Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

International Law Weekend 2013 Keynote Address: The Advocate In The Transnational Justice System, Donald F. Donovan

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

I am very grateful for the opportunity to address this audience at International Law Weekend 2013.

Accelerated Formation Of Customary International Law, Michael P. Scharf

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

By tradition, jurists, statesmen, and scholars have looked exclusively to two factors to divine whether an emergent rule has attained customary international law status: 1) widespread State practice and 2) manifestations of a conviction that the practice is required by international law.

The Double-Edged Sword: Democratic Histories And Methods Of Negotiating With Terrorists, Lisa M. Hailey

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

"We do not negotiate with terrorists." On May 31, 2014, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the only American prisoner of war (POW), was released by his captors after five years of captivity.

Los Contratos Electronicos En Masa Mediante "Tecnolgia Web": Opciones Basicas En Su Regulacion, Barral Vinals

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

Hoy en dia es frecuente la adquisici6n de bienes y servicios a trav6s de Internet, asi como el uso de servicios de informaci6n de lo mis variado en la red.

Humanitarian Intervention Post-Syria: A Grotian Moment?, Milena Sterio

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

Grotian Moment is a term that signifies a "paradigm-shifting development in which new rules and doctrines of customary international law emerge with unusual rapidity and acceptance."'

Conflict Minerals And International Business: United States And International Responses, Ved P. Nanda

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

A recent headline read, "Blood on Your Handset: Is your Cellphone Made with Conflict Minerals Mined in the Congo?

The 2014 Philip C. Jessup International Law, The State Of Amalea, The Republic Of Ritania

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

The State of Amalea ('Amalea') and the Republic of Ritania ('Ritania') have consented to submit this dispute to the International Court of Justice ('this Court'), in accordance with Articles 36(1) and 40(1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice ('the Statute'), by way of Compromis transmitted to the Registrar on 17 September 2013. Amalea and Ritania have undertaken to accept this Court's decision as final and binding on them and commit to comply with it in its entirety and in good faith.

Electronic Mass Procurement By Means Of "Web Technology": Basic Options In Its Regulation, Barral Vinals

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

Today, the acquisition of goods and services through the Internet is frequent, just like the use of the most varied information services on the net.

Pashtunistan's Future: The Global Executive Or A Regional Solution, Joshua A. Kurtzman

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This note explores the transnational security issues associated with the Pashtunistan region following the withdrawal of NATO from Afghanistan in 2014. More specifically, at a time when this region is at a religious, governance, and globalization crossroads, this note posits that only two alternatives exist for addressing the security situation in this region. First, a global executive, or executives, could use their power to exert transnational security pressure through drone strikes or other pseudo-military alternatives. A second alternative, and one which this note considers much more promising, is the development of a "NATO like" organization of Muslim nations to assist …

Hong Kong's Failure To Extradite Edward Snowden: More Than Just A Technical Defect, Mark D. Kielsgard, Ken Gee-Kin Ip

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

As the Edward Snowden case takes legs and exhibits all the earmarks of official misconduct and scandal, the U.S. government continues efforts aimed at extraditing this "whistleblower," characterizing him as a traitor and doing damage control in the NSA. Part of this strategy includes intimidating those sovereign states that refuse to coooperate in returning Snowden to face trial.Yet, the legal basis for these U.S. efforts is highly contentious. If Snowden had stayed in Hong Kong and fought extradition, in all likelihood he would have prevailed. Thus, the U.S. is left with not credible basis for complaint, and its retaliatory diplomatic …

Unraveling Icsid's Denunciation: Understanding The Interaction Between Articles 71 And 72 Of The Icsid Convention, J. Tejera

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

Before any Contracting State denounced the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes Convention (ICSID Convention),' very few academics and commentators bothered interpreting the meaning of its provisions dealing with potential denunciations or, more importantly, the effectiveness of withdrawing from the ICSID Convention.

Catalonia: The New European State?, Garcia Barcia

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

On September 11, 2012, a sea of Catalonians, 1.5 million according to the Urban Guard and 600,000 according to the Government Delegation, protested under the slogan: "Catalonia, new European State."'

A Comparative Analysis Of The Reformation Of American And Argentinian Media Laws And The Public Policies Behind Such Changes, M. Villaraos

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

Ever since Janet Jackson experienced a wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 Super Bowl Halftime Show-exposing her breast for half a second to nearly one hundred and forty million viewers, seven million of which were children-the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) goal has been to prevent such moral disasters from reaching the eyes of the young American public.

Trafficking In Information: Evaluating The Efficacy Of The California Transparency In Supply Chains Act Of 2010, Alexandra Prokopets

UC Law SF International Law Review

The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010 (CTSCA) took effect in January 2012. It was designed in an effort to eradicate forced labor and human trafficking in business supply chains, which the legislature recognized as violations of state, federal, and international law. The CTSCA does not forbid the sale of goods produced through trafficked labor. Instead, the CTSCA asks companies to disclose their labor practices to consumers in order to allow buyers to differentiate companies based on their efforts to supply products free from slavery and trafficking, which will in turn inform consumers' purchasing decisions and drive companies …

An Empirical Study Of Arbitrators Acting As Mediators In China, Fan Kun

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Whether an arbitrator can and should act as a mediator in a pending arbitration is one of the most controversial issues in international arbitration. While mediation is not a new concept for the West, the practice of having the same person acts as both an arbitrator and a mediator in one proceeding has aroused great debate in theory and practice. The debate gives rise to delicate ethical issues, and touches the very core of arbitration, i.e., the mission of arbitrators.

Section II of the Article reviews relevant literature on the general attitudes of arbitrators in settlement facilitation. Section III defines …

Why The United States Cannot Agree To Disagree On Blasphemy Laws, Evelyn Aswad, Rashad Hussain, M. Suleman

Faculty Articles

At the Boston University International Law Journal's symposium "Realigning Western Policy and International Law after the Arab Spring," held on March 25, 2013, Professor Aswad gave the keynote address, where she described the extensive U.S. diplomatic efforts to promote the broadest possible protections for freedoms of expression and religion, even when it comes to speech that is considered blasphemous. A symposium participant asked why the United States cannot just agree to disagree with Muslim-majority countries on the treatment of blasphemy given the religious sensibilities in those countries and the number of other pressing equities the United States has pending with …

Limits Of Procedural Choice Of Law, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Commercial parties have long enjoyed significant autonomy in questions of substantive law. However, litigants do not have anywhere near the same amount of freedom to decide procedural matters. Instead, parties in litigation are generally considered to be subject to the procedural law of the forum court.

Although this particular conflict of laws rule has been in place for many years, a number of recent developments have challenged courts and commentators to consider whether and to what extent procedural rules should be considered mandatory in nature. If procedural rules are not mandatory but are instead merely “sticky” defaults, then it may …

Protecting Traditional Knowledge In International Intellectual Property Law: Imperatives For Protection And Choice Of Modalities, 14 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 25 (2014), Tesh Dagne

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The need for protecting traditional knowledge (TK) has been acknowledged in discussion and negotiations under the umbrella of a number of inter-governmental organizations that deal with biodiversity, the environment, indigenous peoples’ rights, human rights, food and agriculture, among others. It has, however, proved difficult to arrive at a consensus on the proper modality that can serve the needs and desires of Indigenous and Local Communities (ILCs) in their economic and cultural participation. The article examines the imperatives for the protection of TK and explores the modalities of TK protection at the international level for regulating the control of, access to …

The Adoption Of Children In Judaism And In Israel; A Conceptual And Practical Review, Mark Goldfeder

Scholarly Works

Religion has played a fairly significant role in the history of adoption law, both in the U.S. and internationally. Although there are plenty of questions raised by religion in the context of adoption, one particular issue revolves around whether or not religion should factor into a "best interests of the child" placement determination. Whether or not it should factor into the determination, in practice religion often plays a part in the legal determination of which home will provide the best and most supportive environment for an adopted child. While much has been written about the legal aspect of putting a …

An Expanding Human Rights Corpus: Sexual Minority Rights As International Human Rights, Xavier B. Lutchmie Persad

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article argues that sexual minorities are entitled to equal rights under principles of human dignity, equality, and non-discrimination. While international human rights frameworks like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and regional systems, particularly the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, provide some protections, sexual minorities remain vulnerable due to the lack of explicit inclusion in most treaties. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) have advanced protections through jurisprudence, but significant gaps persist, especially for transgender and intersex individuals. The article advocates for a specialized treaty to address these disparities …

Competition Law Reform In Turkey: Actors, Networks, Translations, Ziya Umut Turem

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This article explains the shift from an initially European-oriented and politically motivated competition law, toward a U.S. style and aspiringly apolitical competition regime in Turkey. Translation is used as an analytic to capture the complex processes of such a shift. The article argues that this shift can be explained first by the broad turn toward the U.S. as a source of state expertise and knowledge production in the context of the Cold War. This broad historical dynamic could only be activated, however, by the emergence of a critical mass of policy entrepreneurs and state officials shifting the momentum of policy …

The Persistence Of National Peculiarities: Translating Representative, Anna Katharina Mangold

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This paper explores representative environmental action in international, European Union, and German environmental law as an example of '7egal translation." The Aarhus Convention, dating from 1998, requests signatory parties to provide environmental NGOs with wide access to justice so that the protection of the environment can be controlled by the judiciary. Both the European Union and Germany have implemented the provisions of the Aarhus Convention into their respective legal orders. This process of implementation can be considered as "legal translations." The argument of this paper is that a perspective of '7egal translation" provides new vistas on the various intertwined layers …

Multiculturalism And Constitutionalism In Latin America, José Antonio Aguilar Rivera

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

José Antonio Aguilar Rivera discusses recent reforms to the constitutions of several Latin American states. According to Aguilar Rivera, these reforms tend to recognize and protect the multiethnic and multicultural nature of Latin American socieites. While acknowledging that some have lauded these changes as progressive moves towards a more developed form of democracy, Aguilar Rivera reaches the opposite conclusion. He argues that these trends in Latin American constitutionalism represent an "authoritarian regression" rather than an enhancement of democracy. Aguilar Rivera begins by discussing and critiquing prevalent Western theories of multiculturalism, particularly the versions set forth by Canadian theorists Charles Taylor, …

Latin American Constitutionalism: Social Rights And The “Engine Room” Of The Constitution, Roberto Gargarella

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

Roberto Gargarella surveys the landscape of Latin American Constitutionalism from 1810 to 2010, with particular emphasis on efforts in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries to enhance protections of multiculturalism and human rights. Gargarella begins by surveying the "founding period" of Latin American constitutionalism, a period marked by compromise between liberals and conservatives. He proceeds to discuss the increasing incorporation of social rights—primarily economic and labor rights—during the early twentieth century. Gargarella then discusses a final wave of reforms, which introduced increasing human rights protections in the latter half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. …

Nigeria And Mali: The Case For Repatriation And Protection Of Cultural Heritage In Post-Colonial Africa, Elizabeth A. Klesmith

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

Writing in early 2013, Elizabeth A. Klesmith explores the challenges of African nations in protecting their cultural heritage in the post-colonization era. She identifies two major challenges to the preservation of African cultural heritage: the multi-billion dollar global trade in illicit heritage and, in certain parts of Africa, the threat of destruction of cultural treasures during bouts of sectarian violence. Klesmith discusses these challenges utilizing case studies concerning the cultural treasures of Nigeria and Mali. In the case of Nigeria, the country is striving to reacquire artifacts looted from the Benin Kingdom in the late nineteenth century and recently purchased …

The Surprising Acquittals In The Gotovina And Perisic Cases: Is The Icty Appeals Chamber A Trial Chamber In Sheep's Clothing?, Mark A. Summers

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Brazil's Legacy Of International Parental Child Abduction: Mediation Under The Hague Abduction Convention As A Solution, Paula Shulman

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note argues that Brazil's failures to comply with the commands of the Hague Convention, to expeditiously return children abducted by a parent from their habitual residence to Brazil, can be remedied with the adoption of a new mediation model in lieu of its current system. This new mediation protocol can be modeled on those adopted in the United Kingdom and Germany. Section II of this Note provides a history of IPCA and an analysis of the problems unresolved or springing from the Hague Convention. Section III examines Brazil's accession to the Hague Convention, the Brazilian Central Authority, the body …

Transforming Family Law Through Same-Sex Marriage: Lessons From (And To) The Western World, Macarena Saez

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Same-sex marriage is a 21st century phenomenon. In less than 13 years more than 15 countries have amended their marriage laws to include same-sex couples. Some countries have made the change through political decisions but others have reached the change through adjudicative processes. A comparative analysis of decisions from the highest courts of countries or states granting marriage to same-sex couples demonstrates: 1. similar arguments are presented to these courts when making the case for and against same-sex marriage; 2. courts are using comparative law to justify their decisions on same-sex marriage; 3. the majority of courts in these countries …

Faustian Perspective On Digitization: Making A Deal With The Devil, Lucie Guibault

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Digitization of library material, archives and museum collections, arts organizations repositories is progressing rapidly, and opens up new possibilities of accessing, using and re-using the knowledge embodied in cultural heritage. By giving new purpose and function to works, it enhances the value of the public domain and enriches the public sphere. However, digitization also creates the conditions for the rise of new proprietary entitlements over cultural objects. Such ‘informational monopolies’ are often justified as necessary to recoup the high costs of digitization, or as the basis to provide additional sources of income for the cultural institutions. At the same time, …

Unasur: The Newest 'Global Player' Or Neo-Boliverian Fantasy?, Sara Gwendolyn Ross

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The Union of South American Nations (Unasur) presents the most recent vision for trade liberalization and political, economic, and social integration amongst South American countries. Unasur has set 2019 as the year by which it hopes to accomplish many of its goals, such as full regional integration and tariff elimination. But, as 2019 slowly approaches, it remains to be seen whether Unasur will in fact be able to reach these goals. While Unasur’s future is certainly compelling, before heralding Unasur as the long-awaited panacea for pure regional integration, important lessons can be drawn from previous attempts at and iterations of …