Law Commons^™

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

Legal Pluralism & Women's Rights: A Study In Post-Colonial Tanzania, Edward R. Fluet, Mark J. Calaguas, Cristina M. Drost

ExpressO

Recognizing a dearth of legal research on Zanzibar, the authors explore the complex legal and cultural landscape of this archipelago and its relationship to mainland Tanzania. The article discusses the problems that arise when multicultural societies adopt a pluralist system of justice in order to preserve the traditions of its diverse communities. Although the article focuses on Tanzania, the problems that arise from multicultural accommodations affect not only young, postcolonial nations in Africa and Asia, but also individuals in cosmopolitan, economically-developed countries such as Israel and the United States. As countries wrestle with ever diversifying ethnic and religious populations, such …

Women Fighting Poverty In Cameroon: A Legal Perspective!, Geraldine Chin C K G Chin

ExpressO

Poverty in Sub Saharan Africa has many causes, which range from the impact of the Structural Adjustment Programs, the huge foreign debt and policies that encourage mismanagement of state resources. This growing poverty and underdevelopment has attracted the attention of the international community to pursue programs aimed at attaining the UN Millennium Development Goals, foreign debt relief and increased development aid. During the introduction of policies that brought about economic hardship, African women were not consulted and their voices were not heard. Yet it is these women who feel most of the impact of these policies. During the period of …

Till Death Do Us Part: Marriage, Hiv/Aids And The Law In Zimbabwe, Slyvia Chirawu

ExpressO

Lying in Sub Saharan Africa, the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Zimbabwe has grappled since 1985 to prevent and mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS. Statistics point out to one glaring factor- the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on women and in the case of Zimbabwe married women. Laws, policies and practices in relation to marriage predispose married women to HIV/AIDS infection. The answer to protecting women does not lie entirely in the law but in transformative gender equality.

Zimbabwe has two types of recognized marriages and the third type , the unregistered customary law union is given limited recognition. The thread …

Rethinking Yamashita: Holding Military Leaders Accountable For Wartime Rape, Joshua H. Joseph

ExpressO

This note explores the current controversy over the proper international standard for punishing commanders whose subordinates have committed rape, and examines the interplay between the nature of rape, the underlying theories of command responsibility, and an international legal system that has failed to produce fruitful results. The note contends that the continued occurrence of rape in times of war results in large part from the international community’s reluctance to punish high-level military officials who neither physically perpetrated the crime, were not present at the crime scene, and did not necessarily order rape.

The note proposes a slight expansion of the …

Toward An International Standard Of Abortion Rights: Empirical Data From Africa, Chad M. Gerson

ExpressO

In the Fall of 2005 I published a brief Development in the Chicago Journal of International Law concerning the prospects for establishing the right to obtain an abortion as a fundamental human right. See 5 Chi. J. Int’l L. 753. In that article I argued that the right to choose and access to abortion services would greatly improve the health and status of women and children in the developing world.

In this article, I follow up with empirical data regarding the status of abortion rights in African countries. These data are compared to maternal and infant mortality and contraceptive use. …

Title Ix Versus Candian Human Rights Legislation: How The United States Should Learn From Canada's Human Rights Act In The Context Of Sexual Harassment In Schools, Brianne I. Weiss

ExpressO

This Article critically examines the success of Title IX in eradicating sexual harassment in educational settings after the Supreme Court decisions in Gebser v. Lago and Monroe v. Davis. Regrettably, the high bar for recovery established by these cases, in addition to poor administrative enforcement of Title IX have eroded its ability to maintain discrimination-free schools. After an examination of the manner in which the Canadian human rights model operates in the context of sexual harassment in educational settings, recommendations are made that the United States should use the Canadian example to improve its own system. Specifically, the United States …

In The Best Interest Of The Child, Ellen L. Buckwalter

ExpressO

Each year more than 200,000 children in the United States are abducted by family members. When a child is abducted across international borders, the difficulties are compounded. Since the late 1970s, The Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues has been contacted in approximately 16,000 cases involving children who were either abducted from the United States or prevented from returning to the U.S. by one of their parents.

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“the Convention”) adopted on October 24, 1980, reflects a worldwide concern about the harmful effects that parental kidnapping has on children …

The New Biopolitics: Autonomy, Demography, And Nationality, Jedediah S. Purdy

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Superstition-Based Injustice In Africa And The United States: The Use Of Provocation As A Defense For Killing Witches And Homosexuals, Jennifer Dumin

ExpressO

This Article examines two different instances where strong cultural and religious beliefs suggest that an individual is justified in taking another’s life. Focusing primarily on South Africa and the United States, it argues that the rationale used to defend those who kill suspected witches and those who kill suspected homosexuals is the same – merely because a criminal holds a belief that the victim is evil, the criminal is somehow entitled to a lesser punishment. In the United States, those who readily recognize the absurdity of the witchcraft defense may have some difficulty in recognizing the same level of absurdity …