Law Commons^™

The Interwoven Destinies Of The United States, Colombia And Panama: On Friendship, Commerce And Navigation Treaties And International Legal Imperialism, Marco Velásquez-Ruiz

Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

Based on the general contention that International Law can (and has) served imperialist purposes – that is to say, extend a nation’s authority over another by establishing an effective influence on its political and economic affairs –, this paper intends to illustrate how the 1846 Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Treaty concluded between the United States and Colombia – commonly known as the Mallarino-Bidlack Treaty –was eventually used by the former as a neocolonial device on the latter. Essentially, the suggested tale on which this paper is built goes as follows: to a great extent, the United States consolidated its global …

Equity Crowdfunding: All Regulated But Not Equal, Garry A. Gabison

Garry A. Gabison

This paper describes how different countries have approached equity crowdfunding. This paper focuses on countries or regulatory authorities that either expressed their awareness of the phenomenon but decided to adopt a holding pattern (monitoring and investigating) or that decided to adopt new laws and regulations. Countries like Australia have opted to reaffirm how their current set of regulations applies to crowdfunding whereas others like the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom, and France have elected to create new exemptions in an effort to facilitate equity crowdfunding. This paper compares how each country decided to regulate the different participants in the …

Industrial Hemp: Canada Exports, United States Imports, Courtney N. Moran Ll.M.

Courtney N. Moran LL.M.

Industrial hemp, a non-psychoactive variety of Cannabis sativa L., (C. sativa) is the greatest renewable resource available to mankind. Industrial hemp is an environmentally friendly crop that does not require herbicides or pesticides and can clean up toxins in soil. Manufacturers can produce hemp into over 25,000 products.

More than 30 industrialized nations, including Canada, cultivate industrial hemp for commercial purposes. Despite the fact that industrial hemp is a viable agricultural commodity, in the United States hemp is classified as marihuana, a Schedule I controlled substance, under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Therefore, it is illegal under U.S. federal law …

More Market-Oriented Than U.S. And More Socialist Than China: A Comparative Public Property Story Of Singapore, Jianlin Chen, Jiongzhe Cui

Jianlin Chen

Compared to the more illustrious conceptualization of private property, the conceptualiza-tion of public property remains at a surprisingly infantile stage. The very definition of public property is ambiguous. This article utilizes a comparative case study of traffic congestion policies in the United States, China, and Singapore to highlight the conceptual pitfalls posed by the current confusion on public property. This article proposes a refined public property framework that offers greater conceptual clarity on the real issues at stake. In particular, this article argues that “property” in public property should include regulatory permits while “public” in public property should not be …

An Overview Of The Fannie And Freddie Conservatorship Litigation, David J. Reiss

David J Reiss

The fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are subject to the vagaries of politics, regulation, public opinion, the economy, and not least of all the numerous cases that have been filed in 2013 against various government entities arising from the placement of the two companies into conservatorship. This short article will provide an overview of the last of these. The litigation surrounding Fannie and Freddie’s conservatorship raises all sorts of issues about the federal government’s involvement in housing finance. These issues are worth setting forth as the proper role of these two companies in the housing finance system is …

Why Does Executive Greed Prevail In The United States And Canada But Not In Japan? The Pattern Of Low Ceo Pay And High Worker Welfare In Japanese Corporations, Alberto R. Salazar V.

Alberto R. Salazar V.

According to a list of the 200 most highly-paid chief executives at the largest U.S. public companies in 2013, Oracle’s Lawrence J. Ellison remained the best paid CEO and earned $96.2 million as total annual compensation last year. He has received $1.8 billion over the past 20 years. The lowest paid on the same list is General Motors’ D. F. Akerson who earned $11.1 million. The average national pay for a non-supervisory US worker was $51,200 last year and a CEO made 354 times more than an average worker in 2012. Hunter Harrison, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., was the best …

A Comparative Study On Human Embryonic Stem Cell's Patent-Eligibility In The United States, The European Patent Organization And China, Huan Zhu

Huan Zhu

Since human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have entered the public’s view, a large number of ethical debates and moral concerns have been generated. However, these concerns have not stifled advances in biotechnology regarding hESCs. Thanks to its scientific potential and therapeutic values, scientists from all over the world contribute both funding and time to investigate hESCs and additionally seek protection for their research inventions and methods. The patent system is a known mechanism to provide this protection and promote science by granting the patentee exclusive rights to the inventions while requiring public disclosure. However, due to the intrinsic relation of …

Power, Pragmatism And Prisoner Abuse: Amnesty And Accountability In The United States, Louise Mallinder

Louise Mallinder

America’s commitment to human rights and the rule of law has long been an integral part of the nation’s self-image as an idealistic and inspirational society. It has been substantiated in the United States’ promotion of the rule of law around the world. However, as has been extensively scrutinized in recent years, the lackluster pursuit of accountability for the widespread abuses committed by American personnel during the so-called “War on Terror” illustrates a disjuncture within domestic and international discourse between the dual perceptions of the United States as a law-abiding nation, and America as a law-breaking state. This article seeks …

Can The Extent Of Religious Freedom Be Measured?, Marcel Stuessi

Marcel Stüssi

The purpose of this paper is to develop a method to assess the extent of religious freedom internalized by a country. It represents an effort to provide a framework of possible patterns of the right to individual or collective religious freedom, as well as resulting configurations between religious institutions and the state. With this aim in mind, the paper claims two things. Firstly, that the extent of the constitutionally protected right to religious freedom can be assessed along three dimensions – one measuring the level of state interference with individual religious freedom, another involving the amount of collective religious autonomy …

Vietnam, China, And The United States: The Regulatory Framework Of Mining Pollution And Water Quality, Heather Whitney

Heather Whitney

This paper compares the environmental, mining, and water quality policy and regulatory framework of three countries: Vietnam, China, and the United States. There are many similarities between China and Vietnam’s legal framework and environmental protection mechanisms, by virtue of the fact that they are both socialist countries, both authoritarian governments, and both in the midst of an industrial revolution. The United States intersects in some areas of water quality standards and technological controls of effluents with both countries, as well as certain enforcement measures. This is true especially in China, where the EPA has actively consulted the Chinese government in …

Bureaucracy And The U.S. Response To Mass Atrocity, Gregory Brazeal

Gregory Brazeal

The U.S. response to mass atrocity has followed a predictable pattern of disbelief, rationalization, evasion, and retrospective expressions of regret. The pattern is consistent enough that we should be skeptical of chalking up the United States’ failures solely to a shifting array of isolated historical contingencies, from post-Vietnam fatigue in the case of the Khmer Rouge to the Clinton administration’s recoil against humanitarian interventions after Somalia. It is implausible to suggest that the United States would have acted to mitigate or end mass atrocities but for the specific historical contingencies that happen to accompany each outbreak of violence. This essay …

Are Muslims The New Catholics? Europe's Headscarf Laws In Comparative Historical Perspective, Robert Kahn

Robert Kahn

ABSTRACT: Many European opponents of the headscarf view themselves as engaged in a “struggle against totalitarianism.” This article explores an alternative framing: What if Muslims—rather than Nazis or Communists in training—are the more like nineteenth century Catholics, who were seen as a religious threat to European (and U.S.) liberalism? To explore this idea, this article looks at the headscarf debate through the lens of the German Kulturkampf (1871-1887) and nineteenth century U.S. laws that banned public school teachers from wearing clerical garb. It reaches two tentative conclusions. First, many of the claims made against European Muslims—especially about the “backward” nature …

A United States Marine General Should Replace General Mcchrystal, Christopher C. Cooper Dr.

Christopher C. Cooper Dr.

General McChrystal’s insubordinate statements about the President and Vice President of the United States represent a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). What the Obama administration should take from this unfortunate event is that the top commander in Afghanistan (and in any war for that matter) should be a United States Marine general. Marines stay fit. Marines follow orders. Marine officers set the example. We must be critical of General McChrystal for setting the most abhorrent of examples for the men and women of the U.S. Army.

Not Only Innovation But Also Collaboration, Funding, Goodwill And Commitment: Which Role For Patent Laws In Postcopenhagen Climate Change Action, Estelle Derclaye

Estelle Derclaye

Patent laws can do their bit to help reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. In 2009, accelerated grant procedures and reduction of fees have been put in place by among others the UK and US patent offices. Private initiatives such as the eco-patent commons to licence technology free of charge have been taken. But greening patent law is only a small part of the solution. However well-intentioned all these initiatives are, for several reasons, they may not be sufficient or even at all used. More than intellectual property-related solutions, what will be needed is non-intellectual property-related solutions such as using technology …

The Us-Korea Free Trade Agreement: The Evolution Of Responsible Trade And A Reflection On What Lies Ahead, Nicole D. Skibola

Nicole D Skibola

This paper addresses residual problems in the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement, with regard to the Agreement’s labor provisions in Article 19. Alternatives are proposed in response to remaining issues including the status of Outward Processing Zones and a problematic lack of private firm accountability. First, it is suggested that Annex 22-A, pertaining to Outward Processing Zones, is renegotiated. To address the lack of private firm accountability, three alternate models are offered. The first approach is to follow the Cambodia Textile Agreement model, whereby positive economic incentives are attached to specific strides made in improving labor conditions. The second approach is …

Decentralizing Family: An Inclusive Proposal For Individual Tax Filing In The United States, Anthony C. Infanti

Anthony C. Infanti

The debate in the United States over individual versus joint federal income tax filing is at something of a crossroads. For decades, progressive — and, particularly, feminist — scholars have urged us to abolish the joint return in favor of individual filing. On the rare occasion when scholars have described what such an individual filing system might look like, the focus has been on the ways in which the traditional family must be accommodated in an individual filing system. These descriptions generally do not take into account — let alone remedy — the tax system’s ongoing failure to address the …

The Anglo-American Perspective On Freezing Injunctions, Masayuki Tamaruya

Masayuki Tamaruya

Freezing injunctions are pre-trial orders to restrain a defendant from dealing with his assets so as to forestall his attempt to frustrate the potential money judgment against him. Freezing injunctions have been adopted in most common law jurisdictions as an effective civil remedy to combat attempts by recalcitrant debtors or fraudsters to frustrate potential money judgments by use of ever faster methods of fund transfer. However, in Grupo Mexicano de Desarrollo SA v Alliance Bond Fund Inc, the US Supreme Court by a 5:4 judgment declared that the US District Court does not have the equitable jurisdiction to grant such …

Litigating Secrets: Comparative Perspectives On The State Secrets Privilege, Sudha Setty

Sudha Setty

The Article considers the history and use of the state secrets privilege in the United States and the ongoing congressional efforts to reform the use of the privilege. Although numerous articles have addressed the application of the state secrets privilege in the United States, this Article breaks new ground by examining the history and use of the privilege in other nations which confront serious national security threats. This Article considers the modern application the privilege in Scotland, England, Israel and India—an analysis which contextualizes both the current use of the U.S. privilege and the efforts at legislative reform. Such comparative …

Constructing Governance, But Constructive Governance? The Emergence And Limitations Of A Dominant Discourse On The Regulation Of Private Military And Security Companies, Surabhi Ranganathan

Surabhi Ranganathan

The private security industry’s rise to prominence has led to much debate, primarily relating to concern for human rights and the role of the state. The industry’s potential to level the playing-field between developed and developing countries in obtainment and deployment of security is often remarked upon, but the divide created by their differing capacities and motivations to control security service providers goes unnoticed. The result is a dominant discourse which embraces assumptions that limit effective policy formulation.

This discourse has two central tenets. The first is the normalization of private military companies as partners and agents of state governments. …

The North American Great Lakes, Noah D. Hall

Noah D Hall

The Great Lakes are a vast resource shared by two countries, ten states and provinces, and hundreds of Indian tribes or First Nations. They are the quintessential commons that have seen their share of tragedies. Addressing competing pressures of economic development and environmental protection is only part of the challenge. The real struggle has been governance: How is management of an international transboundary resource best accomplished under the legal and political limitations of constitutional federalism? This chapter analyses the international agreements, court decisions, interstate compacts, and federal statutes that created a transboundary water regime, considering in detail the Great Lakes– …

You Can't Take It With You When You Die... Or Can You?: A Comparative Study Of Post-Mortem Moral Rights Statutes From Israel, France, And The United States, Galia Aharoni

galia aharoni

Moral rights – including the rights to attribution, integrity, and dissemination – is a sticky, controversial subject even standing on its own. Questions concerning the duration of these rights seem to compound the issue even further: If moral rights protection stems from a desire to protect the author’s intrinsic relationship with the work, when should the protection stop? Upon his death? Upon the expiration of the work’s copyright? …Never? Such questions become even more pressing when a country – especially a self-acknowledged “developing” country such as Israel – enacts a moral rights law of its own, and when consequently no …

Agroterrorism And Ecoterrorism: A Survey Of Indo-American Approaches Under Law And Policy To Prevent And Defend Against The Potential Threats Ahead, Kevin H. Govern

Kevin H. Govern

“Agroterrorism is a subset of bioterrorism, and is defined as the deliberate introduction of an animal or plant disease with the goal of generating fear, causing economic losses, and/or undermining social stability.” Its partner in crime is ecoterrorism, “the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against innocent victims or property by an environmentally-oriented, subnational group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature.” Furthermore, “[a]s recently as June 2004, the FBI designated ‘eco-terrorism’ . . . as the [U.S.’] number one militant chal- lenge emanating from inside its …

International News V Associated Press: A Theme And Variations Over Four Days, Christopher Wadlow

Christopher Wadlow

A series of four classes at the University of Trier (Germany) for undergraduate law students, using the International News v Associated Press case 248 U.S. 215 (1918) to discuss some principles of unfair competition and copyright law, as well as some more fundamental doctrines from the common law, and American Constitutional law.

Litigating Canada-U.S. Transboundary Harm, Austen L. Parrish, Shi-Ling Hsu

Austen L. Parrish

This Article joins a spirited debate ongoing among international law scholars. Numerous articles have debated the changing nature of interna-tional law and relations: the impact of globalization, the decline of territorial-sovereignty, the ever important role that non-state actors play, and the growing use of domestic laws to solve transboundary problems. That scholarship, however, often speaks only in general theoretical terms, and has largely ignored how these changes are playing out in countries outside the United States in way that impact American interests. This Article picks up where that scholarship leaves off. It examines one of the perennial challenges for international …

God And Caesar In The Twenty-First Century: What Recent Cases Say About Church-State Relations In England And The United States , Judith Fischer, Chloe Wallace

Judith D. Fischer

This article analyzes current jurisprudence concerning the relationship of church and state in the U.S. and England, with special attention to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions in the Ten Commandments cases. The co-authors, law professors from the United States and the United Kingdom, present background about the history of religious establishment and church-state jurisprudence in the two countries. They then discuss the effects of each country’s recent cases on the subject. The authors conclude that the two countries are moving closer to each other on the continuum between establishment and disestablishment.