International Law Commons^™

Spotting Money Launderers: A Better Way To Fight Organized Crime?, Diane Marie Amann

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Money laundering investigations have been much in the news of late. There have been stories that Radil Salinas de Gortari laundered kickbacks from drug traffickers while his brother was President of Mexico. That Ferdinand Marcos stashed nearly half a billion dollars in Swiss banks while he ruled the Philippines. That two of Mexico's largest banks have pleaded guilty to laundering charges stemming from a controversial U.S. sting operation. That the former prime minister of Ukraine pleaded guilty to Swiss charges that he laundered $9 million in stolen funds, even as he faced U.S. charges of laundering $114 million. And, of …

The Role Of Dispute Settlement In World Trade Law: Some Lessons From The Kodak-Fuji Dispute, John Linarelli

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No abstract provided.

The Autumn Of The Patriarch: The Pinochet Extradition Debacle And Beyond- Human Rights Clauses Compared To Traditional Derivative Protections Such As Double Criminality, Christopher L. Blakesley

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This article will analyze human rights law to see whether it plays any role in the protection of the individual in the face of international extradition or other international cooperation in criminal matters. I will consider two approaches to extradition and human rights that seem to be vying for position in the world arena and the tension between them. The first is to apply the traditional statist exemptions to extradition, which sometimes have enabled a few human rights protections. This approach is based on the concept that states are the only subjects of international law. Thus, it is state's interests, …

Human Rights And Wrongs In Our Own Backyard: Incorporating International Human Rights Protections Under Domestic Civil Rights Law---A Case Study Of Women In The United States Prisons, Martin A. Geer

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An urgent human rights crisis at home is under close scrutiny by diverse groups including the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, the U.S. Department of Justice, and public interest lawyers. Within the context of a prison population explosion that dwarfs that of the rest of the world, the undeveloped status of international human rights in U.S. domestic jurisprudence becomes more evident. Within prison populations, increasing numbers of women’s lives are reduced to half-lives under the tortuous effects of sexual abuse by corrections officials. This dire situation presents the question: Can women prisoners continue to be denied the protections of international human …

Globalization Or Global Subordination? Latcrit Links The Global To The Local And The Local To Global, Sylvia R. Lazos

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Professor Lazos introduces the fifth and final cluster of this LatCrit IV Symposium, International Linkages and Domestic Engagement, which includes five important contributions to LatCrit IV's focus on global issues by Professors Timothy Canova, Gil Gott, Tayyab Mahmud, Ediberto Roman, and Chantal Thomas. The introduction below sketches out, by way of illustration only, how some of the work already presented in this symposium cultivates the linkage between local racial formation and global market dynamics. The introduction then explores LatCrit's contribution to the critique of globalism.

The Legitimacy Of International Governance: A Coming Challenge For International Environmental Law?, Daniel M. Bodansky

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This article is about a problem only just becoming visible: the legitimacy of international environmental law, and more specifically, the perception that the international environmental process is insufficiently democratic. Until now, international lawyers have tended to focus on what environmental standards are needed and how those standards can be made effective. But as decision-making authority gravitates from the national to the international level, the question of legitimacy will likely emerge from the shadows and become a central issue in international environmental law. This article seeks to clarify the nature of the legitimacy challenge and to survey possible sources of legitimacy …

The World’S Youngest Political Prisoner, Richard Klein

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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 …

Protocols For International Arbitrators Who Dare To Settle Cases, Harold Abramson

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The best time to settle an international business dispute can be after the international arbitration proceeding has been commenced. Just like in court litigation, parties may be ready to settle only after the adjudicatory process has begun and even has progressed. In court, judges commonly open the door to settlement; they hold settlement conferences and even actively participate in settlement negotiations. But arbitrators rarely open the door to settlement; when they do, they risk losing their jobs. So, what can international arbitrators safely do? What dare they do?

In this article, the author explores the dilemma presented when one neutral …

The Imposition Of The Death Penalty In The United States Of America: Does It Comply With International Norms?, Beverly Mcqueary Smith

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No abstract provided.

Association Of American Law Schools Panel On The International Criminal Court, Christopher L. Blakesley

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Professor Blakesley participates in this panel discussion on the International Criminal Court. The Association of American Law Schools sponsored the panel.

The Structure Of Blackstone's Commentaries, Alan Watson

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Duncan Kennedy's view of Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England as the first systematic attempt to present a theory of the whole common law system is interesting but wrong. Blackstone himself listed his predecessors, "those who have laboured in reducing our laws to a System": Glanville, Bracton, Britton, the author of Fleta, Fitzherbert, Brook, Lord Bacon, Sir Edward Coke, Dr. Cowell, Sir Henry Finch, Dr. Wood, Sir Matthew Hale. Certainly their arrangements are not free from defects. In particular, as Blackstone pointed out, the arrangement of Fitzherbert and Brook was alphabetical, and Bacon purposely avoided any regular …

Comparativist Ruminations From The Bayou On Child Custody Jurisdiction: The Uccja, The Pkpa, And The Hague Convention On Child Abduction, Christopher L. Blakesley

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Interstate and international jurisdictional problems are often vexing. They are worse in matters of child custody. In the past, jurisdiction to obtain custody or to modify a custody decree required only presence or domicile. The United States population is transient and custody decisions are subject to modification. The volatility of child custody disputes and the tendency of parents to move to different and separate jurisdictions traditionally caused and continue to cause difficult problems for children, parents, and the legal system. Before the promulgation of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA) and the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA), it was …

La Preuve Pénale Et Des Tests Génétiques: United States Report, Christopher L. Blakesley

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A major problem for those analyzing U.S. criminal law and procedure is that it does not fit the Continental or British mold. There is no one single system, but parallel federal and 50 state systems each with its own legislature, laws, courts (including trial, appellate, and supreme courts), police, prosecutors and prisons. The authorities who enact and implement these laws are sovereign within their respective jurisdictions. Each state has police power over its people. The 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution controls allocation of federal and state authority. It provides that whatever the Constitution has not designated as being within …

Foreigners In Their Own Land: Cultural Land And Transnational Corporations---Emergent International Rights And Wrongs, Martin A. Geer

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Unique and vital components of human culture and the environment are struggling for survival in the Amazon River basin. The rain forest of Amazonia is shared by indigenous peoples and an immensely diverse tropical flora and fauna. This unique culture and physical ecology, however, is threatened by transnational oil corporations which are irreparably devastating Amazonia and its native cultures through oil production activities.

The failure of public international law to address the post World War II emergence of transnational corporations (TNCs) as a major international force has been the subject of significant review by scholars and policy makers. TNCs, often …

Time To Try Mediation Of International Commercial Disputes, Harold Abramson

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No abstract provided.

Immigration Laws As Instruments Of Discrimination: Legislation Designed To Limit Chinese Immigration Into The United Kingdom, Richard Klein

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No abstract provided.

The Empire Strikes Back: Britain's Use Of The Law To Suppress Political Dissent In Hong Kong, Richard Klein

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This Article highlights historical events in Hong Kong under the British administration, and calls for a reconsideration of the widely-held view of approving of British rule. Among those instances highlighed by this Article include the British use of martial law, deportation, imprisonment, flogging and censorship to deal with those who dared criticize the governance of the colony.

Jurisdiction, Definition Of Crimes, And Triggering Mechanisms, Christopher L. Blakesley

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The opportunity to create an international court that provides fair, equitable, and efficient justice is rare and important. It requires expertise in comparative and international law. Problems are serious, however. Failure to address the formidable problems could cause the Court to run a risk of failure that could be disastrous for international law, for the victims of the horrors that have occurred and that will occur, and for the world. Failure could come in at least two forms: (1) the Court could merely be a conduit for retribution after a pro-forma kangaroo court or (2) it will not have sufficient …

The Tragedy Of Hong Kong, Richard Klein

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While the world watched the fireworks and celebrations occurring in Hong Kong on July 1, 1997, a far sadder event was, in fact, unfolding. The people of Hong Kong, most of whom had originally fled from China -- the country which was now taking over -- have simply never experienced the basic human right of self-determination. Rule was shifting from a colonial power which had denied the people of Hong Kong their basic human rights for virtually all of its 155-year administration, to a country which, immediately upon assuming sovereignty, made it clear that democracy would remain but a dream.

The Role Of The United Nations In The Maintenance Of Peace Before And After The Year Two Thousand, Gabriel M. Wilner

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This short description of some of the important ideas set forth in the various contributions to the Colloquium is meant to give the reader an idea of the broad spectrum of issues and problems with which the international community is confronted both in continuing to use the present structure and competence of the Security Council and in making reforms. While the General Assembly and other organs of the United Nations and of regional and national institutions are mentioned as useful in the struggle to maintain world peace, it is clear that the Security Council will continue to dominate the work …

The New Dimensions Of United Nations Peacemaking, Louis B. Sohn

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Since its beginning, mankind has alternated between periods of peace and war. The Twentieth Century was the first one in which attempts were made to outlaw war and to establish institutions which would protect the peoples of the world against war. After the carnage of the Second World War, the United Nations was established "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war," and the Security Council was given the "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security." The founders of the United Nations tried to ensure that the Council would have necessary means for discharging this responsibility, …

Peace-Building, John Linarelli

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No abstract provided.

Anglo-American Jurisprudence And Latin America, John Linarelli

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No abstract provided.

Terrorism And Hostages In International Law: A Commentary On The Hostages Convention 1979, Christopher L. Blakesley

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In this piece, Professor Blakesley reviews “Terrorism and Hostages in International Law: A Commentary on the Hostages Convention 1979” by Joseph J. Lambert.

Sources Of International Law, Louis B. Sohn

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To summarize, States can agree on international law begin made in any way they wish. Once they agree on a method, the matter is over. As I have pointed out, every few y ears we invent a new method; there is no end to ingenuity of human beings. by the year 2000, there might be one or two more methods. We are still applying the 19th century rule that international law is made by the community of states, but in every generation the community has been able to invent new methods for crystallizing international law. We finally have accepted the …

Reflections On Regional Human Rights Law, Gabriel M. Wilner

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The principal purpose of the Colloquium, as can be seen from the great attention given to the papers presented by the second panel, was to discuss the uses of customary international human rights law in the defense of human rights before national courts. More generally, these discussions focused on the effectiveness of customary international human rights rules in influencing legislative and policy-making, administrative decisions and, particularly, judicial adjudication, at international and national levels. The initial and wider question of the feasibility of using custom as a source of human rights rules formed the underlying aspects of the debates in the …

The European Bank For Reconstruction And Development: Legal And Policy Issues, John Linarelli

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No abstract provided.

Law And Racism In An Asian Setting: An Analysis Of The British Rule Of Hong Kong, Richard Klein

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No abstract provided.

An Examination Of The Proposed Crime Of Intervention In The Draft Code Of Crimes Against The Peace And Security Of Mankind, John Linarelli

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No abstract provided.

The Constitution Of Belarus: A Good First Step Towards The Rule Of Law, Gary M. Shaw

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No abstract provided.