Search: Affective Justice: Book Symposium: A Response

Thanks so much to the Opinio Juris folks for the opportunity to participate in this wonderful symposium. Ben’s book truly is indispensable — a must-read for all those interested in these important topics. In particular, Ben’s descriptions of the difficult questions, and his narrative of how we got to this unfortunate point with respect to many of them, are thorough, precise, and (most importantly) lucid — which is saying quite a lot when it comes to these debates. I am almost inclined to say that if I had to recommend...

We’re delighted this week to host a discussion of Paul Schiff Berman’s “Global Legal Pluralism: A Jurisprudence of Law Beyond Borders” (Cambridge University Press). Paul is the Dean and Robert Kramer Research Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School. This is a rich and broadly argued book (Paul confesses to being a “lumper,” I think in the best sense). From the jacket: We live in a world of legal pluralism, where a single act or actor is potentially regulated by multiple legal or quasi-legal regimes imposed by state,...

I am very grateful for the opportunity to discuss my book on EJIL: Talk! and Opinio Juris, as am I grateful to the commentators on both blogs for taking the time to read and discuss it. In this introductory post I’ll try to outline the book’s main arguments and themes and my approach generally in analysing a very complex topic. The book is divided into five chapters. The first, introductory chapter sets out the scope and purpose of the whole study. It defines the notion of the extraterritorial application of...

the increasingly broad and deep scope of international law. Others in this symposium have discussed the book’s value in terms of its historical analysis, constitutional interpretation, and its practical value to human rights litigators. As this on-line symposium draws to a close, it is important to note that the Death of Treaty Supremacy opens up new avenues for research. For example, David Stewart observes that “the story of our Constitution is largely one of judicial adaptation and reinterpretation in light of changed circumstances.” In response to the book’s “problem []...

her book. As Jonathan Varat said yesterday, it’s hard to imagine that a book about the Supreme Court could be a page turner, but this one is. Indeed, right now it is one of the top fifty books for sale on Amazon. UPDATE: You can watch the Pepperdine book presentation here. It features Jan Crawford Greenburg and includes commentary about her book by Jesse Choper (Boalt Hall), Jonathan Varat (UCLA), Ken Starr (Pepperdine) and Doug Kmiec (Pepperdine). Her comment that President Bush will not get another Supreme Court appointment is...

As I mentioned last week, we’re pleased to host Richard Gardiner (University College London) for the next three days for a discussion of his book, Treaty Interpretation. In addition to comments by our regular contributors, we’ve invited several distinguished treaty experts to respond to his work, including Isabelle van Damme (Clare College, Cambridge), Malgosia Fitzmaurice (University of London, Queen Mary), and Jan Klabbers (Helsinki). Some of our guest experts will be commenting on the book itself, others may choose to comment on the comments. In either case, we’re looking forward...

[Laura Dickinson is the Oswald Symister Colclough Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School in Washington DC.] This is the final day in our discussion of Professor Dickinson’s book Outsourcing War and Peace: Preserving Public Values in a World of Privatized Foreign Affairs. Links to the related posts can be found below. Thank you all for your insightful comments and for engaging in such a productive debate about this difficult issue. I have just a few additional thoughts. Allison Stanger raises the important question of whether...

[Kent Roach, CM, FRSC is Professor of Law at the University of Toronto and the author of 15 books including Remedies for Human Rights Violations: A Two-Track Approach to Supra-National and National Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021).] I am grateful to Kristen Boon for her thoughtful engagement with my new book and the remedial dilemmas that she poses and examines. This confirms my sense as someone who has studied and litigated remedies for human rights violations in domestic law that domestic lawyers have much to learn from international lawyers...

[Mark Weisburd is the Reef C. Ivey II Distinguished Professor of Law at UNC School of Law] Professor Curtis Bradley’s International Law in the U.S. Legal System is an important contribution to the discussion of a topic of considerable significance. Thorough in its coverage but accessible to readers with little familiarity with the subject, it is at once an excellent introduction (for someone with a legal background) to the issues it addresses and a useful compilation for those with some familiarity with the field. This contribution to the symposium addresses...

...collapses upon scrutiny, because no Iranian armed attack on Israel had occurred or was imminent at the time Israel launched its bombardment. The well-settled rule under Article 51 (confirmed by the International Court of Justice in Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (DRC v. Uganda)) is that the right of self-defense arises only in response to an actual armed attack or, at most, an attack that is truly imminent. Israel’s situation does not meet this criterion. There was “no armed attack by Iran against Israel occurring on June...

...a significant event that “disrupts the functioning of a community or society” is somewhat misleading. This current definition is rooted in a particular epistemology that UUPB has uncritically accepted, thereby allowing systemic injustices to persist. The prevailing notion suggests that disasters should be managed in a way that prevents disruption to this injustice, thereby enabling business as usual. In a sense, disaster management, as it’s understood today, focuses on maintaining injustices during disasters rather than addressing them. Disruption of the Functioning of a Community or a Society A community or...

...1947. I already quoted what the Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in 1949 in my response to their first article. They have ignored what he said. Then there was the statement made by the Foreign Minister of the Provisional Government of Israel in April 1948, which addressed the very point they now contest: “With regard to the status of Assembly resolutions in international law, it was admitted that any which touched the national sovereignty of the Members of the United Nations were mere recommendations and not binding. However,...