Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

Federal Maritime Commission Sanctions On Japanese Carriers: A Call For Fairer Methods Of Resolving Disputes, Randy L. Baldemor

Washington International Law Journal

On February 26, 1997, the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission imposed sanctions upon Japanese shipping carriers for allegedly restrictive port practices that existed in Japan. The Federal Maritime Commission imposed the sanctions under Section 19 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920. Section 19 gives the Federal Maritime Commission authority to make rules and regulations where conditions unfavorable to shipping in the foreign trade exist. However, the Japanese Government does not control the port practices in Japan. The Japan Harbor Transportation Authority, a private conglomeration of labor unions, shippers, and other shipping entities in Japan, regulates port practices through collective-bargaining negotiations. …

The "Comfort Women" Case: Judgment Of April 27, 1998, Shimonoseki Branch, Yamaguchi Prefectural Court, Japan, Taihei Okada

Washington International Law Journal

This court hereby issues the following judgment on the Plaintiffs' claim for an official apology and compensation for "Comfort Women and female Teishintai forced laborers from the city of Pusan, and an official apology and compensation for all female Teishintai forced laborers and "Comfort Women," based on proceedings in this court concluding September 29, 1997.

Communities Take Control Of Crime: Incorporating The Conference Model Into The United States Juvenile Justice System, Amanda L. Paye

Washington International Law Journal

Juvenile crime is one of the preeminent concerns of many Western societies today, yet the current retributive styles of justice that purport to "get tough" on youth crime have not been effective. In defiance of the "get tough" rhetoric, and despite the lack of meaningful legislative recognition, communities are adjudicating juvenile cases through alternative programs based on the Restorative Justice theory. Because of the promising effects of Restorative Justice on youth crime, New Zealand and Australia have taken the bold step of restructuring their juvenile justice systems via landmark legislation that incorporates an innovative "conferencing" model. The model is a …

Attorney Fee Arrangements: The U.S. And Western Perspectives, Virginia G. Maurer, Robert E. Thomas, Pamela A. Debooth

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This article develops an analytical framework for viewing the rules on attorney fee arrangements that have been adopted in the United States and in major western European countries. In section II the paper explains the choice of economic agency theory as a starting point for developing this framework. Within the meaning of economic agency, the attorney is a dual agent, with duties to both the client and the judicial system. In section III the paper identifies five interests that form the basis for evaluating fee systems. These interests are derived from applying basic agency theory to the duties of the …

New Transfer Pricing Rules In Brazil, Alexandre Tadeu Seguim

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Through transfer price, the organization aims to evaluate and improve the performance of the related entity. The idea that transfer pricing is a mechanism designed only to avoid taxes is misleading. Actually, to transfer price is a sound and positive way to increase value. The 1979 OECD Report on Transfer Pricing and Multinational Enterprises emphasized that the term is neutral: "the consideration of transfer pricing problems should not be confused with the consideration of problems of tax fraud or tax avoidance, even though transfer pricing policies may be used for such purposes." The 1995 OECD Report went even further by …

Renegotiating Previous Governments' Privatization Deals: The 1997 U.K. Windfall Tax On Utilities And International Law, Thomas W. Waelde, Abba Kolo

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Investment in privatized utilities leads to a very particular form of political risk--the risk that regulatory conditions change and special taxes are imposed, all measures within the sovereign powers of the state. The normal forms of protection against political risk (investment insurance, stabilization clauses, international investment treaties and international arbitration clauses) have not yet caught up with the emergence of new forms of political risk. The 1997 UK windfall tax announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in that year's budget speech is a case in point. This issue is not limited purely to the contemporary UK situation, but illustrates …

Commentary On A Victory For "Comfort Women": Japan's Judicual Recognition Of Military Sexual Slavery, Etsuro Tutsuka

Washington International Law Journal

Despite international condemnation, Japan has done little to recognize its responsibility for forcing over 200,000 "Comfort Women" into sexual slavery for the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War. However, in a landmark April 1998 decision, a Japanese court ordered Japan to compensate three Korean "Comfort Women." This was the first time that a Japanese court found in favor of foreign plaintiffs in a postwar compensation case. The court held members of the Diet negligent under the State Liability Act for failing to enact a compensation law for the "Comfort Women." Although the judgment will almost certainly be overturned, …

Towards A Market Economy: Security Devices For China, Guanghua Yu

Washington International Law Journal

From 1949 to 1978, China's economy was centrally directed under a very rigid system of state planning. Under the planning system, security devices were not widely used. The government drew specific plans for enterprises and the Ministry of Finance used banks to allocate the funds to enterprises or projects. The banks, however, did not have to screen projects and monitor the use of funds after disbursements. They merely distributed the money to enterprises and collected the profits. Recognizing the shortcomings of central planning based almost exclusively on public ownership over the means of production, China embarked on an economic reform …

Isla Journal Of International And Comparative Law, Ilsa Journal Of International & Comparative Law

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

Both Israel and the United States are multi-ethnic societies with a large percentage of linguistic minorities.

International Control Of Biological Weapons, Scott Keefer

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union and resulting decline in fear of nuclear war, attention has shifted to other threats that remained in the background during the superpower confrontation.

Intellectual Property And Antitrust: A Comparison Of Evolution In The European Union And United States, Sara M. Biggers, Richard A. Mann, Barry S. Roberts

UC Law SF International Law Review

Transactions involving the transfer of intellectual property rights give rise to antitrust issues, potentially implicating the involvement of the enforcement bodies of the European Union (EU) and United States. While changing market dynamics resulting from innovation and globalization impact antitrust enforcement, the movement toward "decentralization" of antitrust enforcement represents yet another trend that causes uncertainty in both the EU and U.S. antitrust policies. In this context, one of the most notable aspects of evolving antitrust policy is that of cooperation between the enforcement agencies in the EU and the United States.

This Article explores the key legislative and policy developments …

The Extraterritorial Reach Of The U.S. Government's Campaign Against International Bribery, H. Lowell Brown

UC Law SF International Law Review

Recent initiatives by the Securities Exchange Commission, acting under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and by the Organization of American States and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development have highlighted efforts to "level the playing field" of international commerce through the prohibition of government bribery. For U.S. companies, these developments are generally positive. However, foreign entities in which U.S. companies have an interest may now find themselves subject to criminal and civil liability for commercial practices which were formerly beyond the reach of the FCPA and tolerated in their own countries. Accordingly, for U.S. companies doing business internationally …

The International Monetary Fund: Is It The Right Or Wrong Prescription For Korea, Ellen J. Shin

UC Law SF International Law Review

Since emerging as a war torn country in 1953, Korea has become a major economic contender in the international market. By 1997, Korea had achieved success as the world's eleventh largest economy. That success was cut short by the "Asian financial crisis" of late 1997, which greatly affected the Korean economy. Caused by the unraveling of the diversified, family-owned conglomerates known as chaebol, which collapsed under billions of dollars in bank loans, Korea sought to restore its economic ascendancy with an IMF bailout. The resulting IMF austerity program has received much criticism, focused primarily on the fact that the traditional …

The Quest For Justice And Reconciliation: The International Criminal Tribunal For Rwanda And The Ethiopian High Court, Yacob Haile-Mariam

UC Law SF International Law Review

About fifty years have gone by since international humanitarian law was first applied to the proseculion and punishment of war criminals. Just a few years ago, the international humanitarian law most law students learned about was couched within public international law, often studied without any serious intention of ever applying it. Recent prosecutions of war criminals in former Yugoslavia, the presence of genocide suspects in Rwanda and the impending establishment of the Permanent International Criminal Tribunal by the United Nations have revived interest in international humanitarian law, with particular interest in genocide and crimes against humanity.

This article compares the …

The Common Law In South Africa: Pro Apartheid Or Pro Democracy, Jeremy Sarkin

UC Law SF International Law Review

The role of the common law in South Africa has been controversial. Some argue that South Africa's common law, inherited from Roman-Dutch and English law, has a problematic colonial tradition that has done little to protect justice and equality. Others argue that if not for parliamentary security legislation, South Africa's common law could have protected rights and freedoms.

This article examines several apartheid-era cases in which the common law protection of individual rights was at stake to determine whether the common law was human rights friendly, or if it was compatible with the constitutional dispensation of human rights abuses. It …

The Effect Of International Court Of Justice Decisions On Municipal Courts In The United States: Breard V. Greene, Sanja Djajic

UC Law SF International Law Review

The relationship between international and municipal law is complex and continually developing. One way to analyze this issue is to observe the interaction between domestic courts and the International Court of Justice. These two types of courts may entertain identical claims.

This article analyzes whether there is any correlation between the two types of courts, and the character of this correlation if there is one. Through an examination of Breard v. Greene, this article will examine the attitudes of United States courts toward the enforceability and the legally binding character of International Court of Justice decisions. This article will also …

The Joint-Stock Cooperative Enterprise: A New Independent Legal Entity In China, Minkang Gu

UC Law SF International Law Review

The joint stock cooperative enterprise (JSCE) is a new form of enterprise organization in China that is particularly well suited to Chinese ideological and economic characteristics. The JSCE utilizes certain features of a shareholding system, which can be independent from the government and have clearly defined property and ownership rights-basic elements routinely assumed in the corporate law of western countries, but still new in a country constitutionally committed to Marxist-Leninist principles.

This article introduces the concept and legal nature of the JSCE. It analyzes the concept of a legal person and the distinctions between the JSCE and other business forms, …

Minority Protections And Bilateral Agreements: An Effective Mechanism, Elizabeth F. Defeis

UC Law SF International Law Review

Following the breakup of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, attention focused on developing international norms, agreements and regimes for effective minority protection. Under the auspices of United Nations and regional organizations, multilateral and bilateral treaties and declarations have been adopted. These documents recognize that diverse initiatives are necessary to reduce ethnic conflict and encourage States to implement appropriate initiatives. Reliance upon bilateral agreements is particularly encouraged in those situations involving protection of minorities in a situation where ethnic minorities reside in States adjacent to or near their country of nationality as a result of change of boarders or the …

With A Broad Brush: The Federal Regulation Of Sanctions Against Burma (Myanmar), James Finch, David Schmahmann, Particia Bailey

UC Law SF International Law Review

On April 21, 1998, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department issued regulations to implement the Executive Order that applied sanctions against Myanmar. With certain exceptions, the Regulations prohibit new investment by U.S. individuals or companies in Myanmar. This Essay explains and analyzes the reach of the Regulations and their potential ramifications.

Global Trade And The New Millennium: Defining The Scope Of Intellectual Property Protection Of Plant Genetic Resources And Traditional Knowledge In India, Meetali Jain

UC Law SF International Law Review

As a signatory to the global Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights treaty (TRIPS), India is obligated to develop national legislation that conforms to the international standards of intellectual property rights protection by January 1, 2000. India now faces the option of either acceding to the requirements of TRIPS or accepting various penalties, including sanctions, from the international community.

This Note focuses on the protection of one type of property, namely plant genetic resources. The case of India provides fertile ground for an examination of the clash between notions of global intellectual property rights and notions of national and local sovereignty over …

Case Update: German Compuserve Director Acquitted On Appeal, Lothar Determann

UC Law SF International Law Review

This update to an earlier article by Dr. Determann reviews the recent acquittal of Felix Somm. The article discusses the case against the backdrop of German internet law. This update also discusses a new European Community directive aimed at regulating electronic commerce.

Disabled Meanings: A Comparison Of The Definitions Of Disability In The British Disability Discrimination Act Of 1995 And The Americans With Disabilities Act Of 1990, Nick Wenbourne

UC Law SF International Law Review

The British Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) marks an important turning point in the history of disability civil rights in Great Britain. The DDA was the first legislation in Europe to specifically acknowledge that disabled people suffer from discrimination in a number of fields and public services including employment, education and transportation. However, people across the political spectrum have criticized the DDA.

This note compares the DDA with its United States counterpart, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which is widely regarded as the most comprehensive and radical legislation of its kind in the world. This note pays particular attention to …

Revaluing Restitution: From The Talmud To Postsocialism, Michael A. Heller, Christopher Serkin

Reviews

Whatever happened to the study of restitution? Once a core private law subject along with property, torts, and contracts, restitution has receded from American legal scholarship. Few law professors teach the material, fewer still write in the area, and no one even agrees what the field comprises anymore. Hanoch Dagan's Unjust Enrichment: A Study of Private Law and Public Values threatens to reverse the tide and make restitution interesting again. The book takes commonplace words such as "value" and "gain" and shows how they embody a society's underlying normative principles. Variations across cultures in the law of unjust enrichment reflect …

Convergence And Competition: The Case Of Bank Regulation In Britain And The United States, Heidi Mandanis Schooner, Michael Taylor

Scholarly Articles

Our article considers whether the existence of a global banking market has resulted in the convergence of bank supervisory policy among different nationally-based regulatory regimes. In particular, we consider whether regulatory authorities in the United States and Great Britain, as providers of regulatory services, compete on the basis of the "net regulatory benefit" (NRB) that they provide to their respective regulatees, i.e., banks. After a detailed examination of the history of bank regulation in the US and UK, we observe that there is no clear trend towards convergence by competition. We find that, while regulatory competition may play an important …

The World’S Youngest Political Prisoner, Richard Klein

Scholarly Works

Every participant at an international human rights conference in June 1998 received a small pamphlet published by Tibetan supporters of Tibetan Buddhism's highest-ranking figure, the Dalai Lama. Entitled "The World's Youngest Political Prisoner," the pamphlet makes a plea for support for a young boy, now nine years old, who the Chinese government has allegedly kidnapped and detained. The Dalai Lama, who has been living in exile for forty years, claims the boy is the eleventh reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second holiest individual in Tibetan Buddhism. This battle over the identification of the reincarnation of a holy man is …

International Law's Contributions To Peace, 32 J. Marshall L. Rev. 319 (1999), Barry E. Carter

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Review Of Basic Concepts Of Criminal Law By George P. Fletcher, Stephen M. Zaloom

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Morality Of Insider Trading In The United States And Abroad, Ramzi Nasser

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Personal Property Secured Financing System Of Venezuela: A Comparative Study And The Case For Harmonization, Horacio E. Gutiérrez-Machado

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

2001: A Global Odyssey Prompted By The Merritt-Cihon Upper Level Curriculum Report Of The Aals, Kenneth M. Casebeer

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.