International Law Commons^™

(D)Evolution Of International Commercial Arbitration In Mexico, Edwin N. Á. Román

Arbitration Brief

The 1990s were a time of vibrant international rulemaking in the field of international economic law, during which Mexico transformed from a closed to an open economy. In 1993, Mexico adopted the 1985 UNICITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. In 2011, Mexico amended its commercial code by introducing a specific proceeding to enforce and set aside arbitration awards titled “Juicio Especial sobre Transacciones Comerciales y Arbitraje.” Alongside these amendments, Mexico became an internationally relevant jurisdiction for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. This article analyzes the evolution of the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice’s jurisprudence concerning international …

Third-Party Funding In Treaty-Based Arbitration: Towards A More Transparent And Responsible System?, Margie-Lys Jaime R.

Arbitration Brief

Third-Party Funding (“TPF”) has become the “new kid on the block” of long-established stakeholders in international arbitration. However, despite the increasing use of TPF, few countries have undertaken the task of regulating the intervention of funders. Even in countries where the practice of TPF is regulated, it is generally in codes of conduct or non-binding instruments.

National Security Issues Arising In Anticorruption Enforcement, Anthony J. Lewis, Aisling O'Shea

American University National Security Law Brief

The overlap between national security and corruption has long been recognized; however, the government’s views on the nature of the overlap have shifted over time. For instance, in June 2021, the Biden administration announced an initiative to combat corruption as a core national security interest. The administration ordered a review by fifteen government agencies and offices, including the Central Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Then, in February 2025, the Trump administration declared that “overexpansive and unpredictable” enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (“FCPA”) “actively harms American competitiveness and, therefore, national security.” …

A New "Administrative Law Approach" To Social Rights? Learnings From Environmental Litigation In Colombia, Maria Emilia Mamberti

American University International Law Review

Social rights are at present profusely recognized in international and domestic law. Latin American countries are frontrunners in the field, as virtually all constitutions in the region acknowledge social rights, often in ambitious manners. In many countries, courts have been active and creative in adjudicating social rights cases.

The increasing importance of social rights has led to copious debates in comparative law, which have initially focused on the convenience of constitutionalizing them, and on assessing their nature and core characteristics. With relevant exceptions, more current debates—largely revolving around the decisions of high courts from a handful of jurisdictions—have focused on …

Diplomatic Practices: Activating The Crime Of Aggression, Noah Weisbord

American University International Law Review

At midnight on Friday, December 15, 2017, a century of multilateral negotiations over the definition and jurisdictional reach of the crime of aggression—leadership responsibility for aggressive war—was on the brink of collapse. Almost every controversial drafting issue had been negotiated and resolved, and International Criminal Court (ICC or the Court) States Parties were gathered at the United Nations (U.N.) in New York to activate ICC jurisdiction over the “supreme international crime.” According to aggression scholar Annegret Hartig, “activation was expected to be comparable to a mere turning on of lights.” Just two states, the U.K. and France, were blocking the …

Prologue, Claudio Grossman, Robert K. Goldman

American University International Law Review

We are pleased to write this prologue for the special issue of the American University International Law Review featuring the winning papers from the 2024 Human Rights Essay Award, sponsored by the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of American University Washington College of Law.

Does Mandatory Corporate Human Rights Due Diligence Offer A Path To Resolving Global Food Insecurity Challenges?, Ying Chen, Benedict Sheehy

American University International Law Review

Despite the 2015 implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030 (the Zero Hunger Goal), food insecurity remains a persistent global problem. Well past the halfway point to 2030, the world is woefully off track to reach this goal. Current efforts to address global food insecurity are led by the public sector and focused on government interventions, and these are proving to be insufficient on their own. This Article argues that the private sector, and business enterprises and multinational corporations in particular, as important stakeholders in society, can and must …

"Esa Persona No Soy Yo": La Inteligencia Artificial Como Un Nuevo Instrumento De Violencia, Samantha Rodriguez Santillan

American University International Law Review

En 1943, cuando se inventó la primera computadora, se especularon muchísimas teorías, positivas y negativas, sobre cómo esta tecnología afectaría las relaciones humanas. Décadas después, el desarrollo de toda una nueva gama de productos y servicios creó un nuevo espacio que trajo consigo un infinito número de escenarios que lentamente se han regularizado.

Inteligencia Artificial Y Desinformación En Internet: Regulaciones (In)Compatibles Con Los Estándares De Protección Del Derecho A La Libertad De Expresión En El Derecho Internacional De Los Derechos Humanos, Trilce Gabriela Valdivia Aguilar

American University International Law Review

Durante los casi dos años de confinamiento debido a la pandemia por COVID-19, muchas de nuestras interacciones “en vivo” se trasladaron al mundo virtual. Asimismo, las redes sociales se convirtieron en una de nuestras principales fuentes de información y también en los medios más usados para comunicarnos y debatir con nuestros pares. Lamentablemente las mismas no estuvieron siempre sustentadas en información certera, sino más bien en información falsa, que circulaba en medio de viciosas burbujas donde nos era imposible conocer opiniones o pareceres contrarios a los nuestros.

For Whom Is International Law?, E. Tendayi Achiume

American University International Law Review

Grotius Lecturer E. Tendayi Achiume and Distinguished Discussant Jamil Dakwar provided the Twenty-Seventh Annual Grotius Lecture on Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.

Domestic Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence Laws As Global Business And Human Rights Regulation, Zhuolun Li, Yu Xiang

American University International Law Review

The last decade has witnessed a paradigm shift in business and human rights (BHR) from soft law to hard law. Although the Global South has pushed for an international treaty, legislators in Europe turned their focus from international law to domestic mandatory human rights due diligence (mHRDD) laws with extraterritorial implications, enforcing localized human rights standards globally. This Article examines the impact of mHRDD legislation as global BHR regulation from a Third World Approaches to International Law perspective. The Article makes three contributions. First, it argues that the current divide between the Global North and South continues a historical struggle …

The Climate-Arbitration Nexus: How Legitimate Expectations Shape Investor Claims In A Decarbonizing World, M. Uzeyir Karabiyik

American University International Law Review

The global push for climate change mitigation, particularly through renewable energy promotion and fossil fuel phase-out, has sparked a surge in investor-state arbitrations. At the heart of these arbitrations lies the concept of “legitimate expectations,” which is considered by arbitral tribunals as a cornerstone of the fair and equitable treatment (FET) standard. This Article conducts a comprehensive analysis of diverse approaches adopted by arbitral tribunals in interpreting legitimate expectations in the context of climate action. It then delves into specific interpretations of this concept within two categories: disputes related to states’ renewable energy promotion policies and those that stem from …

The Tightrope Walk Of Ftas: Balancing The Relationship Between Foreign Investments And Public Interests, Savannah Kelly

Arbitration Brief

Investors have the right to protect their investments just as host states have the right to protect public interests, otherwise recognized as public interest regulation. Arbitration can disrupt the balance between state and investor rights when it whittles away or strips entirely the state’s regulatory autonomy. Public interest regulation, such as environmental protection, remains critical as it holds states simultaneously accountable to, inter alia, their constituents as well as international norms and conventions. A trade agreement provision that infringes upon a state’s regulatory liberty may force it to navigate a complex legal landscape in which commitments to domestic and international …

Through A Glass Darkly: How Securities Disclosures Give A Distorted View Of The Economy, Gerald F. Davis

Seattle University Law Review

Our understanding of the American economy often relies on stylized facts derived from mandatory disclosures by listed corporations. Data vendors like Standard & Poor’s vacuum up 10Ks and proxy statements into databases, and scholars distill these into tentative maps. This may have been adequate for a postwar economy centered on asset-heavy manufacturers, but it is increasingly out of step with an information-based economy. Companies listed on the stock market are fewer in number and less representative than they were, light in tangible assets and people, and heavy on IP. Basic facts such as what industry they are in are increasingly …

Criminalizing Ecocide: An Opportunity To Embed The Inseparability Of Humans From Nature Into The Law, Rebecca Hamilton

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Amid widespread acknowledgment that we live on a planet in peril, the term “ecocide” packs a powerful rhetorical punch. Extant regulatory approaches to environmental protection feel insufficient in the face of the triple threat of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. International criminal prosecution for ecocide, by contrast, promises to meet the moment, and a recent proposal to introduce ecocide into the canon of core international crimes is gaining traction. Assuming the push to criminalize ecocide continues to gain momentum, this Article argues that the primary (and perhaps, sole) benefit that international criminal law can offer in this context is …

Asian Pacific Investments In Latin America: A Corporate And Tax Perspective, Nicolás Muñiz

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Survival Of The Fittest? Ai And Its Different Regulatory Models, Miklós Király

Emory International Law Review

Prof. Peter Hay is a regular visitor to Budapest, Hungary. He gives excellent lectures on conflict of laws, with a particular focus on the nuances of jurisdiction. At the same time, many of us are avid readers of his German textbook US-Amerikanisches Recht. This textbook provides an overview of US law, from legal history to constitutional law and administrative law or criminal law. His interest and work which spans legal disciplines and legal systems, encourages me to welcome him with a paper on comparative law than a study of private international law.

This paper provides an overview of the broad …

Public Policy’S Dual Function In Conflicts Law, Hossein Fazilatfar

Emory International Law Review

Public policy displays in conflicts law in various forms. It plays both a preventive and an offensive role. In its defensive form it may be used to refuse recognition of a foreign judgement or an arbitral award which violate forum’s public policy. It may also block the law chosen by the parties or any law otherwise applicable to the transaction for public policy violations. Simultaneously public policy provides for the direct application of its offensive function known as mandatory laws which will replace the law chosen by the parties or the law determined through any conflict analysis. This Article illustrates …

Peter Hay: An Academic Life In Full, Hans-Eric Rasmussen-Bonne

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Precautionary Measures And The Risk Of Escalation In The Use Of Nuclear Weapons, Jeffrey Biller

Emory International Law Review

The use of nuclear weapons presents an unparalleled risk of escalation, a reality that has become increasingly pressing due to recent geopolitical developments, particularly Russia’s revised nuclear doctrine and its ongoing conflict with Ukraine. While the legal frameworks governing armed conflict, particularly International Humanitarian Law (IHL), do not traditionally require an analysis of escalation risk before an attack, this article argues that the extreme and immediate consequences of nuclear escalation necessitate its inclusion within the precautionary measures framework.

This article first examines the concept of nuclear escalation, identifying both intended and unintended risks associated with nuclear strikes. While nuclear deterrence …