Law Commons^™

Trade Strategies Of The Tpp-11 Countries: Asian Regionalism In Turbulent Times (European Parliament), Pasha L. Hsieh

Pasha L. HSIEH

No abstract provided.

Lawyer Regulation, Aml, And Fatf's Mutual Evaluations, Laurel S. Terry, José Carlos Llerena Robles

Laurel S. Terry

Pirate Trials, The International Criminal Court And Mob Justice: Reflections On Postcolonial Sovereignty In Kenya, Mateo Taussig-Rubbo

Mateo Taussig-Rubbo

No abstract provided.

The Writ Of Habeas Corpus And The Special Court For Sierra Leone: Addressing An Unforeseen Problem In The Establishment Of A Hybrid Court, Anthony O'Rourke

Anthony O'Rourke

No abstract provided.

What Is Twail?, Makau W. Mutua

Makau Mutua

The piece seeks to conceptualize the insurgent movement in international law known as Third World Approaches to International Law. Driven by scholars from the Third World, TWAIL rejects the traditional tenets and assumptions of traditional international law and argues for a re-imagination of the law of nations to purge it of racial and hegemonic precepts and biases to create a truly universal corpus that embraces inclusivity and empowerment. The movement turns away from the imperialist and colonialist foundation of international law. It argues that international law must be devoid of oppression, exploitation, and domination. The piece is among the first …

Standard Setting In Human Rights: Critique And Prognosis, Makau Mutua

Makau Mutua

This article interrogates the processes and politics of standard setting in human rights. It traces the history of the human rights project and critically explores how the norms of the human rights movement have been created. This article looks at how those norms are made, who makes them, and why. It focuses attention on the deficits of the international order, and how that order - which is defined by multiple asymmetries - determines the norms and the purposes they serve. It identifies areas for further norm development and concludes that norm-creating processes must be inclusive and participatory to garner legitimacy …

Just Back From The Human Rights Council, Makau Mutua

Makau Mutua

The piece critically looks at the transition from the UN Commission on Human Rights to the UN Human Rights Council in 2006 and questions whether the change is one of substance or form. It argues that the same paralysis that dogged the Commission will continue to afflict the Council because power politics and regional blocs - fueled by the global asymmetries of power - will not go away. The piece also contends that the charge by the West that the Commission was utterly compromised by the Third World was without merit because it was the one forum where developing could …

Never Again: Questioning The Yugoslav And Rwanda Tribunals, Makau Mutua

Makau Mutua

Fifty years after Nuremberg, the international community has again decided to experiment with international war crimes tribunals. The stated purpose for the establishment of both the Yugoslav and Rwanda Tribunals by the United Nations are to “put an end” to serious crimes such as genocide and to “take effective measures to bring to justice the persons who are responsible for them.” This piece argues that both assumptions are unrealistic and that such tribunals will have little or no effect on human rights violations of such enormous barbarity. In addition, this piece questions the motivations behind the formulation of the tribunals …

Jeremy I. Levitt's Africa: Mapping New Boundaries In International Law (Book Review), Makau Mutua

Makau Mutua

This is a review of Jeremy Levitt’s edited collection of chapters in Africa: Mapping the Boundaries of International Law, which is an impressive work to the dearth of scholarship on Africa’s contribution to the normative substance and theory of international law. The book explicitly seeks to counter the racist mythology that Africans were tabula rasa in international law. In his own introduction to the book, Levitt makes it clear that “Africa is a legal marketplace, not a lawless basket case.” The eight contributors to the book are renowned scholars who make the case that Africa is not stuck in pre-history …

Human Rights International Ngos: A Critical Evaluation, Makau Mutua

Makau Mutua

Published as Chapter 7 in NGOs and Human Rights: Promise and Performance, Claude E. Welch, Jr., ed.

The Human rights movement can be seen in a variety of guises. It can be seen as a movement for international justice or as a cultural project for “civilizing savage” cultures. In this chapter, I discuss a part of that movement as a crusade for a political project. International nongovernmental human rights organizations (INGOs), the small and elite collection of human rights groups based in the most powerful cultural and political capitals of the West, have arguably been the most influential component of …

Critical Race Theory And International Law: The View Of An Insider-Outsider, Makau Mutua

Makau Mutua

This article contends that international law, like national law, is captive to the racial biases and hierarchies that hide injustice under the pretext of legal neutrality and universality. It argues that international law is tormented by racist and hegemonic asymmetries that govern the international order. The piece posits that international law could benefit greatly from the method of critical race theory in unpacking the pathologies of power and race that define it. It focuses on the use of international law to conceive and buttress the exploitation and marginalization of the North by the South. It calls for a reconstruction of …

An Eye Toward Effective Enforcement: A Technical-Comparative Approach To The Drafting Negotiations, Tara J. Melish

Tara Melish

Published as Chapter 5 in Human Rights and Disability Advocacy, Maya Sabatello & Marianne Schulze, eds.

The unprecedented level of civil society participation that took place in the drafting of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) constitutes a major key to its success -- laying a solid foundation for the much longer and harder process of implementation ahead. This piece addresses how one civil society organization -- Disability Rights International (DRI) -- approached the negotiation process. Part I explains the strategic approach DRI adopted, highlighting its methodology, the guiding principles it embraced, and the resulting …

Beyond Westphalia: Competitive Legalization In Emerging Transnational Regulatory Systems, Errol E. Meidinger

Errol Meidinger

Published as Chapter 7 in Law and Legalization in Transnational Relations, Christian Brütsch & Dirk Lehmkuhl, eds.

This paper analyzes several emerging transnational regulatory systems that engage, but are not centered on state legal systems. Driven primarily by civil society organizations, the new regulatory systems use conventional technical standard setting and certification techniques to establish market-leveraged, social and environmental regulatory programs. These programs resemble state regulatory programs in many important respects, and are increasingly legalized. Individual sectors generally have multiple regulatory programs that compete with, but also mimic and reinforce each other. While forestry is the most developed example, similar …

The Trans-Pacific Partnership: New Paradigm Or Wolf In Sheep’S Clothing? , Meredith Kolsky Lewis

Meredith Kolsky Lewis

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is currently negotiating with seven other countries to form a new trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP has the potential to expand into a Free Trade Agreement of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). At present there are several competing models for Asia-Pacific economic integration that exclude the United States entirely. In such an environment, the TPP presents the United States with a welcome opportunity, not only to participate, but also to take a leadership role in establishing the terms for a region-wide agreement. Nevertheless, the USTR must make the TPP …

Reconsidering Trials In Absentia At The Special Tribunal For Lebanon: An Application Of The Tribunal's Early Jurisprudence, Maggie Gardner

Maggie Gardner

Since Nuremburg, no individual has been prosecuted in an international or internationalized court entirely in his or her absence. That may soon change. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is empowered to try defendants in absentia, has now confirmed its first indictment. While its trial in absentia procedures were met with concern and criticism from some quarters when they were first announced, reconsideration is warranted in light of subsequent judicial developments. The judges of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon have now established in their preliminary decisions an interpretive approach to the Tribunal’s Statute that is adamantly purposive. This purposive approach …

Did Russian Cyber Interference In The 2016 Election Violate International Law?, Jens David Ohlin

Jens David Ohlin

When it was revealed that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by hacking into the email system of the Democratic National Committee and releasing its emails, international lawyers were divided over whether the cyber-attack violated international law. President Obama seemingly went out of his way to describe the attack as a mere violation of “established international norms of behavior,” though some international lawyers were more willing to describe the cyber-attack as a violation of international law. However, identifying the exact legal norm that was contravened turns out to be harder than it might otherwise appear. To …

Inside The Arbitrator's Mind, Susan D. Franck, Anne Van Aaken, James Freda, Chris Guthrie, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Arbitrators are lead actors in global dispute resolution. They are to global dispute resolution what judges are to domestic dispute resolution. Despite its global significance, arbitral decision making is a black box. This Article is the first to use original experimental research to explore how international arbitrators decide cases. We find that arbitrators often make intuitive and impressionistic decisions, rather than fully deliberative decisions. We also find evidence that casts doubt on the conventional wisdom that arbitrators render “split the baby” decisions. Although direct comparisons are difficult, we find that arbitrators generally perform at least as well as, but never …

Invisible Women: Syrian Victims Of Gender-Based Violence As A Particular Social Group In U.S. Asylum Law, Sarah Dávila-Ruhaak

Sarah Dávila-Ruhaak

In the midst of the worst humanitarian crisis of our time, in Syria, we have seen extreme suffering by millions who have been summarily executed, tortured, imprisoned, raped, starved, and bombed with chemical weapons. Specifically, we have seen that women have been the target of gender-based violence in the conflict by and with the acquiescence of the Assad regime forces and by opposition groups. Women have been human shields; hostages for the bargaining of prisoner release; and victims of sexual violence and exploitation, forced marriage, and other forms of violence such as honor killings. This gender-based violence has rendered women …

Legitimacy As An Assessment Of Existing Legal Standards: The Case Of The 2003 Iraq War, Charlotte Ku

Charlotte Ku

The Iraq war was a multiple assault on the foundations and rules of the existing UN-centered world order. It called into question the adequacy of the existing institutions for articulating global norms and enforcing compliance with the demands of the international community. It highlighted also the unwillingness of some key countries to wait until definitive proof before acting to meet the danger of the world's most destructive weapons falling into the hands of the world's most dangerous regimes. It was simultaneously a test of the UN's willingness and ability to deal with brutal dictatorships and a searching scrutiny of the …

Forging A Multilayered System Of Global Governance, Charlotte Ku

Charlotte Ku

The world in which we find ourselves today is no longer governable entirely by resort to the classical system of international law. Even more seriously, it would seem that the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter are no longer being served sufficiently in light of new concerns. The text adopted in 1945 does not convey the image of a world tormented by terrorists. Nor does it reflect the most pressing commitments of our time: to democratic governance, to environmental responsibility, and to a freer and more equitable system of world trade. Increasingly, the international law community acknowledges the …

American Lawyers And International Competence, Charlotte Ku, Christopher J. Borgen

Charlotte Ku

Just over ten years ago, Germans tore down a wall that divided their country and the whole of Europe. Stepping through the hole in the Berlin Wall, they took the first steps towards the reunification of West and East Germany and the end of the Cold War. Today another wall is being torn down - that between purely domestic law and international law. Companies are engaged in international trade at ever increasing rates. Environmental degradation has proved to be a global problem that cannot be solved with uncoordinated local measures. Individuals worldwide are pressing their governments for the recognition of …

A Comparative Study Of The Jewish And The United States Constitutional Law Of Capital Punishment, Steven Davidoff

Steven Davidoff Solomon

The Jewish view on the death penalty is that it should exist but it should never be used .... [lI]t is Governor Pataki's job to ensure :order. But he must remember that as a leader he must exhibit attributes of both the father and the mother. Governor Pataki is a nice man. But if he acts on the death penalty, he will be the leader of a bloody government

Balancing Security And Liberty In Germany, Russell A. Miller

Russell A. Miller

Scholarly discourse over America’s national security policy frequently invites comparison with Germany’s policy. Interest in Germany’s national security jurisprudence arises because, like the United States, Germany is a constitutional democracy. Yet, in contrast to the United States, Germany’s historical encounters with violent authoritarian, anti-democratic, and terrorist movements have endowed it with a wealth of constitutional experience in balancing security and liberty. The first of these historical encounters – with National Socialism – provided the legacy against which Germany’s post-World War II constitutional order is fundamentally defined. The second encounter – with leftist domestic radicalism in the 1970s and 1980s – …

The Special Tribunal For Lebanon: A Defense Perspective, Charles Chernor Jalloh

Charles C. Jalloh

A fundamental aspect of United States criminal law is the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. A corollary right gives every American a Constitutional right to counsel or the right to represent herself in person if she so chooses. In international criminal law, similar fundamental rights are theoretically offered to accused persons under the statutes of the courts and under general international human rights law. However, unlike the U.S. criminal justice system, international criminal tribunals have generally failed to honor the lofty promises contained in their constitutive instruments. But it is not the principled lack of adherence to ensuring the …

The Contribution Of The Special Court For Sierra Leone To The Development Of International Law, Charles Chernor Jalloh

Charles C. Jalloh

This article is the first major study examining whether the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) has made, or is making, any contribution to the development of international law. The author concludes that it has. In this vein, he analyzes the creation of the Defence Office, the Legacy Phase Working Group and the Outreach Section to show that some of the structural novelties introduced through SCSL practice have proven to be worthy of replication within other international criminal courts. Taking as an example the controversy regarding the United Nations Security Council’s power to create ad hoc international criminal tribunals, the …

Does Living By The Sword Mean Dying By The Sword?, Charles Chernor Jalloh

Charles C. Jalloh

What do serial killer Ted Bundy, 9/11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui and alleged “Butcher of the Balkans” Slobodan Milošević have in common? Besides being accused of perpetrating some of the worst crimes known to law, they each insisted on representing themselves in court without the assistance of a lawyer. Not surprisingly, Bundy and Moussaoui were convicted. And although Milošević died just before trial judgment was rendered, it is widely speculated that he too would have been convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. This article examines the right to self-representation in international criminal law. Using a comparative law …

Regionalizing International Criminal Law?, Charles Chernor Jalloh

Charles C. Jalloh

This article examines the initially cooperative but increasingly tense relationship between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and Africa. It assesses the various legal and political reasons for the mounting criticisms of the ICC by African governments, especially within the African Union (AU), following the indictment of incumbent Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir. The author situates the ICC within broader African efforts to establish more peaceful societies through the continent-wide AU. He submits that the ICC, by prosecuting architects of serious international crimes in Africa’s numerous conflicts, could contribute significantly to the continent’s fledgling peace and security architecture which aims …

Special Court For Sierra Leone: Achieving Justice?, Charles Chernor Jalloh

Charles C. Jalloh

The Sierra Leone war, which lasted between 1991 and 2002, gained notoriety around the world for “blood" or "conflict" diamonds and some of the worst atrocities ever perpetrated against civilians in a modern conflict. On January 16, 2002, the United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone signed an historic agreement to establish the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). In setting up a new type of ad hoc criminal tribunal, the parties sought to achieve two key objectives. First, to dispense credible justice by enabling the prosecution of those bearing greatest responsibility for the wartime atrocities based on international …

Provisional Arrest And Incarceration In The International Criminal Tribunals, Charles Chernor Jalloh, Melinda Taylor

Charles C. Jalloh

This article examines the widely ignored but important issue regarding the provisional arrest and detention of persons suspected of having committed international crimes by international or internationalized courts. The paper examines the pioneer case law and practice of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, as well as the emerging practice of the permanent International Criminal Court, to evaluate how these courts have generally addressed the rights of these individuals to due process and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention before …

Mexican Law And Legal Research, Julienne Grant, Jonathan Pratter, Bianca Anderson, Marisol Floren-Romero, Jootaek Lee, Lyonette Louis-Jacques, Teresa Miguel-Stearns, Sergio Stone

Marisol Florén-Romero

No abstract provided.