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Articles 1 - 30 of 54
Full-Text Articles in Comparative and Foreign Law
The Elusive Object Of Punishment, Gabriel S. Mendlow
The Elusive Object Of Punishment, Gabriel S. Mendlow
Articles
All observers of our legal system recognize that criminal statutes can be complex and obscure. But statutory obscurity often takes a particular form that most observers have overlooked: uncertainty about the identity of the wrong a statute aims to punish. It is not uncommon for parties to disagree about the identity of the underlying wrong even as they agree on the statute’s elements. Hidden in plain sight, these unexamined disagreements underlie or exacerbate an assortment of familiar disputes—about venue, vagueness, and mens rea; about DUI and statutory rape; about hate crimes, child pornography, and counterterrorism laws; about proportionality in punishment; …
Promoting Predictability In Business: Solutions For Overlapping Liability In International Anti-Corruption Enforcement, Andrew T. Bulovsky
Promoting Predictability In Business: Solutions For Overlapping Liability In International Anti-Corruption Enforcement, Andrew T. Bulovsky
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Note evaluates solutions to the problems of overlapping liability in general and multi-jurisdictional disgorgement in particular. Part I traces the origins of international anti-corruption efforts and provides an overview of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”). It then discusses the two most significant international anti-corruption conventions: the OECD’s Convention on Combatting Bribery of Foreign Officials in International Business Transactions (the “OECD Convention”) and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (“UNCAC”). Part II lays out the problems created by the lack of a formal mechanism to prevent overlapping liability— a phenomenon that violates the common law concept known as …
The Definition Of Slave Labor For Criminal Enforcement And The Experience Of Adjudication: The Case Of Brazil, Carlos H. B. Haddad
The Definition Of Slave Labor For Criminal Enforcement And The Experience Of Adjudication: The Case Of Brazil, Carlos H. B. Haddad
Michigan Journal of International Law
The paper examines the intersections and differences between “slave labor” as used in the Brazilian domestic sphere and “slave labor” as applied to international law. The former shows an approach centered on criminal law, as opposed to human rights law. This paper explains why degrading working conditions and debilitating workdays should continue to be prohibited and punished. It also compares the sanctions of the Brazilian Criminal Code with those of similar crimes in other jurisdictions. It concludes with a discussion of the current bill proposed by Senator José Sarney, which would replace the current definition with one that more closely …
Transparency And Comparative Executive Clemency: Global Lessons For Pardon Reform In The United States, Andrew Novak
Transparency And Comparative Executive Clemency: Global Lessons For Pardon Reform In The United States, Andrew Novak
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article argues for transparency in the clemency process and contends that the concept of clemency as a benign sovereign’s “act of grace” is no longer appropriate in the modern world where executive action is subordinate to principles of constitutional due process and administrative equity. Despite calls for federal clemency reform in the United States, little comparative research examines clemency elsewhere in the common law world. This Article compares common law countries’ constitutional clemency mechanisms designed to promote openness, public and victim participation, and rational decision-making. In addition, this Article proposes four reforms to the U.S. pardon system that other …
Retention And Reform In Japanese Capital Punishment, David T. Johnson
Retention And Reform In Japanese Capital Punishment, David T. Johnson
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article focuses on the failure of abolition and of death penalty reform in Japan in order to illustrate contingencies in the trajectory of capital punishment in the modern world. Part I describes three facts about postwar Japan that help explain why it retains capital punishment today: a missed opportunity for abolition during the American occupation of the country after World War II; the long-term rule of a conservative political party; and economic and geopolitical power that has enabled the country to resist the influence of international norms. Part II describes a few ways in which Japanese capital punishment has …
Prosecuting Rape Victims While Rapists Run Free: The Consequences Of Police Failure To Investigate Sex Crimes In Britain And The United States, Lisa Avalos
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
Imagine that a close friend is raped, and you encourage her to report it to the police. At first, she thinks that the police are taking her report seriously, but the investigation does not seem to move forward. The next thing she knows, they accuse her of lying and ultimately file charges against her. You and your friend are in shock; this outcome never entered your minds. This nightmare may seem inconceivable, but it has in fact occurred repeatedly in both the United States and Britain—countries that are typically lauded for their high levels of gender equality. In Britain, where …
Beyond Seduction: Lessons Learned About Rape, Politics, And Power From Dominique Strauss-Kahn And Moshe Katsav, Hannah Brenner
Beyond Seduction: Lessons Learned About Rape, Politics, And Power From Dominique Strauss-Kahn And Moshe Katsav, Hannah Brenner
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
n the last decade, two influential international political figures, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund, and Moshe Katsav, former President of Israel, were accused of engaging in extreme and ongoing patterns of sexual violence. The collection of formal charges against the two men included rape, forcible indecent assault, sexual harassment, and obstruction of justice. The respective narratives surrounding the allegations against Katsav and Strauss-Kahn have their own individual characteristics, and each of the cases unfolded in diverging ways. Yet, the actions of these two men taken together, and the corresponding response of the legal systems in France, …
Targeting And The Concept Of Intent, Jens David Ohlin
Targeting And The Concept Of Intent, Jens David Ohlin
Michigan Journal of International Law
International law generally prohibits military forces from intentionally targeting civilians; this is the principle of distinction. In contrast, unintended collateral damage is permissible unless the anticipated civilian deaths outweigh the expected military advantage of the strike; this is the principle of proportionality. These cardinal targeting rules of international humanitarian law are generally assumed by military lawyers to be relatively well-settled. However, recent international tribunals applying this law in a string of little-noticed decisions have completely upended this understanding. Armed with criminal law principles from their own domestic systems — often civil law jurisdictions — prosecutors, judges and even scholars have …
Courts Of Appeal And Colonialism In The British Caribbean: A Case For The Caribbean Court Of Justice, Ezekiel Rediker
Courts Of Appeal And Colonialism In The British Caribbean: A Case For The Caribbean Court Of Justice, Ezekiel Rediker
Michigan Journal of International Law
In recent years, a public debate on law and the colonial legacy has engaged people of all walks of life in the English Speaking Caribbean (ESC), from judges and politicians to young people in the streets. Throughout the ESC, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC)—based in London and composed of British jurists—has been the highest court of appeal since the colonial era. In the past decade, however, Caribbean governments have sought greater control over their legal systems. In 2005, they created the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to supplant the British Privy Council as the Supreme Court for …
Prohibiting Sex Purchasing And Ending Trafficking: The Swedish Prostitution Law, Max Waltman
Prohibiting Sex Purchasing And Ending Trafficking: The Swedish Prostitution Law, Max Waltman
Michigan Journal of International Law
At the symposium on "Successes and Failures in International Human Trafficking Law" at the University of Michigan Law School in February 2011, I addressed the topic of international sex trafficking law, particularly the Swedish law that prohibits the purchase of sex while simultaneously decriminalizing the prostituted person. Being asked to address trafficking, I was surprised by the name given to my panel: "Kidnapped at Home, Sold Abroad: Sex Trafficking in the International Community." This surprise was owing to the fact that in the most current international instrument defining trafficking, the United Nation's so-called Palermo Protocol, nowhere is the term "kidnapping" …
A Critical Guide To The Iraqi High Tribunal's Anfal Judgement: Genocide Against The Kurds, Jennifer Trahan
A Critical Guide To The Iraqi High Tribunal's Anfal Judgement: Genocide Against The Kurds, Jennifer Trahan
Michigan Journal of International Law
In the Anfal trial, the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT or the Tribunal) in Baghdad convicted former Iraqi high officials of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Unlike its predecessor-the Dujail trial-the Anfal trial included the presentation of a high volume of documentary and eye-witness evidence. This evidence clearly revealed the existence of a genocidal campaign by the former Iraqi government and military that eliminated an estimated 182,000 Iraqi Kurds in 1988, as part of the eight-phased "Anfal campaign" (the Anfal). Relying on this and other evidence, judges in the Anfal Trial Chamber explained fairly persuasively how genocide, crimes against …
Pursuing The Perfect Mother: Why America's Criminalization Of Maternal Substance Abuse Is Not The Answer- A Compartive Legal Analysis, Linda C. Fentiman
Pursuing The Perfect Mother: Why America's Criminalization Of Maternal Substance Abuse Is Not The Answer- A Compartive Legal Analysis, Linda C. Fentiman
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
In this Article the author will examine not only the substantive legal differences between the United States, Canada, and France, but will also explore how these legal rules fit within a broader social, political, and religious setting. This Article will pursue four lines of inquiry. First, it will briefly chronicle the history of criminal prosecution of pregnant women in America and show how these prosecutions have become markedly more aggressive over the last twenty years. Second, it will situate these prosecutions in the full context of American law and culture, demonstrating how the fetus has received increasing legal recognition in …
China Reexamined: The Worst Offender Or A Strong Contender?, Yang Wang
China Reexamined: The Worst Offender Or A Strong Contender?, Yang Wang
Michigan Law Review
These are the questions that Professor Randall Peerenboom sets out to answer from an American legal scholar's perspective in China Modernizes: Threat to the West or Model for the Rest. Peerenboom advances three main arguments in China Modernizes. First, to more accurately assess China's performance in its quest for modernization, one must "plac[e] China within a broader comparative context" (p. 10). Through a careful analysis of empirical data, Peerenboom observes that China outperforms many other countries at a similar income level on almost all key indicators of well-being and human rights, with the sole exception of civil and political …
Criminal Conspiracy Law In Japan, Chris Coulson
Criminal Conspiracy Law In Japan, Chris Coulson
Michigan Journal of International Law
Part II of this Note describes CATOC's group criminality requirement. Part III outlines the provisions of several versions of Japan's conspiracy bill and compares these provisions to common-law conspiracy. Part IV analyzes Japan's conspiracy law by examining both substantive and procedural laws in Japan related to criminal conspiracy, as well as criticism within Japan of the conspiracy bills.
The Yukos Money Laundering Case: A Never-Ending Story, Dmitry Gololobov
The Yukos Money Laundering Case: A Never-Ending Story, Dmitry Gololobov
Michigan Journal of International Law
The Yukos case has unveiled the possible dangers of money laundering legislation in the hands of governments with transitional economies and weak democratic traditions. Even if the anti-money laundering laws of the country comply with international pronouncements to the letter, there are still a number of ways the laws could be used for the sole purpose of persecuting political opponents. In the Yukos case, the money laundering charges were interrelated with the charges of corporate tax evasion, which, taken separately, in Russia, represent a rather weak tool for suppressing the political opponents, but taken together they are perfect for the …
Rape And The Querela In Italy: False Protection Of Victim Agency, Rachel A. Van Cleave
Rape And The Querela In Italy: False Protection Of Victim Agency, Rachel A. Van Cleave
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
This Essay describes the history of the querela in Italy and explores the controversy surrounding the decision to maintain this institution. In addition, this Essay questions the degree to which the querela can protect victim agency when the attitudes of judges and lawyers in the Italian criminal justice system reflect persistent rape myths.
Home And Homelessness In The Middle Of Nowhere, William I. Miller
Home And Homelessness In The Middle Of Nowhere, William I. Miller
Book Chapters
In Iceland one must have a home; it is an offense not to-in some circumstances, a capital offense. A sturdy beggar was liable for full outlawry, which meant he could be killed with impunity. The laws are hard on vagrants. Fornication with a beggar woman was unactionable; it was lawful to castrate a vagabond, and he had no claim if he were injured or killed during the operation. One could take in beggars solely for the purpose of whipping them, nor was one to feed or shelter them at the Thing on pain of lesser outlawry. Their booths at the …
Competition, Corporate Responsibility, And The China Question, Jospeh Vining
Competition, Corporate Responsibility, And The China Question, Jospeh Vining
Other Publications
"Corporate responsibility" is not a peripheral matter. It is at the core of all decision-making on behalf of business corporations under American law. This paper examines the effort to add an exemption for "business" in corporate form to the exemptions from ordinary responsibility that are seen in other areas of activity - e.g., for the military, for lawyers in adversarial litigation, or for investigators in scientific research. It looks at a number of well known cases and points to the often neglected relevance of both the criminal law applicable to corporations as such, and the evolving professional responsibility of corporate …
Pinochet And International Human Rights Litigation, Curtis A. Bradley, Jack L. Goldsmith
Pinochet And International Human Rights Litigation, Curtis A. Bradley, Jack L. Goldsmith
Michigan Law Review
The British House of Lords recently considered whether Augusto Pinochet was subject to arrest and possible extradition to Spain for alleged acts of torture and other egregious conduct carried out during his reign as Chile's head of state. The Law Lords held that a large majority of the charges against Pinochet were not proper grounds for extradition under British law. They also held, however, that Pinochet could potentially be extradited for alleged acts of torture committed after Britain's 1988 ratifica· tion of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In reaching this latter conclusion, …
Hard Cases, Carl E. Schneider
Hard Cases, Carl E. Schneider
Articles
Robert Latimer was born in 1953 on a farm on the prairies of Saskatchewan and grew up to own a 1,280-acre farm. In 1980 he married, and that year Tracy, the first of four children, was born. During her birth, Tracy's brain was terribly damaged by lack of oxygen, and severe cerebral palsy ensued. By 1993 Tracy could laugh, smile, and cry, and she could recognize her parents and her siblings. But she could not understand her own name or even simple words like "yes" and "no." She could not swallow well and would so often vomit her parents kept …
Thoughts From Across The Water On Hearsay And Confrontation, Richard D. Friedman
Thoughts From Across The Water On Hearsay And Confrontation, Richard D. Friedman
Articles
This article draws on the history of the hearsay rule, and on recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, to argue that the right to confrontation should be recognised as a basic principle of the law of evidence, and that aspects of the Law Commission's proposals for reform of the hearsay rule, and of the Home Office's proposals for restrictions on the right of cross-examination, are therefore unsatisfactory.
Revenge For The Condemned, Sara Sun Beale, Paul H. Haagen
Revenge For The Condemned, Sara Sun Beale, Paul H. Haagen
Michigan Law Review
A Review of V.A.C. Gatrell, The Hanging Tree: Execution and the English People 1770-1868
Strong Criticism Of The American System Of Trial By Jury, Yale Kamisar
Strong Criticism Of The American System Of Trial By Jury, Yale Kamisar
Articles
I grieve for my country to say that the administration of the criminal law in all the states in the Union (there may be one or two exceptions) is a disgrace to our civilization.
Strings Attached--Violin Fraud And Other Deceptions, Carla J. Shapreau
Strings Attached--Violin Fraud And Other Deceptions, Carla J. Shapreau
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Violin Fraud: Deception, Forgery, Theft, and the Law by Brian W. Harvey
Review Of Kingship, Law And Society: Criminal Justice In The Reign Of Henry V, Thomas A. Green
Review Of Kingship, Law And Society: Criminal Justice In The Reign Of Henry V, Thomas A. Green
Reviews
Edward Powell's splendid study of Henry V's strategy for keeping peace among magnate and gentry factions represents an important contribution to the history of criminal justice. After providing a panoramic view of the machinery of criminal justice, Powell analyzes the extent to which that machinery was effective as between the Crown, at the center, and the upper echelons of society in the provinces. His conclusion, not surprisingly, is that the regular processes of common-law criminal administration could not easily be deployed at those levels. But Powell does not let the matter drop there. Kingship, Law, and Society presents a lucid …
Note, The Death Penalty In Late Imperial, Modern, And Post-Tiananmen China, Alan W. Lepp
Note, The Death Penalty In Late Imperial, Modern, And Post-Tiananmen China, Alan W. Lepp
Michigan Journal of International Law
This paper seeks to explore the crucial determinants that shape the Chinese legal system's use of the death penalty. Why have the Chinese relied so heavily on execution as a form of sentencing? What factors and conditions account for the major changes in the frequency of China's use of the death penalty? What indigenous traditions are reflected in China's implementation of the death penalty? In order to inquire into the role and function of the legal system in affecting the severity of criminal punishment in China, this study will focus on only those death sentences carried out by the state …
Crime And The Courts In England 1660-1800, Frank C. Shaw
Crime And The Courts In England 1660-1800, Frank C. Shaw
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Crime and the Courts in England 1660-1800 by J.M. Beattie
History Against Free Speech: The New German Law Against The "Auschwitz" -- And Other -- "Lies", Eric Stein
History Against Free Speech: The New German Law Against The "Auschwitz" -- And Other -- "Lies", Eric Stein
Michigan Law Review
An American observer would expect the central issue in the public debate to be the conflict between the constitutionally protected values of individual freedom of expression on the one hand and public security and personal honor on the other. This, however, has not been the case. To the contrary, the constitutional issue has played a marginal role in the legislative process, and it has been resolved by the courts with obvious ease in favor of the constitutionality of the previous legislation on the same general subject. There is every reason to believe that the new law will also be upheld, …
Conscience And The Law: The English Criminal Jury, Robert C. Palmer
Conscience And The Law: The English Criminal Jury, Robert C. Palmer
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Verdict According to Conscience by Thomas Andrew Green
Euthanasia For Sale?, A.W. Brian Simpson
Euthanasia For Sale?, A.W. Brian Simpson
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Easing the Passing: The Trial of Dr. John Bodkin Adams by Patrick Devlin