Digital Commons Network^™

Reconstruction And Repatriation Of Looted Cultural Heritage Property: Ownership Mechanism, Yichi Zhang

School of Public Policy Capstones

The frequent foreign invasions and widespread social instability during World War II led to the displacement and loss of countless cultural relics across borders. Many of these artifacts ended up in countries with limited historical and cultural ties to them, resulting in a lack of intrinsic understanding and root connection to their origins. This root disconnection often represents the recipient nations viewing these artifacts through a lens of ownership rather than heritage, perceiving them as property or commodities instead as invaluable representations of ancient civilizations (Boz, 2023). The commodification approach fueled the illicit trade and trafficking of cultural property but …

Replicating Reality: Is Trademark Use In The Metaverse Commercial Or Expressive?, Vito Quaglia

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This Note will examine how trademark law should be applied to emerging digital spaces known as metaverses, which can function as both new-age video games and digital marketplaces. The Note will first explain the concept of the metaverse. Next, it will lay out the current landscape of trademark law as it is applied to marks in artistic works, including First Amendment protections for artistic relevance. Then, the Note will illustrate trademark infringement lawsuits dealing with fashion and digital media. Following that, this Note will detail how trademark law is applied to video games, especially in cases involving artistic expression. The …

Long Live The Good King: Arthur’S Niebuhrian Kingship And Pursuit Of Justice In The Once And Future King, Camille Bewley

Harding Undergraduate Research Conference

The classic The Once and Future King, written by T.H. White, is a selection of four fantasy novels with one, linear plot: the story of Arthur, the mythological King of England. Reinhold Niebuhr’s book Moral Man and Immoral Society details the Christian realism of a world in need of justice without the ability to achieve perfect application. Through good education, Arthur is well endowed with Niebuhr’s requirements for a functional society: knowledge, honor, wisdom, and compassion. Such king-like qualities make him one of the most influential mythological characters in history, and a grand exemplar for maintaining ethical goals and personal …

Burying The Icepick: Why And How The United States Should End Its Dispute With Canada Over The Legal Status Of The Northwest Passage, Ryan Weber

William & Mary Law Review Online

This Note argues that the United States should work with Canada to pass an amendment to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that allows Canada to legally claim the Northwest Passage as internal waters. While the United States has long championed freedom of navigation, important U.S. security, environmental, and diplomatic interests weigh in favor of a legal regime that allows Canada to exercise complete control over the Northwest Passage. However, UNCLOS does not currently support Canada’s claim. Thus, the best means of accomplishing this objective is for the United States to work with Canada to …

The Wrongly Read Right: Insurrection And The Second Amendment Right To Bear Arms, Aman Mcleod, Jacob M. Jones

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Several judges and scholars have interpreted the Second Amendment as creating a right to bear arms to facilitate armed resistance against the government whenever it threatens to impose tyranny. These arguments have been made in books, scholarly articles, and court decisions. Many of the proponents of the pro-armed insurrection interpretation of the Second Amendment root this point of view in the history of the right to bear arms in the Anglo-American legal tradition. This Article argues that the Second Amendment does not create a right to bear arms to resist government authority because such a right is inconsistent with several …

Big Business As Gun Control, David B. Kopel, George A. Mocsary, Bhav Ninder Singh

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Gun control increasingly bypasses direct legislative enactments by co-opting the commercial marketplace. Financial institutions and insurers often face regulatory pressures, frequently articulated through vague notions of “reputational risk,” to terminate or restrict services for lawful firearms businesses and advocacy groups. The debanking tactic, seen in initiatives such as Operation Choke Point, can deny essential financial products to firearm owners, merchants, and organizations, curtailing the practical exercise of constitutionally protected rights. Simultaneously, government agencies sometimes pursue warrantless data collection from bank records and merchant category codes, building profiles of lawful purchasers and eroding privacy and due-process norms.

Social media platforms compound …

Dangerous And Unusual: How Heller’S Ahistorical Assumption Violates The Founders’ Original Intent, Oliver Krawczyk, Gilbert Ambler

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

When the U.S. Supreme Court ended its generational silence on the Second Amendment in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Court held that “a prohibition of an entire class of ‘arms’ that is overwhelmingly chosen by American society” is “invalid.” In so holding, the Court suggested that the Constitution protects only those weapons “in common use at the time,” a limitation thought to be “fairly supported by the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of ‘dangerous and unusual weapons.’” The Court defined none of these terms then, and it has not since.

Over a decade of constitutional infidelity ensued. …

Table Of Contents

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unraveling The War Powers Resolution’S Role In Cyber Warfare, Zach Irwin

Washington and Lee Law Review

The evolution of warfare in the digital age has transformed the battlefield. Conflicts are fought with advanced technology, and traditional combat activities grow increasingly obsolete. This shift raises a critical question: Has the existing legal framework, including foundational war powers legislation, kept pace with this technological transformation? In exploring the governance of cyber warfare under the War Powers Resolution, this Note begins by examining the unique characteristics and devastating potential of cyber warfare. The analysis then turns to the War Powers Resolution, providing a historical overview of its enactment, a textual analysis of its provisions, and an exploration of how …

Assessing The Accelerated Threat Of Bioterrorism In The Age Of Ai, Janelle Radcliffe

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Note argues that the accelerated use and growth of easily accessible artificial intelligence systems will result in malicious individuals using artificial intelligence to engage in acts of bioterrorism. Part I will discuss how artificial intelligence works generally. Part II will discuss how AI can be used in carrying out attacks of bioterrorism. Part III will discuss suggested governmental regulations, including the creation of a new Data Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Artificial Intelligence Regulating Department that can conduct the evaluation and limitation of publicly available information, use threat modeling to strengthen biosecurity measures, make artificial intelligence use in terrorism a criminal …

Drawing Lines In The Sand: Armed Conflict, Climate Damage And Setbacks To Climate Action, Beatrice L. Hamilton

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Armed conflicts have a significant and detrimental effect on the climate system, with considerable implications for efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change and the civilian population. Yet the environmental provisions under the law of armed conflict (LOAC), drafted some half a century ago, struggle to adequately address these concerns. This article assesses the capacity of LOAC to address conflict-driven climate damage and its cascading impacts by characterizing these harms as environmental damage and as injury to civilians. The analysis highlights opportunities for broadening LOA C's scope and offers recommendations to enhance its capacity to address climate damage and …

Making Super Soldiers: Command Authority And The Implications Of “Getting To Yes”, Christopher J. Lin

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

The capability and will to enhance soldiers’ minds and bodies for warfare have existed throughout the centuries and across nations, from Ancient Greek hoplites partaking in wine before battle to calm nerves, to American servicemembers consuming amphetamines to remain awake during long-range reconnaissance missions in the Vietnam War. With advancements in biomedical technology, certain types of enhancements entail modifications with varying degrees of permanence to enhance battlefield performance. This Article explores the historical context and contemporary developments of biomedical enhancements, with a focus on the longstanding deference to military command authority regarding issues of individual autonomy. By examining the impacts …

Taking Revolution Seriously, Zohra Ahmed

Michigan Law Review

A review of Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt. By Orisanmi Burton.

Just To Be Safe, Let’S Keep Ignoring What “Arms” Meant In 1791, Jack Thorlin

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The Supreme Court held in District of Columbia v. Heller and reaffirmed in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen that “arms,” referred to in the Second Amendment, are common weapons useful for lawful purposes. The majority argued that militiamen fought with whatever common weapons they had on hand for civilian purposes, such as self-defense and hunting. Therefore, under Heller, only those weapons are covered by the Second Amendment. However, Heller did little to ground the “self-defense” theory of “arms” in original public meaning or even actual history. Commonality and lawful purpose have proved difficult for lower …

The Transition Process Of Syrian Refugee Families Separated By U.S. Immigration Law, Firas Aljijakli

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Refugees are regarded as one of the most pressing humanitarian issues worldwide due to intricate social, economic, and demographic factors. Changes in U.S. immigration policy across successive administrations, particularly regarding the refugee ban and the duration of the resettlement process, have significantly impacted admission procedures. Consequently, family separations occur during the resettlement process, compelling families to navigate immigration policies while managing the challenges of being apart. This separation from their children greatly affects refugees’ ability to integrate into American society.

The research examines how Syrian refugee families cope with the separation resulting from U. S. immigration law. An important lens …

Drowning In The Patent Pool: Is Statutory Invention Registration A Lifeguard?, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

Patents for inventions, available since the first Congress enacted the Patent Law of 1790, have been controversial. Defenders justify patents on the grounds that they are necessary to protect inventors from free riding—copying that would deprive the inventors of an opportunity to recover the costs of development. Detractors attack patents as unnecessary monopolies, thwarting innovation. The debate continues, even as the law itself has remained remarkably constant. Technology and industry structure have not remained constant, however. Patents have proliferated, resulting in patent thickets that make it impossible to create and market any innovative product without infringing hundreds of patents. Patent …

The Routine War Crime? Double-Tap Drone Strikes Under Customary International Humanitarian Law, Nathan Swenson

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

The "double-tap" drone strike tactic, in which a drone hits a target twice in rapid succession, has garnered much international attention in recent years. This paper assesses the legality of those strikes under conventional international humanitarian law, specifically within the framework of the Geneva Conventions. I argue that the double-tap tactic is not necessarily illegal if proper steps for compliance with international humanitarian law are taken by commanders. However, many circumstances demonstrate that appropriate measures are often not taken in the status quo. I argue that such situations should be deemed as war crimes and prosecuted accordingly by international legal …

Constitutional Iconoclasm, Andrew J. Lanham

Michigan Law Review

A review of The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them. By Aziz Rana.

Transnational Accountability For Space Debris As A Precursor To Maintaining Peace In Outer Space, Bella Alonzo

The International Law Review Association Student Forum

Beginning with the Space Age in the 1950s, space exploration has accelerated exponentially as humans on Earth are continuously drawn to the mystery and opportunity that lies in outer space. The United States (“U.S.”) and the Soviet Union led the charge in space discovery throughout the “Space Race,” and once other countries saw the value in developing the technology to utilize space as a resource, multiple nations followed suit. While the U.S. and Russia retain the most dominant presence in outer space, other global superpowers like China, India, and Japan have exhibited competitive capabilities.

The Problem Of Biased Precedents, Ronen Avraham, Issachar Rosen-Zvi

Cardozo Law Review

This Article addresses the problem ofbiased precedents, wherein sophisticated repeat players, often corporate and state entities armed with superior resources and a vested interest in shaping the law, manipulate legal proceedings to systematically establish self-advantageous precedents. Specifically, by strategically choosing to litigate cases they anticipate will lead to favorable precedents and settling those expected to produce unfavorable outcomes, these players systematically bias the law over time to their advantage, at the expense of one-shot parties and society at large. The problem of biased precedents challenges the commonly held view about the efficiency and fairness of the legal system and raises …

Distribution Comparisons Of Eac Cost Growth For Aircraft Work Breakdown Structure Elements, Kyle P. Marquis, Edward D. White, Brandon M. Lucas, Robert D. Fass, Jonathan D. Ritschel, Shawn M. Valentine

Faculty Publications

This article analyzes and investigates the distribution of cost growth of the Estimate at Completion (EAC) for the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) elements of approximately 60 historical United States Acquisition Category I Research, Development, Test and Evaluation aircraft programs. Using the method of maximum likelihood in conjunction with the Akaike Information Criterion, the authors suggest that both the lognormal and Weibull distributions provide relatively good fit to EAC cost growth, with the lognormal slightly edging out the Weibull. As a summarized finding, the authors present their empirical results for the mean, coefficient of variation (CV), the 15th and 85th percentiles …

Taking Revolution Seriously, Zohra Ahmed

Faculty Scholarship

Every so often, a prison strike will make national news, as it did in 2014, 2016, and 2018. ¹ The media will focus on the atrocious conditions of confinement; the unchecked violence; the wages numerated in pennies; and the state’s indifference to the strikers’ modest demands for food, medical care, and human contact.

Orisanmi Burton’s² book, Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt, urges us to process such reporting with a healthy dose of skepticism. What if prison rebellions were telling us something else, something even more important? What if they were …

Property And Prejudice, Fatma E. Marouf, Vanessa Casado Pérez

Faculty Scholarship

“Alien land laws”—laws restricting noncitizens from owning real property—are back. A dozen states have enacted such laws during the past year, and over thirty states have considered such bills. These new bills are rooted in xenophobia, much like their predecessors, but they also have unique characteristics. They single out governments, citizens, and corporations of specific countries perceived to pose a threat; they impose ownership restrictions based on arbitrary distances to U.S. military bases and critical infrastructure; they inflict particularly harsh penalties; and they try to ferret out foreign control in complex corporate structures. The purported justifications are national defense, food …

ข้อท้าทายทางกฎหมายในการปรับใช้กฎหมายมนุษยธรรมระหว่างประเทศและกฎหมายสิทธิมนุษยชนระหว่างประเทศ ต่อสถานการณ์ความขัดแย้งในพื้นที่จังหวัดชายแดนภาคใต้ (Legal Challenges In The Concurrent Application Of International Humanitarian Law And Human Rights Law To The Conflict In The Southern Border Of Thailand), Pimchanok Palasmith

Chulalongkorn University Law Journal

สถานการณ์ความขัดแย้งในพื้นที่จังหวัดชายแดนภาคใต้ของประเทศไทย เดิมถูกจัดเป็นการขัดกันทางอาวุธที่ไม่มีลักษณะระหว่างประเทศภายใต้กฎหมายมนุษยธรรมระหว่างประเทศ บทความนี้มีจุดประสงค์เพื่อเปิดโอกาสให้มีการประเมินการจำแนกประเภทการขัดกันทางอาวุธดังกล่าวใหม่ โดยพิจารณาจากพัฒนาการของสถานการณ์ความรุนแรง ประกอบกับองค์ประกอบของการขัดกันทางอาวุธที่ไม่มีลักษณะระหว่างประเทศ กล่าวคือ เกณฑ์ความรุนแรงและเกณฑ์การจัดตั้งของกลุ่มติดอาวุธ นอกจากนี้ บทความนี้จะวิเคราะห์ถึงผลกระทบจากการปรับใช้กฎหมายมนุษยธรรมระหว่างประเทศและกฎหมายสิทธิมนุษยชนระหว่างประเทศ ต่อสถานการณ์ความขัดแย้งในพื้นที่จังหวัดชายแดนภาคใต้ โดยนำเสนอว่าการบังคับใช้กฎหมายระหว่างประเทศดังกล่าว ก่อให้เกิดข้อท้าทายทางกฎหมายในการให้ความคุ้มครองสิทธิของผู้ที่ได้รับผลกระทบ กล่าวคือ สิทธิในชีวิต, สิทธิในเสรีภาพและสิทธิที่จะได้รับการเยียวยา ซึ่งข้อท้าทายเหล่านี้ส่งผลเป็นการลดทอนความคุ้มครองแก่บุคคลดังกล่าวภายใต้กฎหมายสิทธิมนุษยชนระหว่างประเทศ รวมทั้งมีผลกระทบในเชิงลบต่อสถานการณ์ความขัดแย้ง

Some Issues In Armed Conflict And Human Rights: Issues Toward Human Rights And Applicable Law In The Battlefield, Hiroshi Saito

Japanese Society and Culture

In recent years, Japan’s legal system regarding defense has improved, but little research has been conducted on what would happen if Japanese territory became a battlefield. Due to the Japan–US Security Treaty and the Japan–US Status of Forces Agreement, Japanese territory could technically become a space for armed conflict in the wake of US military action. If this happened, various legal issues would arise, but under the Japanese Constitution and domestic laws, which are primarily concerned with the protection of human rights, there would be a dual application of international humanitarian law and domestic laws including the Constitution. An important …

Deepfakes And Shallow Laws: Regulating Distorted Narratives In The Political Cyberspace, Shimona Mohan, Sarthak Wadhwa

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

With a sizable section of the global population witnessing electoral churn, protests, and resistance movements in the past couple of years, this is clearly a watershed moment for modern democracies vis-à-vis technological advancements. Electoral canvassing in these democracies has expanded its footprint in the digital space, be it through social media or navigating the general contours of anonymity, engagement, and misinformation that govern our online worlds. In this context, the advent of deepfakes in the recent past, and the exponential evolution of the technology both for outreach and disruption, has invited acute regulatory attention and intervention. However, traditional policy design …

Lawfare And Terrorism – Can Terrorism Justify The Use Of Force?, Joanna Siekiera

Graduate Research Conference (GSIS)

As the world became increasingly interconnected, the significance of international law has been augmented exponentially. International law encompasses a vast array of legal systems, written norms, and customary principles that govern the interactions between states, still being the primal and main norm creators, as well as to some extent international organizations, and other non-state actors (NSA) gaining more and more influence, and finally us - individuals. In recent times, the utilization of law as a tool of warfare has gained prominence, with public and private entities leveraging legal arguments and international institutions to achieve their military and political objectives. While …

The Frozen Sleeping Giant: How The U.S. Can Awaken To Arctic Challenges And Advance Its Northern Interests, Daniel White

Graduate Research Conference (GSIS)

For much of human history, the Arctic Ocean was persistently inaccessible to mass trade and transportation. With warming global temperatures, the ice of the Arctic Ocean is slowly giving way to navigable ocean, and creating new opportunities for states wanting to take advantage of the upcoming maritime access. With U.S. adversaries like Russia and China pursuing their Arctic interests, one would assume that the U.S. is hard at work at reinforcing its Arctic territory. Despite the United States being the global hegemon, scholars have remained puzzled as to why the U.S. has continued an apparent apathy towards the Arctic. This …

Sabotage Of Submarine Cables And Pipelines As A Use Of Force And Armed Attack, Christian Schaller

International Law Studies

Combating sabotage of submarine cables and pipelines is a matter of law enforcement, subject to the international law of the sea. However, such acts may also constitute the use of force and an armed attack under Articles 2(4) and 51 of the UN Charter. The application of these concepts requires clarification of the “international relations” in which the use of force takes place and identification of the State against which the armed attack occurs. This article argues that, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, the sabotage may be presumed to be directed against the States connected to the …

By All Means Available: Memoirs Of A Life In Intelligence, Special Operations, And Strategy, Todd Greentree

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Todd Greentree examines By All Means Available: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy by Michael G. Vickers, who Greentree views as an exemplar of strategic leadership for current and future leaders.