Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

Russian Web Sites Jeopardize U.S. Users: The Dangers Of Importing Copyrighted Material Over The Internet, James Chapman

UC Law SF International Law Review

Russian web sites offer electronic versions of copyrighted music over the Internet for pennies a song. Protected by international borders and favorable domestic legal constraints, these Russian music distributors sell songs at much lower prices and without anti-piracy protections. The web sites claim the right to sell the music under Russian law, and unknowing purchasers are buying music believing they have finally found a cheap, legal, and moral alternative to domestic vendors and P2P networks. However, common misunderstandings of the copyright law may be placing purchasers of music from these Internet sites in danger of criminal and civil sanctions. This …

Queer Refuge: A Review Of The Role Of Country Condition Analysis In Asylum Adjudications For Members Of Sexual Minorities, Arwen Swink

UC Law SF International Law Review

More than 80 countries around the world have laws criminalizing sexual activity between consenting adults of the same sex. Physical and sexual abuse, harassment, detention, and extortion by police are common means of enforcing these laws. For many LGBT people who have been subjected to or who rightly fear persecution, political asylum may offer hope of protection, but the asylum process is not without its pitfalls. This article seeks to explore some of the difficulties the asylum adjudication process may pose for LGBT people seeking refuge from persecution. Specifically, this article addresses the various ways in which asylum adjudicators in …

The Emergence Of The Hellenic Deliberative Ideal: The Classical Humanist Conception Of Comparative Law, Richard Brooks

UC Law SF International Law Review

Modern comparative law is based upon the failed Enlightenment premise of comparative law as legal science. Awareness of the earlier writings of Hellenic historians, philosophers, rhetoricians, and dramatists suggest that comparative law should be conceived as a process of political deliberation. Herodotus, Thucydides, and Polybius suggest how history frames the choices which comparativists must make. Aristotle and Plato demonstrate how to deliberate about conflicting laws and legal regimes. The rhetorician, Isocrates, argues for rhetoric to be brought to bear on the debates about different legal regimes. The Greek dramatists portray the anguish and regret which necessarily follows the final choice …

Beyond Good Intentions: Can Hybrid Tribunals Work After Unilateral Intervention, John Dermody

UC Law SF International Law Review

The use of a hybrid tribunal - a tribunal comprised of both international and domestic elements - was advocated in the wake of the Iraq war and the capture of Saddam Hussein. The hybrid model is considered to offer significant advantages over purely international and purely domestic tribunals. Although hybrid tribunals have been used in Kosovo, East Timor, and Sierra Leone, the hybrid model has yet to be implemented after unilateral intervention. This note examines whether the hybrid model is feasible and whether the advantages of the hybrid model can be maintained in the wake of unilateral intervention.

Looking Over A Crowd And Picking Your Friends: Civil Rights And The Debate Over The Influence Of Foreign And International Human Rights Law On The Interpretation Of The U.S. Constitution, Stanley A. Halpin

UC Law SF International Law Review

Since the 1940s Civil Rights advocates have attempted, with little success, to use International Human Rights law to protect the rights of African Americans in the United States. However, in recent terms, the United States Supreme Court has seemingly opened the door, at least a crack, to some limited recognition of international human rights norms as a legitimate influence upon their interpretation of the Constitution. This article examines the efforts of Civil Rights Advocates to utilize human rights law and develops from this history four models of enforcement of human rights law in the United States. It details the Court's …

A Golden State Solution To The Israeli-Palestinian Water Conflict, Brandon Hollinder

UC Law SF International Law Review

Israel and the Palestinian territories face a shortage of water resources that have created tensions at the center of the current political conflict between the two parties. Many of these resources are subject to dual control and authority as well as continuing degradation and overuse, all of which exacerbate the situation. This paper offers a solution to that problem: the adoption of a Water Board with authority over the combined region of Israel and the Palestinian territories. This Board would employ and enforce laws based upon current California Water Law with a few minor, yet critical, changes. This solution offers …

Recent Developments In The Debate Concerning The Use Of Foreign Law In Constitution Interpretation, Lisa Sofio

UC Law SF International Law Review

Comparative analysis, the interpretive technique of using foreign and international law to better understand the United States Constitution, may be a valuable tool for modern judges. Legislative proposals and statements made by various members of Congress reveal that Congress is opposed to the judiciary's use of comparative analysis and appears prepared to take drastic measures to prevent judges from looking to foreign law to answer difficult questions. This note explores the propriety and reasons for this response and explores whether comparative analysis has merit as an interpretive tool.

Misconceptions, Miscalculations, And Mistakes: P2p, China, And Copyright, Tao Leung

UC Law SF International Law Review

The entertainment industry initially treated the advent of peer-to-peer ("P2P") technologies as a death-knell for copyright protections and attempted to fix the perceived problem with solutions that were misguided, litigious, ineffective, and costly. By viewing P2P technology as a threat, the industry failed to capitalize on a new technology that might have provided limitless opportunity. Moreover, the recording industry's narrow-minded attempt to curtail illegal file sharing mirrored the U.S. government's attempt to enforce intellectual property protection in China. Both the entertainment industry and the United States failed to understand the economic, social, and cultural realities in the areas in which …

Headscarf Stories, Ian Ward

UC Law SF International Law Review

The seemingly intractable issue of headscarves - when they can be worn, and when they cannot - is currently contested in much of Europe. The apparent intractability is a common experience. The purpose of this article is to present three headscarf 'stories,' and in so doing, stress the narrative nature of this intensely moral and political, as well as legal, controversy. Narrativity, it will be suggested, offers a far more effective means of approaching this kind of issue and its inevitable indeterminacies than the simple recourse to blunt legal instrumentation. While the law must, it seems, play a role in …

Majority And Dissent In Intel: Approaches To Limiting International Judicial Assistance, E. Morgan Boeing

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

International Criminal Law: Towards New Solutions In The Fight Against Illegal Arms Brokers, Katharine Orlovsky

UC Law SF International Law Review

In many recent and ongoing civil and international armed conflicts, arms brokers have violated United Nations embargos to deliver arms to known human rights violators in conflict zones. This illegal arms traffic significantly contributes to the commission of atrocities. However, arms brokers, who are uniquely difficult to both regulate and prosecute, continue to enjoy broad impunity under existing international and domestic law. International criminal law has developed legal theories and institutions to address impunity in situations of mass conflict. This note examines the feasibility of prosecuting arms brokers under international criminal law, and whether this growing area of law may …

Lawless World - The Bush Administration And Iraq: Issues Of International Legality And Criminality, Philippe Sands

UC Law SF International Law Review

Sixty years ago, the United States and Great Britain spearheaded efforts to create a new world order based on international rules. Today these same two nations are leading the charge to abandon many of the global safeguards they once fought to establish. The Bush Administration has decided to turn its back on international agreements governing basic human rights, war, torture, and the environment. In this transcript from the Schlesinger Lecture held in November 2005, Professor Sands discusses how international rules are arbitrarily applied as human rights prove to be inconvenient in the face of globalizing economic forces.

Challenging China's Fixed Exchange Rate Regime: An Analysis Of U.S. Options, Xinchen Sofia Lou

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Facts, Rights, And Remedies, Wadie E. Said

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Discussion Of The International Water Law Principles Dr. Elver Lays Out, James W. Nachbaur

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Applying The Rule Of Law In The War On Terror: An Examination Of Guantanamo Bay Through The Lens Of The U.S. Constitution And The Geneva Conventions, John R. Pariseault

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

To Reconcile, Or To Be Reconciled?: Agency, Accountability, And Law In Middle Eastern Conflicts, Laurie King-Irani

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Geographical Indicators: A Unique European Perspective On Intellectual Property, Eva Gutierrez

UC Law SF International Law Review

In a recent case before the World Trade Organization, the European Union advocated robust protection for geographical indicators, much to the opposition of the United States and Australia. Although the United States criticizes the European perspective of geographical indicators, the author concludes the robust GI protection the EU provides to its Member States is both a valid and ingenious way of utilizing intellectual property for national economic and social growth.

Law And The Theory Of Lack, Laura Nader

UC Law SF International Law Review

Legal comparativists' view of law as bounded precluded a theory of the diffusion of Western Law. The spread of Western legal influences, whether under colonialism or as part of law and development, or part of the current globalization challenge and the new imperialism, is now debated.

A theory of lack suggests the need for Western legal professionals to use lack as a means to promote modernity, rationality, and more recently democracy - the "civilizing process." The Chinese lack law, the Moslems lack rational law, South American countries lack sophisticated academic legal institutions, developing countries lack the minimal institutional; systems necessary …

Opening The Pandora's Box Of Space Law, Paul Tobias

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Facts, Rights, And Remedies: Implementing International Law In Israel/Palestine Conflict: Introduction, George E. Bisharat

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

International Law And The Peace Process, Richard Falk

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

International Law And Rights-Based Remedies In The Israel/Palestine Conflict: Settlements, Asli U. Bali

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

International Law And The Palestine Refugees, John Quigley

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Mirage Of Rights - Response, Elazar Barkan

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Palestinian/Israeli Water Conflict And Implementation Of International Water Law Principles, Hilal Elver

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Trading Places: Illicit Antiquities, Foreign Cultural Patrimony Laws, And The U.S. National Stolen Property Act After United States V. Schultz, Mark J. Petr

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judicial Reform In Afghanistan: A Case Study In The New Criminal Procedure Code, Faiz Ahmed

UC Law SF International Law Review

On January 4, 2004, the Islamic Transitional State of Afghanistan ratified a constitution. While lauded by many, a number of its articles have stirred debate within Afghanistan. Using the country's new criminal procedure code as a case study, the author addresses key questions pertaining to legal reform and development movements, including the foreign imposition of law, a lack of local participation in legal reform processes, and a blindness to the multiple layers of indigenous law practiced on the ground. The author concludes that these are all weaknesses that will fundamentally hamper the rebuilding of stable legal institutions in Afghanistan in …

Who Gets The Better Deal?: A Comparison Of The U.S. And English Infancy Doctrines, Simon Goodfellow

UC Law SF International Law Review

In both the United States and England, rights and liabilities under contract law are different for minors than for adults. The author compares and contrasts the current infancy doctrines of England and the United States and evaluates which country favors which party over the other and the repercussions of this choice. The author concludes that a majority of American states strongly favor the interests of the minor. Although a minority of American states, and England, strike more of a balance between the interests of the minor and adult merchants acting in good faith, the increased activity and sophistication of minors …

Foreign Private Plaintiffs, Global Conspiracies And The Extraterritorial Application Of U.S. Antitrust Law, Wolfgang Wurmnest

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.