In association with the International Commission of Jurists

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01 Nov

Two of our PhD students, James Parker and Rebecca Goodbourn, have asked me to post the following call for papers: Following the success of last year’s Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers’ Workshop on Methodological Approaches to Legal Scholarship, we are pleased to announce the inaugural Melbourne Forum on Doctoral Legal Research. This annual Forum will provide a space for participants to...

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25 Oct

My colleague Trey Childress has a nice summary of the recent decision by a federal court in Florida in Osorio v. Dole Food Company to refuse to enforce a $97 million Nicaraguan judgment. Here's the key excerpt of the decision: “the evidence before the Court is that the judgment in this case did not arise out of proceedings that comported...

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25 Oct

I have to admit, when I first heard about the Mbeki Panel, I was skeptical.  I assumed that the Panel's report would be a typical apologia for the Sudanese government's crimes, criticizing the ICC and defending the African Union's promise not to surrender Bashir to the Court. It looks like I owe Mbeki an apology.  The recommendation section of the report...

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21 Oct

[caption id="attachment_10243" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Elena Baylis"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_10102" align="alignright" width="101" caption=" "][/caption] Thanks to Opinio Juris and to YJIL for giving me the opportunity to comment on Tara Melish’s article, From Paradox to Subsidiarity: The United States and Human Rights Treaty Bodies. I have long been a fan of Tara’s work, and so it’s a pleasure to have the chance to respond to...

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21 Oct

[caption id="attachment_10236" align="alignleft" width="120" caption="Tara Melish"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_10102" align="alignright" width="101" caption=" "][/caption] [Ed. This is a slightly different, updated version than the one posted earlier today.] Let me begin by thanking Opinio Juris and the editors of the Yale Journal of International Law for hosting this online symposium, and especially Professor Elena Baylis for her willingness to provide comments on my recent article,...

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20 Oct

[caption id="attachment_10155" align="alignleft" width="145" caption="Anupam Chander"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_10102" align="alignright" width="101" caption=" "][/caption] I am grateful to Mark Wu for penning a thoughtful response to some of the ideas in “Trade 2.0.” I am fortunate to have such an expert commentator. Wu agrees with my aims, but worries that the political will may be lacking to effect my proposals. He also offers four other...

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20 Oct

[caption id="attachment_10166" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Mark Wu"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_10102" align="alignright" width="101" caption=" "][/caption] First, thanks to the Yale Journal of International Law (YJIL) for the opportunity to comment on Professor Anupam Chander’s most recent article, Trade 2.0, in the latest issue of YJIL, and to Opinio Juris for hosting this symposium. Chander highlights an important transformation in global trade. For centuries, the desire of a...

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20 Oct

[caption id="attachment_10155" align="alignleft" width="145" caption="Anupam Chander"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_10102" align="alignright" width="101" caption=" "][/caption] Today, one of the most important ports of entry for trade can be found on the diminutive screen of the iPhone. Companies from around the world vie to provide a service via that screen -- playing a game, offering information, managing finances, or connecting one with friends. With its two billionth...

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19 Oct

Looking at the long-awaited new Obama Sudan Strategy, there is much to admire.  It is sensible, forward-looking, and realistic.  It also appears to be pretty much the same policy President Bush pursued, which then Obama campaign adviser Susan Rice (and current UN Ambassador) trashed back in 2008.  For instance, it emphasizes ending the violence and war through a peace agreement,...

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19 Oct

[caption id="attachment_10105" align="alignleft" width="135" caption="Evan Criddle"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_10106" align="alignleft" width="123" caption="Evan Fox-Decent"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_10102" align="alignright" width="101" caption=" "][/caption] One of the great benefits of Opinio Juris is that it permits authors to clarify their views in light of thoughtful criticism, and Alexander Orakhelashvili’s comment on our article is certainly all of that. As the author of the leading monograph on jus cogens, namely Peremptory...

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19 Oct

[caption id="attachment_10134" align="alignleft" width="110" caption="Alexander Orakhelashvili"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_10102" align="alignright" width="101" caption=" "][/caption] Peremptory norms (jus cogens) form part of the core of the international legal system, and combine both public policy (public order, ordre public) and constitutional elements in the sense that they ban the legal effect of conflicting acts and transactions and prevail over conflicting norms and instruments. Both these qualities follow...

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19 Oct

[caption id="attachment_10102" align="alignright" width="61" caption=" "][/caption] [caption id="attachment_10105" align="alignleft" width="105" caption="Evan Criddle"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_10106" align="alignleft" width="97" caption="Evan Fox-Decent"][/caption] We would like to begin by thanking Opinio Juris and the Yale Journal of International Law for hosting this symposium, and Alexander Orakhelashvili for generously agreeing to act as our interlocutor. In international law, the term “jus cogens” refers to norms that are considered peremptory in the...

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