Okay, in Rome, not Geneva, but the point holds. Following in Duncan's footsteps, I've been teaching here for the month in a Temple Law summer program. On Friday, we had an interesting visit to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, which is headquartered here, with presentations by several lawyers in the agency's legal service. It was interesting stuff. FAO has its...
I doubt it, but this article suggests Afghanistan is considering it as a justification for incursions to chase down Taliban forces. But it is an interesting and "hotly" developing area of international law (See, e.g., Colombia in Ecuador, Turkey into Kurdish Iraq, the U.S. into Syria and Iran, etc.). Interestingly, the doctrine appears to have its most formal articulation...
We at Opinio Juris want to thank once again Haider Hamoudi for guest-blogging with us this past week. For more on the issues he has raised, be sure to visit his blog, Islamic Law in Our Times and read his memoir, Howling in Mesopotamia. We hope he will soon join us again for another guest-blogging stint. ...
The D.C. Circuit has ruled that the Chabad case against Russia can go forward notwithstanding various FSIA, act of state, and forum non conveniens defenses raised by Russia. It is a very complicated case, but here are the essential facts and holding: Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States is a non-profit Jewish organization incorporated in New York. It serves as...
How did I miss this story? In a declaration on his Web site, Stuart Hill, who owns the 2.5 acre island of Forvik in the Shetland Islands in the North Sea, said he no longer recognised the authority of the government or the European Union, and cited a centuries-old royal marriage dowry deal as the basis for his claim. "Forvik...
This is my last post on this site. It’s been a wonderful experience writing this week, I hope all of you found it as beneficial as I have. Thanks to the commenters, and of course to the editors of Opinio Juris for the opportunity. Anyone interested in the topics I have raised here is of course warmly...
Having spoken yesterday about some of the legal issues that divide Iraq, I thought I would focus today on the central legal matter that seems to unite them: the Civil Code. Those from civilian nations, or Louisiana, would have an easier time understanding this I think. However, I suppose if I had to analogize, within Iraq, reverence to the...
Well, you can't say that there are no differences between the presidential candidates on the war on terrorism anymore. GOP nominee John McCain has issued this blistering statement on what his administration would do to Osama Bin Laden. Namely (and apparently unlike Senator Obama), McCain has pledged to either kill or execute Bin Laden. He also says, flatly, there...
What exactly does Mexico hope to accomplish in its proceeding for a "Request for an Interpretation" of the 2004 ICJ Avena Judgment? The ICJ held hearings today (transcript here) and the International Herald Tribune has a nice account here. I understand that there is an international legal argument to be made here, but it is hard to see...
Hours before the execution of Saddam Hussein, there was a flurry of debate on both the Iraqi and the American sides concerning its legality. One of the primary American concerns was that the Iraqi law permitting executions clearly barred their being carried out on Islamic holidays, and the proposed execution was at least arguably (depending on when you start...
I have been particularly interested in Haider Hamoudi's observations in his book on cultural differences within Iraq. In two contratsing examples, Haider describes his visit to Basra in Southern Iraq and Suleymania in the North. Basra is predominantly Shi’a and Suleymania is in Kudish territory. A couple of vignettes were striking. First, there was a guard in Basra asking Haider to...
Foreign Affairs Magazine Online has just posted a review essay by Curtis Bradley of Benjamin Wittes' new book, Law and the Long War. Bradley writes:In an important new book, Law and the Long War, Benjamin Wittes, a fellow and the research director in public law at the Brookings Institution, critiques what he calls the "legal architecture" of the war on...
