Law Commons^™

The Natural Law Basis Of Legal Obligation: International Antitrust And Opec In Context, Joel B. Moore

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) stabilizes petroleum prices to promote the economic prosperity of its member nations for which oil is a substantial export. Price stabilization influences the price of petroleum around the world, impacting the economies of developed and developing countries. Under U.S. antitrust jurisprudence, the OPEC quota agreements that stabilize prices would likely be declared illegal, and other countries might also declare price fixing to be illegal under their respective competition laws.

Several U.S. Senators have recently proposed that price fixing should be illegal under international law as well. This Note avoids a superficial analysis …

Professor Jonathan I. Charney: Commitment Underpinned By Conviction, James R. Mchenry, Iii

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

When I was asked to speak on behalf of the students regarding Professor Charney's contributions to the Law School, I did initially wonder how closely my relationship with him mirrored the experiences of other students. I worked for him for almost two years as a research assistant for the American Journal of International Law; I spoke with him frequently, either in person or via e-mail, about various international legal issues; and he advised me on both my student note for the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law and on my PhD dissertation. Thus, I knew the image that I had of …

Jonathan I. Charney--Mourning And Celebration, Louis Henkin

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Here, today, I wish to speak with you about Jon Charney, his good life, and his remarkable achievements. On this occasion I am pleased to add that I knew Jon Charney "professionally" before he began on the road to eminence. I was "present at the creation," as Jon Charney took his first steps toward becoming a world authority on the international Law of the Sea, and an eminent, prominent, lawyer and scholar in international law generally.

Jonny was still a law student when he spent a summer as my research assistant, when both of us learned that there was an …

Jonathan I. Charney: An Appreciation, W. Michael Reisman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Jonathan Charney was one of the leading international legal scholars of his generation. He was the authority on the Law of the Sea and his magisterial four-volume work on international maritime boundaries quickly became the "vade mecum" for anyone involved in virtually any aspect of the Law of the Sea. But Law of the Sea was only a part of his awesome oeuvre. He wrote authoritatively on the use of force and humanitarian intervention; self-determination; customary international law and, in particular, soft law; international environmental law, international tribunals and jurisdiction, technology, and constitutional law. All of his work was marked …

Nigeria's Crisis Of Corruption--Can The U.N. Global Programme Hope To Resolve This Dilemma?, Nicholas A. Goodling

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Transparency International consistently rates the levels of corruption in Nigeria among the highest in the world. Pervasive corruption appears to permeate many levels of Nigerian society. The current Nigerian government, however, has taken great steps to combat this problem through cooperation with the U.N. Global Programme.

This Note examines the structure and goals of the Global Programme and evaluates Nigeria's participation in the project. Part I provides a background analysis of corruption, the effects of corruption, and Nigeria's efforts to curb corruption. Part III analyzes the basic structure of the Programme, while Part IV outlines Nigeria's efforts pursuant to the …

Choice Of Law In Third-Millennium Arbitrations, Fabrizio Marrella

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

There is little doubt that third-millennium international arbitrators will face the flowering of a transnational rule such as the UNIDROIT Principles for international commercial contracts. They will be used to solve problems of characterization, preliminary questions, and choice of law to the merits of the dispute. In this sense, it appears clearly that these rules are to be construed under a triangular scheme. Thus, lex mercatoria and transnational rules like the UNIDROIT Principles will intervene more and more in the arbitral choice-of-law process in three competing contexts: (1) as a lex contractus; (2) as a means to interpret, supplement, or …

The Specificity Of International Arbitration: The Case For Faa Reform, William W. Park

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Arbitration by its nature is polycentric: one might more accurately speak of arbitrations in the plural. A wide variety of disputes are included in one category, implicating differences related to the sophistication of the parties, the character of the disputes, and the public interests at stake. The current legal framework for arbitration conducted in the United States attempts to squeeze all types of arbitration into the Procrustean bed of a single set of standards for judicial review.

The United States should seriously consider eliminating judicial discretion to review the substantive merits of awards in international cases. The domestically nourished doctrine …

American Judges And International Law, A. M. Weisburd

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This article addresses an issue with which federal courts have been forced to deal with increasing frequency: How ought a judge go about determining the content of customary international law? The article seeks to demonstrate, using the example of the treatment of the concept of "jus cogens" by the courts of appeals, that federal courts have come to rely on doubtful sources in addressing questions of international law. More specifically, it sets out to show that courts frequently do not rely on the actual practice of governments to determine the content of customary international law, which would seem to be …

An Appreciation Of Jonathan I. Charney, Lori F. Damrosch

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Jon Charney preceded me into the academic world by a dozen years and already had a well-established reputation in international law when I was a brand-new law teacher. At the time we met in 1984, Jon was tackling some of the most ambitious topics in the theory and practice of international law, and he reached out to others for collegial engagement on those subjects. From the mid-1980s, he and I worked together on three collaborative books and on many projects for the American Society of International Law and the American Journal of International Law.

Among the themes that preoccupied Jon …

An International "Truth Commission": Utilizing Restorative Justice As An Alternative To Retribution, Carrie J. Niebur Eisnaugle

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A restorative justice paradigm emphasizes healing relationships between offenders, their victims, and the community in which the offense took place. It rejects retribution as a response to crime, focusing instead on the needs of all parties involved. This Note discusses the necessity for, and possible benefits of, using restorative justice principles when responding to international crimes and conflicts. Prosecution, war, and other violent means remain the most common responses to crime and conflict today. Such retributive reactions often lead to further violence rather than healing and peace. Using restorative justice principles to address crime and conflict, as was done in …

The Return Of Timberlane?: The Fifth Circuit Signals A Return To Restrictive Notions Of Extraterritorial Antitrust, William J. Tuttle

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Over the past 100 years, the United States has remained ambivalent regarding the potential extraterritorial application of its antitrust laws. The executive, legislative, and judicial branches began with a doctrine of strict territoriality but promptly shifted toward an examination of the effects of the antitrust activity on U.S. commerce. Since the 1970s, the branches of government have refrained the question as one of statutory interpretation, embraced considerations of international comity, modified those considerations, and eventually rejected many of those same considerations.

Throughout this chaos, however, the results reached by the various branches of government have typically been consistent with the …

Remarks On Jonathan I. Charney, Jeffrey Schoenblum

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

I have been asked to speak for 10 to 15 minutes about a very dear friend and colleague of 25 years, Jon Charney, specifically about his contribution to Vanderbilt Law School. It is difficult to encapsulate any professor's contribution over the course of 30 years in mere minutes. This is especially difficult in Jon Charney's case, because in my opinion, Jon made an extraordinary, extensive, and enduring contribution that has earned him a place in the pantheon, among the giants in the history of this Law School.

This might seem an odd assertion to those who were acquainted with Jon. …

From Unwritten To Written: Transformation In The British Common-Law Constitution, David Jenkins

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article posits that the British Constitution is changing by incorporating written principles that restrain Parliament through judicial review. The Author asserts that this constitutional model has basis in the common law and the orthodox theories of Blackstone and Dicey. In addition, the "ultra vires" doctrine supports the model and provides a basis for judicial review of Parliament. As constitutions may accommodate written and unwritten elements of law, as well as various means of enforcement and change, the Author posits that constitutions are defined by how strongly they reflect underlying legal norms. With a shift in the rule of recognition …

Taking Stock Of Nafta Chapter 11 In Its Tenth Year, Jack J. Coe, Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into force on January 1, 1994. Its Eleventh Chapter establishes substantive guarantees and an arbitral mechanism by which qualifying investors may seek damages for breach of those guarantees. The much-discussed investor-state arbitration apparatus was first invoked in September 1996, and since then has been resorted to several times against each NAFTA state. Many cases have concluded, while others are nearing completion. Though a mature jurisprudence has by no means emerged, substantive trends have been established and several of Chapter l's distinctive features, strengths, and weaknesses have been illuminated.

NAFTA's investor-state docket has …

The Exercise Of Contract Freedom In The Making Of Arbitration Agreements, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The privatization and contractualization of arbitration, while they empower parties and unburden public institutions, should not eliminate completely the basis for the public regulation of the process. The string of "one-off' arbitrations, gathered together, has consequences upon the public interest in the orderly administration of adjudicative relations in both domestic and international law. The use of arbitration does have a bearing upon the substantive content of legal rights. Judicial vigilance should not only ward off the flagrant abuses of process and procedure in arbitration, but it should also establish an "interests of justice" limitation upon the operation of the process …

Nafta's Investment Chapter: Initial Thoughts About Second-Generation Rights, Charles H. Brower Ii

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In this Article Professor Brower argues that most observers of NAFTA's investment chapter have missed an important and surprising development: Although the treaty's text shares a philosophical affinity with civil and political rights, its application has revealed an astonishing level of support for economic and social rights (ESCRs) in North America. Professor Brower examines the practical implications of this development both for the presentation of claims in investor-state arbitration and for the better integration of ESCRs into the mainstream of international law.

The Professional Professor, Kent D. Syverud

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Welcome to the Vanderbilt Law School and to this happy occasion in which we reflect on the life and career of Jonathan Charney. I say this is a "happy" occasion deliberately. There have been two months and a lot of tears since Jonathan died, and I know for many people here including me the loss is still deeply felt in expected and unexpected ways. But we are celebrating today, and we should be happy as we reflect on the extraordinary career and accomplishments and life of Jonathan Charney.

Jonathan I. Charney: A Tribute, Richard B. Bilder

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

I first met Jonathan in 1967 when he was a student in my international law class at the University of Wisconsin Law School. It was only my second year of teaching--I had just come to Wisconsin after some years with the State Department's Office of Legal Adviser. But Jonathan was a generous and forgiving, as well as excellent, student and somehow we both got through the course. Anyway, Jonathan became, first, the student of whom I was most fond; then, as his career developed, the student of whom I was most proud; and, eventually, as the years passed and our …

The Culture Of Arbitration, Tom Ginsburg

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The relationship between "legal culture" and the practice of international arbitration has received increasing attention in recent years. Many see arbitration as a meeting point for different legal cultures, a place of convergence and interchange wherein practitioners from different backgrounds create new practices. Some have suggested that this process has led to an emergent "international arbitration culture" fusing together elements of the common law and civil law traditions. Others see arbitration as a locus of conflict among traditions or as competition among various players.

This comment contests the view that the current state of convergence in arbitration is properly considered …

Slings And Arrows Of Outrageous Fortune: The Deportation Of "Aggravated Felons", Valerie Neal

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Any foreign national who is convicted of an "aggravated felony," as that term is defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act, is subject to deportation from the United States. Deportation of so-called "aggravated felons" is in no way contingent upon the particular facts and circumstances in a given case. More troublingly, on the judiciary has no authority to review a deportation order based "aggravated felony" grounds. In the past decade, Congress has expanded the definition of "aggravated felony" to encompass many minor crimes that are neither aggravated nor felonious.

The deportation of foreign nationals on "aggravated felony" grounds is effectively …

Advancing U.S. Interests With The International Criminal Court, David J. Scheffer, Ambassador

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

It is a great pleasure to be here in this beautiful lecture hall at Vanderbilt University Law School and to have the opportunity to speak to you this afternoon about the International Criminal Court (ICC). In recent months, one newspaper or magazine article after another, in examining the foreign policy of the current administration and the gulf (which seems to be so pronounced now) between the United States and even its closest allies throughout the rest of the world, has listed a basic set of treaties as being partly explanatory of that gulf. The Kyoto Protocol, for example, is always …

Multilateral Management As A Fair Solution To The Spratly Disputes, Wei Cui

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Spratlys are a scattered group of islands in the South China Sea over which China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei have made conflicting jurisdictional claims. Although there has been significant academic discussion of this dispute, the Author argues that much of it is hampered by a discourse obsessed with the regional balance of power and security-related strategies that are only tenuously related to each nation's specific legal claims in the Spratlys. In this Article, the Author suggests that a more productive approach to the Spratly disputes is one focused on finding a solution that is "fair" to all …

How We Should Think About The Constitutional Status Of The Suspected Terrorist Detainees At Guantanamo Bay, Akash R. Desai

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, the United States has held suspected terrorist detainees captured during the military campaign in Afghanistan indefinitely at the United States military facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Among those currently detained are members of the al-Qaeda terrorist group and the Taliban. Currently the detainees are in the peculiar situation of generally being outside the scope of protections offered by both the international humanitarian law and the Unites States criminal law regimes.

This Note examines the extraterritorial scope of the United States Constitution as it applies to the suspected terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay. …