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Treaties

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Full-Text Articles in Law

The Vienna Convention On The Law Of Treaties In U.S. Treaty Interpretation, Evan J. Criddle Sep 2019

The Vienna Convention On The Law Of Treaties In U.S. Treaty Interpretation, Evan J. Criddle

Evan J. Criddle

No abstract provided.


Chevron Deference And Treaty Interpretation, Evan J. Criddle Sep 2019

Chevron Deference And Treaty Interpretation, Evan J. Criddle

Evan J. Criddle

No abstract provided.


A Memorial For Bosnia: Framework Of Legal Arguments Concerning The Lawfulness Of The Maintenance Of The United Nations Security Council's Arms Embargo On Bosnia And Herzegovina, Craig Scott, Abid Qureshi, Jasminka Kalajdzic, Francis Chang, Paul Michell, Peter Copeland Sep 2019

A Memorial For Bosnia: Framework Of Legal Arguments Concerning The Lawfulness Of The Maintenance Of The United Nations Security Council's Arms Embargo On Bosnia And Herzegovina, Craig Scott, Abid Qureshi, Jasminka Kalajdzic, Francis Chang, Paul Michell, Peter Copeland

Craig M. Scott

This Memorial seeks to present a framework of legal arguments with respect to the validity and legal effects of an arms embargo imposed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 713 in September 1991 on the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia), before its dissolution, and since treated as being in force with respect to the new states that have succeeded Yugoslavia. More particularly, the Memorial addresses the legality of maintaining (or, at least, having maintained during the crucial time period) the arms embargo in force, either de jure or de facto, against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia) …


What The Boomerang Misses: Pursuing International Film Co-Production Treaties And Strategies, Brian Yecies Jul 2018

What The Boomerang Misses: Pursuing International Film Co-Production Treaties And Strategies, Brian Yecies

Dr Brian Yecies

This paper illustrates some of the dynamic ways that members of the Korean, Australian, New Zealand and Chinese creative and cultural industries have engaged with international instruments such as co-production treaties. Strategies, benefits returned and lost costs, that is, sacrifices that are made in the process of producing a film or digital media program in more than one country, and/or with an international team are investigated to reveal how creators are engaging with the demands of different governments' policies. It is hoped that this paper and the larger research project to which it is attached will assist scholars, creative and …


Encountering Settler Colonialism Through Legal Objects: A Painted Drum And Handwritten Treaty From Manitoulin Island, Ruth Buchanan, Jeffery G. Hewitt Jul 2018

Encountering Settler Colonialism Through Legal Objects: A Painted Drum And Handwritten Treaty From Manitoulin Island, Ruth Buchanan, Jeffery G. Hewitt

Ruth Buchanan

The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries generated a trove of objects documenting the encounter between the Anishinaabe of the Great Lakes region and the British. Two such objects, a drum painted with Anishinaabe imagery and a treaty, handwritten by a British treaty commissioner, were created in close proximity in both time and location. This paper explores the encounter between the Anishinaabe and the British through a parallel engagement with both drum and treaty; placing them in conversation with each other. We consider the divergent paths taken by these objects by comparing the material, legal and sensory landscapes in which they were …


The Role And Future Of Sovereign Wealth Funds: A Trade And Investment Perspective, Locknie Hsu Feb 2018

The Role And Future Of Sovereign Wealth Funds: A Trade And Investment Perspective, Locknie Hsu

Locknie HSU

Sovereign wealth funds ("SWFs") have been greeted with bothenthusiasm and suspicion. In one respect, they have been called "white knights," where they step in to inject financing to troubledentities.' In others, they have been called "Trojan horses" and"chameleons."


An Eye Toward Effective Enforcement: A Technical-Comparative Approach To The Drafting Negotiations, Tara J. Melish Nov 2017

An Eye Toward Effective Enforcement: A Technical-Comparative Approach To The Drafting Negotiations, Tara J. Melish

Tara Melish

Published as Chapter 5 in Human Rights and Disability Advocacy, Maya Sabatello & Marianne Schulze, eds.

The unprecedented level of civil society participation that took place in the drafting of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) constitutes a major key to its success -- laying a solid foundation for the much longer and harder process of implementation ahead. This piece addresses how one civil society organization -- Disability Rights International (DRI) -- approached the negotiation process. Part I explains the strategic approach DRI adopted, highlighting its methodology, the guiding principles it embraced, and the resulting …


The Role Of Physical Presence In The Taxation Of Cross-Border Personal Services, Michael Kirsch Oct 2016

The Role Of Physical Presence In The Taxation Of Cross-Border Personal Services, Michael Kirsch

Michael Kirsch

This Article addresses the role of physical presence in the taxation of cross-border personal services. For much of the last century, both U.S. internal law and bilateral treaties have used the service provider’s physical location as the touchstone for determining international taxing jurisdiction. Modern developments - in particular, the significant advances in global communication technology and the increasing mobility of individuals - raise important questions regarding the continued viability of this physical presence standard. These modern developments have already facilitated the offshoring of numerous types of personal services, such as radiology, accounting, and legal services. As communication technology improves, the …


Climate Justice, Daniel A. Farber Aug 2016

Climate Justice, Daniel A. Farber

Daniel A Farber

Eric Posner and David Weisbach take the threat of climate change seriously. Their book Climate Change Justice offers policy prescriptions that deserve serious attention. While the authors adopt the framework of conventional welfare economics, they show a willingness to engage with noneconomic perspectives, which softens their conclusions. Although they are right to see a risk that overly aggressive ethical claims could derail international agreement on restricting greenhouse gases, their analysis makes climate justice too marginal to climate policy. The developed world does have a special responsibility for the current climate problem, and we should be willing both to agree to …


The Intent-To-Benefit: Individually Enforceable Rights Under International Treaties, Sital Kalantry Sep 2015

The Intent-To-Benefit: Individually Enforceable Rights Under International Treaties, Sital Kalantry

Sital Kalantry

Citizens of foreign countries are increasingly using international treaties to assert claims against Federal and state governments. As a result, U.S. courts are being asked to determine whether treaties provide litigants with individually enforceable rights. Although courts have no consistent approach to determining whether a treaty gives rise to individually enforceable rights, they often apply the textualist methodology derived from statutory interpretation. However, instead of using textual theories of statutory interpretation, I argue that courts should use intentionalist theories developed from contract interpretation in determining individually enforceable rights under treaties. Two positive arguments and one negative argument support my approach. …


The International Law Of Game Of Thrones, Perry S. Bechky Aug 2015

The International Law Of Game Of Thrones, Perry S. Bechky

Perry S. Bechky

Game of Thrones depicts a violent and, some might say, lawless world. Few would think that world evidences much international law. Yet, this article identifies several rules of international law observable on the show and relates them to real-world international law. Observable rules include some fundaments of the law of treaties, customary norms, and (most surprisingly) at least one humanitarian peremptory norm. These rules cover a range of subjects, including sovereignty, state responsibility, jurisdiction, immunities, and human rights. The article also discusses the special legal status of the Night’s Watch, which is governed by the most important legal “text” in …


Conditions In U.S. Treaty Practice: New Data And Insights Into A Growing Phenomenon, Cindy G. Buys Jul 2015

Conditions In U.S. Treaty Practice: New Data And Insights Into A Growing Phenomenon, Cindy G. Buys

Cindy G. Buys

The U.S. Senate often adds various types of conditions, also known as reservations, understandings, and declarations, to its advice and consent to multilateral treaties. The ability to add conditions to a treaty likely increases the number of States willing to join a treaty because it allows States to modify their treaty obligations to address domestic concerns. However, the use of conditions also has the potential to undermine the integrity of the treaty by allowing States to opt out of important legal obligations and to create legal uncertainty regarding treaty obligations and relationships. This article examines U.S. treaty practice with respect …


Widening Our Lens: Incorporating Essential Perspectives In The Fight Against Human Trafficking, Jonathan Todres Oct 2014

Widening Our Lens: Incorporating Essential Perspectives In The Fight Against Human Trafficking, Jonathan Todres

Jonathan Todres

In 2000, the international community formally launched the modern movement to combat human trafficking with the United Nations' adoption of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (Trafficking Protocol). With the Trafficking Protocol, the international community created a new cornerstone upon which to build a global initiative to combat this modem form of slavery. As the first major international treaty on human trafficking in half a century, the Trafficking Protocol represented a significant step forward. One hundred forty-seven countries are now party to the …


The Tax Code As Nationality Law, Michael S. Kirsch Nov 2013

The Tax Code As Nationality Law, Michael S. Kirsch

Michael Kirsch

This article questions the frequently-asserted axiom that Congress's taxing power knows no bounds. It does so in the context of recently-enacted legislation that creates a special definition of citizenship that applies only for tax purposes. Historically, a person was treated as a citizen for tax purposes (and therefore taxed on her worldwide income and estate) if, and only if, she was a citizen under the nationality law. As a result of the new statute, in certain circumstances a person might be treated as a citizen for tax purposes (and therefore taxed on her worldwide income and estate) for years or …


The Limits Of Administrative Guidance In The Interpretation Of Tax Treaties, Michael Kirsch Nov 2013

The Limits Of Administrative Guidance In The Interpretation Of Tax Treaties, Michael Kirsch

Michael Kirsch

This Article addresses the increasingly important role of administrative guidance in interpreting the United States' international treaty obligations. The relationship between administrative guidance and treaties raises important issues at the intersection of international law, constitutional law, and administrative law. These issues are explored in the context of the United States' extensive tax treaty network. Tax treaties play an important role in a global economy, attempting to reconcile the complex and ever-changing internal tax laws of different countries. The Treasury Department is considering the increased use of administrative guidance to interpret the meaning and application of tax treaties, particularly in response …


The Alien Tort Statute And The Law Of Nations, Bradford R. Clark, Anthony J. Bellia Jr. Oct 2013

The Alien Tort Statute And The Law Of Nations, Bradford R. Clark, Anthony J. Bellia Jr.

Anthony J. Bellia

Courts and scholars have struggled to identify the original meaning of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). As enacted in 1789, the ATS provided "[t]hat the district courts... shall... have cognizance... of all causes where an alien sues for a tort only in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." The statute was rarely invoked for almost two centuries until, in the 1980s, lower federal courts began reading the statute expansively to allow foreign citizens to sue other foreign citizens for violations of modern customary international law that occurred outside the United States. In 2004 …


Regional Treaties, G. L. Rose Jun 2013

Regional Treaties, G. L. Rose

Professor Gregory Rose

An investigation of trends in Australian treaty-making with countries in the region of South East Asia and the South West Pacific, projected forwards from the middle of 2006.


The Death Of Good Faith In Treaty Jurisprudence And A Call For Resurrection, Michael P. Van Alstine Jul 2011

The Death Of Good Faith In Treaty Jurisprudence And A Call For Resurrection, Michael P. Van Alstine

Michael P. Van Alstine

This article addresses the absence of the venerable doctrine of good faith interpretation, as well as its companion “liberal interpretation canon,” from modern Supreme Court treaty jurisprudence. Although scholarly accounts suggest that the spirit is still alive, the article demonstrates that the doctrine was silently interred by the Supreme Court early in the last century. From all appearances, the disappearance of good faith from treaty jurisprudence was not by design. Nonetheless, the article demonstrates that even such an unintended drift can have serious negative consequences. In the context of treaty jurisprudence, the consequence of the departure of good faith interpretation …


Federal Common Law In An Age Of Treaties, Michael P. Van Alstine Jul 2011

Federal Common Law In An Age Of Treaties, Michael P. Van Alstine

Michael P. Van Alstine

In this article Professor Van Alstine explores the interaction between the limitations on the doctrine of federal common law and the power of federal courts to interpret the law within the scope of treaties. The article first reviews the constitutional foundation for the operation of treaties as directly applicable ("self-executing") federal law. It then explains that, notwithstanding the Erie doctrine, federal courts may obtain lawmaking powers from either a delegation by Congress or in certain areas of "uniquely federal interest." Professor Van Alstine then argues that the judicial relationship with self-executing treaty law in principle proceeds from the same source …


Rational Treaties: Article Ii, Congressional-Executive Agreements, And International Bargaining, John C. Yoo Dec 2010

Rational Treaties: Article Ii, Congressional-Executive Agreements, And International Bargaining, John C. Yoo

John C Yoo

This paper examines the continuing difference between the Constitution’s Article II treaty, and the congressional-executive agreement’s statutory process, to make international agreements. Rather than approach the problem from a textual or historical perspective, it employs a rational choice model of dispute resolution between nation-states in conditions of weak to little enforcement by supranational institutions. It argues that the choice of a treaty or congressional-executive agreement can make an important difference in overcoming various difficulties in bargaining that arise from imperfect information and commitment problems.


42 U.S.C. § 1983: A Legal Vehicle With No International Human Rights Treaty Passengers, Matthew J. Jowanna Jan 2010

42 U.S.C. § 1983: A Legal Vehicle With No International Human Rights Treaty Passengers, Matthew J. Jowanna

Matthew J. Jowanna

How do international human rights treaties interact with the domestic civil rights law of the United States, and particularly 42 U.S.C. § 1983? How should international human rights treaties interact with the domestic civil rights law of the United States? “International law is part of our law, and must be ascertained and administered by the courts of justice of appropriate jurisdiction as often as questions of right depending upon it are duly presented for their determination.” Whether fully implemented in domestic law or not, the United States is obligated to respect the international treaties it ratifies. However, exactly how has …


International Human Rights Law And Co-Parent Adoption, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson Jan 2010

International Human Rights Law And Co-Parent Adoption, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Children would benefit substantially if governments legally recognized same sex marriages and parenting. This article analyzes international human rights law, co-parent adoption, and the recognition of gay and lesbian families. It addresses civil marriage and adoption challenges for same sex families and assesses European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence relating to same-sex adoption. This article considers the international community's efforts to implement the best interest of the child standard concluding that recognition of same sex families is in the best interest of the child and should be facilitated in a timely manner by jurisdictions at all levels.


Plural Vision: International Law Seen Through The Varied Lenses Of Domestic Implementation, D. A. Jeremy Telman Jan 2010

Plural Vision: International Law Seen Through The Varied Lenses Of Domestic Implementation, D. A. Jeremy Telman

D. A. Jeremy Telman

This essay introduces a collection of essays that have evolved from papers presented at a conference on “International Law in the Domestic Context.” The conference was a response to the questions raised by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Medellín v. Texas and also a product of our collective curiosity about how other states address tensions between international obligations and overlapping regimes of national law.

Our constitutional tradition speaks with many voices on the subject of the relationship between domestic and international law. In order to gain a broader perspective on that relationship, we invited experts on foreign law to …


International Treaties On Human Rights, Saumya Uma May 2009

International Treaties On Human Rights, Saumya Uma

Dr. Saumya Uma

The chapter provides an overview of international human rights norms and the dynamic relationship they share with domestic laws and standards. It includes a discussion on international treaties on human rights, how a human rights standard becomes a law and how international conventions are enforced. A clarification of key concepts such as signature, ratification, accession, reservation, declaration, optional protocol, periodic reports and shadow reports help demystify legal jargon related to international human rights. The chapter includes a compilation of information on major conventions, declarations, optional protocols and principles on human rights, in a tabular format, providing the reader with a …


The International Court Of Justice And The Concept Of State Practice, Arthur M. Weisburd Feb 2009

The International Court Of Justice And The Concept Of State Practice, Arthur M. Weisburd

Arthur M. Weisburd

State practice is an important element of international law, both as a key component of customary international law and as a crucial tool for interpreting treaties. In this paper, Professor Weisburd seeks to show that there are important flaws in the application of state practice by the International Court of Justice. The Court has relied on actual practice to determine the content of customary rules surprisingly rarely, frequently basing its conclusions instead on non-binding actions by international bodies or on its own decisions. It has reached decisions in some cases clearly inconsistent with significant and relevant state practice and in …


The Case For Climate Protection Authority, Nigel Purvis Jan 2009

The Case For Climate Protection Authority, Nigel Purvis

Nigel Purvis

The United States should classify new international agreements to protect the Earth’s climate system as executive agreements rather than as treaties. Unlike treaties, which require the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate, executive agreements are entered into either solely by the President based on previously delegated constitutional, treaty, or statutory authorities, or by the President and Congress together pursuant to a new statute. Although limits exist on the types of climate agreements the President could enter into without the approval of Congress, the President’s authorities are broader than many legal scholars and policymakers realize, and could be relied …


Two Crises Of Confidence: Securing Non-Proliferation And The Rule Of Law Through Security Council Resolutions, Vik Kanwar Jan 2008

Two Crises Of Confidence: Securing Non-Proliferation And The Rule Of Law Through Security Council Resolutions, Vik Kanwar

Vik Kanwar

This timely article describes the powers of the United Nations Security Council as they have developed in the field of non-proliferation, and demonstrated in recent resolutions, and goes on to propose a normative framework based on the model of reciprocal “confidence-building” measures to ensure the legality and legitimacy of these resolutions.

Recent proliferation crises (concerning Iran, North Korea, and non-state proliferation networks) have led the Council draw upon various sources-- express and implied powers under the UN Charter, powers granted by specific treaties, and an unusual degree of international consensus-- to expand its powers. This paper attempts to transcend false …


Disaggregating Deference: The Judicial Power And Executive Treaty Interpretations, Robert Chesney Aug 2007

Disaggregating Deference: The Judicial Power And Executive Treaty Interpretations, Robert Chesney

Bobby Chesney

For more than a century, the Supreme Court has maintained that federal judges should give deference to the views of the executive branch with respect to the interpretation of ambiguous language in international instruments. The Court has never adequately explained the theoretical justifications for such deference, however, and the doctrine is plagued with uncertainty and inconsistency as a result. Making matters worse, the Supreme Court's most recent forays into this area – especially Hamdan v. Rumsfeld – have exacerbated this instability. My aim in this article is to explain why the deference doctrine presents one of the most significant, yet …


Hamdan V. Rumsfeld: The Functional Case For Foreign Affairs Deference To The Executive Branch, John C. Yoo, Julian Ku Nov 2006

Hamdan V. Rumsfeld: The Functional Case For Foreign Affairs Deference To The Executive Branch, John C. Yoo, Julian Ku

John C Yoo

The Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld represents a radical new judicial approach to the interpretation of laws relating to foreign affairs. Not only did the Hamdan Court fail to defer to the executive's reasonable interpretations of the relevant statutes, treaties, and customary international law of war relating to military commissions, but it did not even justify its failure to depart from longstanding formal doctrines requiring such deference. In this Essay, we offer a functional defense of the doctrines requiring judicial deference to executive interpretations of laws affecting foreign affairs in wartime; doctrines that the Hamdan Court largely ignored. …


The Role Of International Treaties In The Interpretation Of Canadian Intellectual Property Statutes, Daniel J. Gervais Dec 2005

The Role Of International Treaties In The Interpretation Of Canadian Intellectual Property Statutes, Daniel J. Gervais

Daniel J Gervais

The relationship between domestic intellectual property statutes and international law in growing in scope and depth. This paper is a chapter in a book that emphasizes that international law is not only used to interpret domestic law but in fact may itself become a guide for international tribunals, such as the World Trade Organization Dispute-Settlement Body. The Paper considers mostly the role that international norms have played in recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Federal Court.