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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Executive Branch And International Law, Arthur M. Weisburd
The Executive Branch And International Law, Arthur M. Weisburd
Vanderbilt Law Review
Public international law, through its rules regulating the dealings between independent nations, purports to impose limits on the actions of all governments, including those of the United States. In this context American lawyers interested in foreign relations may reasonably wonder whether American courts would enforce rules of public international law purporting to bind the United States against the United States government, particularly the executive branch. A fair number of Supreme Court cases have dealt with the enforce ability of treaties in American courts.' Treaties, however, are only one source of international law. The other important source, customary international law, is …
Customary International Law: The Problem Of Treaties, Arthur M. Weisburd
Customary International Law: The Problem Of Treaties, Arthur M. Weisburd
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
This Article will not seek to address all issues concerning the sources of customary international law; the subject is too vast for treatment at anything less than book length. Rather, this Article will focus on one category of possible sources--international treaties. Of course, if one considers treaties purely as treaties, they affect relationships between states parties to them, but treaties as treaties are not the subject here. Rather, the inquiry here is, since customary law depends on the practice of states, and because one form of practice in which states engage is entering into treaties, what weight should the legal …
Books Received, Law Review Staff
Books Received, Law Review Staff
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
THE JURIDICAL BAY
By Gayl S. Westerman
New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. Pp. xii, 290. $39.95
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HELSINKI, HUMAN RIGHTS AND EUROPEAN SECURITY: ANALYSIS AND DOCUMENTATION
By Vojtech Mastney
Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1986. Pp. xxxv, 389. $49.50 hard cover, $18.95 soft cover
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NEITHER CONFIRM NOR DENY
By Stuart McMillan
Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1987. Pp. viii, 177
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INTERNATIONAL LAW OF TAKEOVERS AND MERGERS: THE EEC, NORTHERN EUROPE, AND SCANDINAVIA
By H. Leigh Ffrench
Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1986. Pp. viii, 390
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INTERNATIONAL LAW: PROCESS AND PROSPECT
By Anthony D'Amato
Dobbs Ferry, New York: …
Case Digest, Law Review Staff
Case Digest, Law Review Staff
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
Alien Tort Statute Grants Federal Court Subject Matter Jurisdiction Over Foreign Sovereign for Tort Committed in Clear Violation of International Law and Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act is not Exclusive Jurisdictional Grant Over Sovereign-- Amerada Hess Shipping Corp. v. Argentina Republic 830 F.2d 421 (2nd Cir. 1987)
International Propaganda And Developing Countries, Adeno Addis
International Propaganda And Developing Countries, Adeno Addis
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
This Article will use the term propaganda in its negative sense and explore its impact on developing nations' capacity for self-determination. Following a brief suggestion about a workable definition in Part II, Part III isolates the particular threat that propaganda poses for developing nations. Part IV then surveys the fractured history of international propaganda regulation. Part V examines the relationship between self-determination and propaganda, with specific reference to disinformation and what will be termed "structural propaganda." Individual state responses to propaganda are outlined in Part VI. Part VII explores the same issue on the international level and suggests the creation …
Exploring The Foreign Country Exception: Federal Tort Claims In Antarctica, David J. Bederman
Exploring The Foreign Country Exception: Federal Tort Claims In Antarctica, David J. Bederman
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
On November 28, 1979, an Air New Zealand DC-10 aircraft carrying tourists bound for an expedition to Antarctica crashed into the side of Mount Erebus, the highest peak on the frozen continent. All aboard perished. Four years later, the families of some of the New Zealander skilled in the accident brought suit against the United States Government under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). They claimed that the negligence of the air traffic controllers at the United States scientific base at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, was the proximate cause of the crash.
This Article considers numerous aspects of this litigation and …
Books Received, Law Review Staff
Books Received, Law Review Staff
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
Books Received
CONTRACT LAW IN THE U.S.S.R. AND THE UNITED STATES, VOL. I: HISTORY AND GENERAL CONCEPT
By E. Allan Farnsworth and Viktor P. Mozolin
Washington, D.C.: International Law Institute, 1987. Pp.xiii, 340. $35.00
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FOREIGN RELATIONS AND NATIONAL SECURITY LAW: CASES, MATERIALS AND SIMULATIONS
By Thomas M. Franck and Michael J. Glennon
St. Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing Company, 1987. Pp.lxiv, 941
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THE GRAND STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES IN LATIN AMERICA
By Tom J. Farer
New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Books, 1988. Pp. xxxii, 294
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JUDGES
By David Pannick
New York: Oxford University Press,1987. Pp. vii, 255. …
Deference And Its Dangers: Congress' Power To "Define ... Offenses Against The Law Of Nations", Charles D. Siegal
Deference And Its Dangers: Congress' Power To "Define ... Offenses Against The Law Of Nations", Charles D. Siegal
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
This Article has not sought to argue that we are today bound to the framers' limited conception of the law of nations. The way that law develops has changed dramatically in 200 years; there is no reason to believe that the framers would not have supported an evolving definition of offenses against the law of nations. And, even if they did not, an originalist interpretation of the offenses clause is still not warranted. Nor has this Article argued that Congress has no leeway in defining offenses; its points are less strict.
When Congress determines that a certain set of actions …
A Brief Rejoinder, Anthony D'Amato
A Brief Rejoinder, Anthony D'Amato
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
Professor Weisburd's reply to my essay adds helpful insights to the fascinating issue of the impact of treaties upon customary international law. For the most part, I think the positions on both sides have been clearly drawn, leaving to the reader the ultimate judgment on the merits.
One instance where the position is not so clearly drawn, however, is the question of what custom-creating force we can find in a treaty that itself disavows its custom-creating force. If the language says that the treaty is a matter of comity only, Professor Weisburd argues that the treaty cannot give rise to …
The Alien Tort Statute And How Individuals "Violate" International Law, John M. Rogers
The Alien Tort Statute And How Individuals "Violate" International Law, John M. Rogers
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
Does any argument favor a broad interpretation of the Alien Tort Statute? If I had to make such an agreement, I suppose I would try to cloud the difference between universal crimes and violations of international law. One way to do this would be to focus on those crimes that are also violations of the obligations of one state to another. For instance, an attack on a diplomat may be both a violation of international law (i.e., failure to prevent or punish the attack may result in international responsibility by the territorial state to the sending state) and a universal …
Treaty Interpretation From A Negotiator's Perspective, Kenneth J. Vandevelde
Treaty Interpretation From A Negotiator's Perspective, Kenneth J. Vandevelde
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
The international law of treaty interpretation is based on the perspective of an objective third party, such as a court, seeking to interpret an agreement after it has been negotiated. The result is a legal regime that attempts unnecessarily to apply a uniform approach to all treaty provisions and which places primary emphasis on resolving disputes rather than on enforcing the parties' intent. This approach takes insufficient account of the actual process of treaty negotiation, undercuts the legitimacy of the court's interpretation and potentially diminishes the effectiveness of treaties as a means of governing international relations. International law needs a …
Interpreting State Practice Under Treaties: A Brief Colloquy On The Composition Of Customary International Law, Law Review Staff
Interpreting State Practice Under Treaties: A Brief Colloquy On The Composition Of Customary International Law, Law Review Staff
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
In the following discussion, Professor D'Amato takes issue with Professor Weisburd's interpretation of the impact of state practice under treaties. Although the central debate specifically addresses the issue of human rights, the discussion provides a valuable framework for deciding whether contrary state practice effectively undermines the conclusive effect of treaties in developing rules of customary international la
Custom And Treaty: A Response To Professor Weisburd, Anthony D'Amato
Custom And Treaty: A Response To Professor Weisburd, Anthony D'Amato
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
Arthur M. Weisburd's article, "Customary International Law: The Problem of Treaties", focuses on an important problem that has been relatively overlooked: whether current doctrinal scholarship accords too much weight to treaties as constitutive of customary practice. Few issues in international law are more important than the question of where an international rule comes from and how it is proved. Professor Weisburd has addressed a significant component of this basic question. Since he regards me as the leading offender among writers who overdetermine the value of treaties, I would like to take this opportunity to respond.
As a preliminary matter, I …
A Reply To Professor D'Amato, A. M. Weisburd
A Reply To Professor D'Amato, A. M. Weisburd
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
In the foregoing article, Professor D'Amato has taken issue with a number of arguments I raised in an article published in a recent issue of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. In this reply, I attempt to refute his criticisms. The discussion that follows briefly recapitulates my article. I then seek to deal with the points made in Professor D'Amato's response one by one.
My article addressed an aspect of the relationship between treaties and customary international law. Taking as a starting point the assumption that treaties can be an element of the state practice necessary to constitute customary law, …