Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

A Populist Threat To China's Courts?, Benjamin L. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

Is the Chinese party-state too responsive to public opinion? In the case of the courts, this may be the case. Western literature has devoted extensive attention to the problems in the Chinese legal system, in particular in the courts, describing a system that continues to be undermined by a range of problems, from corruption to lack of competence to continued Communist Party intervention. Likewise, existing literature describes a legal system that often is unresponsive to individual demands for justice. In this chapter, I examine another possibility: that one impediment to the development of courts that are able to protect individual …

What Directors Do (And Fail To Do): Some Comparative Notes On Board Structure And Corporate Governance, Simon Deakin

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Misinterpreted Justice: Problems With The Use Of Islamic Legal Experts In U.S. Trial Courts, Peter W. Beauchamp

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Whistleblower Protection And The Challenge To Public Employment Law, Robert Vaughn

Contributions to Books

Whistleblowers who are public employees are protected by statutes which vary in scope and character, but authorise employees to disclose information outside of the chain of command and under standards that replace internal agency rules or guidelines. During the last decade a number of countries enacted whistleblower statutes that protect public employees who disclose various types of misconduct or incompetence. At the same time, a number of international treaties and conventions addressing governmental corruption have included provisions protecting whistleblowers. The recent activity in providing protection for public sector whistleblowers as well as movements for honesty and transparency in government present …

Cracks In The Firmament Of Burma's Military Government: From Unity Through Coercion To Buying Support, David C. Williams

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Despite holding recent elections, Burma’s military government does not intend to relinquish power; its new constitution guarantees the army the right to do whatever it wants. Democracy will therefore not come to Burma through legal, peaceful, incremental steps. Instead, democracy will come to Burma outside the legal process, because the basis for the regime’s power has changed, becoming markedly weaker. When it first seized power in 1961, the military was united and therefore able to rule through coercion alone. In the past several decades, by contrast, the generals have increasingly sought to purchase support by giving income and resource streams …

Delay In Process, Denial Of Justice: The Jurisprudence And Empirics Of Speedy Trials In Comparative Perspective, Jayanth K. Krishnan, C. Raj Kumar

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Criminal law scholars regularly maintain that American prisons are overcrowded and that defendants in custody wait long periods of time before having their cases brought to trial. A similar refrain is made of the penal process in India – the world’s largest democracy, an ally of the United States, and a country with a judiciary that has drawn upon American criminal procedure law. In fact, the situation in India is thought to be much worse. Accounts of prisoners languishing behind bars for several years – and sometimes decades – awaiting their day in court are not uncommon. And many Indian …

Refugee Law And Policy: A Comparative And International Approach, Jennifer Moore, Karen Musalo, Richard A. Boswell

Faculty Book Display Case

The fourth edition of Refugee Law and Policy, which includes all legal developments through mid-2010, provides a thoughtful scholarly analysis of refugee law, and related protections such as those available under the Convention against Torture. The book is rooted in an international law perspective, enhanced by a comparative approach. Starting with ancient precursors to asylum, the casebook portrays refugee law as dynamic across time and cultural contexts. This edition of the casebook has incorporated substantial new materials on the cutting edge area of social group claims, and their relevance to claims for protection based on gender-persecution and LGBT status. …

Red Card Racism: Using The Court Of Arbitration For Sport (Cas) To Prevent And Punish Racist Conduct Perpetrated By Fans Attending European Soccer Games, Alexander Wynn

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note proceeds in three sections. Part I describes the extent to which racism infects European soccer, the processes by which Uefa addresses violations of the Uefa Statutes and CAS' contributions to sports mediation and arbitration. Part II contextualizes Uefa's governing authority within statutory and case law from the E.U. and the United Kingdom [hereinafter "U.K."] as legal frameworks through which to explore possible reasons why Uefa rarely imposes substantial sanctions on member associations or teams whose fans perpetrate racist acts. Finally, Part III explores the reasons why CAS is better able to address and punish racism in European soccer …

Linguistic Rights Of Indigenous Peoples In The States Of Latin America, Jose Manuel Perez Fernandez

Intercultural Human Rights Law Review

The protection of language rights of speakers of indigenous languages has experienced important developments in the Latin American sphere, which has served as a framework for the whole process of recognition of cultural and ethnical identity of Indigenous Peoples. This reflects a rejection of assimilation, and an assertion of multicultural and multilingual aspects in Latin American societies. On the one hand, the author focuses on the role that international law instruments related to human rights, those for the general protection of minorities and those specific for the indigenous peoples, may perform in the recognition of linguistic rights when granting legal …

Vicki C. Jackson, Constitutional Engagement In A Transnational Era, Melissa A. Waters

Scholarship@WashULaw

This essay reviews and critiques Vicki C. Jackson's book on constitutional engagement and comparative constitutional law.

Over the past decade, the debate over the use of foreign authority in interpreting the U.S. Constitution has fallen prey to an unfortunate “Crossfire” phenomenon, reminiscent of the old (and much maligned) CNN news commentary program. Serious discourse on this important issue has been obscured by an increasingly rancorous public debate in the news media, the blogosphere, and even before Congress. In this Crossfire debate, it seems, everyone must “choose up sides.” So-called “nationalists” deplore even most modest citations to foreign authority in constitutional …

Gender Violence And Work In The United States And South America: The Parallel Processes Of Legal And Cultural Change, Julie Goldscheid

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Transnational Class Actions And The Illusory Search For Res Judicata, Tanya J. Monestier

Journal Articles

The transnational class action—a class action in which a portion of the class consists of non-U.S. claimants—is here to stay. Defendants typically resist the certification of transnational class actions on the basis that such actions provide no assurance of finality for a defendant, as it will always be possible for a non-U.S. class member to initiate subsequent proceedings in a foreign court. In response to this concern, many U.S. courts will analyze whether the “home” courts of the foreign class members would accord res judicata effect to an eventual U.S. judgment prior to certifying a U.S. class action containing foreign …

East Meets West: Introducing Sharia Into The Rules Governing International Arbitrations At The Bcdr-Aaa, Elana Levi-Tawil

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

As the size and complexity of international commercial transactions grow, parties to international commercial transactions are increasingly utilizing Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR") methods, specifically international commercial arbitration, to resolve the disputes that arise. However, since international commercial players first began to use international commercial arbitration to resolve these disputes, transnational recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards has been a major issue. Since 1958, the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the "New York Convention"), an agreement executed by the United Nation's General Assembly, has vastly expanded the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral …

Japan's Business Revitalization Adr: An Economic Savior Or A Convenient Excuse To Avoid Bankruptcy?, Naoko Okamoto

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note analyzes Japan's newly enacted "Business Revitalization Alternative Dispute Resolution" (ADR) and its effectiveness in revitalizing the Japanese economy. Due to ADR's economic and procedural ease, Business Revitalization ADR has been employed by companies undergoing revitalization processes and negotiating with creditors in extending debt payments. Nonetheless, ADR proceedings, specifically mediation between creditors and debtors, create only short-term economic value. Because of cultural characteristics of mediation and the nature of mediation in the business context in Japan, Business Revitalization ADR may be subject to abuse by companies that should have gone bankrupt. In fact, many companies may save themselves from …

After The Ecj's West Tankers: The Clash Of Civilizations On The Issue Of An Anti-Suit Injunction, Grace Gunah Kim

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note argues that the ECJ's West Tankers decision to ban an anti-suit injunction in Europe, coupled with the recent European Commission's reform proposals to govern arbitration within the jurisdictional framework of the Brussels Regulation No. 44/ 2001 ("Brussels Regulation"), directly clash with the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards ("New York Convention") and practically amount to a blanket rule that bars English courts from upholding arbitration agreements.

The French Jury At A Crossroads, Valerie P. Hans, Claire M. Germain

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Domestic Violence And State Intervention In The American West And Australia, 1860-1930, Carolyn B. Ramsey

Publications

This Article calls into question stereotypical assumptions about the presumed lack of state intervention in the family and the patriarchal violence of Anglo-American frontier societies in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By analyzing previously unexamined cases of domestic assault and homicide in the American West and Australia, Professor Ramsey reveals a sustained (but largely ineffectual) effort to civilize men by punishing violence against women. Husbands in both the American West and Australia were routinely arrested or summoned to court for beating their wives in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Judges, police officers, journalists, and others expressed dismay …

How Can The Rural Energy Poor Obtain Appropriate Sustainable Energy Technologies?, Michael Waggoner

Publications

Solutions to a current serious problem for the rural energy poor might best be found at least in part in older practices.

The problem comes from cooking over open fires, impairing the health of the cook and of others in her family, using fuel so inefficiently as to threaten forests, and releasing soot that contributes to global warming. Small, cheap, reliable cooking stoves could address these issues, improving health by reducing smoke and exhausting it through a chimney and thus away from the cook, using fuel more efficiently so that less needs to be gathered, and more completely burning the …

Wto-Compliant Protection Of Fundamental Rights: Lessons From The Eu Privacy Directive, Carla L. Reyes

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Nation states often create legislative schemes regulating services industries in order to protect fundamental rights such as human life, economic security, or human security. World Trade Organization members are constrained in their creation of such regulatory schemes by their obligations under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (‘GATS’). WTO members raised concerns about such constraints even before the creation of GATS. As a result, GATS contains clauses specifically designed to allow members enough regulatory latitude to protect important domestic social interests, such as fundamental rights, while simultaneously liberalising trade in services. WTO jurisprudence interpreting these clauses, however, has called …

The Case Of Colonel Abel, Jeffrey D. Kahn

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

In June 2010, journalists for the Associated Press reported the arrest of ten Russian spies, all suspected of being “deep-cover” illegal agents in the United States. Seeking to convey the magnitude of this event, the journalists wrote in the first paragraphs of their article that this “blockbuster series of arrests” might even be as significant as the FBI’s “famous capture of Soviet Col. Rudolf Abel in 1957 in New York.” Colonel Abel’s story of American justice at a time of acute anxiety about the nation’s security is one that continues to resonate today. The honor, and error, that is contained …