International Law Commons^™

Marxist Implementation Of Climate Change As A Geopolitical Fear Tactic, Katelyn Larossa

Senior Honors Theses

In recent years the climate change debate has shifted from the peripheries of international political discussions to center stage, manifesting in the Paris Agreement in November of 2016 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. However, the science behind the climate change debate is disputed and does not support the claims made by global leaders who continue to push for increasing environmental regulations and financial aid to those most adversely affected by the supposed climate change (underdeveloped and developing nations). Examining the geopolitical and economic implications of climate change actions reveals the underlying political philosophies guiding global leaders. …

How The United States Stopped Being A Pirate Nation And Learned To Love International Copyright, John A. Rothchild

Pace Law Review

From the time of the first federal copyright law in 1790 until enactment of the International Copyright Act in 1891, U.S. copyright law did not apply to works by authors who were not citizens or residents of the United States. U.S. publishers took advantage of this lacuna in the law, and the demand among American readers for books by popular British authors, by reprinting the books of these authors without their authorization and without paying a negotiated royalty to them.

This Article tells the story of how proponents of extending copyright protections to foreign authors—called international copyright—finally succeeded after more …

Leveling The Playing Field: Advancing Free Legal Aid For The Family Law Claims Of Ethiopian Women, Maereg Tewoldebirhan Alemayehu

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

“It Ain’T So Much The Things We Don’T Know That Get Us In Trouble. It’S The Things We Know That Ain’T So”: The Dubious Intellectual Foundations Of The Claim That “Hate Speech” Causes Political Violence, Gordon Danning

Pepperdine Law Review

The United States is an outlier in its legal protection for what is commonly termed “hate speech.” Proponents of bringing American jurisprudence closer to the international norm often argue that hate speech causes violence, particularly political violence. However, such claims largely rest on assumptions which are inconsistent with social scientists’ understanding of the causes of political violence, including that ethnic identity and ideological salience are more often the result of violence than a cause thereof; that violence during conflict is generally unrelated to the conflict’s ostensible central cleavage; and that violence is generally instrumental and elite-driven, rather than spontaneous and …

Peeling Back The Onion Of Cyber Espionage After Tallinn 2.0, David A. Wallace, Amy H. Mccarthy, Mark Visger

Maryland Law Review

Tallinn 2.0 represents an important advancement in the understanding of international law’s application to cyber operations below the threshold of force. Its provisions on cyber espionage will be instrumental to states in grappling with complex legal problems in the area of digital spying. The law of cyber espionage as outlined by Tallinn 2.0, however, is substantially based on rules that have evolved outside of the digital context, and there exist serious ambiguities and limitations in its framework. This Article will explore gaps in the legal structure and consider future options available to states in light of this underlying mismatch.

Alternatives To Investor-State Dispute Settlement, Lise Johnson, Jesse Coleman, Brooke Güven, Lisa E. Sachs

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Proponents often explain support for international investment agreements (IIAs) for their ability to: (1) promote investment flows; (2) depoliticize disputes between investors and states; (3) promote the rule of law; and (4) provide compensation for certain harms to investors – objectives of varying degrees of importance to multinational enterprises, home states, host states, and other stakeholders.

While each of these objectives may seem desirable, it is important to consider what exactly they mean and whether IIAs are optimally tailored to achieve them.

This two-part series aims to consider just that. In the first blog installment, we asked of investor-state dispute …

Debugging The Tallinn Manual 2.0'S Application Of The Due Diligence Principle To Cyber Operations, Colin Patrick

Washington International Law Journal

As global cyber connectivity increases, so does opportunities for large-scale nefarious cyber operations. These novel circumstances have necessitated the application of old-world customs to an increasingly complex world. To meet this challenge, the Tallinn Manual 2.0 on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Operations was created. The Manual provides 154 black letter rules detailing how international law applies to cyber operations during peacetime. Of particular import is the Manual’s interpretation of the due diligence principle. This principle, which defines the contours of a state’s obligation to prevent their territory to inflict extraterritorial harm, is increasingly significant in light of the …

Vol. 52, No. 1 Table Of Contents

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Feminist Expansion Of The Prohibition Of Torture: Towards A Post-Liberal International Human Rights Law?, Natalie R. Davidson

Cornell International Law Journal

International human rights law (IHRL), discourse, and activism have been the subject of well-known critiques. Two categories of critique are closely linked to the liberal ideology underlying the human rights project, and limit the project’s ability to further profound change. The “critique of justification” exposes the field’s formalist argumentative practices, which struggle to justify proposed normative solutions. The “critique of representation” highlights the narrow ways in which injustice and violence are portrayed, denounced and addressed in international human rights discourse. These weaknesses are all the more troubling in the contemporary populist authoritarian era. Yet contrary to many critical scholars who …

Criminalizing The Other: Exploring The Impact Of The Netherlands' Adaptation Of Prosecutorial Guidelines On Sentencing Disparities, Alia Nahra

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research explores the impact of the 2015 institution of prosecution guidelines in the Netherlands. Prior to this switch, the Openbaar Ministerie operated using a punishment point system, which provided a mathematical formula with which to decide sanctions. Though the motivation of this change was to make the overall system more efficient and enable individual prosecutors to consider each case in a customizable and more equitable form, this research demonstrates that the change has served instead as a perpetuator (and in some cases, facilitator) of the persistent ethnic and gender biases already at work in the Netherlands. The social and …

Terminology Matters: Dangers Of Superficial Transplantation, Silvia Ferreri, Larry A. Dimatteo

UF Law Faculty Publications

The history of legal transplantations from one legal system to another is as long as law itself. It has numerous edifications and names including reception, borrowing, and influence. Legal transplantations from one legal system to another come at various levels of substance and penetration including the transplantation of a legal tradition (English common law to the United States and the English Commonwealth), transplantation of national law (Turkey's adoption of Swiss Civil Code), transplantation of an area of law (Louisiana's adoption and retention of French sales law), transplantation of a rule or concept (Chinese adoption of principle of good faith), and …

Investment Treaties, Investor-State Dispute Settlement And Inequality, Lisa E. Sachs, Lise Johnson

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

International investment treaties entrench and exacerbate intra-national inequality by:

1. Providing stronger substantive legal rights to a certain class of actors that in turn strengthen the legal force of their economic rights and “expectations”, with potentially negative impacts on the competing rights and interests of other stakeholders; and
2. Providing unequal procedural rights to a certain class of actors, easing their ability, through ISDS, to challenge regulatory measures negatively impacting their economic interests, while other individuals and entities continue to face relatively high legal and practical barriers to using litigation to protect and/or enhance public interest objectives.

This Working Paper, adapted from …

Methodological Pluralism And The Methods Of Comparative Constitutional Law, Michael Da Silva

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

This article defends comparative constitutional law's status as a genuine academic discipline capable of producing knowledge. In so doing, it argues that common claims about the necessary conditions for being an academic discipline are false: a field does not need a unique method or set of methods to be an academic discipline. Comparative constitutional law requires multiple methods to produce the valuable knowledge that makes the product of comparative constitutional law research unique, but it remains a discipline. It is not the only example of an academic discipline that does not fulfill the claimed methodological conditions on disciplinarily. A discipline …

For Institutional Investors, The Alternative Of “Exit Or Voice,” Or “Empowerment Or Engagement” In The United States And The United Kingdom, Akio Otsuka

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The article examines the role of institutional investors in corporate governance systems in the United States and the United Kingdom, focusing on their potential to address agency gaps created by the separation of ownership and control. It argues that while institutional investors, particularly activist hedge funds, can play a crucial role in monitoring and engaging with portfolio companies, challenges such as passivity and regulatory frameworks often hinder their effectiveness. The analysis draws on law and economics to evaluate how institutional activism can contribute to long-term corporate success and stakeholder value, highlighting differences in approaches between the two jurisdictions.

Exoatmospheric Plowshares: Using A Nuclear Explosive Device For Planetary Defense Against An Incoming Asteroid, David A. Koplow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

What should be done if we suddenly discover a large asteroid on a collision course with Earth? The consequences of an impact could be enormous—scientists believe that such a strike 60 million years ago led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, and something of similar magnitude could happen again. Although no such extraterrestrial threat now looms on the horizon, astronomers concede that they cannot detect all the potentially hazardous “near-Earth objects,” and even more striking, they acknowledge that if such a danger were discerned, there is currently no proven capability for diverting or destroying it.

One possible response to this …

Removals To Somalia In Light Of The Convention Against Torture: Recent Evidence From Somali Bantu Deportees, Daniel J. Van Lehman, Estelle M. Mckee

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of a survey of Somali Bantu deported from the United States from 2016 to 2018, to determine whether they were subjected to torture upon arrival in Somalia. Of the 20 deportees interviewed, 55 percent suffered torture at least once, with the highest percentage—66.7 percent—experienced by individuals deported in 2018. The abuse, which included kidnapping, stabbings, and beatings with truncheons and whips, meets the definition of torture under Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture. Individuals were intentionally subjected to severe pain and suffering for an unlawful purpose: ransom. Further, most of the abuse was inflicted …

Table Of Contents, Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review, Vol. 2, Iss. 3

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rethinking The Law And Ethics Of Undercover Warfare, Raphael Bitton

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

This paper offers a new ethical and legalframework for undercover warfare. It begins by criticizing the traditional reasoning for the duty to wear unform. It demonstrates the insufficiency of the principle of 'distinction'. which dominates current discourse. It argues, instead, that the rationale for the duty to wear unforms is based on a new principle in international law that this paper advocates: the principle of accountability. The active form of global accountability requires some degree of states' transparency about their military activity. This allows other states to respond by exercising passive form of accountability and punish violations of international law. …

Living Illegal: Being Lgbt In Russia, Jeremy M. Tsuchitani-Watson

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

As lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) rights around the world continue a wave of progress, it is hard to imagine that the advances are being erased at the same pace. It is even harder to imagine this happening in a democratic society in a developed country. Finally, it is even more astounding that this is happening in a country that is considered a super power. However, it is happening, and has been happening since 2006.

For many reasons, the LGBTQ community has become a target of the Russian government; both the federal government and localized governments. …

Stand For The National Flag And Sing The National Anthem, Yuichiro Tsuji

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

This paper uses a comparative law approach to review a national anthem case that is one of the most famous decisions coming from the Japanese Supreme Court. Public school teachers in Japan are required to stand up in front of the national flag and sing the national anthem during public school ceremonies. This paper reviews their constitutional rights.

The Ethics Of Non-Lawyer Advocacy: Expectations, Rules, And Complications, John F. Wirenius

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The article examines the ethical challenges and legal complexities surrounding nonattorney advocacy in labor relations, particularly under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and similar state statutes. It highlights the tension between holding non-lawyer union representatives to attorney ethical standards and the need for simpler, practical norms. The analysis emphasizes the importance of balancing due process for pro se parties with maintaining the integrity of advocacy roles, suggesting that resorting to fundamental statutory values and reciprocal duties can provide a baseline for ethical conduct.

The Responsibility To Protect As Applied To Asylum Seekers In The United States, Luke Doyle Galland

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pass The Revenue: How Section 280e Is Harming The Medical Marijuana Industry, Liam Mckillop

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note argues that Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code unfairly penalizes medical marijuana businesses by disallowing ordinary business expense deductions, despite their legality under state laws. It proposes that Congress should amend Section 280E to create an exception for medical marijuana companies, allowing them to deduct business expenses, thereby promoting industry growth and aligning tax policy with current societal and scientific understanding of marijuana's medical benefits.

Social Media Platforms: Preserving Evidence Of International Crimes, Samantha Greenfield

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note argues that social media platforms should bear legal responsibility for preserving video evidence of international crimes, as such evidence is crucial for prosecuting genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The author emphasizes that while these platforms effectively remove harmful content, their current practices risk losing critical evidence necessary for justice, necessitating a legal framework to ensure preservation.

Trade And The Separation Of Powers, Timothy Meyer, Ganesh Sitaraman

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

There are two paradigms through which to view trade law and policy within the American constitutional system. One paradigm sees trade law and policy as quintessentially about domestic economic policy. Institutionally, under the domestic economics paradigm, trade law falls within the province of Congress, which has legion Article I authorities over commercial matters. The second paradigm sees trade law as fundamentally about America’s relationship with foreign countries. Institutionally, under the foreign affairs paradigm, trade law is the province of the President, who speaks for the United States in foreign affairs. While both paradigms have operated throughout American history, the domestic …

Elusive Justice: The Rohingya Chronic Crisis And The Responsibility To Protect, Sumangala Bhattacharya

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judicial Review And Constitutional Interpretation In Afghanistan: A Case Of Inconsistency, Shoaib Timory

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Election Hacking: A Trifecta Of Sovereignty, Intervention, And Use Of Force Violations In International Law, Arlen Printz

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Supplying Slaves: The Disguise Of Greener Pastures: An Exploratory Study Of Human Trafficking In Uganda, Kyla Johnson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study was to evaluate labor migration in Uganda with a specific focus on the role labor recruitment agencies play in transporting people and how certain circumstances such as lack of knowledge of safe migration can leave people vulnerable to human trafficking. Labor externalization is beneficial specifically for developing countries because it provides jobs for the robust and available labor in these countries. Nonetheless, when reports appear that young girls are stranded abroad in the middle east after being taken there for work, labor recruitment agencies are first to receive the blame. Although Uganda issued a ban …

Another Hague Judgements Convention? Bucking The Past To Provide For The Future, Louise Ellen Teitz

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.