Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

The Arrest Of Telegram Ceo Pavel Durov & What It Says About Europe’S Approach To Privacy, Soraya Mazarei

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review (CICLR) Blog

On August 24, 2024, Pavel Durov, the CEO of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested in Paris. French authorities have charged him with various crimes, including complicity in the distribution of child pornography, the sale of illegal drugs, and the distribution of hacking software. Durov is banned from leaving France and must check in at a police station twice a week. If convicted, Durov faces a ten-year prison sentence. French prosecutors are holding Durov criminally liable for permitting criminal activity to go unchallenged on Telegram. This indictment is possible under France’s LOPMI law, which was passed in January 2023. Under …

Arrest The President, Hypothetically, Leo Lombardi

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review (CICLR) Blog

By what authority does one dare direct that famous phrase, “j’accuse!” at the state’s supreme executor of law? Is there a mechanism, through which a citizen can hold a national government to account? Can the citizen's arrest serve as a symbolic insistence that international humanitarian law be enforced? International humanitarian law is coming to be defined by the dereliction of duty. Where a rules-based international order once stood as a lofty ideal, the reality of a nuclear-armed world now looms over the field’s failures.

This post was originally published on the Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review on November 14, …

Shadows Of The Crown: The Virtue Of Equilibrium In American Sovereign Immunity, William T. Olmstead

Cleveland State Law Review

Under the doctrine of sovereign immunity, the federal and state governments of the United States cannot be sued or prosecuted unless they voluntarily waive their own impunity. In recent decades, the Supreme Court has expanded the scope of the sovereign immunity of the state governments. This Note argues that such an expansion is a profound and shortsighted mistake. It proposes that the most effective way to balance governmental functionality with civic accountability is to pass and ratify a constitutional amendment that solidifies national sovereign immunity and abolishes state sovereign immunity. It argues that such action is necessary to ensure the …

Detangling Knots In The Narratives: A Response To Theunis Roux, Aparna Chandra

Articles

This article is part of a symposium on Theunis Roux's article titled 'Grand Narratives of Transition and the Quest for Democratic Constitutionalism in India and South Africa', which proposes two dominant narratives about the constitutional transitions in India and South Africa. The author focuses on Indian constitutional praxis to evaluate the claims of both. Part A engages with Roux’s version of the 'Liberal Progressive Narrative' and demonstrates what post-liberal accounts of the Indian constitutional transition offers that differs from the standard narrative as presented by Roux. Part B turns to the 'Culturalist Grand Narrative' and teases out the differences between …

Populist Secularism, Seval Yildirim

Journal Articles

This article argues that in the context of a developing democracy, the rise of religiously oriented parties should be viewed contextually as part of an ongoing process of democratic negotiation and consolidation. Using Turkey as a case study, this article argues that religion and secularism are best viewed as parts of a symbiotic relationship, informing each other’s identity, and defining characteristics through an ongoing process of negotiation.

The article discusses commonly used concepts relevant to secularism in general and argues for the need to distinguish between the secular, secularism, and secularization as a governance project. Through a historical survey of …

The Transformation Of European Climate Litigation, Maxim Bönnemann, Maria Antonia Tigre

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

In Spring 2024, the European Court of Human Rights ruled for the first time that inadequate climate mitigation violates human rights. The Court’s landmark rulings have significant implications, ranging from the design of domestic climate laws and questions of standing to international trade issues and the European Union’s climate governance.

Building on a symposium by Verfassungsblog and the Climate Law Blog, this book offers the first comprehensive assessment of the rulings in KlimaSeniorinnen, Duarte Agostinho, and Carême. It explores key innovations, missed opportunities, and the untaken paths in European climate litigation.

Should Ireland Have Taxed Apple?, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Nessa Ní Chasaide

Articles

On September 10 the EU’s Court of Justice issued its long-awaited decision in the Apple state aid case. Surprisingly, it reversed the EU’s General Court decision and held that the European Commission was correct in finding that Ireland had provided prohibited state aid to Apple, and therefore Apple must pay Ireland the €13 billion in taxes that it would have paid but for the illegal subsidy. This state aid case, the largest in the EU’s history, highlights significant issues about the legal governance of corporate tax. This article examines the notable features of the Court ruling, then outlines why we …

Confronting The War On International Law In The United States, Rebecca Ingber

Online Publications

Harold Hongju Koh’s The National Security Constitution in the 21st Century is a code red threat assessment of the state of public law in America today. True to Koh’s nature, he does not leave us without hope; rather he devotes a sizeable portion of the book to calls for reform, from the legal frameworks governing war powers and intelligence to the division of labor in the national security legal bureaucracy plodding away within the deepest (secure) chambers of the executive branch itself.

Connected Vehicles And Data Privacy & Sovereignty In The Global South, Uduak Ekott, Zhe Che, Attamongkol Tantratian

Maurer Student Articles

This essay examines data privacy and data sovereignty concerns associated with connected vehicles, with particular attention to countries in the Global South. It considers the collection and cross-border transfer of personal and vehicle data, surveys data protection and localization frameworks in several jurisdictions, and discusses regulatory approaches that importing countries may adopt to protect privacy and digital sovereignty.

Maurer School Of Law Professor, Iu Vice President Elected President Of The American Society Of Comparative Law, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

The American Society of Comparative Law has elected Indiana University Maurer School of Law Professor Hannah L. Buxbaum as its next president, the organization announced last week at its annual meeting.

Buxbaum is an internationally recognized scholar in the areas of private international law and international litigation and jurisdiction, and has most recently served as vice president of the ASCL. She is the John E. Schiller Chair in Legal Ethics at the Law School as well as Indiana University’s Vice President for International Affairs.

Crypto & The Climate: Will Local & National Environmental Regulation Save Or Stifle The Cryptocurrency Boom?

Fordham Environmental Law Review

As cryptocurrencies continue to gain traction among mainstream investors and consumers, regulators and lobbyists are increasingly taking note of the potential environmental impacts of the industry. At its core, the process of mining new currency for virtual wallets is energy intensive, which can place strains on electrical grids and accelerate the impacts of climate change. However, these effects are felt very differently depending on what source of electricity the mining operation utilizes and the methodology behind the specific currency. These variable factors are on the minds of legislators and regulators as public pressure to better understand and regulate the industry …

A Shifting Focus: How Algal Turf Scrubbers (Ats) In Natural Waterways Can Prevent Toxic Blooms And Could Save The Algae Energy Industry

Fordham Environmental Law Review

Biofuels have generated global interest among oil companies and governments. In particular, algal biofuels are slated to be more promising than traditional biofuel feedstocks, like corn and sugarcane, which are simultaneously cultivated as food products. However, the drawbacks of harvesting algae on a large industrial scale has led to intense criticism. Most critics focus on issues of sustainability, scalability of production, and the legal and ethical concerns of genetically modified crops. New research in cyanobacteria, however, illustrates algae’s potential to produce clean electricity in addition to oil, ethanol, and gasoline. Moreover, using Algal Turf Scrubbers (“ATS”) in natural waterways offers …

Why We Need A Constitutional Right To Healthy Environment In Canada

Fordham Environmental Law Review

The increasing demand for constitutional recognition of the right to a healthy environment (‘RTHE’) has been a matter of public concern and debate in many countries, including Canada.2 This paper asks, will a constitutional RTHE within the Canadian Constitution add any value when statutes already exist to protect the environment (and thereby health)? The present environmental statutes work towards protecting the environment, and by protecting the environment, public health can be protected.3 Together, both of them form a ‘healthy environment’, ie., an environment that fosters a healthy life.4 This paper will argue that there is additional value in recognizing a …

Looking Through Trusts, Adam S. Hofri, Mark Bennett

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

As everyone knows, trusts are often used to avoid or subvert different rules of law. To combat such avoidance, jurisdictions enacted anti-avoidance rules; yet many of these rules do not fully prevent trusts-based avoidance, or in some cases reflect some jurisdictions’ acceptance of such avoidance. We review the anti-avoidance rules applied by Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand to try and stymie trusts-based avoidance in three subject areas: distribution of family property on divorce or separation, taxation of income accrued in settlor-controlled trusts, and means-tested eligibility for welfare benefits. We find that anti-avoidance doctrines are often less …

Lawyers And Non-Lawyers In International Arbitration: Discovering Diminishing Diversity, Luke Nottage, Nobumichi Teramura, James Tanna

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

This article highlights a curious lack of diversity within the proliferating discourse about the lack of diversity in international arbitration. There is hardly any awareness or at least sustained discussion about the limited diversity of professional backgrounds, and more specifically, the dominance nowadays of those with practicing lawyer positions or primary careers across the key groups and publication outlets for international arbitration. Yet this encroachment of lawyers was still being contested in the 1990s, as being linked to burgeoning costs and delays, and such “formalisation” has been re-emerging in recent years. Diversifying the world of international arbitration to involve more …

Barbosa De Souza Et Al. V. Brazil, Cristina Tenorio

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

This case is about the murder of a young Black woman by a member of

the legislature of the State of Paraíba, in Brazil. Investigation and

prosecution of the murder were hindered by parliamentary immunity.

Eventually, the Court found Brazil in violation of several articles of the

American Convention and of the Convention of Convention of Belém do

Pará.

Brítez Arce V. Argentina, Gursimran Bhullar

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

This case is about the death of a pregnant woman due to obstetric violence, a form of gender-based violence that includes abusive, negligent, dehumanizing, or disrespectful treatment of pregnant women. The Court found Argentina in violation of several articles of the American Convention, including Article 26.

Flores Bedregal Et Al. V. Bolivia, Douglas Clark

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

This case is about Bolivia’s failure to adequately investigate and prosecute the murder and forced disappearance of an opposition politician during the coup of General Luis García Meza Tejada in 1980. Eventually, the Court found Bolivia in violation of several articles of the American Convention.

González Et Al. V. Venezuela, Celene Afari

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

This case is about Venezuela’s failure to properly investigate and prosecute a series of crimes that had been committed in the context of a feud between a family belonging to the Wayuú indigenous group and a local gang. Eventually, the Court found Venezuela responsible for the violation of several articles of the American Convention.

Olivares Munoz Et Al. V. Venezuela, Rachana Reddi

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

This case is about the murder of several prison inmates by guards as retaliation for a previous riot. The Court found Venezuela in violation of several articles of the American Convention on Human Rights.