Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation

...of hostilities paradigm) and the law governing force outside situations of armed conflict (law enforcement paradigm). It makes sense to gradually move towards a law enforcement approach in the end stages of a NIAC. When the intensity of the fighting has decreased, and/or organisational structure of concerning groups has broken down, to such an extent that it no longer reaches the lower threshold, persons belonging to a (partly or fully broken down) group, would not be “directly participating in hostilities” in the traditional sense, but rather find themselves in a...

...for domestic law purposes. Of course, the US could not extract itself from its treaty obligations under either approach without withdrawing from the treaty under the basic rule - no state can use its internal law to extract itself from its international obligations. Thus, if the Canadians had the juevos rancheros (especially in having decided that they violated his rights under the Canadian charter of rights and duties) they would assert to the United States the US' Geneva obligations with regard to Omar Khadr right now with regard to the...

...el roam Auriane Botte , just consider the following : jus cogens, means as stated by you , consensus !! yet , it does mean also that : No domestic law , can , or actually , prescribed by law , permits such crimes of jus cogens . Means , that , he who violates it , on his own has done it !! means : Individual responsibility, and solely individual one , since: The perpetrator , has violated , the law , compelling law , of his own country...

...that such operations are conducted in accordance with all applicable law …. Some have argued that our targeting practices violate domestic law, in particular, the longstanding domestic ban on assassinations. But under domestic law, the use of lawful weapons systems — consistent with the applicable laws of war — for precision targeting of specific high-level belligerent leaders when acting in self-defence or during an armed conflict is not unlawful, and hence does not constitute ‘assassination’. Isn’t that what the US government actually thinks is legally correct? Of course it is...

Al-Qaeda types of Middle Eastern origin. Or the death penalty cases with Mexico and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. One does see a pattern that successive generations have fought against. And, as with all the legacies of slavery, the utopians have to tell the realists to get their heads straight and bring the United States back into something that complies with basic human rights law and the rule of law - seeing international law as rules of law. Or maybe it is just the optimists in the face of...

[Kevin Jon Heller is a Professor of Law at the University of Amsterdam. This is the first part of a two-part post. The second part is found here.] Introduction It is an honour to be invited to respond to the article version of Harold Koh’s recent Foulston Siefkin Lecture at Washburn Law School, “The Trump Administration and International Law.” I am a great admirer of Harold’s work and an even bigger fan of Harold himself, whom I am proud to call a friend and who has been incredibly supportive of...

resolving the conflicts between Israel and other Middle East powers, and that this approach may involve a very different diplomatic approach than that taken by the Bush administration. This did not make Prof. Goldsmith's list but appears to be central to the Obama administration's security strategy in the region. A couple of additional points. While Prof. Goldsmith may be correct on some apparent similarities in secrecy/transparency and the commissions, it is important to consider that the Obama administration has taken initial positions on these matters which will be fleshed out....

Ostrovsky Marko, I think we disagree regarding the Lawrence court's use of "morals." In Lawrence, the court didn't reject the idea that majoritarian morals were important (indeed, it seems to confirm this when it references the ECHR), but rather that morality cannot be the sole reason to uphold the law. I think these are two different things. In addition, although human rights law may be inseperable from morality, as soon as you start asking the question, "Whose morality?" things get complicated. I think the margin of appreciation doctrine itself, in...

approach avoids some of the obvious problems of the Chuidian approach and is more consistent with the position taken by the United States on behalf of its own officials when they are sued abroad. In addition, certain categories of foreign officials are accorded immunity by more specific legal regimes. Diplomatic and consular officers enjoy immunities under the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and on Consular Relations, respectively, bilateral treaties with certain countries, and in some instances customary international law. These sources reflect some of the oldest principles of international law, which...

[Wolfgang Alschner (PhD in International Law, JSM (Stanford)) is a post-doctoral researcher at the World Trade Institute in Bern and the Graduate Institute in Geneva specializing in text as data analysis of international law.] As international law scholars we are overwhelmed with information. The United Nations Treaty Series alone contains more than 50,000 treaties. Add to that the many thousand decisions by international courts and organizations that grow day by day. Just keeping abreast with a sub-field of international law is a full-time job. Not only academics but also beneficiaries...

...taken decisions on the basis of irrational arguments. Scary? Yes, irrationality is always scary. But even irrationality is predictable, if we understand how it works. It is high time we adjust our international relations theories to take into account “irrationality”. If we do that, instead of creating international law to cope with problems after they emerge, which is what we invariably do right now, we might be able to create international law that can prevent problems in the first place. That would bring international governance to a far superior level....

...would be unthinkable for any scientific researcher to ignore. He writes that “the law of nations is available to lawmakers and judges as an established body of legal insight, reminding them that their particular problem has been confronted before and that they, like scientists, should try to think it through in the company of those who have already dealt with it.” Waldron argues that “legal science” relies “on the idea that solutions to certain kinds of problems in the law might get established in the way that scientific theories are...