Law Commons^™

Procedural Due Process In The Expulsion Of Aliens Under International, United States, And European Union Law: A Comparative Analysis, Won Kidane

Faculty Articles

Liberal democracies aspire to respect minimum standards of individual liberty and due process to all. They structurally limit their powers with respect to how they treat all persons-including noncitizens, also known as "aliens." Nonetheless, the exact scope and nature of the limitations imposed by international and domestic legal regimes for the expulsion of noncitizens still remains uncertain and is in a constant state of evolution in multiple directions. Indeed, a mix of situational progression and regression characterizes these regimes. The proper balance between personal liberty, due process, and equal protection on the one hand-and security, economic and related governmental and …

An Environmental Justice Critique Of Comparative Advantage: Indigenous Peoples, Trade Policy, And The Mexican Neoliberal Economic Reforms, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Faculty Articles

The free market reforms adopted by Mexico in the wake of the debt crisis of the 1980s and in connection with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have jeopardized the physical and cultural survival of Mexico’s indigenous peoples, increased migration to the United States, threatened biological diversity in Mexico, and imposed additional stress on the environment in the United States. Despite these negative impacts, NAFTA continues to serve as a template for trade agreements in the Americas. Unless this template is fundamentally restructured, future trade agreements may replicate throughout the Western hemisphere many of the economic, ecological and social …

Investment Income Withholding In The United States And Germany, Lily Kahng

Faculty Articles

In a reversal from its historical roots, the United States income tax system now taxes income from labor significantly more heavily than income from capital. It does so not only facially, through explicit preferences for income from capital, but also more subtly, through more hidden features of the tax system – specifically, enforcement strategies. This article focuses on a prominent disparity in enforcement between the two forms of income: Wage income is subject to withholding while investment income is not.

In its critical examination of this disparity, the article first offers a brief history of withholding in the United States, …

The Study Of Secularism And Religion In The Constitution And Contemporary Politics Of Turkey: The Rise Of Interdisciplinarity And The Decline Of Methodology?, Russell Powell

Faculty Articles

Using the experience of Islamist parties in Turkey as a comparative example, this article explores whether political parties with deeply held religious ideologies can integrate themselves into liberal democracies, paying particular attention to the nature and role of legal secularism (the mechanism states use to insulate themselves from religious influence). This is an extension of the query whether the rise of illiberal political groups eventually leads to the end of liberal society. These queries engage the assumption that illiberal religious ideology is incapable of tolerating dissent or pluralism. This article examines Turkish constitutional secularism as well as the “Islamist” Justice …

Zakat: Drawing Insights For Legal Theory And Economic Policy From Islamic Jurisprudence, Russell Powell

Faculty Articles

The rapid development of complex income taxation and welfare systems in the 20th century may give the impression that progressive wealth redistribution systems are uniquely modern. However, religious systems provided similar mechanisms for addressing economic injustice and poverty alleviation centuries earlier. Zakat is the obligation of almsgiving and is the third pillar of Islam - a requirement for all believers. In the early development of the Islamic community, zakat was collected as a tax by the state and the funds were distributed to a defined set of needy groups. As a theoretical matter, there are three insights that make zakat …

Combating Corruption Through International Law In Africa: A Comparative Analysis, Won Kidane, Tom Snider

Faculty Articles

"Little did we suspect," remarked Nelson Mandela, "that our own people, when they get that chance, would be as corrupt as the apartheid regime. That is one of the things that has really hurt us." Africa is the only continent that has grown poorer over the last three decades. The causes of Africa's existing predicaments are complete; however, there is no argument that deep-rooted corruption is one of the most serious contemporary developmental challenges facing the continent. Mr. Adama Dieng, who the Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the precursor of the African Union (AU), entrusted with …

The Case Of The Little Yellow Cuban Biplane: Can Interest Analysis Reconcile Conflicting Provisions In Federal Statutes And International Treaties?, Diane Lourdes Dick

Faculty Articles

This article analyzes conflicts that arise under international agreements that define and protect foreign ownership interests in civil aircraft, on the one hand, and domestic laws that allow Americans to bring suit against state sponsors of terrorism, on the other hand. Finding that courts often perform concealed interest analyses under the guise of mechanical application of canons of construction, this article recommends a comparative impairment interest analysis approach to resolving this and related conflicts.

Hegemony, Coercion And Teeth Gritting Harmony: A Commentary On Law, Power And Culture In Franco’S Spain, Tayyab Mahmud, Ratna Kapur

Faculty Articles

Co-authored with Ratna Kapur, this commentary engages the interrelationship of hegemony and coercion in legal regimes of the modern state. Against the backdrop of regulation of sexuality in fascist Spain, we posit a model of modern state power that draws upon the work of Gramsci, Althusser, and Foucault. It is argued that ideology is the velvet glove that encases the iron fist of coercion, and law always combines coercion and ideology by its very structure and operation. A bridge between critical race theory and queer theory is located in the concept of racing seen as the modern technology of power …

Presidential Certifications In U.S. Foreign Policy Legislation, Mark A. Chinen

Faculty Articles

This article has two purposes; the first is to assess the value of certification requirements by describing their operation in foreign affairs legislation and by accounting for their use and the controversies that attend them. The second purpose of this article is to suggest ways to minimize the costs of certification requirements. The findings are presented in four sections. The author begins by sketching the features of certification requirements in current legislation. Next, the author discusses the constitutional background out of which these requirements arise. Then, in what forms the greater part of this article, the author describes and evaluates …

Categories And Culture: On The 'Rectification Of Names' In Comparative Law, Janet Ainsworth

Faculty Articles

This article proposes a thorough ‘rectification of names’ take place in comparative legal studies, with a specific focus on Chinese law. Pioneering Chinese comparative law scholars focused on describing the Chinese legal system using Western legal terminology. The job of the second-generation of legal scholars, however, is to interpret both the primary source material and prior interpretations. There are many pitfalls entailed with studying non-Western law, foremost is the danger of one’s conceptual paradigms influencing an interpretation. Any culture’s legal order is uniquely tuned to a cultural context, and Chinese culture represents a social order with sufficient coherence for scholars …

The Constitutionality Of The Solicitation Or Control Of Third-Country Funds For Foreign Policy Purposes By United States Officials Without Congressional Approval, George Van Cleve

Faculty Articles

This transcription of a speech covers the personal views of Professor Van Cleve regarding constitutionality of solicitation or control of third-country funds for foreign policy purposes. Specifically, he discusses the constitutional issue of the Iran-Contra affair, in which the Reagan administration decided to seek funding for the Contras from third countries.

Counsel For The Accused: Metamorphosis In Spanish Constitutional Rights, Henry Mcgee

Faculty Articles

The article begins with a discussion of the social and political background that influenced the emergence of the constitutionally guaranteed right to counsel in Spanish law. Next, it traces the constitutional development and legislative refinements of the right to counsel. It then considers judicial refinements of that right. The article concludes with a comparison of the Spanish process of articulating the right to counsel with the parallel process in the United States and what such differences bode for U.S. scholars.

Jurisdiction: Foreign Plaintiffs, Forum Non Conveniens, And Litigation Against Multinational Corporations, Mark A. Chinen

Faculty Articles

This article outlines the litigation against multinational corporations. Specifically, it investigates a case brought against a United States-based corporation, Union Carbide, that owned 51% of stock in an Indian corporation that was responsible for a chemical plant gas leak. The leak resulted in the death of 2,100 people and the injuring of over 200,000. The intricacies of the case are discussed.

A Comparative Study Of British Barristers And American Legal Practice And Education, Marilyn Berger

Faculty Articles

The conduct of a trial in England is undeniably an impressive undertaking. Costume alone transports the viewer to Elizabethan times. Counsel and judges, bewigged and gowned, appear in a cloistered, regal setting, strewn with leather-bound books. Brightly colored ribbons of red, green, yellow and white, rather than metal clips and staples fasten the legal papers. After comparison with the volatile atmosphere and often unruly conduct of a trial in a United States courtroom it is natural to assume that the British model of courtroom advocacy provides an instructive model for its American counterpart.

Housing Subsidies In The U.S. And England, Henry Mcgee

Faculty Articles

In this article Professor McGee reviews “Housing Subsidies in the United States and England”, by Daniel Mandelker. Professor McGee details the concerns and controversies about the allocation of housing funds, and provides a thorough critique of Mandelker’s comparison of the two countries.