If a priest engages in sexual abuse in Portland, Oregon, can victims of his abuse sue the Holy See? A federal district court in Oregon ruled last week that they could. In the case of Doe v. Holy See, available here, the plaintiff sued the Holy See for respondeat superior, negligence and fraud. The Holy...
Today's game between Iran and Mexico is not without political controversy. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly denied that the Holocaust ever occurred, has indicated his desire to attend the World Cup competition. "If you make it to the second round, then I would try to join you." According to the New York Times, "German officials have been under pressure to...
Al Jazeera has some of the most appalling coverage of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi that one could possibly imagine for a major news network. First, there is the lead story entitled "U.S., allies hail Zarqawi killing" which reports that family members of Zarqawi's beheaded victims had "mixed reactions" to the news of his death. The article concludes with...
World Cup competition is upon us. Although lost upon the general public, there are in fact complex rules of engagement that are elaborately set forth in FIFA regulations. Here is a brief synopsis of the laws of the World Cup. First, the Laws of the Game i.e., the rules of the pitch. Very little can be said that is not...
Fiona de Londras has just posted on SSRN an interesting article on gay rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. You can access the abstract and download the article here. The focus of the brief article is applying ECHR jurisprudence on privacy, family life, and marriage to the Irish context as it relates to gay rights. It...
A French court in Toulose has held the French state and the state railway company SNCF liable for transporting a Holocaust victim to death camps near the end of the Second World War. As reported here, The tribunal in Toulouse ordered the state and the SNCF to pay a total of €62,000 (£43,000) to the family for their deceased father, and...
Dan Kahan offered these remarks at Yale Commencement on the general topic of a Yale Law School education. In the course of those remarks he discussed two YLS alums, John Yoo and Jack Goldsmith. Comparing Yoo and Goldsmith he states, "...
Which is more important to globalization, technology or trade? In a recent McKinsey survey of business executives, (registration required) one of the questions was "What single factor contributes most to the accelerating pace of change in the global business environment today?" Of these eight factors, guess which ranked from most important to least important: Awareness and activism of consumersEase of...
One of the top candidates for the U.N. Secretary-General slot opening up later this year is Ban Ki-Moon, Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He spoke at some length last week in New York at the Council on Foreign Relations about his candidacy and his vision for the future of the United Nations. The transcript is of...
The most compelling, cutting-edge, honest legal writing being produced in this country today is happening on the Internet, and the crop improves daily. From the fistful of judges (including Richard Posner) who maintain regular blogs, to the vast and growing number of law professors and law students who find the time to post daily, it's clear that the real bones...
Michael Van Alstine has just posted on SSRN his most recent article to be published in the UCLA Law Review entitled Executive Aggrandizement in Foreign Affairs Lawmaking. Here is the abstract:This article analyzes the power of the President to create federal law on the foundation of the executive’s status as the constitutional representative of the United States in foreign...
This case is the most bizarre domain name dispute I have ever heard of. The case involves a claim to the domain name "mymorganstanleyplatinum.com" brought by Morgan Stanley against respondent "Meow, Respondent Penelope Cat of Nash DCB, Ashbed Barn, Boraston Track, Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, WR15 8LQ, Great Britain." Here is the key section of the opinion holding that a cat...
