International Law Commons^™

The Rule Of Law Under Challenge: The Enmeshment Of National And International Trends, Gregory Shaffer, Wayne Sandholtz

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The goal of the rule of law is to protect individuals from the arbitrary exercise of power. Democracy and human rights depend on the rule of law. But today the rule of law is under growing threat in the United States and around the world. Trends regarding rule-of-law protections are transnational in scope. They involve shifting norms, institutions, and practices at the local, national, and international levels. This paper assesses how challenges are taking place at the international and national levels, and how these challenges are linked. It examines the ways in which international law and institutions are important for …

Book Review, Kirsten Campbell, The Justice Of Humans: Subject, Society And Sexual Violence In International Criminal Justice (2022), Shannon Fyfe

Scholarly Articles

In The Justice of Humans: Subject, Society and Sexual Violence in International Criminal Justice, Kirsten Campbell sets out to analyze approaches to international justice for victims of mass violence through a feminist lens. Using a remarkable breadth of disciplines, Campbell develops a “feminist social theory of the existing legal and feminist forms of international justice and a socio-legal methodology for empirically investigating them” (p. 4). She draws on her own extensive experience with the conflict in the former Yugoslavia to consider two responses to conflict-related sexual violence there: the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the …

Fractional Sovereignty, Roger Michalski

Faculty Articles

The axiomatic beginning of every conflict of laws case is that a court must choose the law of one sovereign and disregard the law of all other sovereigns. One wins, gets to set the rules and regulate behavior, all others lose. This all-or-nothing scenario is the result of enshrining an old view of indivisible sovereignty into conflict of laws rules. The Article begins by explaining how this happened. Despite the importance of this assumption of indivisibility, no articles have examined why and how it became enshrined in conflict of laws doctrine. All too often it is treated as a truism …

2023 Winter - Clihhr Newsletter, Cardozo Law Institute In Holocaust And Human Rights (Clihhr)

CLIHHR Newsletters

This Winter 2023 issue of the CLIHHR Newsletter highlights the Institute’s work in solidarity with communities affected by identity-based violence and mass atrocities. It features updates from the Benjamin B. Ferencz Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic, student and fellowship spotlights, international collaborations in Argentina, major public events including the Lemkin Award Ceremony, and faculty engagement in global human rights and humanitarian law forums. The newsletter reflects CLIHHR’s commitment to survivor-centered justice, Indigenous rights, restorative justice, and international accountability.

Letter From The Editor, Michael Klein

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Radical Overhaul Of Hong Kong's Governance Regime: Likely Implications For Prosperity And Stability, Roda Mushkat

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

Constitutional evolution is normally a steady process, with the prevailing equilibrium seldom punctuated. Sharp reversals periodically occur but they are uncommon, usually confined to low-income and lower middle-income countries. The introduction of a draconian national security law and its heavy-handed enforcement in the affluent Hong Kong capitalist enclave, serving as one of the world economy’s pivotal global metropolises, thus amounts to a historically unprecedented emasculation of a sound and well-thought-out governance architecture. The abrupt unraveling of a semi-democratic infrastructure, pulverizing of key components of a time-honored rule-of-law system, and erosion of international legal personality has been breathtaking and profoundly disconcerting. …

Rethinking Victim Participation In International Criminal Tribunals, Julia L. Jacovides

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

China Informs A 21st Century Definition Of The Rule Of Law, Ashley Topel

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

Politicians, lawyers, and academics alike have long been fascinated with the rule of law, but this fascination has never immunized them from the challenges of defining just what the rule of law is. Indeed, defining the rule of law by citing an example, such as the United Kingdom or the United States, remains easier than articulating why those nations have the rule of law and how other nations can advance the ideal within their own boundaries. Still, modern scholarship has led to the creation of three alternative theories of the rule of law–formalist, procedural, and substantive conceptions. A formalist theory …

Volume 13, Issue 2 - Full Issue, Journal Of International & Comparative Law, Notre Dame Law School

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

More Than A "Drop Of Justice:" How Nazi-Looted Art Cases Promote "Transitional Justice" And Why These Cases Still Matter, Mark I. Labaton

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

When it comes to Nazi looting, the past is not dead.Nor should it be. Even now more than three-quarters of a century after the Holocaust, Nazi-looted art cases still provide direct justice to victimized families while also advancing broader historical redress known as “transitional justice,” which since World War II has become a means to address mass atrocities through criminal trials, civil litigation, truth reconciliation commissions, memorials, and reparations.

The Long Term-Failings Of Internally Displaced Person Status: A Case Study Of The Êzidi People, Sarah A. Johns

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

Never has the term limbo been so appropriately used in modern history than as applied to the current situation of the Êzidi internally displaced persons (IDPs). As Dante’s first circle of hell, limbo separates its residents from God, leaving them in a state of eternal suffering and sadness. This in-between place is saved for just individuals who did not receive Christ as required in Catholic theology and are now doomed to reside forever in a place of separation from God’s presence. Limbo is a state of punishment that seemingly freezes one’s ability to progress or enjoy future happiness.

Switzerland's "Summary Penalty Order" System: Should A Similar System Be Used For America's Minor Crimes?, Kirk Earl

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

Jack Ford did not think he was committing a crime when his girlfriend let him spend the night with her at a house in Baltimore. However, what Ford did not know was that the owner of the house had not given permission for the couple to stay there. Ford was arrested and charged with burglary in the fourth degree, which is a misdemeanor in the state of Maryland. Ford’s attorney believed that Ford would have a strong case at trial because he did not know that he was not allowed in the house, so there was no intent to commit …

Closing The Cracks And The Courts: A Comparative Analysis Of Debt Collection Regulation In The United Kingdom And The United States, Tasia S. Harris

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Consumers who borrow from a lender today cannot count on dealing with that same lender later if they default on their debt. In today's world of debt collection, the lender will outsource collection to a thirdparty debt collector, or those consumers' defaulted debt will be bought and sold numerous times for pennies on the dollar until eventually a debt buyer decides to pursue payment. Either way, under the current US debt collection laws and regulations, both third-party debt collectors and debt buyers can act outside the scope of debt collection regulation in the United States, and many will take that …

International Whaling: Reframing The Iwc Moratorium For The Effective Conservation Of Whales, Kacey Hovden

Animal Law Review

The ocean once teemed with whales at seemingly every tide and crest, but due to centuries of overexploitation, whales are now a rare and coveted sight in many parts of the world. Today, the challenge of preventing these magnificent giants from extinction remains prevalent, with slow recovery rates and continued whaling practices in direct conflict. This Article examines the history of global whaling practices and the International Whaling Commission’s 1986 moratorium and argues for the establishment of an effective regulatory scheme permitting commercial whaling only on abundant whale stocks. The scheme would encourage whaling nations to remain members of the …

The Development Of Digital Mass Surveillance In Norway: The Emergence Of A Surveillance State?, Iris Nguyên Duy

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Present And Future Of Environmental Law In Cuba, Daimar Cánovas González

FIU Law Review

The environmental legal framework in Cuba is based on constitutional article 75 and Law 81, of July 11, 1997, on the environment, a framework law on the matter, with a series of complementary provisions with the rank of Decree Law or Ministerial Resolution. The adoption of the new constitutional text in 2019 is followed by the updating of all environmental legislation that requires a new framework law, which fills the gaps in the current one and leads to more effective environmental management. The paper addresses some of the areas in which significant changes have occurred or should occur. In particular, …

Calculated Privacy: Tech Meets Law & Law Meets Tech, Tobias J. Oechtering, Sara Saeidian, Cecilia Magnusson Sjöberg

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Association For The Study Of The Cuban Economy (Asce) Thirty-Second Annual Conference: Introduction, Karla Rivas

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Contemporary Crises In Cuba: Economic, Political, And Social, Silvia Pedraza, Carlos Romero

FIU Law Review

In this paper my co-author and I will present the various crises that are taking place in Cuba at present: economic, political, and cultural. We rely on published data, such as the GDP, as well as materials from in-depth interviews and participant observation.

Abila Keynote Address: Beyond International Law? A Dangerous Time, Gregory Shaffer

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this keynote address for the 2023 International Law Weekend conference of the American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA), I first address the dangers of the conference theme “beyond international law” at a time when challenges to international law and institutions increase and aim to constrain international law’s normative force. We have been here before. The world today recalls that of the interwar period, a time of growing economic insecurity and inequality that helped to catalyze the rise of authoritarian movements. During that period, Carl Schmitt was a leading legal theorist who eventually became a member of the …

After Action: The U.S. Drone Program's Expansion Of International Law Justification For Use Of Force Against Imminent Threats, Elodie O. Currier

Vanderbilt Law Review

Until the 2000s, the United States' attempts to shift international legal norms on imminence to allow for greater use of armed force abroad were largely unsuccessful. In the past two decades, however, drone use and careful legal gamesmanship by U.S. officials have opened an unprecedentedly broad allowance for use of force in imminent self-defense. As drones become increasingly available to state and non-state actors, this permissive regime poses a threat to national and international security. This Note analyzes two decades of international customary law formation around drone use outside of armed conflict through a new lens post U.S.-withdrawal of Afghanistan. …

The Great Effacement: New Zealand's Silencing On The 2019 Mosque Shooter, J.C. Oleson

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is Incorporation A License To Violate Human Rights With Impunity? As Of Now, Violations Are In Vogue, Sadie Wolff

Lewis & Clark Law Review

For decades, the international community has relied on corporations to take responsibility for the protection of human rights and manage accountability for violations of those rights. Yet countless human rights violations have ensued within the fashion industry as a result of multinational corporations conducting business within the current framework. This Comment looks at the human rights at stake if the international community stays its current course, offers insight into how the existing framework developed, questions the efficacy of this approach, and suggests a new framework for the international community to consider.

Strategic Litigation In Wartime: Judging The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine Through The Genocide Convention, Michael Ramsden

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Ukraine's recent initiation of legal proceedings against Russia under the Genocide Convention is a prominent example of what has been termed "strategic litigation," denoting the bringing of a case with a goal to produce a wider impact beyond the courtroom. In Allegations of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russia), Ukraine sought a series of declarations from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Russia's decision to use force in Ukraine, and its ongoing operation, was unlawful, insofar as such a decision rested on the prevention of genocide. Given that the ICJ does not have the jurisdiction to determine whether Russia has committed …

Play On? An Evaluation Of Fifa's Legal Regime And Its Foundation In Alternative Dispute Resolution, Blaine Sanders

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Few associate the Federation Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA, with its legal regime. Rather, and understandably so, sports fans and commentators tend to focus on World Cups, corruption, or even the FIFA video game. Yet, FIFA's role in the sport of soccer extends well beyond what receives the most commercial attention. FIFA shoulders the burden of regulating soccer's member associations, national teams, clubs, players, and countless other personnel through its FIFA Statutes. This is a considerable undertaking, which FIFA achieves through its comprehensive system of alternative dispute resolution.

Soccer is now a global business, largely due to the economic …

Are We Closing The Gap? Reforms To Legal Capacity In Latin America In Light Of The Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities, Pablo Marshall, Paula Vasquez, Violeta Puran, Loreto Godoy

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines the the reforms developed in Latin America over the last decade that have adapted domestic legislation regarding legal capacity toward the support model of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Our examination of the reforms in Costa Rica, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia focuses on the adoption process of the reforms, the main characteristics of the implemented support model, some transitional and implementation aspects of the reforms, and a critical examination of their relationship to the CRPD. Finally, this Article explores some weaknesses related to the reforms' implementation processes.

The United States’ Stringent Sovereignty: How Foreign Policy Framing Prioritizes Security Over Human Rights, Kathryn Parker

Scripps Senior Theses

American policymakers utilize valence framing, purposeful descriptions of outcomes as positive or negative, to influence the opinions of voters while maintaining the moral superiority felt by many citizens in the liberal Western hegemon. This study intended to combine the political theories of Constructivism and Realism to form Constructive Realism, a theory that emphasizes the significance of state power and norms as joint influences on constituents. Constructive realism was then applied to four case studies – the UN Security Council, International Criminal Court, Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. This study …

Islamic Law And Colonialism, Rabiat Akande, Halimat Adeniran

All Papers

No abstract provided.

An Imperial History Of Race-Religion In International Law, Rabiat Akande

All Papers

More than half a century after the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption of the International Convention on the Prohibition of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), efforts are underway to formulate a protocol to the landmark convention. Much of the momentum for that endeavor comes from sustained local and global advocacy against racism. An integral part of contemporary anti-racism efforts is a push for legal recognition of the intersectional dimensions of racial domination and subjugation to address the unique precarity of persons inhabiting marginalized axes of identities and experiences. United Nations (UN) debates over repowering the ICERD have therefore featured …

In Pursuit Of Sustainable Educational Development: The Philippines And The English Dilemma, Rosemary C. Salomone

Faculty Publications

The English language poses a dilemma in meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially for education in countries with high multilingualism, high poverty and unequal schooling, such as the Philippines. This chapter considers Goal 1 (reducing poverty), Goal 4 (promoting educational quality) and Goal 10 (reducing inequalities) in relation to what has become an array of executive orders, regulations and laws that have shifted in the political winds, even as the judiciary has tried to navigate a measured course. It underscores how the primacy of English in the national consciousness, tied to global markets, undercuts multilingual policies based in …