Digital Commons Network^™

The Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025: Policy, Politics, And Performance, Noor Ameena

Journal of Law and Public Policy

This legislative note examines The Waqf (Amendment) Act at the intersection of religious minority rights and state control. It begins by outlining the concept of waqfs, their significance in the Muslim world, types of waqfs, and modalities of their creation. Providing a brief history of the regulation of waqfs, it highlights the close connection of these Muslim religious endowments with the history of Hindu religious endowments. It evaluates the 2025 legal developments across three key areas: (i) family waqfs, testamentary succession, and gender, (ii) ‘government property’, waqfs, and state appropriation, and (iii) waqf regulation as a potential infringement on religious …

Escaping Quarantine: Marine Hospitals, The Constitution Act, 1867 And Canada’S First Federal Health Care Program, Dan Dwyre

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

Previous scholarship has argued that the enumeration of marine hospitals as a federal head of power in the Constitution Act, 1867 reflected a national concern over immigration and quarantine. This article disputes that. Using primary sources, this paper demonstrates that Canadian marine hospitals were established in port communities to provide for the general health of itinerant merchant sailors, who would otherwise be a burden on local hospitals and charitable organizations. The article concludes that marine hospitals can be viewed in retrospect as one of Canada’s first federal health care programs.

One Step Further: An Overview Of Canada’S Past And Present Responses To Homelessness And The Argument For Alternative Conceptions Of Property Ownership, Logan Billard

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

Homelessness in Canada continues to worsen year after year. Despite the shift from punitive, neoliberal policies to a human rights-based model, homelessness remains a national crisis. Federal initiatives like the National Housing Strategy Act and the Housing First Model aim to provide stable housing, but their impact remains limited. This paper explores the structural factors contributing to homelessness, including poverty, housing financialization, and systemic discrimination, particularly against Indigenous communities. It also highlights the limitations of the current human rights-based approach, focussing on the lack of enforceability and failure to create substantial, sustainable change due to systemic reliance on the financialization …

The Weight Of Discretion: Examining Perceptions, Decision-Making, And Overrepresentation In Canada's Youth Criminal Justice System, Adrienne Graham

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) has changed the way that youth encounter Canada’s criminal justice system. While the reintegration and rehabilitation goals of the YCJA have decreased overall youth custody rates, Black and Indigenous youth continue to be treated differently than other youth. This paper examines the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous youth in the criminal justice system, the impact of poverty on police oversurveillance, various policing practices, and the role of extrajudicial measures. Through discussing youth perceptions on police legitimacy alongside police perceptions of youth, this paper will demonstrate that in order to further the principles …

Making, Remaking: India’S Museums And The Imagination Of Citizenship, Deepti Mulgund

Socio-Legal Review

The National Museum of the Indian republic, in Delhi, is slated to overtake the Louvre, Paris as the largest museum in the world, as per its expansion plans. Elsewhere in the country, too, a growing interest in seen in displaying, showcasing and deploying culture in the form of mega museums, many backed by private funding. The interest and investment in museum-making, only seems to be growing. Since at least the late-18^th century, the art museum in modern polities has been tasked with the project of schooling peoples into citizens. Evaluating the premise that museums produce citizens, this article reflects …

International Law Situations: Humanitarian Corridors, Raul (Pete) Pedrozo

International Law Studies

This Situation examines the use of humanitarian corridors during an international armed conflict. While humanitarian corridors are not defined in international law, they have been used both on land and at sea to evacuate non-combatants, allow for the provision of humanitarian relief supplies, and provide for the safe passage of neutral shipping in areas of ongoing conflict.

The Case For The Exclusion Of Exclusion: Intellectual Property, Masculine Legal Reason, And The Ethics Of Care, Ragya Shoukry

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that current legal ideals of objectivity and neutrality are historically gendered and inseparable from the development of capitalist property relations and imperial expansion. It traces origins that begin with early modern witch hunts and Francis Bacon’s empiricism, where a new “scientific rationality” emerges alongside intensified patriarchal violence. The thesis then examines John Locke’s labour-based justification of property and the figure of the rational individual, showing how this framework legitimizes enclosure, dispossession and colonial appropriation under the guise of improvement and development. Building on this foundation, the analysis turns to moral psychology and how its allegedly universal stage …

Message From The Minister Of National Education On The Launch Of The Moroccan Review Of Law, Economics And Development, Azzeddine Iraqi

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

This opening message by the Minister of National Education, Dr. Azzeddine Iraqi, marks the launch of the Moroccan Review of Law, Economics and Development. It praises the Faculty’s initiative to create a journal linking teaching and research, and highlights the academic needs that the journal is intended to serve.

Engaging Immigrant Families Of Children With Disabilities: Recommendations For Practitioners, Robai N. Werunga, John William Mckenna, Rocio Rosales

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

Family involvement is essential for positive school outcomes. Yet research suggests that family engagement for students with disabilities may be marked by conflict. Furthermore, creating an environment that promotes active engagement for immigrant families may be challenging. In this paper, we synthesize existing research, legal guidance, and community-engaged insights to present four practice-oriented recommendations for educators and practitioners working with immigrant families of children with disabilities. Grounded in Hans and Love’s stages of immigrant family engagement, these recommendations aim to support meaningful and culturally responsive participation in special education processes.

Reframing Narratives: Remedies For Improved Human Trafficking Coverage, Stefanie Henriques

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

The global rise in human trafficking is not receiving adequate media attention. While newspaper coverage of the topic has increased, current research argues that the issue is framed with a lack of diversity, limiting audience understanding of its complexity. Some researchers also note that coverage disproportionately focuses on sex trafficking, with minimal attention directed to other forms of trafficking such as the labor or organ trade. This paper conducts a narrative literature analysis of media research on human trafficking, drawing on framing theory to identify dominant frames in media messaging and synthesize cross-cultural factors that impact how the issue is …

Evaluating Legal Frameworks For The Protection Of Consumers Of Digital Financial Services: Global Trends And Their Significance For Vietnam, Ha Son Nguyen, Lanh Dinh Cao, Nguyen Dinh Phan

International Journal on Consumer Law and Practice

The development of digital financial services (DFS) in the context of global digital transformation poses fundamental challenges for the legal framework for consumer protection, particularly in developing countries such as Vietnam. This article argues that the sectoral approach currently adopted in Vietnam, with rules dispersed across various specialized statutes, has created a structurally significant legal gap, a lack of consistency in protection standards, and limitations on effective coordination among regulatory authorities. It thereby undermines the law’s capacity to protect consumers in the highly cross-sectoral environment of digital finance.

Through an analytical and comparative approach that draws on the experiences of …

Land Forward: Planning For Legal Reforms To Facilitate Land Back And Community-Driven Relocation In Response To Climate Change, E. Barrett Ristroph

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

Indigenous and other place-based communities face the loss of their homes due to climate change. The practices that have led to the current climate crisis have also contributed to the historical dispossession and marginalization of these communities. United States laws and programs already provide for land transfers to federally recognized tribes, home buyouts for households in hazard-prone areas, and community development. But these laws and programs are piecemeal, reactive, and often inaccessible to the communities most in need. They do not provide a streamlined method for tribes to regain lands needed for rematriation and adaptation. Nor do they allow place-based …

Soaring To New Heights Through The Lens Of The Scarlet Macaw–A Post-Loper Bright Interpretation Of The Endangered Species Act’S “Significant Portion Of Its Range” For A Climate-Driven “Foreseeable Future”, Kathryn Wood

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Comment will argue for particular interpretations of “significant portion of its range” and “foreseeable future” under the ESA to prioritize species preservation in the face of climate change.

The analysis begins by describing key aspects of the ESA, including its historical background, its conceptual definitions, its prescribed method for determining endangered species and threatened species, its listing process, and critical habitat requirements. This Comment then discusses climate change as a source of threat and endangerment “within the foreseeable future,” and whether acts worsening climate change can constitute an unlawful taking. Next, this Comment considers how the Supreme Court’s decision …

They, The People, Ammel Sharon

Socio-Legal Review

This essay engages with Rohit De and Ornit Shani’s Assembling India’s Constitution by situating it within a broader conceptual history of “the people.” While the book offers a compelling account of participatory constitution-making, the essay suggests that it opens up further questions about the conceptual and historical conditions shaping the people as a political subject. Drawing on contemporary political theory on populism, the essay explores how politics invokes the people through affective and performative practices alongside constitutional forms.

A Fission Decision: The Case For Extending Diablo Canyon’S Nuclear Operation, Isabelle Tyler

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Article examines the regulatory decisions and policy debates surrounding Diablo Canyon in the wake of recent legislation aimed at extending the plant’s operational timeline. Presenting a balanced analysis of the arguments both for and against the closure, this Article explores how the new bill reshapes the conversation around the plant’s future. While proponents of the shutdown emphasize safety concerns and the goal of an all-renewable grid, this Article argues that closing Diablo Canyon would hinder California’s decarbonization efforts and jeopardize energy reliability amid increasing power shortages and extreme weather events. By analyzing legal precedents, energy data, and environmental impacts, …

International Commitments Of Japan’S Prefectures With Foreign States: Empirical Patterns, Authority, And Legal Nature, Yuhei Matsuyama

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Under international law, sovereign states are the primary subjects of rights and obligations and possess the authority to conclude treaties. Domestic constitutions typically allocate foreign affairs powers to national governments. Nonetheless, subnational governments—including prefectures—regularly engage in international activities. In some federal systems, constituent units are expressly authorized by their constitutions to conclude international agreements. By contrast, the Constitution of Japan vests foreign affairs authority exclusively in the national executive and is silent on the authority of prefectural governments. This Article uncovers and analyzes approximately 180 previously unexamined international commitments concluded by Japanese prefectural governments with foreign states, identified through information …

Nanosecond Policies: Comparing Us And Chinese Approaches To High-Frequency Trading Regulation, Bilal Laghari

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

High frequency trading has transformed global financial markets, introducing both efficiency gains and significant regulatory concerns. This Note analyzes the divergent approaches of the United States and China in regulating high frequency trading, focusing on how each system addresses issues of market manipulation, information asymmetry, and systemic risk. It contends that the United States’ reliance on outdated and indirect regulatory mechanisms, such as Regulation NMS, has failed to keep pace with technological advancements. In contrast, China’s more recent and targeted regulatory framework provides clearer guidance and stronger oversight of high frequency trading practices. This Note concludes that a hybrid approach, …

The Law And Policy Of Gender Provisions In Multilateral And Regional Trade Governance, Maria Panezi

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Trade is neither gender-neutral in its design nor in its outcomes. This Article offers a bird's-eye view of the law and policy of gender provisions in multilateral and regional trade governance, examines the conceptual boundaries of incorporating gender into trade policy, and evaluates legal and policy approaches that can make trade more responsive to the asymmetries that disproportionately affect women. Using Canada as a case study, the Article examines one of the most comprehensive national frameworks for mainstreaming gender in trade, including the Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) methodology and the inclusion of dedicated gender and trade chapters in several …

Colliding Interests: Solving The Space Debris Crisis Through Us-China Cooperation, Grace E. Mannion

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

As human activity in outer space accelerates, the accumulation of space debris in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) presents an increasingly urgent threat to global infrastructure, economic stability, and the future of space exploration. This Note examines the regulatory and geopolitical challenges underlying the space debris crisis, with particular attention to the fragmented nature of existing international legal frameworks. Current regimes, including the Outer Space Treaty and the Liability Convention, establish broad principles of cooperation and liability but fail to meaningfully address the rapid growth of orbital debris driven by both state and commercial actors. Focusing on the United States and …

Rethinking International Armed Conflict: Legal Challenges In The Age Of Hybrid Warfare, Oleksandr Havryshuk, Roman Hryshchenko

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The binary classification of armed conflicts under international humanitarian law (IHL) — distinguishing international armed conflicts (IACs) from non-international armed conflicts (NIACs) — was forged in the aftermath of World War II and increasingly fails to capture the realities of twenty-first century warfare. Hybrid tactics, cyber operations, the proliferation of private military companies (PMCs), the expanding role of non-state actors, and the near-disappearance of formal declarations of war have eroded the analytical utility of the existing framework, generating legal uncertainty and weakening protections for affected populations. This Article critically examines the conceptual foundations of IAC as set out in Common …

Necessary Biosafety Precautions For Patented Gmos: Ramifications Of Inconsistent Parties Between The Cartagena Protocol And Trips Agreement, Lauren Clements

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Genetically Modified Organisms (“GMOs”) compose a class of potentially patentable biotechnology that are prominent in international markets. Developed countries like the United States, function as leading producers of these patented GMOs and therefore play a significant role in their development and transnational export. Minimum protections for these forms of biotechnology are outlined in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS Agreement”), which permits the patenting of GMOs that ultimately enter the stream of international commerce. Notwithstanding the potential risks GMOs present to the environment, public health, and the economy, the TRIPS Agreement fails to address any form …

Navigating The Legal Waters Of Privatized Commodities And Human Rights: An Exploration Of The Tension Between Water As A Human Right And Water As Investment Property Under International Law, Ella Capen

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

This Note examines the clash between domestic law and international law within the context of Chile’s 2022 modification to the 1981 Water Code as the country transitions from treating water as a privatized commodity to water as a public good. Chile’s 1981 Water Code emerged against the backdrop of a neoliberal economic regime and privatization scheme enabled by the United States and enforced by dictator Augusto Pinochet. This Note reveals the potential difficulties in unraveling established economic and legal foundations, and the conflicts between bilateral investment treaties and local legislation that mutually govern property rights. By examining Chile’s domestic Law …

Green Technology And International Patents: Incentivizing Innovation Or Blocking Access?, Matteo Rizzi

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

As the global climate crisis intensifies, the transition to clean energy technologies has become an urgent priority for the world's largest carbon dioxide emitters: China, the United States, and India. This Note examines how patent law can serve as a critical instrument in accelerating that transition. The patent system’s core quid pro quo grants inventors exclusive rights in exchange for public disclosure, creating powerful incentives for innovation. Yet the law’s failure to require active use of patented technologies has enabled a range of anticompetitive behaviors, including patent trolling, patent warehousing, and the accumulation of dormant patent portfolios, that allow proprietary …

Sdilj V. 27-2 Masthead

San Diego International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Home Is Not Always Where The Heart Is: Examining The Inadequacy Of Legal Measures In The Deportation Of American Intercountry Adoptees, Katie X. Kaessinger, Esq.

San Diego International Law Journal

Despite entering the United States legally as children through intercountry adoption, thousands of American adoptees face deportation as adults because their parents failed to finalize their citizenship. Many of these adoptees have no meaningful linguistic, cultural, or familiar ties to their birth countries, and most have lived in the United States practically their entire lives. This Article explores the legal implications regarding the deportation of intercountry adoptees. More specifically, this Article argues that the deportation of intercountry adoptees reflects a grave systemic failure that violates international human rights law, rather than a mere shortcoming of domestic immigration policy.

Consulting various …

From Party Policy To Law: The Formalization Of The Chinese Communist Party’S Role In State-Owned Enterprise Governance, Jie Zeng

San Diego International Law Journal

For the first time, grassroots branches of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were formally granted leadership roles and major decision-making authority under Chinese Company Law in 2024. This change has made China the only jurisdiction that has, at the national law level, authorized its main political party to engage directly in corporate governance without being a shareholder. While this may appear to be the result of President Xi Jinping’s party-building campaign, party involvement in corporate governance goes back to the Maoist era. This Article examines the evolution of state-owned enterprise (SOE) governance from 1949 to the present, illustrating that even …

Invisible Nations: Self-Determination As A Legal Shield For The World’S Last Isolated Peoples, Paige Schacher

San Diego International Law Journal

This Comment examines the legal and ethical considerations of self-determination as applied to the world’s last uncontacted tribes—indigenous communities that live isolated from mainstream society. While the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) established a foundational framework for uncontacted tribes’ right to self-determination, its implementation in practice faces jurisdictional, ethical, and legal issues. By examining international and domestic legal instruments, case studies from India and Brazil, and the evolving role of artificial intelligence in indigenous land monitoring, this Comment argues that domestic and international bodies must collaborate to enforce more tailored protections to guard the autonomy …

V. 17, 2026 Masthead

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

No abstract provided.

How States Can React To The “Summer Of Flooding,” Increase Flood Insurance Coverage, And Improve Flood Resiliency, Perry S. Warren, Esq., Joseph P. Keller, Esq.

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

Summer 2025 was the United States’ “summer of flooding,” as shown by four one-in-1,000-year rainfall events that occurred during a single week in July. Because flood damage is not covered under a standard homeowners, renters, or commercial insurance policy, many individuals and businesses affected by these storms will face difficulties repairing their property unless they purchased flood insurance. As flood risks increase due to climate change, flood insurance will become increasingly unaffordable unless governments intervene.

In 2024, Pennsylvania became the first and only state that established a Flood Insurance Premium Assistance Task Force. The Task Force issued nine recommendations calculated …

Back To Intent: Revamping California’S Flagship Environmental Legislation And Tackling The Rise Of The “Super-Commuter”, Jordan Q. Davis

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

The passage of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in 1970 has long been considered a watershed moment in the evolution of government participation in environmental issues. In the years since, CEQA has played a pivotal role in protecting Californians’ access to the beautiful nature offered by the Golden State. However, the very regulation that has been repeatedly relied upon to breathe clean air and drink clean water may very well be an instrument upon which Californians could return to smog-ridden skies. In this regard, CEQA’s biggest vulnerability may come from a most unexpected place: its strength.

The tools by …