Transnational Law Commons^™

The Mexican Petroleum License Of 2013: A Step To The Past To Bring Mexico Into The Present And The Grounds For An Uncertain Future, Guillermo Garcia Sanchez

Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez

The Fine Print Of The Mexican Energy Reform, Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez

Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez

Five years ago, when Mexico transformed its energy sector, most commentators were worried about the government’s capacity to implement the reform. What would the upstream contracts look like? Would the auctions be transparent? How would international companies react? After two successful auction rounds, 107 signed contracts, and the creation of viable regulatory agencies to manage and monitor the reform agenda, the questions have changed. Today, Mexico’s capacity to implement energy reforms and attract foreign investment is no longer in doubt. Today, the most pressing questions about the reform concern its long-term sustainability. Can it survive the Mexican electoral cycles? Will …

African Courts And Separation Of Powers: A Comparative Study Of Judicial Review In Uganda & South, Joseph M. Isanga

Joseph Isanga

Achieving political stability in a transitional democracy is a fundamental goal, the resoluteness of which is in part maintained by courts of judicial review that are independent from political bias and devoid of deference to traditionally more powerful branches of government. The recent democratic transitions occurring in the African nations of South Africa and Uganda provide a unique, contemporary insight into the formation of a constitutional jurisprudence. This study is an examination of pivotal cases decided by the Constitutional Courts of South Africa and Uganda, the roles that these decisions play in political stability, and the potential for political bias …

African Judicial Review, The Use Of Comparative African Jurisprudence, And The Judicialization Of Politics, Joseph M. Isanga

Joseph Isanga

This Article examines African constitutional courts’ jurisprudence—that is, jurisprudence of courts that exercise judicial review—and demonstrates the increasing role of sub-Saharan Africa’s constitutional courts in the development of policy, a phenomenon commonly referred to as 'judicialization of politics' or a country’s 'judicialization project.' This Article explores the jurisprudence of constitutional courts in select African countries and specifically focuses on the promotion of democracy, respect for human rights, and the rule of law, and presupposes that although judges often take a positivist approach to adjudication, they do impact policy nevertheless. The use of judicial review in Africa has been painfully slow, …

Kadhi's Courts And Kenya's Constitution: An International Human Rights Perspective, Joseph M. Isanga

Joseph Isanga

This article examines Kenya's international human rights obligations and finds that there is support for religious courts, provided relevant human rights guarantees are ensured. Kenya's Kadhi's courts have existed in the constitution since independence from the British. So why do some religious groups now oppose them or their enhancement under Kenya's Constitution? Opponents of Kadhi's courts advance, inter aha, the following arguments. First, Kadhi's courts provisions favour one religion and divide Kenyans along religious lines. Second, they introduce Sharia law. Third, the historical reasons for their existence have been overtaken by events. Fourth, non-Muslims shouldn't be taxed to fund a …

The Relevance Of Fatf’S Recommendations And Fourth Round Of Mutual Evaluations To The Legal Profession, Laurel S. Terry, José Carlos Llerena Robles

Laurel S. Terry

The Icc And The Security Council: How Much Support Is There For Ending Impunity?, 26 Ind. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 33 (2016), Stuart Ford

Stuart Ford

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Arbitration In Resolving Transnational Disputes: A Survey Of Trends In The People’S Republic Of China, Catherine A. Rogers, Frederick Brown

Catherine Rogers

The purpose of this Essay is to provide investors and practitioners with a realistic overview of the strengths and limitations of international arbitration in China. Part I of this Essay provides some general comments about the economic, social, and cultural reasons why arbitration is a popular choice among both international investors and Chinese nationals. Part I concludes that arbitration can only provide a partial solution to the ills of China’s legal system. Part II examines how the observations in Part I manifest themselves in recent developments affecting arbitration in China. Part III examines the range of efforts by foreign investors …

Terrorist Acts – Crimes Or Political Infractions? An Appraisal Of Recent French Extradition Cases, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

This article examines the progression of French jurisprudence on the extradition of transnational terrorists, focusing upon the issue of whether terrorist acts can be considered legally to be political offenses and hence exempt from extradition. The analysis of this issue integrates French judicial decisions into the general context of international practice – beginning with an assessment of extradition procedures and proceeding to a discussion of the special problems raised by the application of the political offense exception. A survey of international extradition decisional law reveals that the tribunals of various countries have elaborated a series of tests by which to …

The 1976 Terrorism Amendment To The Foreign Assistance Act Of 1961, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Richard Lillich

Thomas Carbonneau

Key to any successful attempt to combat international terrorism is the elimination of sanctuary and safe-haven for terrorists. The United States has pressed consistently for international agreements – the anti-hijacking conventions and the Internationally Protected Persons Convention being examples – requiring States either to prosecute or extradite international terrorists found within their borders. Because its efforts to establish a "basic extradite-or-prosecute obligation" have not met with general success, the U.S. has had to consider, among other alternatives, various unilateral responses to help curb terrorist activities. One obvious response, drawing upon a wealth of domestic precedents, involves the possible invocation of …

Rendering Arbitral Awards With Reasons: The Elaboration Of Common Law Of International Transactions, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

With the growth of international trade, arbitration has emerged as the preferred remedy for resolving private international commercial disputes. In fact, among major Western legal systems such as those of England, the United States and France, statutory and decisional law developments indicate a nearly complete acceptance of international arbitral adjudication. This recognition of arbitral procedure and the enforcement of awards, which are given uniform legal recognition and enforcement by domestic legal systems, either as provisions in international conventions or as principles of national statutory or decisional law. These rules, in effect, represent an international consensus on arbitration and constitute a …

Debating The Proper Role Of National Law Under The New York Convention, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

One of the many consequences of the progressive development of globalization apparently has been to incite a vigorous debate among leading members of the international arbitral community about the role of national law in implementing the enforcement regime of the New York Arbitration Convention (Convention). The debate was provoked by federal court rulings in two recent cases: Chromalloy Aeroservices v. Arab Republic of Egypt (Chromalloy) and Alghanim & Sons v. Toys"R" Us (Toys "R" Us). Prior to these opinions, there appeared to have been an implicit consensus in the international community regarding the "anational"character of …

The Extraterritorial Reach Of Sovereign Debt Enforcement, 12 Berkeley Bus. L.J. 111 (2015), Karen H. Cross

Karen Halverson Cross

A significant barrier to enforcing sovereign debt obligations in U.S. court has been finding and attaching non-immune assets of the foreign sovereign debtor. In June 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions in litigation between Argentina and hedge fund NML Capital that will significantly benefit creditors in the enforcement process. In one decision, the Court affirmed an order to compel banks to provide information as to how Argentina moves its monetary assets around the world, finding that the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) does not limit a court's power to order post-judgment discovery. In the other decision, the Court …

Cumulation Of Import Statistics In Injury Investigations Before The International Trade Commission, 7 Nw. J. Int'l L. & Bus. 433 (1986), William B.T. Mock

William B.T. Mock

No abstract provided.

Consular Notification For Dual Nationals, 38 S. Ill. U. L.J. 73 (2013), Mark E. Wojcik

Mark E. Wojcik

In a case against the United States brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Mexico sought to protect the rights of fifty-four Mexican nationals who had been arrested in the United States for various crimes and put on trial without being informed of their rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR). These fifty-four Mexican nationals all faced the death penalty in various states of the United States. Shortly after filing its case in Avena and Other Mexican Nationals, however, Mexico dropped from the case one Mexican national who was also a citizen of the United States. The …

Letting The Arbitrator Decide Unconscionability Challenges, 26 Ohio St. J. On Disp. Resol. 1 (2011), Karen H. Cross

Karen Halverson Cross

This article examines how courts are allocating jurisdictional questions relating to unconscionability to the arbitrator, and assesses the approach of U.S. courts to this issue from a historical and comparative perspective. The U.S. allocation rule is evolving toward one of deference to the arbitrator, allowing the arbitrator to make an initial determination of whether there is an enforceable agreement to arbitrate. As a matter of timing, the U.S. approach is becoming more similar to that of France. Such an approach, especially in the commercial sphere, has the potential to be relatively efficient and consistent. But in the context of mandatory …

Gregory C. Shaffer, Defending Interests: Public-Private Partnerships In Wto Litigation, 39 J. World Trade 387 (2005), Karen Cross

Karen Halverson Cross

No abstract provided.

King Cotton, Developing Countries And The "Peace Clause": The Wto's U.S. Cotton Subsidies Decision, 9 J. Int'l Econ. L. 149 (2006), Karen Cross

Karen Halverson Cross

No abstract provided.

Arbitration As A Means Of Resolving Sovereign Debt Disputes, 17 Am. Rev. Int'l Arb. 335 (2006), Karen Cross

Karen Halverson Cross

No abstract provided.

Parol Evidence Under The Cisg: The "Homeward Trend" Reconsidered, 68 Ohio St. L.J. 133 (2007), Karen H. Cross

Karen Halverson Cross

The CISG has been described as one of history 's most successful attempts to harmonize international commercial law. Consistent with its goal of harmonizing the law of international sales, Article 7(1) of the CISG instructs courts and arbitrators to interpret the Convention in light of "its international character and the need to promote uniformity in its application. " MCC-Marble v. Ceramica Nuova D'Agostina is a U.S. decision that has been praised for its adherence to Article 7(1). In contrast with conventional academic commentary, which praises MCC-Marble and criticizes the tendency of courts to interpret the CISG in light of their …

Converging Trends In Investment Treaty Practice, 38 N.C. J. Int’L & Com. Reg. 151 (2012), Karen H. Cross

Karen Halverson Cross

No abstract provided.

China's Wto Accession: Economic, Legal, And Political Implications, 27 B.C. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 319 (2004), Karen H. Cross

Karen Halverson Cross

This Article discusses the unparalleled economic, legal, and political change that has confronted China during WTO accession. The Article focuses on the relationship between China's unique WTO accession process and China's reform over the past two decades. The author suggests that WTO accession has acted as a lever for economic and legal reform by locking in reform and making it irrevocable. The Article begins with a historical background of China's long road to accession and the way that this process worked to further the previously instated economic reform program. Next, the Article analyzes the manner in which WTO accession has …

Wigmore's Treasure Box: Comparative Law In The Era Of Information, Annelise Riles

Annelise Riles

This article revisits the work of a canonical but quixotic figure in early American comparative law, John Henry Wigmore, as a lens through which to imagine what comparative law's role might be in the era of globalization. Wigmore's "pictorial method", compared here to the "treasure boxes" of Ming and Ch'ing Dynasty Chinese emperors, in which precious objects of different scales and eras were appreciated aesthetically side by side, presents a challenge to the many "modernist" approaches to comparative law in existence today. An exploration of the intellectual history of comparative law through the disjuncture of Wigmore's work engenders a treatment …

Cisg Translation Issues: Reducing Legal Babelism, Claire M. Germain

Claire Germain

The CISG (Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods) has remarkably facilitated commercial transactions across boundaries and different legal systems. This article, to be published as a Book Chapter, discusses some possible difficulties caused by using different languages, or words which might be interpreted differently, and some solutions and ways to deal with these difficulties. Three kinds of issues have appeared: the first has to do with drafting issues, and the peculiar problem of the six official languages of the Convention. The second set of issues deals with the interpretation of the Convention and the so-called homeward trend. …

Counting Once, Counting Twice: The Precarious State Of Subsidy Regulation, Wentong Zheng

Wentong Zheng

Subsidy regulation is in a precarious state. While it has been so ever since the conception of the current subsidy regulation regime, the recent disputes between the United States and China over the “double counting” or “double remedies” of subsidies have threatened the mere functionality of the current regime. This Article argues that the double counting controversy reveals the self-contradictions of the current subsidy regulation regime as to the fundamental question of why subsidies need to be regulated. These self-contradictions make it impossible to devise a coherent solution to the double counting problem within the framework of the current subsidy …

Welfare Standards In U.S. And E.U. Antitrust Enforcement, Roger D. Blair, D. Daniel Sokol

D. Daniel Sokol

The potential goals of antitrust are numerous. Goals matter to antitrust. We believe that it is total welfare rather than consumer welfare that should drive antitrust analysis. We use this Article as an opportunity to explore both a comparative analysis of welfare standards across E. U. and US. competition systems and the impact of welfare standards on global antitrust systemwide welfare.

In this Article, we analyze two types of situations in which there would be a different outcome based on the goal implemented. One scenario involves resale price maintenance (RPM). For RPM, we argue that even if there were a …

The Legal Clinic Is More Than A Sign On The Door: Transforming Law School Education In Revolutionary Egypt, Stephen Rosenbaum

Stephen A. Rosenbaum

No abstract provided.

Transparency In International Economic Relations And The Role Of The Wto, Padideh Ala'i , Matthew D'Orsi

Padideh Ala'i

You Say You Want A (Nonviolent) Revolution, Well Then What? Translating Western Thought, Strategic Ideological Cooptation, And Institution Building For Freedom For Governments Emerging Out Of Peaceful Chaos, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

With nonviolent revolution in particular, displaced governments leave a power and governance vacuum waiting to be filled. Such vacuums are particularly susceptible to what this Article will call “strategic ideological cooptation.” Following the regime disruption, peaceful chaos transitions into a period in which it is necessary to structure and order the emergent governance scheme. That period in which the new government scheme emerges is particularly fraught with danger when growing from peaceful chaos because nonviolent revolutions tend to be decentralized, unorganized, unsophisticated, and particularly vulnerable to cooptation. Any external power wishing to influence events in societies emerging out of peaceful …

America Giveth, And America Taketh Away: The Fate Of Article 9 After The Futenma Base Dispute, Allen P. Mendenhall

Allen Mendenhall

This Article considers how the Obama administration’s policies toward Japan implicate Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. More specifically, it argues that the Futenma base dispute (as it has come to be known) jeopardizes the very existence of Article 9 by threatening to render it moot and by expanding the already expansive interpretations of Article 9. Part I provides a brief history of the Futenma base dispute during the Obama years, and Part II explains the effects of the Futenma base dispute on Article 9. More specifically, Part II contextualizes the Futenma issue by way of the legislative and judicial …