I'm gearing up for a Spring Semester teaching at Temple's Tokyo campus. As part of my preparations, I've begun to read-into some of the maritime boundary disputes between China and Japan that have caused so much friction between the two nations of late. Recent news reports have emphasized (i) China's moves by air and sea to challenge Japanese control over waters...
It's that time of year when things get really busy in the law school environment (not to mention the pre-holiday press of government service, firm work, etc.). So, for those of you looking for a momentary break from the memo-drafting, exam-writing, grading, article research, whirlwind of holiday events, etc., I submit to you -- Jimmy Fallon on treaties. The routine...
First of all, I need to say thank you to all the contributors to the current symposium on my book, The Oxford Guide to Treaties. It's quite common in academic circles to have symposia on "affairs of the day" (and, to be clear, those affairs often trigger very important issues like targeted killing, cyberwar, climate change, the EU fiscal crisis,...
I'm extraordinarily pleased to be able to announce that today marks the start of the Opinio Juris symposium on my recently-edited volume, The Oxford Guide to Treaties (you can buy your copy here and there's even a discount for Opinio Juris readers!). The Oxford Guide provides a current and comprehensive guide to treaty law and practice. It does this in two parts. First,...
Attentive readers will note our calendar had indicated that we were supposed to start a new symposium today on The Oxford Guide to Treaties. It appears, however, that we are not immune from hurricane Sandy’s effects. I've received several requests for postponement from participants given this week's events and I'm also told that much of New York City and other areas in...
I've long wondered whether and when the American Law Institute (ALI) might try to update its 3rd Restatement on the Foreign Relations Law of the United States. Since its 1987 publication, the two-volume set, culled together under the leadership of Professor Lou Henkin, has had a tremendous impact. It has been a frequent resource for U.S. courts and American international...
Earlier this week, Harold Koh gave a speech. And it wasn't about conflicts, drones, or cyberwar, topics that have dominated the attention of international lawyers in recent years. Rather, Koh's speech was a meditation on the processes of international law-making that confront the State Department on a daily basis. It was, simply put, a survey of the current international legal landscape...
As Peter's post yesterday noted, there's a growing push to fundamentally re-align cyberspace governance via amendments to the ITU Regulations, which are set to be negotiated in December in Dubai. I'm not sure that the ITU is up to the task. But I do agree that the time is ripe for States and other stakeholders to agree on first principles...
I want to briefly interrupt the LJIL symposium to flag the fact that the Bond case is back on the U.S. Supreme Court's radar screen and with it the prospect that the Court may revisit one of the most canonical cases of U.S. foreign relations law: Missouri v. Holland. The facts are a bit lurid -- Carol Anne Bond discovered that her husband had...
On September 19, the Supreme Court of Nevada ordered a new evidentiary hearing for Mexican national Carlos Gutierrez on his ability to overcome the State's procedural bars to further consideration of his death sentence. I've posted a copy of the court's order here. Gutierrez was one of 51 Mexican nationals whose convictions and sentences were the subject of the ICJ's Avena decision....
Amidst the memorials to 9/11 yesterday came more tragic news with mob attacks on the U.S. embassy in Cairo and the consulate in Benghazi, including the deaths of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. My condolences go out to the victims' families and the U.S. Foreign Service community, the Marines who guard them, as well as the local...
Here's a quick follow-up to my book announcement last week. With OUP's kind permission, I've posted the Introduction to the Oxford Guide to Treaties on SSRN. So, for those looking for a more detailed explanation of the book, its goals, and its methodology, feel free to download it there. Here's the abstract: From trade relations to greenhouse gasses, from shipwrecks to...
