Legal History Commons^™

Recognition Of Overseas Same Sex Marriages: A Matter Of Equality And Sound Statutory Interpretation, Dr Leonardo J. Raznovich

Dr Leonardo J Raznovich

It is accepted that the institution of marriage is more than economic benefits. The availability of marriage to same sex couples in eight western democratic jurisdictions exerts pressure on courts to consider the substance and ethical dimension of marriage across borders. This paper analyses the legal and ethical problems that exclusion of same sex couples from marriage generates in relation to equality and individual freedoms in a democratic society. The paper focuses on the particular case of overseas same sex married couples that seek to immigrate to England. Part I analyses the legal recognition of overseas same sex marriages under …

Full Faith And Credit In The Early Congress, Stephen E. Sachs

Stephen E. Sachs

After more than 200 years, the Full Faith and Credit Clause remains poorly understood. The Clause first issues a self-executing command (that "Full Faith and Credit shall be given"), and then empowers Congress to prescribe the manner of proof and the "Effect" of state records in other states. But if states must accord each other full faith and credit-and if nothing could be more than full-then what "Effect" could Congress give state records that they wouldn't have already? And conversely, how could Congress in any way reduce or alter the faith and credit that is due? This Article seeks to …

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 Law In Domestic Courts: A Conflict Of Laws Approach, Karen Knop, Ralf Michaels, Annelise Riles

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The relationship between international law and domestic law is rarely understood as a conflict of laws. Understanding it in this way opens up a parallel with the field of conflict of laws: the field for which the relationship between legal systems, especially the role of another system's jurisdiction, laws, and judgments vis-à-vis the domestic legal system, are exactly the bread-and-butter issues. We argue for such an approach to international law in domestic courts: an approach that we elaborate as "theory through technique."

In our view, conflicts should be seen broadly as the discipline that developed to deal with conflicts between …