Law Commons^™

Seeking Protection From The Law? Exploring Changing Arguments For U.S. Domestic Violence Asylum Claims And Gendered Resistance By Courts , Richael Faithful

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

Pulling The Trigger: Separation Violence As A Basis For Refugee Protection For Battered Women, Marisa Cianciarulo, Claudia David

American University Law Review

For over a decade, women seeking asylum from persecution inflicted by their abusive husbands and partners have found little protection in the United States. During that time, domestic violence-based asylum cases have languished in limbo, been denied, or occasionally been granted in unpublished opinions that have not provided a much-needed adjudicative standard. The main case setting forth the pre-Obama approach to domestic violence-based asylum is rife with misunderstanding of the nature of domestic violence and minimization of the role that society plays in the proliferation of domestic violence. Fortunately, however, a recent Obama-administration legal brief indicates that women fleeing countries …

Emerging Global Environmental Governance, N. Brian Winchester

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Environmental thinking and activism are steadily gaining widespread, even global acceptance, but are often in conflict with economic interests and international politics. Environmental priorities are further challenged by scientific uncertainty involving effects that in some cases will only become manifest far into the future. Nonetheless, accompanying this global environmental awakening has been an extraordinary number of international agreements on a wide range of critical environmental issues. While many of these environmental regimes lack adequate financial support and sanctions for non-compliance, they involve a variety of non-state actors, suggesting meaningful movement towards an evolving, complex form of global environmental governance. Indeed, …

James Pattison On Waging Humanitarian War: The Ethics, Law, And Politics Of Humanitarian Intervention By Eric A. Heinze. Albany: Suny Press, 2009. 224pp., James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Waging Humanitarian War: The Ethics, Law, and Politics of Humanitarian Intervention by Eric A. Heinze. Albany: SUNY Press, 2009. 224pp.

A Symposium On Confronting Global Terrorism And American Neo-Conservatism: The Framework Of A Liberal Grand Strategy. By Tom Farer. Oxford, Uk: Oxford University Press, 2008., Richard Falk, Dino Kritsiotis, Paul Taylor, Tom Farer

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Confronting Global Terrorism and American Neo-Conservatism: The Framework of a Liberal Grand Strategy. By Tom Farer. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2008.

The City And International Law: In Pursuit Of Sustainable Development, Ileana Porras

Articles

No abstract provided.

Perspective: Technology Transfer And Human Rights: Joining Up The Dots, Stephen Humphreys

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The New Poor At Our Gates: Global Justice Implications For International Trade And Tax Law, Ilan Benshalom

Faculty Working Papers

The Article explains why international trade and tax arrangements should advance global wealth redistribution in a world of enhanced economic integration. Despite the indisputable importance of global poverty and inequality, contemporary political philosophy stagnates over the controversy of whether distributive justice obligations should extend beyond the political framework of the nation state. This stagnation results from the difficulty of reconciling liberal impartiality with notions of state sovereignty and accountability. The Article offers an alternative approach that bypasses the controversy of the current debate. It argues that international trade results in relational distributive duties when domestic parties engage in transactions with …

The European Court’S Political Power Across Time And Space, Karen Alter

Faculty Working Papers

This article extracts from Alter's larger body of work insights on how the political and social context shapes the ECJ's political power and influence. Part I considers how the political context facilitated the constitutionalization of the European legal system. Part II considers how the political context helps determine where and when the current ECJ influences European politics. Part III draws lessons from the ECJ's experience, speculating on how the European context in specific allowed the ECJ to become such an exceptional international court. Part IV lays out a research agenda to investigate the larger question of how social support shapes …

Originalism And The Difficulties Of History In Foreign Affairs, Eugene Kontorovich

Faculty Working Papers

This Article spotlights some of the idiosyncratic features of admiralty law at the time of the founding. These features pose challenges for applying the original understanding of the Constitution to contemporary questions of foreign relations. Federal admiralty courts were unusual creatures by Article III standards. They sat as international tribunals applying international and foreign law, freely hearing cases that implicated sensitive questions of foreign policy, and liberally exercising universal jurisdiction over disputes solely between foreigners. However, these powers did not arise out of the basic features of Article III, but rather from a felt need to opt into the preexisting …

International Responses To Territorial Conquest, Eugene Kontorovich

Faculty Working Papers

The prohibition on territorial conquest is a cornerstone of the international legal order. The United Nations Charter bans the use of force as a tool of international relations, even when used to rectify prior injustices. Thus territory taken by force has the status of ill-gotten gains, and cannot be kept by the victor. An important corollary is that third-party states cannot recognize the sovereignty of the conqueror or otherwise treat the acquisition as lawful.

Despite the Charter, nations sometimes acquire or try to acquire territory through force. This paper, part of the proceedings of the American Society of International Law's …

Third-Party Liability For Violations Of The Law Of Nations: Apply International Law, The Law Of The Situs, Or Domestic Standards, Erin Stapp

Santa Clara Law Review

No abstract provided.

Enforcing Human Rights In U.S. Courts And Abroad: The Alien Tort Statute And Other Approaches, John B. Bellinger, Iii

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

U.S. foreign policy--under every Administration--involves promoting respect for human rights around the world. Most of you probably know that the State Department spends a great deal of time and effort abroad, persuading foreign governments to change their human rights behavior and administering programs to advance the cause of human rights. What many of you may not be aware of, though, is that we are now quite frequently occupied "domestically" with suits by foreign plaintiffs in U.S. courts--often arising from conduct that occurred in other countries and has no significant connection to the U.S., that may not be consistent with our …

Avoid Or Compensate? Liability For Incidental Injury To Civilians Inflicted During Armed Conflict, Yael Ronen

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Under international law, civilians suffering injuries that are incidental to a lawful attack on a military objective are left to bear the cost of their losses. In recent years there have been calls for a change in policy that would entitle victims of military attacks to compensation, even if their losses are incidental and non-fault-based. This Article explores the notion of such a quasi-strict liability rule, which is likely to disrupt the existing balance of powers and interests under the laws of armed conflict. Following an exploration of the conceptual basis for such an obligation, the Article examines the effect …

The Crisis Of International Law, Rafael Domingo

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article delves into the reasons for the current crisis in the traditional international law system, considering how the system developed through the centuries in order to respond to the needs and circumstances of past historical epochs, as well as how the system is no longer capable of meeting the unique developments and needs of life in the Third Millennium. The Article considers the fundamental problems of a state-based system of international law that--rather than focusing on the prime actor and focus of the law, the human person, and his inherent dignity--concentrates on and gives enormous power to the artificial …

The Kosovo Crisis: A Dostoievskian Dialogue On International Law, Statecraft, And Soulcraft, Antonio F. Perez, Robert J. Delahunty

Scholarly Articles

The secession of Kosovo from Serbia in February 2008 represents a stage in the unfolding of a revolution of "constitutional" dimensions in International Law that began with NATO's 1999 intervention in Kosovo against Serbia. NATO's intervention called into question the authority and viability of U.N. Charter system for maintaining international peace. Likewise, the West's decision in 2008 to support Kosovo's secession from Serbia dealt a further blow to the central post-War legal rules and institutions for controlling and mitigating Great power rivalry. Russia's later support for South Ossetia's secession from Georgia demonstrated the potential that the Kosovo precedent has for …

Combating Incitement To Terrorism On The Internet: Comparative Approaches In The United States And United Kingdom And The Need For An International Solution, Elizabeth M. Renieris

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

In recent years, terrorist use of the Internet has been gaining in popularity, with more than several thousand radical or extremist websites in existence today. Because the Internet transcends physical and geographic boundaries, combating terrorist incitement on the Internet requires cross-border global cooperation. Although the international community has taken steps to combat the problem with United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1373 and 1624, the state parties to these resolutions have been unable to close the significant holes in the current international legal framework, and there is little evidence that terrorist use of the Internet for purposes of incitement is being …

Marten Zwanenburg On International Peacekeeping Edited By Boris Kondoch. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007. 578pp., Marten Zwanenburg

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

International Peacekeeping edited by Boris Kondoch. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007. 578pp.

David P. Forsythe On John Charvet And Elisa Kaczynska-Nay. The Liberal Project And Human Rights: The Theory And Practice Of A New World Order. New York, Ny: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 446pp., David P. Forsythe

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

John Charvet and Elisa Kaczynska-Nay. The Liberal Project and Human Rights: The Theory and Practice of a New World Order. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 446pp.

International Law And Human Trafficking, Lindsey King

Human Rights & Human Welfare

International law is a powerful conduit for combating human trafficking. The most reputable and recent instruments of international law that have set the course for how to define, prevent, and prosecute human trafficking are the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its two related protocols: the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, and the United Nations Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air, which entered into force in 2003-2004. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) created these conventions, which have supported international …

Considering The Margins: Developing A Broader Understanding Of Vulnerability To Trafficking, Christopher Anderson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Efforts aimed at combating human trafficking should be directed at protecting those most vulnerable to being trafficked. There have been substantial efforts to create national and international laws punishing the act of trafficking, directed at those individuals caught trafficking people. While these laws create means by which to punish traffickers, they have not necessarily led to a reduction in the estimated numbers of trafficked people. This implies that simply approaching trafficking as a criminal activity is not enough. Instead, trafficking should be understood by the systemic factors that make populations vulnerable to trafficking. There may always be potential markets for …

Treaties As "Part Of Our Law", Ernest A. Young

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

International Law: Practical Authority, Global Justice, John Linarelli

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Hearts And Minds And Laws: Legal Compliance And Diplomatic Persuasion, Christopher J. Borgen

Faculty Publications

This Essay considers the role of international legal argument in the war on terror and, in particular, in the attempts to justify the use of military force. Part I looks at challenges posed by the evolution of military conflict and how this affects diplomacy. In particular, I argue that a reputation for honoring one's treaty commitments and for legality, more generally, is an important part of fostering cooperation and undercutting the support of our adversaries. Part II focuses on how the Bush Administration moved between hostility to international law and attempts to rewrite the rules of international law concerning the …

The Language Of Law And The Practice Of Politics: Great Powers, Small States, And The Rhetoric Of Self-Determination In The Cases Of Kosovo And South Ossetia, Christopher J. Borgen

Faculty Publications

If international law is all but irrelevant to international relations why do states spend so much time and effort justifying their actions under international law? The immediate reaction by many is to dismiss this as "cheap talk," a rhetorical fig leaf or simple bluster of little consequence. This Article aims to debunk the notion that the rhetoric surrounding international law is of little consequence. Rather than mere cheap talk, the rhetoric of international law is at times used by great powers (and other states) in an attempt to gain tactical, if not strategic, advantages.

This Article seeks to elucidate what …

Breaking The Genuine Link: The Contemporary International Legal Regulation Of Nationality, Robert D. Sloane

Faculty Scholarship

The concept of nationality traditionally mediated the relationship between the individual and the state in a bygone era in which international law regarded only the latter as a genuine subject of the law; today, its international legal functions have expanded. Yet, as in the past, it remains unclear whether and how international law limits the otherwise almost plenary competence of states to confer their nationality by their internal laws in a way entitled to international recognition. After the International Court of Justice's ("ICJ") 1955 judgment in Nottebohm, however, lawyers began to express this limit with a kind of doctrinal mantra: …

Sanctions, Countermeasures, And The Iranian Nuclear Issue, N. J. Calamita

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The international community's response to Iran's nuclear development program highlights the sometimes complex legal relationship between the UN system of collective security and the rights of states to take unilateral countermeasures under the law of state responsibility. It also raises a number of important questions about (a) the discretion afforded to states in the interpretation and implementation of Security Council resolutions, (b) the availability of countermeasures for the violation of multilateral obligations, and (c) the exclusivity of the Chapter VII framework for collective security.

This Article argues that, while the Security Council's Iran sanctions resolutions do not grant discretionary authority …

The Kosovar Declaration Of Independence: "Botching The Balkans" Or Respecting International Law?, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This Article will examine in Part II the historic and political relationship between Kosovo and Serbia. This Article will, in Part III, focus on the international legal issues at stake, including state secession, statehood, and state recognition. Part IV will then apply the theories of secession, statehood, and state recognition to the Kosovar situation. Part V will discuss, and debunk, the relevant legal theories purporting to justify the Kosovar independence. Part V will also discuss some important political and legal issues that plague Kosovo in its near future as a new state. Finally, Part VI will conclude that other solutions …

American Law And Transnational Corruption: Is There A Need For Lincoln’S Law Abroad?, Paul D. Carrington

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The International Criminal Court And The Prevention Of Atrocities: Predicting The Court's Impact, James F. Alexander

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.