Law Commons^™

Developing Standards For Gender-Responsive Human Rights Due Diligence, Constance Z. Wagner, Nancy Kaymar Stafford

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This article addresses the current state of gender-responsive human rights due diligence (GR-HRDD) standards and advocates for greater attention to be paid to women’s human rights in the due diligence process. The 2011 United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) created a global framework for recognizing, preventing, and addressing the risk of adverse impacts of human rights violations linked to business activities. The responsibility of businesses to respect human rights under the UNGPs includes implementing a human rights due diligence process. Although the UNGPs do not provide guidance on the process for integrating women’s rights into human …

International Courts & Judicial Affairs, Sara L. Ochs, Paula Henin, Paola Patarroyo, Haydee Dijkstal, Ira Trako, Kabir Duggal, Chloe Fletcher, Alexander Witt, Marc Weitz

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This chapter reviews some of the most significant developments made by international courts and tribunals in 2020.

I. International Court of Justice As of the time of writing (November 2020), this year, the International Court of Justice (Court) has rendered one order on provisional measures, two judgments on appeals from decisions of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council, and two orders relating to expert evidence.

Local Human Rights Lawyering, Lauren Bartlett

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International human rights offer a powerful set of norms that have helped domestic advocates to successfully secure additional civil, political, economic and social rights for those living in poverty in the U.S. Legal aid attorneys, public defenders, and other public interest advocates have recognized human rights as an additional advocacy tool and are increasingly using human rights arguments in U.S. courts. This article examines three cases in which legal aid attorneys and public defenders successfully used human rights arguments in U.S. courts, and discusses emerging best practices for using human rights in litigation in the U.S.

Property And Political Community: Democracy, Oligarchy, And The Case Of Ukraine, Monica E. Eppinger

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Widening wealth gaps in Western democracies have brought new scrutiny to relationships between property and political community. For the prior quarter century, Western legal scholars have urged privatization around the globe as the key to a virtuous circle of "market democracy." This Article traces origins of the market democracy consensus to ideas that identify positive features of political community -- liberty, wealth, or democracy -- with private property ownership. Fieldwork in Ukraine, where Western privatization advice was followed at a time of founding a new polity, provides data to compare predictions with outcomes. Two unexpected figures -- the Oligarch and …

Diplomacy And Its Others: The Case Of Comfort Women, Monica E. Eppinger, Karen Knop, Annelise Riles

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The “Comfort Women incident,” now at least several decades old, troubles the familiar view of law as a funnel for politics. Viewed as a funnel, the wide range of legal, political, cultural, and diplomatic efforts to seek or resist redress for the system of sexual slavery institutionalized by the Japanese military during the Second World War would be assessed as ultimately pushing in the same direction: toward vindicating human rights. We see in the Comfort Women incident a far more chaotic interaction of law and politics. As critical legal feminist, we are concerned with finding a truthful and ethical way …

The Hierarchy That Wasn’T There: Elevating “Usage” To Its Rightful Position For Contracts Governed By The Cisg, William P. Johnson

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Under domestic U.S. sales law, usage of trade is relevant in ascertaining the meaning of an agreement, and it can be used to supplement, qualify, or explain an agreement. However, usage of trade may not be used under domestic U.S. sales law to contradict a written agreement. Moreover, any course of performance or course of dealing between the parties will prevail over inconsistent usage of trade. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, or CISG, similarly provides for consideration of usage to establish the terms of the agreement between the parties, as well as to …

Shifting Public Health Priorities And The Global Effort To Prevent A Bird Flu Pandemic, Robert Gatter

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Global strategy to control highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has changed dramatically since 2003 when it was first reported that a confirmed bird flu jumped the species barrier to infect a human in Hong Kong. Evidence of this shift in priorities in the global fight against HPAI can be found most clearly in program funding trends. In late 2008 and into 2009, financial commitments from international donors for all HPAI programs dropped significantly. Meanwhile, within HPAI programs, funding shifted substantially away from animal biosecurity projects and into human response and preparedness work. This Article examines three reasons for this shift …

Should Juries Give Reasons For Their Verdicts?: The Spanish Experience And The Implications Of The European Court Of Human Rights Decision In Taxquet V. Belgium, Stephen C. Thaman

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This article discusses the Belgian jury system and the decision in Taxquet v. Belgium and then explores to what extent a requirement of reasoned judgments will affect the survival of European juries. It focuses on Spain, where the jury is required to give reasons for its verdicts, and where a lively high-court jurisprudence has developed addressing the quality and sufficiency of jury reasons. This article suggests that it might be appropriate for jury courts in the United States to in some way justify their decision of guilt, in order to minimize the amount of completely innocent persons who have been …

Understanding Exclusion Of The Cisg: A New Paradigm Of Determining Party Intent, William P. Johnson

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The village market of old has become a global market today. The products we use or consume on a daily basis are produced all over the world. Asparagus grown in Peru, coffee beans harvested in Guatemala, shoes made in Italy, and Japanese automobiles are all readily available to consumers throughout the United States. Moreover, U.S. companies—even small U.S. companies—have their products manufactured in foreign jurisdictions where labor is cheap and the necessary raw materials are plentiful. And those U.S. companies who do manufacture their products in the United States nevertheless often obtain their parts, components, raw materials, and supplies from …

Turkey's Accession To The Cisg: The Significance For Turkey And For Sales Transactions With U.S. Contracting Parties, William P. Johnson

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The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) entered into force for Turkey on August 1, 2011. This article considers the significance of Turkey’s accession to the CISG as part of Turkey’s continuing engagement with systems of international trade, especially as relates to sales transactions with U.S. contracting parties. This article urges the Turkish bar to recognize that the CISG is a viable alternative to various potentially applicable bodies of domestic sales law, and the article offers some guidance regarding proper understanding and application of the CISG. This article also offers comparative analysis of some …

The Dispute On The Horizon: Contracting For Effective Dispute Resolution In International Business Transactions A U.S. Perspective, William P. Johnson

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This Article offers a view, from a U.S. perspective but for a non-U.S. readership, on the significant aspects of planning for dispute resolution in the context of cross-border business transactions involving U.S. and non-U.S. parties. Specifically, this Article identifies the issues that parties who are located in Brazil or in other jurisdictions throughout the Americas should consider at the time of drafting, negotiating, and finalizing business contracts with U.S. counterparties, as well as business contracts that are entered into in connection with other cross-border arrangements that could involve U.S. law even when there is no U.S. counterparty, to prepare for …

United States Of America Experience With And Administrative Practice Concerning Mutual Assistance In Tax Affairs, Henry Ordower

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This report was part of the project for the 2009 meeting of the European Association of Tax Law Professors in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The general reporter for the project was Professor Dr. Roman Seer, Ruhr Universität, Bochum, Germany. The report identifies and discusses United States cooperation with the member states of the European Union through treaties and other agreements on matters of sharing tax and taxpayer information and assisting in assembling tax information and collecting tax revenue. The United States report responds to questions that the general reporter posed and provides additional information concerning United States tax procedure.

International Commercial Transactions, Franchising, And Distribution, Arnold S. Rosenberg, Alfredo L. Rovira, Michael R. Daigle, Florian S. Jörg, Marc Ryser, William P. Johnson, Anders Forkman, Alan S. Gutterman, Ed., Calvin A. Hamilton, Ed.

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With the encouragement of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and other international financial institutions, in 2008-09 several countries modernized their secured transactions laws, expanded the types of moveable property that can serve as collateral for a debt, and established and streamlined registries for non-possessory security interests in moveable property.

Transnational Legal Practice 2008, Laurel S. Terry, Carole Silver, Ellyn Rosen, Carol A. Needham, Jennifer Haworth Mccandless, Robert E. Lutz, Peter D. Ehrenhaft

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The current financial turmoil shaking the world illustrates the connectedness of national markets and economies. Legal practice is no exception: lawyers and their firms are experiencing the upheaval along with their clients.1 This has resulted in new opportunities for lawyers and firms–in bankruptcy and restructuring and, likely in the future, in regulatory advising as well–and, at the same time, in substantial challenges. The promise of benefits from a diversified practice–in terms of both substance and geography–is being tested as lawyers and law firms follow their clients through the uncertainties of the current economic conditions.

As law firms cut the size …

Nation-Building In The Penumbra: Notes From A Liminal State, Monica E. Eppinger

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The emergence of post-Socialist legal orders is reshaping some of the familiar terrain of comparative legal studies. This Article, invited as part of an effort to think about the topic of "What the Rest think of the West," reconsiders the vast legal re-codification projects that stand at the center of "nation-building" projects in formerly Socialist states. Such projects, and the rupture from which they emerge, challenge essentialist or static notions of identity and assumptions of where the West is or where the Rest begin. Anthropological concepts of "liminality" and "deixis" assist in understanding Ukrainian legal experts' thinking on legal reforms …

Toward A Theory Of Persuasive Authority, Chad Flanders

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The debate about the citation of foreign authorities has become stale. One side says that citing foreign authorities means being beholden to foreign sovereigns. The other side responds that this is nonsense, as the authorities are being used only for their "persuasive value." But do we even have a good idea of what it means to be a persuasive authority? My essay is the first to focus entirely on the notion of persuasive authority and to make the first steps towards providing a general theory of it. I make two major contributions. First, I try to show that there is …

Transnational Legal Practice 2006-2007, Laurel S. Terry, Carol Silver, Ellyn Rosen, Carol A. Needham, Robert E. Lutz, Peter D. Ehrenhaft

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Law practice continues to expand across borders, and lawyers and law firms from the United States and other countries are substantially invested in representations that take them outside of their home jurisdictions.[1] Unfortunately, reliable information relating to the extent of internationalization of the legal market is scarce. Neither the number of lawyers and law firms working in the international legal services market nor the receipts generated from internationally-related work are readily and reliably available. Nevertheless, statistics from both the United States and United Kingdom provide a sense of the numbers from the largest present sources of international legal practice.

In …

Horizontal And Vertical Equity In Taxation As Constitutional Principles: Germany And The United States Contrasted, Henry Ordower

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Explores U. S. Supreme Court and German Constitutional Court decisions that apply their respective constitutions to taxation controversies, especially controversies in matters involving equal protection or due process protection.

Conflicts Of Interest In International Human Drug Research And The Insufficiency Of International Protections, Robert Gatter

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The problem of financial conflicts of interest in human subjects research is international in scope as drug manufacturers conduct trials in countries outside of the U.S., Japan, and the European Union, thereby side-stepping domestic regulation of conflicts of interest. Because such out-sourcing of human drug trials results in exporting risks associated with financial conflicts of interest, this essay examines the primary international sources for regulating those conflicts. These sources include the World Health Organization’s Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice for Trials on Pharmaceutical Products, the Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice adopted by the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements …

Japan's New System Of Mixed Courts: Some Suggestions Regarding Their Future Form And Procedures, Stephen C. Thaman

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This article briefly describes the history of jury courts and lay participation in various countries, and the inter-related political and procedural reasons for introducing lay participation. It specifically focuses on the introduction of lay participation in application to Japan’s new mixed court system.

Persecution In The Fog Of War: The House Of Lords' Decision In Adan, Michael Kagan, William P. Johnson

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International law requires that a person have a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group in order to be recognized as a refugee. That is, under the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, there must be a nexus between the danger faced by the refugee and one of the five Convention-recognized reasons for persecution. However, in a 1998 decision of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, the House of Lords concluded that a man fleeing clan warfare in Somalia could not meet the nexus …