Law Commons^™

42 U.S.C. § 1983: A Legal Vehicle With No International Human Rights Treaty Passengers, Matthew J. Jowanna

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “How do international human rights treaties interact with the domestic civil rights law of the United States and, particularly, 42 U.S.C. § 1983? How should international human rights treaties interact with the domestic civil rights law of the United States? ―International law is part of our law, and must be ascertained and administered by the courts of justice of appropriate jurisdiction, as often as questions of right depending upon it are duly presented for their determination. The United States is obligated to respect the international treaties it ratifies, whether they are fully implemented in domestic law or not. In …

New Energy Geopolitics?: China, Renewable Energy, And The "Greentech Race", Joel B. Eisen

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Commentators believe that programs in China promoting development of new renewable energy capacity have produced astonishing achievements in a short period of time. Evoking the "space race" between the United States and the U.S.S.R. after the launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957, observers contend that the United States and China are in a "greentech race" to secure international leadership in the development and deployment of renewable energy. As U.S. Energy Secretary Chu has put it, many believe this is a modern "Sputnik moment." This Article finds that China's programs and initiatives are indeed leading to considerable success, but, using …

A Survey Of State Renewable Portfolio Standards: Square Pegs For Round Climate Change-Holes?, Ivan Gold, Nidhi Thakar

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Thirty states now have renewable portfolios standards that require generators of electricity to increase their use of renewable energy. Originally intended to promote “energy independence” and other environmental goals, today the programs are among the few U.S. programs which respond to the threat of global warming. This article considers how they work and whether they are effective. It concludes that, in the absence of comprehensive international or federal greenhouse gas controls, renewable portfolio standards are an effective and productive means to retard global warming.

Averting Nuclear 9/11: The Need To Move Beyond Nepa And Transition To A Homeland Security-Administered Infrastructure Security Statement, Michael S. Munson

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

When Prayer Trumps Politics: The Politics And Demographics Of Renewable Portfolio Standards, Joshua P. Fershee

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Spaces Of Freedom For Citizens And Asylees In The Eu And U.S., Francis J. Conte

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

May Roundtable: The Downfall Of Human Rights? Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“The Downfall of Human Rights” by Joshua Kurlantzick. Newsweek. February 19, 2010.

A Positive View Of The Trajectory Of The Human Rights Movement, David Akerson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In 1988, during the waning days of apartheid in South Africa, I was a young American lawyer working for South African Lawyers for Human Rights in Pretoria. On one occasion, I accompanied some of my African colleagues to a conference, the purpose of which was to begin visualizing post-apartheid South Africa. While the apartheid regime was still in power, it was clearly in hasty retreat, and it was equally clear that its days were numbered. The African majority would soon be taking over the reigns of power, and they were excited to begin visualizing what freedom and human rights might …

Premature Judgment, Todd Landman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Just as Mark Twain said in 1897, “The report of my death was an exaggeration,” many commentators have prematurely reported the death of human rights. For example, in 1999, in The Theory and Reality of the Protection of International Human Rights , J. Shand Watson sees human rights as a “mere fiction” in light of a century of state-sponsored killing. One year later, Costas Douzinas, through an appeal to history, philosophy, and psychoanalysis proclaimed the “end of human rights.” It is thus no surprise that the article by Joshua Kurlantzick is yet another attempt to warn us that human rights …

Evolving Regulation Of Corporate Governance And The Implications For D&O Liability: The United States And Australia, Joan T.A. Gabel, Nancy R. Mansfield, Paul Von Nessen, Austin W. Hall, Andrew Jones

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article compares the modern corporate regulatory environments in the United States and Australia, including an analysis of the climate for Directors & Officers (D & O) liability coverage. Comparing these regulations across two large markets with similar historical bases for assessing director and officer liability allows us to explore which reforms may be more effective as new scandals emerge.

A Sense Of Duty: The Illusory Criminal Jurisdiction Of The U.S./Iraq Status Of Forces Agreement, Chris Jenks

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article will examine the Iraq SOFA’s use of duty status as a basis for determining which State has primary jurisdiction over U.S. service members for alleged criminal misconduct in Iraq. In the third section, the Article will briefly explain what a SOFA is, and how and why they are used, focusing on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) SOFA. This section will also utilize examples of U.S. service member misconduct, both associated with and detached from official duty, to illustrate the application of an acts-based SOFA jurisdiction article. The fourth section turns to the Iraq SOFA’s status-based jurisdiction article, …

Partitioning Paternity: The German Approach To A Disjuncture Between Genetic And Legal Paternity With Implications For American Courts, Shelly Ann Kamei

San Diego International Law Journal

This paper will address the strengths and weaknesses of the German approach as well as the potential use of this approach by American states, with particular emphasis given to the conflict between the right to know one’s origins and a child’s right to care and support. Part II discusses the challenge of defining legal paternity in an age of genetic certainty. It will first give a brief explanation of how courts have used functional–social and genetic considerations in defining legal paternity. It will then evaluate the legal implications of this approach on the rights of the father, mother, and child. …

Carbon Down Under - Lessons From Australia: Two Recommendations For Clarifying Subsurface Property Rights To Facilitate Onshore Geologic Carbon Sequestration In The United States, Tracy J. Logan

San Diego International Law Journal

This Comment’s analysis requires a few necessary assumptions. First, the feasibility of large-scale deployment of geologic CCS technology for the purposes of permanently storing CO2 is assumed. Second, the establishment of a regulatory framework with incentives to mitigate or offset GHGs is assumed. Third, the carbon-capture technology retrofitting of point-source emitters is assumed. And finally, the existence of infrastructure to transport supercritical CO2 to a storage site is assumed. This Comment contains five parts: Part I provides an introduction and overview to contextualize the need for CCS; Part II details the technology of GS; Part III is an overview of …

Climate Change Comes To The Clean Water Act: Now What?, Robin Kundis Craig

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

In January 2009, the EPA agreed to respond to the Center for Biological Diversity’s (CBD’s) petition requesting it to modify its marine pH water quality criteria to reflect ocean acidification. Ocean acidification, however, is a by-product of increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Thus, climate change has come to the Clean Water Act—and in May 2009, the CBD filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Washington to bring this point home. The question, of course, is what the Clean Water Act can actually contribute to efforts to deal with climate change. After reviewing the …

Greening The Economy Sustainably, David L. Markell

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

No abstract provided.

Climbing Mount Mitigation: A Proposal For Legislative Suspension Of Climate Change "Mitigation Litigation", J. B. Ruhl

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

No abstract provided.

Climate Change, Scale, And Devaluation: The Challenge Of Our Built Environment, Nathan F. Sayre

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

Climate debate and policy proposals in the United States have yet to grasp the gravity and magnitude of the challenges posed by global warming. This paper develops three arguments to redress this situation. First, the spatial and temporal scale of the processes linking greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to climate change is unprecedented in human experience, challenging our abilities to comprehend, let alone act. An adequate understanding of the scale of global warming leads to an unequivocal starting point for all discussions: we must leave as much fossil fuel in the ground as possible, for as long as possible. Second, a …

Health Reform And Health Equity: Sharing Responsibility For Health In The United States, Erika Blacksher

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Where Forum Non Conveniens And Preemptive Jurisdiction Collide: An Analytical Look At Latin American Preemptive Jurisdiction Laws In The United States, Jennifer L. Woulfe

Saint Louis University Public Law Review

No abstract provided.

The U.S. And German Interpretations Of The Vienna Convention On Consular Relations: Is Any Constitutional Court Really Cosmopolitan?, Peter A. Heinlein

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Online Auction House Liability For The Sale Of Trademark Infringing Products, Allison N. Ziegler

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

With the rise of the Internet, trademark owners have seen an increase in online trademark infringement. This Comment examines online auction house liability for the sale of trademark infringing products and the methodology used by courts in making this determination. The author outlines contributory trademark jurisprudence in the United States and France and the application of this jurisprudence in Tiffany v. EBay and LVMH v. EBay, respectively. The article then evaluates the implications of the two approaches to determine which approach is more practical and effective. The author concludes that online auction houses should not be liable for trademark infringement …

The Special Measures Mandate Of The International Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Racial Discrimination: Lessons From The United States And South Africa, Connie De La Vega

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

The International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination' (CERD) is the United Nations main treaty

Universal Service In The United States: A Focus On Mobile Communications, Steven G. Parsons, James Bixby

Federal Communications Law Journal

The concept of universal service, providing affordable telecommunications to all citizens, has a long and changing history in the United States. Prior to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, efforts to achieve universal service were largely based on a complex web of implicit subsidies to basic landline local exchange residential service. The Act expanded and codified the concept of universal service and made the subsidies largely explicit. This Article evaluates the possible economic rationales for subsidizing voice communications and find them lacking. This Article argues that the weak rationale for subsidizing basic voice communications makes it critical that U.S. universal-service policy …

Network Neutrality Between False Positives And False Negatives: Introducing A European Approach To American Broadband Markets, Jasper P. Sluijs

Federal Communications Law Journal

Network neutrality has become a contentious issue both in Europe and the United States. Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic face digital divides in their society, and are confronted with potentially conflicting policy goals-to incentivize private investment in next-generation broadband while maintaining "neutral" and competitive broadband networks.

This Article compares nascent American and European network neutrality policy in terms of regulatory error costs. Emerging markets, such as broadband, are more likely to be affected by regulatory errors, and these errors have graver consequences in emerging markets than in regular markets. U.S. telecommunications policy traditionally has advanced a trial-and-error approach …

Utilitarian Information Works - Is Originality The Proper Lens?, Dana Beldiman

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

As the information society advances, vastly increased numbers of utilitarian information works (UIW) are being produced. In general, these works are deemed protected by copyright law, even though the philosophical underpinnings of copyright law clash with the attributes of UIW. This Article examines the cause for the uneasy relationship between UIW and the concept of originality. Part I discusses the role of information and UIW as one of the core wealth-producing assets of the knowledge-based economy. This economy is characterized by a rapid pace of innovation, which in turn, requires unrestricted access to information. Part II examines copyright law as …

Emerging Scholars Series: A Re-Examination Of The Original Foundations Of Anglo-American Trademark Law, Cesar Ramirez-Montes

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Contemporary accounts of the normative basis of Anglo-American trademark law frequently describe the purpose of the legal doctrine as having developed to protect primarily the consumers from being misled. Recently, some commentators have offered a different account of the law, as having developed to protect mainly the interests of the traders in not having their trade diverted. Under this account, early trademark law served one master only, the producer, with any additional benefit or protection to consumers being unintended. In this Article, the Author challenges both accounts and suggest that early trademark law was not driven by any judicial desire …

Values In Transition: The Chiricahua Apache From 1886-1914, John W. Ragsdale Jr.

American Indian Law Review

Law confirms but seldom determines the course of a society. Values and beliefs, instead, are the true polestars, incrementally implemented by the laws, customs, and policies. The Chiricahua Apache, a tribal society of hunters, gatherers, and raiders in the mountains and deserts of the Southwest, were squeezed between the growing populations and economies of the United States and Mexico. Raiding brought response, reprisal, and ultimately confinement at the loathsome San Carlos Reservation. Though most Chiricahua submitted to the beginnings of assimilation, a number of the hardiest and least malleable did not. Periodic breakouts, wild raids through New Mexico and Arizona, …

Curtis Fogel On Dying Inside: The Hiv/Aids Ward At Limestone Prison. By Benjamin Fleury-Steiner & Carla Crowder. Ann Arbor, Mi: University Of Michigan Press, 2008. 238pp., Curtis Fogel

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Dying Inside: The HIV/AIDS Ward at Limestone Prison. By Benjamin Fleury-Steiner & Carla Crowder. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2008. 238pp.

Drug Policy In Context: Rhetoric And Practice In The United States And The United Kingdom, Richard C. Boldt

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of The Handling Of The Financial Crisis In The United States, The United Kingdom, And Australia, Elizabeth F. Brown

Villanova Law Review

The article discusses how the U.S., Great Britain and Australia handled the financial crisis, as of July 2010. It analyzes the reasons why Australia was less affected by the crisis than the U.S. and Great Britain. The author suggests that the U.S. would perform well to adopt a Twin Peaks Model which creates two agencies that regulate a broad range of financial entities but focus on narrow goals.