International Law Commons^™

The Law Of The Commons: A Framework For The Efficient And Equitable Use Of The Lagrange Points, Lawrence D. Roberts

Connecticut Journal of International Law

Poets are fond of speaking of outer space as infinite. Having a diameter of billions of light years, the vastness of the universe might just as well be described as infinite. As a practical matter, however, space is finite. That portion of the universe which can be touched by mankind given current technological prowess is comparatively minuscule; encompassing (if one is charitable) only our own solar system. Given the limits imposed by the current state of technology and economic realities, the resources of outer space should be construed as exhaustible, and the acts of one spacefaring nation can and often …

Policing The World: The Long Reach Of U.S. Law And The Short Arm Of The Constitution, Mark Gibney

Connecticut Journal of International Law

One of the most noteworthy and troubling aspects of this nation's latest "war on drugs" 1 is how far it has gone in erasing the distinction between what is considered domestic and what is considered international, and also the distinction between law enforcement, on the one hand, and military or national security affairs on the other. In simpler times, we had domestic law enforcement agents who, among other things, sought to prosecute those who violated criminal laws-local, state and federal-related to the use, transportation and manufacturing of controlled substances.' Not only were the officials responsible for ferreting out drug violations …

It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Jus Cogins!, Anthony D'Amato

Connecticut Journal of International Law

If an International Oscar were awarded for the category of Best Norm, the winner by acclamation would surely be jus cogens. Who has not succumbed to its rhetorical power? Who can resist the attraction of a supernorm against which all ordinary norms of international law are mere 97-pound weaklings?

To be sure, a critic may object that jus cogens has no substantive content; it is merely an insubstantial image of a norm, lacking flesh and blood. Yet lack of content is far from disabling for a protean supernorm. Indeed, the sheer ephemerality of jus cogens is an asset, enabling any …

Undoing And Redoing Business In South Africa: The Lifting Of The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act Of 1986 And The Continuing Validity Of State And Local Anti-Apartheid Legislation, Lynn Berat

Connecticut Journal of International Law

Foreign investment, direct and indirect, has been of great importance to the South African economy. After World War II, South Africa's cheap labor system attracted billions of dollars in direct foreign investment.' Although the apartheid system of cheap labor was largely responsible for the favorable investment climate,2 the United States government adopted a neutral policy on South African investment by United States companies.' Even the Carter Administration with its foreign policy emphasis on North/South and human rights issues reiterated this position stressing that "[t]he Government should therefore normally avoid measures which would give special incentives or disincentives to investment flows …

Recent Developments Affecting The International Legal Rights Of Asylum-Seekers In Switzerland: An Overview And Critique, Henry A.J. Ramos

Connecticut Journal of International Law

International observers are typically inclined to think of Switzerland as a leader among nations in the humanitarian field. Underscoring this tendency is a sense of appreciation for that country's historical role in developing the International Committee of the Red Cross,1 its multilingual, multi-cultural traditions,2 and its status as a base of United Nations organizational activity.3 Over the past decade, however, Switzerland's actions in the political asylum domain have seriously undermined its continuing claims to global humanitarian leadership. During this period, as Switzerland has experienced a dramatic increase in the number of asylum status applicants seeking protection in its territory,4 Swiss …

Book Review: Human Rights In Iraq, Wadi Z. Haddad

Connecticut Journal of International Law

HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAQ. By Middle East Watch. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1990. Pp. 164.

Trade Adjustment Assistance: An Analysis, Mary Anne Joseph

Connecticut Journal of International Law

International trade is regulated and protected by laws promulgated by individual nations and by international law produced under the ongoing General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade1 [hereinafter GATT]. This comment will address a specific United States program, trade adjustment assistance, which attempts to protect United States industries from harm caused by increased foreign imports.

The trade adjustment assistance program will be initially introduced within the framework of the GATT provision allowing such protection. The comment will then briefly review the history of United States escape clause relief provisions. It will examine the adjustment assistance program, including the program's goals, the …

Old Bonds And New Law: Misunderstanding Sovereign Immunity In The Chinese Railroad Case, Thomas J. Pax

Connecticut Journal of International Law

On March 9, 1987, the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari in Jackson v. People's Republic of China,1 bringing an end to a case that had a very unusual factual and procedural history.2 The original district court ruling in the case did not apply the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act [hereinafter FSIA] retroactively. 3 Jackson demonstrates the implications of immunity when it is found to apply, as well as when it is not found to apply. The case is a study in the operation of sovereign immunity in the United States and its effect on a foreign sovereign.

In order to …

A Genocide Convention Action Against The Khmer Rouge: Preventing A Resurgence Of The Killing Fields, Kathryn Railsback

Connecticut Journal of International Law

In recent years, a small number of lawmakers, scholars, and human rights activists3 have advocated bringing an action against Cambodia's Khmer Rouge under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, commonly known as the Genocide Convention.4 Although the Khmer Rouge's three-and-one-half year reign ended more than a decade ago, attempts to focus international attention on that regime's atrocities have been impeded by political, and, to a lesser extent, legal concerns.

This article will examine the potential efficacy of a Genocide Convention action against the Khmer Rouge. Part I discusses relevant Convention provisions. Part II describes …

Resolving Extraterritoriality Conflicts In Antitrust: Two Case Studies And Proposals Of Solution, Michael Tepass

Connecticut Journal of International Law

International trade and investment have significantly expanded since World War II and economic conduct increasingly shows international patterns. Similarly, the need for governmental regulation of economic behavior has increased. As a result of both developments, governments have applied their national laws to economic conduct occurring outside of their borders in a vast variety of economic regulation.' These jurisdictional claims by nation states often create conflicts with the laws and policies of a foreign nation which are commonly described as "extraterritoriality conflicts."

No field of economic regulation has raised more severe conflicts than the application of national antitrust laws to international …

A Comparative Study Of The Law Relating To The Physician's Duty To Obtain The Patient's "Informed Consent" To Medical Treatment In England And California, Adrian B. Churchward

Connecticut Journal of International Law

Most civilised societies acknowledge a medical patient's fundamental right to elect whether or not to consent to a particular course of therapeutic treatment.1 In recent years in the United States,2 and to a lesser extent in England and the British Commonwealth 3 a number of actions have been brought by patients seeking to recover from physicians compensation for injuries resulting solely from the manifestation of risks inherent in the course of undergoing therapeutic medical treatment. These actions have been founded on the ground that the physician did not adequately inform the patient of the existence of such inherent risks, in …

American Citizens As Second Class Employees: The Permissible Discrimination, Madalene C. Amendola

Connecticut Journal of International Law

The United States emerged from World War II as the world's dominant economic power. In this period of dominance, the United States entered into a series of treaties, which it initiated "in support of American citizens and their assets abroad."' Then almost twenty years after the United States embarked upon its treaty program, Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964, whose centerpiece, Title VII [hereinafter Title VII], prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of race, sex, religion, and national origin.' There is nothing in the legislative history of Title VII to indicate that Congress considered the effect of …

American Annexation Of Hawaii: An Example Of The Unequal Treaty Doctrine, Bradford W. Morse, Kazi A. Hamid

Connecticut Journal of International Law

It hardly requires stating that human society is still suffering from the consequences of colonial rule throughout which more powerful nations dominated weaker ones with an intention to either rule temporarily or permanently. Political domination is not the only element that is prevalent in colonization; it often also involves the imposition of social values and thoughts on the colonized people.

Historical experience generally reveals that this form of colonization has occurred primarily either in the name of trade (e.g., the British experience in North America or the Indian sub-continent, the latter of which was initially started between the Emperor of …

The Interpretation Of International Maritime Conventions In United States Law, Mark Weston Janis

Faculty Articles and Papers

In the United States, the interpretation of international maritime conventions is carried out within the general context of U.S. constitutional law. The Constitution's Article 11(2) provides that the President of the United States is granted the Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur. Article 111(2) extends the judicial power of the United States to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority. Article VI(2) instructs that the …

Insulting The Soviet President And Other Political Crimes In Mikhail Gorbachev's "Rule Of Law" State, Leonard Orland

Connecticut Journal of International Law

In early 1989, the Soviet Union employed police and military force to suppress violent political unrest in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. In further response to the unrest, the presidium of the Supreme Soviet, chaired by Mikhail Gorbachev, on April 8, 1989, enacted a harsh new political crimes decree (which appears as Appendix A to this essay). The April 8 decree raised the possibility of yet another wave of criminal prosecution of Soviet political dissidents because of new provisions which made it a crime to "insult or disparage" the Soviet state.

However, rapidly emerging political reform in the ensuing months not …

Towards Economic Equality For Women: Britain's Equal Pay Legislation As The Model For Lesson And Reform, Mildred Catherine Didio

Connecticut Journal of International Law

Economic equality for women requires many components.' A significant component is equal pay for women in the workforce. Britain's accession into the European Economic Community ("EEC") has made the component of equal pay, as well as the goal of economic equality, more obtainable. The EEC, in the interest of promoting economic integration in Europe, 2 has issued numerous directives 3 which have expressly or impliedly influenced women's participation in the workforce.

Specifically, Directive 75/117/EEC5 requires all member states, including Britain, to adopt a new standard to measure the enforcement of the right to equal pay. This standard is called "equal …

German Report, Axel Flessner

Connecticut Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Swiss Report, Gabriel Aubert

Connecticut Journal of International Law

Essentially, the applicable Swiss rules regarding workers' rights when firms become insolvent may be found in the following sources:

1. Procedure in the case of insolvency:, Federal Law on the Prosecution for Debts and Bankruptcy [LP] from April 1 1th, 1889; The Special Case of the Insolvency of the Limited-Liability Company; Article 725 of the Code of Liability [CO], terms according to the revision of December 18th, 1936;

2. Reorganization of the firm: Article 333 of the Code of Liability [CO], terms according to the revision of June 25th, 1971; ad hoc provisions of certain collective work clauses;

3. Protection …

Hungarian Report, Attila Harmathy

Connecticut Journal of International Law

For many years, insolvency and bankruptcy were not subjects for discussion in socialist countries such as Hungary. In the last few years, however, the situation has slowly changed. Now unemployment, the protection of workers, and the liquidation of enterprises are subjects often discussed. Neither the liquidation of state enterprises nor the abandonment of the principle of full employment is an easily accepted development since each amounts to a fundamental change in political and economic thinking. It is uncertain whether the present position will last, but for the time being the effect of both old and new factors can be observed. …

Symposium On The Protection Of Workers' Rights In The Event Of Insolvency And Business Reorganization: Introduction, Werner Lorenz

Connecticut Journal of International Law

We are delighted to have the 1988 Colloquium of the International Association of Legal Science in the Finnish capital, the beautiful town of Helsinki. The Association is very grateful to the Finnish National Committee and its Board for having invited us here. The annual colloquia of the International Association of Legal Science have covered a wide range of subjects, and it is fair to say that all of them dealt with problems which, in their time, were both of theoretical and of practical interest. And there can be no doubt that this holds true also for our present subject iere …

Insolvency Law Reforms: A Response To The Economics Of The 1980s, Brian W. Napier

Connecticut Journal of International Law

National Reports reveal that the law concerned with insolvency and the protection of workers' rights is currently at a dynamic stage. In most developed western nations, the experience of recent years shows that major reform of insolvency law has recently been achieved (for example, in France, Hungary, and United Kingdom), is currently under way (Federal Republic of Germany), or exists as an item on the political agenda for consideration in the near future (U.S.A).

As a preliminary question, why should this be the common experience of so many countries? The answer may be that the last two decades have witnessed …

Finnish Report, Juha Hayha

Connecticut Journal of International Law

When an employer's insolvency threatens the interests of the employee, the employee's most important interests include: job preservation, payment of outstanding salary, and the right to participate in decision-making concerning the job. The normative question in this situation is how these interests are protected by law.

The following is a survey of the manner in which current Finnish legislation protects employees' interests. Recent reforms in Finnish labor legislation have partially improved the position of the worker in Finnish society.' These improvements provide a basis for an analysis of the protection of the employees' interests when the employer becomes insolvent. Additionally, …

United Kingdom Report, Brian W. Napier

Connecticut Journal of International Law

The sources, language and practice of insolvency law in the United Kingdom are distinct among England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The main statutory reformulation of the law, however, which dates from the Insolvency Act, 1986,1 extends to both England and Scotland. The focus of this paper will be the nature of insolvency under English law.

The 1986 Act was in part inspired by the recommendations of a committee of inquiry appointed by the government: the Insolvency Law and Practice Committee (the Cork Committee, 1982, Cmnd. 8558) investigated the law and practice of insolvency over a five-year period. Although many of …

French Report, Jean-Claude Javillier

Connecticut Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Yugoslavian Report, Vlajko Brajic

Connecticut Journal of International Law

The right to work, and thus the protection of employment, is a basic principle of the Constitution in the SFR of Yugoslavia. The relevant provisions are found in Article 159 of the Constitution of the .SFRY.1 This Article states that "a worker may be dismissed from his job against his will only under conditions and in a way specified by statute." The Federal Associated Labor Act' regulates cases as well as conditions of termination of employment. Both the republic and provincial acts in the sphere of labor relations contain provisions, consistent with the provisions of the Associated Labor Act, regulating …

United States Report, Phillip I. Blumberg

Connecticut Journal of International Law

This paper reviews the American experience with respect to the rights of workers affected by such major employment developments as bankruptcy, sale or merger, enterprise or plant closings, relocations and mass layoffs. The labor movement in the United States has made only limited progress toward protecting workers and their employment rights in the event of such major developments in the workplace. Regarding solvency concerns, employee protection-where it exists at all-is found almost entirely in union representation and union collective bargaining agreements rather than in statutory or administrative regulation. Even in these limited cases, protection is spotty. First, only a minority …

An Ignored Source Of Chinese Law: The Gazette Of The Supreme People's Court, Lie Nanping

Connecticut Journal of International Law

"The Supreme People's Court, which has for the past 35 years issued its decisions through restricted channels, is casting off its veil of secrecy."' The above statement about the publication of Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo Zuigao Renmin Fayuan Gongbao, the Gazette of the Supreme People's Court of the Peoples Republic of China (the "Gazette") appeared on the front page of China Daily on May 26, 1985.1 For a long time, many Western observers have criticized the Chinese courts for their failure to publish the laws on which they relied in their decision-making process. Accordingly, these observers concluded that China was a …

Chapter 19 Of The Canada - United States Free Trade Agreement: An Unconstitutional Preclusion Of Article Iii Review, Karen Hannaway Albright

Connecticut Journal of International Law

On January 1, 1989 the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement' (FTA) went into effect, thereby. integrating the United States and Canada into one single economic market of 265 million people. The agreement will create the world's largest free trade area, affecting trade of approximately $125 billion.

An integral part of the FTA is its provision for settlement of disputes between the two countries. Although Canada and the United States share the largest undefended border in the world, the two countries are not without their squabbles, particularly in the realm of trade." The dispute settlement mechanism was incorporated into chapter 19 …

Connecticut Developments, Brendan T. Flynn

Connecticut Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Judicial Remedies In International Law, Mark Weston Janis

Connecticut Journal of International Law

JUDICIAL REMEDIES IN INTERNATIONAL LAW. By Christine D. Gray. Oxford Monographs in International Law. General Editor: Ian Brownlie. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987. Pp. xx, 250. $59.00.