Law Commons^™

Commentary: Mental Health Legislation, Michael L. Perlin

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

No Toronto Nups For Irish, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Alaska Dp Benefits Must Begin, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

The Practice Of Rendition In The War On Terror, Jeffrey F. Addicott

Faculty Articles

It is imperative that discussion of emotionally charged issues such as torture or illegal rendition focus on the governing legal standards. The dilemma that confronts the United States and its allies is al-Qa'eda--not a nation-state but a virtual state. Therefore, the rules for fighting the War on Terror face challenges not yet fully appreciated or anticipated by international law, let alone domestic law. The primary international instrument dealing with illegal rendition is the 1984 United Nations Convention Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Torture Convention).

It is necessary to first define the terms "torture" and …

Valuation In Cost-Benefit Analysis: Choosing Between Offer Prices And Asking Prices As The Appropriate Measure Of Willingness To Pay, Gregory S. Crespi

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Cost-benefit analysis is a well-known technique for evaluating the merits of a policy by attempting to quantify in financial terms all of the costs and benefits that will result from its implementation. In this article, the author focuses on the important question of whether offer prices or asking prices are the theoretically appropriate measure in determining "willingness to pay" and overall efficiency consequences when conducting a cost-benefit analysis. The author surveys the existing literature on this valuation question and offers personal conclusions and recommendations.

Addressing The Incentive For Expropriation Within Business Groups: The Case Of The Korean Chaebol, Christopher Hale

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article builds upon prior empirical findings on the prevalence of pyramids and focuses on the financing subsidies derived through the internal capital markets of pyramids--particularly through affiliations with financial institutions. Part I of this Article provides a brief overview of the relevant literature and the role that pyramids can play in separating ownership and voting rights. Part II describes the phenomenon by which the financing advantages derived by firms with financial affiliates, often non-bank financial institutions (“NBFIs”), results in a distortion of the market that contributes to pyramid expansion, thereby exacerbating the risk of minority shareholder expropriation. Part III …

Why The Private Sector Is Likely To Lead The Next Stage In The Global Fight Against Corruption, Ethan S. Burger, Mary S. Holland

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article focuses on the role of the private sector in fighting corruption. It argues that it is necessary for the private sector to take a more active role in creating meaningful deterrents to international bribery. Part I of the Article offers background on the concept and extent of corruption in general, and bribery in particular. Part II examines the existing U.S. and international legal framework for combating the payment of bribes abroad. Part III looks at non-State actors who may lead implementation efforts in the future.

Irregular Maritime Migration: Refugee Protection Issues In Rescue And Interception, Barbara Miltner

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article undertakes a review of maritime interception and rescue-at-sea practices by evaluating the nature and scope of legal protection that each mechanism affords to refugees encountered at sea. For both interception and rescue, the underlying legal framework and State practice will be discussed, and longstanding protection gaps inherent in each will be examined. Attention is then turned to recent protection improvements in both rescue and interception. These recent changes will be analyzed for their strengths and weaknesses, and some suggestions for improving maritime interception safeguards are offered.

Unresolved Questions In The Bill Of Rights Of The New Iraqi Constitution: How Will The Clash Between "Human Rights" And "Islamic Law" Be Reconciled In Future Legislative Enactments And Judicial Interpretations?, Mohamed Y. Mattar

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article endeavors to answer the question, are the provisions on “human rights” and “Islamic Law” in the new Iraqi constitution compatible? The new Iraqi Constitution recognizes the concept of “human rights” in accordance with Iraq's international obligations, establishes an independent “Supreme Commission for Human Rights,” limits the work of governmental intelligence agencies in accordance with human rights, and prohibits tribal customs that contradict human rights. At the same time, the Constitution makes some references to Islamic Shari'ah: it establishes Islam as the official religion of the State, recognizes Islam as a source of legislation, recognizes Iraq as a part …

Legal Pluralism Between Islam And The Nation-State: Romantic Medievalism Or Pragmatic Modernity?, Sherman A. Jackson

Fordham International Law Journal

This Essay attempts a reconciliation of sorts between two perspectives on legal pluralism, via specific reference to Islamic law, most notably in its pre-modern guise. The Essay begins with a provisional commitment to legal centralism, but primarily as a means of securing a functional place for sub-State reglementary regimes. To this end, legal centralism, as presented, is tempered by a demonstration that, even where the State enjoys an exclusive monopoly on the application of sanctions with impunity, it need not be the actual source of every rule it recognizes or applies as law.

John W. Head, The Future Of The Global Economic Organizations: An Evaluation Of The Criticisms Leveled At The Imf, The Multilateral Development Banks, And The Wto, Stephen Zamora

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article reviews Professor John W. Head’s book, The Future of Global Economic Organizations: An Evaluation of Criticisms Leveled at the IMF, the Multilateral Development Banks, and the WTO. Developing country advocates argue that international economic regimes reinforce unequal allocations of wealth both internally, within national economies, as well as among nations. Economic conservatives argue that the World Bank and other multilateral development banks are superfluous in an age of international capital mobility. Professor John W. Head analyzes these and other criticisms in his timely and insightful study.

A Force For Globalization: Emerging Markets Debt Trading From 1994 To 1999, Ross P. Buckley

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article analyzes the history from 1994-1999 of the secondary market in emerging markets debt, identifying the lessons learned from that period of market development. It pays particular attention to the increasing integration of the secondary market for emerging markets debt with traditional financial markets, and to the force for globalization that this secondary market therefore exerted in the period.

The Duality Of State Cooperation Within International And National Criminal Cases, Geert-Jan Alexander Knoops, Robert R. Amsterdam

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article seeks to elaborate on various responses to challenges to the rule of law. The authors consider certain of the greatest of these challenges to center around illegitimate control of State organs by groups capable of infringing presumptive rights granted under treaty to States that in a systematic and continuous way resort to abuse of process. This Article, dealing with the equality of arms, is therefore only the first of a series exploring both this problem and the manner in which it may be addressed. This Article assesses whether and to what extent State cooperation, both before international tribunals …

Re-Imagining International Law: An Examination Of Recent Trends In The Reception Of International Law Into National Legal Systems In Africa, Richard Frimpong Oppong

Fordham International Law Journal

This article suggests that the trend of accepting the supremacy and direct application of international law represents a rethinking of the relationship between international and national law, and that its full implications are yet to be explored. The Article seeks to build on current writings on the subject by analyzing certain regional arrangements and judicial approaches relevant to, but often ignored in the discussion. It attempts not to situate these arrangements or approaches within or outside of the monist/dualist paradigm, but to assess the practical significance of these arrangements for international law, national law, and their respective subjects.

Clinical Legal Education And The Reform Of The Higher Legal Education System In China, Mao Ling

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article presents an overview of the higher legal education system in China: its structure, purposes, teaching methods, and problems. The Article suggests ways to reform China's higher legal education system, including clinical legal education, one of the new practical teaching methods that has been used by many law schools in China with promising results.

An Internet-Based Mental Disability Law Program: Implications For Social Change In Nations With Developing Economies, Michael L. Perlin

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article first briefly discusses the use of distance learning in a law school environment, and considers the special implications of distance learning for persons with disabilities. It then explains the structure and rationale of these courses, reports on a course section taught in Nicaragua in the Fall-Winter of 2002, and considers plans to replicate the Nicaraguan experience throughout other nations with developing economies in Africa, Asia, Central America, and Central and Eastern Europe. Finally, this Article assesses the potential impact of such a course on developing-economy nations.

U.S. Counterterrorism Policy And Superpower Compliance With International Human Rights Norms, Kenneth Anderson

Fordham International Law Journal

Our specific topic is Guantanamo, but in my brief remarks I would like to take the long view of U.S. counterterrorism policy (including Guantanamo) and link it to the question of the compliance of the United States, as today's superpower, with international human rights norms, its relationship to the United Nations and, speaking very broadly, international law norms as conceived by the international community. This is partly a question of the relationship of U.S. counterterrorism policy to international law. But it is also a question of the relationship of the superpower to the rest of the international community, and in …

Roadblocks To Effective Representation Of Uncharged Indefinitely Imprisoned Clients At Guantanamo Bay Military Base, Martha Rayner

Fordham International Law Journal

In Part I, this Note will discuss the current epidemic of human trafficking, the various ways the United Nations and the United States have attempted to combat trafficking, and highlight the importance of U.S. prosecutorial duties of witness protection that are especially implicated in human trafficking cases. Part II will present criticisms of efforts by the United Nations and the United States to protect victims of trafficking and their family members. This part will also focus on current U.S. protections afforded to families of human trafficking survivors and programs such as the Witness Security Program, from which U.S. lawmakers may …

The Attorney-Client Relationship In Guantanamo Bay, Mark Denbeaux, Christa Boyd-Nafstad

Fordham International Law Journal

First, the government restrictions found in the Protective Order and the new regulations severely limit the amount of contact the attorney can have with the client and the type of information that can be shared with the client. Second, the stay of the court proceedings since December 2004 has prevented any opportunity to present issues in the courts. Third, cultural barriers between attorneys and clients, including but not limited to the clients' inability to understand the rule of law and the role of lawyers in the Common Law adversary model in general, and in the U.S. legal system in particular, …

Applicability Of The Geneva Conventions To "Armed Conflict" In The War On Terror, Miles P. Fischer

Fordham International Law Journal

This Essay briefly reviews the application of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (the “Conventions”) in the so-called war on terror since September 11, 2001 (“9/11”), highlighting a few current issues of particular interest; notably, the concept of “armed conflict,” the role of Common Article 3, the impact of the MC Act, screening by “competent tribunals,” and enforcement of the Conventions in courts martial and against Central Intelligence Agency (“CIA”) operatives.

Jack Bauer And The Rule Of Law: The Case Of Extraordinary Rendition, James R. Silkenat, Peter M. Norman

Fordham International Law Journal

This Essay examines the Bush Administration's use of a tactic in the “War on Terror” called “extraordinary rendition.” The term extraordinary rendition refers to the process by which alleged terrorists are captured by the U.S. Government, transferred to another country, interrogated, and possibly tortured--all without judicial involvement--so the U.S. Government may attempt to uncover possible terrorist activity. Extraordinary rendition thus differs from ordinary forms of rendition, since the latter refers broadly to any circumstance where a government takes or transfers custody of a person by means of procedures outside those of extradition treaties.

The Prosecution Of War Crimes: Military Commissions And The Procedural And Substantive Protections Beyond International Law, Tim Bakken

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article examines the procedures contained in the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (“MCA”) and finds that they are consistent with the practice of prior military tribunals, domestic and international law, and recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. The Article discusses specifically two questions that have arisen since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and Congress's subsequent passage of the MCA. First, do the procedures in the MCA comport with international standards? The Article considers the procedures arising from international agreements and those used in military tribunals during and after World War II, the international tribunals for Rwanda, …

Kriegsraison Or Military Necessity? The Bush Administration's Wilhelmine Attitude Towards The Conduct Of War, Scott Horton

Fordham International Law Journal

One phrase from a memorandum issued by President George W. Bush early in the War on Terror offers an effective summary of a radically transformed military doctrine. “As a matter of policy,” Bush wrote, “the United States Armed Forces shall continue to treat detainees humanely and, to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity, in a manner consistent with the principles of Geneva.” The statement offered a sense of assurance of continuity of U.S. military doctrine, which many generations viewed as being at or near the vanguard in assuring high standards for the treatment of military prisoners. This was …

The Proliferation Of The Law Of International Criminal Tribunals Within Terrorism And "Unlawful" Combatancy Trials After Hamdan V. Rumsfeld, Geert-Jan Alexander Knoops

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article examines the arguments that led the Supreme Court to its landmark judgment, in particular: (i) the jurisdiction of federal courts to ascertain procedural challenges to the lawfulness of military commission proceedings; (ii) the relation to the Geneva Convention; (iii) the aspect of conspiracy as a (non-)legal basis for indictments issued before military commissions, especially in the argument raised by the defense in the Hamdan case; and (iv) the case law of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (“ICTY”) with respect to the concept of conspiracy and joint criminal enterprise (“JCE”). The case law of the ICTY, …

When To Push The Envelope: Legal Ethics, The Rule Of Law, And National Security Strategy, Peter Margulies

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article argues for pushing the envelope when three conditions are met: (1) the executive engages in dialogue with other players, either before the fact or through timely ex post ratification; (2) pushing the envelope will generate a net positive aggregate of institutional consequences, viewed from an intermediate and long-term perspective; and (3) pushing the envelope harmonizes executive policy with evolving international or domestic norms. When these conditions are met, the lawyer for the executive should recommend the action, even if it appears inconsistent with the letter of existing law. While acting gives both the lawyer and her client “dirty …

Military Commission Trials At Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: Do They Satisfy International And Constitutional Law?, Jennifer Trahan

Fordham International Law Journal

Part I of this Article discusses historical precedent for the use of military commissions. Part II discusses President Bush's Military Order of November 13, 2001 (“Executive Order”) [FN14] as well as various procedural rules issued for the military commission trials. [FN15] Part III discusses the U.S. Supreme Court's decision, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which struck down those arrangements. Part IV discusses the recent revisions to trial procedures made in the Military Commissions Act, and also analyzes the extent to which these recent revisions: (a) diverge from trial procedures under the Uniform Code of Military Justice; (b) alter U.S. domestic implementation of …

Guantanamo And U.S. Law, Joseph C. Sweeney

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article deals with the United States' presence at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the domestic and international law issues that have arisen, and the nature of the jurisdiction exercised there by the United States. It does not deal with the operation of the prison facility. Guantanamo Bay is near the eastern end of Cuba, 628 miles (1000 km) from the capital, Havana. It is a deep-water harbor, protected by hills from the extremes of Caribbean weather; but it has an unhealthy tropical climate. The forty-five square miles of the Guantanamo Naval Base have been occupied by the United States since the …

Don't Forget The Family: A Proposal For Expanding Immediate Protection To Families Of Human Trafficking Survivors, Katrina Lynne Baker

Fordham International Law Journal

In Part I, this Note will discuss the current epidemic of human trafficking, the various ways the United Nations and the United States have attempted to combat trafficking, and highlight the importance of U.S. prosecutorial duties of witness protection that are especially implicated in human trafficking cases. Part II will present criticisms of efforts by the United Nations and the United States to protect victims of trafficking and their family members. This part will also focus on current U.S. protections afforded to families of human trafficking survivors and programs such as the Witness Security Program, from which U.S. lawmakers may …

The Guantanamo Protective Order, Brendan M. Driscoll

Fordham International Law Journal

This Note analyzes the Green Protective Order, and the arguments of its proponents and critics. It aims to facilitate broader public awareness of an issue that, while not commanding newspaper headlines, may actually have greater consequence for Guantánamo prisoners and their counsel than those issues that do attract mass media attention. Part I provides a brief background on protective orders in general and their use in cases involving confidential national security, before examining the Green Protective Order in detail. Part II considers, in detail, three different assessments of the Green Protective Order named above, as these positions have been articulated …

The Reform Path Of The Chinese Judiciary: Progress Or Stand-Still?, Jonas Grimheden

Fordham International Law Journal

In the later part of 2007 China will be at yet another watershed moment. The 17th Party Congress will be held, where new leaders of China will jockey into position. Will these leaders proceed on the slow and cautious trail set out by their predecessors? Will they regress to the demands of the ultra-conservative “left-wingers”? Or will the likely rejuvenated leadership be bold enough to face the many challenges with a more progressive agenda? This Essay addresses these questions by briefly describing and analyzing the development and the potential of the Chinese judiciary. In this analysis, the judiciary functions more …