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Sovereignty

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Articles 1 - 30 of 92

Full-Text Articles in Law

Choice Of Law, The Constitution And Lochner, James Y. Stern Sep 2019

Choice Of Law, The Constitution And Lochner, James Y. Stern

James Y. Stern

No abstract provided.


A Fiduciary Theory Of Jus Cogens, Evan J. Criddle, Evan Fox-Decent Sep 2019

A Fiduciary Theory Of Jus Cogens, Evan J. Criddle, Evan Fox-Decent

Evan J. Criddle

No abstract provided.


Vertical Power, Michael S. Green Sep 2019

Vertical Power, Michael S. Green

Michael S. Green

Many legal scholars and federal judges - including Justices Ginsburg and Scalia - have implicitly assumed that a state can extend its procedural law solely to federal courts within its borders. To date, however, no one has identified this assumption, much less defended it. Drawing upon an example discussed by Chief Justice Marshall in Wayman v. Southard, 23 U.S. (10 Wheat.) 1 (1825), 1 argue that such vertical power does not exist. Not only do states lack a legitimate interest in extending their law vertically, a state's assertion of vertical power would improperly discriminate against federal courts. If state law …


Drones And The Decolonization Of International Law, Markus Gunneflo Sep 2018

Drones And The Decolonization Of International Law, Markus Gunneflo

Markus Gunneflo

Drone strikes and targeted killing operations are generally the most ubiquitous aspect of 21st Century Western counterinsurgency and counterterrorism policy, affecting countries in the Middle East and other parts of the decolonized world. 

Debates around such conduct often pivot on questions of legality. In the talk I gave at the Middle East Institute in April this year, I provided a longer than usual historical perspective on such debates. The aim was to highlight the deficiencies, or, better, dangers of the current debate, by comparing it with the international law discussions around such conduct from another era. 

Two cases were placed …


The Supreme "Courts" Of The Roman Empire, C.G. Bateman Jan 2018

The Supreme "Courts" Of The Roman Empire, C.G. Bateman

C.G. Bateman

Question
Why and how did Constantine go further than merely tolerating Christianity, and put himself at the head of their affairs and legislate Christian bishops into the position of Roman judges whose decisions were not subject to appeal? What effect did the rescript of 333 have on the meaning of the earlier edict of 318, and why is this important?[1]
 
Constantine, the Roman Emperor from 315-337, was a law-giver who first put the Christian Church in the place of primacy in the organization of the state that it only lost as recently as the seventeenth century; as such, …


Sacrifice And Sovereignty, Mateo Taussig-Rubbo Nov 2017

Sacrifice And Sovereignty, Mateo Taussig-Rubbo

Mateo Taussig-Rubbo

Published as Chapter 4 in States of Violence: War, Capital Punishment, and Letting Die, Austin Sarat & Jennifer L. Cuthbert, eds.

This Chapter examines a complement to the concept of the state’s monopoly of legitimate violence, what I call a ‘monopoly of sacrifice.’ It describes some of the difficulties the United States government has confronted in authoritatively designating which and whose losses and deaths in the name of the nation are considered transcendent or sacred. Through detailed case studies, it describes a state that uses legal form and policy to construe certain deaths as sacrificial, and others as banal, and …


Did Russian Cyber Interference In The 2016 Election Violate International Law?, Jens David Ohlin Nov 2017

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 …


Brexit And Ip: The Great Unraveling?, Graeme B. Dinwoodie, Rochelle C. Dreyfuss Jun 2017

Brexit And Ip: The Great Unraveling?, Graeme B. Dinwoodie, Rochelle C. Dreyfuss

Graeme B. Dinwoodie

In theory, exit from Brexit will free the United Kingdom from the constraints and burdens of EU membership. It will transfer sovereignty back to the people from the technocratic rule of Brussels; replace the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice with the adjudicative power of national courts; and allow the UK to tailor its market regulation in the particular exigencies of the UK economy. Whether, as a general matter, the restoration of a classic Westphalian state enhances value either nationally or globally is an issue we leave to others to debate.

We ask a different question: we explore how well …


Finding The Sovereign In Sovereign Immunity: Lessons From Bodin, Hobbes, And Rousseau, David Schraub Dec 2016

Finding The Sovereign In Sovereign Immunity: Lessons From Bodin, Hobbes, And Rousseau, David Schraub

David Schraub

The doctrine of “sovereign immunity” holds that the U.S. government cannot be sued without its consent. This is not found in the Constitution’s text; it is justified on philosophical grounds as inherent to being a sovereign state: a sovereign must be able to issue commands free from constraint. The sources of this understanding of sovereignty—Hobbes, Bodin, and others—are, in turn, condemned by opponents of sovereign immunity as absolutists whose doctrines are incompatible with limited, constitutional government. This debate, and thus the usual conception of sovereign immunity, rests on a fundamental mistake. Hobbes and his peers were careful to avoid the …


Beyond Territoriality: The Case Of Transnational Human Rights Litigation, Peer Zumbansen Aug 2016

Beyond Territoriality: The Case Of Transnational Human Rights Litigation, Peer Zumbansen

Peer Zumbansen

Cases for civil damages that have been brought before Western courts by victims of torture and persecution against states officials or corporations, challenge the principles of state sovereignty and jurisdictional competence. While national courts can in cases of serious crimes hear cases that grow out of acts committed in another country, the same is not true for cases for civil compensation. A persisting and rising number of private law cases that attempts to empower disenfranchised victims of crime and abuse, points to the necessity of reconsidering the prevailing procedural and substantial obstacles that govern the so-far unsuccessful civil law suits. …


Sovereignty, Identity, And The Apparatus Of Death, Tawia Baidoe Ansah Feb 2016

Sovereignty, Identity, And The Apparatus Of Death, Tawia Baidoe Ansah

Tawia B. Ansah

Ten years after the genocide in Rwanda, the government issued broad new laws outlawing the use of ethnic categories, with a view to uniting all Rwandans under a single Rwandan identity. This self-erasure of ethnic identity is deployed primarily within the borders of the state, to enable reconciliation after the genocide in 1994. Outside the borders, the state deploys ethnic identity as one of the rationales for its cross-border wars (in the Democratic Republic of Congo).


The Concept Of Sovereign Equality Of States In International Law, Alex Ansong Dec 2015

The Concept Of Sovereign Equality Of States In International Law, Alex Ansong

Alex Ansong

The notion that the existence of a State must not be based on, inter alia, the military or economic power it wields to assure its existence and prevent interference from other states, has evolved over the centuries and has become a foundational provision in the United Nations Charter. States are deemed equal just by their status as states under international law. Sovereign equality is therefore juridical in nature in that, all states are equal under international law in spite of asymmetries of inequality in areas like military power, geographical and population size, levels of industrialisation and economic development. Transposing this …


A Case Ill Suited For Judgment: Constructing 'A Sovereign Access To The Sea' In The Atacama Desert, Christopher Rossi Nov 2015

A Case Ill Suited For Judgment: Constructing 'A Sovereign Access To The Sea' In The Atacama Desert, Christopher Rossi

christopher robert rossi

Abstract: In 2015, the International Court of Justice ruled that Bolivia’s claim against Chile could proceed to the merit stage, setting up this Article’s discussion of perhaps the most intractable border dispute in South American history – Bolivia’s attempt to reclaim from Chile a ‘sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean’. This Article investigates the international law and deeply commingled regional history pertaining to the Atacama Desert region, the hyperarid yet resource-rich region through which Bolivia seeks to secure its long-lost access to the sea. Investigating the factual circumstances (effectivités), the post-colonial international legal principle of uti possidetis …


The Changing Character Of Sovereignty In International Law And International Relations, Winston P. Nagan, Craig Hammer Aug 2015

The Changing Character Of Sovereignty In International Law And International Relations, Winston P. Nagan, Craig Hammer

Winston P Nagan

This Article makes observations on the concept of sovereignty; we suggest that the concept be studied using the contextual mapping method articulated by the New Haven School of jurisprudence. We observe tension in applying the concept to developing and developed states, and explore the possibility that sovereignty can be abused. We propose state typologies to explore the concept further and to scrutinize the accommodations of authority and control.


Globalized Citizenship: Sovereignty, Security And Soul, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol Aug 2015

Globalized Citizenship: Sovereignty, Security And Soul, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

Human rights law has redefined the concepts of sovereignty and citizenship. Just as transnationalization has weakened the hegemony of the political elites (corporate economic elites and domestic ruling classes) by strengthening citizenship claims of all persons, so, too, a globalized citizenship grounded on a human rights model will strengthen personhood by denationalizing states' claims on individuals' rights. The human rights narrative has been imagined, crafted and delivered by Northern/Western powers--the hegemon--however, for the human rights model to be of utility to the globalized citizen project, it must be reconstituted with an antisubordination agenda. It must include the voices of the …


Succession By Estoppel: Hong Kong's Succession To The Iccpr, Peter K. Yu Jul 2015

Succession By Estoppel: Hong Kong's Succession To The Iccpr, Peter K. Yu

Peter K. Yu

No abstract provided.


Globalization And Structure, Julian Ku, John Yoo May 2015

Globalization And Structure, Julian Ku, John Yoo

John C Yoo

No abstract provided.


Redefining Sovereignty: The Use Of Force After The Cold War, Mary Ellen O'Connell, Michael Bothe, Natalino Ronzitti Apr 2015

Redefining Sovereignty: The Use Of Force After The Cold War, Mary Ellen O'Connell, Michael Bothe, Natalino Ronzitti

Mary Ellen O'Connell

The use of force and the regulation of armed conflict in the 21st century raises new and challenging questions in international law and policy. This timely study brings together leading scholars -- including ethicists, political scientists and international lawyers -- to address the use of force, beginning with NATO's 1999 intervention in Kosovo up to the US-led invasion of Iraq. In some important respects, the legal regime for force regulation -- in place since the adoption of the UN Charter in 1945 -- provides a normative restraint on international relations, but is it wholly relevant and effective with regard to …


Could The Rwandan And Darfur (Sudan) Genocides Have Been Prevented By The International Community? A Postmortem, Ifem E. Orji Feb 2015

Could The Rwandan And Darfur (Sudan) Genocides Have Been Prevented By The International Community? A Postmortem, Ifem E. Orji

Ifem E Orji

The international law principles of sovereignty and territorial jurisdiction of states preclude external interference in a state’s domestic affairs. Shaped by the old agreements among European states in the Treaties of Westphalia in 1648, and copied and modernized in the Charters of the United Nations and many regional organizations, non-interference, in practice, has not worked in many instances. The great powers have always chosen when to, or not to, interfere. As case studies, this article chronicles the events in the Rwandan and Darfur genocides, and concludes that the international community, particularly the super powers of the UN Security Council, seized …


The European Constitution And Its Implications For China, Xingzhong Yu Jan 2015

The European Constitution And Its Implications For China, Xingzhong Yu

Xingzhong Yu

The European Constitution is significant not only for the European Union, but also for a developing constitutional system like that of China. The EU constitutional practice may have positive implications on China's constitutional theory and practice. In the wake of the European constitutional achievement, Chinese constitutional scholars need to re-examine their long-held conviction in the indispensable role of the state in constitutional formation and imagination. The EU experience may have provided China with valuable insights and ways to deal with its inherited ethnic problems and improve its institutions on regional autonomy for ethnic minorities. China's own constitutional experiment in Hong …


Political Community In Carl Schmitt's International Legal Thinking, Markus Gunneflo Dec 2014

Political Community In Carl Schmitt's International Legal Thinking, Markus Gunneflo

Markus Gunneflo

A distinctive feature of Carl Schmitt’s legal thinking is the pivotal role that he grants political community. Against the background of Schmitt’s particular conception of political community and the importance placed on its protection in a domestic law setting; this text highlights the imperative role of political community in Schmitt’s thinking on questions of international law. By consistently relating Schmitt’s work on international law to his own time but also stretching it into our own, the text argues that while Schmitt’s insistence on political community may come across as parochial in present times of globalization, increasing traction of various universalisms …


Cultural Conflicts, Annelise Riles Dec 2014

Cultural Conflicts, Annelise Riles

Annelise Riles

Riles show how contemporary anthropological insights into the character of cultural difference and cultural fragmentation can reframe conflict-of-laws analysis in productive ways. Taking up the example of the treatment of Native American sovereignty in US courts, she argues that a theory of conflict of laws as a discipline devoted to addressing the problem of cultural conflict is more doctrinally illuminating than the mainstream view of conflict of laws as political conflict. Riles suggests that the general dissatisfaction with conflicts as a field in the United States, and its failure to live up to tits larger promise, may stem in part …


Pax Arabica?: Provisional Sovereignty And Intervention In The Arab Uprisings, Asli Bâli, Aziz Rana Dec 2014

Pax Arabica?: Provisional Sovereignty And Intervention In The Arab Uprisings, Asli Bâli, Aziz Rana

Aziz Rana

No abstract provided.


Who Is The "Sovereign" In Sovereign Debt?: Reinterpreting A Rule-Of-Law Framework From The Early Twentieth Century, Odette Lienau Dec 2014

Who Is The "Sovereign" In Sovereign Debt?: Reinterpreting A Rule-Of-Law Framework From The Early Twentieth Century, Odette Lienau

Odette Lienau

Combining legal interpretation with political science analysis, this Article highlights the competing "statist" and "popular" conceptions of sovereignty at stake in sovereign debt issues. It argues that these two dominant approaches do not exhaust the offerings of intellectual history and considers an alternative approach that emerged in the early twentieth century and may be of relevance again today. The Article contends that U.S. Chief Justice Taft's foundational 1923 "Tinoco" decision, which grounds the current approach to sovereign governmental recognition, has been misinterpreted to support a purely statist or absolutist conception of sovereignty. It argues that a proper interpretation presents an …


The Problem Of Sovereignty, International Law, And Intellectual Conscience, Richard L. Lara Jul 2014

The Problem Of Sovereignty, International Law, And Intellectual Conscience, Richard L. Lara

Richard Louis Lara

The concept of sovereignty is a recurring and controversial theme in international law, and it has a long history in western philosophy. The traditionally favored concept of sovereignty proves problematic in the context of international law. International law’s own claims to sovereignty, which are premised on traditional concept of sovereignty, undermine individual nations’ claims to sovereignty. These problems are attributable to deep-seated flaws in the traditional concept of sovereignty. A viable alternative concept of sovereignty can be derived from key concepts in Friedrich Nietzsche’s views on human reason and epistemology. The essay begins by considering the problem of sovereignty from …


Sovereignty And Cooperation In Regional Pacific Tuna Fisheries Management: Politics, Economics, Conservation And The Vessel Day Scheme, Quentin A. Hanich, Hannah Parris, Ben M. Tsamenyi Apr 2014

Sovereignty And Cooperation In Regional Pacific Tuna Fisheries Management: Politics, Economics, Conservation And The Vessel Day Scheme, Quentin A. Hanich, Hannah Parris, Ben M. Tsamenyi

Quentin Hanich

No abstract provided.


Fisheries Jurisdiction Under The Law Of The Sea Convention: Rights And Obligations In Maritime Zones Under The Sovereignty Of Coastal States, Martin Tsamenyi, Quentin Hanich Apr 2014

Fisheries Jurisdiction Under The Law Of The Sea Convention: Rights And Obligations In Maritime Zones Under The Sovereignty Of Coastal States, Martin Tsamenyi, Quentin Hanich

Quentin Hanich

International fisheries governance contains no specific provisions detailing States' rights and obligations in respect of fisheries in maritime zones classified as falling under the sovereignty of coastal States, namely: internal waters, archipelagic waters and territorial seas. Using a case-study of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, this article demonstrates that there is still a gap in international fisheries governance relating to fisheries in 'waters under sovereignty' which requires remedying, and concludes by providing some possible management options to fill the gap.


The Catholic Church, Human Rights, And Democracy: Convergence And Conflict With The Modern State, Paolo G. Carozza, Daniel Philpott Feb 2014

The Catholic Church, Human Rights, And Democracy: Convergence And Conflict With The Modern State, Paolo G. Carozza, Daniel Philpott

Paolo G. Carozza

This book chapter traces the history of the Catholic Church's relationship to the modern state, focusing on the idea of sovereignty and the development of human rights and democracy. It argues that the Catholic Church's relationship to human rights and democracy in the modern world can only be understood as reflective of both a historical convergence and a persistent tension and ambivalence. The first part argues for this dual theme in the development of Catholic doctrine, where today, as over the past several centuries, the Church's conception of the common good yields both an embrace of human rights and democracy …


Radbruch On The Origins Of The Criminal Law: Punitive Interventions Before Sovereignty, Mireille Hildebrandt Jan 2014

Radbruch On The Origins Of The Criminal Law: Punitive Interventions Before Sovereignty, Mireille Hildebrandt

Mireille Hildebrandt

This chapter is dedicated to Radbruch’s seminal text on ‘The origin of criminal law in the class of serfs’. It contains a number of counter intuitive insights on the relationship between public punishment and private revenge, derived from the domains of legal history and anthropological research in non-state societies. Radbruch’s aim was not to provide a historiography of punitive interventions in tribal Germanic society, but to remind his readers of the constitutive importance of sovereignty for the emergence of criminal law. This relates to Radbruch’s concern for legal certainty, and explains his inquiries into the continuity and discontinuities between the …


The Life And Times Of Targeted Killing, Markus Gunneflo Dec 2013

The Life And Times Of Targeted Killing, Markus Gunneflo

Markus Gunneflo

Against the background of the ongoing shift in the perception of the legality and legitimacy of extraterritorial lethal force in counterterrorism, my doctoral thesis analyses the emergence of so-called “targeted killing” in the history of Israel and the US, as well as in international law. It finds that the relationship between targeted killing and law, particularly international law, is not a straightforward case of more or less determinate and legally binding norms being applied to state measures adopted in situations of insecurity (in this case, those of the second Intifada and 9/11) but rather one of a much longer and …