Weekend Roundup: September 20, 2014

This week on Opinio Juris, we hosted an insta-symposium on the Scottish Independence Referendum. David Scheffer surveyed the legal terrain in case of a yes vote, Stephen Tierney discussed how Scotland’s move to independence would be characterised under international law, Milena Sterio argued that international law could develop a norm containing a positive right to secession under certain circumstances, Jure Vidmar looked at Scotland’s position in the EU, Tim Sparks took a long view, and Christopher Connolly discussed the phrasing of the referendum question. Finally, Chris asked whether there will be a Scottish precedent.

In other guest posts, Eliav Lieblich updated us on recent developments in an Israeli case reviving international prize law, Leila Nadya Sadat and Douglas J. Pivnichny wrote about recent steps towards a comprehensive treaty on crimes against humanity, Yanying Li alerted us to a UNGA resolution on a multilateral framework for sovereign debt restructuring, and Michael W. Lewis responded to Kevin’s critique last week of his post on the nature of self-defense.

In other posts by our regular contributors, Kevin criticized the University of Sydney for restricting academic freedom after it “un-invited” Sri Lankan NGOs from an international conference on the enforcement of human rights in the Asia-Pacific. Peter asked if ISIL fighters can be stripped of their passports, and remarked that the AUMF basis for an ISIL intervention looks likely to stick. More on ISIL came from Jens who discussed the issue of ransom and material support for terrorism. Finally, Kristen explained why the Security Council’s decision to take up the issue of Ebola is significant.

As always, Jessica wrapped up the news and listed events and announcements. Duncan also updated us on the new Executive Director of ASIL.

Many thanks to our guest contributors and have a nice weekend!