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The Sword, The Shield, And The Jab: How Nato Can Bypass The Un And World Health Organization To Help Control And Prevent Future Pandemics, Aaron Earlywine Dec 2023

The Sword, The Shield, And The Jab: How Nato Can Bypass The Un And World Health Organization To Help Control And Prevent Future Pandemics, Aaron Earlywine

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

An autopsy of the world’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic reveals many preexisting conditions that only exacerbated the crisis. Chief among them are the failures and obfuscations of the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO is sick with corruption, incompetence, or at very least riddled with dysfunction. This is not the first time the WHO has proven itself unable to meet the demands of global health initiatives, let alone global health crises. Not only is this dysfunctional organization proving itself to be a money-consuming abscess, but hostile powers, namely China, have used it to covertly wield influence and shield themselves …


Getting The Law Right: An Essay In Honor Of Aaron Twerski, John C. P. Goldberg, Benjamin C. Zipursky Dec 2023

Getting The Law Right: An Essay In Honor Of Aaron Twerski, John C. P. Goldberg, Benjamin C. Zipursky

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Written in honor of the great torts scholar Aaron Twerski, this article critically analyzes disturbing developments in New York negligence law as it applies to police who injure innocent bystanders. With the New York Court of Appeals’ 2022 decision in Ferreira v. City of Binghamton as a focal point, it argues that Ferreira and other contemporary decisions have largely betrayed the promise of the 1929 Court of Claims Act, which waived state and municipal immunity for police torts. While courts may be warranted in recognizing certain limits on police negligence liability that do not apply to private actors, the current …


Maritime Collision Regulations As A Structure For Space Travel, Swathi Paruchuru Aug 2023

Maritime Collision Regulations As A Structure For Space Travel, Swathi Paruchuru

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The exploration of space via manned and unmanned missions has been almost constant since the mid-20th century. With developing technology and the advent of private actors in space travel, the emerging problem of space traffic requires some form of guidelines in order to prevent collisions and continue the peaceful use of space. Space Traffic Management is an emerging field with new theories still being posited. This Note examines the ways in which maritime Collision Regulations (COLREGs) can be used as a guideline to create infrastructure for the control of traffic in space, regarding both satellites and general space debris. This …


Dedication, Robert E. Stengel Feb 2023

Dedication, Robert E. Stengel

Brooklyn Law Review

The Brooklyn Law Review dedicates this issue to our friend, colleague, and Executive Notes Editor, Rob Stengel. October 18, 1988–December 8, 2022


Where In The World: Protecting Indigenous Textiles In Guatemala Through Geographical Indications, Lucie Couillard Sosa Dec 2022

Where In The World: Protecting Indigenous Textiles In Guatemala Through Geographical Indications, Lucie Couillard Sosa

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

There is a current movement by indigenous weavers in Guatemala to protect their textile designs due to the harm caused by the absence of the weavers’ intellectual property ownership over the designs and patterns. The exploitation and appropriation of their designs by domestic and international companies has hurt weavers’ livelihoods and has led to culturally inappropriate and insensitive uses of religious and traditional patterns. Conventional intellectual property law (copyright, trademark, and patent law) fails to protect indigenous peoples’ intellectual property rights. A key weakness within conventional intellectual property law is the emphasis and focus on individuality of the creation process. …


Different Countries, Same Homophobia And Transphobia: A Cross-Cultural Survey Of So-Called Conversion Therapy Practices And The Move Toward Legislative Protections For The United States Lgbtq+ Community, Samantha J. Past Dec 2022

Different Countries, Same Homophobia And Transphobia: A Cross-Cultural Survey Of So-Called Conversion Therapy Practices And The Move Toward Legislative Protections For The United States Lgbtq+ Community, Samantha J. Past

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

So-called “conversion therapy” consists of dangerous practices that inflict detrimental, long-lasting effects on its victims. As a form of sexual orientation or gender identity or gender expression change efforts, conversion therapy is fostered by global homophobia and transphobia. Despite formal public rejection and scientific discreditation, conversion therapy providers across the world continue to target LGBTQ+ individuals, predominately under the guise of offering health care services or obeying religious practices. The following piece compares conversion therapy in three countries with recently introduced LGBTQ+ legislation––(1) Ghana; (2) Canada; and (3) the United States (U.S.)–––in order to identify factors furthering conversion therapy and …


Contracting Against Slavery: Corporate Accountability For Human Rights Supply Chain Violations, Alexandra Hyken Dec 2022

Contracting Against Slavery: Corporate Accountability For Human Rights Supply Chain Violations, Alexandra Hyken

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The United States Supreme Court decision in Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe effectively closed the door for forced laborers in the global supply chain to sue corporations headquartered in the United States for aiding and abetting in their human trafficking under the Alien Tort Statute. At the same time, however, the European Union and Canada are passing legislative measures that increase corporate accountability for human rights supply chain violations. This note argues that, in light of the Nestlé decision, contracts can be an effective mechanism for corporate accountability in the United States and that multi-national corporations will be incentivized to …


Standing In The Ether: Constitutional Standing In Data Breach Cases After Mcmorris, Andrew Ridge Dec 2022

Standing In The Ether: Constitutional Standing In Data Breach Cases After Mcmorris, Andrew Ridge

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

For some time, circuit courts have been ostensibly divided over the power of plaintiffs to maintain claims for injuries sustained from data breaches based merely on an increased risk of injury. However, in McMorris v. Carlos Lopez & Assocs., LLC, 995 F.3d 295 (2d Cir. 2021), the Second Circuit denied the existence of the circuit split, instead contending that its three-factor balancing test for determining standing for risk of future injury in data breach cases could be reconciled with the positions of both clusters of circuits. The three factors are “(1) whether the plaintiffs’ data has been exposed as the …


The Case For An International Solution To The Restitution Of Cultural Property: Morality, Legality And Righting Western Wrongs, Ariana Catarisano Dec 2021

The Case For An International Solution To The Restitution Of Cultural Property: Morality, Legality And Righting Western Wrongs, Ariana Catarisano

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

In 2020, the conversation surrounding the return of cultural property acquired during the colonial era was given new life after the world watched as Black Lives Matter activists exposed systemic racial injustice in the United States. Thousands of objects currently sit in western museums under the guise of sharing these cultures and civilizations with the world, but this brings little comfort to communities suffering the genocidal consequences of colonialism. As formerly colonized nations battle the western world for the return of their cultural property, success is often dictated by a combination of power, money, and the ability to turn the …


Corpus Linguistics And The Law: Extending The Field From A Statistical Perspective, Stefan Th. Gries Sep 2021

Corpus Linguistics And The Law: Extending The Field From A Statistical Perspective, Stefan Th. Gries

Brooklyn Law Review

During the last 5–10 years, corpus-linguistic applications have slowly become more widespread in matters of legal interpretation; specifically, we see more court cases in which corpus-linguistic data are brought to bear on the (original) ordinary/public meaning of expressions in legal texts (in briefs and judicial opinions), but also more academic research focusing on if/how corpus-linguistic methods can shed light on the plain/ordinary meaning of words in a legal text.While this development is welcome, it also comes with shortcoming/risks, some of which are now hotly debated in recent and forthcoming law review articles. In particular, there is a whole family of …


Big Data And Accuracy In Statutory Interpretation, Brian G. Slocum Sep 2021

Big Data And Accuracy In Statutory Interpretation, Brian G. Slocum

Brooklyn Law Review

Scholarship is increasingly devoted to improving the “accuracy” of statutory interpretations, but accuracy is a contingent concept dependent on interpretive perspective. If, for instance, a scholar focuses on the language production of the legislature, she may seek to improve the methodology of statutory interpretation through a more sophisticated understanding of the legislative process. Thus, the scholar may argue that one can assess the reliability of the different types of legislative history by focusing on the actors and processes that produce them. Conversely, a scholar might focus on the language comprehension of some speech community, such as the one comprised of …


Hypothesis Testing Ordinary Meaning, Daniel Keller, Jesse Egbert Sep 2021

Hypothesis Testing Ordinary Meaning, Daniel Keller, Jesse Egbert

Brooklyn Law Review

Corpus linguistic tools promise to make determinations of the ordinary meaning (OM) of a word or phrase in a statute more objective, replicable, and transparent. However, significant questions remain as to how corpora may best be employed in the process of determining OM. In this paper, we argue that objectivity, replicability, and transparency are bolstered when legal practitioners take a hypothesis testing approach to determining ordinary meaning. In this approach, the corpus (a large collection of authentic texts) is treated as a sample of data which the practitioner may use to draw inductive inferences about the meaning of the term …


What Counts As Data?, Anya Bernstein Sep 2021

What Counts As Data?, Anya Bernstein

Brooklyn Law Review

We live in an age of information. But whether information counts as data depends on the questions we put to it. The same bit of information can constitute important data for some questions, but be irrelevant to others. And even when relevant, the same bit of data can speak to one aspect of our question while having little to say about another. Knowing what counts as data, and what it is data of, makes or breaks a data-driven approach. Yet that need for clarity sometimes gets ignored or assumed away. In this essay, I examine what counts as data in …


Functional Statehood In Contemporary International Law, William Thomas Worster Dec 2020

Functional Statehood In Contemporary International Law, William Thomas Worster

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The international community lacks a form of territorial-based, international legal personality distinct from statehood, and yet, non-state, territorial entities of varying degrees of autonomy or independence need to function within the international community in some form. Some of these entities cannot be recognized as states because their creation violates jus cogens norms, though others are not recognized based on an assessment that they may not fully qualify as a state or that there are political reasons to refuse recognition. However, existing states still need to engage with these territorial quasi-states through the only paradigm the international community has—statehood. For example, …


Directors’ Duty Of Care In Times Of Financial Distress Following The Global Epidemic Crisis, Leon Yehuda Anidjar Dec 2020

Directors’ Duty Of Care In Times Of Financial Distress Following The Global Epidemic Crisis, Leon Yehuda Anidjar

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The global COVID-19 pandemic is causing the large-scale end of life and severe human suffering globally. This massive public health crisis created a significant economic crisis and is reflected in a recession of global production and the collapse of confidence in the functions of markets. Corporations and boards of directors around the world are required to design specific strategies to tackle the negative consequences of the crisis. This is especially true for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that suffered tremendous economic loss, and their continued existence as ongoing concern is under considerable risk. Given these uncertain financial times, this Article …


Comity & Calamity: Deference To The Executive And The Uncertain Future Of The Fsia, Michael Cooper Jun 2020

Comity & Calamity: Deference To The Executive And The Uncertain Future Of The Fsia, Michael Cooper

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

In 1976, Congress set out to remedy the haphazard and politically influenced system by which foreign states were granted sovereign immunity from United States’ courts. Its remedy was the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), which explicitly put the power to determine whether a foreign state should be granted immunity from a court’s jurisdiction in the hands of the judiciary. Moreover, with some minor exceptions, the FSIA did not explicitly contemplate any involvement from the executive branch in reaching those determinations. However, given that concerns involving foreign relations inherently arise when a foreign state is sued in U.S. courts, the courts …


A Keystroke Causes A Tornado: Applying Chaos Theory To International Cyber Warfare Law, Daniel Garrie, Masha Simonova Jun 2020

A Keystroke Causes A Tornado: Applying Chaos Theory To International Cyber Warfare Law, Daniel Garrie, Masha Simonova

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Cyber warfare today finds itself on the front page of the news daily. It is increasingly apparent that the cyber domain demands more guidance, with leaders opting for the deployment of cyber capabilities to bypass kinetic warfare norms. Proposed solutions abound, but none adequately address the specific features of cyber warfare that set it apart from traditional kinetic warfare. This Article argues that a new legal framework is necessary to properly address this problem, and such a doctrine should incorporate principles of chaos theory. Chaos theory is a branch of mathematics dealing with complex systems, with the most well-known example …


China's Belt And Road Initiative: An Examination Of Project Financing Issues And Alternatives, August Nelson Dinwiddie Jun 2020

China's Belt And Road Initiative: An Examination Of Project Financing Issues And Alternatives, August Nelson Dinwiddie

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

In 2013, China launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to realize the vision of revitalizing the ancient Silk Road. The BRI can be characterized as a vast infrastructure development initiative spanning over sixty-five countries that total almost half of the world's GDP. Since its launch, BRI projects have primarily been financed through commercial loans provided by Chinese banks, creating concerns over debt sustainability. At the top of these concerns are fears over whether participation in the BRI will lead to a "debt-trap scenaro." Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) provide an alternative financing option. In project development under a PPP, particularly the …


Are Centralized Cryptocurrency Regulations The Answer? Three Countries; Three Different Directions, Rani Shulman Jun 2020

Are Centralized Cryptocurrency Regulations The Answer? Three Countries; Three Different Directions, Rani Shulman

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Virtual currencies have undoubtably been a topic of conversation and uncertainty for some time. Many countries have jumped ahead of the industry and regulated cryptocurrencies, while others have taken a back seat to see exactly how the market responds. This Note explores the history behind cryptocurrency and Blockchain and how governments worldwide have dealt with the growing concern regarding regulation of the often volatile and decentralized industry. By way of comparative analysis, this Note examines how China, Switzerland, and the United States have taken measures to either embrace or repudiate the industry, as well as how they have succeeded and …


Kosovo's Controversial 100 Percent Tariff: An Analysis Of Its Imposition And The Issues Bleeding Into The Conflict Between Kosovo And Serbia, Ernira Mehmetaj Jun 2020

Kosovo's Controversial 100 Percent Tariff: An Analysis Of Its Imposition And The Issues Bleeding Into The Conflict Between Kosovo And Serbia, Ernira Mehmetaj

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

On November 6, 2018, Kosovo imposed a 10 percent tariff on products imported from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Later that month, on November 28, 2018, after Kosovo was denied membership in the International Criminal Police Organization, Kosovo increased the custom tariffs on Serbian and Bosnian goods from 10 to 100 percent. These actions resulted in a standstill of the European Union–mandated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue—a dialogue seeking to normalize the relations between the two states. Having the tumultuous history shared by Kosovo and Serbia as a backdrop, this Note analyzes the international agreements Kosovo is party to, specifically the Central European …


How Much Do Expert Opinions Matter? An Empirical Investigation Of Selection Bias, Adversarial Bias, And Judicial Deference In Chinese Medical, Chunyan Ding Dec 2019

How Much Do Expert Opinions Matter? An Empirical Investigation Of Selection Bias, Adversarial Bias, And Judicial Deference In Chinese Medical, Chunyan Ding

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

This article investigates the nature of the operation and the role of expert opinions in Chinese medical negligence litigation, drawing on content analysis of 3,619 medical negligence cases and an in-depth survey of judges with experience of adjudicating medical negligence cases. It offers three major findings: first, that both parties to medical negligence disputes show significant selection bias of medical opinions, as do courts when selecting court-appointed experts; second, expert opinions in medical negligence litigation demonstrate substantial adversarial bias; third, courts display very strong judicial deference to expert opinions in determining medical negligence liability. This article fills the methodological gap …


Kicking The Law: The Effects Of Fifa Regulations On A World Cup Host Country’S Legislative Process In Regards To Intellectual Property Protection, Nicole-Amanda Brandofino Dec 2019

Kicking The Law: The Effects Of Fifa Regulations On A World Cup Host Country’S Legislative Process In Regards To Intellectual Property Protection, Nicole-Amanda Brandofino

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Brand protection is highly sought after by large organizations that seek to monetize valuable intellectual property. At the international level, treaties such as the TRIPS Agreement allow for protection amongst signatory nations. As a leader in the international sports field, FIFA has capitalized on its well-known brand throughout the world through the selling of merchandise and licensing to influential third parties. With the occurrence of the World Cup every four years, FIFA strives to uphold the high revenue it earns through its wide intellectual property portfolio. As the World Cup host country prepares for the tournament, it must abide by …


The Clone Wars: The Right To Embryonic Gene Editing Under German Law, Keren Goldberger Dec 2019

The Clone Wars: The Right To Embryonic Gene Editing Under German Law, Keren Goldberger

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Germany has the strictest genetic engineering laws in the world and bans virtually all kinds of embryonic gene editing. Since the invention of CRISPR, however, embryonic gene editing is more precise, and the possibilities of curing genetic diseases are more real than ever. This Note will argue for the right to embryonic gene editing through an analysis of German constitutional privacy and right to life jurisprudence. Ultimately, this Note argues for a right to procreate under German law that is backed by the state’s affirmative duty to encourage and protect life. When the technology is available, German Law should not …


Forging Taiwan’S Legal Identity, Margaret K. Lewis Jul 2019

Forging Taiwan’S Legal Identity, Margaret K. Lewis

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The legal system in Taiwan is undergoing a transformation. Over a hundred years since the founding of the Republic of China and over thirty years since the end of martial law on Taiwan, a new legal identity is being forged. Public criticism of “dinosaur” judges and esoteric debates among law-trained elites have galvanized efforts to create a more inclusive discussion surrounding legal reforms. Taiwan is facing the challenge of moving from dinosaurs to dynamism. This Article argues that transparency, clarity, and participation both are animating principles of the current reform debate and are beginning to emerge as characteristics of Taiwan’s …


Grinding Down The Edges Of The Free Expression Right In Hong Kong, Stuart Hargreaves Jul 2019

Grinding Down The Edges Of The Free Expression Right In Hong Kong, Stuart Hargreaves

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

In the liberal-democratic tradition limits on speech must be clear, precise, and subject to justification within the particular constitutional framework of a given jurisdiction. In the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the Court of Final Appeal has developed a line of jurisprudence that explains under which circumstances the Government of Hong Kong (Government) may seek to limit the free speech provisions contained within the Basic Law, Hong Kong's quasi-constitution. In its fight against ‘localists,’ however, rather than legislating a clear speech restriction that is consistent with this jurisprudence, the Government has instead attempted to suppress unwelcome political speech in …


A Third Way Of Thinking About Cultural Property, Lucas Lixinski Jul 2019

A Third Way Of Thinking About Cultural Property, Lucas Lixinski

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The article argues that the dichotomy between nationalism and internationalism with respect to cultural property, while formative, has outlived its utility, and in many respects compromised the viability of the public good it aims to safeguard. Focused on the example of cultural property in international law, this article argues for more community-centric forms of governance, beyond the interests of states and an undefined “international.” It extrapolates the lessons from cultural property to other forms of resource governance in international law.


Roots Of Revolution: The African National Congress And Gay Liberation In South Africa, Joseph S. Jackson Jul 2019

Roots Of Revolution: The African National Congress And Gay Liberation In South Africa, Joseph S. Jackson

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

South Africa’s post-apartheid constitutions were the first in the world to contain an explicit prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, and that prohibition established the foundation for marriage equality and broad judicial and legislative protection of gay rights in South Africa. The source of this gay rights clause in the South African Constitution can be found in the African National Congress’s decision to include such a clause in the ANC’s A Bill of Rights for a New South Africa, published when the apartheid government of South Africa was still in power. This article traces the story of that …


Trade Secret Protection In Japan And The United States: Comparison And Recommendations, Thomas Landman Jul 2019

Trade Secret Protection In Japan And The United States: Comparison And Recommendations, Thomas Landman

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Trade secret law is a vital, yet often misunderstood, form of intellectual property law. As economic superpowers, both Japan and the United States realize that effective trade secret protection is essential for the prosperity of their domestic economies, and both nations have enacted laws to protect their trade secrets. While both Japan and the United States are signatories to the TRIPS agreement and therefore provide a shared baseline standard of trade secret protection, cultural and systemic differences between the two nations have resulted in differences in the way each nation implements its trade secret laws. This Note traces the history …


“Why Did Constantinople Get The Works? That’S Nobody’S Business But The Turks.” A New Approach To Cultural Property Claims And Geographic Renaming Under The 1970 Unesco Convention, Kasey Theresa Mahoney Jul 2019

“Why Did Constantinople Get The Works? That’S Nobody’S Business But The Turks.” A New Approach To Cultural Property Claims And Geographic Renaming Under The 1970 Unesco Convention, Kasey Theresa Mahoney

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The landscape of cultural property and cultural heritage discourse is continually evolving, and the traditional means of regulating disputes must not only be adapted to the current climate but proactively address foreseeable future concerns. This Note explores the Republic of Turkey’s increasing litigiousness with regard to its reparation claims and, further, considers the notion of culture as geographic boundaries transform over the course of time. This Note will analyze the leading international cultural property treaty, the 1970 UNESCO Convention, and recommend UNESCO adopt two mandates to curb the chilling effect current litigation has had on the preservation and dissemination of …


The Need For A Shared Responsibility Regime Between State And Non-State Actors To Prevent Human Rights Violations Caused By Cyber-Surveillance Spyware, Anna W. Chan Jul 2019

The Need For A Shared Responsibility Regime Between State And Non-State Actors To Prevent Human Rights Violations Caused By Cyber-Surveillance Spyware, Anna W. Chan

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Technology has undoubtedly contributed to the field of human rights. Internet connection and a smartphone has enabled activists to call out political leaders, shine light on human atrocities and organize mass protests through social media platforms. This has resulted in many authoritarian governments spending large amounts of their resources to purchase cyber-surveillance spyware systems from multi-national corporations to closely monitor and track their citizens for any signs of dissidence. Such technology has enabled authoritarian regimes to commit human right violations ranging from invasion of privacy, arbitrary arrest, arbitrary detention, torture and even murder. Despite the uncovering of such questionable transactions …