International Law Commons^™

The Caroline Affair In The Evolving International Law Of Self-Defense, Matthew C. Waxman

Faculty Scholarship

The "Caroline" incident – an 1837 raid by British Canadian militia across the Niagara River border to sink an American steamboat being used by Canadian insurgents – is well-known to many international lawyers. United States Secretary of State Daniel Webster’s resulting correspondence with British representative Lord Ashburton is often cited today as a key authority on customary international self-defense standards. University of Ottawa professor Craig Forcese has produced a valuable new history and analysis of that event, its legal context, and its continuing influence: "Destroying the Caroline: The Frontier Raid that Reshaped the Right to War." As explained in this …

The Use Of Force Against Non-State Actors: Introductory Remarks By Monica Hakimi, Monica Hakimi

Faculty Scholarship

This is the panel on the use of defensive force against non-state actors. We thought we would use the campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS, to take stock on where we are on the question of when, if ever, states may use defensive force against non-state actors in other states.

Just to set the scene a little bit, I am sure many of you know that ISIS is a transnational terrorist group that emerged in Syria in 2013, in the middle of the civil war there. By the summer of 2014, ISIS occupied quite a bit …

Liability For Providing Hyperlinks To Copyright-Infringing Content: International And Comparative Law Perspectives, Jane C. Ginsburg, Luke Ali Budiardjo

Faculty Scholarship

Hyperlinking, at once an essential means of navigating the Internet, but also a frequent means to enable infringement of copyright, challenges courts to articulate the legal norms that underpin domestic and international copyright law, in order to ensure effective enforcement of exclusive rights on the one hand, while preserving open communication on the Internet on the other. Several recent cases, primarily in the European Union, demonstrate the difficulties of enforcing the right of communication to the public (or, in U.S. copyright parlance, the right of public performance by transmission) against those who provide hyperlinks that effectively deliver infringing content to …

Consociationalism Vs. Incentivism In Divided Societies: A Question Of Threshold Design Or Of Sequencing?, Clark B. Lombardi, Pasarlay Shamshad

Articles

Scholarship on constitutional design for post-conflict or divided societies focuses a great deal of attention on two issues: (1) the processes and timing by which constitutional rules should be established and (2) whether constitutions should reflect a consociationalist or incentivist approach to governance. Scholars are increasingly willing to entertain the possibility that constitutions drafted during period of transition from civil war or authoritarianism need not, and often should not, answer immediately all questions that constitutions tend to answer; however, they tend to assume that the question of whether constitutions should be consociationalist or incentivist is one that should not be …

International Lobbying Law, Melissa J. Durkee

Articles

An idiosyncratic array of international rules allows “consultants” to gain special access to international officials and lawmakers. Historically, many of these consultants were public-interest associations like Amnesty International. For this reason, the access rules have been celebrated as a way to democratize international organizations, enhancing their legitimacy and that of the rules they produce. But a focus on the classic public-law virtues of democracy and legitimacy produces a theory at odds with the facts: Many of these international consultants are now industry and trade associations like the World Coal Association, whose principal purpose is to lobby for their corporate clients. …

Front Matter

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

No abstract provided.

Far From Now-Settled: The Supreme Court's Decision In Lozano V. Montoya Alvarez As A Violation Of Substantive And Procedural Due Process Under The International Child Abduction Remedies Act, Cassandra Erler

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Promoting International Cybersecurity Cooperation: Lessons From The Proliferation Security Initiative, Duncan B. Hollis, Matthew C. Waxman

Faculty Scholarship

Global efforts by states to cooperate through international rules in combating cyber threats have generated mixed results, at best. In this paper, we examine the architecture of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) as a possible model for future cybersecurity cooperation among interested states. We identify several features of PSI’s architecture (rather than its substantive focus on non-proliferation) for further analysis, including PSI’s low entry costs, tiered structure, and flexibility, as well as its leveraging of both territorial jurisdiction and state consent. We conclude that, despite several hurdles visible in the scope of its membership and its legal framework, PSI still …

Courts As Information Intermediaries: A Case Study Of Sovereign Debt Disputes, Sadie Blanchard

Journal Articles

When foreign sovereigns default on their debt, creditors sometimes sue them. These creditors are sophisticated actors, and they sue even though courts can do little to force a sovereign to satisfy a judgment. Why do they sue? This Article argues that courts serve as information intermediaries that strengthen reputational enforcement in the international sovereign debt market. It shows, through a case study of sovereign debt defaults and disputes, three ways in which courts play this role. First, in hard cases, courts clarify reputational signals by publicly determining whether breach occurred. Second, through discovery and fact finding, they mitigate information asymmetries …

Treaty Self-Execution As “Foreign” Foreign Relations Law?, Duncan B. Hollis, Carlos Manuel Vázquez

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This contribution to the Oxford Handbook on Comparative Foreign Relations considers how a state’s approach to foreign relations problems may have an external origin, or what we call “foreign” Foreign Relations Law (FFRL). Using the distinction between self-executing and non-self-executing treaties as a case study, we find close parallels between manifestations of this distinction in various states and how it evolved in the United States, where the distinction was first articulated. The chapter explores whether these parallels reflect the distinction’s transplantation from one legal system to another or the organic development of similar doctrines to address similar problems within the …

Plata O Plomo: Effect Of Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations On The American Criminal Justice System, Mark M. Mcpherson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Masthead, Volume 50 (2018)

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Volume 50, Cwru Journal Of International Law

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Foreword: Corporations On Trial For Human Rights Violations, Michael P. Scharf, Brooke Tyus

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

An introduction to the journal is presented.

The Trafficking Victim Protection Act: The Best Hope For International Human Rights Litigation In The U.S. Courts?, Sara Sun Beale

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The article focuses on uses Alien Tort Statute as a vehicle for litigating human rights abuses in both civil and criminal prosecutions in the U.S. Topics discussed include developments in International Criminal Law in addressing human rights violations; judicial attitudes that could affect the interpretation of the Trafficking Victim Protection Act; and Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain court case on the same.

Atrocities By Corporate Actors: A Historical Perspective, Michael J. Kelly

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The article focuses on developments in international criminal law in addressing corporate human rights violations.

Liberals Vs Romantics: Challenges Of An Emerging Corporate International Criminal Law, Carsten Stahn

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

Holding bystanders and corporate agents accountable for international crimes is often at the periphery of international criminal justice. Based on its liberal foundations, international criminal law has traditionally been strongly centered on individual agency. In the industrialist cases after World War II, individual criminal responsibility was used to demonstrate and sanction corporate involvement in crime. Ideas of corporate criminal responsibility have been voiced in the post-war era and in the context of the negotiations of the Statute. In recent years, they have witnessed a renaissance in several contexts: the jurisprudence of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the Malabo Protocol of …

Corporate Liability For Human Rights Violations: The Future Of The Alien Tort Claims Act, Milena Sterio

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The article discusses issue of corporate liability under the U.S. Alien Tort Claims Act.

Brand As Information Intermediary, Kishanthi Parella

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The article describes the function of transnational corporations in many global supply chains as information intermediaries, which carries with it responsibilities and opportunities for incentivization.

Corporate Engagement With Public Policy: The New Frontier Of Ethical Business, Caroline Kaeb

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The article explains that a normative framework for corporate engagement with public policy is required as part of the evolving corporate responsibility paradigm.

A Human Rights Perspective On Professional Responsibility In Global Corporate Practice, David Nersessian

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The direct applicability of human rights law to the attorney-client relationship has serious implications for ethical corporate governance. In addition to creating criminal and civil risks for lawyer and client alike, the specter of human rights violations in business dealings gives rise to myriad ethical questions for corporate lawyers to consider and resolve. These include matters such as the legitimate object and scope of corporate representation, conflicts of interest, duties to withdraw, and matters of competence and communication in corporate governance. They also raise questions of professional secrecy and whether ethical codes permit (or even require) lawyers to reveal confidential …

Keynote Address: Is The Presumption Of Corporate Impunity Dead?, Ambassador David Scheffer

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

The Cost Of Territoriality: Jus Cogens Claims Against Corporations, Ursula Tracy Doyle

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The article considers the apparent disjunction between the Court's effective limitation of liability for the U.S. corporation and expansive liability for the natural person for similar crimes. Topics include Jus Cogens claims against corporations; court cases Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC and Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. on the same; and Alien Tort Statute on the same.

2018 Klatsky Endowed Lecture In Human Rights: The International Law Commission's Proposal For A Convention On The Prevention And Punishment Of Crimes Against Humanity, Sean D. Murphy

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

Sean D. Murphy gives the Klatsky Endowed Lecture on Human Rights, describing his efforts at the International Law Commission to bring about an international Convention on Crimes Against Humanity

Talking Foreign Policy: Jesner V. Arab Bank, Michael Scharf, Et Al.

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

If It Looks Like A Duck: Reining In Private-Military Contractor Conduct Through The Amended Ucmj, Michael Anderson

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

Although women's rights in many countries reflect Sharia Law, the interpretation of Sharia Law is not uniform across these countries. As a result, not all countries that follow Sharia Law protect women's rights to the same degree. We can hypothesize that the interpretation of Sharia Law in various countries, and therefore the protection of women's rights, is determined by the historical forces that have shaped that country's cultural life. To test this hypothesis, this Note traces the history of three countries in order to explore what led each country to develop vastly different beliefs surrounding the rights of women under …

Historical Determinism And Women's Rights In Sharia Law, Mackenzie Glaze

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

Although women's rights in many countries reflect Sharia Law, the interpretation of Sharia Law is not uniform across these countries. As a result, not all countries that follow Sharia Law protect women's rights to the same degree. We can hypothesize that the interpretation of Sharia Law in various countries, and therefore the protection of women's rights, is determined by the historical forces that have shaped that country's cultural life. To test this hypothesis, this Note traces the history of three countries in order to explore what led each country to develop vastly different beliefs surrounding the rights of women under …

Tearing Down The Wall Between Refugee And Gang-Based-Asylum Seekers: Why The United States Should Reconsider Its Stance On Central-American Gang-Based Asylum Claims, Katelyn Masetta- Alvarez

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

Gang violence is plaguing El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Murder, sexual violence, and other major human rights violations committed by gang members has forced countless people to seek protection in surrounding countries...

"Living Together" Or Living Apart From Religious Freedoms? The European Court Of Human Right's Concept Of "Living Together" And Its Impact On Religious Freedom, Shelby Wade

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

In the 2014 monumental court decision S.A.S. v. France, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the French law banning both burqas and niqabs in public spaces was justified. The Court based this justification on the concept of "living together," stating this newly-created concept allowed limitations on certain rights, such as the freedom of religion. With this decision, the Court vacated precedent which used a balancing test to weigh exceptions, such as national security in very narrow situations, against the limitations on individual freedoms. The new "living together" test is extremely farfetched, vague, and controversial. This Note discusses the …

Strengthening The Southern African Development Community: A Critique Of The International Labor Organization's Development Assistance In Swaziland And Zimbabwe, Desiree Leclercq

Scholarly Works

Insufficient labor policies contribute to poverty, while those poverty conditions contribute to limited employment opportunities and labor rights abuses. Traditional multilateral lending institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, provide development aid but tend to treat labor policies as incompatible with efficient market functioning. The International Labor Organization (ILO), on the other hand, provides development assistance specifically targeting labor policies. Unlike traditional lending institutions, the ILO's assistance imposes no conditions. Instead, the ILO's mandate requires it to design its programs in consultation with the recipient country's government and social partners.

This article studies the ILO's assistance …