Iran's seizure last week of 15 UK sailors for allegedly crossing into Iranian territorial waters is part of a very complex diplomatic story intertwined with Iraq, Iran's nuclear program, and longstanding UK-Iranian tensions. But it also raises some international legal questions. For instance, were the UK sailors actually in Iranian waters? The UK sailors had authority from...
On March 25, 1807, two hundred years ago today, Parliament passed An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Here is the key language of the Act: Be it therefore enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the...
As we get closer to the ASIL Annual Meeting, I would like to provoke some discussion about the future of international law, which is the theme of the conference. As noted in my Tuesday post, significant resources have been devoted to thinking about the future. Some of these efforts include the use of trends analysis and scenario building. Scenarios...
This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the European Economic Community (EEC), now the European Union. The Treaty of Rome was signed on March 25, 1957, expanding the European Coal and Steel Community into the new EEC of six states (France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg). The EU has set up a portal site...
At its ongoing fourth session, the UN Human Rights Council's European Union and African Group members have now tabled competing draft resolutions on the human rights situation in Darfur, Sudan. Both drafts purport to be "follow-up" to the report presented to the Council last Friday by an assessment team led by Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams—but regrettably, neither actually...
Is there a war that harmed his party that Tony Blair doesn't support?British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday that going to war over the Falklands Islands against Argentina 25 years ago was the "right thing to do." Blair praised the "political courage" shown by former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in assembling a task force to fight a war with...
The European Court of Human Rights rendered an important decision this week on the European Convention's guarantees regarding "therapeutic abortions", i.e., abortions necessary for the life or health of the mother. The case summary of Tysiąc v. Poland is here and the full text of the judgment is here. Polish law (the "1993 Act") authorizes the termination of pregnancies if...
The Lewis & Clark Law Review has published a useful and timely symposium on the significance of last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision in Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon. In Sanchez-Llamas, the U.S. Supreme Court decided, among other things, that it would not reverse its interpretation of a treaty because of a contrary interpretation by the International Court of Justice. ...
Mohammad Al-Oraibi, the presiding judge at the Anfal trial, has ordered the arrest of one of the defense attorneys, Badie Arif Ezzat, for criminal contempt of court. The charges stem from Ezzat's criticism of the Dujail trial on Iraqi television, which Judge Al-Oraibi apparently believed was directed at the Anfal trial. Ezzat could face seven years imprisonment if...
I have posted a substantially rewritten version of my essay "Retreat from Nuremberg: The Leadership Requirement in the Crime of Aggression," which has been accepted by the European Journal of International Law. Any comments or criticisms would be most appreciated, as the final draft is due to the journal relatively soon. The abstract of the essay, which can be downloaded...
Like my co-chairs for the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law, Chantal Thomas and William Aceves, I want to thank Opinio Juris for giving us an opportunity to reach out to the international law community with information on the exciting program planned for next week in Washington. As my co-chairs have pointed out in earlier blog...
All 27 members of the European Union have approved a new air transport or "open skies" agreement with the United States. No surprise here. The EU ministers tacked on a delay in the effective date of the agreement, which must be approved by the U.S. This should be easy enough since no congressional approval will have to be secured...
