International Law Commons^™

Dialogues Of Transitional Justice: Keynote Speech, Ruti Teitel

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Why The United States Cannot Agree To Disagree On Blasphemy Laws, Evelyn Aswad, Rashad Hussain, M. Suleman

Faculty Articles

At the Boston University International Law Journal's symposium "Realigning Western Policy and International Law after the Arab Spring," held on March 25, 2013, Professor Aswad gave the keynote address, where she described the extensive U.S. diplomatic efforts to promote the broadest possible protections for freedoms of expression and religion, even when it comes to speech that is considered blasphemous. A symposium participant asked why the United States cannot just agree to disagree with Muslim-majority countries on the treatment of blasphemy given the religious sensibilities in those countries and the number of other pressing equities the United States has pending with …

The Limits Of Legality: Assessing Recent International Interventions In Civil Conflicts In The Middle-East, Feisal Amin Istrabadi

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Turnaround: Reflections On The Present Day Influence Of Negotiations On International Bankruptcy At The Fifth Session Of The Hague Conference On Private International Law In 1925, Susan Block-Lieb

Faculty Scholarship

In 1925, the British government sent a delegation to the Fifth Session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. The Hague Conference had met sporadically since 1893,1 but this was the first time the British government sent a delegation to The Hague to discuss the possibility of a diplomatic convention to reach international agreement on uniform rules on what continental Europeans called “private international law” — matters of jurisdiction, applicable law and procedure. The British delegation held limited authority from the Home Office: it could participate only in deliberations on a possible convention on bankruptcy law, and then only …

Moral Touchstone, Not General Deterrence: The Role Of International Criminal Justice In Fostering Compliance With International Humanitarian Law, Chris Jenks

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This article contends that international criminal justice provides minimal general deterrence of future violations of international humanitarian law (IHL). Arguments that international courts and tribunals deter future violations – and that such deterrence is a primary objective – assume an internally inconsistent burden that the processes cannot bear, in essence setting international criminal justice up for failure. Moreover, the inherently limited number of proceedings, the length of time required, the dense opinions generated, the relatively light sentences and the robust confinement conditions all erode whatever limited general deterrence international criminal justice might otherwise provide. Bluntly stated, thousands of pages of …

After Partition: The Perils Of South Sudan, Mario Silva

University of Baltimore Journal of International Law

The partition of South Sudan from the largest country on the African continent – Sudan, took place on July 9, 2011.1 The northern portion retained the name Sudan while the newly formed southern state would be known as South Sudan. South Sudan became the newest member of the United Nations (UN) with comparatively little infrastructure and limited arrangements for shared sovereignty by the international community. The partition process was undertaken with oversight from the United Nations and the African Union. It was rather idealistically considered a prelude to an enduring peace within this traditionally troubled African region. The former unitary …

Interim Measures In Inter-State Proceedings Before The European Court Of Human Rights: Ukraine V. Russia, Stefan Kirchner

University of Baltimore Journal of International Law

Over the course of the year 2014, the situation in Ukraine has turned from a domestic political issue involving protests, killings, and the ouster of the former president, into a military confrontation with Russia. At the time of writing (August 2014), Russia has annexed Crimea and is supporting separatists, who are in a state of civil war against the Ukrainian state, in Eastern parts of the country. This conflict is ongoing and an unknown number of civilians have been killed, notably the passengers of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which is thought to have been shot down over the conflict …

Keynote: Sustaining Society In The Anthropocene Epoch, Nicholas A. Robinson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This paper explores the argument that human transformation of Earth's systems is eclipsing the international law-making of nation states. Globally the processes of trade law or environmental law often progress transnationally, with little direction by national governments. Intergovernmental and non-governmental international organizations act with autonomy, apart from nations. To be clear, nation states still are the major players in world order, but trends of sustainable development or social networked communications transcend individual nations. Whether viewed as environmental law or sustainability law, this body of law exists at once globally and locally; it is different in kind from the Westphalia legacy …

Military Justice As Justice: Fitting Confrontation Clause Jurisprudence Into Military Commissions, Christina Frohock

Articles

The Guantánamo prosecution of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged mastermind behind the deadly USS Cole bombing, highlights an unresolved issue in military commissions: whether the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution applies to bar hearsay statements of unavailable witnesses. While al-Nashiri's counsel recently moved for the military judge to take judicial notice that the Confrontation Clause applies, it is worth considering that the question may be framed differently. Rather than ask whether the Confrontation Clause applies in a military commission, we may ask whether a "testimonial statement" - the only kind of hearsay evidence that triggers the …

The Law Of War And The Responsibility To Protect Civilians: A Reinterpretation, Thomas H. Lee

Faculty Scholarship

Two seemingly unrelated crises implicating the law of war and the responsibility to protect civilians have arisen in recent years. In 2013, the United States considered military intervention without United Nations (“U.N.”) Security Council preapproval in Syria after discovering that the government had exterminated its own people with chemical agents. In 2014, Russia sent troops into Crimea, a part of Ukraine, to protect ethnic Russians that Russia claimed were in danger after a political coup in the country. In both cases, the military acts contemplated or undertaken were of dubious legality, albeit under different rubrics. This Article aims to show …

Humanitarian Intervention: Evolving Norms, Fragmenting Consensus (Remarks), Rosa Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Traditionally, the evolution of customary international law was understood as a gradual process: in some idealized model, we might see first a few states, and then a few more, implicitly agreeing to follow a practice, and then we would gradually begin to see additional states doing the same thing. We would also gradually accumulate evidence that these various states are acting in such a way because they consider themselves legally bound to do so. Then, over time, we’ll see more and more states following suit both in word and deed, until at some point we can say with a great …

Cross-Border Targeted Killings: "Lawful But Awful"?, Rosa Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Since September 11, the United States has waged two very open wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. These two wars have killed nearly 7,000 U.S. military personnel and left some 50,000 American troops wounded; they have also left an unknown number of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers and civilians dead or wounded. But alongside these two costly and visible wars, the United States has also been waging what amounts to a third war.

This third war is a secret war, waged mostly by drone strikes, though it has also involved a smaller number of special operations raids. The author calls this third …

The Trickle-Down War, Rosa Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The history of the European nation-state, wrote political sociologist Charles Tilly, is inextricably bound up with the history of warfare. To oversimplify Tilly’s nuanced and complex arguments, the story goes something like this: As power-holders (originally bandits and local strongmen) sought to expand their power, they needed capital to pay for weapons, soldiers and supplies. The need for capital and new recruits drove the creation of taxation systems and census mechanisms, and the need for more effective systems of taxation and recruitment necessitated better roads, better communications and better record keeping. This in turn enabled the creation of larger and …

Whose Trojan Horse? The Dynamics Of Resistance Against Ifrs, Martin Gelter, Zehra Kavame Eroglu

Faculty Scholarship

The introduction of International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) has been debated in the United States since at least the accounting scandals of the early 2000s. While publicly traded firms around the world are increasingly switching to IFRS, often because they are required to do so by law or by their stock exchange, the Securities Exchange Com-mission (“SEC”) seems to have become more reticent in recent years. Only foreign issuers have been permitted to use IFRS in the United States since 2007. By contrast, the EU has mandated the use of IFRS in the consolidated financial statements of publicly traded firms …

The Janus Moon Rising - Why 2014 Heralds United States' Detention Policy On A Collision Course...With Itself, Chris Jenks

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

2014 will serve as a test of the United States’ claims that its detention policy is consistent with the law of armed conflict (LOAC). If, as President Obama has repeatedly stated, U.S. involvement in the armed conflict in Afghanistan will end this year, then any LOAC based detention of belligerents linked solely to that conflict ends as well. That should mean the release or transfer of members of the Taliban currently detained at Guantanamo. It won’t.

War Is Governance: Explaining The Logic Of The Laws Of War From A Principal-Agent Perspective, Eyal Benvenisti, Amichai Cohen

Michigan Law Review

What is the purpose of the international law on armed conflict, and why would opponents bent on destroying each other’s capabilities commit to and obey rules designed to limit their choice of targets, weapons, and tactics? Traditionally, answers to this question have been offered on the one hand by moralists who regard the law as being inspired by morality and on the other by realists who explain this branch of law on the basis of reciprocity. Neither side’s answers withstand close scrutiny. In this Article, we develop an alternative explanation that is based on the principal–agent model of domestic governance. …

The Connected Lawyer: The Evolving "Operating System" Of The Networked Professional, Patrick C. Brayer

Fordham International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Civilians And Armed Conflict, Rosa Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

We tend to view concern with the protection of civilians as a relatively recent development within the Security Council: a product of the late 20th century genocides and ethnic cleansing campaigns in Rwanda and the Balkans. But while it is indeed true that the Council’s first thematic resolution directly addressing “protection of civilians” was not passed until 1999—and also true, unfortunately, that Security Council civilian protection efforts have yet to move beyond the sporadic and inconsistent—the Council has always concerned itself with civilian protection. Indeed, the history of the Security Council itself (as well as the history of the United …

Things We Do With Presumptions: Reflections On Kiobel V. Royal Dutch Petroleum, Carlos Manuel Vázquez

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The author argues in part I that the presumption should be regarded as categorically inapplicable to statutes conferring jurisdiction on the federal courts. He argues further that the majority opinion in Kiobel supports the conclusion that the presumption is inapplicable to such statutes. It is clear from the Court’s opinion that it was not applying the presumption to determine the geographical scope of the ATS qua jurisdictional statute. It was instead applying the presumption to determine the geographical scope of the federal common law cause of action it had recognized in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain.

Even when the presumption against …

Using International Law In Somalia’S Post- Conflict Reconstruction, Chiara Giorgetti

Law Faculty Publications

For the first time since 1991, Somalia has an internationally- recognized government. Established in August 2012, the Somali Federal Government (SFG) has been officially recognized by many nations and international organizations. The process of bringing Somalia fully back into the international community, however, remains long and complex. This Article argues that, in order to be successful, Somalia’s reconstruction must include a robust international law component. By mandating frameworks for action and establishing best practices, international law should guide and strengthen reconstruction efforts.

Cultural Determinants Of Workplace Arbitration In The U.S. And Italy, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

Although Italy and the United States are both advanced industrial economies, the law and practice of workplace arbitration differs significantly in the two countries. This Article explores those variations and analyzes the reasons lbr the divergent evolution of arbitration. The Article concludes that histon'cal and cultural differences in legal systems and labor and employment relations are explanatory forces. While the United States could provide a more balanced system of arbitration by learning from the Italian systems greater protection of workers, given the current reality neither system seems likely to undergo significant change in the near fiiture.

The Arbitral Tribunal: Selection And Replacement Of Arbitrators, Chiara Giorgetti

Law Faculty Publications

The great majority of international investment arbitrations are decided by a three-member arbitral panel, where each party selects one arbitrator, and the presiding arbitrator is selected either by agreement of the parties, the party-appointed arbitrators, or, more often, by a neutral appointing authority. Their selection is not only a characteristic feature of international investment arbitration, but also one of the most important and delicate acts taken by the parties during the proceedings. Indeed, as frequent arbitrator Professor William W. Park noted, while “in real estate the three key elements are ‘location, location, location,’ . . . in arbitration the applicable …

The Successes And Challenges For The European Court, Seen From The Outside, Laurence R. Helfer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Federalism, Treaty Implementation, And Political Process: Bond V. United States, Curtis A. Bradley

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

From Contract To Legislation: The Logic Of Modern International Lawmaking, Timothy Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

The future of international lawmaking is in peril. Both trade and climate negotiations have failed to produce a multilateral agreement since the mid-1990s, while the U.N. Security Council has been unable to comprehensively respond to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. In response to multilateralism's retreat, many prominent commentators have called for international institutions to be given the power to bind holdout states-often rising or reluctant powers such as China and the United States-without their consent. In short, these proposals envision international law traveling the road taken by federal systems such as the United States and the European Union: from contractual …

Non-State Law In The Hague Principles On Choice Of Law In International Contracts, Ralf Michaels

Faculty Scholarship

Article 3 of the Hague Principles on Choice of Law in International Contracts is the first quasi-legislative text on choice of law to allow explicitly for the choice of non-state law also before state courts. This paper, forthcoming in a Festschrift, puts the provision into a broader context, discusses their drafting history and particular issues involved in their interpretation. It also provides a critical evaluation. Article 3 does not respond to an existing need, and its formulation, the fruit of a compromise between supporters and opponents of choosing non-state law, makes the provision unsuccessful for state courts and arbitrators alike.

The Unidroit Principles As Global Background Law, Ralf Michaels

Faculty Scholarship

After twenty years of existence, it becomes apparent that the role actually played by the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC) is quite different from the one originally intended. This article first presents nine surprising findings concerning the actual use of the PICC, as it can be assessed on the basis of published opinions, legislation, and scholarship. It then uses these findings to suggest that the PICC should not be viewed as a code or even a non-state law. Instead, their nature is that of a Restatement of global general contract law, and their function is that of a …

The Domestic And International Enforcement Of The Oecd Anti-Bribery Convention, Rachel Brewster

Faculty Scholarship

International corruption law is a growing, if understudied, area of international economic law. This Article examines two aspects of governments' enforcement of the OECD's Anti-Bribery Convention. The first aspect is the member state's efforts to enforce its own national legislation prohibiting foreign corruption within its territory and with regards to its nationals doing business abroad. The OECD Treaty's obligation concerning member states' enforcement of their own national legislation is somewhat ambiguous. While the obligation to pass particular national legislation is quite clear and specific, the treaty does not specify what resources that a state must dedicate to internally enforcing these …

A State Preferences Account Of Customary International Law Adjudication, Curtis A. Bradley

Faculty Scholarship

The standard account today of customary international law (CIL) is that it arises from the widespread and consistent practice of states followed out of a sense of legal obligation. Although commonly recited, this account is plagued by evidentiary, normative, and conceptual difficulties, and it has been subjected to increasing criticism in recent years. This paper posits a different account of CIL, considered from the perspective of international adjudication. A fundamental problem with much of the theorizing about CIL, the paper contends, is that it fails to identify which decisionmaker it has in mind. Instead, the discussion proceeds as if CIL …

Comments On The September 29, 2014 Fsb Consultative Document, ‘Cross-Border Recognition Of Resolution Action’, Steven L. Schwarcz, Mark Jewett, Bruce Leonard, Catherine Walsh, David Kempthorne

Faculty Scholarship

This CIGI Paper No. 51 was released on December 3, 2014 by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) as a response to the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) Consultative Document, “Cross-Border Recognition of Resolution Action.” Principally authored by CIGI Senior Fellow Steven L. Schwarcz (who works with the think tank’s International Law Research Program), the Paper comments on the policy measures proposed by the FSB, an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system, to address the cross-border legal uncertainties of troubled systemically important financial firms. In that context, the Paper explains why a statutory approach …