Law Commons^™

Exercising Environmental Human Rights And Remedies In The United Nations System, Linda A. Malone, Scott Pasternack

Linda A. Malone

No abstract provided.

Backlash Against International Courts In West, East And Southern Africa: Causes And Consequences, Karen J. Alter, James T. Gathii, Laurence R. Helfer

James T Gathii

This paper discusses three credible attempts by African governments to restrict the jurisdiction of three similarly-situated sub-regional courts in response to politically controversial rulings. In West Africa, when the ECOWAS Court upheld allegations of torture by opposition journalists in the Gambia, that country’s political leaders sought to restrict the Court’s power to review human rights complaints. The other member states ultimately defeated the Gambia’s proposal. In East Africa, Kenya failed in its efforts to eliminate the EACJ and to remove some of its judges after a decision challenging an election to a sub-regional legislature. However, the member states agreed to …

Special Court For Sierra Leone: Achieving Justice?, Charles Chernor Jalloh

Charles C. Jalloh

The Sierra Leone war, which lasted between 1991 and 2002, gained notoriety around the world for “blood" or "conflict" diamonds and some of the worst atrocities ever perpetrated against civilians in a modern conflict. On January 16, 2002, the United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone signed an historic agreement to establish the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). In setting up a new type of ad hoc criminal tribunal, the parties sought to achieve two key objectives. First, to dispense credible justice by enabling the prosecution of those bearing greatest responsibility for the wartime atrocities based on international …

International Decision, International Criminal Court, Judgment On The Appeal Of The Republic Of Kenya Against Pre-Trial Chamber Decision Denying Inadmissibility Of The Kenya Situation, Charles Chernor Jalloh

Charles C. Jalloh

A fundamental pillar of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is Article 17, which enshrines the complementarity principle – the idea that ICC jurisdiction will only be triggered when states fail to act to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes within their national courts or in circumstances where they prove unwilling and or unable to do so. The problem is that, as shown in this case report in the American Journal of International Law on the first ICC Appeals Chamber ruling regarding a state party’s objection to the court’s assertion of jurisdiction over its nationals, …

Gandhi’S Prophecy: Corporate Violence And A Mindful Law For Bhopal, Nehal A. Patel

Nehal A. Patel

AbstractOver thirty years have passed since the Bhopal chemical disaster began,and in that time scholars of corporate social responsibility (CSR) havediscussed and debated several frameworks for improving corporate responseto social and environmental problems. However, CSR discourse rarelydelves into the fundamental architecture of legal thought that oftenbuttresses corporate dominance in the global economy. Moreover, CSRdiscourse does little to challenge the ontological and epistemologicalassumptions that form the foundation for modern economics and the role ofcorporations in the world.I explore methods of transforming CSR by employing the thought ofMohandas Gandhi. I pay particular attention to Gandhi’s critique ofindustrialization and principle of swadeshi (self-sufficiency) …

The Eu's Human Rights Obligations Towards Distant Strangers, Aravind Ganesh

Aravind Ganesh

The EU has perfect human rights obligations towards distant strangers. My argument has two limbs: Firstly, in numerous policy areas, the EU asserts jurisdiction via ‘territorial extension’, which combines territorially limited enforcement jurisdiction with a claim of geographically unbounded prescriptive jurisdiction. Doctrinally, this strongly resembles the Lotus principle, and viewed analytically, amounts to a claim not just of power but of political authority. Thus, the EU creates not just factual effects, but legal effects abroad. Secondly, assertions of political authority, even if only de facto, give rise to perfect human rights obligations. I illustrate this by reference to the Strasbourg …

Trust And Good-Faith Taken To A New Level: An Analysis Of Inconsistent Behavior In The Brazilian Legal Order, Thiago Luis Sombra

Thiago Luís Santos Sombra

With the changes in the paradigm of voluntarism developed under the protection of liberalism, the bases for legal acts have reached an objective dimension, resulting in the birth of a number of mechanisms of control of private autonomy. Among these mechanisms, we can point out the relevance of those reinforced by the Roman Law, whose high ethical value underlines one of its biggest virtues in the control of the exercise of subjective rights. The prohibition of inconsistent behavior, conceived in the brocard venire contra factum proprium, constitutes one of the concepts from the Roman Law renown for the protection …

Marc Rich: An Expansion Of United States Criminal Jurisdiction Over Foreign Defendants, Debra Pogrund Stark

Debra Pogrund Stark

This Note will first examine how jurisdiction was asserted over Marc Rich & Co. through the district court's application of two theories of jurisdiction31 (the presence/doing business test and the transactingbusiness test) and the court of appeals' application of three theories of jurisdiction32 (the detrimental consequences test, the presence/doing business test, and the transacting business test).33 This Note will argue that Marc Rich underscores the inadequacy of the presence/doing busi- ness test in protecting a state's interest in prosecuting alleged violations of its laws.34 According to the district court, jurisdiction over Marc Rich & Co. would not have existed under …

Prosecutions Of Extraterritorial Criminal Conduct And The Abuse Of Rights Doctrine, Danielle Ireland-Piper

Danielle Ireland-Piper

Under international law, states can in certain circumstances institute domestic prosecutions over conduct occurring extraterritorially. Such exercises of extraterritorial jurisdiction sit at the crossroads of domestic and international law and can be highly controversial. This paper considers whether the abuse of rights doctrine is useful in regulating assertions of extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction. Part I introduces the principles of extraterritorial jurisdiction under international law. Part II provides examples of some of the problems that can arise in domestic prosecutions of extraterritorial criminal conduct, compromising the ability of an individual to enjoy a fair trial. Part III considers the effectiveness of the …

Power And Responsibility, André Nollkaemper

André Nollkaemper

This paper critically reviews the popular proposition that 'power breeds responsibility'. It first explains why this proposition is intuitively appealing. Particularly in situations where multiple actors contribute to harm, power can be a criterion for determining who of a multitude of actors should bear responsibility. For instance, much of the case law on extra territorial human rights protection is based on a concept of power. The paper then explains why this intuition can be misleading. Saying that power informs responsibility is begging the question what type of power triggers what type of responsibility in what way. The paper focuses in …

Claims Under The Administrative Procedure Act Before The Court Of International Trade — A General Overview And Analysis Of Significant Recent Jurisprudence, Mark A. Moran, Wentong Zheng

Wentong Zheng

At first blush, the subject matter of this paper would seem a particularly anomalous topic for discussion at a conference devoted to the jurisprudence of the U.S. Court of International Trade (“CIT”). After all, among the some four thousand published decisions the CIT has issued since its creation in 1980, relatively few have involved causes of action predicated explicitly on the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). One might reasonably ask why we should bother devoting an entire panel discussion to an issue that so infrequently commands the CIT’s attention. The first answer is that all is not as it seems, and …

A Case For The Recognition Of A Concept Of Judge-Made International Law, Theodor Jr Schilling

Theodor JR Schilling

Judge-made international law (JMIL) based on a law of reason exists as well in some municipal court decisions setting a precedent as in ones building upon such a precedent. Such court decisions rely on the faculty of judicial borderline institutions to decide against normally binding customary international law (CIL). This implies for the first group that they may positivise a law of reason, and for the second group they may defer to thus positivised laws of reason, both irrespective of contrary CIL. Norms of JMIL and of CIL are determined according to different secondary rules. Therefore, court decisions which are …

What Remains Of Vicarious Jurisdiction For Establishing General Jurisdiction Over Corporate Defendants After Daimlerag V. Bauman, Keri M. Martin

Keri M. Martin

When, if ever, should a corporation be subject to a court’s jurisdiction based solely on the activities of another entity? Commonly, injured plaintiffs pursue foreign corporations to recover for injuries inflicted upon them by some activity of that corporation or its subsidiary. Where plaintiffs are unable to establish personal jurisdiction over the foreign corporation directly, plaintiffs may attempt to establish jurisdiction over the corporation indirectly by imputing to it the in-forum activities of a closely related subsidiary. This form of jurisdictional blame shifting has been termed “vicarious jurisdiction,” and it stems from the understanding that more than one entity may …

The Contribution Of The International Tribunal For The Law Of The Sea To The Development Of The Current International Law Of The Sea, With Special Reference To The Polar Regions, Gabriela A. Oanta Associate Professor Of Public International Law

Gabriela A. Oanta Associate professor of public international law

This article analyzes the contribution of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) to the development of the international law of the sea. On the hand, the mechanism of dispute settlement provided by UNCLOS and other international agreements adopted in the last thirty years approximately over the oceans and seas will be studied. And on the other hand, this article presents an analysis of the past, present and future activity of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea with regard to the two polar regions, the Arctic and the Antarctica. Antarctica lato sensu has received …

The Evolution Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act; Changing Interpretations Of The Dmca And Future Implications For Copyright Holders, Hillary A. Henderson

Hillary A Henderson

Copyright law rewards an artificial monopoly to individual authors for their creations. This reward is based on the belief that, by granting authors the exclusive right to reproduce their works, they receive an incentive and means to create, which in turn advances the welfare of the general public by “promoting the progress of science and useful arts.” Copyright protection subsists . . . in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or …

Beyond Paroline: Ensuring Meaningful Remedies For Child Pornography Victims At Home And Abroad, W. Warren H. Binford

W. Warren H. Binford

This article considers how the United States could fulfill its international treaty obligations to support the full restoration of child pornography victims in the aftermath of the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in Paroline v. United States. The article details how the United States provided leadership historically in creating a skeletal legal framework domestically and internationally to help combat child pornography and restore victims, and highlights how that framework is failing victims on a near-universal basis in an age dominated by technological innovation and globalization. The article proposes the adoption and implementation of effective domestic and international …

International Adjudication Of Land Disputes: For Development And Transnationalism, Perry S. Bechky

Perry S. Bechky

This short article offers two observations about international adjudication of land disputes. First, the article shows that such adjudication is intended to further development, but that this goal is served better, if counter-intuitively, by rejecting the so-called Salini contribution-to-development test in favor of case-by-case adjudication on the merits. Second, the article locates such adjudication within the modern trend toward transnationalism, a trend that unites international investment law with human rights law. In light of these observations, the article concludes that international adjudication of land disputes may contribute to such human values as development, human rights, and the rule of law.

United States Opposition To The 1998 Rome Statute Establishing An International Criminal Court: Is The Court's Jurisdiction Truly Complementary To National Criminal Jurisdictions?, Jimmy Gurule

Jimmy Gurule

No abstract provided.

Empowering United States Courts To Hear Crimes Within The Jurisdiction Of The International Criminal Court, Douglass Cassel

Douglass Cassel

No abstract provided.

Improving Parity In Personal Jurisdiction And Judgment Enforcement In International Cases: A Domestic Proposal To Help Revive The Hague Judgments Convention, Eric Porterfield

Eric Porterfield

Two aspects of American law inadvertently discriminate against American consumers and businesses to the benefit of foreign nationals. Restrictive personal jurisdiction rules often prevent American courts from exercising jurisdiction over foreign nationals on the grounds that they lack sufficient “contact” with the forum. Foreign product manufacturers can use this to their advantage, structuring their business dealings to take advantage of confusing constitutional constraints on personal jurisdiction, reducing, if not eliminating, the risk of potential tort liability in American courts, often leaving American consumers without a remedy and disadvantaging American businesses. American companies, in contrast, cannot avoid American tort law at …

Kiobel, Extraterritoriality, And The "Global War On Terrorism", Craig Martin

Craig Martin

For the purpose of exploring the issues of extraterritoriality raised in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., this project sought to examine how the federal courts have considered extraterritoriality in cases arising in the so-called “global war on terror” (GWOT). The inquiry leads to some new and arguably important observations about extraterritoriality in the GWOT policies and related jurisprudence. The plaintiffs in Kiobel claimed, under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), that the defendant corporations were liable for complicity in Nigeria’s conduct of indefinite detention, torture, and extrajudicial killing. The U.S. Supreme Court departed from the issue of corporate liability under …

The Extraterritoriality Of Eu Data Privacy Law - Its Theoretical Justification And Its Practical Effect On U.S. Businesses, Dan Jerker B. Svantesson

Dan Svantesson

Due to its extraterritorial effect, the European Union’s trailblazing data privacy law has long been a major concern for U.S. businesses. With the proposal for a new data privacy framework in the EU, with potential penalties of up to 2% of an offending enterprise’s annual worldwide turnover, such concerns are justified indeed; particularly as the EU at the same time seems to be expanding the extraterritorial reach of its data privacy law.

This article examines the extraterritoriality of current and proposed EU data privacy law and analyses whether those claims of extraterritoriality can be either justified or objected to by …

Too Much Process, Not Enough Service: International Service Of Process Under The Hague Service Convention, Eric Porterfield

Eric Porterfield

Service of process under the Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters (“Hague Service Convention”) is too costly, time consuming, and unreliable. The Hague Service Convention’s defining feature – the Central Authority system – adds unwarranted expense and delay to the already expensive and protracted process of civil litigation. Worse, however, is the fact that the Central Authority completely fails to effect service on a foreign party in a significant percentage of cases. For decades, courts and commentators have argued over whether the Hague Service Convention actually permits litigants to sidestep the …

Investment Dispute Resolution Under The Transpacific Partnership Agreement: Prelude To A Slippery Slope?, Leon E. Trakman Professor

Leon E Trakman Dean

Intense debate is currently brewing over the multistate negotiation of the Transpacific Partnership Agreement [TPPA], led by the United States. The TPPA will be the largest trade and investment agreement after the European Union, with trillions of investment dollars at stake. However, there is little understanding of the complex issues involved in regulating inbound and outbound investment. The negotiating of the TPPA is shrouded in both mystery and dissension among negotiating countries. NGOs, investor and legal interest groups heatedly debate how the TPPA ought to regulate international investment. However this dissension is resolved, it will have enormous economic, political and …

International Money Laundering: The Need For Icc Investigative And Adjudicative Jurisdiction, Michael R. Anderson

Michael Anderson

Money laundering is one of the most pressing issues in the realm of international financial crimes. One of the biggest issues involved in international money laundering is the problem of adjudication. There is no international organization that currently hears these sorts of claims, forcing nations to adjudicate these crimes on their own, often without adequate resources to effectively investigate and enforce their money laundering statutes.

This article argues that, in order to more effectively prevent and adjudicate international money laundering offenses, the International Criminal Court should adopt an international money laundering statute designating these activities as a crime within the …

The Push To Criminalize Aggression: Something Lost Amid The Gains?, Mark A. Drumbl

Mark A. Drumbl

The International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over the crime of aggression, but the Rome Statute fails to define the crime. A Special Work- ing Group on the Crime of Aggression, however, has made considerable progress in developing a definition. The consensus that has emerged favors a narrow definition. Three characteristics animate this consensus: (1) that state action is central to the crime; (2) that acts of aggression involve inter- state armed conflict; and (3) that criminal responsibility attaches only to very top political or military leaders. This Article normatively challenges this consensus. I argue that expanding the scope of the …

Jurisdiction In Relation To Online Cross-Border Infringements - The Code And The Law, Ulf Maunsbach

Ulf Maunsbach

During recent years the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has proven to be increasingly active in relation to cross-border intellectual property disputes. The relevant cases cover a wide range of issues, from advertisement through use of keywords, to copyright-related issues involved in making protected material available through the Internet. All in all, it might be said that the Internet era has finally reached the Court of Justice. A similar development is visible in Swedish courts. This provides for an unlimited amount of material for further discussion. In this paper I would like to provide a short summary of the recent …

Here Comes The Internet, And Why It Matters - Private International Law In Transition, Ulf Maunsbach

Ulf Maunsbach

No abstract provided.

Privacy And Data Protection In Business: Laws And Practices (Sample Chapters), Jonathan I. Ezor

Jonathan I. Ezor

In the fields of digital privacy and data protection in the business world, effective compliance and risk management require not only knowledge of applicable laws and regulations, but at least a basic understanding of relevant technologies and the processes of the company or other organization that is collecting and/or using the personal information or monitoring behavior. This book is structured to provide a framework for law and other students to both learn the law and place it in the necessary technological and practical context, divided into topic areas such as children’s privacy, health information, governmental requirements, employee data and more. …

Watered-Down Rights On The High Seas: Hirsi Jamaa And Others V Italy, Mariagiulia Giuffré

Mariagiulia Giuffré

No abstract provided.