Law Commons^™

The Limits Of Custom In Constitutional And International Law, Michael D. Ramsey

San Diego Law Review

This Article does not contend that arguments for extension of custom are illegitimate. Instead, it makes two more limited claims. First, there is an important difference between arguments from pure custom and arguments for the extension of custom, with the latter being more properly called common law arguments. Second, the legitimacy of common law arguments in some fields, especially constitutional law and international law, is substantially more problematic than the legitimacy of arguments from pure custom. The Article develops as follows. Part II sets out in greater detail the proposed distinction between arguments from pure custom and arguments for extension …

Contextualizing Legitimacy, Kish Vinayagamoorthy

Kish Parella

The article discusses the effects of jurisprudential values on the responsibility to prevent and the relationship between the State sovereignty and the responsibility of the State to prevent its citizens from crime. It evaluates how international law can facilitate the implementation of the responsibility to prevent. It emphasizes that international lawyers and academics should consider the qualities that define law and distinguish legal norms and social norm from principles of society.

Rules Of Evidence For The Use Of Force In International Law's New Era, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Mary Ellen O'Connell

No abstract provided.

Lawful Self-Defense To Terrorism, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Mary Ellen O'Connell

No abstract provided.

Elihu Root And Crisis Prevention, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Mary Ellen O'Connell

No abstract provided.

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

Mary Ellen O'Connell

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 …

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

Mary Ellen O'Connell

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 …

The End Of Legitimacy, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Mary Ellen O'Connell

No abstract provided.

Regulating The Use Of Force In The 21st Century: The Continuing Importance Of State Autonomy, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Mary Ellen O'Connell

No abstract provided.

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

Mary Ellen O'Connell

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 …

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

Mary Ellen O'Connell

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 case …

Reviewing Charlotte Ku And Harold Jacobson (Eds.), Democratic Accountability And The Use Of Force In International Law, Russell A. Miller

Russell A. Miller

None available.

The World’S Youngest Political Prisoner, Richard Klein

Richard Daniel Klein

Every participant at an international human rights conference in June 1998 received a small pamphlet published by Tibetan supporters of Tibetan Buddhism's highest-ranking figure, the Dalai Lama. Entitled "The World's Youngest Political Prisoner," the pamphlet makes a plea for support for a young boy, now nine years old, who the Chinese government has allegedly kidnapped and detained. The Dalai Lama, who has been living in exile for forty years, claims the boy is the eleventh reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second holiest individual in Tibetan Buddhism. This battle over the identification of the reincarnation of a holy man is …

Global Patents: Limits Of Transnational Enforcement, Marketa Trimble

Boyd Briefs / Road Scholars

Professor Marketa Trimble presented these materials at the University of Macerata on November 6, 2013. The presentation discussed the increase in transnational patent litigation and what governments must do to protect patent owners in a globalized economy.

Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities - Testimony Of Timothy L. Meyer Before The U.S. Senate Committee On Foreign Relations, Timothy L. Meyer

Presentations and Speeches

Testimony of Timothy L. Meyers before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on November 5, 2013 concerning the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Us Intelligence Assets In Mexico Reportedly Tied To Murdered Dea Agent, Jimmy Gurule

Jimmy Gurule

Jimmy Gurule’ was quoted in the FoxNews story US intelligence assets in Mexico reportedly tied to murdered DEA agent By William La Jeunesse, Lee Ross "I think the American people, at least, owe him for the sacrifice that he made to ensure that the people that took his life, that subjected him to torture over a three day period of time are held accountable and brought to justice, says Jimmy Gurule’, the former Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles. "I'm deeply disappointed about a lot of things," Gurule’ told Fox News. "But we're talking about the release of the murderer …

Lessons From The Americas: Guidelines For International Response To Amnesties For Atrocities, Douglass Cassel

Douglass Cassel

Amnesty guidelines modeled on international law as defined by Latin American tribunals and treaties should be adopted and used by the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and national governments involved in remedying human rights violations. The 10 guidelines are stringent and would rarely result in the granting of amnesty. They may better serve their function than treaties or customary laws be cause they are guidelines and not mandatory.

Does International Human Rights Law Make A Difference?, Douglass Cassel

Douglass Cassel

No abstract provided.

Transcript: Advocacy Before Regional Human Rights Bodies: A Cross-Regional Agenda, Victor Abramovich, Charlotte De Broutelles, Santiago Canton, Paolo Carozza, Andrew Drzemczewski, Jonathan Fanton, Leonardo Franco, Felipe González, Claudio Grossman, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Bahame Tom-Mukirya Nyanduga, Diane Orentlicher, Fatsah Ouguergouz, Diego Rodriguez-Pinzón, Sergio Garcia Ramirez, Manuel Ventura Robles, Pablo Saavedra

Paolo G. Carozza

No abstract provided.

Subsidiarity As A Structural Principle Of International Human Rights Law, Paolo G. Carozza

Paolo G. Carozza

This article argues that the principle of subsidiarity should be recognized as a structural principle of international human rights law primarily because of the way that it mediates between the universalizing aspirations of human rights and the fact of the diversity of human communities in the world. The idea of subsidiarity is deeply consonant with the substantive vision of human dignity and the universal common good that is expressed through human rights norms. Yet, at the same time it promotes respect for pluralism by emphasizing the freedom of more local communities to realize their own ends for themselves. Looking at …

Liberty, Equality, Diversity: States, Cultures And International Law, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

This chapter explores how culture is addressed by contemporary international law, with particular reference to human rights law norms. The first part covering freedom focuses on the rise of the modern state and its conscious reimagining of ties with its citizens through the promotion of tolerance and a secular, national identity. The shift is explored through the prisms of the freedom of religion, the right to participate in (national) cultural life, and the limitations on freedom of expression including prohibition of hate speech and domestic blasphemy laws. The second part on equality centres on the relationship between the state, the …

Agenda: Free, Prior And Informed Consent: Pathways For A New Millennium, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law. American Indian Law Program

Free, Prior and Informed Consent: Pathways for a New Millennium (November 1)

Presented by the University of Colorado's American Indian Law Program and the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy & the Environment.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), along with treaties, instruments, and decisions of international law, recognizes that indigenous peoples have the right to give "free, prior, and informed consent" to legislation and development affecting their lands, natural resources, and other interests, and to receive remedies for losses of property taken without such consent. With approximately 150 nations, including the United States, endorsing the UNDRIP, this requirement gives rise to emerging standards, obligations, and opportunities …

Principles Of International Law For Multilateral Development Banks: The Obligation To Respect Human Rights, Robert T. Coulter, Leonardo A. Crippa, Emily Wann

Free, Prior and Informed Consent: Pathways for a New Millennium (November 1)

41 pages.

"January, 2009"

www.indianlaw.org

Lawyers And Precedent, Harlan G. Cohen

Scholarly Works

Despite common references to the “invisible college of international lawyers,” and the doctrinal role granted to “the most highly qualified publicists of the various nations,” the role of lawyers, as lawyers, in the creation, development, and maintenance of the international legal order remains oddly underexplored. This short essay, prepared as part of a symposium on “The Role of Non-State Actors in International Law,” explores the role of lawyers as independent actors within international law. It argues that focusing on lawyers can help provide insights into how international law develops — specifically here, how and why a practice of precedent seems …

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

Anthony J. Bellia

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 …

The Extradition Treaty Between Jamaica And The United States: Its History And The Saga Of Christopher “Dudus” Coke, Kenneth L. Lewis Jr.

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

Kiobel, Extraterritoriality, And The "Global War On Terrorism", Craig Martin

Craig Martin

For the purpose of exploring the issues of extraterritoriality raised in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., this project sought to examine how the federal courts have considered extraterritoriality in cases arising in the so-called “global war on terror” (GWOT). The inquiry leads to some new and arguably important observations about extraterritoriality in the GWOT policies and related jurisprudence. The plaintiffs in Kiobel claimed, under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), that the defendant corporations were liable for complicity in Nigeria’s conduct of indefinite detention, torture, and extrajudicial killing. The U.S. Supreme Court departed from the issue of corporate liability under …

Contextualizing Legitimacy, Kish Vinayagamoorthy

Scholarly Articles

The article discusses the effects of jurisprudential values on the responsibility to prevent and the relationship between the State sovereignty and the responsibility of the State to prevent its citizens from crime. It evaluates how international law can facilitate the implementation of the responsibility to prevent. It emphasizes that international lawyers and academics should consider the qualities that define law and distinguish legal norms and social norm from principles of society.

Jurisgenerative Constitutionalism: Procedural Principles For Managing Global Legal Pluralism, Paul Schiff Berman

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Global Legal Pluralism recognizes the inevitability (and sometimes even the desirability) of multiple legal and quasi-legal systems purporting to regulate the same act or actor. However, the resulting pluralism-just as inevitably-creates conflicts among norms that are potentially intractable. Thus, legal systems must address how best to respond to the realities of pluralism. This inquiry has constitutional dimensions because it goes to the constitutive character of communities and their relationships with other communities, be they international, transnational, national, subnational, or epistemic.

One response to pluralism is jurispathic: "kill off" all competing laws by declaring that one set of norms-and only one-shall …

Transnational Normative Orders: The Constitutionalism Of Intra- And Trans-Normative Law, Poul F. Kjaer

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

No weakening, but rather an expansion, of statehood can be observed in the contemporary world. This does not, on the other hand, imply that extensive forms of constitutional ordering do not exist outside the realm of states. Instead, the evolution of world society has been characterized by a protracted dual movement where the expansion and densification of statehood and autonomous forms of transnational ordering gradually emerged in a mutually constitutive fashion. One implication of this is that neither the concept of the state nor the concept of nonstate transnational entities is adequately capable of delineating the object of constitutional analysis. …