Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

International Law’S Forgotten Refugees—Palestinian Refugees In Egypt

Seattle University Law Review

This Article examines the legal and humanitarian crisis facing Palestinian refugees who have fled to Egypt amidst the ongoing violence in Gaza. While escaping active conflict, these refugees face systemic barriers to employment and education, rendering their living conditions precarious and unsustainable. The unique legal status of Palestinian refugees stems from the fact that they have been excluded from the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, leaving them without any meaningful international protection. This exclusion is rooted in the political complexities of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and reflects a fragmented legal framework that prioritizes limited humanitarian aid over …

Patents In Paradise: The Evolution Of Patent Law In The Cayman Islands, Andrew W. Torrance, Andrew P. Morriss, Lisa C. Friedman

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

This study examines the Cayman Islands’ unique position in the global intellectual property (IP) landscape, contrasting its success as an exporter of financial and legal services with the inherently domestic nature of patent protection. We hypothesize that due to this limitation, the Cayman Islands functions as a strategic, cost-effective jurisdiction for augmenting patent protection initially obtained elsewhere. Our research provides the first comprehensive analysis of Caymanian patents, and through a quantitative examination of patent family data—including filing trends, economic valuation, geographic distribution, and assignee profiles—we find strong empirical evidence to support this thesis.
Our findings reveal a disproportionate presence of …

Leveraging Intellectual Property For Development: Insights From South Korea For Developing Countries, Gracie Alinafe Chimvula

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

Out From The Shadows: Party Documents In Chinese Courts, Benjamin L. Liebman, Eva Gao, Xiaohan Wu, Rachel E. Stern, Margaret Roberts

Faculty Scholarship

The Communist Party’s influence over the Chinese legal system is generally assumed to be behind the scenes, largely invisible to outside observers. Since General Secretary Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, there has been renewed attention within and outside of China to the relationship between the Communist Party and the legal system. Much of this recent writing has emphasized the degree to which Xi’s efforts to affirm Party superiority and break down barriers between the Party and the State reflects a profound shift in governance and a reversal of a decades-long effort to distinguish between Party roles and those …

Redefining Law In China, Zeming Liu, Benjamin L. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

Although there is a growing body of literature on the role of law under authoritarian regimes, scholars have paid little attention to authoritarian legal ideology or conceptions of legality in contemporary authoritarian states. This Article presents the first in-depth study of the Chinese Communist Party’s recent novel attempt to introduce and implement an official legal ideology under the banner of “Xi Jinping’s Thought on the Rule of Law,” one which aims both to create a definitive theory of law and to offer a guide to China’s legal development. We examine four principal components of this legal ideology: the theoretical definition …

Climate Litigation Report 2025 — Climate Change In The Courtroom: Trends, Impacts And Emerging Lessons, Maria Antonia Tigre, Margaret Barry

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The Climate Litigation Report 2025 updates previous United Nations Environment Programme reports published in 2017, 2020, and 2023. It provides judges, lawyers, advocates, policy makers, researchers, environmental defenders (including child and women defenders), NGOs, businesses, and the international community with an essential resource to understand the current state of global climate litigation. The report includes descriptions of the key trends in climate litigation and the most important issues that courts have faced in the course of climate change cases.

The Special International Peace Zone: From History, Through Practice, Toward An End To Armed Conflict In Ukraine, Tom W. Bell

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

This paper presents the special international peace zone as both an observed and ideal institution. Such a zone quells military conflict in an area over which sovereigns make conflicting territorial claims. It operates through an interim administration, governed by its own rules, independent of any single sovereign. Past examples include the Free City of Danzig (1920-39), the Free Territory of Trieste (1947-54), and United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (1999-2008). Despite proven successes, these zones have suffered from an undue reliance on multi-national organizations—first the League of Nations and now the United Nations. Warring sovereigns seldom agree about the …

Whose Truth Commission, Lehlohonolo January

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

It is often said that the victor always dictates the narrative and thus dictates how history is represented. The end of Apartheid in South Africa wasn’t a result of an outright victorious defeat of the Apartheid State together with its institutions of coercion but rather came about as a result of a culmination of a series of events. If this adage holds true, then why is it that the narrative seems to paint a picture of a victor’s perspective? This assertion is not made lightly but is no less reflective of how the facts seem to portray themselves in that …

Legitimacy Throughlines In The Structural Design Of International & "Internationalized" Criminal Tribunals, Michael J. Kelly

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

Today, the rather surprising and sudden surfeit of prosecutions for international crimes by states utilizing universal jurisdiction as we open the second decade of the 21^st Century may represent a preference for domestic over international criminal prosecution altogether. Yet, the legitimacy quotient remains a key part of the discussion. For example, as discussed in section V below, with respect to the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine, opinion is divided as to whether prosecution for this crime should proceed from a newly created international tribunal or from an “internationalized” court within the Ukrainian judicial system.[1] Ukraine backs the …

Beautiful Means For Nefarious Ends, Eric Wahoff

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

This note will attempt to address the laws of art dealers and banks in a way that draws parallels with the past struggles of banks and today’s struggle in the art world to keep bad actors out. It will begin with surveying how art is currently used as a tool of criminals and the current regulatory regimes in the EU, New York, and California – the states with the most art brokers.Then the note will analyze relevant laws from the US banking industry. Finally, the note will discuss ways that banking laws that have been used to address money -laundering …

Volume 15, Issue 1 - Full Issue, Notre Dame Journal Of International & Comparative Law Volume 15

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The "Not Seen" Effect Of International Financial Centers: Innovation In The Global Financial Ecosystem, Charlotte Ku, Andrew P. Morriss

Faculty Scholarship

International Financial Centers (IFCs) are hubs of legal and financial innovation, developing specialized frameworks that facilitate cross-border investment, enhance global capital mobility, and support economic growth. Through jurisdictional competition, professional clustering, and adaptive regulatory frameworks, IFCs have pioneered legal structures that enable enterprises of all sizes to participate in the global economy. Using case studies of the International Business Company, the Limited Liability Company, the Protected Cell Company, and advances in trust law and applying the theoretical frameworks of social scientist Richard Florida and psychologist Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, this Article illustrates how IFCs serve as laboratories for financial experimentation, generating widely …

Mapping State Reactions To The Icc Arrest Warrants For Netanyahu And Gallant, Rebecca Ingber

Online Publications

On Thursday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it had issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav Gallant, the former defense minister, in connection with alleged crimes committed in the ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Hamas. In doing so, the Court rejected as premature Israel’s challenge to the Court’s jurisdiction. The Court’s decision to issue a warrant for the sitting Prime Minister of a state, which is notably not a party to the Rome Statute, also demonstrates the Court’s embrace of its prior controversial decision on immunity, namely that customary international law does …

Louboutin Lawfare: Exploring Conceptions Of Sanctions' Utility Through Export Controls On Luxury Goods, Vinita R. Singh

Northwestern University Law Review

There is widespread consensus amongst scholars that sanctions—the deliberate withdrawal of customary trade and financial relations—do not work. Despite this perception, states are deploying sanctions at an increasing rate. This Article explains this paradox by arguing the predominant notion of sanctions’ utility employed by scholars is unduly constrained, narrowly focusing on the ability of such measures to modify the behavior of sanctioned parties while disregarding the alternative benefits this instrument can deliver. To support this argument, this Article uses export controls on luxury goods deployed in connection with the Russo–Ukraine War as a case study. Under prevailing perceptions of sanctions’ …

For Whom Is International Law?, E. Tendayi Achiume

American University International Law Review

Grotius Lecturer E. Tendayi Achiume and Distinguished Discussant Jamil Dakwar provided the Twenty-Seventh Annual Grotius Lecture on Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.

Confronting The War On International Law In The United States, Rebecca Ingber

Online Publications

Harold Hongju Koh’s The National Security Constitution in the 21st Century is a code red threat assessment of the state of public law in America today. True to Koh’s nature, he does not leave us without hope; rather he devotes a sizeable portion of the book to calls for reform, from the legal frameworks governing war powers and intelligence to the division of labor in the national security legal bureaucracy plodding away within the deepest (secure) chambers of the executive branch itself.

The Oberlin Saga: Integrating North America’S Pipeline System And Potential Impacts On Hydrogen, Samuel Stephens

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

This Article explores how the D.C. Circuit’s decision in City of Oberlin, Ohio v. FERC (2022) (Oberlin II) will impact future natural gas pipelines and potentially even future hydrogen infrastructure. While the decision reinforced support for integrating North American natural gas infrastructure, given uncertainties in how the United States will regulate the emerging hydrogen industry, there is a chance that the decision could be more expansive than what initially meets the eye. By continuing down the path of supporting North American energy integration, Congress, federal courts, and administrative agencies will help prepare the United States for an uncertain energy future. …

Walking The Tightrope: Protecting Research From Foreign Exploitation While Fostering Relationships With Foreign Scientists, C. John Cox

SLU Law Journal Online

In response to extensive foreign efforts to take advantage of U.S. scientific research, especially by the People’s Republic of China, the United States has taken steps to protect its scientific and technology efforts. Although steps to prevent foreign government exploitation of U.S. research are reasonable and justified, the United States should be cognizant of these actions' impact on collaboration with foreign scientists. It is in the interest of the United States to effect policy that fosters relationships with foreign scientists rather than push them away.

Imf Human Rights Accountability: A Pragmatic Way To Break The Deadlock, Aldo Caliari

Perspectives

In the three decades since the 1993 establishment of the World Bank Inspection Panel, almost all development finance institutions (DFIs) have established analogous panels, ombudsperson offices or other independent accountability mechanisms (IAMs) to allow people who believe they have been harmed by the DFI’s activities to directly trigger processes of fact-finding, dispute resolution, and, if applicable, redress. The primary exception has been the International Monetary Fund.

A Dam Over Troubled Waters? The Obligation To Negotiate In Good Faith In Annex "C" Of The Treaty Of Itaipu, Rene Figueredo Corrales

American University International Law Review

The year 2023 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty of Itaipú (“the Treaty”). According to paragraph VI of the Treaty, its provisions are to be reviewed after fifty years have elapsed from the date the Treaty entered into force. In October 2021, João Francisco Ferreira, the former Brazilian representative of the Itaipú binational entity, stated in a press conference what seemed to be a new interpretation of the review provision contained in Annex “C” of the Treaty of Itaipú. He noted that there is no obligation to negotiate Annex “C” if an agreement is …

Slavery Still Exists And May Have Produced Your Hairdryer, Katherine Pratty

American University International Law Review

In 2020, the International Labour Organization (“ILO”) estimated that forced labor generated $51 billion USD. Many profiteers are not individual bad actors, but rather, corporations. Recently it came to light that one corporate profiteer is the multinational technology manufacturing company, creator of the most awarded hair care device in 2021: Dyson Limited. While Dyson has received praise for its products, Malaysia charged Dyson’s main production factory, ATA IMS, with labor law violations. Shortly thereafter, in February 2022, UK law firm Leigh Day publicly announced its suit against Dyson on behalf of the workers in Dyson’s Malaysia factory.

This Comment analyzes …

The Validity Of Trade Restrictions On Artificial Intelligence Technology Under The General Agreement On Tariffs And Trade's National Security Exception, Isabelle Brundieck

American University International Law Review

This Comment argues that the U.S. restrictions on the export of semiconductors and other AI technology to China do not violate the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994). Instead, such measures are legitimate expressions under GATT 1994’s Article XXI national security exception, which allows a country to break other articles within the agreement if necessary to protect the country’s essential national security interests. Given the national security risks associated with the rise of AI technology and the likelihood that such technology will be supplied to a military enterprise, the current trade restrictions qualify for the exception. However, …

Global Antitrust From The Global South: A Comparative Law Void, Dina I. Waked

FIU Law Review

This paper discusses the attempts at creating an international antitrust regime from the perspective of the Global South. Today’s diffused competition laws, have arguably muted calls for an international antitrust regime. Given this diffusion, a global regime has indeed emerged. Within such a system, differentiated and selective antitrust enforcements are proposed as ways to achieve national public interest goals.

The "Human Face" Of Sea Level Rise: Protection Of Persons Affected, Patricia Galvao Teles

American University International Law Review

Thank you so much, Professor Grossman. I will not take time from my presentation to do a long thank you or introduction, but I really wanted to thank you warmly, Claudio, for putting together these two days of conversation so that we can connect with the Americas and also have your contributions and your experiences to our work, which you, Claudio, have committed to and are delivering on your promise to help us to navigate through what is going on in the Americas concerning sea-level rise. This is very important because, as it was mentioned, the Commission works based on …

"Use And Improve" Is My Accountability Mantra, Despite 30 Years Of Eye-Opening Disappointments, Natalie Bridgeman Fields

Perspectives

This essay finds justification for championing the continued existence, functioning and evolution of Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs). An inside assessment of the thirty-year functioning of IAMs reveals that inadequate power and independence are severely hampering IAM efforts to hold actors accountable for harm. Simultaneously, IAMs can’t make progress without the underlying financial institutions reforming their incentive structures to reward harm prevention and remedy. Despite decades of systemic failure to deliver accountability, when exceptions happen, they are worth it and can be spectacular. With an influx of new climate-related funding expected at the financial institutions, exceptions need to become the rule. …

Ftas' Contribution Towards A More Flexible Copyright Space: Possibilities And Limits, Maria Vasquez Callo-Muller

American University International Law Review

Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have often been considered instruments for heightened intellectual property rights protection, thereby in detriment of a more flexible copyright space. However, since the adoption of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, some FTAs have been incorporating a clause on the “Balance in Copyright and Related Rights Systems.” Among these, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and, more recently, the 2021 Australia-U.K. FTA contain such a clause. In addition, more discrete FTAs, such as the AustraliaPeru FTA, also incorporate similar provisions. This article considers what incorporating such clauses in FTAs means for the interpretation of …

Discussant Commentary On The Twenty-Fourth Annual Grotius Lecture, Karima Bennoune

American University International Law Review

I express my sincere thanks to the American Society of International Law and the International Legal Studies Program at American University Washington College of Law for the invitation to be this year’s commentator. It is indeed an honor to respond to Judge Charlesworth’s erudite Grotius Lecture: “The Art of International Law.”

Sea Level Rise And Maritime Delimitation In The Eastern Caribbean: A Comparative Approach, Rosemarie Cadogan

American University International Law Review

Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Let me just start by thanking the organizers today for having me on the program, and I want to extend to everyone my gratitude for having me here today. I am going to look at, as the title suggests, sea level rise and maritime delimitation in the Eastern Caribbean, and I am going to take a comparative approach as I compare it with the Pacific–South Pacific region. I am going to take it that all protocols have been observed, and, in the interest of time, I will go straight through to my presentation with the one …

Latin America's Contribution To The Normative Discussion Around Rising Sea Levels: Incorporating The Principles Of Uti Possidetis And Solidarity, Wagner Menezes

American University International Law Review

Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, good morning. Initially, I would like to give thanks for the kind invitation made by Professor Claudio Grossman and now members of the committee to participate in this special conference on sea level rise and International Law’s impact on the Americas, which has set up an ahead of time debate due to the effects that are being experienced by the entire international community.

Ambulatory Versus Fixed Baselines Under The Law Of The Sea In The Context Of Rising Sea Levels, Sean Murphy

American University International Law Review

It is a great pleasure to be here, especially with such an esteemed group of participants. My thanks to all the co-sponsors for the invitation to participate in this event; I am very happy to contribute to the conversation.

When “diving” into consideration of sea-level rise issues, one finds various “pools” of international law that are perfectly suited for answering some of the issues we are addressing. For example, Professor Galvão Teles spoke about the protection of persons in the event of sea-level rise. There are, of course, various aspects of human rights law and international law relating to disasters …