In association with the International Commission of Jurists

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14 Apr

Apologies for this interruption of a great VJIL discussion on Chris Bruner's fascinating article, but I can't resist yet another post on the continuing international dispute over whaling.  The NYT reports the U.S. is trying hard to broker a deal between the anti-whaling nations (read Australia) and whaling nations like Japan. The compromise deal, which has generated intense controversy within the...

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14 Apr

Many thanks to Professor Cheffins for his thoughtful response, in which he highlights an important challenge in evaluating the degree of shareholder-centrism in differing corporate governance systems—the difficulty of quantifying the impact of varying legal strategies for protecting shareholders’ interests. In this reply to the issues raised by Professor Cheffins, I distinguish various metrics of shareholder-centrism and consider the degree...

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14 Apr

[Professor Brian Cheffins is the S.J. Berwin Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law] As Prof. Bruner points out in his insightful Article, in the literature on comparative corporate governance, there is a tendency to treat the United States and the United Kingdom as being very similar across key dimensions. He shows convincingly that in fact...

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14 Apr

I am unable to say much at this moment, either to Kevin's question below or to this Robert Wright "Opinionator" blog post in the New York Times, but I did want to flag it for your attention.  Wright is unhappy with both drone warfare and targeting of US citizens, and many other things besides: Students of the law might raise a...

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14 Apr

A simple question for those who believe "self-defense" and/or the AUMF authorizes the CIA to kill Americans abroad outside of armed conflict.  If Obama authorizes it, can the CIA put a bullet in the back of the skull of an American citizen believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda while he is watching a movie in Topeka, Kansas? If not, why not?...

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13 Apr

Following up on Ken's post about the Washington Post editorial endorsing Harold Koh's legal defense of targeted killings, it is worth analyzing the passage Ken quoted one more time, but this time from a domestic U.S. constitutional perspective: Mr. Koh’s reaffirmation of the right to self-defense — even outside the confines of an existing armed conflict — is particularly important. The Authorization...

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13 Apr

The Washington Post editorializes today in praise of Legal Adviser Koh's statement on drones in his speech to ASIL on March 25.  It specifically focused on the self-defense distinction in the statement: Mr. Koh's reaffirmation of the right to self-defense -- even outside the confines of an existing armed conflict -- is particularly important. The Authorization for the Use of Military Force...

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13 Apr

UNTOLD STORIES: HIDDEN HISTORIES OF WAR CRIMES TRIALS A two-day international symposium to uncover and explore some of the less well-known war crimes trials, both international and domestic. Melbourne Law School 15th and 16th October 2010 Presented by The Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law, Melbourne Law School, and supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant Organizers: Gerry Simpson, Tim McCormack, Kevin Heller,...

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12 Apr

Treat liquidity risk and runs on institutions as fundamentally a question of lack of information - the lack of information on the underlying financial solvency prompting flight from uncertainty.  In that case, the question following the announcement in the press yesterday of the Greek-EU bailout is not so much what it signals about liquidity, as instead what contribution it will...

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12 Apr

I rarely get to blog about the relationship between my two favorite things -- professional basketball and international law -- so I would be remiss if I failed to comment on the latest problem to afflict the New Jersey Nets, one of the worst teams in the NBA.  The Nets are in the process of being sold to Mikhail Prokhorov,...

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09 Apr

The results of this new study about the ineffectiveness of international aid to certain developing countries is not surprising, but it is still depressing. For years, the international community has forked over billions in health aid, believing the donations supplemented health budgets in poor countries. It now turns out development money prompted some governments to spend on entirely different things, which...

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