International Law Commons^™

Smedley V. Smedley, 772 F.3d 184 (4th Cir. 2014). The Effect Of International Comity On The Hague Convention, Mary R. Pritchard

South Carolina Journal of International Law and Business

No abstract provided.

China After The Reform Era, Carl F. Minzner

Faculty Scholarship

China’s reform era is ending. Core factors that characterized it – political stability, ideological openness, and rapid economic growth – are unraveling. In part, this is the result of Beijing’s steadfast refusal to contemplate fundamental political reform. Since the early 1990s, this has fueled the rise of entrenched interests within the Communist Party itself. It has also contributed to the systematic underdevelopment of institutions of governance among state and society at large. Now, to address looming problems confronting the nation, Chinese leaders are progressively cannibalizing institutional norms and practices that have formed the bedrock of the regime's stability in the …

Are We Serious About Performers' Rights?, Mary Lafrance

Scholarly Works

Do performers have rights in the expressive works they help to create? Historically, the rights of performers have received far less attention that the rights of traditional authors. The law has been reluctant to recognize performers as authors and, to the extent that performers’ rights are recognized, they are secondary to, and more limited than, the rights of traditional authors. Recent developments, however, have brought performers’ intellectual property rights to the forefront. For a number of reasons, performers in the United States have increasingly begun to assert authorship rights in the works they help to create. In addition, recent international …

Non-State Armed Groups And The Role Of Transnational Criminal Law During Armed Conflict, Christopher L. Blakesley, Dan E. Stigall

Scholarly Works

With the ascendance of the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the international community has struggled to adapt to the new international security context. Among the challenges that are currently being confronted are questions relating to how states may effectively facilitate international cooperation to counter ISIS (especially among countries in the Middle East and North Africa). Within this context, guidance from the United Nations on international cooperation posits that “[t]he universal counter-terrorism conventions and protocols do not apply in situations of armed conflict” – a legal position that would serve to stymie important cooperative …

Advancing National Intellectual Property Policies In A Transnational Context, Marketa Trimble

Scholarly Works

The increasing frequency with which activities involving intellectual property (“IP”) cross national borders now warrants a clear definition of the territorial reach of national IP laws so that parties engaging in the activities can operate with sufficient notice of the laws applicable to their activities. Legislators, however, have not devoted adequate attention to the territorial delineation of IP law; in fact, legislators rarely draft IP statutes with any consideration of cross-border scenarios, and with few exceptions IP laws are designed with only single-country scenarios in mind. Delineating the reach of national IP laws is actually a complex matter because the …

Proceedings Of The Ninth International Humanitarian Law Dialogs, International Criminal Law: Year In Review 2014–2015, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

This publication is based on Professor Drumbl's remarks on September 1, 2015, at the Ninth International Humanitarian Law Dialogs held in Chautauqua, New York.

What I do not want to do is review and repeat what has already been said about the international arena. I thought what I would do is boil it down to a couple observations that I have about the activities at the international institutions over the past year, and discuss four elements that have emerged.

One is transition. What I mean by this is that the work of a number of the international institutions is winding …

2014 State Legislative Review, Aaron C. Johnson

Animal Law Review

Several state legislatures addressed animal welfare issues in 2014. A young fifth-grader, motivated by a documentary, inspired her community and state legislature to attempt to pass legislation protect­ing orcas. Two states decided to blaze a new trail when they deter­mined that the federal government was not going far enough to stop the ivory and rhino horn trade. The battle between freedom of speech and property rights reared its ugly head as several states took on the polemical issue of 'ag-gag.' Lastly, we witnessed breed-specific legisla­tion become illegal in three more states, with science trumping the availability heuristic.

Book Review: Robert Kolb, The International Court Of Justice, Chiara Giorgetti

Law Faculty Publications

Robert Kolb's The International Court of Justice is a monumental tribute to the enormous historical and legal contributions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and its predecessor. the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), as well as an excellent resource about the complex procedural provisions of both institutions. Kolb, a professor of public international law at the University of Geneva, wrote the original version in French (La Cour internntionale de justice (published by Pedone in 2013)), and he slightly updated it for the English version reviewed here. Alan Perry, solicitor of The Senior Courts of England and Wales, translated …

The Challenge And Recusal Of Judges Of The International Court Of Justice, Chiara Giorgetti

Law Faculty Publications

The rules and mechanisms to challenge and recuse a judge of the International Court of Justice ("ICJ") are unique and pertain to the control mechanisms proper to permanent international dispute resolution bodies, characterized by a plurality of representative, elected judges. Indeed, the Statute of the ICJ ("Statute") provides a series of control mechanisms aimed at ensuring the independence and impartiality of its judges. The drafters of the Statute adopted a multi-tiered approach, relying first on self-control of each judge, and then envisaging a subsidiary control role for the President and the Court as a whole. Third-party requests for recusals are …

Nuclear Arms Control By A Pen And A Phone: Effectuating The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Without Ratification, David A. Koplow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article examines three crucial national security problems concerning the testing and proliferation of nuclear weapons, and offers three novel solutions. The three urgent problems are: (1) the fact that the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the most important multilateral nuclear arms control agreement of the past forty years, may never enter into force; (2) the fact that without CTBT, the global non-Proliferation regime is in trouble, too, as the fragile consensus underpinning the world's efforts to restrict the spread of nuclear weapons threatens to unravel; and (3) the fact that the United States is peculiarly disabled, due to …

The New Refugees And The Old Treaty: Persecutors And Persecuted In The Twenty-First Century, Andrew I. Schoenholtz

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

When the fledgling U.N. negotiated a treat to protect refugees after the Second World War, member states focused on Europe as well as on events causing forced migration that occurred prior to 1951. No one imagined that cross-border escape from persecution would become a global phenomenon and remain one more than sixty years later, or that this human rights treaty would be needed in the twenty-first century. In fact, as increased numbers of asylum seekers from developing countries reached the most developed regions of the world during the last thirty years, critics have questioned the merits of this treaty and …

Human Rights Thinking And The Laws Of War, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In a significant early case, the ICTY commented: “The essence of the whole corpus of international humanitarian law as well as human rights law lies in the protection of the human dignity of every person…. The general principle of respect for human dignity is . . . the very raison d'être of international humanitarian law and human rights law.”

Is it true that international humanitarian law and international human rights law share the same “essence,” and that essence is the general principle of respect for human dignity? Is it true that, in the words of Charles Beitz, humanitarian law is …

The Role Of Naval Power In The Development Of Customary International Law, John J. Chung

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Dangers Of Children's Rights' Discourse In The Political Arena: The Issue Of Religious Male Circumcision As A Test Case, Rhona Schuz

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The ever increasing use of children's rights discourse in national, regional and international political institutions can perhaps be seen as a sign of the success of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ("CRC'), and of the internalization of the concept that children are independent rights holders, the ideological basis of the doctrine of children's rights. Nevertheless, there is evidence that some advocates of children's rights in the political arena are taking an over-simplistic, uni-dimensional approach to children's rights which results in misrepresentation of the true interests of children. This risk is well illustrated by the recent …

Reproductive Justice, Public Policy, And Abortion On The Basis Of Fetal Impairment: Lessons From International Human Rights Law And The Potential Impact Of The Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities, Carole J. Petersen

Journal of Law and Health

This article argues that we should consider not only American constitutional law but also comparative law and emerging international human rights norms, in order to navigate the difficult issue of abortion on the basis of fetal impairment. The United States is a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)13 and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). It is also a signatory (but not a full State Party) to several other relevant treaties, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the …

Free Trade Agreements And The Lacey Act: A Carrot And Stick Approach To Prevent And Deter Trade In Iuu Fisheries, Ginna Arevalo

Florida A & M University Law Review

The U.S. is the world’s largest importer of seafood, importing virtually every fish sold in the U.S. market. Trade statistics do not break down the percentage of imported wild harvested fish, but a recent study estimated that twenty to thirty-two percent are caught illegally. Trade in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fisheries undermines efforts to conserve fish stocks, generates global annual losses of up to twenty-three billion dollars, and weakens economic opportunity for U.S. fishermen. Part I of this paper explains the role of different actors in the trade of duty-free IUU fish and how IUU catches may enter the …

Explaining Inhumanity: The Use Of Crime-Definition Experts At International Criminal Courts, Caroline Davidson

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

International criminal courts must not only decide the guilt or innocence of defendants in immensely serious cases, but also make good law in the process. To help them do so, these courts have turned to experts. This Article identifies a type of expert witness that, thus far, has escaped scholarly attention: the crime-definition expert. Crime-definition experts have provided expert reports and testimony to international criminal courts on the meaning of the very crimes with which defendants are charged, including genocide, forced marriage, and recruitment and use of child soldiers. This Article critically evaluates the risks associated with using crime-definition experts …

Attribution Of Conduct And Liability Issues Arising From International Disaster Relief Missions: Theoretical And Pragmatic Approaches To Guaranteeing Accountability, Giulio Bartolini

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article analyzes legal issues related to harmful activities of international disaster relief personnel, focusing on two distinct issues. On the one hand, the analysis centers on internationally wrongful acts carried out by relief personnel and uncertainties related to the attribution of conduct, due to the array of actors involved in such missions. Such an examination will be carried out through the lens of draft articles adopted by the International Law Commission on the responsibility of states and international organizations where some non-exhaustive references are made to such scenarios. On the other hand, the Article focuses on liability issues that …

The Panopticon Of International Law: B’Tselem’S Camera Project And The Enforcement Of International Law In A Transnational Society, Pini Pavel Miretski, Sascha-Dominik Vladimir Oliver Bachmann

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This paper analyzes the influence of transnational non-state actors on compliance with international legal rules as part of Michel Foucault’s power/knowledge structure. In particular, it examines the effects of the Shooting Back project, organized by the Israeli non-governmental organization B’Tselem, on the level of investigations of alleged violations of the law of occupation. In 2007, B’Tselem supplied Palestinians living in high-conflict areas with video cameras in order to capture, expose, and “seek redress for” human rights violations in the Occupied Territories. According to Jeremy Bentham’s principles of panopticism, power should be visible and unverifiable. The implementation of these principles by …

Report Of The Special Rapporteur On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples On The Situation Of Indigenous Peoples In The United States Of America, S. James Anaya

Publications

No abstract provided.

Report Of The Special Rapporteur On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples On The Situation Of Maori People In New Zealand, S. James Anaya

Publications

No abstract provided.

Cross-Boarder Teaching And Collaboration, Kimberly D. Ambrose, William H.D. Fernholz, Catherine F. Klein, Dana Raigrodski, Stephen A. Rosenbaum, Leah Wortham

Chapters in Books

Since the publication of Best Practices for Legal Education, the globalization of both legal education and law practice has exploded. Today’s lawyers increasingly serve border-crossing clients or clients who present with transnational legal issues. As law schools expand their international programs, and enroll increasing numbers of non-U.S. law students, law students transcend cultural and legal borders. As a result, they deepen their understanding of—and sharpen their critical perspective on—their own national systems. Similarly, U.S. law teachers are increasingly called to engage in border-crossing teaching and other academic pursuits. Best Practices did not address these issues. The primary aim of …

Comment On Maxine Burkett's "Rehabilitation: A Proposal For A Climate Compensation Mechanism For Small Island States", Randall S. Abate

Journal Publications

No abstract provided.

African Origins Of International Law: Myth Or Reality?, Jeremy I. Levitt

Journal Publications

This Article reconsiders the prevalent ahistorical assumption that international law began with the Treaty of Westphalia. It gathers together considerable historical evidence to conclude that the ancient world, particularly the New Kingdom period in Egypt or Kemet from 1570-1070 BCE, deployed all three of what today we would call sources of international law. African states predating the modern European nation state by nearly 6000 years engaged in treaty relations (the Treaty of Kadesh), and applied rules of custom (the MA 'AT) and general principles of law (as enumerated in the Egyptian Bill of Rights). While Egyptologists and a few international …

Legitimacy And Expertise In Global Internet Governance, Olivier Sylvain

Faculty Scholarship

Over the course of the past decade or so, attention among Internet policymakers and scholars has shifted gradually from substantive design principles to the structure of Internet governance. The Internet Corporation for Assigning Names and Numbers in particular now faces a new skepticism about its legitimacy to administer the essential Internet Assigned Numbers Authority function. ICANN has responded to these doubts by proposing a series of major governance reforms that would bring nation-states more into the organization's decisionmaking. After all, transnational governance institutions in other substantive areas privilege nation-states as a matter of course. This Symposium Essay shows that these …

The Covert Use Of Drones: How Secrecy Undermines Oversight And Accountability, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Under the Obama Administration, the number of drone strikes has sharply increased, prompting criticism and concern. As one commentator has noted, “[u]nder Obama, drone strikes have become too frequent, too unilateral, and too much associated with the heavy-handed use of American power.” Many scholars have focused on the legal issues arising from the use of drones, analyzing their legality under applicable law of self-defense, as well as under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

This Article highlights another problematic aspect of the current American use of drones, which is secrecy. As will be argued below, because a large …

A Due Process Balancing Act: The United States’ Influence On The U.N. Al-Qaeda Sanctions Regime, William Bartholomew

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Youth Activism, Art And Transitional Justice: Emerging Spaces Of Memory After The Jasmine Revolution, Arnaud Kurze

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This chapter explores the creation of alternative transitional justice spaces in post-conflict contexts, particularly concentrating on the role of art and the impact of social movements to address human rights abuses. Drawing from post-authoritarian Tunisia, it scrutinizes the work of contemporary youth activists and artists to deal with the past and foster sociopolitical change. Although these vanguard protesters provoked the overthrow of President Zine El Abdine Ben Ali in 2011, the power vacuum was quickly filled by old elites. The exclusion of young revolutionaries from political decision-making led to unprecedented forms of mobilization to account for repression and injustice under …

Singapore And International Law, Chin Leng Lim, Mahdev Mohan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Adherence to and observance of international law in Singapore foreign policy is well-known. Affirmation of the demands of international law has been a key feature of various foreign policy statements. This is unsurprising. Small states, in particular, benefit from a rule-based and rule of law-based international order. A trading nation like Singapore, in particular, thrives on a relatively predictable global environment. International legal rules help to foster such an environment.

Global Income Inequality And The Potential For Global Democracy: A Functionalist Analysis, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

The thesis that I wish to develop in this chapter is that a functionalist view of the development of global institutions suggests that the structural inequalities in global income that were a primary cause of the global economic crisis of 2008, and that continue to endanger the world economy, have the potential to provide the political preconditions for a global regime that can help redress those inequalities. To do so, however, such a regime must empower the less economically well off through representation, and the regime itself must have the practical ability to influence global economic policy. Such a regime, …