Law Commons^™

Mind The Gap: Can Developers Of Autonomous Weapons Systems Be Liable For War Crimes?, Tim Mcfarland, Tim Mccormack

International Law Studies

A recurrent response to the development of increasingly autonomous weapons systems involves questions of accountability for serious violations of the law of armed conflict. Opinion is divided across a spectrum ranging from claims of an accountability vacuum and consequent calls for a complete ban to assertions that the weapons will present no new challenges and that the existing legal framework is capable of adaptation to emerging technologies. This article focuses on the expanded role played by developers of autonomous weapons systems. It describes the novel contributions made by developers of these advanced systems that raise the potential for them to …

Autonomous Weapons And International Humanitarian Law: Advantages, Open Technical Questions And Legal Issues To Be Clarified, Marco Sassoli

International Law Studies

This contribution argues that autonomous weapons systems may have advantages from the perspective of ensuring better respect for international humanitarian law (IHL). This may be the case if they are one day capable of perceiving the information necessary to comply with IHL, can apply IHL to that information, and if it can be ensured that they will not deviate from the ways in which humans have programmed them. In the view of the author, targeting decisions do not require subjective value judgments a machine would be unable to make. In order to ensure IHL is respected with regard to use …

Adapting The Law Of Armed Conflict To Autonomous Weapon Systems, Kenneth Anderson, Daniel Reisner, Matthew Waxman

International Law Studies

As increasingly automated—and in some cases fully autonomous—weapon systems enter the battlefield or become possible, it is important that international norms to regulate them head down a path that is coherent and practical. Contrary to the claims of some advocates, autonomous weapon systems are not inherently illegal or unethical. The technologies involved potentially hold promise for making armed conflict more discriminating and causing less harm on the battlefield. They do pose great challenges, however, with regard to law of armed conflict rules regulating the use of weapons. To adapt existing law to meet those challenges, we propose a three-tiered approach …

Religiosity In Constitutions And The Status Of Minority Rights, Brandy G. Robinson

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Minority rights and religion have never been topics that are simultaneously considered. However, arguably, the two have relevance, especially when combined with the topic and theory of constitutionalism. Historically and traditionally, minorities have been granted certain rights and have been denied certain rights under various constitutions. These grants and denials relate to cultural differences and values, arguably relating to a culture’s understanding and interpretation of religion.

This article explores the relationship and status of minority rights as it relates to religiosity and constitutionalism. Essentially, there is a correlation between these topics and research shows where certain nations have used religion …

What Are Transitions For? Atrocity, International Criminal Justice, And The Political, Paulo Barrozo

Paulo Barrozo

This essay offers an answer to the question of what societies afflicted by atrocities ought to transition into. The answer offered is able to better direct the evaluation of previous models and the design of new models of transitional justice. Into what, then, should transitional justice transition? I argue in this essay that transitional justice should be a transition into the political, understood in its robust liberalism version. I further argue that the most significant part of transitions ought to happen in the minds of the members of political communities, precisely where the less tangible and yet most important dimension …

American And Other National Variations On The Theme Of International Commercial Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

From Kafka To Kafta: Intellectual Property, And The Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

The Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement 2014 (KAFTA) is a Kafkaesque agreement – with its secret texts, speculative claims, and shadowy tribunals. Australia and South Korea have signed a new free trade agreement - the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement2014 (KAFTA). Is it a fair trade fairytale? Or is it a dirty deal done dirt cheap? Or somewhere in between? It is hard to tell, given the initial secrecy of the negotiations, and the complexity of the texts of the agreement. There has been much debate in the Australian Parliament over the transparency of the trade agreement; the scope of market access …

Landmark Ruling On Whaling From The International Court Of Justice, Mark P. Simmonds

Mark P. Simmonds, OBE

On 31 March 2014, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Japan’s whaling activities in Antarctica did not comply with Article VIII of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW), which permits whaling for scientific purposes. Copious and confusing media commentary followed the decision. This included seemingly conflicting reports from within Japan, which initially indicated whole-hearted compliance with the ruling, which required this whaling to cease, but later suggested that implementation by Japan might be limited to a brief halt followed by a launch of a new Antarctic ‘research’ programme including lethal take.

Minelaying And The Impediment Of Passage Rights, Wolff Heintschel Von Heinegg

International Law Studies

Since their first extensive use in the 1904–05 Russo-Japanese War naval mines have continued to pose a considerable threat to innocent shipping. States reacted by adopting the 1907 Hague Convention VIII, which has been the only international instrument on the matter to date. In view of the fact that more than 80 percent of imports and exports are shipped by sea, freedom of navigation and, in particular, transit and archipelagic sea lanes passage rights must be preserved to the greatest extent possible. The present article deals with the question of whether international rules and principles provide effective protection of international …

Transdisciplinary Conflict Of Laws Foreword: Cavers's Double Legacy, Karen Knop, Ralf Michaels, Annelise Riles

Annelise Riles

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Models And Documents: Artefacts Of International Legal Knowledge, Annelise Riles

Annelise Riles

This article draws upon one year of ethnographic research at United Nations conferences to challenge some common academic assumptions about what it means to "do" international law. The article compares the work of academic international lawyers - founded in making models of an international system - to the work of practitioners - exemplified by the work of making documents, and demonstrates the particular, peculiar nature of each kind of knowledge, from the point of view of the observer. This leads to a set of conclusions concerning how an academic study of international law influenced by an appreciation of the particularity …

The View From The International Plane: Perspective And Scale In The Architecture Of Colonial International Law, Annelise Riles

Annelise Riles

No abstract provided.

Is New Governance The Ideal Architecture For Global Financial Regulation?, Annelise Riles

Annelise Riles

A central challenge for international financial regulatory systems today is how to manage the impact of global systemically important financial institutions (G-SIFIs) on the global economy, given the interconnected and pluralistic nature of regulatory regimes. This paper focuses on the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and proposes a new research agenda for the FSB’s emerging regulatory forms. In particular, it examines the regulatory architecture of the New Governance (NG), a variety of approaches that are supposed to be more reflexive, collaborative, and experimental than traditional forms of governance. A preliminary conclusion is that NG tools may be effective in resolving some …

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

Annelise Riles

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 …

Infinity Within The Brackets, Annelise Riles

Annelise Riles

The ethnographic subjects of this article are UN-sponsored international conferences and their legal documents. Drawing upon fieldwork among Fiji delegates at these conferences, in this article I demonstrate the centrality of matters of form, as distinct from questions of “meaning,” in the negotiation of international agreements. A parallel usage of documents and of mats among Fijian negotiators provides a heuristic device for exploring questions of pattern and scale in the aesthetics of negotiation.

Pax Arabica?: Provisional Sovereignty And Intervention In The Arab Uprisings, Asli Bâli, Aziz Rana

Aziz Rana

No abstract provided.

Appendix C - Office Of The United States Trade Representative Washington, D.C.-Fact Sheet, "Special 301" On Intellectual Property, Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Panel Iii--General Discussion, Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

International Trade In Services From The Japanese Viewpoint, Masato Dogauchi

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Trade In Services--Perspective Of The Developing World, Peter Gakunu

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Trade In Telecommunications Services, Jonathan D. Aronson

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Perspective Of The Private Sector--Banking, F. William Hawley

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Multilateral Negotiations On Trade In Services: Concepts, Goals, Issues, Bernard Ascher

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Trade In Services And The Uruguay Round, Mario A. Kakabadse

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Panel Ii--General Discussion, Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Property: Perspective Of The Developing World, Peter Gakunu

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Need For Adequate And Effective Protection Of Intellectual Property: Perspective Of The Private Sector - Patents, Peter C. Richardson

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Towards An Intellectual Property Agreement In The Gatt: View From The Private Sector, Carol J. Bilzi

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Property Protection: A United States Priority, Richard A. Morford

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Panel I--General Discussion, Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.