Law Commons^™

Artificial States And The Remapping Of The Middle East, Ash U. Bali

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article critically examines arguments tracing contemporary crises in the Arab world to the making of the Arab state system a century ago. A series of popular and scholarly articles occasioned by the recent spate of World War I-related centenaries suggest that new boundaries be drawn in the Middle East to produce more stable nation-states. More specifically, a set of authors has advocated for different borders that would avoid ethno-sectarian conflict by designing relatively homogenous smaller states to replace multiethnic, multisectarian states like Iraq and Syria. Such proposals are significant for the underlying presumptions they reflect concerning the relationship between …

Identity Federalism In Europe And The United States, Vlad Perju

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The turn to identity is reshaping federalism. Opposition to the policies of the Trump administration, from the travel ban to sanctuary cities and the rollback of environmental protections, has led progressives to explore more fluid and contingent forms of state identity. Conservatives, too, have sought to shift federalism away from the jurisdictional focus on limited and enumerated powers and have argued for a revival of the political safeguards of federalism, including state-based identities. This Article draws on comparative law to study identity as a political safeguard of federalism and its transformation from constitutional discourse to interpretative processes and, eventually, constitutional …

Judging Judicial Appointment Procedures, S. I. Strong

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Over the last several years, judicial appointment procedures in the United States have become increasingly intractable. Members of both parties are seen to engage in political gamesmanship, calling the legitimacy of the appointment process into question and decreasing public confidence in both the legislature and the judiciary. Questions are even beginning to arise about whether and to what extent the United States is complying with the rule of law.

Although numerous solutions have been proposed, one alternative has not yet been considered: international law. As paradoxical as it may seem, the best and perhaps only feasible solution to quintessentially domestic …

Fortifying American Emergency Power: A Multinational Comparison To Contain Crises, Courtney Devore

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Countries will inevitably face emergencies. Historically, governments have exercised immense power in response to emergencies. For responses to be quick and effective, emergency power operates outside of the normal rule of law. While disbanding the normal rule of law may be necessary from time to time to protect national security, the unilateral ability of government to take such action creates perverse incentives to abuse the power. Abuses of emergency power are found across the globe, most notably occurring in the United States recently.

In the wake of the Trump Administration, this Note seeks to identify how and why the US …

The Psychic Costs Of Violating Corruption Laws, Philip M. Nichols

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Understanding corruption is imperative for legal scholarship, both as an intellectual subject and because corruption impedes the operation of law in much of the world and inflicts damage on well-being, governance, and quality of life. Legal scholars have contributed substantial quantitative research on corruption; this paper adopts a qualitative methodology. The similarities and differences between Singapore and Malaysia present opportunities for research. Interviews with discussants in those two countries indicate a real difference in the degree to which corruption laws have been internalized. Differences in the degree of internalization suggest differences in the psychic costs imposed by violation of corruption …

Do Norms Still Matter? The Corrosive Effects Of Globalization On The Vitality Of Norms, Patrick J. Keenan

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Why does the process of globalization undermine the power of social norms to regulate behavior? Norms are the social regularities that shape individual behavior and help to create vibrant--or dysfunctional--communities. Most theories of norms do not account for the many ways that globalization affects the foundations of norms. This Article fills the gap by developing a more robust theory of the informal regulation of behavior that considers the ways that the process of globalization can interfere with the creation of norms and erode their power.

Drawing on behavioral economics, sociology, and criminology, the theory proposed in this Article contains three …

Creating The Right Mentality: Dealing With The Problem Of Juror Delinquency In The New South Korean Lay Participation System, Eric Seo

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Judiciary Reform Committee of South Korea has planned to implement a five year pilot program that will allow public participation in trials. This will be the first time in the nation's judicial history that lay participation will be used. The format of the pilot program will be a mixture of the U.S.-style jury system and the German lay assessor system, with the program being more akin to the U.S. system. As South Korea has never had a lay participation system, it has a unique opportunity to create a system that will avoid problems associated with lay participation. This Note …

From The Ali To The Ili: The Efforts To Export An American Legal Institution, Jayanth K. Krishnan

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In this Article, the Author argues that those who believe that Americans can successfully export their visions of law and legal research to other countries need to consider--in addition to Japan and Germany, two countries that are often touted as exemplars--the case of India. India gained its independence from the British in 1947, and soon thereafter many U.S. experts traveled to India in an effort to foster a culture of Western legal intellectualism. As part of their mission to improve the status of law in India, the Americans, upon their arrival, strongly advocated for the construction of a national Indian …

Modernizing Muslim Family Law: The Case Of Egypt, Lama Abu-Odeh

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

he Author discusses the dynamics of family law reforms in modern Egypt as an instance of similar dynamics of reforms in other Muslim countries. The forces that push for reforms as well as those that try to limit them are also introduced.

The Author begins by describing the historical legal background shared by the vast majority of Muslim countries, including Egypt. An account of the general evolution of Islamic law-from a dominant system existing within an Islamic state to a subordinate system existing within an overall secularized legal system characterized by legal borrowing from European codes-is given. Islamic law has …

An International "Truth Commission": Utilizing Restorative Justice As An Alternative To Retribution, Carrie J. Niebur Eisnaugle

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A restorative justice paradigm emphasizes healing relationships between offenders, their victims, and the community in which the offense took place. It rejects retribution as a response to crime, focusing instead on the needs of all parties involved. This Note discusses the necessity for, and possible benefits of, using restorative justice principles when responding to international crimes and conflicts. Prosecution, war, and other violent means remain the most common responses to crime and conflict today. Such retributive reactions often lead to further violence rather than healing and peace. Using restorative justice principles to address crime and conflict, as was done in …

Terrorism And Globalization: An International Perspective, Linda Lim

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Terrorism has little or nothing to do with globalization, just as it has little or nothing to do with Islam. Most of the many varieties of terrorism that afflict and have long afflicted the world are responses not to global phenomena, but to intensely local ones. Examples include particularly ethnic, nationalist, and religious fault lines such as violence by Catholics and Protestants in Ireland; Basques in Spain; the Hindu Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka; Kashmiris, Sikhs, and Hindu nationalists in India; the Aum cult in Japan; and Uighurs in Xinjiang, China.

The terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center on …

Harmonization Or Homogenization? The Globalization Of Law And Legal Ethics--An Australian Viewpoint, Steven Mark

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines the pressures of globalization on the practice of law and legal ethics from an Australian perspective. The Article first examines the positive aspects of globalization and then turns to the potentially disruptive and homogenizing aspects of globalization upon indigenous and non-Western societies. Next, the Article considers how globalization threatens to disrupt tradition and culture in Western societies, specifically focusing on the tradition of the law and legal practice. Finally, the Author discusses the response of the Australian legal profession to the demands of globalization. The Author examines changes that have been implemented to the legal practice and …

Consolidating Democracy On A Troubled Continent: A Challenge For Lawyers In Africa, Okechukwu Oko

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

African countries during the post-colonial era have struggled to establish democratic governments, too frequently succumbing to authoritarian, usually military, rule. This instability, as nations swing from one regime to another, has hindered the economic growth and respect for civil rights that citizens had hoped would be the legacy of independence. Despite such abuses, both the elite and the masses in Africa recognize that democracy represents the best hope for future stability. In countries like Nigeria, citizens are demanding the replacement of corrupt, paternalistic military officers with democratic, civilian rule.

Even the election of civilian administrations, however, offers no guarantee that …

Revising Shonenho: A Call To A Reform That Makes The Already Effective Japanese Juvenile System Even More Effective, Masami I. Tyson

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Shonenho, the Japanese Juvenile Law, is based on ideas of protection, love, and tolerance towards the juvenile offender. Its main purpose is to protect him from the stigma of the crime or delinquent act that he has committed, as well as from the environment in which he was when he committed the crime or delinquent act. Punishment does not have a role within the Japanese juvenile system. Rather, Shonenho strives to reform the juvenile so that he can return to society as a fully functional member within a relatively short period of time. Looking at the low juvenile criminal and …

The Dichotomy Between Standards And Rules, Mary C. Daly

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The differences in perception between U.S. and foreign lawyer codes of conduct is more than simply a matter of academic interest or curiosity. It is only a matter of time until the WTO turns its attention to the codes, examining whether and to what extent they create illegitimate regulatory barriers to trade in legal services. As the participants in the Forum on Transnational Legal Practice have come to realize, if the legal profession is to play a meaningful role in cross-border regulation, it must seize the initiative, much as the CCBE did in 1988 with the adoption of the CCBE …

Selected Bibliography: The Reintegration Of Hong Kong Into China, Journal Editor

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The reintegration of Hong Kong into the People's Republic of China (PRC) on July 7, 1997, will bring together two countries, one capitalist and one communist, under one rule. As evidenced by the variety of perspectives offered at the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law's Symposium on Hong Kong's Reintegration into the People's Republic of China (PRC), there is much scholarly debate concerning how this merger will occur and what effect it will have on the people and politics of both countries as well as on the international community as a whole. This bibliography includes books and articles written specifically about …

Izvestiia As A Mirror Of Russian Legal Reform, Frances H. Foster

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In this Article, Professor Foster explores the breakdown of legal authority in post-Soviet Russia by examining the experience of the Russian newspaper Izvestiia. The author recounts the power struggles between the Russian president and the parliament, each seeking to exercise sole control over the destiny of Izvestiia and of post-Soviet Russia. Professor Foster argues that Izvestiia's battle for survival is merely symptomatic of the overall structural, procedural, and attitudinal obstacles to Russian legal reform in the post-Soviet era. The author concludes that the key to successful establishment of a stable, democratic, law-based state is a fundamental reconstitution of Russian legal …

Observations Of A Latvian Practitioner, Valentin Blueger

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

After having heard so many distinctive speakers, I thought of what might be of interest more specifically on a few issues. You can certainly understand that there is a lot in common among all of the countries of Eastern Europe right now. There are a few topics that were mentioned in every speech. There is privatization, the monopolization of the economy, and the transformation of the system into a free market society.

In the Soviet Union, there has been a very contradictive process going on within the last six months. Everything said before in terms of changing the system appears …

Book Review, John B. Marshall

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Neither author devotes major attention to the vast array of practical problems that beset the developing world and impair all efforts for progress. This was not their purpose. Neither book attempts to catalog the problems or discuss proposed solutions, other than economic regionalism. Taking a broader view than these books and their treatment of economic regionalism, one finds that the problems of material circumstances and human condition appear to be more extensive and more powerful than regionalism can solve. The variety and seriousness of the problems faced by the developing countries explain the lack of success of regionalism and discourage …

Book Review, Igor I. Kavass

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Documentation Office for East European Law at the University of Leyden in the Netherlands is one of the most prominent and active research institutions in the West dedicated to the study of the laws and legal systems of socialist countries. Established in 1953 for the purpose of gathering and interpreting information about legal developments in the socialist countries, the Documentation Office is reputed to have now one of the most comprehensive collections of rare and generally inaccessible documents in its area of specialization. This collection attracts researchers from around the world. The staff of the Documentation Office is widely …

Books Received, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

West's Law & Commercial Dictionary in Five Languages

West Publishing Company, 1985. Pp. xvi, 885, 899.

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Flags of Convenience

By B.N. Metaxes

Aldershot, England and Brookfield, Vermont

Gower Publishing Company, 1985. Pp.x, 107.

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External Debt Management

Edited by Hassanali Mehran

Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, 1985. Pp. v, 322.

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Adjustment, Conditionality, and International Financing

Edited by Joaquin Muns

Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, 1984. Pp. xi, 214.

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Non-Appearance Before the International Court of Justice

By H.W.A. Thirlway

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. Pp. v, 184.

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William Sheppard, Cromwell's Law Reformer

By Nancy L. Matthews

London: …

United States Research Of The Law Of The Communist-Ruled States Of Europe, Ivan Sipkov

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The legal system of the Soviet Union, developed after the 1917 October Revolution, was introduced, with some variations, in several European, Asian, and Latin American states during the last years of World War II. These states have been characterized, both officially and unofficially, as "Soviet-type republics," "People's republics," "Socialist republics," and "Communist states." Their legal systems, although patterned after the Soviet Union legal system, developed in different directions. Today, the various legal systems of these republics are clearly distinguishable; however, one common feature is present: the states are ruled by one Communist party to the exclusion of other parties.

Book Reviews, W. Paul Gormley, John E. Semonche

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Book Reviews

CHEMICAL WEAPONS: DESTRUCTION AND CONVERSION

Published for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

London: Taylor and Francis, 1980. Pp. 201.

Reviewed by W. Paul Gormley

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THE DEFINITION OF LAW

Hermann Kantorowicz

Edited by A.H.Campbell, with an introduction by A.L. Goodhart

New York: Octagon Books, 1980. Notes and bibliography. Pp. 113.

Reviewed by John E. Semonche

Book Reviews, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Book Reviews

MERCHANTS OF GRAIN Dan Morgan New York: The Viking Press,1979. Pp. xiv, 387. $14.95.

Reviewed by Leo V. Mayer

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THE DISCIPLINE OF LAW Lord Denning London: Butterworths, 1979. Pp. xxii, 331.

Reviewed by P. F. Ashman

Book Review, Igor I. Kavass

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The limited use of American case law in the Commonwealth countries should not be surprising. With the exception of English cases, the decisions of other Commonwealth countries receive the same indifferent treatment in all Commonwealth jurisdictions; the English courts studiously ignore the decisions of other Commonwealth countries. For that matter, American courts do not consult the case law of English and other Commonwealth countries all too frequently. Espinoza v. Farah Manufacturing Co. is a recent example in point. In that case, the Supreme Court was asked to interpret the meaning of the terms "nationality" and "national origin" as used. in …

The Bases And Range Of Federal Maritime Law: Indicia Of Maritime Competence, Arthur R. Louv

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Constitution and federal statutes of the United States establish three forms of jurisdiction for the federal judiciary--diversity, federal question, and admiralty and maritime. This scheme of multi-based jurisdiction necessarily raises a fundamental problem in our federal judicial system: the interrelation of these grants of power.

Mr. Justice Story, the author of the opinion in Swift v. Tyson, viewed the grants of diversity, federal question, and maritime competence as complementary, and utilized this concept in an attempt to create a uniform body of federal commercial common law. In "Erie Railroad Company v. Tompkins", however, the Supreme Court rejected the principle …

Book Reviews, Max Rheinstein, Eugene V. Rostow, William O. Thweatt

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

JUDICIAL REVIEW IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

By Mauro Cappelletti

Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill, 1971. Pp. xi, 117. $8.50 ($4.50 student edition).

reviewer: Max Rheinstein

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THE PRICE OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE

Philip C. Jessup

New York: Columbia University Press, 1971. Pp. ix, 82. $5.95.

reviewer: Eugene V. Rostow

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THREE WORLDS OF DEVELOPMENT: THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF INTERNATIONAL STRATIFICATION

By Irving Louis Horowitz

New York: Oxford University Press, 1972. Pp. xxx, 556. $15.00 (Paperback, $3.50).

reviewer: William O. Thweatt