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.

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Outdated, redundant and vague provisions that proved their inefficiency have plagued the UN Charter.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 …

Deployment Of Geoengineering By The Private And Public Sector: Can The Risks Of Geoengineering Ever Be Effectively Regulated?, Daniela E. Lai

Daniela E Lai

Geoengineering has been described as any large-scale environmental manipulation designed with the purpose of mitigating the effects of climate change without decreasing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Currently there are no specific rules regulating geoengineering activities particularly if geoengineering is deployed in areas beyond national jurisdiction. This article argues that, in order to mitigate the risks of geoengineering, there needs to be effective regulation of its deployment both in international and domestic law. The risks of geoengineering can only be effectively regulated if there is international cooperation between all levels of governments and private individuals involved in the research and development …

Duty To Revolt, Katherine Crabtree

Katherine Crabtree

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights not only prescribes universal rights but also individual duties, stating “everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.” This paper examines the nature of the right to revolution and considers whether an individual’s duty to uphold human rights includes a moral duty to revolt when the current social structure permits or requires intolerable systematic human rights violations. Four subsections discuss (1) the development and nature of disciplinary power that a government imposes on citizens in order to force conformity to the laws, (2) …

Redefining Terrorism: The Danger Of Misunderstanding The Modern World's Gravest Threat, Jennifer Breedon

Jennifer Breedon

No abstract provided.

Eastern And Southern Ukraine's Right To Secede And Join The Russian Federation: A Secessionist Manifesto, John Ja Burke

John JA Burke

This article aims to answer a multi-faceted question: do the people occupying the region of Eastern and Southern Ukraine have the right to secede from Ukraine and merge with the Russian Federation? It also evaluates the legal status of the economic sanctions imposed upon the Russian Federation for its alleged interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine.

Public International Law provides no definitive answer to the first question, although “conventional wisdom” denies a right of secession. The denial turns primarily on two United Nations General Assembly Resolutions: (1) the UN General Assembly Declaration on Decolonisation, and (2) the UN General …

Labor Rights And Free Trade; Social Development Parallel To Economic Development, Hassan Razavi

Hassan Razavi

The trade-based distributional policies have reinforced the issue of social standards in societies and the encroachment of free trade on other international standards particularly the labor standards has linked this matter with the issue of comparative advantage, thus opening the door for claims which are not made in good faith. This research studies the linkage of free trade and social standards under the WTO umbrella and based on justice theories, develop a framework in which the claims for both the protection of human rights and economic growth could be met by developing the idea of parallelism within the current regime …

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 …

Public Policy In International Investment And Trade Law: Community Expectations And Functional Decision-Making, Diane A. Desierto

Diane A Desierto

This article uses a contextual policy-oriented approach to assess how the standing debate on a State's regulatory freedom has been treated within international investment law (e.g. case-by-case interpretation of variant treaty design in each case), in contrast with how the issue of domestic regulatory autonomy in international trade law has evolved towards coordination (e.g. attempted harmonization of the same set of instruments). The article submits a different view from many primarily trade law/investment law scholars (and other systemic integrationists who idealize a seamless shift from trade law to investment law), who have postulated that this fundamental issue of State regulatory …

Theory Of Constitutional Comparison, Sebastian Müller-Franken Prof. Dr

sebastian müller-franken prof. dr

The article looks into constitutional comparison from a theoretical perspective. It shows the variety of different purposes this juridical discipline pursuits. So constitutional comparison for example takes advantage creating constitutional theory or gives an orientation for constititional politics. The article also shows how constitutional comparison can render benefits for the application of constitutional law without giving up national sovereignty.

Los Límites Del Derecho Internacional En Contextos Globales: Comentario Sobre Los Alcances De La Decisión De La Corte Internacional De Justicia En El Caso Del Diferendo Nicaragua-Colombia, Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

No abstract provided.

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 …

Judicial Independence In Post-Conflict Iraq: Establishing The Rule Of Law In An Islamic Constitutional Democracy, David Pimentel, Brian Anderson

David Pimentel

Contemporary Iraq is facing the full range of challenges that come with post-conflict transitional justice, including “paving the road toward peace and reconciliation” and establishing a functional state, characterized by the Rule of Law. Prospects for the establishment of an independent judiciary in Iraq are obstructed by a number of factors, including (1) how to apply the explicit recognition of the law of Islam in the Iraqi Constitution, (2) the inability to pass legislation on the Federal Courts of Iraq, leaving several provisions of the Iraqi Constitution unimplemented, and other critical elements of judicial independence unaddressed, including provisions for tenure, …

International Law And Economic Sanctions Imposed By The United Nations Security Council, Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

Nowadays and concretely after the end of Cold War, it is quite visible that the activity of the Security Council is showing a variation to the traditional conception of the international system, as the increase of actions starting from the invocation of Chapter VII of the Charter of the United nations was accompanied by new controversial outcomes. This paper intends to describe several legal issues related to the imposition of economic sanctions by the Security Council, in order to show that even if it appears that such organ of the United Nations has a wide margin of appreciation when maintaining …

Editorial: Derecho Internacional Y Proceso De Paz En Colombia, Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

No abstract provided.

A Propósito Del Giro Historiográfico En Derecho Internacional, Ignacio De La Rasilla Del Moral

Ignacio de la Rasilla del Moral, Ph.D.

Illiteracy rate in Spain at the turn of the 20th century was of 63.8% and 16.000 students - out of a total Spanish population of 18.6 million - attended the 10 existing Spanish universities. 2.000 university titles were accorded, half of which in Law in 1900, and 200 students obtained their doctorates by the Central University of Madrid which held the academic monopoly of doctoral studies at the time. In 1902, the Bulletin of the Institution of Free Teaching published a chronicle signed by Aniceto Sela y Sampil on the didactic methods he employed to teach Public and Private International …

Freedom Of Movement Under The Framework Of Regional Integration Processes In South America, Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

This Study addresses the question on whether the migratory phenomenon –considering with special attention the admission of non-nationals– might be regulated under the framework of regional integration processes, using the case of South America as an instance proclive to show how international law can be complemented and adapted to a specific context. It firstly elaborates a theoretical argument on the need to re-lecture the sovereign paradigm –according to which States have exclusive and excluding capacity to regulate the issue– so as to utilize cooperative schemes to develop a comprehensive legal framework provided the identification of migration as a common interest. …

In The Name Of International Peace And Security: Reflections On The United Nations Security Council's Legilative Action, Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

This article seeks to illustrate how the United Nation´s Security Council is entailing a sort of hegemonic capability to act as a legislator, having as a premise the absence of such figure under international law, provided the apparent structure and dynamics of the Law of Nations. Thus, basing its actions on the UN Charter´s mandate to maintain international peace and security, the Council has adopted such kind of measures on the fight against terrorism ‑through Resolutions 1373 (2001) and 1540 (2004). The effects of the Council´s action are analyzed through two yardsticks; legality vis-à-vis the UN Charter and other relevant …

The Principles Of Distinction And Proportionality Under The Framework Of International Criminal Responsibility -Content And Issues-, Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

This article seeks to illustrate how the Principles of Distinction and Proportionality, coming from a branch of primary rules (International Humanitarian Law) have a relevant influence on the modern system of international criminal responsibility, consecrated in the Statute of the International Criminal Court, ICC. It is found that even if the latter contains provisions –war crimes– reproaching conducts due to their indiscriminate character, there are gaps related with the meaning and extension of such criminal conducts; this problematic is explained on one hand, by the political reluctance of States to compromise their sovereignty, and the specificities of the punitive function …