Law Commons^™

Heights Of Justice (Introduction And Front Matter), Lawrence A. Cunningham

Boston College Law School Faculty Papers

In this pioneering book, Boston College Law School’s Academic Dean, Lawrence Cunningham, arranges selected contributions of his faculty’s scholarship into a meditation upon justice. The book weaves a combination of theory and practice to articulate moral and ethical values that facilitate rational application of law. It envisions legal arrangements imbued with commitments of the Jesuit tradition, including the dignity of persons, the common good and compassion for the poor. This reflective collection of inquiry evokes a signature motif of the BC Law faculty in dozens of different legal subjects. Materials downloadable from this abstract consist of: Table of Contents, Acknowledgements, …

Reinvigorating First Year Criminal Law: Integrating Mental Disability Issues Into The Criminal Law Course, Linda C. Fentiman

ExpressO

This article explores how mental disability issues can be incorporated into a traditional criminal law class, in order to enrich student understanding of both mental disability law and criminal law doctrine. The intersection of mental disability with the doctrinal aspects of criminal law can be broken into five major categories: 1) the justifications for punishment; 2) the definition of crime in general, e.g., the requirements of a voluntary act, mens rea, and causation; 3) the definition of particular crimes, such as murder, manslaughter, rape, and burglary; 4) defenses to crime, including mistake of law and of fact, as well as …

Restorative Justice, Slavery And The American Soul, A Policy-Oriented Approach To The Question Of Slavery Reparations By The United States, Michael F. Blevins

ExpressO

This LL.M. Intercultural Human Rights thesis (May, 2005), awarded the best student paper prize for 2005 by the Institute of Policy Sciences at Yale University (in October, 2005), after analysing past and curent issues regarding the culture wars controversy of "reparations", proposes a specific process for establishing Truth and Reconciliation regarding the legacy of slavery in the United States. The proposal recommends commissions in each Federal judicial district under the supervision of a U.S. Slavery Justice and Reconciliation Commission (USSJRC), calling for "America's 21st Century Contract with Africa and African-Americans".

The Practice And Legality Of Rendition, Katherine R. Hawkins

ExpressO

“Rendition” is the United States’ policy of sending terrorism suspects to be interrogated in Middle Eastern countries that practice torture.

This Article introduces the subject by describing a complaint filed in a lawsuit by Canadian citizen Maher Arar. The United States sent Arar from John F. Kennedy airport to Syria, where he was tortured and was held in a grave-sized cell for nearly a year. Arar alleges that his transfer violated the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“CAT”).

Arar’s lawsuit may be dismissed before the court reaches the substance of his claims. But …

The Transnational Judicial Discourse And Felon Disenfranchisement: Re-Examining The Textual Premise Of Richardson V. Ramirez, Jason G. Morgan-Foster

ExpressO

This article is simultaneously an international comparative law piece about prisoner disenfranchisement in various countries, a transnational work of legal theory providing a framework for the use of foreign law in domestic constitutional courts, and a domestic analysis of the constitutional underpinnings of felon disenfranchisement.

The article begins with a comprehensive comparative analysis of the recent prisoner disenfranchisement decisions in Canada, South Africa, and Europe. It notes that the over-arching theme of these decisions is to view the acceptability of prisoner disenfranchisement along a continuum, where it becomes more acceptable the more serious the offense committed.

The article then examines …

Modern Day Slavery In Our Own Backyard, Ellen L. Buckwalter, Meredith S. Salvaggio, Susan L. Pollet, Maria Perinetti

ExpressO

Trafficking in persons is one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity. Each year an estimated 600,000 – 800,000 human beings are bought, sold or forced across the world’s borders. Approximately 2.5 million men, women and children are victims of trafficking at any point in time throughout the world. Approximately 14,500 – 17,500 individuals are trafficked annually into the United States, making the United States the third largest destination country in the world for victims of human trafficking.

In order to fight trafficking in the United States effectively, legislation at the state level, in addition to the federal …

Broken Borders: Decanas V. Bica, And The Standards That Govern The Validity Of State Measures Designed To Deter Undocumented Immigration, Joshua J. Herndon

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Scholarly And Scientific Boycotts Of Israel: Abusing The Academic Enterprise, Kenneth Lasson

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

International Responsibility For Human Rights Violations By American Indian Tribes, Klint A. Cowan

ExpressO

The American Indian tribes have a unique status in the law of the United States. They are characterized as ‘sovereigns’ that predate the formation of the republic and possess inherent powers and immunities. Their powers permit them to create and enforce laws and generally to operate as autonomous governmental entities with executive, legislative, and judicial branches. They enjoy immunity from suit and exemption from federal and state constitutional provisions which protect individual rights. These powers and immunities provide a connection between tribal governments and US international human rights obligations. This essay explores this connection. It examines whether the tribes may …

Child Laundering: How The Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes And Incentivizes The Practices Of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping, And Stealing Children, David M. Smolin

ExpressO

This article documents and analyzes a substantial incidence of "child laundering" within the intercountry adoption system. Child laundering occurs when children are taken illegally from birth families through child buying or kidnapping, and then "laundered" through the adoption system as "orphans" and then "adoptees." The article then proposes reforms to the intercountry adoption system that could substantially reduce the incidence of child laundering.

An Analysis Of The Duties And Obligations Of The International Legal Community To The Eradication Of Poverty And Growth Of Sustainable Development In Light Of The Jus Cogens Nature Of The Declaration Of The Right To Development, Freda R. Murray-Bruce

ExpressO

This paper examines the copious problem of world poverty affecting half of the world’s population in the South and assesses the international legal obligations of the international legal community, viz., developed states, transnational corporations and the international financial institutions of the IMF, World Bank and WTO to the eradication of poverty and the growth of sustainable development, in view of the inviolability and peremptory nature of the Charter of the UN, and the international human rights provisions arising therefrom. To this extent, we examine the 1986 General Assembly Declaration on the Right to Development, along with the other International Bill …

Rfk, Day Of Affirmation Speech And Human Rights In America, Stuart Weinstein

ExpressO

An examination of Robert Kennedy historic Day of Affirmation speech made forty years ago. Is the role he envisioned for the US to play in international affairs and in advancing the cause of freedom and social justice for all humanity relvant in a post-Iraq abu Gharaib world?

The Transformation Of South African Private Law After Ten Years Of Democracy: The Role Of Torts (Delict) In The Consolidation Of Democracy, Christopher J. Roederer

ExpressO

Although the role of the private law has been largely ignored in studies of transitional justice, private law is a crucial component in South Africa’s transition/transformation. Contrary to the views of some commentators, the private law and delict in particular, were tainted by apartheid. Further, even if the private law of South Africa was not infected by the apartheid cancer, it acted as a carrier and facilitator of apartheid values and policies, perpetuating the inequities apartheid. While there is evidence of the cancer in apartheid case law the more serious problem was a failure of delict to progress under apartheid. …

From International Law To Law And Globalization, Paul Schiff Berman

ExpressO

International law’s traditional emphasis on state practice has long been questioned, as scholars have paid increasing attention to other important – though sometimes inchoate – processes of international norm development. Yet, the more recent focus on transnational law, governmental and non-governmental networks, and judicial influence and cooperation across borders, while a step in the right direction, still seems insufficient to describe the complexities of law in an era of globalization. Accordingly, it is becoming clear that “international law” is itself an overly constraining rubric and that we need an expanded framework, one that situates cross-border norm development at the intersection …

Accountability Of Transnational Corporations Under International Standards, Lea Hanakova

LLM Theses and Essays

Due to the process of globalization and rapid economic evolution in the last several years, transnational corporations have become extremely powerful. There is an evident disproportion between the numerous rights enjoyed by transnational corporations and the scarce obligations undertaken by them. Given their transnational nature, transnational corporations have been successfully avoiding national regulations of both their home and host states, and they are seeking to operate in countries with the lowest standards so as to increase their profits. This has resulted in the violation of basic human rights. Therefore, there is an increasing need for the creation of international instruments …

Cultural Relativism In International War Crimes Prosecutions: The International Criminal Tribunal For Rwanda, Ida L. Bostian

ExpressO

The tension between universalism and cultural relativism lies at the heart of war crimes and war crimes prosecutions. While cultural relativism arguments should never be the basis for ignoring war crimes outside of the West (particularly in Africa), neither should the international community adopt a radical universalist approach that ignores the unique circumstances underlying each war crimes prosecution. The establishment of the ICTR, over the objection of the post-genocide Rwandan government, probably erred on the side of universalism by ignoring the legitimate needs of the Rwandan people. Nevertheless, the ICTR has appropriately adopted a “mild” cultural relativist approach in its …

Globalization And The Theory Of International Law, Frank J. Garcia

Boston College Law School Faculty Papers

The dominant modern account of the social basis of international law has been the "society of states" model. In this view, to the extent that international law constructs an ordered social space (a claim which has been contested since Hobbes if not before), it is a social space in which states are the actors. This view has had a profound effect on international law. For example, the doctrine of state responsibility classically understands international harms to individuals within a framework of harm to a state's rights. Normatively, to the extent justice is considered an operational concept in international law, it …

Pursuing Justice For The Mentally Disabled, Grant H. Morris

University of San Diego Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series

This article considers whether lawyers act as zealous advocates when they represent mentally disordered, involuntarily committed patients who wish to assert their right to refuse treatment with psychotropic medication. After discussing a study that clearly demonstrates that lawyers do not do so, the article explores the reasons for this inappropriate behavior. Michael Perlin characterizes the problem as “sanism,” which he describes as an irrational prejudice against mentally disabled persons of the same quality and character as other irrational prejudices that cause and are reflected in prevailing social attitudes of racism, sexism, homophobia, and ethnic bigotry. The article critiques Perlin’s characterization …

The Two Faces Of Intercountry Adoption: The Significance Of The Indian Adoption Scandals, David M. Smolin

David M. Smolin

This article summarizes international law, and the law of India and the United States, relevant to intercountry adoption. The article then presents extensive information and analysis of a major series of adoption scandals in Andhra Pradesh, India. The article uses this analysis of law and a major series of adoption scandals to present the "two sides of intercountry adoption:" positively, as a humanitarian act, and negatively as a form of child trafficking. The weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the intercountry adoption system that led to the Indian adoption scandals are extensively analyzed.

Intercountry Adoption As Child Trafficking, David M. Smolin

David M. Smolin

This article analyzes when intercountry adoption constitutes a form of child trafficking, particularly under international law. The article reviews relevant Treaties on the subjects of slavery and human trafficking, as well as analyzing the problem of money and adoption within the domestic (United States) adoption system.

Victims Of Peace: Current Abuse Allegations Against U.N. Peacekeepers And The Role Of Law In Preventing Them In The Future, Alexandra R. Harrington

ExpressO

This article addresses the increasingly prevalent and horrific allegations of sexual abuse made against U.N. peacekeepers. The primary allegations addressed are those from the Congo, as the most plentiful and readily available evidence of these abuses comes from the region. The goal of this paper is not merely to critique the U.N. and its handling of the current peacekeeper abuse allegations, as such a critique would only serve half of the problem. Rather, this paper will use the past and current understandings of the U.N. Charter, peacekeeping, international law, and military justice to suggest several options for handling both the …

Protecting Black Tribal Members: Is The Thirteenth Amendment The Linchpin To Securing Equal Rights Within Indian Country?, Lydia M. Edwards

ExpressO

Currently, two of those tribes are caught in an ongoing struggle between their “full blood” members and their members of African descent. The Seminole and Cherokee tribes have taken several measures to remove their Freedmen from the tribes thus denying them access to federally funded programs, monies, and the right to vote in tribal elections. The Freedmen filed suit to contest this discrimination, but courts have continually dismissed the suits because of tribal sovereignty. In some cases, the Freedmen sued the federal government for allowing the tribes to disenfranchise them. However, the courts dismissed the suits because tribes are indispensable …

Assassination Under The International Human Law, Wasem Mawlana

ExpressO

Israel has adopted a policy of assassinations, much earlier than its racist assassination policy that was renewed during the Palestinian uprising against the occupation. It goes back as far as 1947, when Israeli terrorists assassinated special UN Representative Count Bernadette . International law prohibits without exception the extra-judicial killing of protected persons. Israel's policy of assassination clearly amounts to intentional or willful killing; such killings violate international humanitarian law, and human rights protocols. Since 9 November 2000 the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has actively pursued a policy of deliberately targeting those alleged to have carried out, or to have planned …

The Legality Of Humanitarian Intervention, Eric Adjei

LLM Theses and Essays

Intervention in the domestic affairs of sovereign states by other sovereign state(s) is one of the ‘hot’ issues in international law today. The issue is ‘hot’ because the concept of human rights is on the ascendancy whilst international law had from time immemorial held the concept of sovereignty and its key feature, the principle of non-interference in high esteem. In fact, the concept of sovereignty has long been regarded as the bedrock of international relations. However, the doctrine of unilateral humanitarian intervention allows state(s) to intervene in the domestic affairs of sovereign states in the event of massive human rights …

Moving From Impunity To Accountability In Post-War Liberia: Possibilities, Cautions, And Challenges, Rena L. Scott

ExpressO

Liberia has become the quintessential example of an African failed state. Though Liberia’s civil war is officially over, war criminals are free and some are even helping run the transitional government under the authority of Liberia’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). This peace agreement calls for the consideration of a general amnesty for those involved in the Liberian civil war alongside the parceling of governmental functions among members of various rebel groups. The drafters of the agreement claim that this was the only viable solution for sustainable peace in Liberia. Meanwhile, Charles Taylor relaxes in Nigeria’s resort city of Calabar. To …

Some, But Which? Filling In The Theoretical Gaps In Sosa V. Alvarez-Machain, Arthur Traldi

ExpressO

This Note lays out the development of the ATCA and of the jus gentium (law of nations) into contemporary customary international law, as well as the two existent paradigms of ATCA interpretation, and establishes that Sosa is inconsistent with either extreme position. Since the Court’s holding in Sosa is under-theorized, this Note crafts a reasonable middle ground between the two paradigms: holding all universal jurisdiction offenses (and those significantly analogous) civilly actionable under the ATCA. It then uses Yousef as well as the Princeton Principles to synthesize a test for universal justiciability. The resultant formula constitutes a middle ground consistent …

Exporting U.S. Anti-Terrorism Legislation And Policies To The International Law Arena, A Comparative Study: The Effect On Other Countries' Legal Systems, Olga Kallergi

Cornell Law School Inter-University Graduate Student Conference Papers

The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York on 9/11 set in motion a new era all over the world: an era of a world uniting against a common enemy, but also an era of insecurity and fear. Laws have been changed worldwide, nations have united against a common threat, legal theories and beliefs of centuries have been questioned, and civil liberties have been replaced by a need for national safety. Has this worldwide effort worked? Is our world a better place now that we are all fighting the same enemy? Did we learn from our past …

Out Of Bounds: San Francisco's Homeless Policies, Alexandra Flynn

ExpressO

Homelessness, both a legal and public policy issue, has dominated the City of San Francisco government agenda for over fifteen years. Despite the front-and-center nature of homelessness, the policies enacted have done little to reduce the count. This paper, first, presents San Francisco’s new approach to the issue; namely, the creation of a new and far more limited class of “chronically homeless” persons. This first section includes an examination of the causes of homelessness, the physical alienation of homeless persons through “quality of life” laws, and recent policy initiatives used to social exclude the bulk of homeless persons by limiting …

The New Deterrence: Crime And Policy In The Age Of Globalization, Patrick Keenan

ExpressO

Globalization has made it much easier for criminal activity to cross borders, but deterrence theory has not kept up with this changed reality. I draw insights from both law-and-economics and criminology literature to enrich our understanding of deterrence. I ground my theoretical discussion in the real-world problem of sex tourism as an example of the kind of unwanted activity that now crosses borders and has complicated our understanding of deterrence. I focus on two issues central to deterrence that have not gotten sufficient scholarly attention: the phenomenon of displacement and the role of status. I argue that informal sanctions, as …