International Law Commons^™

At The Intersection Of History, Diplomacy, And Domestic Affairs: Vietnam’S Difficult Position In The South China Sea Dispute, Michael Lanin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Connecting the entirety of Southeast Asia to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the South China Sea is among the world’s most vital commercial and strategic arenas. Robust shipping lanes funnel several trillion dollars in trade through the South China Sea annually; and lucrative fisheries and potentially vast hydrocarbon resources fill its waters. The South China Sea also hosts a tremendously complex geopolitical puzzle which hinges on overlapping maritime sovereignty claims made by Vietnam, China, Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei. The ensuing multilateral dispute has escalated tensions in the region, leading to intense militarization, diplomatic gridlock, and trivialization of international law. …

Customary Ivory Law: Inefficient Problem Solving With Customary International Law, Mike Graves

Washington International Law Journal

For one of only two principal sources of international law, customary international law is surprisingly opaque. Scholars disagree not only on whether a particular norm has become a customary law, but also on what constitutes persuasive evidence of that fact. One popular theory advanced by Anthony D’Amato and others—that treaties can provide sufficient evidence of customary international law—attempts to clarify and simplify the process. It does so at the expense of accuracy. This error is particularly clear in the context of environmental law. Customary international law, such scholars argue, protects a wide variety of creatures and natural resources. As evidence, …

Rape In War: Prosecuting The Islamic State Of Iraq And The Levant And Boko Haram For Sexual Violence Against Women, David Sverdlov

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Four Unconstitutional Constitutions And Their Democratic Foundations, Richard Albert

Cornell International Law Journal

The present fascination with the global phenomenon of an unconstitutional constitutional amendment has left open the question whether a constitution can be unconstitutional. To declare an entire constitution unconstitutional seems different in both kind and degree from invalidating a single amendment for violating the architectural core of a constitution, itself undoubtedly an extraordinary action. In this Article, I illustrate and evaluate four different conceptions of an unconstitutional constitution. Each conception draws from a different constitution currently in force around the world, specifically the Constitutions of Canada, Mexico, South Africa and the United States. Despite their unconstitutionality in different senses of …

U.S. Nonprofit Activity In Cuba: The Cuban Context, Elizabeth Brundige, Lucia Dominguez Cisneros, Eduardo M. Peñalver, Laura Spitz

Cornell International Law Journal

American regulatory restrictions on nonprofit activity in Cuba have decreased dramatically over the past three years. As a result, interest in undertaking projects in Cuba among U.S. nonprofits has increased significantly over that same period. Despite President Trump's recent directive that rolled back several aspects of the previous administration's Cuba policy and ordered new restrictions on U.S.-Cuban engagement, U.S. nonprofits are unlikely to be deterred from seeking to expand their engagement in Cuba over the long term. As nonprofits explore potential opportunities and navigate legal and political challenges, this Article seeks to advance the conversation by answering the following questions: …

Treaty Of Tordesillas Syndrome: Sovereignty Ad Absurdum And The South China Sea Arbitration, Christopher R. Rossi

Cornell International Law Journal

The South China Sea is the fifth largest body of water in the world. It accounts for five trillion dollars in annual commercial activity involving a third of maritime traffic worldwide. China claims wide-ranging sovereign rights over upwards of ninety percent of this Sea via a controversial U-shaped line. Its claim upsets regional stability and portends a coming conflict with the United States, the world's supreme maritime power, over the application of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). China claims its sovereign authority predates UNCLOS by millennia; critics date China's claim to 1947. Already described …

A Complicated Alchemy: Theorizing Identity Politics And The Politicization Of Migrant Remittances Under Donald Trump's Presidency, Stephen Wilks

Cornell International Law Journal

Using law to conscript financial technology in aid of state goals is not new. Financial institutions have long been subject to myriad legal and regulatory reporting requirements designed to combat money laundering, enforce economic sanctions, support tax compliance, and interdict the financing of terrorism. Trump's particular approach to this tradition, however, seeks to capitalize on a particularly toxic convergence of race, class, economics, and globalization. America is not alone in its recent experience with surges in right wing, nationalist populism. Globalism's winds have posed challenges to those who have enjoyed the benefits of protectionist trade policies that no longer exist, …

Truth Or Dare: A Framework For Analyzing Credibility In Children Seeking Asylum, Karen Elizabeth Smeda

Cornell International Law Journal

U.S. border agents detained at least 52,000 unaccompanied minors from only four Central American countries-Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras-in 2014, while 95,000 unaccompanied children sought asylum in Europe in 2015.Given the ongoing turmoil in various parts of the world, these numbers will likely rise. Children are narrowly escaping their native countries. With little help available from legal counsel and little time to gather supporting evidence, more children are relying on the gamble of a positive credibility assessment in an asylum application. The stakes are high-either a new life in the United States, or probable fatality at home if deported.The …

Exploring Alternatives To The "Consultation Or Consent" Paradigm, Jason Searle

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The Dakota Access Pipeline brought the question of what adequate tribal consultation requires to the forefront. Some would argue that consultation is a weak standard and that only adopting a new standard of free, prior, and informed consent can guarantee tribes greater control and respect. However, the “consultation or consent” paradigm does not take into account important sources of law that do not fit under “consultation” or “consent” and yet could be valuable in strengthening tribes’ claims in the absence of a consent standard.

Crimea's Secession From Ukraine And Accession To The Russian Federation As An Instance Of North(-West) V. South(-East) Divide In The Understanding Of International Law, G. Matteo Vaccaro-Incisa

Santa Clara Journal of International Law

Crimea's Secession from Ukraine and Accession to the Russian Federation as an Instance of North(-West) v. South(-East) Divide in the Understanding of International Law

The Role Of Legal Advocates In Transnational Judicial Dialogue: The Abolition Of The Mandatory Death Penalty And The Evolution Of International Law, Andrew Novak

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article examines the role of transnational legal citation and advocacy in shaping constitutional norms, particularly in the context of the death penalty. It argues that lawyers and human rights advocates are driving a global consensus against the mandatory death penalty by strategically citing international and foreign jurisprudence. This process highlights the interplay between domestic and international law, demonstrating how transnational legal discourse can influence law reform and the abolition of practices deemed cruel and degrading.

Land, Property And Sovereignty In International Law, Lorenzo Cotula

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

This article charts the relationship between land and international law. Tracing evolutions since the very origins of international legal ordering, the article identifies sovereignty and property as the two key concepts that have traditionally framed claims to land in international law. For centuries, international jurists primarily considered sovereignty and property claims in the context of changes in, and disputes over, territorial control. However, developments in international human rights, investment and environmental law have reconfigured the internal dimensions of the land-property-sovereignty.nexus, redefining space for states lawfully to exercise their sovereign powers vis-d-vis property within their jurisdiction.

Relevant international instruments advance diverse …

Children Crossing Borders: Internationalizing The Restatement Of The Conflict Of Laws, Louise Ellen Teitz

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Thick Law, Thin Justice, Patrick Macklem

Michigan Law Review

Review of The Thin Justice of International Law: A Moral Reckoning of the Law of Nations by Steven R. Ratner.

Paese Di Accoglienza: Il Successo Di Un Modello Innovativo Di Accoglienza Dei Richiedenti Asilo In Italia, Isabela Arena Secanechia

Senior Capstone Theses

This work discusses Italy's migrant reception system including its flaws and their effects. Furthermore, this work explores an alternative, sustainable model of migrant reception created in Riace, Calabria, that has been successful in varying towns across Italy. Ultimately, this work argues that this system, which is beneficial to both Italians and incoming migrants — specifically asylum seekers — can and should be implemented nationally to counter the current flawed system.

Parochial Procedure, Maggie Gardner

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The federal courts are often accused of being too parochial, favoring U.S. parties over foreigners and U.S. law over relevant foreign or international law. According to what this Article terms the “parochial critique,” the courts’ U.S.-centrism generates unnecessary friction with allies, regulatory conflict, and access-to-justice gaps. This parochialism is assumed to reflect the preferences of individual judges: persuade judges to like international law and transnational cases better, the standard story goes, and the courts will reach more cosmopolitan results.

This Article challenges that assumption. I argue instead that parochial doctrines can develop even in the absence of parochial judges. Our …

General Counsel Of The Fbi, James Baker, In Conversation With Professor Mary Derosa On The Fbi And International Justice, Mary B. Derosa

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Mary DeRosa, Georgetown Law Professor, former Deputy Counsel to President Obama for National Security Affairs, former Legal Advisor to the National Security Council under President Obama, and former Deputy Legal Adviser to the National Security Council in the Clinton Administration, interviewed current General Counsel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), James Baker. The two discussed the FBI’s role in international law enforcement and the domestic tension between technological advancement and law enforcement duties.

Contemporary Practice Of The United States Relating To International Law, April 2017, Kristina Daugirdas, Julian Davis Mortenson

Articles

In this section: • United States Abstains on Security Council Resolution Criticizing Israeli Settlements • United States Sanctions Russian Individuals and Entities After Accusing Russian Government of Using Hacking to Interfere with U.S. Election Process; Congressional Committees and Intelligence and Law Enforcement Agencies Continue to Investigate President Trump’s Connections to Russian Officials • Second Circuit Overturns $655 Million Jury Verdict Against Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority • New Legislation Seeks to Confirm Immunity of Artwork and Facilitate Cultural Exchange • United States Confronts China over Seizure of Unmanned Drone in the South China Sea • International Criminal Court Prosecutor …

Searching Places Unknown: Law Enforcement Jurisdiction On The Dark Web, Ahmed Ghappour

Faculty Scholarship

The use of hacking tools by law enforcement to pursue criminal suspects who have anonymized their communications on the dark web presents a looming flashpoint between criminal procedure and international law. Criminal actors who use the dark web (for instance, to commit crimes or to evade authorities) obscure digital footprints left behind with third parties, rendering existing surveillance methods obsolete. In response, law enforcement has implemented hacking techniques that deploy surveillance software over the Internet to directly access and control criminals’ devices. The practical reality of the underlying technologies makes it inevitable that foreign-located computers will be subject to remote …

Obligations Versus Rights: Substantive Difference Between Wto And International Investment Law, Chios Carmody

Law Publications

WTO law remains relatively uncontentious whereas international investment law elicits much more debate. This article posits that the differences in reception are attributable to deeper substantive differences about what is protected under each regime. In WTO law what is protected is the sum total of all commitments and concessions under the WTO Agreement, something that can be thought of as a “public” good. When a country injures that good, the remedy is for the country to cease the injury, a requirement that naturally places emphasis on obligation. In international investment law, by contrast, what is protected is individualized to a …

Boundary Dispute: The Presumption Against Extraterritoriality As Judicial Nondelegation, Luke Bell

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Multinational Corporations, Miriam Theresa Rooney

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

The Updated Commentary On The First Geneva Convention – A New Tool For Generating Respect For International Humanitarian Law, Lindsey Cameron, Bruno Demeyere, Jean-Marie Henckaerts, Eve La Haye, Heike Niebergall-Lackner

International Law Studies

Since their publication in the 1950s and the 1980s respectively, the Commentaries on the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 have become a major reference for the application and interpretation of these treaties. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), together with a team of renowned experts, is currently updating these Commentaries in order to document developments and provide up-to-date interpretations. The work on the first updated Commentary, the Commentary on the First Geneva Convention relating to the protection of the wounded and sick in the armed forces, has already been finalized. This article provides …

Combat Losses Of Nuclear-Powered Warships: Contamination, Collateral Damage And The Law, Akira Mayama

International Law Studies

There have been non-combat losses of nuclear-powered warships during sea trials and peacetime patrol missions. Nuclear contamination is spreading from some of these sinking sites. It is also conceivable that combat losses of nuclear-powered warships could cause contamination of civilians, civilian objects and the natural environment. If such combat losses occur at sea, both belligerent and neutral States will have to deal with a difficult question: to what extent and by who can harm resulting from such contamination be compensated for payment of damages. This article examines legal issues stemming from prospective combat losses of nuclear-powered warships from the perspectives …

The Functions Of Law In International Society, Miriam Theresa Rooney

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

A Human Rights Perspective To Global Battlefield Detention: Time To Reconsider Indefinite Detention, Yuval Shany

International Law Studies

This article discusses one principal challenge to detention without trial of suspected international terrorists—the international human rights law (IHRL) norm requiring the introduction of an upper limit on the duration of security detention in order to render it not indefinite in length. Part One of this article describes the “hardline” position on security detention, adopted by the United States in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks (followed, with certain variations, by other countries, including the United Kingdom and the State of Israel), according to which international terrorism suspects can be deprived of their liberty without trial for the …

The International Narcotics Control System: A Proposal, M. C. Bassiouni

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

The Limits Of Inviolability: The Parameters For Protection Of United Nations Facilities During Armed Conflict, Laurie R. Blank

International Law Studies

This article examines the international legal protections for United Nations humanitarian assistance and other civilian facilities during armed conflict, including under general international law, setting forth the immunities of the United Nations, and the law of armed conflict (LOAC), the relevant legal framework during wartime. Recent conflicts highlight three primary issues: (1) collateral damage to UN facilities as a consequence of strikes on military objectives nearby and military operations in the immediate vicinity; (2) the misuse of UN facilities for military purposes; and (3) direct attacks on fighters, weapons or other equipment that cause damage to such facilities. To identify …

The International Criminal Court: A Figurehead Of Justice, Megan Stoddard

Senior Theses

International law has existed since nation states began to recognize one another. However, the defined study of international criminal law and the resulting International Criminal Court is a fairly recent institution in our history, so there are still many questions about its operation. The question explored here is the power of the court. When put in the international political stage, the International Criminal Court can seem very powerful, but this is a question of the international influence the court can have over the world, and potential international criminals. To explore these ideas, the history of the court and international criminal …

Negotiating And Mediating Brexit, Horst Eidenmüller

Pepperdine Law Review

The United Kingdom will leave the European Union. Brexit will involve many complex negotiations. This article analyses the negotiation position of the parties (UK, EU, Member States) based on a set of four key negotiation factors: agreement options, nonagreement alternatives, interests, and perceptions. A special focus here is on the effect of triggering the formal withdrawal process under the Treaty on European Union’s Article 50 on the non-agreement alternatives of the parties. The article considers the likely negotiation strategy of the UK against this background. It further discusses strategic negotiation moves already made by the parties and moves likely to …