Law Commons^™

Two Myths About The Alien Tort Statute, Anthony J. Bellia, Bradford R. Clark

Journal Articles

In Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., the Supreme Court applied the presumption against extraterritorial application of U.S. law to hold that the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) did not encompass a claim between aliens for misconduct that occurred in another nation. Without much elaboration, the Court stated that the ATS only encompasses claims that “touch and concern the territory of the United States . . . with sufficient force to displace the presumption.” As it did in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, the Kiobel Court purported to rest its decision on the original public meaning of the ATS when enacted in 1789. …

The History Of International Adjudication, Mary O'Connell, Lenore Vanderzee

Book Chapters

This chapter on the history of international adjudication will show that courts and tribunals have been part of international law since the emergence of modern international law with the rise of the state system in the mid-seventeenth century. Courts and their role within international law have also been a persistent part of the theoretical debates about the nature of international law. From an early emphasis on arbitration, support grew for the creation of courts with general compulsory jurisdiction. By the late twentieth century, the theoretical trend shifted toward interest in courts with special subject matter jurisdiction, including human rights, trade, …

The Prohibition Of The Use Of Force, Mary O'Connell

Book Chapters

This chapter concerns the central international legal rule against violence: Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter. Article 2(4) generally prohibits the use of force by states. It is a treaty rule that is also widely regarded as a rule of customary international law and, indeed, in certain respects, as a peremptory rule or rule of jus cogens. Article 2(4) was adopted along with the rest of the Charter in 1945 after the catastrophe of the Second World War in which an estimated 60 million people died. Despite its relatively recent adoption, Article 2(4) has ancient roots, dating back …

Historical Development And Legal Basis, Mary O'Connell

Book Chapters

Although the subject of this Handbook is the law applicable to the conduct of hostilities that applies once a party has entered into armed conflict (the jus in bello), that law cannot be properly understood without some examination of the separate body of rules which determines when resort to armed force is permissible (the jus ad bellum). The jus ad bellum has ancient origins but current law is founded on Article 2(4) and Chapter VII of the UN Charter.

The Federal Reserve’S Use Of International Swap Lines, Colleen Baker

Journal Articles

This Article focuses on the U.S. Federal Reserve's controversial practice of loaning U.S. dollars to foreign central banks, which the foreign central banks then turn around and loan to institutions in their jurisdictions. The Federal Reserve does not know the identity of these recipient institutions. Nevertheless, these loans-termed "swap lines"-provide foreign financial institutions the type of financial stability that the U.S. Federal Reserve was created to provide for U.S. banks during times of crises. During the financial crisis, the U.S. Federal Reserve arranged swap lines with 14 foreign central banks for a total amount of $583 billion, making it the …

What Is Aggression?: Comparing The Jus Ad Bellum And The Icc Statute, Mary Ellen O'Connell, Mirakmal Niyazmatov

Journal Articles

Under the international law on resort to force, the jus ad bellum, any serious violation of the United Nations Charter prohibition on the use of force amounts to aggression. Despite a close connection for over a century between the prohibition on aggression by states and the crime of aggression for which individuals may be held accountable, delegates to the 2010 International Criminal Court Review Conference in Kampala, Uganda felt compelled to bifurcate the two prohibitions and reach a compromise. Today, the ICC Statute contains a detailed provision on the crime of aggression, but with a byzantine procedure for entry into …

A Broken Windows Theory Of International Corruption, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

The Article re-conceptualizes corruption through the lens of the broken windows theory of community policing, focusing on the root consequences of corruption as well as its secondary effects.

Part II of the Article posits that corruption is a broken window that signals the breakdown of community controls necessary for the maintenance of social order. A government that abuses its power for private gain is a government that cannot be trusted to pursue the general welfare. Empirical evidence finds ample support for this claim, confirming that corruption negatively alters the public’s perception of government and society.

Part III of the Article …

Inclusionary Housing On A Global Basis, James J. Kelly Jr.

Journal Articles

This is a book review of Inclusionary Housing in International Perspective: Affordable Housing, Social Inclusion, and Land Value Recapture (2010, Nico Calavita and Alan Mallach, eds.). The book offers a comparative look at land-use based approaches to the creation of affordable housing in a broad range of developed countries. A little less than a sixth of the book is dedicated to the U.S., with special attention given to the development on inclusionary programs in California and New Jersey. The editors then devote a chapter each to Canada, England, Ireland, France, Spain and Italy. The penultimate chapter looks at inclusionary practices …

The Law Of Nations As Constitutional Law, Anthony J. Bellia, Bradford R. Clark

Journal Articles

Courts and scholars continue to debate the status of customary international law in U.S. courts, but have paid insufficient attention to the role that such law plays in interpreting and upholding several specific provisions of the Constitution. The modern position argues that courts should treat customary international law as federal common law. The revisionist position contends that customary international law applies only to the extent that positive federal or state law has adopted it. Neither approach adequately takes account of the Constitution’s allocation of powers to the federal political branches in Articles I and II or the effect of these …

Ngo Standing And Influence In Regional Human Rights Courts And Commissions, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

Journal Articles

This article explores the extent to which nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have standing to bring claims in the European, Inter-American, and African human rights enforcement systems, examines the degree to which NGOs in fact bring such cases, and analyzes the ramifications of NGO involvement in these systems. Part I of this article considers how NGOs can be involved in the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. As detailed in this part, while …

Apportioning Responsibility Among Joint Tortfeasors For International Law Violations, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

With the new wave of claims against corporations for human rights violations – particularly in the context of aiding and abetting government abuse – there are unusually difficult problems of joint tortfeasor liability. In many circumstances, one tortfeasor – the corporation – is a deep-pocketed defendant, easily subject to suit, but only marginally involved in the unlawful conduct. Another tortfeasor – the sovereign – is a central player in the unlawful conduct, but, with limited exceptions, is immune from suit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. A third tortfeasor – the low-level security personnel – accused of actually committing the …

The Alien Tort Statute And The Law Of Nations, Bradford R. Clark, Anthony J. Bellia

Journal Articles

Courts and scholars have struggled to identify the original meaning of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). As enacted in 1789, the ATS provided "[t]hat the district courts...shall...have cognizance...of all causes where an alien sues for tort only in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." The statute was rarely invoked for almost two centuries. In the 1980s, lower federal courts began reading the statute expansively to allow foreign citizens to sue other foreign citizens for all violations of modern customary international law that occurred outside the United States. In 2004, the Supreme Court took …

The Self-Judging Wto Security Exception, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

This Article analyzes the WTO security exception, with a particular focus on State practice. In the absence of any GATT or WTO jurisprudence, State practice affords the best vehicle to understand the meaning of Article XXI. In the few instances when invocation of the security exception has been challenged, State practice suggests that the security exception is not judicially reviewable.

A critical question emerges from this analysis of State practice. If a Member State can avoid WTO obligations through a self-judging security exception, what is to prevent bad faith invocations? The WTO regime includes a number of devices to address …

The Role Of Physical Presence In The Taxation Of Cross-Border Personal Services, Michael Kirsch

Journal Articles

This Article addresses the role of physical presence in the taxation of cross-border personal services. For much of the last century, both U.S. internal law and bilateral treaties have used the service provider’s physical location as the touchstone for determining international taxing jurisdiction. Modern developments - in particular, the significant advances in global communication technology and the increasing mobility of individuals - raise important questions regarding the continued viability of this physical presence standard.

These modern developments have already facilitated the offshoring of numerous types of personal services, such as radiology, accounting, and legal services. As communication technology improves, the …

The Political Branches And The Law Of Nations, Bradford R. Clark, Anthony J. Bellia

Journal Articles

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the U.S. Supreme Court went out of its way to follow background rules of the law of nations, particularly the law of state-state relations. As we have recently argued, the Court followed the law of nations because adherence to such law preserved the constitutional prerogatives of the political branches to conduct foreign relations and decide momentous questions of war and peace. Although we focused primarily on the extent to which the Constitution obligated courts to follow the law of nations in the early republic, the explanation we offered rested on an important, …

Responses To The Ten Questions, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Journal Articles

The Journal of the National Security Forum (JNSF) Board of Editors posed ten questions on national security to a group of national-security law experts. Professor Mary Ellen O’Connell’s answers to the ten questions are presented.

An Appropriate Focus On War, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Journal Articles

This paper is part of book discussion featuring the 2009 Winner of the ASIL Certificate of Merit for Creative Scholarship--The Historical Foundations of World Order: The Tower and the Arena, by Douglas M. Johnston.

This panel was convened at 1:00 pm, Thursday, March 26, 2009 by its moderator, Devashish Krishan of Baker Botts LLP, who introduced the panelists:

• David Bederman, Emory University School of Law
• Tai-Heng Cheng, New York Law School
• John Crook, George Washington University Law School
• Mary Ellen O'Connell, University of Notre Dame Law School

The full issue of the proceedings is available via Oxford University Press

Bioethics And Self-Governance: The Lessons Of The Universal Declaration On Bioethics And Human Rights, O. Carter Snead

Journal Articles

The following article analyzes the process of conception, elaboration, and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Bioethics and Human Rights, and reflects on the lessons it might hold for public bioethics on the international level. The author was involved in the process at a variety of levels: he provided advice to the IBC on behalf of the President's Council of Bioethics; he served as the U.S. representative to UNESCO's Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee; and led the U.S. Delegation in the multilateral negotiation of Government experts that culminated in the adoption of the declaration in its final form. The author is currently …

The Federal Common Law Of Nations, Anthony J. Bellia, Bradford R. Clark

Journal Articles

Courts and scholars have vigorously debated the proper role of customary international law in American courts: To what extent should it be considered federal common law, state law, or general law? The debate has reached something of an impasse, in part because various positions rely on, but also are in tension with, historical practice and constitutional structure. This Article describes the role that the law of nations actually has played throughout American history. In keeping with the original constitutional design, federal courts for much of that history enforced certain rules respecting other nations' perfect rights (or close analogues) under the …

International Human Rights Law And Security Detention, Douglass Cassel

Journal Articles

This article analyzes the grounds, procedures, and conditions required by International Human Rights Law for preventive detention of suspected terrorists as threats to security. Such detention is generally permitted, provided it is based on grounds and procedures previously established by law; is not arbitrary, discriminatory, or disproportionate; is publicly registered and subject to fair and effective judicial review; and the detainee is not mistreated and is compensated for any unlawful detention. In Europe, however, preventive detention for security purposes is generally not permitted. If allowed at all, it is permitted only when a State in time of national emergency formally …

Honduras: Coup D’Etat In Constitutional Clothing?, Douglass Cassel

Journal Articles

Legal confusion has clouded the recent de facto change of government in Honduras. Some of this arises from the passionate political debate over President Manuel Zelaya and his de facto removal. Without entering that debate, this analysis addresses only questions of international law and related questions of law.

Despite the condemnation of the coup d’état by the United Nations, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the OAS, and by many governments including the United States, and despite suspension of Honduras from receipt of U.S. and European aid, and from participation in the OAS, diplomatic efforts to return President Zelaya …

Religious Liberties: The International Religious Freedom Act, Richard W. Garnett, Thomas F. Farr, T. Jeremy Gunn, William L. Saunders

Journal Articles

MR. SAUNDERS: Welcome to this panel, put on by the Religious Liberties Practice Group. Any of you who would like to join that Practice Group, you are cordially invited to do so. Welcome to the Federalist Society Annual Convention. My name is Bill Saunders. I am a Senior Fellow at the Family Research Council, and I am the Chairman of the Religious Liberties Practice Group at the Federalist Society.

Our aim today is: to talk about religious freedom, to talk about whether it should be an aspect of U.S. foreign policy, how best to make it so if you believe …

The Nobel Effect, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

For the first time in scholarly literature, this article traces the history of modern international law from the perspective of the constructivist theory of international relations. Constructivism is one of the leadings schools of thought in international relations today. This theory posits that state preferences emerge from social construction and that state interests are evolving rather than fixed. Constructivism further argues that international norms have a life cycle composed of three stages: norm emergence, norm acceptance (or "norm cascades"), and norm internalization. As such, constructivism treats international law as a dynamic process in which "norm entrepreneurs" interact with state actors …

Beyond Wealth: Stories Of Art, War, And Greed, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Journal Articles

The article tells three stories of great art and priceless antiquities: one about early Christian mosaics from Cyprus, another about five paintings by the Viennese master, Gustav Klimt, and the third about an ancient statute of a Sumerian king from Iraq. All three stories discuss the international law protecting cultural heritage in time of war and occupation. They all tell of individuals pursuing extraordinary profits from the sale of the objects despite the international law that, properly applied, should have protected them from damage and kept them all in places of public display.

The article also tells how in each …

Pretrial And Preventative Detention Of Suspected Terrorists: Options And Constraints Under International Law, Douglass Cassel

Journal Articles

This article analyzes the grounds, procedures and conditions required by International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law for pretrial detention of suspected terrorists for purposes of criminal law enforcement, and for their preventive detention for security and intelligence purposes. Recognizing the difficulties in securing sufficient admissible evidence to prosecute terrorists within the tight time limits imposed by international law, the Article nonetheless suggests that indefinite detention, solely or primarily for purposes of intelligence interrogation, is probably not lawful under U.S. or international law. Preventive detention for security purposes, on the other hand, is generally permitted by international law, provided …

The Nobel Effect: Nobel Peace Prize Laureates As International Norm Entrepreneurs, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

For the first time in scholarly literature, this article traces the history of modern international law from the perspective of the constructivist theory of international relations. Constructivism is one of the leadings schools of thought in international relations today. This theory posits that state preferences emerge from social construction and that state interests are evolving rather than fixed. Constructivism further argues that international norms have a life cycle composed of three stages: norm emergence, norm acceptance (or norm cascades), and norm internalization. As such, constructivism treats international law as a dynamic process in which norm entrepreneurs interact with state actors …

United States Opposition To The 1998 Rome Statute Establishing An International Criminal Court: Is The Court's Jurisdiction Truly Complementary To National Criminal Jurisdictions?, Jimmy Gurule

Journal Articles

Although the United States supports the creation of a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC), it opposes such a court as set forth in the 1998 Rome Statute because it leaves open the potential for United States military personnel and government officials to be prosecuted for unintended loss of civilian life. Can the United States formulate a legal argument to support its view that inadvertent civilian casualties should not be considered a war crime within the jurisdiction of the ICC? The article argues that it can because the ICC’s jurisdiction under the Rome Statute is not complementary to national prosecutions held …

Preserving The Peace: The Continuing Ban On War Between States, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Journal Articles

The history of international law is, in large part, about the development of restraints on states' right to resort to force in dealing with external conflicts. Today, states may use force only in self-defense to an armed attack or with Security Council authorization. Even in these cases, states may use force only as a last resort, and then only if doing so will not disproportionately harm civilians, their property, or the natural environment. These rules restricting force are found in treaties (especially the United Nations Charter), customary international law, and the general principles of international law. In other words, the …

The Ban On The Bomb – And Bombing: Iran, The U.S., And The International Law Of Self-Defense, Mary Ellen O'Connell, Maria Alevras-Chenl

Journal Articles

Since the March 2003, U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, rumors have persisted of a United States plan to attack Iran. Some U.S. officials are apparently willing to contemplate the use of military force to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Under international law, however, there is no right without Security Council authorization to use significant military force on the territory of another state to stop nuclear research. Knowing this, alternative arguments are being floated by those sympathetic to the plan to attack Iran. One such argument asserts that the U.S. could attack Iran on the basis of collective self-defense with Iraq …

Four Mistakes In The Debate On "Outsourcing Authority", Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

The purpose of this Article is to discuss common mistakes in the current debate on outsourcing authority. The first mistake in the debate on outsourcing authority is about the protagonists. To focus solely on the fact that some justices espouse this approach, while others do not, distorts the true picture of the rich debate that is ongoing at the bar, the bench, the academy, and beyond. Mistaking the voices in the debate will distort what is at issue in the discussion. The reality is much more complex. There is a groundswell of opposition to this trend from various corners and …