, silent on what remedy should be applied if law enforcement violate …

A Ripening Obligation: The Responsibility To Protect International Human Rights In States Of Recent Occupation, Benjamin K. Grimes

Benjamin K Grimes

The United Nations has described State unwillingness to address extra-territorial human rights abuses as a failure of “civic courage … at the highest level.” That view is consistent with a trend in international jurisprudence on the issue of State responsibility for respecting and protecting human rights. In line with these opinions, this article examines the arc of international understanding of human rights responsibilities to identify the proper path for U.S. military operations. It proposes specific practical solutions to guide the United States in recognizing not only its joint legal responsibility for protecting human rights in post-occupation situations (as in Afghanistan), …

Is It Nobody's Business But The Turks': Recognizing Genocide?, Stanley A. Goldman

stanley a goldman

The Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals sitting en banc in the case of Movsesian v. Victoria Versicherung AG declared unconstitutional a California statute which had authorized the filing of state lawsuits over never paid insurance claims brought by the descendants of victims of the 1915-1921 Turkish massacres of Armenians. While the Ninth Circuit suggested that any State may possess the power to acknowledge the massacre of the Armenians as having been “genocide,” California had intruded into a politically charged area in a way that amounted to establishing a particular foreign policy for the state. In its decision, the Ninth …

Returning To Fundamentals: Principles Of International Law Applicable To The Resolution Of Sovereign Debt Crises, Alice De Jonge Dr

Alice de Jonge Dr

This paper explores the international law principles relevant to situations of sovereign bankruptcy. The paper argues for these principles to be kept in mind during debate over the handling of situations of actual or pending sovereign debt such as the EU is now experiencing with Greece.

Pirate Accessory Liability – Developing A Modern Legal Regime Governing Incitement And Intentional Facilitation Of Maritime Piracy, Roger L. Phillips

Roger L Phillips

Despite the exponential growth of piracy off the coast of Somalia since 2008, there have been no prosecutions of those who have profited most from ransom proceeds; that is crime bosses and pirate financiers. As U.S. courts begin to charge higher-level pirates, they must ascertain the status of customary international law as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. UNCLOS includes two forms of accessory liability suited to such prosecutions, but a number of ambiguities remain in the interpretation of these forms of liability. These lacunae cannot be explained by reference to the plain terms of …

Defying Gravity: The Development Of Standards By States In The International Prosecution Of International Atrocity Crimes, Matthew H. Charity

Matthew H Charity

The number of nations that have signed and ratified the Rome Treaty of the International Criminal Court continues to expand, but the number of cases prosecuted remains fairly small. One issue that defies resolution is the place of complementarity in the post-conflict jurisdictional decisions of the I.C.C. and national tribunals. Although the Rome Statute crystallizes definitions of core international crimes, the interpretation of processes leaving jurisdiction with the nation or allowing jurisdiction to the I.C.C. continues to lack structure.

One step that some states have taken in implementing legislation and processes in support of jurisdiction over I.C.C. core crimes is …

Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying: Waiting For The Death Penalty, A Comparison Of The Appeals Process In The United States And The People’S Republic Of China, Derrick Yan Kit Wong

Derrick Wong

This paper looks at the death penalty in the United States and China with a comparison of the judicial system in each country. The paper examines the speed at which China processes their death penalty cases and the delay in the US system. The purpose of the paper is to show that because of the delays in the US system, the financial burden to the taxpayer is increased and is not viewed as deterrence. If the US were to adopt a portion of the Chinese judicial system efficiency without sacrificing due process, then the death penalty can be a deterrent …

From Unequal Treaties To Common Goals Via Differential Treatment, Alice De Jonge Dr

Alice de Jonge Dr

This paper canvasses the history and current practice evidencing the international law of unequal treaties and the rights of parties to such treaties. Current treaty practice accepts that substantive equality may require a deviation from strictly equal treatment in treaty drafting. The paper explores the insights this offers for the law of unequal treaties.

The Contribution Of The Arab Spring To The Role Of Transitional Justice And Amnesty Laws: A Review Of Tunisia, Egypt And Libya, Clarinsa Vannessa Grives, Christi Latrese Thornton

Clarinsa V Grives

Given the uncertainty of the role of amnesty laws in international law and with the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, most commonly known as the “Arab Spring,” this paper assesses what these countries will contribute to transitional justice and the role of amnesty laws in the international forum. The two predominant questions that this paper addresses is whether transitional justice, as we know it, will be useful for the Arab Spring countries and whether their use of transitional justice will change the way its viewed in international law. In this assessment, emphasis will be on the role …

The Cuban Embargo: Should It Go The Way Of Prohibition?, John W. Van Doren

John W Van Doren

No abstract provided.

Regulating Tactical Nuclear Weapons, Dakota S. Rudesill

Dakota S. Rudesill

In 2013, U.S. and Russian negotiators are expected to enter the next frontier in nuclear arms control: regulating small, “tactical” nuclear weapons. This framework article will be the first squarely on the subject in the legal literature. My core arguments are that (1) to date the bilateral Washington-Moscow arms control legal regime has primarily regulated strategic (i.e., long-range) nuclear delivery vehicles (bombers, missiles, and submarines) rather than warheads; (2) contrary to common assumption, the legal regime has regulated a small number of tactical delivery vehicles (jet fighters and other short-range systems) with arguable strategic relevance, providing a regulatory precedent; (3) …

Managing Content In Virtual Environments: From Music To Machinima, Tamiko R. Franklin

Tamiko R Franklin

Developing an effective rights management strategy in virtual environments requires a close review of current case law especially with respect to ongoing clarifications of mentioned statutory provisions under copyright laws. It is also helpful to be aware of the peculiarities that involve copyright protected content created for use in virtual spaces such as issues involving publication and making available across multiple jurisdictions. There are differences in international systems of protection that affect the intellectual property rights in content; particularly so if the content in question is a work of visual art like a photograph or digital representation of a painting, …

Resolving Cultural Property Disputes In The Shadow Of The Law, Grant Edward Strother

Grant Edward Strother

Legal rules can influence dispute resolution through a variety of means and to a number of results. Cultural property disputes demonstrate that legal rules impact bargaining less in the potential for their enforcement, and more in how they shape the discourse of the dispute resolution process. The possibility of enforcement of cultural property legal rules brings parties to the table. Enforcement is unlikely, and yet the legal rules are still influential in the way that they focus the discourse of the dispute resolution process on rights and power rather than on the interests of the parties, mostly to unproductive consequences. …

Museum Strategies: Leasing Antiquities, Silvia Beltrametti

Silvia Beltrametti

This is the first attempt to study leasing in the context of the international trade in cultural artifacts. This article advances a heated debate in the field of cultural heritage law, which centers on whether cultural artifacts of ancient civilizations should belong to the modern nation states from which they are excavated or to humankind in general, by proposing an alternative analytic framework based on leasing, which would make it possible for objects to circulate but at the same time stay under the ownership and jurisdiction of their respective source countries.

The Global Supply Contract Charade: How Corporate Greed Fuels Human Trafficking And Forced Labor, Naomi Jiyoung Bang

Naomi J Bang

ABSTRACT: THE GLOBAL SUPPLY CONTRACT CHARADE

HOW CORPORATE GREED FUELS HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND FORCED LABOR

Human trafficking and forced labor reflect the dark side of globalization, where criminal gangs trade people through international channels via a rapidly growing network of electronic communications and transport. Unfortunately, it is not just the criminal element that is complicit in these activities. Multinational corporations also contribute through their massive global production chains, increasing chances that their products could be made by trafficked workers. Corporations also shift liability for these acts onto their overseas suppliers through “arm’s length” global supply contracts and by pointing to …

The Global Supply Contract Charade: How Corporate Greed Fuels Human Trafficking And Forced Labor, Naomi J. Bang

Naomi J Bang

HOW CORPORATE GREED FUELS HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND FORCED LABOR

Human trafficking and forced labor reflect the dark side of globalization, where criminal gangs trade people through international channels via a rapidly growing network of electronic communications and transport. Unfortunately, it is not just the criminal element that is complicit in these activities. Multinational corporations also contribute through their massive global production chains, increasing chances that their products could be made by trafficked workers. Corporations also shift liability for these acts onto their overseas suppliers through “arm’s length” global supply contracts and by pointing to the sheer geographic distance between them. …

A Legal Standard For Post-Colonial Land Reform, Amelia Peterson

Amelia Peterson

This article proposes a legal standard for the design of post-colonial land redistribution policies. It confronts the complex interface between the need for land reform to alleviate land pressure in many developing countries, and the importance of upholding the idea of property. Regardless of which side of the post-colonial milieu we most quickly sympathize with, human rights law removes the tendency to seek out the victim by framing its language in terms of the homo sapien, not one particular race, gender, or economic status. It is in the interest of the various stakeholders enmeshed in post-colonial land imbalance debates and …

Losers' Law: A Metatheory For Legal Disappointments, John Martinez

John Martinez

"Losers"

We are all losers at one time or another. If you're seated in economy class on an airplane, you can't use the business class toilet, even if it's just two steps in front of your seat. Instead, you have to run back to the back of the plane and use the economy class toilets. The operative rule prohibits a mere economy class passenger from exercising the much more convenient choice of using the business class toilet. You are understandably disappointed (and discomforted) that you can't use the more convenient business class toilet: you are a "loser" because your obtained …

Chinese Homicide Law, Irrationality And Incremental Change, Michael Vitiello

Michael Vitiello

Abstract: Chinese Homicide Law, Irrationality and Incremental Change This article begins with a striking hypothetical: “Having learned that his wife was having an affair, the defendant mulled over his options. After deliberation, he decided to shoot her and her lover. Sneaking up on them as they sat together in an isolated area, the defendant shot each in the chest. Because they were far from the nearest city, they received no first aid and both bled to death. Charged with first degree murder, the defendant has asked you to represent him. In your first interview, the defendant explains that he did …