Law Commons^™

The Supreme Court And Refugees At The Southern Border: 5 Questions Answered, Karla Mckanders

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

I sat in a small room in Tijuana, Mexico with a 13-year-old indigenous Mayan Guatemalan girl.

She left Guatemala after a cartel murdered her friend and threatened to rape her. Her mother wanted her to live and believed the only way for her to survive was to send her daughter alone to the U.S., to apply for asylum Now she was alone and stuck in Mexico. Every morning, the Guatemalan girl, along with other asylum seekers, would frantically gather at the Tijuana-U.S. border where they waited to hear their name or their number called so the Mexican government could escort …

Cybersecurity And The Protection Of Digital Assets: Assessing The Role Of International Investment Law And Arbitration, Julien Chaisse, Cristen Bauer

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The digital era provides many opportunities, yet it also presents several unique challenges with regard to cybersecurity and the protection of digital assets. Cybercrime has changed the international legal landscape as nations, businesses, and legislators grapple with how to deal with this rapidly evolving, multifaceted problem. As there is no international mechanism for protection of foreign investors in this regard, some scholars are advocating for the use of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) as part of a 'olycentric" approach to cyber peace. With an uptick in digital development and more development on the horizon, it will be important to establish what …

International Multiple Derivative Actions, King F. Tsang

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article explores two choice of law issues in international multiple derivative actions: (1) the choice of substantive law that should govern multiple derivative actions and (2) the characterization of different aspects of the multiple derivative actions between substantive and procedural laws. After a comparison of choice of law approaches among various common law jurisdictions, the author advocates that the first choice of law issue--the substantive law to be applied to the action--should be governed by the law with the closest connections to the multiple derivative actions. This is the only practical choice given the complex nature of international multiple …

Challenging And Refining The "Unwilling Or Unable" Doctrine, Craig Martin

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article challenges and proposes refinements to the "unwilling or unable" doctrine. Governments after 9/11 have invoked the doctrine to justify the use of force in self-defense against non-state actors (NSAs) operating within the territory of nonconsenting states. Responding to criticism that it lacked substance and a legal foundation, Daniel Bethlehem famously developed more detailed principles to embed the policy firmly in law, strike a balance between the interests of target states and territorial states, and bridge the gap between scholars and policymakers. His principles were embraced by governments as reflecting custom. The effort was laudable, but the principles fell …

Charney Lecture: The Rule Of Law In International Security Affairs: A U.S. Defense Department Perspective, Paul C. Ney, Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Thank you very much for inviting me here today. I am especially grateful to Dean Chris Guthrie, Professor Mike Newton, and Mrs. Sharon Charney, who generously endowed this lecture series in memory of her late husband, Professor Jonathan Charney. Thank you, as well, to all the members of the Charney family for sharing him with the Vanderbilt community. Professor Charney taught at Vanderbilt for forty years and was one of the nation's preeminent scholars and practitioners of international law. He was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, which …

Climate Change Refugees In The Time Of Sinking Islands, Jane Steffens

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

While environmental migration is not a new phenomenon, the international community has been slow to react to a wildly increasing number of people displaced by climate-related factors. With the current scenario of sinking islands, rapid urbanization, and drought, the international community seems to be on the precipice of a massive humanitarian catastrophe. Even so, lawmakers appear hesitant to fill in the gaps of existing international law, leaving an entire category of people vulnerable and unprotected against the effects of climate change. Private climate-governance initiatives can achieve large-scale, prompt, and efficient solutions to climate-induced migration. While private governance initiatives lack the …

Trade And The Separation Of Powers, Timothy Meyer, Ganesh Sitaraman

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

There are two paradigms through which to view trade law and policy within the American constitutional system. One paradigm sees trade law and policy as quintessentially about domestic economic policy. Institutionally, under the domestic economics paradigm, trade law falls within the province of Congress, which has legion Article I authorities over commercial matters. The second paradigm sees trade law as fundamentally about America’s relationship with foreign countries. Institutionally, under the foreign affairs paradigm, trade law is the province of the President, who speaks for the United States in foreign affairs. While both paradigms have operated throughout American history, the domestic …

Trafficking Terror And Sexual Violence: Accountability For Human Trafficking And Sexual And Gender-Based Violence By Terrorist Groups Under The Rome Statute, Coman Kenny, Nikita Malik

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Terrorist groups are increasingly involved in human trafficking, specifically targeting women and girls of ideologically opposed groups or religions. Frequently, this phenomenon involves the perpetration of various forms of sexual violence against those trafficked. The commission of the interlinked crimes of human trafficking, sexual violence, and terrorism is relatively new, encompassing a vicious cycle in which each crime effectively flows from the commission of the others: sexual violence is facilitated by human trafficking, human trafficking is motivated, in part, by sexual violence, and both crimes spread terror among civilian populations. In light of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court …

Financing Cr-Isis: The Efficacy Of Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties In The Context Of Money Laundering And Terror Finance, Michaelene K. Wright

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Technological development throughout the past fifty years has created a world in which information can be communicated across the globe in no time at all. International law enforcement tools like mutual legal assistance (MLA), on the other hand, have not changed with nearly the same pace. Unfortunately, criminal activity rarely stops at international borders, necessitating international cooperation for any sort of effective enforcement. As this Note will discuss, the problems attendant in the current mutual legal assistance scheme, such as extensive delay and incompatibility with electronic data, have led to global tension over extraterritorial action and conflict between regulatory bodies. …

Artificial Islands And Territory In International Law, Imogen Saunders, Dr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Artificially created islands are a contemporary reality, created and used for military and nonmilitary purposes. Analysis of such islands has largely been limited to their status under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) regime. Their position under general international law, however, remains unclear. In particular, the question of whether artificial islands can constitute sovereign territory remains unanswered. This Article analyzes the concept of territory in international law in the context of artificial islands, and argues that neither the doctrine of territory nor the strictures of UNCLOS prevent artificial islands from constituting territory capable of sovereign …

The Rights And Obligations Of States In Disputed Maritime Areas: What Lessons Can Be Learned From The Maritime Boundary Dispute Between Ghana And Cote D'Ivoire?, Youri Van Logchem

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Unilateral acts undertaken in disputed maritime areas, particularly in relation to mineral resources, frequently lead to conflict between states. Appraisals of the scope that remains for unilateralism in disputed maritime areas under international law exist in both case law and literature, but the precise scope remains shrouded in doubt. The ruling of the tribunal in Guyana v. Suriname--building its argumentation extensively on that of the International Court of Justice (ICJ or Court) in the Aegean Sea Continental Shelf (interim measures)--is significant in this regard, clarifying, at least to a certain extent, the scope for unilateral conduct. Recently, in September 2017, …