Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation
08 Apr O’Connell’s “Who’s Afraid of International Law?” and the Koh Nomination
Mary Ellen O’Connell (whose recent book The Power and the Purpose of International Law was the subject of one of our book discussions) has a post at Balkinization called “Who’s Afraid of International Law?” that considers the fear-mongering by some in the media concerning international law. After briefly discussing the views of the Founders, she writes: So why does Glen Beck seem to fear international law? Why is he and decrying strong international lawyers in America’s top international law jobs? As with so many things we fear, the critics seem...21 Nov Top International Law Journals
Transnational Law 9 The American Journal of Comparative Law 10 Michigan Journal of International Law 11 Chicago Journal of International Law (2000-) 12 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 13 European Journal of International Law (United Kingdom) 14 New York University Journal of International Law and Politics 15 Brooklyn Journal of International Law 16 The International Lawyer 17 University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Economic Law 18 Cornell International Law Journal 19 Texas International Law Journal 20 George Washington International Law Review 21 Berkeley Journal of International Law 21 Indiana Journal...18 Jan Can the President Change the Laws of War?
authority to adopt any interpretation that departs from other countries’ understanding of customary law. Indeed, some might even say that Congress cannot ever depart from customary law as well. But I seriously doubt this is correct as a matter of U.S. law. And I think it is fair to say that there is no academic consensus on this question, and that there is at least some jurisprudence pointing the other way. So I would be curious if John has any views on this domestic law debate? Is the executive branch...06 Aug Emerging Voices: New Citizenship Law Will Not End Race-based Statelessness in the Dominican Republic
and instructed the government to apply the ruling retroactively, going back to 1929. International human rights groups strongly condemned the decision as racist and xenophobic and argued it would render hundreds of thousands of people stateless. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM), an international organization made up of 15 Caribbean states, also denounced the ruling and suspended the Dominican Republic’s application for membership. The new citizenship law, Law 169-14, was passed this spring in response to the international backlash against the Supreme Court decision. Law 169-14 establishes a regime to restore the...01 May Florida Narrows Foreign Law Ban to Foreign Family Law
Florida’s legislature has just passed a bill that is an interesting variation on the wave of other foreign law bans that have been enacted in U.S. states. Florida’s new law would ban the use of foreign law in Florida state courts if that law “contravenes the strong public policy” of Florida or if the “law is unjust or unreasonable.” It also limits the use of foreign law in choice of law provisions in contracts or forum selection clauses under the same “strong public policy” standard. In fact, Florida’s law is...29 Aug What if Erie had nothing to do with the status of customary international law in U.S. law?
That’s an argument that my colleague and friend, Craig Green, here at Temple is making with his work, Repressing Erie’s Myth, which will appear in the California Law Review next year (you can download a copy of it in draft form here). For years, the conventional wisdom suggested that customary international law operated as part of U.S. federal common law, or as Justice Gray put it in the Paquette Habana, “International law is part of our law, and must be ascertained and administered by the courts of justice of appropriate...10 Mar Why the “Public Authority” Defense Does Not Work for the CIA
that international law necessarily controls the scope of a public authority justification in domestic law. If that were true, a state could never sanction any act in its domestic law that would violate applicable international law. We both know that is not the case (except in perfectly monist domestic legal systems), although doing so creates international legal responsibility for the international law violation. This is not to say that any such domestic legal authority has international or transnational effect. Those who commit acts sanctioned by their state's domestic law but...
08 Oct Climate Change and the Role of Lawyers: A Reply to Burra
I could not endorse the idea that a judge (as a previous blog had put it) should seek to “updat[e]” the law, or that lawyers should “mainstream” in the law causes they hold dear. The decision on whether and how a state should mitigate climate change, in my view, belongs to democratic governments. Insofar as the law requires states or other actors to mitigate climate change, lawyers must merely uphold it; insofar the law does not, lawyers cannot act against it. This view prompted strong reactions on social media —...17 Jan Unlawful Enemy Combatants
affirms the long-standing distinction between lawful and unlawful combatants because it limits “prisoner of war” status to lawful combatants, such as members of the regular armed forces of a Party to the Convention. The underlying concept here is simple –unlawful combatants should not be provided combatant immunity during wartime, and should be held criminally accountable for their acts of war. By contrast, AU Professor Robert Goldman explains that lawful combatants have combatants’ privilege, which “immunizes members of armed forces from criminal prosecution by their captors for violent acts that do...