Law Commons^™

The Door Ajar: The Life Of The Alien Tort Statute Before And After Kiobel V. Royal Dutch Petroleum, Matthew K. Toyama

Matthew K. Toyama

Since the April 2013 Supreme Court decision of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, the future of international human rights litigation in U.S. federal courts flounders in a quagmire of complex precedent and wants a light in the darkness. This paper seeks to find the foundation of the relationship of the law of nations to at least one sovereign state, the United States, then investigates the life of a major liaison in this regard, the Alien Tort Statute, and explores the viability of the ATS as a channel for international human rights litigation moving forward. Consistent judicial opinion, contextual and textual …

"Toiling In The Danger And In The Morals Of Despair": Risk, Security, Danger, The Constitution, And The Clinician's Dilemma, Michael L. Perlin, Alison Julia Lynch

Michael L Perlin

Abstract: Persons institutionalized in psychiatric hospitals and “state schools” for those with intellectual disabilities have always been hidden from view. Such facilities were often constructed far from major urban centers, availability of transportation to such institutions was often limited, and those who were locked up were, to the public, faceless and often seen as less than human.

Although there has been regular litigation in the area of psychiatric (and intellectual disability) institutional rights for 40 years, much of this case law entirely ignores forensic patients – mostly those awaiting incompetency-to-stand trial determinations, those found permanently incompetent to stand trial, those …

“Friend To The Martyr, A Friend To The Woman Of Shame”: Thinking About The Law, Shame And Humiliation, Michael L. Perlin, Naomi Weinstein

Michael L Perlin

The need to pay attention to the law‘s capacity to allow for, to encourage, or (in some cases) to remediate humiliation, or humiliating or shaming behavior has increased exponentially as we begin to also take more seriously international human rights mandates, especially – although certainly not exclusively – in the context of the recently-ratified United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a Convention that calls for “respect for inherent dignity,” and characterizes "discrimination against any person on the basis of disability [as] a violation of the inherent dignity and worth of the human person...."

Humiliation and shaming, …

Law, Otherness, And Human Trafficking, Jonathan Todres

Jonathan Todres

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Realizing 'Other Rights' To Prevent Sex Trafficking, Jonathan Todres

Jonathan Todres

International law has long prohibited sex trafficking. The current international legal framework on sex trafficking sets forth a three-pronged approach to anti-trafficking efforts: (1) criminalization of acts of trafficking, (2) trafficking prevention programs, and (3) aid for victims of trafficking. To date, efforts undertaken by various countries have focused primarily on the first component, with comparatively minimal resources being allocated to prevention or victim assistance programs. Those countries that have initiated prevention measures tend to adopt a narrow view of "prevention programs" – focusing on activities such as public awareness campaigns warning of the penalties associated with such crimes or …

Birth Registration: An Essential First Step Toward Ensuring The Rights Of All Children, Jonathan Todres

Jonathan Todres

No abstract provided.

The Challenge Of Creating “A World Fit For Children”, Jonathan Todres

Jonathan Todres

No abstract provided.

The Court Of Arbitration For Sport And Its Global Jurisprudence: International Legal Pluralism In A World Without National Boundaries, Matthew J. Mitten

Matt Mitten

This article considers an issue of global importance that has received little scholarly attention: whether the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), whose developing body of lex sportiva is a form of international legal pluralism, provides an appropriate level of procedural fairness and substantive justice to the world’s athletes, who are subject to its jurisdiction as a condition of their participation in Olympic and international sports competition. It provides an overview of the CAS arbitration system and the very limited scope of national judicial review of its arbitration awards decisions. It concludes that the CAS is a procedurally fair private …

"To Kill A Cleric?: The Al-Awlaki Case And The Chaplaincy Exception Under The Laws Of War", K Benson

K Benson

Anwar al-Awlaki was the first American citizen to be targeted for extrajudicial assassination by the Obama administration. While scholarly attention has focused on legality of his killing under domestic law, his status as a chaplain under International Humanitarian Law (IHL) has gone unexamined. The possibility that Anwar al-Awlaki may have been a protected person as a chaplain has profound ramifications for the legality of his killing and for the conduct of the war on terror more generally. As the definition of a "Chaplain" under IHL is under-developed at best and vague at worst, ideologues such as Mr. al-Awlaki operate in …

Globalization And The Monopoly Of Aba-Approved Law Schools: Missed Opportunities Or Dodged Bullets?, Carole Silver

Carole Silver

As the market for lawyers and for law itself has responded to global forces, legal education also is becoming accustomed to working within a global context. U.S. law schools routinely look beyond the country’s borders to attract new students and opportunities. As with law firms and business generally, it no longer is sufficient to be domestic only; in order to gain prestige and to effectively compete in the U.S. market, schools must have a credible claim to being globally connected, if not global themselves. But despite the reorientation of law schools toward globalization, the regulatory regime in which U.S. law …

Anticipating The Storm: Predicting And Preventing Global Technology Conflicts, Sabrina Safrin

Sabrina Safrin

This article helps lay the foundation for a new field of international law — International Law and Technology — and opens novel avenues of inquiry in law and technology and intellectual property more broadly. It analyzes as a starting point why some technologies generate global conflicts while others do not. Technologies that face international resistance can trigger a barrage of international legal responses, ranging from trade bans and WTO disputes to international regulatory regimes and barriers to patenting. Agricultural biotechnology triggered all of these legal flashpoints, while the cellphone, a technology that grew up alongside it, triggered none. Why?

Understanding …

Children, Armed Conflict, And Genocide: Applying The Law Of Genocide To The Recruitment And Use Of Children In Armed Conflict, Jeffery R. Ray

Jeffery R Ray

This paper shows that the use of child soldiers in armed conflict has the potential to be considered as genocide. A brief background of genocide is presented prior to the analysis. Part I, of the analysis, will discuss three issues: First, the modern understanding of genocide and the substantive areas of law that govern it; Second, the definition of ‘child’ within the international arena as it relates to child soldering; Third, a discussion to determine if children can constitute a ‘group’ in the context of the law of genocide. Part II provides a discussion elaborating on Part I then analyzing …

Danbury Hatters In Sweden: A U.S. Perspective On The Available Remedies And Sanctions For Employers Who Suffer Unfair Labor Practices By Labor Unions, César F. Rosado Marzán, Margot Nikitas

César F. Rosado Marzán

The European Court of Justice's ("ECJ") Laval quartet held that worker collective actions that impacted freedom of services and establishment in the E.U. violated E.U. law. After Laval, the Swedish Labor Court imposed exemplary or punitive damages on labor unions for violating E.U. law. These cases have generated critical discussions regarding not only the proper balance between markets and workers’ freedom of association, but also what should be the proper remedies for employers who suffer illegal actions by labor unions under E.U. law. While any reforms to rebalance fundamental freedoms as a result of the Laval quartet will have to …

We Want What's Ours: Learning From South Africa's Land Restitution Program (Oxford University Press), Bernadette Atuahene

Bernadette Atuahene

Structuring Big Data To Facilitate Participation In International Law, Roslyn Fuller

Roslyn Fuller

This is an interdisciplinary article focusing on the interplay between information and communication technology (ICT) and international law (IL). Its purpose is to open up a dialogue between ICT and IL practitioners that focuses on the ways in which ICT can enhance equitable participation in international legal structures, particularly through capturing the possibilities associated with big data. This depends on the ability of individuals to access big data, for it to be structured in a manner that makes it accessible and for the individual to be able to take action based on it.

Trips & Development, Daniel J. Gervais

Daniel J Gervais

This brief Chapter in the (forthcoming) SAGE Handbook of Intellectual Property examines available data and analyses concerning the impact of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on development. The Chapter considers distinctions among types of countries and industries, and the role of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Restraining The Hand Of Law: A Conceptual Framework To Shrink The Size Of Law, Bryan H. Druzin

Bryan H. Druzin

There is a fierce ideological struggle between two warring camps: those who rally against expansive government and those who support it. Clearly, the correct balance must be struck between the extremes of legislative over-invasiveness and the frightening total absence of legal structure. This paper articulates a framework that allows for legislative parsimony—a way to scale back state law in a way that avoids lurching to unnecessary extremes. I assume the libertarian premise that law should strive to encroach as minimally as possible upon social order, yet I argue that we must do this in a highly selective fashion, employing a …

Opening The Machinery Of Private Order: Public International Law As A Form Of Private Ordering, Bryan H. Druzin

Bryan H. Druzin

Does legal order always need the enforcement power of the State? The concept of private order says no. Private ordering is traditionally defined as the coming together of non-governmental parties in voluntary, self-enforcing arrangements. This Article radically expands the concept of private order to include not only individuals, but also governments themselves, arguing that the ingredients for private ordering exist in both spheres. State actors, perhaps even more so than individuals, are producers of private order in that they regularly establish sophisticated legal order in the absence of centralized enforcement. The Article constructs a theory of private order which focuses …

India’S State Of Legal Education: The Road From Nlsiu To Jindal, Deepa Badrinarayana

Deepa Badrinarayana

This narrative is a reflection of the changes that the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) ushered in India, prior to globalization. It reflects on the challenges to legal education in India pre-globalization and the efforts made through the creation of NLSIU to address these challenges, and it also introduces some of the challenges facing Indian legal education in a globalized world.