Law Commons^™

Two Countries In Crisis: Man Camps And The Nightmare Of Non-Indigenous Criminal Jurisdiction In The United States And Canada, Justin E. Brooks

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Thousands of Indigenous women and girls have gone missing or have been found murdered across the United States and Canada; these disappearances and killings are so frequent and widespread that they have become known as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Crisis (MMIW Crisis). Indigenous communities in both countries often lack the jurisdiction to prosecute violent crimes committed by non-Indigenous offenders against Indigenous victims on Indigenous land. Extractive industries—businesses that establish natural resource extraction projects—aggravate the problem by establishing temporary housing for large numbers of non-Indigenous, primarily male workers on or around Indigenous land (“man camps”). Violent crimes against Indigenous …

Preventing Foreign-Judgment Country Hopping With A New Transnational Recognition And Enforcement Standard, Ryan Everette

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Since the 1990s, a group of plaintiffs from Ecuador has been involved in litigation with what is presently the Chevron Corporation. During the lawsuit in Ecuador’s courts, the plaintiffs’ lawyers took part in deceptive activities that led to an unreliable judgment against Chevron and has resulted in civil liability for the lawyers and an inability to enforce the judgment against Chevron in the United States for the plaintiff class. Over the better part of the last decade, the plaintiffs’ lawyers have sought and failed to enforce the judgment in several countries outside of the United States, leading to a prolonging …

Who Owns A Joke? Copyright Law And Stand-Up Comedy, Scott Woodard

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Copyright laws are touted as the highest legal authorities by which artists can protect their works against all comers. However, when an artist's work fails to fit neatly into the statutory parameters needed to acquire copyright protection, that artist could receive no safeguards to ensure that their works will not be misappropriated by others.

This article undertakes a comparative analysis of two copyright regimes--from the United States and the United Kingdom--and measures their relative similarities and differences. From this comparison, this article explains how stand-up comedians, a group of artists who have traditionally believed their work was incapable of receiving …

Undemocratic Restraint, Fred O. Smith, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

For almost two hundred years, a basic tenet of American law has been that federal courts must generally exercise jurisdiction when they possess it. And yet, self-imposed prudential limits on judicial power have, at least until recently, roared on despite these pronouncements. The judicial branch's avowedly self-invented doctrines include some (though not all) aspects of standing, ripeness, abstention, and the political question doctrine. The Supreme Court recently, and unanimously, concluded that prudential limits are in severe tension with our system of representative democracy because they invite policy determinations from unelected judges. Even with these pronouncements, however, the Court has not …

Strange Bedfellows, Jeffrey Schoenblum

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

With the maximum rate of federal income tax at 39.6 percent, the Medicare surtax on investment income of 3.8 percent, and some state income tax rates exceeding 9 percent, taxpayers in the highest brackets have been seeking to develop strategies to lessen the tax burden. One strategy that has been receiving increased attention is the use of a highly specialized trust known as the NING, a Nevada incomplete gift nongrantor trust, which eliminates state income taxation of investment income altogether without generating additional federal income or transfer taxes. A major obstacle standing in the way of accomplishing this objective, however, …

Treating Juveniles Like Juveniles: Getting Rid Of Transfer And Expanded Adult Court Jurisdiction, Christopher Slobogin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The number of juveniles transferred to adult court has skyrocketed in the past two decades and has only recently begun to level off. This symposium article argues that, because it wastes resources, damages juveniles, and decreases public safety, transfer should be abolished. It also argues that the diminished culpability rationale that has had much-deserved success at eliminating the juvenile death penalty and mandatory life without parole for juveniles is not likely to have a major impact on the much more prevalent practices of transferring mid- and older-adolescents to adult court and expanding adult court jurisdiction to adolescents; neither the law …

Assessing The State Of State Constitutionalism, Jim Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

State constitutions are terribly important legal documents, but their interpretation is remarkably understudied (and, of course, highly undertheorized) in the academic literature. This review essay discusses Robert Williams’s welcome new book, The Law of American State Constitutions (Oxford University Press, 2009). After summarizing the content of Williams’s book, it discusses the normative significance of his work, focusing especially on his discussion of independent state constitutions and the positive theory of interpretation he advances. The essay concludes by highlighting some areas where the field of state constitutional law is in need of further advancement, including research that positions state constitutions within …

Reconsidering Reprisals, Michael A. Newton

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The prohibition on the use of reprisals is widely regarded as one of the most sacrosanct statements of the jus in bello applicable to the conduct of modern hostilities. The textual formulations are stark and subject to no derogations. Supporters of the bright line ban describe it as a vital bulwark against barbarity. In the words of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the prohibition is absolute, despite the fact that the declarations of key states indicate residual ambiguity over the scope of permissible reprisals, particularly in the context of non-international armed conflicts. Reprisals are a recurring feature of …

International Law's Mixed Heritage: A Common/Civil Law Jurisdiction, Colin B. Picker

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article provides the first application of the emerging mixed jurisdiction jurisprudence to a comparative analysis of international law. Such a comparative law analysis is important today as the growth and increasing vitality of international juridical, administrative and legislative institutions is placing demands on international law not previously experienced. International law is unsure where to look for help in coping with these new stresses. In significant part this isolation can be attributed to a general view among international law scholars that international law is sui generis, and hence there is little to be gained from national legal systems. This Article …

The Puzzle Of State Constitutions, Jim Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In a series of groundbreaking articles published over the past fifteen years, James Gardner has led the charge to make state constitutionalism a part of the constitutional law discussion more generally. His new book, Interpreting State Constitutions: A Jurisprudence of Function in a Federal System, steps beyond his study of specific issues in state constitutionalism to lay out an ambitious theory about how state constitutions should be interpreted based on their function within a federal system. Gardner's book is a significant scholarly effort to take state constitutions seriously, in a way that transcends any one jurisdiction or constitutional provision. Gardner's …

The Demise Of Hypothetical Jurisdiction In The Federal Courts, Scott C. Idleman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent years have witnessed a modest but expanding Supreme Court effort to return the national government to its structural first principles.' Foremost among these is that federal power, although vast, is neither inherent nor unbounded, but consists only of that granted by the Constitution. In 1998, the Court remained steadfast to this precept, thwarting yet another attempt by a federal branch to exceed its limited and enumerated constitutional powers. This time, however, the perpetrator was none other than the Article IH judiciary itself. In Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment, the Court formally denounced the federal court practice …

Extra-Statutory Discovery Requirements: Violating The Twin Purposes Of 28 U.S.C. Section 1782, Christopher W. Sanzone

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note analyzes Section 1782 of United States Code Chapter 28 and its role in the realm of international judicial assistance. The twin aims of Section 1782 are: (1) to provide efficient means of assistance to participants in foreign litigation, and (2) to encourage foreign countries by example to provide similar assistance to U.S. litigants in court. This Note posits that these goals are violated when a district court, considering a request for documents, imposes a threshold, extra-statutory requirement that the material requested be discoverable in the foreign jurisdiction where the litigation is pending.

After analyzing the legislative history of …

Professor Lowenfeld Responds, Andreas F. Lowenfeld

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Professor Silberman is as usual gracious in acknowledging my writings in various formats, and my efforts to restore conflict of laws to its place as a branch of international law, a place it has occupied in most of the world outside the United States, and occupied here as well in the view of Story and others who wrote before the balkanization of American law in the latter part of the nineteenth century. We have no disagreements on the value of the comparative method in teaching conflict of laws, civil procedure, or international litigation.

This brief response is addressed only to …

Judicial Jurisdiction In The Conflict Of Laws Course: Adding A Comparative Dimension, Linda J. Silberman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In this Article, Professor Silberman suggests that comparative law materials can usefully be introduced in the conflict of laws course. She proposes the subject of adjudicatory jurisdiction as a good place to start. She argues that a comparison of the U.S. approach with the English and European approaches (particularly under the Brussels Convention) is evidence of the desirability of a jurisdictional system grounded more on rules and/or discretion rather than on a constitutional standard of reasonableness. She takes issue with the contention of her colleague Professor Andreas Lowenfeld that "reasonableness" has been accepted as an international standard for the assertion …

Bringing Meaning To Interest Balancing In Transnational Litigation, Spencer W. Waller

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article contends that the current state of the debate over the balancing of interests in the extraterritorial application of United States law is outmoded and in need of serious reexamination. Most commentators and scholars continue to focus on the area of jurisdiction to prescribe, the acceptability of the effects test, and the development of lists of United States and foreign interests to be balanced by a United States court before exercising jurisdiction.

Professor Waller contends that this debate is no longer productive. Extraterritoriality, with some limitations for the interests of other states, is an accepted feature of United States …

Finding Harmony Amidst Disagreement Over Extradition, Jurisdiction, The Role Of Human Rights, And Issues Of Extraterritoriality Under International Criminal Law, Christopher L. Blakesley, Otto Lagodny

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines extradition and jurisdiction over extraterritorial crime, focusing on the relationship between jurisdiction and extradition in the broader context of human rights law. The authors challenge what they argue are chimerical, although strongly held beliefs in the incompatibility of European and United States criminal justice systems and extradition practices. They argue that cooperation in matters of international criminal law may be enhanced, while protection of human rights is promoted. The authors establish this possibility by breaking down the barriers to understanding that stem from the divergent European versus Anglo-American modes of analysis.

The Ker-Frisbie Doctrine: A Jurisdictional Weapon In The War On Drugs, Andrew B. Campbell

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note addresses the ongoing use of extra legal apprehension, as applied under "Ker v. Illinois" and "Frisbie v. Collins," as a viable alternative to extradition in obtaining custody over those accused of exporting drugs to the United States. The author outlines the cultural and political reasons for the production of illicit drugs, examines the purposes and structures of formal extradition treaties and their effectiveness in bringing drug traffickers to trial, and considers the alternatives to formal extradition. The author concludes that extralegal apprehension, in both of its two forms--abduction and irregular rendition--should remain an alternative means of securing custody …

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

MCCARRAN-WALTER ACT PROVISIONS ALLOWING FOR THE DEPORTATION OF ALIENS WHO ADVOCATE WORLD COMMUNISM VIOLATE THE FIRST AMENDMENT

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee v. Meese 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1327 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 26, 1989)

PHILIPPINE ACTION AGAINST FORMER PRESIDENT MARCOS NOT BARRED BY ACT OF STATE DOCTRINE AND INJUNCTION ALLOWED TO FREEZE ASSETS WORLDWIDE

Republic of the Philippines v. Marcos 862 F.2d 1355 (9th Cir. 1988) (en banc).

THE FOREIGN SOVEREIGN IMMUNITES ACT OF 1976 PROVIDES THE SOLE BASIS FOR OBTAINING JURSIDICTION OVER A FOREIGN STATE

Argentine Republic v. Amerada Hess Shipping Corp. 109 S. Ct. 683(1989).

ASLYUM APPLICANT WHO FAILS TO …

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Alien Tort Statute Grants Federal Court Subject Matter Jurisdiction Over Foreign Sovereign for Tort Committed in Clear Violation of International Law and Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act is not Exclusive Jurisdictional Grant Over Sovereign-- Amerada Hess Shipping Corp. v. Argentina Republic 830 F.2d 421 (2nd Cir. 1987)

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Picketing Outside Foreign Embassies is Protected Speech Under the First Amendment and Restrictions on this Speech Must Serve a Compelling Government Interest and be Narrowly Tailored to the Specific Situation--Boos v. Barry, 108S.Ct. 1157 (1988).

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Notions of Comity and the Act of State Doctrine Preclude U.S. Federal Courts from Exercising Jurisdiction over the Actions of Foreign Corporations when Those Actions Constitute a Violation of U.S. Antitrust Laws but are Protected by Legislation in a Foreign Country--O.N.E. Shipping Ltd. v. Flota Mercante Grancolombiana, S.A., 830 F.2d 449 (2d Cir.1987).

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Private Citizens Do Not Have a Cause of Action to Enforce Judgments of the International Court of Justice--Committee of United States Citizens in Nicaragua v. Reagan, 859 F.2d 929 (D.C. Cir. 1988)

The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act Precludes Domestic Court Jurisdiction Over a Cause of Action Arising Out of Airplane Crash in a Foreign Country When the Airplane Is Owned by an Instrumentality of the Foreign Government -Compania Mexicana de Aviacion v. U.S. Dist. Court, 859 F.2d 1354(9th Cir. 1988).

An Unrecognized Panamanian Regime Lacks Standing to Intervene in an Action Brought by the Recognized Panamanian Government to Enjoin the …

Jurisdiction By Necessity: Examining One Proposal For Unbarring The Doors Of Our Courts, Tracy L. Troutman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Although the usually proclaimed goals of the United States legal system are "fair play and justice," a person who is injured in some way, who feels that he has had his rights violated, or who seeks to enforce a business agreement, may not necessarily have a remedy in its judicial system. Often a court may claim it lacks power to hear a case because it does not have jurisdiction over the defendant or the subject matter of the suit. Another motive of a court for refusing to hear the case may be simply the necessity to clear its docket. One …

Peace And The World Court: A Comment On The Paramilitary Activities Case, Robert F. Turner

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

One of the most painful experiences of my government service occurred on January 18, 1985, when as Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs I was called on to sign letters informing Congress of the President's decision "not to participate further in the case brought by Nicaragua before the International Court of Justice." I felt deeply that the United States approach was mistaken--not so much on legal as on political grounds'--and in advocating my views I pushed strongly against the proper limits of legitimate dissent within the bureaucracy.

Having defended the Court against speculative criticism from lawyers …

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

GOOD FAITH EXCEPTION TO THE EXCLUSIONARY RULE EXTENDS TO FOREIGN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS WHERE UNITED STATES NARCOTICS AUTHORITIES REASONABLY RELIED ON FOREIGN LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS' REPRESENTATIONS THAT SEARCH COMPLIED WITH THE FOREIGN COUNTRY'S LAW--United States v. Peter-son, 812 F.2d 486 (9th Cir. 1987).

ASSETS OF A WHOLLY-OWNED FOREIGN INSTRUMENTALITY ARE NOT SUBJECT TO ATTACHMENT TO SATISFY JUDGMENT AGAINST A FOREIGN STATE UNLESS PLAINTIFF OVERCOMES PRESUMPTION OF INDEPENDENT STATUS--Hercaire Int'l, Inc. v. Argentina, 821 F.2d 559(11th Cir. 1987).

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT HAS SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION OVER MEXICAN CONSULAR OFFICIALS FOR THEIR ALLEGED ATTEMPTS TO SUPPRESS CRITICAL DEMONSTRATIONS OUTSIDE MEXICAN CONSULATE IN …

Sovereign Immunity In Perspective, Stefan A. Riesenfeld

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The doctrine of the immunity of foreign governments from the adjudicatory and enforcement jurisdiction of national courts is rooted in two bases of international law, the notion of sovereignty and the notion of the equality of sovereigns. There is no need to rehearse the historical growth of these foundations of the modern international community. Suffice it to say that E.D. Dickinson's celebrated study, The Equality of States in International Law, furnishes a detailed account of the evolution of these notions.

Although historically the recognition of the jurisdictional immunities of foreign states may have been intertwined with the recognition of the …

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Act of State Doctrine and Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act Do Not Necessarily insulate a Foreign Government from Civil Liability for the Assassination of a Person on United States Soil - Liu v. Republic of China, slip op. No. 85-7461 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 11, 1986)

Political Offense Exception does not Apply to Bar Extradition if Offenses are Committed Where no Uprising Exists--Quinn v. Robinson, 783 F.2d 776 (9th Cir. 1986).

United States Courts have no Authority to Enforce Foreign Judgments when the Request for Judicial Assistance is made via Letters Rogatory Filed Directly in the Court, In Re Civil Rogatory Letters …

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS AND MEMBERS OF CLERGY OF VARIOUS DENOMINATIONS LACK STANDING TO CHALLENGE ADOPTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH THE VATICAN

--Americans United for Separation of Church and State v. Reagan, 786 F.2d 194 (3d Cir.1986)

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EVEN THOUGH PROCEEDINGS IN THE FOREIGN FORUM MAY TAKE MORE TIME AND MAY YIELD A SMALLER RECOVERY THAN PROCEEDING IN THE UNITED STATES FORUM, THE FOREIGN FORUM MAY BE CONSIDERED AN ADEQUATE FORUM FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE FORRUM NON CONVENIENS DOCTRINE

--De Melo v. Lederle Laboratories, 801 F.2d 1058 (8th Cir. 1986)

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ASSERTION OF PERSONAL JURISDICTION IN CALIFORNIA OVER AN …

Book Note, Covey T. Oliver

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Students of international law in the United States have long desired a textbook to accompany the use of one or another of the "case-materials-problems" study books used in their courses. They do not yet have such a text,' but now they can find substantial degrees of security, guidance, and intellectual encouragement in a veritable gem of a Nutshell. Professors Buergenthal and Maier have written a remarkably accurate and insightful book on international law, almost as if they had engraved it on a small gold tablet. It is, as a work, outstanding in the West Publishing Company Nutshell series.

Jurisdiction Over Foreign Governments, Melissa L. Werthan, Nancie L. Combs, Jeffrey L. Deitch, Anita L. Fuoss

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Passage of the FSIA in 1976 codified the restrictive theory of sovereign immunity, which provides that a foreign state will re-main immune from suit for its public acts but will lose immunity for its private and commercial acts. By placing the determination of a foreign government's immunity in the hands of the judiciary, Congress attempted to standardize an area of the law that had been governed by political relations between the United States and foreign governments.

The FSIA is the exclusive mechanism through which private parties can seek redress against foreign governments in United States courts. The Act provides a …

Case Comment, Laura F. Howard

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

SCOPE OF REVIEW IN EXTRADITION PROCEEDINGS: The Government Cannot Appeal A Denial of Extradition Request Based on the Declaratory Judgment Act --United States v. Doherty, 786 F.2d 491 (2d Cir. 1986).

BANKRUPTCY--Section 304 Of The Bankruptcy Code Is Not An Exclusive Remedy In A Nonbankruptcy Court, Cunard Steamship Co.Ltd. v. Salen Reefer Serv. A.B., 773 F.2d 452 (2d Cir. 1985).