Law Commons^™

The Emerging Presence Of Mexican Law In California Courts, Jorge A. Vargas

San Diego International Law Journal

In a quick search for cases involving foreign law that have been decided by California courts over the last two years, the results were not surprising: 100 cases were governed by Mexican law, 57 by Canadian law, 29 by Japanese law, 28 by German law, and 12 by Chinese law. I would like to pose two ideas before this learned audience: first, that becoming familiar with foreign law is a practical, intriguing and beneficial exercise for California judges and for American judges at large. And second, that Mexican law represents an emerging and a very large component of foreign law …

Mara Salvatrucha (Ms-13) And Ley Anti Mara: El Salvador's Struggle To Reclaim Social Order, Juan J. Fogelbach

San Diego International Law Journal

MS-13 poses a threat to both Salvadorians and Americans. It is a gang that must be cooperatively contained; it will not be controlled by a simplistic burden-shifting policy that leaves El Salvador, a developing country, to unilaterally deal with the problem. This paper will argue that: (1) the deportation of gang members, which results in the arbitrary deaths of thousands of innocent Salvadorians who have no legal recourse amounts to a grave violation of human rights; (2) deportation of gang members to a society where they are likely to be killed by vigilante death squads, or in prison fires and …

Legal Ethics And The Separation Of Law And Morals, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This paper explores the jurisprudential question of the relationship between moral values and legal norms in legal advising and counseling in the context of an analysis of the so-called torture memos prepared by lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel in 2002. The principal claim of the paper is that the torture memos are morally bankrupt because they are legally bankrupt. The lawyers' actions were wrong from a moral point of view because the lawyers failed with respect to their obligation to treat the law with respect, not simply as an inconvenient obstacle to be planned around. The morality of …

Introducing Discipline: Anthropology And Human Rights Administrations, Iris Jean-Klein, Annelise Riles

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Anthropologists engage human rights administrations with an implicit promise that our discipline has something unique to offer. The articles in this special issue turn questions about relevance and care so often heard in the context of debates about human rights outside in. They focus not on how anthropology can contribute to human rights activities, but on what anthropological encounters with human rights contribute to the development of our discipline. They ask, how exactly do we render the subject relevant to anthropology? Reflecting on some ways anthropologists in this field have dispensed care for their subjects, the authors highlight two modalities …

Transgender Theory: Reprogramming Our Automated Settings, Marybeth Herald

Marybeth Herald

Over the course of the last few decades, both law and society have struggled to deprogram unhelpful and downright destructive gender stereotypes that are ubiquitous in our everyday existence. It has not been an easy task, nor entirely successful on either the legal or cultural front. Laws that prohibit gender discrimination, such as Title VII, have helped end overt discrimination. The next phase involves the challenging problem of unconscious bias, which often effectively keeps us treading the same mental paths while bypassing any roads not traveled.

It is not surprising then that when the validity of even the basic categories …

Wrong-Sizing International Justice? The Hybrid Tribunal In Sierra Leone, Chandra Lekha Sriram

Faculty Scholarship

As institutions of international justice proliferate, so do disputes about their legitimacy, and about what shape they ought to take. As truly international tools such as the International Criminal Court and the exercise of universal jurisdiction face political and practical challenges, some scholars and practitioners have advocated a distinct institutional solution: the hybrid court. These are courts that are neither purely national nor international, but rather that pursue accountability in the country where abuses and crimes occurred, but with both national and international staff, and utilizing a mixture of national and international law. Many have suggested that these tribunals represent …

Internationalizing U.S. Legal Education: A Report On The Education Of Transnational Lawyers, Carole Silver

ExpressO

This article analyses the role of U.S. law schools in educating foreign lawyers and the increasingly competitive global market for graduate legal education. U.S. law schools have been at the forefront of this competition, but little has been reported about their graduate programs. This article presents original research on the programs and their students, drawn from interviews with directors of graduate programs at 35 U.S. law schools, information available on law school web sites about the programs, and interviews with graduates of U.S. graduate programs. Finally, the article considers the responses of U.S. law schools to new competition from foreign …

Forging A Multilayered System Of Global Governance, Charlotte Ku

Faculty Scholarship

The world in which we find ourselves today is no longer governable entirely by resort to the classical system of international law. Even more seriously, it would seem that the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter are no longer being served sufficiently in light of new concerns. The text adopted in 1945 does not convey the image of a world tormented by terrorists. Nor does it reflect the most pressing commitments of our time: to democratic governance, to environmental responsibility, and to a freer and more equitable system of world trade. Increasingly, the international law community acknowledges the …

Does The Icj's Decision In Avena Really Mean Anything To Mexicans On Death Row?, Kenneth Williams

ExpressO

This article assesses the legality of President Bush's order to state courts that they review the convictions and sentences of certain Mexican nationals on death row in response to the ICJ's decision that the rights of these inmates had been violated. The article also discusses the review process and makes a proposal to ensure that the ICJ's mandate is carried out. Finally, there is a discussion as to the importance of these cases to both the U.S. and Mexico.

The Practice And Legality Of Rendition, Katherine R. Hawkins

ExpressO

“Rendition” is the United States’ policy of sending terrorism suspects to be interrogated in Middle Eastern countries that practice torture.

This Article introduces the subject by describing a complaint filed in a lawsuit by Canadian citizen Maher Arar. The United States sent Arar from John F. Kennedy airport to Syria, where he was tortured and was held in a grave-sized cell for nearly a year. Arar alleges that his transfer violated the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“CAT”).

Arar’s lawsuit may be dismissed before the court reaches the substance of his claims. But …

Morgen Nu (In: Jubileum Nummer Ier, 2005), Severin De Wit

Severin de Wit

This article appeared in the Dutch language magazine (IER) in 2005

International Decisions: Occidental Exploration And Production Company V. The Republic Of Ecuador, Susan Franck

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Occidental v. Ecuador is the first claim under a bilateral investment treaty claim involving tax issues. This case comment analyzes the tribunal's award and offers a critique of both the analysis and the conclusion. This comment suggests that the tribunal may have gone further than necessary in its analysis of arbitrary measures impairing investment, failed to engage in a sector-by-sector analysis of national treatment, and compressed the analysis of separate rights into one broad test for evaluating fair and equitable treatment. The comment concludes that Occidental may best be understood as confined to its unique facts lest there be larger …

The Transnational Judicial Discourse And Felon Disenfranchisement: Re-Examining The Textual Premise Of Richardson V. Ramirez, Jason G. Morgan-Foster

ExpressO

This article is simultaneously an international comparative law piece about prisoner disenfranchisement in various countries, a transnational work of legal theory providing a framework for the use of foreign law in domestic constitutional courts, and a domestic analysis of the constitutional underpinnings of felon disenfranchisement.

The article begins with a comprehensive comparative analysis of the recent prisoner disenfranchisement decisions in Canada, South Africa, and Europe. It notes that the over-arching theme of these decisions is to view the acceptability of prisoner disenfranchisement along a continuum, where it becomes more acceptable the more serious the offense committed.

The article then examines …

Finality Versus Consistency: Does Investor-State Arbitration Need An Appellate System, Ian Laird, Rebecca Askew

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

Applying The Death Penalty To Crimes Of Genocide, Jens David Ohlin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The Unresolved Debates That Scorched Kyoto: An Analytical Framework, David W. Childs

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Convergence Of Civil Law And Common Law In The Criminal Theory Realm, Julian Hermida

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Icc Prosecutor, Collateral Damage, And Ngos: Evaluating The Risk Of A Politicized Prosecution, Richard John Galvin

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

From Hot Air To Action? Climate Change, Compliance, And The Future Of International Environmental Law, Meinhard Doelle

PhD Dissertations

This dissertation considers the evolution, current state, and future prognosis of the global climate change regime under the umbrella of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The focus of the dissertation is on State compliance with the Kyoto Protocol. Compliance is considered from the perspective of the internal compliance regime developed under the Kyoto Protocol as well as a select set of potential external international law influences. The dissertation concludes with an assessment of the level of compliance to be expected and its potential influence on the future of the climate change regime. Implications for international environmental law …

Calling For An End To Indefinite Detention: The Judicial Role In Applying The Constitution To Alien Paroles, Phillip J. Riblett

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Seen And Not Heard?: Children's Objections Under The Hague Convention On International Child Abduction, Anastacia M. Greene

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Nature And Enforcement Of Investor Rights Under Investment Treaties: Do Investment Treaties Have A Bright Future, Susan Franck

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

The number of investment treaties has surged in the past decade. Even now, the United States and Canada are actively engaged in programs designed to facilitate the completion of multilateral treaties such as the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) and Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). These investment treaties act like economic bills of rights, which grant foreign investors substantive protections and procedural rights to facilitate investment. Sovereigns, meanwhile, may benefit from these treaties by obtaining increased foreign direct investment, which may promote the development of their country's infrastructure 6 and offer citizens basic services including access to clean water, …

Intellectual Property Rights In Digital Media: A Comparative Analysis Of Legal Protection, Technological Measures, And New Business Models Under Eu And U.S. Law, Nicola Lucchi

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Recreating The Western City In A Post-Industrialized World: European Brownfield Policy And An American Comparison, Andrew O. Guglielmi

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Pasquantino Plea: The Unfortunate Decline Of The Revenue Rule And The Imprudent Extraterritorial Expansion Of The American Wire Fraud Statute To Enforce Foreign Tax Law, Joshua Shore

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

Karen A. Mingst On The U.N. Security Council: From The Cold War To The 21st Century. Edited By David M. Malone. Boulder, Co: Lynne Rienner, 2004. 745pp., Karen A. Mingst

Human Rights & Human Welfare

No abstract provided.

Failed States, Or The State As Failure?, Rosa Ehrenreich Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article seeks to challenge a basic assumption of international law and policy, arguing that the existing state-based international legal framework stands in the way of developing effective responses to state failure. It offers an alternative theoretical framework designed to spark debate about better legal and policy responses to failed states. Although the article uses failed states as a lens to focus its arguments, it also has broad implications for how we think about sovereignty, the evolving global order, and the place of states within it.

State failure causes a wide range of humanitarian, legal, and security problems. Unsurprisingly, given …

Conflicts Of Jurisdiction Between The United States And Latin America In The Context Of Forum Non Conveniens Dismissals, Dante Figueroa

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

Imputed Conflicts Of Interest In International Law Practice, Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Mexican Repatriation And The Possibility For A Federal Cause Of Action: A Comparative Analysis On Reparations, Eric L. Ray

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.