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Full-Text Articles in Law

Patents And Plants: Rethinking The Role Of International Law In Relation To The Appropriation Of Traditional Knowledge Of The Uses Of Plants (Tkup), Ikechi Mgbeoji May 2022

Patents And Plants: Rethinking The Role Of International Law In Relation To The Appropriation Of Traditional Knowledge Of The Uses Of Plants (Tkup), Ikechi Mgbeoji

PhD Dissertations

Legal control and ownership of plants and traditional knowledge of the uses of plants (TKUP) is often a vexed issue, particularly at the international level because of the conflicting interests of states or groups of states in the matter. The most widely used form of juridical control of plants and TKUP is the patent system which originated in Europe. This thesis rethinks the role of international law and legal concepts, the major patent systems of the world and international agricultural research institutions as they affect legal ownership and control of plants and TKUP. The analysis is cast in various contexts …


Business And Human Rights In The Context Of Sanctions: A Road To Filling The Governance Gap, Bahareh Jafarian May 2020

Business And Human Rights In The Context Of Sanctions: A Road To Filling The Governance Gap, Bahareh Jafarian

LLM Theses

As concerns about the negative impacts of sanctions on the human rights of civilians and the environment increases, it is necessary to reflect upon the lawfulness and legal status of such measures in international law, and their impact on business enterprises and the field of Business and Human Rights (BHR). While current academic literature tends to focus on implementation, enforcement and business compliance with unilateral and multilateral sanctions, the negative impacts of sanctions on non-state actors and resulting human rights violations are overlooked. Specifically, the relationship between sanctions law and the responsibility of businesses to respect human rights and the …


Canada's Residential Schools And The Right To Integrity, Amy Anderson, Dallas K. Miller, Dwight Newman Oct 2018

Canada's Residential Schools And The Right To Integrity, Amy Anderson, Dallas K. Miller, Dwight Newman

Dalhousie Law Journal

Apart from characterizations of the residential schools system as imposing cultural genocide, it is possible to understand the system in terms of a legal wrong involving violations of family integrity. The 19th and early 20th centuries saw increasing state intervention in families generally so as to impose compulsory education. However, wrongs in this intervention were recognized, and international law developed toward a right of family integrity that led to changes in non-Indigenous contexts. Evidence from the TRC shows that Canada did not respond as quickly in the Indigenous context, thus permitting an identification of how the residential schools system violated …


Copla: A Transnational Criminal Court For Latin America & The Caribbean, Robert Currie, Jacob Leon Jan 2018

Copla: A Transnational Criminal Court For Latin America & The Caribbean, Robert Currie, Jacob Leon

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

States in the Latin American and Caribbean regions have long called for the creation of an independent, international court to prosecute members of transnational organized crime gangs. These organizations not only profit from the illicit traffic in drugs, people and cultural property, but are able to corrupt and undermine the domestic legal systems and judiciaries of the affected states. This paper examines the current proposal for the creation of the "Latin American and Caribbean Criminal Court Against Transnational Organized Crime" (COPLA). It reviews the rationale for creating such a court, examines the main pillars of the current proposal, and suggests …


Revisiting Transnational Corporations And Extractive Industries: Climate Justice, Feminism, And State Sovereignty, Sara Seck Jan 2017

Revisiting Transnational Corporations And Extractive Industries: Climate Justice, Feminism, And State Sovereignty, Sara Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This Article explicitly examines the relationship between climate justice, gender, and transnational fossil fuel extractive industries by drawing upon feminist theoretical insights. First, I provide an overview of the differential impacts of climate change on women and briefly review insights from select international legal scholars who have considered gender and climate change. Second, I describe the Philippines climate petition, a novel attempt to seek an investigation into the accountability of transnational fossil fuel companies for climate harms. Third, I examine three sets of issues arising in the Philippines climate petition and draw explicitly upon Karen Knop’s Re/Statements: Feminism and State …


Showing Them How It's Done: Justice Cromwell's International Law Jurisprudence, Robert Currie Jan 2017

Showing Them How It's Done: Justice Cromwell's International Law Jurisprudence, Robert Currie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This paper examines the international law judgments authored by Justice Tom Cromwell of the Supreme Court of Canada, focusing on the methodology used in applying treaty law within the Canadian legal context. It concludes that Justice Cromwell's decisions in this area are a model of solid methodology, clarity and attention to fairness to all parties.


A Goal-Oriented Understanding Of The Right To Health Care And Its Implications For Future Health Rights Litigation, Michael Da Silva Oct 2016

A Goal-Oriented Understanding Of The Right To Health Care And Its Implications For Future Health Rights Litigation, Michael Da Silva

Dalhousie Law Journal

International human rights law recognizes a right to health. A majority of domestic constitutions recognize health-related rights. Many citizens believe that they have a moral right to health care. Some theorists agree. Yet the idea of a right to health care remains controversial. Specifying the nature of such a right invites more controversy. Indeed, most models of the right face persistent problems that threaten to undermine the conceptual coherence of a right to health care. This article accordingly sketches preliminary arguments for a new, goal-oriented model of the right to health care. It explains that the model avoids most of …


Cross-Border Evidence Gathering In Transnational Crime Cases: Is The Microsoft Ireland Case The ‘Next Frontier'?, Robert Currie Jan 2016

Cross-Border Evidence Gathering In Transnational Crime Cases: Is The Microsoft Ireland Case The ‘Next Frontier'?, Robert Currie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

A recent and prominent American appeals court case has revived a controversial international law question: can a state compel an individual on its territory to obtain and produce material which the individual owns or controls, but which is stored on the territory of a foreign state? The case involved, United States v. Microsoft, features electronic data stored offshore which was sought in the context of a criminal prosecution. It highlights the current legal complexity surrounding the cross-border gathering of electronic evidence, which has produced friction and divergent state practice. The author here contends that the problems involved are best understood—and …


The Cycles Of Global Telecommunication Censorship And Surveillance, Jonathon Penney Jan 2015

The Cycles Of Global Telecommunication Censorship And Surveillance, Jonathon Penney

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Internet censorship and surveillance is on the rise globally and cyber-warfare increasing in scope and intensity. To help understand these new threats commentators have grasped at historical analogies often with little regard for historical complexity or international perspective. Unfortunately, helpful new works on telecommunications history have focused primarily on U.S. history with little focus on international developments. There is thus a need for further internationally oriented investigation of telecommunications technologies, and their history. This essay attempts to help fill that void, drawing on case studies wherein global telecommunications technologies have been disrupted or censored — telegram censorship and surveillance, high …


Bio-Cultural Knowledge And The Challenges Of Intellectual Property Rights Regimes For African Development, Ikechi Mgbeoji Oct 2012

Bio-Cultural Knowledge And The Challenges Of Intellectual Property Rights Regimes For African Development, Ikechi Mgbeoji

Dalhousie Law Journal

African states have, since the colonial encounter, been part of the international regimes on intellectual property rights. Formal accession to various treaties and conventions on intellectual property rights instruments should not be mistaken for actual internalization of the policies, structures and norms required for reaping the promised benefits of participation in such regimes. There is ample evidence showing that most African states do not have the requisite structures for fruitful engagement with international intellectual property rights regimes. Until this anomaly is rectified, African states' engagement with international intellectual property regimes will remain structurally flawed and inimical to the human development …


Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge, And Biodiversity In The Global Economy: The Potential Of Geographical Indications For Protecting Traditional Knowledge-Based Agricultural Products, Teshager W. Dagne May 2012

Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge, And Biodiversity In The Global Economy: The Potential Of Geographical Indications For Protecting Traditional Knowledge-Based Agricultural Products, Teshager W. Dagne

PhD Dissertations

The relationship between international regimes regulating intellectual property, traditional knowledge and biodiversity has received much attention in recent times. Of the many complex and controversial issues in contemporary international legal discourse on this matter, the protection of traditional knowledge (TK) stands out as a significant challenge. Choices abound in the search for modalities to regulate rights to use and control TK systems and their underlying biodiversity. In recent times, the protection of geographical indications (GIs) has emerged as an option for protecting TK. Despite the considerable enthusiasm over it, there is appreciable research dearth on how far and in what …


Book Review: Gary Botting, Extradition Between Canada And The United States (Ardsley: Transnational Publishers, 2005), Robert Currie Jan 2012

Book Review: Gary Botting, Extradition Between Canada And The United States (Ardsley: Transnational Publishers, 2005), Robert Currie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Both domestic and international laws regarding the extradition of fugitive criminal offenders are in a state of flux throughout the world. The current legal landscape reflects tension between the interest of state authorities in promoting “security,” on the one hand, and increasing recognition that human rights obligations are at play, on the other. Gary Botting’s book, Extradition Between Canada and the United States, successfully addresses this tension by way of a detailed examination of what is probably the most integrated extradition partnership outside the European Union.


Communications Disruption And Censorship Under International Law: History Lessons, Jonathon Penney Jan 2012

Communications Disruption And Censorship Under International Law: History Lessons, Jonathon Penney

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

With Internet censorship on the rise around the world, a variety of tools have proliferated to assist Internet users to circumvent such censorship. However, there are few studies examining the implications of censorship circumvention under international law, and its related politics. This paper aims to help fill some of that void, with an examination of case studies wherein global communications technologies have been disrupted or censored — telegram cable cutting and censorship, high frequency radio jamming, and direct broadcast satellite blocking — and how the world community responded to that disruption or censorship through international law and law making. In …


A Tale Of Two Brothers: The Impact Of The Khadr Cases On Canadian Anti-Terrorism Law, Robert Currie Jan 2012

A Tale Of Two Brothers: The Impact Of The Khadr Cases On Canadian Anti-Terrorism Law, Robert Currie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

After something of a slow start, Canada’s post-9/11 terrorism laws have seen a fair amount of traffic over the last several years, and many of these prosecutions were high-profile in both the public and the legal senses. The case of the “Toronto 18” was well-chewed over by the press, coverage oscillating between grim amusement at the apparent incompetence of some of the accused and the sobering danger presented by others. The Supreme Court of Canada recently granted leave to appeal in the cases of Momin Khawaja, who was convicted for various terrorist activities carried out within and outside Canada, and …


New First Principles? Assessing The Internet’S Challenges To Jurisdiction, Teresa Scassa, Robert Currie Jan 2011

New First Principles? Assessing The Internet’S Challenges To Jurisdiction, Teresa Scassa, Robert Currie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The globalized and decentralized Internet has become the new locus for a wide range of human activity, including commerce, crime, communications and cultural production. Activities which were once at the core of domestic jurisdiction have moved onto the Internet, and in doing so, have presented numerous challenges to the ability of states to exercise jurisdiction. In writing about these challenges, some scholars have characterized the Internet as a separate “space” and many refer to state jurisdiction over Internet activities as “extraterritorial.” This article examines these challenges in the context of the overall international law of jurisdiction, rather than focusing on …


Canadian Mining Internationally And The Un Guiding Principles For Business And Human Rights, Sara Seck Jan 2011

Canadian Mining Internationally And The Un Guiding Principles For Business And Human Rights, Sara Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Between 2005 and 2011, there was much debate within Canada and at the United Nations over what role home states should play in the regulation and adjudications of human rights harms associated with transnational corporate conduct. In Canada, this debate focused upon concerns associated with global mining, and led to a series of government, opposition and multi-stakeholder reports and proposals. These culminated in 2010 with the appointment of a Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor for the Extractive Sector and the defeat of Bill C-300, an act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries. Meanwhile, …


Internet Access Rights: A Brief History And Intellectual Origins, Jonathon Penney Jan 2011

Internet Access Rights: A Brief History And Intellectual Origins, Jonathon Penney

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

If there is anything we have learned from recent protest movements around the world, and the heavy-handed government efforts to block, censor, suspend, and manipulate Internet connectivity, it is that access to the Internet, and its content, is anything but certain, especially when governments feel threatened. Despite these hard truths, the notion that people have a "right" to Internet access gained high-profile international recognition last year. In a report to the United Nations General Assembly in early 2011, Frank La Rue, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, held that Internet access should be recognized as a "human right". …


Application Of Non-Implemented International Law By The Federal Court Of Appeal: Towards A Symbolic Effect Of S. 3(3)(F) Of The Irpa?, France Houle, Noura Karazivan Oct 2009

Application Of Non-Implemented International Law By The Federal Court Of Appeal: Towards A Symbolic Effect Of S. 3(3)(F) Of The Irpa?, France Houle, Noura Karazivan

Dalhousie Law Journal

Since 1999, the Supreme Court has explored the linkages between domestic statutes and international norms and values and has slowly developed the basic principles underlying a new mechanism of relevancy that the authors call harmonization of domestic law with international law The authors analyze this development in PartI of the present article. In Part II, they study the application of this harmonization mechanism in the field of Canadian immigration law Of, particular importance in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act is s. 3(3)(f), for it directs judges to construe and apply the IRPA in a manner that "complies with international …


The Implications Of Unclos For Canada's Regulatory Jurisdiction In The Offshore-The 200-Mile Limit And The Continental Shelf, Keith F. Miller Oct 2007

The Implications Of Unclos For Canada's Regulatory Jurisdiction In The Offshore-The 200-Mile Limit And The Continental Shelf, Keith F. Miller

Dalhousie Law Journal

The author examines the current state of international law governing Canada's sovereignty and jurisdiction over the exploitation of hydrocarbons within its continental shelf. These rights are reviewed from a historical perspective through theprogression ofinternational conventions, the decisions ofinternational tribunals and the enactmentof Canadian federal laws. The article includes anexamination of Canada's rights under international law respecting its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf beyond, as well as a review of Canada's maritime boundary disputes with adjacent coastal states.


Revisiting The Doctrine Of Intergenerational Equity In Global Environmental Governance, Lynda M. Collins Apr 2007

Revisiting The Doctrine Of Intergenerational Equity In Global Environmental Governance, Lynda M. Collins

Dalhousie Law Journal

In the absence of binding international enforcement mechanisms, global environmental governance must rely on a legal framework that has widespread normative force around the world. In addition, such a framework should be sufficiently detailed and pragmatic to allow for effective implementation, should achieve the goal of environmental protection, and should be reasonable in terms of the level of sacrifice expected of the present generation, particularly in the developing world. Itis arguedthat the comprehensive doctrine ofintergenerational equity is an effective and appropriate legal framework for global environmental governance. The doctrine ofintergenerational equityposits thepresent generation of humans as simultaneously beneficiaries of the …


Extraterritorial Criminal Jurisdiction: Bigger Picture Or Smaller Frame?, Robert Currie, Steve Coughlan Jan 2007

Extraterritorial Criminal Jurisdiction: Bigger Picture Or Smaller Frame?, Robert Currie, Steve Coughlan

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The authors review extensively Canadian law and practice on the exercise of extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction, and the extent to which that may have changed in recent years. They conclude that, while there are now many more instances of Canada asserting extraterritorial jurisdiction, any change in policy is more apparent than real. What has changed is how often the situations that prompt extraterritorial jurisdiction arise, particularly in that there are now many international treaties requiring Canada to exercise jurisdiction in this way. The authors also argue that this policy of cautious expansion and constructive engagement with international practice is desirable and …


Spaceship Sheriffs And Cosmonaut Cops, Lee Seshagiri Oct 2005

Spaceship Sheriffs And Cosmonaut Cops, Lee Seshagiri

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper examines some of the current legal regimes applicable to criminal law in outer space and offers insights into options for future legal developments in the cosmos. It begins by setting out the context for law enforcement in outer space, emphasizing the commercial nature of future space exploration and the need for laws and law enforcement in that environment. Next, various methods for assigning legal jurisdiction in space are examined, and the underlying justifications for the exercise of such jurisdiction are considered. The paper goes on to explore preventative approaches to space crime, highlighting the usefulness of such approaches …


Tax Discrimination In The Nafta Bloc: The Impact Of Tax And Trade Agreements On The Cross-Border Trade In Services, Catherine Brown Apr 2005

Tax Discrimination In The Nafta Bloc: The Impact Of Tax And Trade Agreements On The Cross-Border Trade In Services, Catherine Brown

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper considers the impact of international agreements in disciplining tax discrimination affecting cross-bordertrade in services. It addresses three questions. First, how do tax and trade agreements interact in the discipline of tax measures affecting cross-border service providers? Second, does this interaction result in tax discrimination against foreign service providers in the NAFTA bloc? Third, if so, what remedies, if any, are available to cross-border service providers with respect to tax measures that are discnminatory? The paper concludes with illustrative examples that service providers in the NAFTA bloc, depending on the applicable treaty are subject to differing tax treatments, are …


Critique, Culture And Commitment: The Dangerous And Counterproductive Paths Of International Legal Discourse, Geoffrey Hoffman Oct 2004

Critique, Culture And Commitment: The Dangerous And Counterproductive Paths Of International Legal Discourse, Geoffrey Hoffman

Dalhousie Law Journal

In this article, international law is viewed as a social and self-constituting phenomenon As the product of international society's actualization, it contains many biases and prejudices. Given the inherent subjectivity of any system designed to regulate relations between people - and peoples - it is of utmost importance to subject international law to a searching scrutiny of its tendencies to emphasise certain interests, to exalt particular groups and to order society in preconceived ways. This article uncovers the insidious structural biases of international law including those just beneath the surface as well as those that are firmly embedded within the …


Collective Insecurity: The Liberian Crisis, Unilateralism, & Global Order, Chidi Oguamanam Apr 2004

Collective Insecurity: The Liberian Crisis, Unilateralism, & Global Order, Chidi Oguamanam

Dalhousie Law Journal

Recently, a democratically elected president issued an order requiring another President, also in office with, as it were, a democratic mandate, to vacate office. The latter complied and no dissenting voice was raised from anywhere in the rest of the world. The one is George W. Bush of the United States; the other is Charles Taylor of Liberia. This arrangement raises several questions: How is this state of affairs possible in 21st century Africa? How is it that Charles Taylor. a power hungry and known felon, became an elected president of Liberia in the first place, one that left in …


Charterwithout Borders? The Supreme Court Of Canada, Transnational Crime And Constitutional Rights And Freedoms, Robert J. Currie Apr 2004

Charterwithout Borders? The Supreme Court Of Canada, Transnational Crime And Constitutional Rights And Freedoms, Robert J. Currie

Dalhousie Law Journal

The first decades of the Supreme Court of Canada's Charter jurisprudence have coincided roughly with an increase in the extent to which Canada is affected by transnational crime and the nation s consequential participation in inter-state efforts to combat it. The Court itself has remarked on its discrete "jurisprudence on matters involving Canada's international co-operation in criminal investigations and prosecutions." This article examines the Court s adoption of a different approach to Charter analysis in cases involving transnational elements and surveys where the Court has "drawn the line" in terms of Charter application. By way of analyzing jurisprudence on exclusion …


International Royalty And Continental Shelf Limits: Emerging Issues For The Canadian Offshore, Aldo Chircop, Bruce Marchand Oct 2003

International Royalty And Continental Shelf Limits: Emerging Issues For The Canadian Offshore, Aldo Chircop, Bruce Marchand

Dalhousie Law Journal

Article 82 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982, provides a novel obligation in international law that is likely to become operative within the decade. It establishes an international royalty on production from the utilization of non-living resources (such as oil and gas) on the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, but within the outer limit of a coastal state's jurisdiction. Producing states will have an obligation to make payments or contributions in kind that are calculated on the basis of an incremental rate applicable as from the sixth year of production and reaching a …


Need Intellectual Property Be Everywhere? Against Ubiquity And Uniformity, David Vaver Apr 2002

Need Intellectual Property Be Everywhere? Against Ubiquity And Uniformity, David Vaver

Dalhousie Law Journal

Intellectual property is more prevalent in every corner of our working and leisure lives. International pressure, through both bilateral treaties and multilateral treaties is causing intellectual property law to standardize at high levels throughout the world. Legal standardization may be beneficial in general but is not so for intellectual property in either the developed or the developing world. The law in developed countries is currently incoherent and itself requires major reconsideration. The imposition of such a defective law on the developing world is helpful to neither side. The paper argues that current intensification and harmonization trends are therefore undesirable, and …


Seeking Historical Truth: The International Commission Of Inquiry Into The 1932-33 Famine In Ukraine, A J. Hobbins, Daniel Boyer Oct 2001

Seeking Historical Truth: The International Commission Of Inquiry Into The 1932-33 Famine In Ukraine, A J. Hobbins, Daniel Boyer

Dalhousie Law Journal

In the 1980s the WCFU (World Congress of Free Ukrainians) undertook many initiatives to "educate" Western public opinion on the Ukrainian Famine of 1932- 33, claiming that the famine was a Soviet act of genocide against the Ukrainian people. The WCFU sponsored an international commission of enquiry, composed of seven eminent international jurists, and appeared before the commission as plaintiff. The Commission dealt with a number of controversial issues in international law, including the question of whether the charge of genocide could predate the 1948 convention. The Commission deliberations are examined in detail, frequently with the use of unpublished sources …


A Comment On The Complementary Jurisdiction Of The International Criminal Court: Adding Insult To Injury In Transitional Contexts?, Jennifer J. Llewellyn Oct 2001

A Comment On The Complementary Jurisdiction Of The International Criminal Court: Adding Insult To Injury In Transitional Contexts?, Jennifer J. Llewellyn

Dalhousie Law Journal

The author examines the principle of complementarity on which the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is based. Unlike its predecessors, the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the ICC can only take jurisdiction over a case when a state is unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute. The Court is thus designed to complement the work of national criminal courts. This article assesses whether this admissibility standard will allow the ICC to complement the work of truth commissions like that of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It concludes that the prospect of an …