The Contracting States to the European Convention are obligated to "hold free elections at reasonable intervals by secret ballot, under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature.” An English statute dating back to 1870 provides that: "A convicted person during the time that he is detained in a...
The story coming out of Uganda bears emphasis for its impact on the ICC doctrine of complementarity. Under Article 17 of the Rome Statute, “the Court shall determine that a case is inadmissible where … [t]he case is being investigated or prosecuted by a State which has jurisdiction over it, unless the State is unwilling or unable genuinely to...
Great story in Sunday's L.A. Times about the global web of pirated movies. The amazing sequence of events outlined in the article underscores the social epidemic of piracy. The story of bootlegged copies of Spider-Man 2 after it premiered in New York on June 30, 2004 is quite alarming:June 30, 2004, one minute after midnight: A cammer illegally records Spider-Man...
Well ok, not exactly. But that is how an American television drama would portray an American version of what has happened today in Germany. Coalition governments are nothing new in Europe, but to an American ear the idea that major opposition parties will have a coalition with Merkel’s CDU cabinet filled with key members of Schröder’s team is,...
I always follow the news of the Nobel Peace Prize with great interest and occasionally I find myself pleased with their choices. But this year something struck me as particularly odd. Every ten years the Nobel Peace Prize returns to the subject of nuclear disarmament, and each time it goes to a peaceful dove and not a peace-loving hawk.In 1975...
Interesting column by David Brooks in the New York Times on Sunday. Money quote:I believe that social mobility is the core of the American experience. I believe that society should be structured so that as many boys and girls as possible can work, and rise the way young Hamilton and Lincoln did.If something is going to make American society more...
On Thursday the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the military cannot use Palestianian civilians as human shields when entering the homes of suspected terrorists. "You cannot exploit the civilian population for the army's military needs, and you cannot force them to collaborate with the army," Chief Justice Aharon Barak wrote in the ruling. "The central tenet is that it is...
The European Court of Human Rights last week rendered its long-awaited “class action” settlement decision in Broniowski v. Poland. The case is here and the official press release summarizing the case is here.The case involved systemic unlawful confiscation of property by the Polish government relating to the redrawing of Poland following the Second World War. In a June 22, 2004...
This is an interesting story. U.N Ambassador John Bolton addressed over 400 students at the Yale Political Union and was greeted with a chorus of boos and loud hisses. My favorite part is a Yale sophomore* reportedly chastising the Ambassador for being “extremely rude” to the undergraduate audience who were loudly hissing at him. But then he...
Last week Harvard Law School hosted an Anglo-American Legal Exchange addressing the topic of judging. The American justices were represented by Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer and the British Law Lords were represented by Lords Rodger and Scott, and Lady Justice Arden. You can watch the video here.In terms of sheer entertainment value the Americans beat the Brits hands...
Now that the Supreme Court in Roper and Atkins has relied on foreign and international practices to rule that capital punishment is cruel and unusual when applied to juveniles and the mentally disabled, there has been much speculation as to whether this portends the abolition of the death penalty entirely. My prediction is that the next push for comparative constitutionalism...
This weekend marked the 56th anniversary of “communist” rule in China. In a speech at Tiananmen Square Premier Wen Jiabao proclaimed that “History has eloquently proved that socialism with Chinese characteristics and the road that Chinese people have chosen are the only right way.” Which essentially means that they will follow Deng Xiaoping’s maxim to “seek truth from facts,” which...
