Law Commons^™

The Political Question Doctrine And Civil Liability For Contracting Companies On The “Battlefield”, Jeffrey F. Addicott

Faculty Articles

While the use of civilian contractors to support military operations is not a new phenomenon, their use in the War on Terror is unprecedented. The numbers of civilian contractors in active combat zones and the specific activities they perform have significant legal and policy ramifications.

Recent case law associated with civil complaints brought in American courts against contracting companies operating in battlefield environments has given rise to a “political question” doctrine. This doctrine excludes from judicial review all controversies involving policy choices and other value determinations that the Constitution reserves to the Congress and the Executive for resolution.

Due to …

The Chinese Takings Law From A Comparative Perspective, Chenglin Liu

Faculty Articles

When acquiring private property, governments may exercise one of three options: confiscation, consensual exchange, or eminent domain. Under the first approach, the government can confiscate private land without seeking consent from private owners and without paying compensation to them. Alternatively, under the consensual exchange approach, the government can only acquire private property through arm’s-length negotiations in an open market. It requires the government to obtain consent from private owners and pay mutually agreed purchase prices, determined by both the government as a willing buyer and private owners as willing sellers. The third approach is through eminent domain, which denotes when …