In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Trade & Economic Law

31 Aug

... and hoping that the damage is minimal and that everyone is safe, including any OJ readers.  Watching the television today caused me to recall a conference I attended a few years ago, a meeting of humanitarian disaster professionals who dealt with developing world disasters ranging from natural disasters to conflict relief.  At one session, on natural disasters and, as...

|
29 Aug

The blog Futurismic as an interesting post on "viral sovereignty." According to a recent Washington Post op-ed by Richard Holbrooke and Laurie Garrett:  This extremely dangerous idea comes to us courtesy of Indonesia’s minister of health, Siti Fadilah Supari, who asserts that deadly viruses are the sovereign property of individual nations — even though they cross borders and could pose a pandemic threat...

|
12 Aug

Those of us who teach International Business Transactions often face the pedagogically tough situation of having students whose knowledge of basic business and finance varies enormously, from those who were business undergraduates to those who were art history majors.  In my case, my IBT class typically also has half to two thirds foreign LLM students whose undergraduate studies in law...

|
06 Aug

Durham University's International Boundaries Research Unit has made a map that illustrates the various disputes over the Arctic. The BBC reports: "Its primary purpose is to inform discussions and debates because, frankly, there has been a lot of rubbish about who can claim (sovereignty) over what," explained Martin Pratt, director of the university's International Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU). "To be honest, most...

|
05 Aug

That, in essence, is the surprising argument that the Coast Guard raised in a recent administrative law decision involving regulation of shipping traffic to protect an endangered species. In Defenders of Wildlife v. Gutierrez, the D.C. Circuit was presented with the question of whether Coast Guard action implementing "traffic separation schemes" constituted "final agency action" within the meaning of...

|
26 Jul

Ordinarily I do not blog on articles or discussions that seem to me entirely muddle-headed; life is too short.  However. (Admittedly irritating digression:  Life is particularly too short here at the Hoover Institution, Stanford, where I am spending a few weeks finishing a book manuscript on US-UN relations in the next administration, whosever it happens to be.  The weather in Palo...

|
18 Jul

When international lawyers say that sovereignty is a social construction, I doubt any of us mean it as literally as does the Seasteading Institute, an organization founded by Patri Friedman, grandson of Nobel Laureate economist Milton Friedman, and Wayne Gramlich. Their goal is to foster a seasteading movement, people building structures on the high seas that would become independent and...

|
16 Jul

Here's a surprise -- China opposes indicting Bashir: China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Beijing maintains friendly relations with Sudan and is deeply concerned and worried about the charges. He says the situation in the Darfur region is at a sensitive and critical moment. He says China hopes all sides can resolve their differences through consultation and avoid adding complications...

|
16 Jul

This is a fascinating story: the State Department, the Iranian government, and the NBA have joined forces to arrange for the Iranian men's basketball team to train and play next week against NBA teams in Salt Lake City: Iran will take part in the Rocky Mountain Revue, the Utah-hosted summer league and will play four games. The team will also observe...

|