Is International Law Part Of Natural Law?,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
Is International Law Part Of Natural Law?, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
The affinity of international law to natural law goes back a long way to the classic writers of international law. "Natural law" is the method of dispute resolution based on a conscious attempt to perpetuate past similarities in dispute resolution. "International law" has a deep affinity to this natural law method, for it consists of those practices that have "worked" in inter-nation conflict resolution.
International Human Rights At The Close Of The Twentieth Century,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
International Human Rights At The Close Of The Twentieth Century, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
Speculates as to why the human-rights revolution is increasingly likely to dominate our foreign-policy attentions in the decades to come. Ventures some predictions, of particular interest perhaps to international lawyers, about where the cause of international human rights is heading.
Israel's Air Strike Upon The Iraqi Nuclear Reactor,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
Israel's Air Strike Upon The Iraqi Nuclear Reactor, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
The destructive potential of nuclear weapons is so enormous as to call into question any and all received rules of international law regarding the trans-boundary use of force. Many of the old rationales for these rules no longer apply. At the same time, the shared values underlying the rules apply more emphatically than ever, for the stake is global survival. I have tried to suggest some of the questions that must be asked about as apparently "simple" an incident as the Israeli attack on the nuclear reactor in Iraq.
Legal And Moral Dimensions Of Churchill's Failure To Warn,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
Legal And Moral Dimensions Of Churchill's Failure To Warn, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
Churchill had been given at least forty-eight hours' warning that Coventry would be hit. He could have warned the people of Coventry of the impending attack. Yet Churchill determined that any advance warning to the people of Coventry would have enabled the Germans to deduce that their top secret code had been broken. The coded intercepts provided evidence of the Holocaust in progress. Other ways to reveal information that could have by-passed the code system existed, thus providing warning to the public while maintaining a strategic advantage. The international law of genocide would have to develop to go beyond intentional …
State Responsibility For The Exportation Of Nuclear Power Technology,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
State Responsibility For The Exportation Of Nuclear Power Technology, Anthony D'Amato, Kirsten H. Engel
Faculty Working Papers
Should nations that export nuclear power plants to developing countries be potentially liable to the people of those countries for catastrophic accidents? Risk of accident can be reduced if international law compels upgrading of safety design and construction of nuclear plants. Both the international law of state responsibility and an international regulatory agency have roles to play.
There Is No Norm Of Intervention Or Non-Intervention In International Law,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
There Is No Norm Of Intervention Or Non-Intervention In International Law, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
Comments on Prof. Jianming Shen's position that humanitarian intervention is unlawful under international law and that there is a principle of non-intervention in international law that is so powerful that it amounts to a jus cogens prohibition.
Cross-Country Adoption: A Call To Action,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
Cross-Country Adoption: A Call To Action, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
Although a free press is an integral part of democratic governance, intercountry adoption is one case in which the media makes it virtually impossible for governments to send children abroad for adoption. A country (State A) which gives up a child for intercountry adoption should receive a "credit" for that child which will entitle any other family within State A that may want to adopt a child to priority on the list at the Vatican. The second major function for the Intercountry Adoption Agency might be called the "annual report" function. All adoptive parents who take a child from the …
Human Rights As Part Of Customary International Law:A Plea For Change Of Paradigms,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
Human Rights As Part Of Customary International Law:A Plea For Change Of Paradigms, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
The question for us international lawyers is how, and how much of, public sentiment for human rights has been transformed into binding international law.
International Law From A Machiavellian Perspective,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
International Law From A Machiavellian Perspective, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
Machiavelli leaves one with both an optimistic and a pessimistic prognostication for the post-Cold War world. On the one hand, the end of that conflict has opened the way for the spread of liberal, constitutional regimes, which he would say are inclined to be more and more meticulous in honoring their commitments. On the other, the temptation to use force to create new facts and thereby force international law into new paths will remain as long as politics is practiced. The contemporary relevance of Machiavelli may be seen in that he urged both realities upon us. I focus on a …
The Coerciveness Of International Law,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
The Coerciveness Of International Law, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
This article shows that an important part of the deep structure of international law is its self-referential strategy of employing its own rules to protect its rules. International law tolerates a principled violation of its own rules when necessary to keep other rules from being broken. It extends a legal privilege to states to use coercion against any state that has selfishly attempted to transgress its international obligations. International law thus protects itself through the opportunistic deployment of its own rules.
On Genocide,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
On Genocide, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
The crime of genocide is the newest international crime. It must be kept as a separate, distinct, and coherent concept. It is the first truly subjective crime; all other crime, though requiring mens rea, require only that the defendant consciously committed the criminal acts. In the case of genocide, however, the underlying criminal acts are no different from the acts required to prove ordinary crimes. The difference is one of motive. What is being punished by the crime of genocide is the selection of victims according to their involuntary membership in four kinds of groups: national, ethnical, racial, or religious. …
The Moral And Legal Basis For Sanctions,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
The Moral And Legal Basis For Sanctions, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
In order to analyze the moral and legal basis for sanctions in international relations, we have to begin at a stage where there is no centralized government in place. We first need to get a picture of the range of possible sanctions. Next, we need to see what role sanctions play in the international system. Finally, we turn to the intertwined moral and legal considerations that make well-designed sanctions efficacious in today's world. The fundamental objective of sanctions in interstate relations is to make it expensive for a target state to refrain from doing what the sanctioning state wants it …
World Conferences And The Cheapening Of International Norms,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
World Conferences And The Cheapening Of International Norms, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
As long as we understand that world conferences only address problems, we will not be disappointed in them. We will only be disappointed if we think that a world conference is supposed to solve problems. Is there any point in getting a lot of people together, at great expense, just to address a problem without any prospect of solving it? My answer is a qualified yes. A world conference is a cultural artifact. It has an impact upon our collective sense of civilization.
The Path Of International Law,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
The Path Of International Law, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
Is there a need for yet another student-edited international law journal? Practicing attorneys retrieve relevant articles when working on cases with international law issues, although they may be oblivious to the name of the journal or the prestige of the law school that supports it. For student editors, serving on a new international law journal is not just an intellectual experience; it is an empowering one. The more one looks into custom and treaty and the other sources of international law, the more one finds complexity and intellectual challenge.
Strategic Globalization: International Law As An Extension Of Domestic Political Conflict,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
Strategic Globalization: International Law As An Extension Of Domestic Political Conflict, Jide Nzelibe
Faculty Working Papers
Traditional accounts in both the international law and international relations literature largely assume that great powers like the United States enter into international legal commitments in order to resolve global cooperative problems or to advance objective state interests. Contrary to these accounts, this Article suggests that an incumbent regime (or partisan elites within the regime) may often seek to use international legal commitments to overcome domestic obstacles to their narrow policy and electoral objectives. In this picture, an incumbent regime may deploy international law to expand the geographical scope of political conflict across borders in order to isolate the domestic …
Consent, Estoppel, And Reasonableness: Three Challenges To Universal International Law,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
Consent, Estoppel, And Reasonableness: Three Challenges To Universal International Law, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
Like consent and estoppel, the concept of reasonableness, while failing to provide an adequate explanation of the source of obligation in customary international law, does play an important psychological role in adding to the pressure of international norms upon states. The result is to increase the sense of legality of the rules that are accepted by states as part of "customary international law." This is not to say that each and every alleged rule of universal international law must contain one or more of the elements of consent, estoppel, or reasonableness in order for it to be "valid."
The Concept Of Special Custom In International Law,
2010
Northwestern University School of Law
The Concept Of Special Custom In International Law, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
General customary international law contains rules, norms, and principles that seem applicable to any state and not to a particular state or an exclusive grouping of states. For example, norms relating to the high seas, to airspace and outer space, to diplomatic immunities, to the rules of warfare, and so forth, apply equally to all states having occasion to be concerned with these areas. Similarly, the facts of a given case may suggest exclusively the application of general custom—such as cases concerning collision on the high seas between ships of different countries, cases involving general principles of international law, cases …
The Decision From The Court Of First Instance That Destroyed The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme,
2010
Pacific McGeorge School of Law
The Decision From The Court Of First Instance That Destroyed The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, Trevor E. Carson
Global Business & Development Law Journal
No abstract provided.
The Global Financial Crisis Of 2008-2009 In Context—Reflections On International Legal And Institutional Failings, "Fixes," And Fundamentals,
2010
University of Kansas
The Global Financial Crisis Of 2008-2009 In Context—Reflections On International Legal And Institutional Failings, "Fixes," And Fundamentals, John W. Head
Global Business & Development Law Journal
No abstract provided.
Coal And Coalbed Methane Development In The Flathead—An International Water Dispute,
2010
University of Calgary
Coal And Coalbed Methane Development In The Flathead—An International Water Dispute, Allan Ingelson, Lincoln Mitchell, Sean Assie
Global Business & Development Law Journal
No abstract provided.
