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A Theory Of Constructive Interpretation For Customary International Law Identification, Nadia Banteka Jan 2018

A Theory Of Constructive Interpretation For Customary International Law Identification, Nadia Banteka

Michigan Journal of International Law

Scholars and judicial practice have long debated the nature of customary international law (“CIL”) as a source of international law, including its normative identification. Existing approaches to CIL identification largely follow the methods of induction and deduction. However, these methods are only two ends of a spectrum, and international law has yet to engage systematically with other methodological approaches that lay within this spectrum. This Article introduces a mid-spectrum approach by applying the theory of constructive interpretation to CIL identification. The Article introduces the guiding principles of constructive interpretation, examines the process of constructive interpretation in the abstract, and applies …


The Aba Rule Of Law Initiative Celebrating 25 Years Of Global Initiatives, M. Margaret Mckeown Jan 2018

The Aba Rule Of Law Initiative Celebrating 25 Years Of Global Initiatives, M. Margaret Mckeown

Michigan Journal of International Law

Relying on extensive reports, program documentation, and interviews with important actors in the rule of law movement, this article will explore how one key player in the international-development field—the ABA—has furthered rule of law values through its global programs. The first half of the article surveys the ABA’s involvement in rule of law initiatives. Part I explores the origins of the ABA’s work in this field, which date back to the organization’s founding and took shape after the demise of the former Soviet Union. Part II surveys the expansion of the ABA’s programs beyond Eastern Europe to other regions—a growth …


Reconceptualizing States Of Emergency Under International Human Rights Law: Theory, Legal Doctrine, And Politics, Scott P. Sheeran Jan 2013

Reconceptualizing States Of Emergency Under International Human Rights Law: Theory, Legal Doctrine, And Politics, Scott P. Sheeran

Michigan Journal of International Law

States of emergency are today one of the most serious challenges to the implementation of international human rights law (IHRL). They have become common practice and are associated with severe human rights violations as evidenced by the Arab Spring. The international jurisprudence on states of emergency is inconsistent and divergent, and what now constitutes a public emergency is ubiquitous. This trend is underpinned by excessive judicial deference and abdication of the legal review of states' often dubious claims of a state of emergency. The legal regime, as positively expressed in international human rights treaties, does not adequately reflect the underlying …


Competing Legal Cultures And Legal Reform: The Battle Of Chile, James M. Cooper Jan 2008

Competing Legal Cultures And Legal Reform: The Battle Of Chile, James M. Cooper

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article explores the competition that exists between U.S. and German legal cultures and examines Chilean legal reform efforts since the late 1990s as a case study of this competition. A country's legal culture is comprised of the self-governing rules and operations of national and regional bar associations, the format of legal education, the structure of the legal and judicial profession, the role of the judiciary, jurisprudential style, and the reputation of the legal sector according to the general public. The influence of predominant legal cultures on developing nations has been explored in a number of contexts, while the importance …


Global Markets And The Evolution Of Law In China And Japan, Takao Tanase Jan 2006

Global Markets And The Evolution Of Law In China And Japan, Takao Tanase

Michigan Journal of International Law

The first angle of this Article concerns the exclusivity of rights, which is the notion that a right has an exclusive boundary of ownership. The socialist system and traditional customary law in China gave only weak recognition to this concept, especially prior to China's move toward a market economy and the introduction of modern law. The second angle addresses the functionality of extralegal norms. Law reforms tend to be measured by the efficiency gains they produce, a process intensified by competition among systems. The third angle involves the ideological nature of the market-oriented development of law. The foreign enterprises and …


What Have We Learned About Law And Development? Describing, Predicting, And Assessing Legal Reforms In China, Randall Peerenboom Jan 2006

What Have We Learned About Law And Development? Describing, Predicting, And Assessing Legal Reforms In China, Randall Peerenboom

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article applies existing conceptual tools for describing, predicting, and assessing legal reforms to the efforts to establish rule of law in China, in the process shedding light on the various pathways and methodologies of reform so as to facilitate assessment of competing reform strategies. While drawing on China for concrete examples, the discussion involves issues that are generally applicable to comparative law and the new law and development movement, and thus it addresses


Two Paradigms Of Jurisdiction, Ralf Michaels Jan 2006

Two Paradigms Of Jurisdiction, Ralf Michaels

Michigan Journal of International Law

Globalization causes convergence of legal orders. Or so it is argued. Law and economics scholars predict that legal orders will move towards the same efficient end state. They argue that the requirements of globalization will pressure legal orders to converge on the level of economic efficiency, because regulatory competition between legal orders makes it impossible for individual legal systems to maintain suboptimal solutions. Many comparative lawyers predict a similar convergence. In particular traditional functionalist comparatists have long held that unification of law was both desirable and unavoidable. Their basic argument is based on functional equivalence and can be summarized as …


The Law And Culture Of The Apology In Korean Dispute Settlement (With Japan And The United States In Mind), Ilhyung Lee Jan 2005

The Law And Culture Of The Apology In Korean Dispute Settlement (With Japan And The United States In Mind), Ilhyung Lee

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article addresses the apology in civil dispute settlement in Korea, Japan's neighbor across the East Sea, using the U.S.-Japan comparative discussion as a helpful frame of reference. Part I provides the necessary background on the meaning of the apology and the leading commentary along the U.S.-Japan axis, beginning with the work of Wagatsuma and Rosett. Culture appears in this discussion in two regards. First, a question arises as to whether the very meaning of the apology as noted in the commentary reflects the U.S. cultural orientation, or instead has universal application. Second, some argue that cultural norms explain the …


The Promotion Of Free-Trade Areas Viewed In Terms Of Most-Favored-Nation Treatment And "Imperial Preference", Sydney M. Cone Iii Jan 2005

The Promotion Of Free-Trade Areas Viewed In Terms Of Most-Favored-Nation Treatment And "Imperial Preference", Sydney M. Cone Iii

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article will first examine the relevant WTO provisions that permit free-trade agreements as exceptions to MFN treatment. It will then situate current U.S. policy in the context of the history and purpose of those provisions. Next, the discussion of history and purpose will take up a key debate in the original GATT negotiations, in which the United States championed MFN treatment, while European countries, in particular, Great Britain, sought to retain preferential trading arrangements-arrangements once associated with the rubric of "imperial preference." Against this background, the article will explore the question of whether current U.S. policy represents a reversion …


Legal Institutions And International Trade Flows, Daniel Berkowitz, Johannes Moenius, Katharina Pistor Jan 2004

Legal Institutions And International Trade Flows, Daniel Berkowitz, Johannes Moenius, Katharina Pistor

Michigan Journal of International Law

Why do domestic legal institutions matter, and why can trading parties-in particular exporters of complex goods-not easily opt-out of their domestic legal institutions? The authors argue that domestic institutions remain important even in a globalized world, because they are the final option for enforcing a claim against a party in the event of a breach of contract. International contracts take place in the shadow of the parties' home institutions. Unless parties can negotiate a settlement, or the losing party voluntarily complies with a foreign court or arbitration ruling, the winning party must seek enforcement against the assets of the losing …


The Battle To Establish An Adversarial Trial System In Italy, William T. Pizzi, Mariangela Montagna Jan 2004

The Battle To Establish An Adversarial Trial System In Italy, William T. Pizzi, Mariangela Montagna

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article is intended to bring the U.S. legal community up to date on the attempt in Italy to put in place a more accusatorial trial system. The Article is divided into three sections. Section I describes the central provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure that was adopted in 1988. It shows that a close look at the Italian system reveals that it was never intended to be an exact model of either the U.S. or English trial systems, because it always contained central features that are found in civil law systems on the continent. Rather, the changes in …


Commentary To Professor Hafner, Annika Tahvanainen Jan 2004

Commentary To Professor Hafner, Annika Tahvanainen

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Comment is a response to Professor Hafner's presentation in which he considered fragmentation as an unavoidable consequence of the increasing number of norms and judicial mechanisms, as well as of the regionalization of international law and the weakening of the state system.


Traditional Hindu Law In The Guise Of 'Postmodernism:' A Review Article, Donald R. Davis Jr. Jan 2004

Traditional Hindu Law In The Guise Of 'Postmodernism:' A Review Article, Donald R. Davis Jr.

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of Hindu Law: Beyond Tradition and Modernity by Werner F. Menski


Judicial Dialogue For Legal Multiculturalism, Charles H. Koch Jr. Jan 2004

Judicial Dialogue For Legal Multiculturalism, Charles H. Koch Jr.

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article asserts that judicial exchange rather than dominance has inherent advantages as a technique for evolving a global legal culture. For insight into the global task, the Article looks first at an internecine struggle within the continental system. For further background, it describes how the U.S. Supreme Court has accommodated deviations from the basic legal model in U.S. administrative law as well as other internal U.S. legal systems. The supranational tribunals in the European setting and U.S. Supreme Court have shown the capacity to engage in dialogues over diverse legal philosophies. These experiences demonstrate the advantages of a mix …


Multiple International Judicial Forums: A Reflection Of The Growing Strength Of International Law Or Its Fragmentation?, Pemmaraju Sreenivasa Rao Jan 2004

Multiple International Judicial Forums: A Reflection Of The Growing Strength Of International Law Or Its Fragmentation?, Pemmaraju Sreenivasa Rao

Michigan Journal of International Law

The main thrust of this presentation is to suggest that the creation of multiple international judicial tribunals is a function of the ever-expanding nature of international law and that the creation of such tribunals is a sign of the growing maturity of international law. While it is admitted that these tribunals have to be sensitive to the needs of promoting the unity and integrity of international law, a brief look at the available evidence of their functioning so far has revealed no cause for concern of fragmentation. The author will look specifically at the working of the International Tribunal for …


International Legal Pluralism, William W. Burke-White Jan 2004

International Legal Pluralism, William W. Burke-White

Michigan Journal of International Law

This symposium has sought to examine the fragmentation of the international legal system. Such a task presupposes that international law is, in fact, undergoing some form of fragmentation. A range of recent scholarship has described this so-called fragmentation in various ways and generally considered it a negative development, a threat to the legal system as we know it. This commentary challenges both these assumptions by suggesting that international law is not fragmenting, but rather is being transformed into a pluralist system. Instead of being undermined by fragmentation, the rules, the institutions, and practices of the international legal order can be …


Regime-Collisions: The Vain Search For Legal Unity In The Fragmentation Of Global Law, Andreas Fischer-Lescano, Gunther Teubner Jan 2004

Regime-Collisions: The Vain Search For Legal Unity In The Fragmentation Of Global Law, Andreas Fischer-Lescano, Gunther Teubner

Michigan Journal of International Law

Predictions of future events tend to be a rarity within the social sciences. It is an even more rare occurrence when predicted events come to pass. Niklas Luhmann's prediction on the future of global law is a memorable exception. In 1971, while theorizing on the concept of world society, Luhmann allowed himself the "speculative hypothesis" that global law would experience a radical fragmentation, not along territorial, but along social sectoral lines. The reason for this would be a transformation from normative (politics, morality, law) to cognitive expectations (economy, science, technology); a transformation that would be effected during the transition from …


Commentary To Andreas Fischer- Lescano & Gunther Teubner. The Legitimacy Of International Law And The Role Of The State, Andreas L. Paulus Jan 2004

Commentary To Andreas Fischer- Lescano & Gunther Teubner. The Legitimacy Of International Law And The Role Of The State, Andreas L. Paulus

Michigan Journal of International Law

It will come as a surprise to many readers that Professor Teubner presented their fascinating contribution on regime collision to the Michigan Journal of International Law's Symposium on a panel devoted to "the Role of the State in International Law." Indeed, one could not imagine better devil's advocates than Professor Teubner and Dr. Andreas Fischer-Lescano. They propose a radical break with a concept of international law and order based on the autonomous will of Nation-States. Accordingly, legal regulation does not only, if at all, emanate from Nation-States, but from a panoply of other public and, mostly, private actors. Thus, the …


Beyond Rights: Legal Process And Ethnic Conflicts, Elana A. Baylis Jan 2004

Beyond Rights: Legal Process And Ethnic Conflicts, Elana A. Baylis

Michigan Journal of International Law

Unresolved ethnic conflicts threaten the stability and the very existence of multi-ethnic states. Ethnically divided states have struggled to build structural safeguards against such disputes into their political and legal systems, but these safeguards have not been able to prevent all conflict. Accordingly, multi-ethnic states facing persistent ethnic conflicts need to develop effective dispute resolution systems for resolving those conflicts. This presents an important question: what kinds of processes and institutions might enable ethnic groups to resolve their conflicts with each other and the state? This Article explores that question, reviewing the interdisciplinary literature on ethnic conflicts, the legal literature …


The Political Economy Of Rule Of Law Reform In Developing Countries, Ronald J. Daniels, Michael Trebilcock Jan 2004

The Political Economy Of Rule Of Law Reform In Developing Countries, Ronald J. Daniels, Michael Trebilcock

Michigan Journal of International Law

In this paper, the authors briefly review the recent experience with rule of law reform initiatives in Latin America, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe, drawing on more detailed case studies by the authors. The authors are currently working on a similar case study on rule of law reform experiences in Asia.


Articulating The Right To Democratic Governance In Africa, Nsongurua J. Udombana Jan 2003

Articulating The Right To Democratic Governance In Africa, Nsongurua J. Udombana

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article articulates the right to democratic governance in Africa, arguing that democratic entitlement ought to acquire, if indeed it already has not acquired, a degree of legitimacy in the continent. If democratic governance is a fundamental human right, which this Article asserts it is, it follows that any African State that denies its citizens the right to any of the elements of democratic entitlement-such as free and open elections-is violating a fundamental right, which should attract responsibility. The Article begins with an examination of the patrimonial State structure in Africa and its negative impact on governance. It is a …


Envisioning A Global Legal Culture, Charles H. Koch Jr. Jan 2003

Envisioning A Global Legal Culture, Charles H. Koch Jr.

Michigan Journal of International Law

To encourage all, but particularly U.S., lawyers to think about transformation of the law, this Article will envision a global legal regime. The purpose is more reflective than predictive. Nominally, the Article has three parts. The first Part offers an overview description of the emerging supranational legal institutions and the major forces moving them. The next Part will outline civil law legal concepts and provide background for common law readers. To further the goal of this Article, it will do so as it suggests some issues that will arise as the civil law system is incorporated into the global legal …


Pictures At A Global Exhibition, Noah Leavitt Jan 2003

Pictures At A Global Exhibition, Noah Leavitt

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of We are the Poors by Ashwin Desai and In America's Court: How a Civil Lawyer Who Likes to Settle Stumbled Into a Criminal Trial by Thomas Geoghegan


Let One Hundered Flowers Bloom, One Hundred Schools Contend: Debating Rule Of Law In China, Randall Peerenboom Jan 2002

Let One Hundered Flowers Bloom, One Hundred Schools Contend: Debating Rule Of Law In China, Randall Peerenboom

Michigan Journal of International Law

The Article proceeds in three stages. Part I provides a brief overview of thin versions of rule of law and their relation to thick theories. Part II then takes up the four thick versions of rule of law. Part III addresses a number of thorny theoretical issues that apply to rule of law theories generally and more specifically to the applicability of rule of law to China. For instance, can the minimal conditions for rule of law be sufficiently specified to be useful? Should China's legal system at this point be described as rule by law, as in transition to …


The Beginnings Of The Rule Of Law In The International Trade System Despite U.S. Constitutional Constraints, Yong K. Kim Jan 1996

The Beginnings Of The Rule Of Law In The International Trade System Despite U.S. Constitutional Constraints, Yong K. Kim

Michigan Journal of International Law

This study focuses on the emergence of ROL in U.S. international trade policy, a development which merits closer examination for the following reasons. First, the United States must still be considered the leader in international trade policy, and a ROL order without the most important trading entity would make little sense. Second, the United States is probably the foremost proponent of instituting a ROL order in international trade, though, ironically, it may also be the prime culprit in adhering to certain power-ordered relationships. Third, it seems only fair, if not natural, to extend the United States' domestic respect for the …


New Directions In The Study Of Vietnamese Law, Mark Sidel Jan 1996

New Directions In The Study Of Vietnamese Law, Mark Sidel

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of Vietnam and the Rule of Law (Carlyle A. Thayer & David G. Marr Eds.)


Custom, Power, And The Power Of Rules, Michael Byers Jan 1995

Custom, Power, And The Power Of Rules, Michael Byers

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article begins by explaining briefly the differing perspectives which these two general categories of scholars - those who study international law and those who study international relations - have of international society generally, and of law and power more specifically. This article exposes the fact that power is an important but largely unnoticed subject of much international legal discourse and also canvasses attempts by international relations scholars to incorporate law into their understandings of power.


The Role Of Law In The Soviet System: Looking Back And Moving Forward, Sarah J. Reynolds Jan 1994

The Role Of Law In The Soviet System: Looking Back And Moving Forward, Sarah J. Reynolds

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of Russian Law: The End of the Soviet System and the Role of Law by F.J.M. Feldbrugge


Perestroika African Style: One-Party Government And Human Rights In Tanzania, John Quigley Jan 1992

Perestroika African Style: One-Party Government And Human Rights In Tanzania, John Quigley

Michigan Journal of International Law

The one-party systems in Africa have drawn negative reactions from Western States that provide economic aid. The article assesses the one-party system in light of international human rights law and asks whether aid-giving States must consider whether one-party rule in recipient States violates international standards. In this connection, the article asks whether the rights of association and political freedom as developed in Europe can fairly be applied to Africa, given its historical experience.


Capitalism And Democracy, Owen M. Fiss Jan 1992

Capitalism And Democracy, Owen M. Fiss

Michigan Journal of International Law

Socialism has collapsed. The long, historic struggle between capitalism and socialism has come to an end, and capitalism has emerged the victor. This turn of events was foreshadowed by the privatization movement of the late 1970s and 1980s that swept England, the United States, and a number of Latin American countries. History still awaited the renunciation of socialism by those who lived it, but that soon came in the form of the revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe and in the spiraling chain of events, set in motion by "perestroika," that ultimately led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union …