Transnational Law Commons^™

Revolutions And Treaty Termination, Philip Noonan

Penn State International Law Review (1982 - 2011)

It is a widely accepted principle of international law that ordinary changes in government do not affect treaty obligations. During the course of the twentieth century, however, certain states and some writers have asserted that revolutionary changes in government do affect treaty obligations. Nevertheless, many states continue to adhere to the rigid rule that treaty obligations should not be affected even by radical changes in government. This rule can create anomalous and unreasonable results. Accordingly, it may be better to replace the present blanket rule with a flexible test that encompasses all relevant factors and provides a result in accordance …

International Electronic Funds Transfer System: Swift And Its Interface With The New Payments Code, Thomas J. Karl

Penn State International Law Review (1982 - 2011)

Increase in international trade and travel in recent years has increased the volume of international payments, most of which have traditionally been handled by commercial banks. Because paper provided the legal basis for these transactions, they were carried out via fairly complicated documents transmitted by mail. When the sums involved were very large or the time factor particularly important, Telex was used to expedite the procedure.

These factors compelled the banking world to develop a computerized international transfer system. The desired system would facilitate processing international transactions through (1) a high degree of standardization in the types of documents, procedures, …

Investment And The Andean Pact: From Political Response To Legal Structures To Safe Harbors, Robert Carcano

Penn State International Law Review (1982 - 2011)

The Latin American experience clearly establishes that economic development involves profound social and political change. Despite modernization efforts, economuc benefits eluded Latin American leaders. This fact led to the widespread perception that a new international legal strucure had to be forged if the region's myriad social concerns were to be addressed. Regional economic integration was a necessary first step.

Integration enabled Latin American statesmen to address insurmountable national problems on a regional level. In the Latin American context, however, economic integration efforts became intertwined with the new nationalism. Despite this beginning, the structures that eventually arose formed a relationship which …

Terrorist Acts – Crimes Or Political Infractions? An Appraisal Of Recent French Extradition Cases, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the progression of French jurisprudence on the extradition of transnational terrorists, focusing upon the issue of whether terrorist acts can be considered legally to be political offenses and hence exempt from extradition. The analysis of this issue integrates French judicial decisions into the general context of international practice – beginning with an assessment of extradition procedures and proceeding to a discussion of the special problems raised by the application of the political offense exception. A survey of international extradition decisional law reveals that the tribunals of various countries have elaborated a series of tests by which to …

The 1976 Terrorism Amendment To The Foreign Assistance Act Of 1961, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Richard Lillich

Faculty Scholarship

Key to any successful attempt to combat international terrorism is the elimination of sanctuary and safe-haven for terrorists. The United States has pressed consistently for international agreements – the anti-hijacking conventions and the Internationally Protected Persons Convention being examples – requiring States either to prosecute or extradite international terrorists found within their borders. Because its efforts to establish a "basic extradite-or-prosecute obligation" have not met with general success, the U.S. has had to consider, among other alternatives, various unilateral responses to help curb terrorist activities. One obvious response, drawing upon a wealth of domestic precedents, involves the possible invocation of …

The New Article 310 Of The French Civil Code For International Divorce Actions, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Faculty Scholarship

The variety and complexity of the legal issues that can confront a French court in an international divorce action may best be illustrated by a description of the basic factual pattern of, and the initial arguments advanced in, some of the more typical cases:

1. French National Spouse v. Foreign National Spouse
2. The Validity of a Prior Foreign Divorce Decree
3. Foreign National Spouses With Immigrant Status in France
4. Spouses of Foreign Nationality with Domiciliary Status in France

Although disparate, the facts of these four hypothetical cases point to and are unified by two salient legal issues: one jurisdictional in nature and …

The Provisional Arrest And Subsequent Release Of Abu Daoud By French Authorities, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Faculty Scholarship

On January 7, 1977, Abu Daoud entered France as a member of an official delegation sent to Paris by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). A day or so later, French police detained an then arrested him at the request of the West German and Israeli Governments. Offficials of both governments announced forthcoming requests for his extradition as a suspected organizer of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. This chain of events set the stage for the most recent case illustrating the political and legal obstacles which mitigate against the extradition and eventual prosecution and punishment of alleged transnational terrorists.