Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

The Place Of Translation In Jerusalem's Criminal Trial Court, Irus Braverman

Journal Articles

The court-appointed translator is largely an invisible actor in the legal space. The Israeli context provides an extreme example of this invisibility: apart from a general statutory definition of the court's obligation to translate criminal proceedings, the work of translation in the Israeli courtroom is mostly unregulated by state law, rendering it highly susceptible to informal manifestations. This article offers a critical empirical investigation into the micropractices of translation performed in the Jerusalem criminal trial court in 2002. On the face of things, the court-appointed translator performs a technical task in the everyday working of the court. Expected to mediate …

In The Twelve Years Of Nafta, The Treaty Gave To Me ... What, Exactly?: An Assessment Of Economic, Social, And Political Developments In Mexico Since 1994 And Their Impact On Mexican Immigration Into The United States, Ranko Shiraki Oliver

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Right Of Access To Justice: Judicial Discourse In Singapore And Malaysia, Gary Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This is an essay on judicial discourse in Singapore and Malaysia pertaining to the nature and scope of the right of access to justice, including access to justice for the poor. We will examine the statements and pronouncements by the Singapore and Malaysia judiciary in case precedents and extra-judicial statements. Some of the issues explored include the legal status of this right of access to justice (namely, whether it is a right enshrined in the constitution or merely a right derived from the common law and whether it is qualified by economic and other interests) and the associated rights of …

A Windfall For The Magnates: The Development Of Woodland Ownership In Denmark, Eric Kades

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

From Reparation To Restoration: Moving Beyond Restoring Property Rights To Restoring Political And Economic Visibility, Bernadette Atuahene

All Faculty Scholarship

Abstract: How does a democratic state legitimize strong property rights when property arrangements are widely perceived to be defined by past theft? The answer, I argue, is through restorative justice measures that redistribute wealth based on past dispossession. This answer, however, leads to two more complex questions: Who gets priority in the restorative process given limited resources and how should the process unfold? The concise answers to these two ancillary questions are: First, instances of what I call property-induced invisibility should be prioritized as a baseline for achieving legitimacy. When property is confiscated in this manner people are removed from …

Burying Our Constitution In The Sand? Evaluating The Ostrich Response To The Use Of International And Foreign Law In U.S. Constitutional Interpretation, Cindy G. Buys

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Constitution, Custom, And Creed: Balancing Human Rights Concerns With Cultural And Religious Freedom In Today's South Africa, Erin E. Goodsell

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

When The Price Is Too High: Rethinking China's Deterrence Strategy For Robbery, Peter D. Nestor

Washington International Law Journal

Economic property crime in China has soared since the country enacted market reforms in the early 1980s. Robbery rates are rising faster than most economic property crimes, such as larceny and fraud, and violent crimes, such as rape, murder, and assault. China’s strategy for deterrence is to raise the “price” of the crime by increasing the severity of the penalty. Since 1979, China’s criminal law has permitted the use of the death penalty for robbers in nearly all cases, and courts have applied it regularly and in many different types of robbery cases. Since 1983, China has formally engaged in …

The 2006 Revisions To Japan's Equal Opportunity Employment Law: An Narrow Approach To A Pervasive Probem, Megan L. Starich

Washington International Law Journal

In June 2006, Japan changed its approach to employment discrimination by amending the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (“EEOL”). The change was prompted by increased gender discrimination litigation, domestic economic pressures relating to the low birth rate, a stagnant economy and declining labor force, and criticism from the United Nations. The revised law attempts to address several of the shortcomings of the old law. First, Japan has made the law applicable to all workers rather than just to women workers. Second, the revisions expand the scope of the law by including a section on indirect discrimination. Third, the revisions provide greater …

Korea's New Prostitution Policy: Overcoming Challenges To Effectuate The Legislature's Intent To Protect Prostitutes From Abuse, Ji Hye Kim

Washington International Law Journal

Prostitution has been rampant in South Korea, exposing tens of thousands of women to abuse and violence. Beginning in 2000, however, women’s rights organizations spearheaded a legal reform campaign to change the nation’s prostitution policy. They drafted and proposed two bills to the National Assembly, which subsequently enacted them as laws. In passing the new legislation, the South Korean government vowed to eliminate prostitution as well as protect victims of exploitation and violence in the sex industry. However, the legislation fails to achieve these goals due to inherent inadequacies in the language and structure of the laws. This shortfall arises …

China's Practice Of Procuring Organs From Executed Prisoners: Human Rights Groups Must Narrowly Tailor Their Criticism And Endorse The Chinese Constitution To End Abuses, Joan E. Hemphill

Washington International Law Journal

For the past two decades, human rights groups, medical organizations, and the international media have excoriated China for procuring transplant organs from executed prisoners. This practice was first authorized under China’s 1984 “Temporary Rules Concerning the Utilization of Corpses or Organs from the Corpses of Executed Criminals” and it is widely used by the Chinese government. Reports from Chinese doctors and media sources reveal significant deficiencies both in the text and application of China’s current organ-procurement laws. The lack of clear legal parameters and the absence of enforcement measures have opened the door to problems of interpretation and misapplication, resulting …

When Are There More Laws? When Do They Matter? Using Game Theory To Compare Laws, Power Distribution, And Legal Environments In The United States And China, Ji Li

Washington International Law Journal

In several recent cases, the Supreme People’s Court of China ruled that local police owe a positive duty to protect individual members of the general public. In strong contrast, the United States Supreme Court declared in two police nonfeasance cases that such duty did not exist under the Federal Constitution. This is counterintuitive, because one would expect that in a liberal democracy where the judiciary is independent and powerful, judges would impose higher standard on local law enforcement officers. One possible explanation is that law does not matter in a developing country such as China, so laws are drafted and …

What Impact Will The Revised Trade Union Law Of China Have On Foreign Business?, Zana Z. Bugaighis

Washington International Law Journal

Cheap labor. Minimal regulations. Bribable officials. Foreign corporations attracted to China because of its low cost of business have avoided the unionization desired by the Chinese Communist Party (“CCP”) despite China’s history of weak trade union laws and inconsistent enforcement of union mandates. However, recent concerns of social unrest have forced the CCP to consider reforming the political tools used to control Chinese society. The CCP wants to create social stability, avoid independent unionization, and prevent the westernization of China. Foreign Investment Enterprises (“FIEs”) present new challenges for labor market regulation in China with their large number of non-unionized workers …

Conflict, Terrorism And The Media In Asia, Rebekah L. Bina

Federal Communications Law Journal

Book Review: Conflict, Terrorism and the Media in Asia (Benjamin Cole ed., RoutledgeCurzon 2006) [hereinafter Cole].

The fourth and latest release in a series of publications on the impact of media and changes in societal culture in Asia, this book provides a study of the subnational conflicts across Asia and the global "War on Terror." The authors examine the condition of free press, access to media, and diversity in news reporting to explore how media is used as a tool to facilitate ideological coalition, shelter populations, and maintain political stability.

Comparing Foreign Investment In China, Post-Wto Accession, With Foreign Investment In The United States, Post-9/11, Jordan Brandt

Washington International Law Journal

Ever since China instituted its “open-door policy” (gai ge kai fang) in 1978, the historically autarkic and largely mysterious country has morphed through external interactions with foreign countries and corporations into a hotbed for foreign investment activity. This foreign investment activity has forever changed China’s standing in the global community; today, China stands firm and elevated amongst the ranks of the globalized community as one of the leaders in attracting foreign investment. This article examines China’s rise as an economic power through the use of its foreign investment laws. It then compares the experience of China, a communist …

Daughters Of The Nile: The Evolution Of Feminism In Egypt, Mohamed Younis

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Terrorism And Trial By Jury: The Vices And Virtues Of British And American Criminal Law, Laura K. Donohue

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

British tradition and the American Constitution guarantee trial by jury for serious crime. But terrorism is not ordinary crime, and the presence of jurors may skew the manner in which terrorist trials unfold in at least three significant ways. First, organized terrorist groups may deliberately threaten jury members so the accused escapes penalty. The more ingrained the terrorist organization in the fabric of society, the greater the degree of social control exerted under the ongoing threat of violence. Second, terrorism, at heart a political challenge, may itself politicize a jury. Where nationalist conflict rages, as it does in Northern Ireland, …

Below The Surface: Comparing Legislative History Usage By The House Of Lords And The Supreme Court, James J. Brudney

ExpressO

Abstract for “Below the Surface: Comparing Legislative History Usage by the House of Lords and the Supreme Court

In 1992, the Law Lords (the judicial arm of the House of Lords) overruled more than two centuries of precedent when it decided in Pepper v. Hart that courts could refer to and rely on legislative history to aid in construing enacted laws. The ensuing fourteen years have witnessed a robust debate among British judges and legal scholars as to the scope and propriety of Pepper. This article offers the first empirical and comparative analysis of how Britain’s highest court has used …

The Effects Of Domestic Legal Institutions On International Trade Flows, Yu Wang

ExpressO

The effects of institutions on international trade relations are of theoretical and practical interest. By following the research perspective that interprets institutions as the “rules of the game”, I suggest and study three domestic legal institutions---tenure system for judges, precedent law, and judicial review that supposedly have significant effects on international trade flows. My empirical tests show that both precedent law and judicial review have independent effects on bilateral trade volume while the proposed independent effect of tenured judge is unsupported. Moreover, my empirical evidences suggest that precedent law introduces its effect in a monadic fashion while judicial review (measured …

Civil Liberties Advocacy Organizations In Canada: A Survey And Critique, Jeremy Patrick

ExpressO

Civil Liberties Advocacy Organizations in Canada: A Survey and Critique.” This article explores the structure and activities of modern civil liberties groups in Canada through a comparative look with the ACLU in the United States. The thesis of the article is that the Canadian model of having fragmented and isolated groups in some provinces is not as effective as the American model of having a single, national organization with affiliates in each state.

Interrogation Of Detainees: Extending A Hand Or A Boot?, Amos N. Guiora

ExpressO

The so called “war on terror” provides the Bush administration with a unique opportunity to both establish clear guidelines for the interrogation of detainees and to make a forceful statement about American values. How the government chooses to act can promote either an ethical commitment to the norms of civil society, or an attitude analogous to Toby Keith’s “American Way,” where Keith sings that “you’ll be sorry that you messed with the USofA, ‘Cuz we’ll put a boot in your ass, It’s the American Way.”

No aspect of the “war on terrorism” more clearly addresses this balance than coercive interrogation. …

Discrimination At Will: Job Security Protections And Equal Employment Opportunity In Conflict, Julie C. Suk

ExpressO

The conventional wisdom amongst scholars and advocates of employment discrimination law is that the success of Title VII is significantly hampered by the enduring doctrine of employment at will. As long as employers have broad discretion to fire employees for any reason, no reason, or a bad reason, employers can easily get away with terminating or refusing to promote racial minorities and women as long as some credible nondiscriminatory reason, such as personal animosity, can be presented. This account feeds the widely accepted view that employment at will and the goals of Title VII, namely equal employment opportunity, are at …

Controlling Family Shareholders In Developing Countries: Anchoring Relational Exchange, Ronald J. Gilson

ExpressO

The Law and Finance account of the ubiquity of controlling shareholders in developing markets is based on conditions in the capital market: poor shareholder protection law prevents controlling shareholders from parting with control out of fear of exploitation by a new controlling shareholder who acquires a controlling position in the market. This explanation, however, does not address why we observe any minority shareholders in such markets, or why controlling shareholders in developing markets are most often family-based. This paper looks at the impact of “bad law” on shareholder distribution in a very different way. Developing countries typically provide not only …

Triumph Or Tragedy? The Curious Path Of Corporate Disclosure Reform In The U.K., Cynthia A. Williams, John M. Conley

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

A Contextual Study Of Islamic Laws Of War: The Case Of Ibn Hazm, Nesrine Badawi

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

From Free Trade To Fair Trade: Reclaiming Special And Differential Treatment, Mahmoud Ahmed Sabry

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

War And Peace: The Changing Face Of Development Discourse, Ahmed Arif

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Yukos Risk: The Double Edged Sword, Joseph Tanega, Dmitry Gololobov

ExpressO

Abstract The article focuses on elucidating the meaning of Yukos risk mainly in terms of corporate bankruptcy litigation in multiple jurisdictions, including, the U.S., U.K., The Netherlands, and Russia. The emphasis is on understanding the various legal theories and the court decisions reached so far in this continuing legal saga.

International Law And Legitimacy And The Palestine Question, Rashid Khalidi

UC Law SF International Law Review

In this speech delivered at the Fourth Annual Rudolf B. Schlesinger Memorial Lecture on October 25, 2006, Rashid Khalidi discussed aspects of the history of how international law and the growing 20th century framework of international legitimacy emerging from the League of Nations and the United Nations have intersected with the issue of Palestine over the past century or so. Indeed, in some measure, the treatment of the Palestine issue by these two bodies has shown the limits of international law, and of an international order founded on it. In making policy on Palestine over most of the past century, …

Ireland Goes Bananas: Irish Insider Trading Law And Price-Sensitive Information After Fyffes V. Dcc, Jeremiah Burke

UC Law SF International Law Review

In Fyffes v. DCC, the Irish High Court ruled that James Flavin, a non-executive director of the banana distributer, Fyffes PLC, did not engage in insider trading. The case is Ireland's most significant ruling on insider trading because it clarifies the test, under Irish law, for determining whether information available to an insider is price-sensitive. A comparison of Irish and American securities law reveals that an American court may have viewed Flavin's dealings as insider trading because American courts focus on whether non-public information is material. While Fyffes was not a sympathetic plaintiff, the Irish statutory focus on price-sensitive information …