International Law Commons^™

Conventional Wisdom About Yugoslavia And Rwanda: Methodological Perils And Moral Implications, Aleksandar Jokić

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

While ostensibly a response to a critique, the main goal of this Article is to demonstrate how easily conventional wisdom, usually shaped by the media and politics, can corrupt scholarship when it is simply presupposed by those engaged in what should be an academic polemic, yet often also includes ‘activism in scholarship’. The examples of approved narratives in the West on Yugoslavia and Rwanda are used for the sake of this demonstration.

Introduction: Indigenous Rights In The Pacific Rim, Jonathan A. Franklin

Librarians' Articles

The four articles in this issue all contribute to the dialogue surrounding the intersection of indigenous people's rights within international law and domestic actions that conflict with those rights. While the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international law instruments are explicit about how states should act towards indigenous populations, in many cases these nternational instruments conflict with domestic law. There are several reasons for this discrepancy, including states' self-interest, paternalism, and lack of resources needed to address both national concerns and the rights of indigenous peoples.

The State Of Israel’S Constitution; A Comparison Of Civilized Nations, Mark Goldfeder

Scholarly Works

The art of constitution-making is never one-dimensional. In regard to the United States' model, it has recently been argued that "[d]espite the enormous literature on the critical period, including the foreign affairs imperatives behind the movement for reform, it is not fully understood that the animus behind the reform effort that culminated in the new Constitution was a desire to ensure that the United States would be in a position to meet its international commitments and thereby earn international recognition."' While there are obvious differences, and while this concept is perhaps of even greater importance and more poignantly felt for …

Who Governs? Delegations In Global Trade Lawmaking, Terence C. Halliday, Josh Pacewicz, Susan Block-Lieb

Faculty Scholarship

Who governs international trade law regimes? Although this question has attracted much research for global regulatory regimes, very little is known about international trade law organizations which function as global legislatures. This paper focuses on hitherto invisible attributes of the inner core of global legislators - the state and non-state delegations and delegations that create global norms for private international trade law through the most prominent global trade legislature, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). Based on ten years of fieldwork, extensive interviews, and unique data on delegation attendance and participation in UNCITRAL’s Working Group on Insolvency, …

How The Rescue And Return Agreement Can Protect (And Harm) The Interest Of A Creditor Under The Cape Town Convention, Mark J. Sundahl

Law Faculty Contributions to Books

This volume contains the proceedings of the 55th Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space held in Naples, Italy in October 2012, including the 27th IAA-IISL Scientific-Legal Roundtable, as well as the papers presented at the IISL-ECSL Space Law Symposium held on the occasion of the 51st session of the Legal Subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in Vienna, Austria in March 2012, and of the 7th Eilene M. Galloway Symposium on Critical Issues In Space Law, held in Washington D.C., United States in December 2012. It also contains the report and best written …

International Criminal Law In 2013: The Most Significant Developments (Proceedings Of The Asil Annual Meeting), Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Presentations and Testimony

While many events have shaped the development of international criminal law over the past year, the most significant ones, in my view, included the Special Court for Sierra Leone's appellate confirmation of the Charles Taylor verdict, as well as the United Nations Security Council's failure to refer the Syrian situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Climate Change Geoengineering: Philosophical Perspectives, Legal Issues, And Governance Frameworks, William C. G. Burns, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

The international community is not taking the action necessary to avert dangerous increases in greenhouse gases. Facing a potentially bleak future, the question that confronts humanity is whether the best of bad alternatives may be to counter global warming through human-engineered climate interventions. In this book, eleven prominent authorities on climate change consider the legal, policy, and philosophical issues presented by geoengineering. The book asks: When, if ever, are decisions to embark on potentially risky climate modification projects justified? If such decisions can be justified, in a world without a central governing authority, who should authorize such projects and by …

Book Review, Angela Mae Kupenda

Journal Articles

LIBERTY & SECURITY, authored by Human Rights Law Professor Conor Gearty, is a book that is relevant and fills a void through the question it explores. Gearty, while admitting that the terms liberty and security are susceptible to a host of meanings, does not seek in this book to define a more precise meaning for these terms. Rather, the book focuses on the “for how many” question (p.2). Gearty asks and answers whether liberty and security are “to be for all or just the few?”

Harmonizing European Union Bank Resolution: Central Clearing Of Otc Derivative Contracts Maintaining The Status Quo Of Safe Harbors, Christoph Henkel

Journal Articles

This Article argues that safe harbors for financial contracts should not be expanded in Europe, but instead should be repealed, as suggested by some commentators in the United States. At the very minimum, credit derivatives, swaps, and repurchasing agreements should be subject to a stay, and the resolution authorities in the Member States should have the power to assume beneficial contracts and to reject other unfavorable contracts. Also, the power of resolution authorities to transfer derivative positions in full or in part should not be sanctioned in favor of a full transfer. Rather, resolution authorities should have the power to …

Juvenile Pirates: "Lost Boys" Or Violent Criminals?, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has flourished over the past decade, and has both caused a global crisis in maritime shipping and destabilized regional security in East Africa. In addition, piracy attacks have spread more recently to the coast of West Africa, and in particular, the Gulf of Guinea. Thus, piracy is an ongoing global issue that should continue to occupy many maritime nations in the near future, and one that should command continuous scholarly attention.

This article examines the issue of juvenile piracy, with a specific focus on the treatment of juvenile piracy suspects by both the capturing …

Self-Defense Against Terrorists: The Meaning Of Armed Attack, Steven Ratner

Book Chapters

The last decade has witnessed increased recourse by states to military force to respond to terrorist attacks on their soil that have originated from abroad. A number of states -- including the United States -- have justified these military actions as lawful self-defense in response to an armed attack, as permitted under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. These claims raise multiple interpretive questions about the meaning of "armed attack" under Article 51 and of the various options that are allowed in response to one. This essay explores the contemporary understanding of an "armed attack" in terms of an …

International Law's Erie Moment, Harlan Grant Cohen

Michigan Journal of International Law

The episode put the question starkly: Who fills the gaps in international law and how? A series of tribunals operating under Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) had adopted broader interpretations of vague treaty language than those recommended by the state parties. In response, government ministers from the three state parties, Mexico, Canada, and the United States, operating through the Free Trade Commission (FTC) established by the treaty, adopted "Notes of Interpretation" clarifying their view of the treaty's meaning. International tribunals are generally tasked with examining state practice, either to recognize rules of customary international law …

The Emerging Restrictions On Sovereign Immunity: Peremptory Norms Of International Law, The U.N. Charter, And The Application Of Modern Communications Theory, Winston P. Nagan, Joshua L. Root

UF Law Faculty Publications

The article provides a fresh re-examination of the conceptual foundations of the sovereign immunity doctrine in the light of the changing character of sovereignty itself. This is done in the context of the changing expectations in international law generated by the UN Charter, and the development of human rights and humanitarian law. The article applies the innovative communications theories generated by the New Haven School to provide a more realistic and relevant approach to the issue of international law-making in this area. The article provides an overview of the emergence of changed expectations relating to the restrictions on the scope …

Ignorance Of International Law Is No Excuse, Or How The Florida Legislature Ticked Off Canada, Patricia Morgan, Loren Turner, Edward T. Hart

UF Law Faculty Publications

During its 2012 session the Florida Legislature amended the text of Florida Statute 322.04 to add a requirement for nonresidents. International visitors would be required to have in their possession not only a valid drivers' license, but also an International Driving Permit (IDP) that translated into English the personal identification information of the driver. The change took effect January 1, 2013, but even before that date, Florida faced allegations that it was violating international law with this new requirement.

Going Beyond The Four Corners: Reflections On Teaching Letters Of Credit As A Subset Of International Banking Law, James E. Byrne

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Integrating Latin American Stock Markets: The Mercado Integrado Latinoamericano (Mila): Innovations And Perspectives, Dante Figueroa

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Recruiting "Super Talent:" The New World Of Selective Migration Regimes, Ayelet Shachar, Ran Hirschl

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The desire to be great, to make a lasting mark, is as old as civilization itself. Today, it is no longer measured exclusively by the size of a polity's armed forces, the height of its pyramids, the luxury of its palaces, or even the wealth of its natural resources. Governments in high-income countries and emerging economies alike have come to subscribe to the view that in order to secure a position in the pantheon of excellence, it is the ability to draw human capital, to become an "IQ magnet," that counts. Across the globe, countries are vying to outbid one …

The Movement Of U.S. Criminal And Administrative Law: Processes Of Transplanting And Translating, Toby S. Goldbach, Benjamin Brake, Peter Katzenstein

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This article examines the transplanting and translating of law in the domains of criminal procedure and administrative law. The transnational movement of law is full of unexpected twists and turns that belie the notion of the United States as a legal behemoth. Furthermore, the movement of legal procedures which occurs both within and across countries with common and civil law legal traditions challenges preconceived notions of an orderly divide between legal families. While the spread of elements of the U.S. jury system and methods of plea bargaining reveals the powerful influence of U.S. legal ideas, the ways that these procedures …

Legal Education: Globalization, And Institutional Excellence: Challenges For The Rule Of Law And Access To Justice In India, C. Raj Kumar

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Legal education plays an important role in developing lawyers who act as social engineers and work towards the cause of nation building. In a globalized world, law schools face the challenges of increased foreign competition and reduction of the role of the state. At the same time, globalization affords space for re-examining higher education systems by affording opportunity for establishing global universities with international collaborations and programs. This article examines the role of law schools in India and proposes reforms in Indian legal education system in the light of globalization. It examines how the private sector in India can contribute …

Judicial Independence: New Challenges In Established Nations, Martin Shapiro

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Because courts are both conflict-resolving and lawmaking bodies, they should be both independent and accountable. This paradox of incidence and accountability cannot be resolved but only addressed by various and shifting pragmatic accommodations between independence and accountability. Prosecutors, trial courts, appeals courts, and constitutional courts are each subject to differing consideration in arriving at such accommodations.

Moreover, courts, as courts of law, are not independent but are agents of statutory and constitutional lawmakers. Excessive emphasis on judicial independence creates the danger that authoritarian regimes may achieve a cloak of legitimacy for their laws by having them enforced by independent judiciaries. …