Law Commons^™

The Holocaust And Mass Atrocity: The Continuing Challenge For Decision, Winston Nagan, Aitza Haddad

Winston P Nagan

This article begins with an appraisal of a report published by the United States Institute for Peace and authored by the former Secretary of State, Albright, and former Secretary of Defense, Cohen. This Report generated a great deal of interest and reaction from scholars across the globe. The article will introduce the broad outline of this Report and provide a summary of the principal criticisms that it has generated. This sets the stage for approaching the problem that is sensitive to the issue that this phenomenon be explore with a view to developing usable insights and data as well as …

The Holocaust And Mass Atrocity: The Continuing Challenge For Decision, Winston P. Nagan, Aitza M. Haddad

Winston P Nagan

This article begins with an appraisal of a report published by the United States Institute for Peace and authored by the former Secretary of State, Albright, and former Secretary of Defense, Cohen. This Report generated a great deal of interest and reaction from scholars across the globe. The article will introduce the broad outline of this Report and provide a summary of the principal criticisms that it has generated. This sets the stage for approaching the problem that is sensitive to the issue that this phenomenon be explore with a view to developing usable insights and data as well as …

Cloud Computing Providers And Data Security Law: Building Trust With United States Companies, Jared A. Harshbarger Esq.

Jared A. Harshbarger

Cloud computing and software-as-a-service (SaaS) models are revolutionizing the information technology industry. As these services become more prevalent, data security and privacy concerns will also rise among consumers and the companies who consider using them. Cloud computing providers must establish a sufficient level of trust with their potential customers in order to ease initial fears - and ensure certain compliance obligations will be met - at least to the extent that any such inquiring customer will feel comfortable enough to ultimately take the irreversible step of releasing their sensitive data and personal information into the cloud.

Book Review: Great Powers And Outlaw States: Unequal Sovereigns In The International Legal Order, Maxwell O. Chibundu

Maxwell O. Chibundu

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Differential Treatment In International Environmental Law, Maxwell Chibundu

Maxwell O. Chibundu

A review of Differential Treatment in International Environmental Law by Phillippe Cullet. Brookfield, Ashgate Publishing Co., 2003.

Book Review: International Environmental Treaties And State Behavior: Factors Influencing Cooperation, Maxwell Chibundu

Maxwell O. Chibundu

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Minorities' Claims: From Autonomy To Secession, International Law And State Practice, Maxwell O. Chibundu

Maxwell O. Chibundu

No abstract provided.

Speaker, “The Persistence Of Sovereignty And The Rise Of The Legal Subject”, Michael Helfand

Michael A Helfand

No abstract provided.

The Transatlantic Gmo Dispute Against The European Communities: Some Preliminary Thoughts, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

Any day now, a World Trade Organization panel is expected to rule in a dispute between the U.S. and the EU concerning market access for genetically-engineered foods and crops. This piece, written before the release of the WTO panel's report, analyzes novel systemic issues concerning the impact of WTO law on regulatory design, at both the national and international levels, that are raised by this dispute. These include (1) the application of WTO disciplines to regulatory schemes that require prior governmental approval to protect the environment and public health from newly-introduced products and substances; (2) the role of precaution as …

The Uneasy Interface Between Domestic And International Environmental Law, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

No abstract provided.

Legitimacy, Accountability, And Partnership: A Model For Advocacy On Third World Environmental Issues, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

To date, there has been little effort to define the characteristics of responsible environmental reform efforts by private citizens and organizations in the United States on foreign environmental problems, such as the quality of foreign aid. Moreover, there have been virtually no attempts to identify a principled role for American lawyers in Third World environmental issues. This Essay will respond to these lacunae by articulating a new approach to advocacy based on a partnership model. In Part I, this Essay identifies the need for American public interest advocates to establish partnerships with directly affected groups on Third World environmental issues. …

Hazardous Substances And Activities, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

This piece analyzes and critically evaluates the enormous number and variety of international instruments addressing the regulation of hazardous substances and activities, from consumer products to nuclear power plants. International authorities are categorized according to regulatory theory, ranging from hazard identification and testing to disposal. Other regulatory approaches include limitations on pollutant releases, prevention of and response to industrial accidents, and international trade in toxic chemicals and waste. Multilateral norms originating from global and regional institutions, UN specialized agencies, and non-UN organizations are analyzed. The piece addresses both "hard" (binding or conventional) and "soft" (nonbinding) instruments, correlating legal form with …

The President, The Environment, And Foreign Policy: The Globalization Of Environmental Politics, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

By comparison with domestic environmental issues, international environmental diplomacy is distinguished by the far greater role of the Executive Branch, and in particular the President, in making law. This essay explores the legal consequences of the President's dual role in international environmental diplomacy: his duty faithfully to execute statutory mandates adopted by Congress while also serving as the Nation's chief diplomat and negotiator of international agreements with foreign powers. The piece discusses the legal and policy dynamics surrounding two concrete examples affecting domestic and international environmental policy, in which Presidential power assumes dramatically different forms: (1) climate change, and in …

Legal Lines In Shifting Sand: Immigration Law And Human Rights In The Wake Of September 11, Daniel Kanstroom

Daniel Kanstroom

In March of 2004, a group of legal scholars gathered at Boston College Law School to examine the doctrinal implications of the events of September 11, 2001. They reconsidered the lines drawn between citizens and noncitizens, war and peace, the civil and criminal systems, as well as the U.S. territorial line. Participants responded to the proposition that certain entrenched historical matrices no longer adequately answer the complex questions raised in the “war on terror.” They examined the importance of government disclosure and the public’s right to know; the deportation system’s habeas corpus practices; racial profiling; the convergence of immigration and …

Impairment, Discrimination, And The Legal Construction Of Disability In The European Union And The United States, Vlad F. Perju

Vlad Perju

This Article is a comparative study of disability regulations in the European Union and the United States over the past four decades. It explores how a conception of the relationship between illness, impairment and discrimination became a source of transformative insights that led to new regulatory regimes for persons with disability but also hampered the judicial enforcement of these regimes in both jurisdictions. The main transformative insight is the shift in understanding the cause of disability from the individual’s medical condition to the larger social environment. The obstacle is the radical nature of this shift, and specifically its effect of …

The ‘Fair’ Trade Law Of Nations, Or A ‘Fair’ Global Law Of Economic Relations?, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.

Trade-Based Strategies For Combatting Child Labor, Frank J. Garcia, Soohyun Jun

Frank J. Garcia

International commerce facilitates abusive child labor when it offers a market for the goods produced through such practices. International trade sanctions are thus a logical avenue for confronting abusive child labor, by eliminating the commercial opportunities for such goods. However, it is not clear that domestic child labor sanctions would survive legal challenge under WTO law as currently interpreted. For international trade law to serve as a viable strategy for change, there must first be a clear theoretical and doctrinal case for the WTO-consistency of domestic child labor-based sanctions. In this chapter, we present this case, using the U.S. section …

Globalization, Global Community And The Possibility Of Global Justice, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

In this essay, I suggest five ways in which globalization is changing the cosmopolitan/communitarian debate over global justice, by creating, both inter-subjectively and at the regulatory level, the constitutive elements of a limited global community. Members of this global community are increasingly aware of each other’s needs and circumstances, increasingly capable of effectively addressing these needs, and increasingly contributing to these circumstances in the first place. They find themselves involved in the same global market society, and together these members look to the same organizations, especially those at the meta-state level, to provide regulatory approaches to addressing problems of global …

Review: A Philosophy Of International Law, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.

Checking The Staats: How Long Is Too Long To Give Adequate Public Notice In Broadening Reissue Patent Applications?, David M. Longo

David M. Longo

No abstract provided.

Stuxnet: Cyber Conflict, Article 2(4), And The Continuum Of Culpability, Colin S. Crawford

Colin S Crawford

In the late summer of 2010, the world was shocked to discover one of the opening shots in a new world of cyber conflict. The malware known as “Stuxnet” effectively sabotaged Iranian nuclear enrichment equipment at its controversial Natanz facility. With the identity of the attacker remaining unknown, speculation about the facts as well as the legality of the strike continue to run wild. The enclosed article attempts to pierce the shroud of mystery enveloping the Stuxnet attack and place it within the broader context of cyber conflict.

In short, this piece takes a two-track approach to evaluating the culpability …

The Holocaust And Mass Atrocity: The Continuing Challenge For Decision, Winston P. Nagan, Aitza M. Haddad

Winston P Nagan

This article begins with an appraisal of a report published by the United States Institute for Peace and authored by the former Secretary of State, Albright, and former Secretary of Defense, Cohen. This Report generated a great deal of interest and reaction from scholars across the globe. The article will introduce the broad outline of this Report and provide a summary of the principal criticisms that it has generated. This sets the stage for approaching the problem that is sensitive to the issue that this phenomenon be explore with a view to developing usable insights and data as well as …

Sovereignty In Theory And Practice, Winston P. Nagan, Aitza M. Haddad

Winston P Nagan

This article deals with the theory and practice of sovereignty from the perspective of a trend in theoretical perspectives as well as the relevant trend in practice. The article provides a survey of the leading thinkers and philosophers views on the nature and importance of sovereignty. The concept of sovereignty is exceeding the complex. Unpacking its meanings and uses over time is challenging. An aspect of this challenge is that the discourse about sovereignty is vibrant in diverse policy, academic and political constituencies. At times its narratives are relatively discrete and at other times the narratives overlap with the discourses …

More Than Just Spelling: How Differences In International Labor Laws Create Barriers To Expansion Of The American National Sports Leagues Into Europe, Anna E. Larson

Anna E Larson

For decades now, all four of the U.S. National Sporting Leagues have been discussing a potential international expansion into Europe. Exhibition games have been scheduled abroad to increase interest. Plans have been created to decrease the number of times teams would have to travel between continents to play. Provisions regarding international expansion have even been entered into several of the leagues’ Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA). However, one large roadblock remains: international labor laws. As recent events in the NFL have shown us, the nature of a country’s labor law can have a monumental effect on how bargaining progresses. Without the …

Human Rights Treaty Body Reform: New Proposals, Andrew Kloster

Andrew Kloster

“Reform” in international human rights law has become a narrow concept. A survey of the literature reveals that nearly any suggestion for reform concerns greater enforcement of international human rights substantive norms.

It is the purpose of this article to address the neglected question of treaty body role. Section II provides a nuts-and-bolts guide to the treaty body mandates for United Nations delegates, States Parties, and international lawyers. This section sketches the proper and improper actions for treaty bodies to take. It is our contention that if treaty bodies were limited to their proper role, they could more effectively use …

Climate Policy Coherence And Border Adjustment Regulation: Clarifying The Debate, Donald Feaver, Benedict Sheehy

Benedict Sheehy

Abstract: A vigorous debate surrounding the use of border adjustments as trade-related policy mechanisms to compliment national climate change policies has intensified in recent times. The debate highlights how border adjustments are not particularly well suited to respond to trade related frictions arising because of the diversity of commitments being made by countries to reduce carbon emissions. While ideally, “the greater the degree of international agreement on climate change policies, the less potential friction there should be with trade policies” this more complex challenge of harmonizing national climate policies is unlikely to occur anytime soon. In the absence of a …

The Three-Pronged Strategy Of India's Preferential Trade Policy - A Contribution To The Study Of Modern Economic Treaties, Julien Chaisse

Julien Chaisse

Before the inception of WTO, India generally did not pursue any regional economic agreement route to promote trade or to achieve any other goal. However, in the Post Cancun Ministerial period, it has progressively entered into a number of preferential trade arrangements with several Asian as well as non-Asian partners. Looking into India’s regional economic integration approach, the current analysis makes an attempt to identify the major determinants behind the shift in the country’s interest and the policy implications of this change. We conclude that India’s approach towards preferential trade can de depicted as a three-pronged PTA strategy: it can …

Customary International Law 2.0, Scott Sullivan

Scott Sullivan

Throughout history, customary law has been legitimized as an instrument to put the power of law behind the aggregated, collective judgment of citizens. Technological advances in communication have created a world where such collective judgments are easier to identify and apply than ever before. Unfortunately, the current regime design of customary international law formation is tethered to a fiction of state consent that is subjecting the system to creeping anachronism.

This Article offers an alternative theoretical “version” for understanding and justifying the creation of customary international law norms. Consistent with the software versioning invoked in the title, this rethinking of …

Two Sides Of The Combatant Coin: Untangling Direct Participation In Hostilities From Belligerent Status In Non-International Armed Conflicts, Geoffrey S. Corn, Christopher Jenks

Geoffrey S. Corn

TWO SIDES OF THE COMBATANT COIN: UNTANGLING DIRECT PARTICIPATION IN HOSTILITIES FROM BELLIGERENT STATUS IN NON-INTERNATIONAL ARMED CONFLICTS

GEOFFREY CORN& CHRIS JENKS

ABSTRACT:

Determining who qualifies as a lawful object of attack in contemporary military operations against non-state belligerents is an increasingly demanding challenge. While it is axiomatic that only persons who qualify as either belligerents or civilians taking a direct part in hostilities fall into this category, the nature, and indeed goal, of counter-insurgencies blurs the line between civilians protected from deliberate attack and belligerents subject to attack.

The difficulty in distinguishing the protected (civilians) from the unprotected (belligerents …

Electromagnetic Pulse And The U.S. Food Security Paradigm: Assumptions, Risks, And Recommendations, Maximilian Leeds

Maximilian Leeds

This paper analyzes the systemic dangers posed to the U.S. economy by an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), either naturally occurring or maliciously generated, from a food security perspective. Section I examines the modern structure of the U.S. food supply chain, analyzing the just-in-time international distribution model and criticizing it as vulnerable to systemic shock and cascade failure. Section II examines the function and history of the electromagnetic pulse, assesses its potential to serve as a catalyst for systemic breakdown in the domestic food supply chain, and explores the current state of food security planning in the United States pertaining to this …