Schwenzer: Schlechtriem & Schwenzer: Commentary on the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) (Third Edition)

Ingeborg Schwenzer (Univ. of Basel - Law) has published the third edition of Schlechtriem & Schwenzer: Commentary on the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) (Oxford Univ. Press 2010). Here's the abstract:

The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is one of the most successful attempts to unify parts of the law of international commerce. The Convention is now in force in more than 70 states and there are thousands of decisions by courts and arbitral tribunals that apply the rules of the Convention with the numbers increasing each year. As well as growing case law there are numerous books and innumerable contributions by scholars and practitioners on the Convention and its various topics and problems. Moreover, the CISG has had a great influence on modern domestic laws, such as the German Law of Obligations and the codifications in former Socialist states as well as on projects to unify the law, for example the UNIDROIT Principles for International Commercial Contracts, the European Principles of Contract Law and most recently the European Draft Common Frame of Reference. This is the third English edition of the Commentary on the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG), the first having published in 1998. It is based on a broad comparative analysis of decisions and scholarly contributions from all states which have enacted the Convention. The contributors to this book, all being experts in their respective fields, base their analysis on the conviction that understanding and interpretation of the Convention requires close comparison and careful consideration of judicial and scholarly views from all jurisdictions. The previous editions of this Commentary have become an important source for the reading and explanation of the Convention, and are frequently cited by legal writers, courts and tribunals from all over the world.

Since the second edition of the Commentary published in March 2005 10 countries including Japan have acceded to the CISG, Turkey is about to ratify it, and the UK is now the only important trading nation that is not party to the Convention. The recent reporting of 273 CIETAC awards on the CISG not only demonstrates the level of litigious activity in the field but also sheds light on the Chinese perspective on the Convention. This third edition of the Commentary comments on major decisions in international case law and the impact of developments in domestic law on an international level. The Commentary also considers the new opinions of the CISG Advisory Council (CISG-AC) on important issues such as the buyer's right to avoid the contract in case of non-conforming goods or documents, the calculation of damages under CISG, Art 74, the exemption of liability for damages under CISG, Art 79, and the calculation of damages under CISG, Arts 75 and 76.

New Issue: Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The latest issue of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law (Vol. 43, no. 2, March 2010) is out. Contents include:

• William Magnuson, The Responsibility to Protect and the Decline of Sovereignty: Free Speech Protection Under International Law
• Yaël Ronen, Superior Responsibility of Civilians for International Crimes Committed in Civilian Settings
• Shiva Falsafi, Civil Society and Democracy in Japan, Iran, Iraq and Beyond
• Jorge E. Vinuales, Legal Techniques for Dealing with Scientific Uncertainty in Environmental Law

Blum: On a Differential Law of War

Gabriella Blum (Harvard Univ. - Law) has posted On a Differential Law of War. Here's the abstract:

Should the United States, as the strongest military power in the world, be bound by stricter humanitarian constraints than its weaker adversaries? Would holding the U.S. to higher standards than the Taliban, Iraqi insurgents, or the North Korean army yield an overall greater humanitarian welfare or be otherwise justified on the basis of international justice theories? Or would it instead be an unjustifiable attempt to curb American power, a form of dangerous "lawfare”?

The paper offers an analytical framework through which to examine these questions. It draws on the design of international trade and climate agreements, where obligations have been linked to capabilities through the principle of Common-but-Differentiated Responsibilities (CDRs), and inquires whether the justifications that have been offered for CDRs in these other regimes are transposable to the laws of war. More broadly, the framework tests the extent to which war can and should be equated to other phenomena of international relations or whether it is a unique context that resists foreign analogies.

Rather than offering a definitive answer, the inquiry illuminates the types of judgments and predictions that one must hold in order to have a position on the desirability of CDRs in international humanitarian law, most notably, the degree to which weaker adversaries will be prone to abusing further constraints on stronger enemies, the expected effects of CDRs on the propensity to go to war, who on the enemy’s side is the “enemy,” and what are the duties that are owed to one’s enemies.

Sorel & Popescu: La protection des personnes vulnérables en temps de conflit armé

Jean-Marc Sorel (l’Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - Law) & Corneliu-Liviu Popescu (Univ. of Bucharest - Law) have published La protection des personnes vulnérables en temps de conflit armé (Bruylant 2010). Contents include:

• Jean-Marc Sorel, Introduction
• Gregory Lewkowicz, La protection des civils dans les nouvelles configurations conflictuelles : retour au droit des gens ou dépassement du droit international humanitaire?
• Svetlana Zašova, L’applicabilité du droit international humanitaire aux groupes armés organisés
• Faria Medjouba & Justine Stefanelli, La prise en consideration du droit international humanitaire par l’Union européenne – Une introduction
• Corneliu-Liviu Popescu, Le rôle de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme dans la protection de la population civile – développements jurisprudentiels récents
• Kathia Martin-Chenut, La protection des enfants en temps de conflit armé et le phénomène des enfants-soldats
• Daniela-Anca Deteseanu, La protection des femmes en temps de conflit armé
• Ruxandra I. Costache, Girl children soldiers : potential need for an increased protection under the international law of human rights and the international humanitarian law
• Jean-Marc Sorel, Quelques questions et quelques perspectives en guise de conclusion

Workshop: Mateos

Aurora Mateos (formerly, Legal Adviser, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, UNESCO) will give a talk today at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law Friday Lunchtime Lecture Series on "Climate Change at Copenhagen."

Dinstein: The Conduct of Hostilities Under the Law of International Armed Conflict (Second Edition)

Yoram Dinstein (Tel-Aviv Univ. - Law) has published the second edition of The Conduct of Hostilities Under the Law of International Armed Conflict (Cambridge Univ. Press 2010). Here's the abstract:

This is the seminal textbook on the law of international armed conflict, written by a leading commentator on the subject. The new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated, taking into account new developments in combat, numerous recent judicial cases (especially decisions rendered by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia), as well as topical studies and instruments. The text clarifies complex issues, offering solutions to practical combat dilemmas that have emerged in present-day battlefield situations. Several current (and controversial) subjects are examined in depth, including direct participation in hostilities, human shields, and air and missile warfare. Useful definitions and explanations have been added, making intricate problems easier to comprehend. The book is designed not only for students of international law, but also as a tool for the instruction of military officers.

New Issue: Netherlands International Law Review

The latest issue of the Netherlands International Law Review (Vol. 57, no. 1, May 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Adrian J. Bradbrook & Judith G. Gardam, Energy and Poverty: A Proposal to Harness International Law to Advance Universal Access to Modern Energy Services
• Simone van den Driest, ‘Pro-Democratic’ Intervention and the Right to Political Self-Determination: The Case of Operation Iraqi Freedom

Bosly & Vandermeersch: Génocide, crimes contre l’humanité et crimes de guerre face à la justice

Henri D. Bosly (l’Université de Louvain) & Damien Vandermeersch (Avocat général à la Cour de cassation (Belgique); Professeur à l’Université de Louvain et aux Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis) have published Génocide, crimes contre l’humanité et crimes de guerre face à la justice: Les juridictions internationales et les tribunaux nationaux (Bruylant 2010). Here's the abstract:

Crime de génocide, crimes contre l’humanité et crimes de guerre : au-delà de l’atrocité des faits, ces crimes font l'objet de conventions internationales et leurs auteurs peuvent être poursuivis soit devant les juridictions pénales nationales, soit devant les juridictions internationales.

Après la furtive apparition des tribunaux militaires internationaux à l’issue de la Seconde Guerre mondiale (Nuremberg et Tokyo), le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies créera en 1993 et en 1994, le Tribunal pénal international pour l’ex-Yougoslavie et celui pour le Rwanda. Par ailleurs, désireux de créer une juridiction permanente, les États, réunis à Rome en 1998, adoptent le Statut de la Cour pénale internationale. Enfin, pour faire face aux séquelles de la guerre civile ou de certains attentats, les Nations unies ont créé avec les États directement concernés, des nouvelles juridictions siégeant sur le territoire national avec l’appui de juges internationaux; on les appelle les tribunaux internationalisés (Sierra Leone, Cambodge, Timor Leste, Kosovo, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Liban). Après avoir donné un aperçu d'ensemble des instruments internationaux applicables, les auteurs étudient chacune de ces juridictions internationales à travers leur contexte historique et leur statut et dressent un bilan actualisé, critique et concret de leurs activités.

Le caractère complémentaire de la Cour pénale internationale rappelle aux États leur devoir de poursuivre et de juger les auteurs des crimes internationaux. S’adressant spécialement à un public francophone, l’ouvrage présente le droit de la France, de la Belgique et de la Suisse relatif à la répression de ces crimes.

L’exposé se complète d'une double réflexion. La première entend comparer les points forts et les points faibles respectifs des juridictions internationales ainsi que des juridictions nationales lorsqu’elles sont appelées à juger les auteurs de ces crimes. La seconde, de nature éthique, s’interroge sur les enjeux et sur le sens du procès pénal au cours duquel les victimes et les auteurs des crimes sont amenés à expliquer ces actes qui, par leur horreur et leur ampleur, demeurent incompréhensibles. Comment des gens ordinaires se sont-ils laissés entraîner à commettre de tels actes et quelle peut être la mesure de leur responsabilité pénale?

Workshop: Tams

Christian Tams (Univ. of Glasgow - Law) will give a talk today at the Oxford Public International Law Discussion Group on "Enforcing International Security: What Role for Individual States?"

Chesterman: Lawyers, Guns, and Money: The Governance of Business Activities in Conflict Zones

Simon Chesterman (New York Univ. - Law, Singapore Programme) has posted Lawyers, Guns, and Money: The Governance of Business Activities in Conflict Zones. Here's the abstract:

This paper argues that the norms governing businesses in conflict zones are both understudied and undervalued. Understudied because the focus is generally on human rights of universal application, rather than the narrower regime of international humanitarian law (IHL). Undervalued because IHL may provide a more certain foundation for real norms that can be applied to businesses and the individuals that control them.

The first part will briefly describe the normative regime that is set up by human rights and IHL. Part two looks at the specific situation of conflict zones and efforts to regulate some of the newer entities on the scene, in particular private military and security companies. Part three then sketches out a regime that focuses not on toothless regulation but on a model of governance that combines limited sanctions with wider structuring of incentives.

New Issue: Leiden Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Leiden Journal of International Law (Vol. 23, no. 2, June 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Cleveringa Lecture 2009
• Rosalyn Higgins, Ethics and International Law
• Article
• Larry May, Habeas Corpus and the Normative Jurisprudence of International Law
• Hague International Tribunals: International Criminal Court - Complementarity on Trial: Perspectives on Katanga
• Carsten Stahn, Perspectives on Katanga: An Introduction
• Gilbert Bitti & Mohamed M. El Zeidy, The Katanga Trial Chamber Decision: Selected Issues
• Dov Jacobs, The Importance of Being Earnest: The Timeliness of the Challenge to Admissibility in Katanga
• Ben Batros, The Judgment on the Katanga Admissibility Appeal: Judicial Restraint at the ICC
• Susana SáCouto & Katherine Cleary, The Katanga Complementarity Decisions: Sound Law but Flawed Policy
• Ingrid Kost, Bibliography on the Katanga Case
• Current Legal Developments
• Patrick Dumberry, The Last Citadel! Can a State Claim the Status of Persistent Objector to Prevent the Application of a Rule of Customary International Law in Investor–State Arbitration?
• Stephan W. Schill, Crafting the International Economic Order: The Public Function of Investment Treaty Arbitration and Its Significance for the Role of the Arbitrator
• Bibliography
• Ingrid Kost, Books and Articles in the Field of the Prevention and Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes (Winter 2009–2010)
• Review Essays
• Simon Chesterman, International Territorial Administration and the Limits of Law
• Akbar Rasulov, Writing about Empire: Remarks on the Logic of a Discourse

Symposium: Trends and Tensions in International Criminal Procedure

The latest issue of the UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs (Vol. 14, no. 1, Spring 2009) contains a symposium on "Trends and Tensions in International Criminal Procedure." Contents include:

• Máximo Langer, Trends and Tensions in International Criminal Procedure: A Symposium
• Mirjan Damaška, The International Criminal Court Between Aspiration and Achievement
• Frédéric Mégret, Beyond "Fairness": Understanding the Determinants of International Criminal Procedure
• Jens David Ohlin, A Meta-Theory of International Criminal Procedure: Vindicating the Rule of Law
• Elena Baylis, Outsourcing Investigations
• John Hagan & Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovic, Structural Pre-Conditionality, Smoking Gun Evidence and Collective Command Responsibility for War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia
• Sonja B. Starr, Ensuring Defense Counsel Competence at International Criminal Tribunals
• Alex Whiting, Lead Evidence and Discovery Before the International Criminal Court: The Lubanga Case
• Nancy Amoury Combs, Testimonial Deficiencies and Evidentiary Uncertainties in International Criminal Trials

New Issue: Revue belge de droit international

The latest issue of the Revue belge de droit international (Vol. 42, no. 1, 2009) is out. Contents include:

• C. Laly-Chevalier, Lutte contre la piraterie maritime et droits de l'homme
• R. Le Boeuf, La saisine de la Cour Internationale de Justice pour faits de guerre
• A.G. Tachou Sipowo & F. Lafontaine, Tous les chemins ne s'arrêtent pas à Rome : la révision du Statut de la Cour pénale internationale à l'égard du crime d'agression ou la difficile conciliation entre justice pénale internationale et sécurité internationale
• J. Perilleux, L'interprétation des notions de "conflit armé interne" et de "violence aveugle" dans le cadre de la protection subsidiaire : le droit international humanitaire est-il une référence obligatoire ?
• M. Gallie, Le droit international du travail dans la coopération européenne au développement. Le cas de l'Accord de partenariat UE-CARIFORUM
• M. Carrera De Cruz, Les codes de conduite appartiennent-ils, en tant que pratiques et sources de droit, à la lex mercatoria
• T. Dubut, Modélisation des normes et normativité des modèles : le caractère normatif ambivalent du Modèle de Convention fiscale de l'O.C.D.E. en droit international

Whytock: The Evolving Forum Shopping System

Christopher A. Whytock (Univ. of Utah - Law) has posted The Evolving Forum Shopping System (Cornell Law Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This Article challenges the claim that the United States is experiencing a transnational litigation explosion. According to conventional wisdom, the United States has a forum shopping system with two features that encourage plaintiffs to file suits in U.S. courts, even when those suits involve foreign parties or foreign activity: a permissive approach to personal jurisdiction, which gives plaintiffs broad court access; and a strong tendency of U.S. judges to apply plaintiff-favoring domestic law. The forum shopping system is said to contribute to a rising tide of transnational litigation in the United States. Scholars and interest groups have therefore proposed new anti-forum-shopping measures aimed at curtailing transnational litigation in U.S. courts.

Contrary to that understanding, this Article shows that the forum shopping system has evolved, and that it no longer encourages plaintiffs to pursue transnational suits in U.S. courts to the extent it supposedly once did; and it presents empirical evidence that transnational litigation in the United States may have actually decreased, not increased, over the last two decades. The Article thus provides a new, empirically grounded understanding of the American forum shopping system and its impact on transnational litigation. The analysis suggests that new anti-forum-shopping measures may not be as urgent or necessary as their advocates claim. If adopted, such measures could risk unduly limiting access to justice for both American and foreign citizens who, in our era of globalization, are increasingly affected by transnational activity.

New Issue: Mealey's International Arbitration Report

The latest issue of Mealey's International Arbitration Report (Vol. 25, no. 4, April 2010) is out.

New Issue: Revue belge de droit international

The latest issue of the Revue belge de droit international (Vol. 41, nos. 1-2, 2008) is out. Contents include:

• Chroniques
• E. David, La pratique du pouvoir exécutif et le contrôle des chambres législatives en matière de droit international (2003-2007)
• E. De Brabandere, La 60e session de la Commission du droit international
• Etudes
• M. Ballestero, Les boucliers humains volontaires : des civils ne participant pas directement aux hostilités ?
• A.M. Namountougou, La Commission des limites du plateau continental : problèmes de statut juridique et attributions
• J. Ngambi, Les regroupements économiques au sein de l'OMC : quel contrôle ?
• Dossier: L'insurrection et le droit international
• C. Ryngaert, Human rights obligations of armed groups
• F. Mégret, Grandeur et déclin de l'idée de résistance à l'occupation : Réflexions à propos de la légitimité des "insurgés"
• S. Breau, The international law implications of the Turkish/Kurdish conflict

New Issue: Nordic Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Nordic Journal of International Law (Vol. 79, no. 2, 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Radu Mares, The Limits of Supply Chain Responsibility: A Critical Analysis of Corporate Responsibility Instruments
• Daniel Rietiker, The Principle of "Effectiveness" in the Recent Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights: Its Different Dimensions and Its Consistency with Public International Law - No Need for the Concept of Treaty Sui Generis
• Mark Klamberg, What are the Objectives of International Criminal Procedure? Reflections on the Fragmentation of a Legal Regime
• Md. Siaful Karim, Implementation of the MARPOL Convention in Developing Countries

New Issue: International Studies Quarterly

The latest issue of International Studies Quarterly (Vol. 54, no. 1, 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Todd Allee & Clint Peinhardt, Delegating Differences: Bilateral Investment Treaties and Bargaining Over Dispute Resolution Provisions
• Lars-Erik Cederman, Luc Girardin, Growing Sovereignty: Modeling the Shift from Indirect to Direct Rule
• Mark S. Copelovitch, Master or Servant? Common Agency and the Political Economy of IMF Lending
• Elizabeth Fausett, Thomas J. Volgy, Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) and Interstate Conflict: Parsing Out IGO Effects for Alternative Dimensions of Conflict in Postcommunist Space
• Alexandra Gillies, Reputational Concerns and the Emergence of Oil Sector Transparency as an International Norm
• Brian Greenhill, The Company You Keep: International Socialization and the Diffusion of Human Rights Norms
• Valentin L. Krustev, Strategic Demands, Credible Threats, and Economic Coercion Outcomes
• Thomas Oatley, Political Institutions and Foreign Debt in the Developing World
• Sean Richey, The Impact of Anti-Assimilationist Beliefs on Attitudes toward Immigration
• David Sobek & Caroline L. Payne, A Tale of Two Types: Rebel Goals and the Onset of Civil Wars
• Jonas Tallberg, The Power of the Chair: Formal Leadership in International Cooperation
• Cameron G. Thies & David Sobek, War, Economic Development, and Political Development in the Contemporary International System

Lazar: The Responsibility Dilemma for Killing in War: A Review Essay

Seth Lazar (Univ. of Oxford - Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict) has published The Responsibility Dilemma for Killing in War: A Review Essay (Philosophy & Public Affairs, Vol. 38, no. 2, p. 180, 2010). Here's an excerpt:

Killing in War is a sustained assault on the linchpin of Walzerian just war theory, the moral equality of combatants (MEC). MEC states that, irrespective of whether their side justly resorted to war, combatants face the same moral prohibitions and permissions. It underpins Walzer’s views in three ways: first, it grounds the principle of discrimination between combatants and noncombatants. Individuals lose the protection of their right to life, on Walzer’s account, when they become a threat to others’ lives. Hence all combatants are entitled to kill other combatants, but noncombatants, who pose no threat, are immune from intentional attack. Second, MEC underpins Walzer’s account of just resort to war, which depends on the analogy between individuals’ and states’ rights to defend themselves. This ‘domestic analogy’ is very troubling for ethical individualists, who note that when states fight each other, individuals die, and remind us that individuals, not states, are the fundamental unit of moral concern. Since the right to life is normally our most fundamental protection, this killing demands justification. However, if combatants on either side of a conflict can fight without violating their adversaries’ rights, as MEC says they can, then the domestic analogy could be consistent with those rights. Third, MEC is vital to implementing Walzerian just war theory in international law. Without MEC, the laws of war are unlikely to secure widespread international agreement; moreover, rejecting MEC could have disastrous consequences: since countries and individuals rarely fight without a secure conviction (however unreasonable) of their justification, if we extend greater permissions to just combatants than to unjust combatants, all will assume that the wider set of permissions applies to them, and correspondingly wreak still greater havoc.

McMahan, however, believes that MEC is a dangerous doctrine, widespread endorsement of which provides unscrupulous politicians with armies willing to serve their unjust ends. If individual combatants believed they can only fight justly for a just cause, they would be more cautious about which wars they fight, and fewer wars would result. Moreover, he thinks that MEC is based on flawed reasoning. Killing in War substantiates this skepticism with three lines of attack against MEC. The first develops a theory of permissible killing, and criticizes alternatives defended by Walzer and other advocates of MEC. The second applies this theory to killing in war, and shows that it radically undermines MEC. The third acknowledges and accommodates the practical strengths of Walzer’s account, while separating them from endorsement of MEC. In particular, McMahan argues that its legal advantages need not be lost if we reject it as a moral principle.

On its own terms McMahan’s critique of MEC is in my view persuasive, and I do not seek to resurrect that principle in this article. Instead, I argue that the consistent application of McMahan’s alternative to MEC would require such a radical revision of our considered judgments about war that we might be prompted either to reevaluate his critique, or to seek a different accommodation between our considered judgments about war and our moral theory.

Workshops: Broude, Pesach, & Poliner; Schabas & Kress

Tomer Broude (Hebrew Univ. - Law), Guy Pesach (Hebrew Univ. - Law), and Howard Poliner (Ministry of Justice, Israel) will give a talk today at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem International Law Forum on "International Law-making in the Dark? The Anti- Counterfeiting Trade-Agreement (ACTA) Negotiations."

William Schabas (National Univ. of Ireland - Law) and Claus Kress (Univ. of Cologne - Law) will give a talk today at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict Lunchtime Lecture Series on "The Review Conference of the Rome Statute: Amending the Statute and Taking Stock of the Court."

New Issue: Review of International Studies

The latest issue of the Review of International Studies (Vol. 36, no. 2, April 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Hannes Peltonen, Modelling international collective responsibility: the case of grave humanitarian crises
• Andrew Phillips, The Protestant ethic and the spirit of jihadism – transnational religious insurgencies and the transformation of international orders
• Phil Orchard, Protection of internally displaced persons: soft law as a norm-generating mechanism
• Karolina Milewicz, André Bächtiger, & Arne Nothdurft, Constitutional pluralism or constitutional unity? An empirical study of international commitment (1945–2007)
• Roland Paris, Saving liberal peacebuilding
• Kristine Höglund & Mimmi Söderberg Kovacs, Beyond the absence of war: the diversity of peace in post-settlement societies
• Jonathan Wright, Locarno: a democratic peace?
• James Brassett & William Smith, Deliberation and global civil society: agency, arena, affect
• James Bohman, Democratising the global order: from communicative freedom to communicative power
• Richard Higgott & Eva Erman, Deliberative global governance and the question of legitimacy: what can we learn from the WTO?
• Peter Newell, Democratising biotechnology? Deliberation, participation and social regulation in a neo-liberal world
• Randall Germain, Financial governance and transnational deliberative democracy
• Garrett Wallace Brown, Safeguarding deliberative global governance: the case of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

New Issue: Human Rights & International Legal Discourse

The latest issue of Human Rights & International Legal Discourse (Vol. 4, no. 1, 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Cedric Ryngaert & Math Noortmann, New Actors in Global Governance and International Human Rights Law
• Michèle Olivier, Exploring Approaches to Accommodating Non-State Actors within Traditional International Law
• Tarcisio Gazzini, A Unique Non-State Actor: the International Committee of the Red Cross
• Malgosia Fitzmaurice, The Participation of Civil Society in Environmental Matters: the 1998 Aarhus Convention
• Eric De Brabandere, Human Rights Obligations and Transnational Corporations: The Limits of Direct Corporate Responsibility
• Aristotelis Constantinides, Human Rights Obligations and Accountability of Armed Opposition Groups: the Practice of the UN Security Council
• Veronika Bílková, Treat Them as They Deserve!? Three Approaches to Armed Opposition Groups under Current International Law
• Beate Rudolf, Non-State Actors in Areas of Limited Statehood as Addressees of Public International Law Norms on Governance
• Idesbald Goddeeris, Non-State Actors in Exile: Benefits and Disadvantages of Legitimacy Claims
• Osmat Jefferson, Workplace Equality in International Organisations: Why is It an Illusory Concept?

New Issue: International Journal of Human Rights

The latest issue of the International Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 14, no. 2, 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Krishna Chaitanya Vadlamannati & K.K. Shakya Lahiru Pathmalal, Exploring the relationship between military spending and human rights performance in South Asia
• Mariya Y. Omelicheva, Security rights violations in the context of counter-terrorism: analysis of the post-Soviet nations
• Andrew Rudyk, A rising tide: the transformation of sex discrimination into gender discrimination and its impact on law enforcement
• Olufemi O. Ilesanmi, Sexual offences in a Muslim world: a socio-ethical reflection on Zamfara State (Nigeria) v. Bariya I. Mugazu
• Dave Benjamin, Sudan and the resort to regional arrangements: putting effect to the responsibility to protect?
• Louise Bernier, International socio-economic human rights: the key to global health improvement?
• Klaus Brummer, Enhancing intergovernmentalism: the Council of Europe and human rights
• Juliet Chevalier-Watts, A rock and a hard place: has the European Court of Human Rights permitted discrepancies to evolve in their scrutiny of right to life cases?

New Issue: Journal of Confict & Security Law

The latest issue of the Journal of Conflict & Security Law (Vol. 15, no. 1, Spring 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Mirko Sossai, Drugs as Weapons: Disarmament Treaties Facing the Advances in Biochemistry and Non-Lethal Weapons Technology
• Piers Millett, The Biological Weapons Convention: Securing Biology in the Twenty-first Century
• James D. Fry, Sovereign Equality under the Chemical Weapons Convention: Doughnuts over Holes
• Anguel Anastassov, Are Nuclear Weapons Illegal? The Role of Public International Law and the International Court of Justice
• Tomasz Iwanek, The 2003 Invasion of Iraq: How the System Failed
• Siobhán Wills, The Obligations Due to Former ‘Protected Persons’ in Conflicts that have Ceased to be International: The People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran
• Hin-Yan Liu, Leashing the Corporate Dogs of War: The Legal Implications of the Modern Private Military Company
• Aoife O’ Donoghue, Neutrality and Multilateralism after the First World War

Call for Submissions: TDM Special Issue on China

Transnational Dispute Management has issued a call for papers for a special issue on China. Here's the call:

We hereby announce a forthcoming TDM special issue on China. This special issue will discuss all aspects of the theory and practice of the resolution of trade and commercial disputes in and connected with China.

China's rapid economic development continues unabated despite the recent global financial crisis. Much of this growth has been driven by inward foreign investment, although outbound investment by China in search of secure supplies of natural resources to feed its growing economy has also greatly increased in recent years. A natural consequence of all this economic activity has been a steady rise in the number of disputes between Chinese and foreign parties.

Arbitration is frequently preferred to litigation for the resolution of these disputes, for the usual reasons of neutrality, flexibility, confidentiality, costs and, most importantly, greater ease of cross-border enforcement. Investment treaty arbitration was until recently not considered a viable option because the bilateral investment treaties entered into by China offered negligible protections. However, recent BITs entered into by China offer a wide range of protections and so it should only be a matter of time before treaty arbitrations involving China and Chinese investors start to appear. In addition, recent cases such as the Rio Tinto bribery and commercial secrets case show that investors in China may be subject to, and therefore need to understand, the workings of the Chinese court system.

The more general question therefore arises of whether the Chinese legal system is developing in a way that is keeping pace with the demands of an increasingly sophisticated economy and society. This is a matter of concern not just to foreign investors but also more fundamentally to Chinese citizens themselves. This TDM special issue therefore aims to go beyond investment and trade treaty disputes involving China and to also look at Chinese regulatory and judicial attitudes towards foreign investment and dispute resolution more generally.

Possible topics might include:

• Whether arbitration at CIETAC or other Chinese arbitration institutions is a fair and viable dispute resolution option for foreign investors in China?
• What reforms will be necessary to make arbitration in China a more attractive option?
• Does treaty arbitration represent a real alternative for a multinational wanting to preserve its long-term interests in what should continue to be one of the world's most important markets for the foreseeable future?
• Enforcement of arbitral awards in China – does the system work and what is the enforcement record for foreign arbitration awards?
• Whether a formal binding system of precedent would be possible and beneficial for China?
• Developments in the quality and independence of China's judiciary.
• Whether trade and commercial disputes involving China may be effectively resolved through informal business mechanisms or other dispute resolution strategies apart from arbitration and litigation.
• How, if at all, might current methods of international dispute resolution be adjusted to account for social and business norms and expectations in China, in order to address international commercial disputes.

We hereby invite all those with an interest in this area to contribute articles or notes on one of the above topics or any other relevant issue. This special issue will be edited by Peter Thorp of Allen & Overy LLP, Beijing and Professor Tai-Heng Cheng, visiting associate professor at Vanderbilt Law School and Senior Legal Advisor to Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney LLP. Publication is expected in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Fontanelli & Martinico: The ECJ Under Siege – New Constitutional Challenges for the ECJ

Filippo Fontanelli (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna) & Giuseppe Martinico (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna) have published The ECJ Under Siege – New Constitutional Challenges for the ECJ (Icfai Univ. Press 2009). Here's the abstract:

This book focuses on four challenges faced by the European Court of Justice: the Reform Treaty, the enlargement, the relationship with other courts and the recent threat to security represented by the rise of the international criminal network.

The Reform Treaty’s scope and purpose are much more limited than the Constitutional Treaty’s ones, however, it still intends to bring certain significant changes in the life of the Union. Many essays and some commentaries already exist on this Treaty (although the Reform Treaty has not yet come into force), but they tend to limit the new Treaty’s provisions in a descriptive fashion, whilst the aim of this work is to study the impact of the Reform Treaty on the ECJ’s activity. The enlargement had a double immediate impact on the ECJ: it caused the increase of the judges’ number and the introduction of new legal cultural elements that could result in affecting the legal reasoning and the argumentative techniques used by the European judges. Another delicate aspect is the status of the network of the European and non-European courts: judicial interactions between the ECJ and the other judicial actors are becoming more and more important in light of the progressive transformation of the EU. On the one hand, in fact, the “humanization” of EC Law (i.e. the increasing relevance of the human rights discourse in the EC activity) triggered the necessity to deal with the issue of the consistency between EC law and ECHR. On the other hand, the discipline of the WTO requires the consistency between the action of WTO bodies and the ECJ, and a new set of criteria to harmonize the reciprocal influence of their respective legal orders. Finally, the concern for security spread after the rise of international terrorism, along with the birth of a European criminal law make it necessary to analyze the potential conflict between rights and security and the de-pillarization process, two factors that invest the ECJ with a fundamental role in these sensitive matters.

New Issue: Transnational Dispute Management

The latest issue of Transnational Dispute Management (Vol. 7, no. 1, April 2010) is out. The table of contents is available here.