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Full-Text Articles in Law
Returning Sovereignty To The People, Hallie Ludsin
Returning Sovereignty To The People, Hallie Ludsin
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
Governments across the world regularly invoke sovereignty to demand that the international community "mind its own business" while they commit human rights abuses. They proclaim that the sovereign right to be free from international intervention in domestic affairs permits them unfettered discretion within their territory. This Article seeks to challenge those proclamations by resort to sovereignty in the people, a time-honored principle that is typically more rhetorical than substantive. Relying on classical interpretations of sovereignty, this Article infuses substance into the concept of sovereignty in the people to recognize that a government is entitled to sovereign rights only as the …
Subjects Of International Law: A Power-Based Analysis, Guido Acquaviva
Subjects Of International Law: A Power-Based Analysis, Guido Acquaviva
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
In this Article, the Author challenges the definition of the term "state" that is commonly accepted in legal scholarship as the basis for assessing whether an entity is a subject of international law. By analyzing a number of cases that do not fit into the "traditional" model--including the Holy See, Napoleon, and the Confederacy--the Author reaches the conclusion that the only essential element of a subject of international law is its sovereignty. An entity is sovereign when it is able effectively to assert that it is not subordinate to another authority: territory and population are therefore not essential attributes of …
New Zealand's Forgotten Promises: The Treaty Of Waitangi, Jennifer S. Mcginty
New Zealand's Forgotten Promises: The Treaty Of Waitangi, Jennifer S. Mcginty
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
This Note presents the problems the Maori, New Zealand's indigenous people, have encountered in seeking enforcement of the Treaty of Waitangi that they signed with Great Britain in 1840. It argues that the Treaty of Waitangi is a valid legal document that should be fully integrated into New Zealand domestic law and afforded protection under international law. The author argues that the Maori met the international law requirements of statehood in 1840 and, therefore, were capable of entering into a treaty with Great Britain. Even if there was no Maori state capable of entering into a treaty, there is analogous …
Recent Development--Panama Canal Treaties, David M. Himmelreich
Recent Development--Panama Canal Treaties, David M. Himmelreich
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
Given its strategic interest in the Canal, it might well be asked why the United States would sign a Treaty which does not give an unambiguous right of intervention. Under the Treaty, the United States has at best only a weak legal justification for intervention, which will be useful in domestic politics should the popular opposition to "giving the Canal away" become critical, but which will be much less convincing elsewhere. World opinion is suspicious of the reliance of any great power on intervention, regardless of the legal rationale. The justification will be least persuasive in Latin America where there …
Artificial Islands Constructed On United States Continental Shelf Denied Status Of Independent Sovereignty, Journal Staff
Artificial Islands Constructed On United States Continental Shelf Denied Status Of Independent Sovereignty, Journal Staff
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
The United States brought injunction and trespass claims in the federal district court against three private persons to prevent the unauthorized construction of artificial islands atop several submerged coral reefs located about four and one-half miles off the southeast coast of Florida. These reefs were composed of the skeletal remains of coral organisms and lay at a depth of 600 feet. The reefs continued to grow laterally, but had reached their maximum height and were completely submerged at all times except at low tide when their highest projections were momentarily visible. The reef area, which harbored countless varieties of marine …